Chapter 129: Methods
Translator: Wuxia Dog Editor: Wuxia Dog
“General!” A soldier came with a paper scroll in his hand, and timidly passed it to Ronning. Ronning opened the scroll, and his face turned red instantly. He heavily pounded on the table. Luckily, he didn’t use his strength of fighting, or the table would have been smashed into pieces.
“What’s wrong?” Reg raised his head in astonishment.
“Those damn Cavemen! They always have a way to mess things up!” Ronning inhaled a long breath and gave Reg the paper scroll. “Please read this, Young Marshal.”
Reg took it and read. After a few pages, he was startled. “We occupied Nuremberg without any casualties, but have lost over two hundred soldiers these days?”
“Yes.”
“Because of the Cavemen?” Sunier, who was also present, asked in surprise.
“Look.” Reg passed the paper scroll to Sunier.
She carefully read it. Different from other cities, Nuremberg was a hodgepot of many races. The majority of the city’s population was not humans, but rather Cavemen, who had no visual organs and stood the lowest among all the Abyssal Races. Other races, such as the Minotaurs or the Evil Eyes, did not participate in production, and instead focused on killing. Throughout a span of thousands of years, the burden of labor had fallen on to the shoulders of the Cavemen. Each time a war broke out, they would also be taken as cannon fodder. Strangely, they would show a soul-deep servility to the Abyssal Race, and showed an extreme brutality against the intelligent races above ground.
In the city, there were nearly seventy-thousand Cavemen, accounting for approximately half of the total population. Their resistance was much more tenacious than that of other races, such as the Abyssal Sirens, Minotaurs, and the Evil Eyes. Even their females and children constantly picked up weapons to attack the soldiers of the Riptide Regiment. Their spirit of resistance was dauntless and unyielding.
For example, even a whore would abruptly attack her client by extremely violent means. The dramatic change was startling. It felt as if they had gone mad!
Nuremberg was not an ordinary city. By nature, Cavemen were good at digging tunnels, and were used to living underground. Thus, underneath Nuremberg, the ground was almost hollow. To hunt Cavemen in the cobweb-like tunnels was by no means easy for human soldiers.
“Did someone secretly plan this?” Sunier asked.
“No.” Ronning shook his head. “I noticed this on the first day. If there really is someone behind this, it must be the Minotaurs, the Evil Eyes, or the Abyssal Sirens, but you can have a look in the prisoner camp; those guys can’t be more obedient.”
“The number of missing… has already reached 400?”
“Yes, and the chance of them surviving is very low.” Ronning showed a bitter smile. “To be exact, we have lost over 600soldiers by now.”
“Is this so troublesome?” Han Jin was puzzled. “Kill ten Cavemen, and if only one causes trouble, then in one hundred, only ten will cause trouble. I don’t think they will still have the courage to fight against us.”
All eyes suddenly focused on Han Jin, and only Guevara smiled. “What’s the matter?” Han Jin was confused.
“We can’t do that,” Cessacioun said. “Otherwise, we would be no different than Zaganide.”
Han Jin nearly burst into laughter, but controlled himself when he found that the others were all staring at him seriously. “They are only some Cavemen. Why are you so serious?”
“If they resist, we can kill them, but we shouldn’t hurt the innocent,” Sunier said in a low voice.
It was one of the virtues the elves held, but just as Guevara had denounced, it was merely a self-deceiving principle. Though the Silver Pegasus Regiment had not slaughtered civilians, it had indirectly caused countless deaths.
Han Jin paused, and then smiled. “What do you think we should do then?” he asked. Han Jin was not a ruthless man. He had just never considered these Cavemen as humans; people from different nations have different beliefs, let alone from different races!
“Maybe we should have a talk with the Minotaurs and the Evil Eyes, and let them persuade the Cavemen,” Cessacioun suggested. “The Cavemen are a very servitle race. They won’t disobey the orders from their superior races.”
“Do you know how to solve a problem?” Han Jin sighed. “The key is to turn the complex into something simple, not to turn the simple into something complex!”
“I agree with Raphael,” Ronning said. “We don’t have much time. We must leave for Black Raven City in three days. Will three days be enough for the Minotaurs and the Evil Eyes to persuade the Cavemen?”
“We can personally hunt the disruptive Caveman!” Reg added. “They only dare attack us with the cover of their tunnels. With me and Raphael, we should be able to teach them a costly lesson.”
