Lord: I Grind EXP with Warband Panel

The soldiers had been worn down by the long war, leaving them mentally and physically exhausted.

This was especially true of the Algerians in the rear.

After all, the Franks had something of a morale boost, but the Algerians were truly far from home.

Now, with a single command from Robson, the entire army was once again brimming with a newfound vitality.

Aside from the promise of a rank or two of military merit, what truly excited the soldiers were three specific words.

The final war!

Military merit could be won on the battlefield, but you had to be alive to enjoy the rewards.

As the war dragged on and their comrades fell, the soldiers had long grown weary of it. 'If I die, what's the use of all this military merit?' Robson hadn't established any system for inheriting merit, after all.

Now, those three words snapped the restless soldiers out of their battlefield haze, reminding them of the Affleck Domain. They instantly realized that the military merit they were earning was for their own futures.

Moreover, "The final war!" That meant this was their last chance to earn military merit.

Roused to action, the soldiers moved with new urgency.

In an instant, the entire camp was filled with the shouts of men and the neighing of horses.

A more direct indication was on the Mount & Blade panel: morale had instantly shot up by ten points and was still climbing.

It looked like this time, the soldiers' morale might even break through Robson's morale limit.

.....

On Robson's side, the army began to move out slowly.

Meanwhile, King Monroe had been feeling restless and tense lately.

Monroe was a rather superstitious man, so upon feeling this unease, he immediately prayed to every god he could think of, demanding to know what was happening.

He made offerings to the Beast God, the Great Powers, Danganiel, and even the Lord of Dawn.

That was just how the Gray Dwarves were. Their long history of wandering had given the Gray Dwarves a peculiar faith—they believed a little in everything.

In a world with actual gods, this wasn't a sign of enlightenment. It was simply the result of acting despicably one too many times and being abandoned by the divine.

The Gray Dwarven Priest was a bungler, completely incapable of making any predictions.

In truth, it wasn't just the Gray Dwarven Priest. Even the Beastman High Priest or the Pope could only perceive faint divine whispers.

The gods hadn't descended in a very long time. Most recent cases of divine possession had been the work of heretical cults.

Now, many people heard "divine possession" and immediately thought of heretical cults, forgetting how the Holy See of the First Empire Era had made its name.

In the end, the Gray Dwarven Priest could only give Monroe an ambiguous answer, which made Monroe so paranoid that he'd suspect a random dog on the street of harboring malicious intent. It even made Floyd think Monroe had seen through his own schemes.

「That night.」

As usual, King Monroe finished his state affairs and prepared for sleep.

In truth, there wasn't much to handle. Although the Gray Dwarves were renowned for betraying outsiders, their long nomadic history had made the race rather united internally. In a thousand years, the dominant family had only changed twice.

The only thing Monroe truly had to worry about was the wavering great clans and their stance on the Empire's current situation.

However, he figured that until something actually happened to Beast Emperor Kemal, very few would truly stand with him, so it wasn't worth losing sleep over just yet.

As King Monroe sank into sleep, he felt as if some intangible power was scrutinizing him. He followed this sensation to its source, only to find the face of Kemal waiting for him.

In the middle of the night, Monroe was startled awake by the sound of rain outside his tent.

Just as he was thinking it must have been a dream, he suddenly heard a strange commotion from afar.

Hm?

Confused, Monroe rolled out of bed. To the bewilderment of his guards, he knelt and pressed his ear to the ground, listening.

"Cavalry!" Monroe exclaimed.

As the Gray Dwarven King, Monroe was also a veteran of the battlefield.

He could tell from the sound alone that it was cavalry!

'Are they coming for me?'

Monroe was puzzled. According to his intelligence, the Beastman Emperor was supposed to be crossing the Bronze Plains, and he had already blocked the roads in advance.

"Guards!"

Monroe frowned, looking outside his tent.

A moment later, a sturdy Dwarf warrior stepped into the tent.

"My King."

"Go to the forward camp. Ask General Dor what in the world is happening."

General Dor was one of Monroe's many sons.

"As you command!"

.....

Meanwhile, General Dor was sound asleep in his bed, snoring loudly.

Dor's own cultivation was not low—he was at the Gold level—but no matter how high one's cultivation was, the battlefield still took its toll.

General Dor had previously been on the Western Front, where he'd hardly gotten a wink of sleep. He had finally returned to Iron Dome Castle, thinking he could sleep soundly for a few days, only to be dragged back to the battlefield as soon as he arrived.

It couldn't be helped; few had answered the Gray Dwarves' call to arms, so Monroe had no choice but to rely on his own family now.

In his dream, Dor thought he heard the thundering of hooves once more.

It wasn't just hoofbeats, but also the sound of Magic Crystal Cannons.

The Magic Crystal Cannons transported General Dor's mind back to the Western Front, to the banks of the Somme River. He once again recalled that grueling siege across the river.

In an instant, Dor was wide awake.

Hoofbeats! There really were hoofbeats!

'No, wait. This sound...'

It's the sound of wolves!

'Why would there be the sound of Warg Mounts here?'

Alarm and uncertainty filled General Dor's heart.

"Enemy attack! We're under attack!"

Enemy attack!

Hearing those two words, General Dor immediately rolled out of bed and rushed out of his tent.

Outside the tent, the sound was even louder, mixed with the howls of countless wolves.

The Wolf Cavalry!

General Dor understood at once: the Beastmen's Wolf Cavalry were here.

'How could they be so fast?'

General Dor was caught completely off guard by this sudden, head-on attack.

"Sound the alarm! All troops, assemble!"

"Enemy attack! Enemy attack!"

General Dor shouted at the top of his lungs.

Beastman Wolf Cavalry... He knew without a doubt that their arrival meant one thing: Beast Emperor Kemal was here.

At the thought of Beast Emperor Kemal, General Dor felt a pang of apprehension.

That was the Beast Emperor!

Although King Monroe had already given everyone a pep talk, this was still the Beast Emperor they were facing!

Moreover, Kemal was no incompetent emperor. In fact, his word was usually law. If not for the utter failure of the Beastmen's southern invasion and a century of accumulated conflict, the Gray Dwarves would still be taking orders from him.

General Dor could only pray that Kemal was not personally leading the opposing army.

Otherwise, Kemal leading the Wolf Cavalry...

'That combination,' General Dor thought, 'is enough to make one lose all will to fight back.'

At General Dor's command, the entire Gray Dwarf camp began to stir into action.

Most of the Gray Dwarves' elite troops were stationed around King Monroe.