Chapter 37: The Advance
Word Number:253
Author:苍渊之握
Translator:
Release Time:2026-02-24
The magistrates and representatives of the Highland League still clung to their former titles and lifestyles, parading in status-defining regalia and attending a constant stream of lavish banquets. Their ornate carriages rattled through city streets, accompanied by the overbearing shouts of their attendants. But unlike before, these gatherings were no longer driven by mere socializing or vanity; they were filled with frantic condemnations and desperate strategizing. However, these nobles had long since alienated their subjects through systematic plunder and greed, stripping away every shred of public trust. Even as they huddled to discuss countermeasures against the encroaching Worksmile army, the common people of the Highlands had already begun to look upon Worksmile as their liberators. The growing clamor and unrest finally jolted the nobility into a state of shock, prompting them to resort to iron-fisted methods to excise the "internal rot." Yet, the rulers' dungeons, the executioners' axes, and the gallows failed to bend the people to their will; instead, they ignited an even more ferocious fire of resistance. One magistrate, acting on the foolish advice of his subordinates, went so far as to arrest a passing Worksmile envoy and execute him in broad daylight. He then had the corpse dragged slowly through the streets by a donkey, a crude attempt to show that Worksmile was not to be feared and to forcibly drag his subjects into a confrontation with the Duke. But when the Worksmile army finally appeared before the city walls, hoisting the banners of the Duke and the gods, the