“Tens of thousands of Cavemen, and just us two?” Han Jin laughed.
“Then what do you think we should do?” Reg kicked the ball back to Han Jin.
“The hatred between the Abyssal Race and the above ground has lasted for too long. It can’t be dissolved by mere persuasion. To thoroughly solve it, we have only one way: destruction!” Guevara said slowly.
“That is the way of Zaganide, not ours,” Sunier coldly said. Though she had already apologized for her impoliteness toward Guevara, she still kept a certain distance with him.
Guevara smiled and slowly walked to the door. “Take me to the camp, Ronning. I want to have a look there.”
“Of course, Sir.” Ronning was puzzled at first, but soon strode over to the door. Sometimes, a secret was hard to keep. For example, the day after Sunier had disclosed Guevara’s identity, all the soldiers had known that there was a Dragon Knight in their camp. It had indeed been good for stabilizing morale among the soldiers to some extent, but it had also caused lots of troubles.
“Excuse me.” Han Jin also stood up. Guevara had given him a hint just now. He clearly had something to say to him.
The camp of the Riptide Regiment was straight east from where they were staying. The prisoner camp was also there. Guevara kept silent and walked along the street at a slow pace, while the two young men followed him, full of confusion.
Around two hundred meters away from the camp, a group of soldiers came across them. Among them, there were ten-odd Cavemen who had been captured not long ago. The tough ropes deprived them of their freedom, but never of their fierceness. None of the captives were willing to resign to their fate, and all of them desperately struggled and screamed in violent voices. The soldiers had to beat them to the ground and grag them forward.
“Wait,” Guevara said.
The soldiers all stopped immediately. The leader of the group respectively gave them a military salute. “General, Master Guevara!” he said. He didn’t know how to address a Dragon Knight, thus he simply addressed him as ‘Master’.
“It must have been hard for you to catch them.” Guevara laughed.
The captain of the soldiers instinctively touched the wounds on his own face and showed a bitter smile. “We were lucky. Almost all of our brothers from the seventh squadron were seriously injured yesterday. Some are still in bed today.”
“Raphael… your way will not work,” Guevara suddenly said to Han Jin.
“My way?”
“Untie that Caveman.” Guevara pointed to one of the captives.
The leader hesitated and looked at Ronning for approval. Ronning nodded. The captain walked to the Caveman and personally untied him. However, the Caveman pounced on the captain as soon as he was freed with his teeth bared, and his claws brandishing. However, the captain was prepared and kicked him onto the ground.
The Caveman struggled to stand up, but was kicked back again. The same scene was repeated many times until the Caveman ran out of strength, but his mouth was still uttering some strange cursing sound.
Guevara went toward him and put his foot on its head. The Caveman writhed his body, grasped Guevara’s, and then started biting it with his wet mouth.
“Listen carefully to his voice,” Guevara coldly said.
Both Han Jin and Ronning could hear it clearly. The voice was full of fierceness and hatred. Guevara slowly exerted more strength, pressing the Caveman’s head out of shape. Eventually, it popped like a watermelon.
“Untie that one,” Guevara said.
Each of Cavemen did the same thing when they were untied, even though they knew what was waiting for them. They showed no sign of yielding. On the contrary, they shrieked louder and louder, and resisted more and more violently.
“You don’t know them. You can’t expect them to react like a human would.” Guevara’s eyes seemed hollow, as if he were remembering something. “Neither persuading nor threatening would work!”
“But what should we do?” Ronning asked.
“I have lived for more than 70 years. Do you know what is the most impressive lesson I have learned?” Guevara lowered his voice. “Not to trust any other races easily, including the dragons and the elves. Little guy, this isn’t to stir up conflicts between your team. I simply mean… we have different ways of thinking. Do you understand me?”
“I’ve been to the underground world, the domains of the dragons, the Moonlight Forest, and countless deserts. The more places I travel, the more things I could see. Come with me. I have some interesting stories to tell you.”
Han Jin and Ronning looked at each other, both noticing the astonishment in the other’s eyes.
“There are things that you can’t see or touch, but do indeed exist, and are important above all else.” Guevara’s hoarse voice came to them. “A Dragon Knight won’t drive its dragon to attack one of the cities of the dragons. An elf won’t offer it’s Fountain of Life for any other race…”