Vol 3 Chapter 11.2 (2/2)

That’s right, she’s my number one general, how could she have died in the chaos so easily?

Ji Ling rode over slowly, and when she was in front of me, I saw that her hands were trembling.

“My lord, are you alright?”

“… Maa, maa, I’m alright.” Worry about yourself before worrying about others. “What were you doing Ji Ling? Where were you?”

Do you know how worried I was for you?

“Ah, I was swept away by the cavalry and then I made my way here by following the perimeter.” Ji Ling dismounted and knelt down on one knee before continuing. “Your servant deserves death for not being able to fulfill her duty.”

Death… Huh.

“… It’s fine as long as you’re alright.” I forcefully tightened my expression and raised my eyebrows as I said so.

“Eh?” Ji Ling raised her head in surprise and looked at me with an expression that was as if the way the reply I gave her frightened her.

“What are you ‘eh’-ing for? Your job now is to protect me right.” I couldn’t keep it up any longer and turned away so she wouldn’t see my weak side. “If you die, then the number of people who will protect falls by one no?”

“…” Ji Ling did not reply immediately and only gave a ‘acknowledged’ after a moment.

I could hear the joy from this fellow’s voice. As Emperor, I supposed it’s necessary to spoil your servants once in a while.

“Alright, the reunion ends here.” Yan Xiang clapped twice and I and Ji Ling looked at her. “Look my lord, the defenses on that side have become thin. The forces we can control are too few so I think leaving this place is for the best.”

I don’t know what Yan Xiang means, but I think she’s saying we can leave this place.

A 20,000 strong army rendered impotent after an interception and an ambush.

I’m sure this is due to luck.

“The troops that have followed are about less than 200.” Yan Xiang reported after counting the exhausted soldiers at the back.

To think that I’m left with so few…

“Then what about the others? Are we just leaving them be?”

“I left a 100 men ahead of time who will handle the clean up. When they finish off the ambush, they will return to the city.” Yan Xiang pressed her forehead and flung her soil-ridden hair back, revealing a refres.h.i.+ng and comical forehead. “Speaking of which, Ji Ling, what was it about that person not being Cheng Pu?”

At this question, Ji Ling showed a perplexed look again. “Ah, you all saw it too right. Those flags clearly state that they are the Cao army. And from what I know, Cheng Pu should be over 30 years old, so that young girl can’t be Cheng Pu.”

“I didn’t think that the Cao army would just appear out of nowhere… If I’d known, I would have sent out more scouts.” Yan Xiang said some words that came a little too late. “Now that I think about it, if we hadn’t bothered to deal with that girl, we wouldn’t have revealed our tracks in the forest. I think that the ambush was prepared during Ji Ling’s duel with that girl.”

“Aiya, what’s the point in saying this now?” I looked at the sun, and it felt like a good amount of time had pa.s.sed. “After we return to the city, we are regrouping and counterattacking immediately!”

After sitting on the horse for half a day, my b.u.t.t hurt quite a bit. The sweat from before made my underwear stick to my body and it was wet and humid. I felt a strong urge to strip my royal robe off.

“Speaking of which, there is one thing I don’t understand…” Yan Xiang said as she rubbed her forehead, and looked ahead with uncertain eyes. “Why did the ambush not start with arrows? If they did so, then we would have sustained a lot more damage.”

How will I know that?~~~ Maybe the enemy thinks that arrows are too heavy.

— We didn’t use arrows because we want to capture you alive of course.

A cold voice echoed in the forest.

The one who replied wasn’t me, nor was it Ji Ling.

“Everyone on guard!” Yan Xiang immediately ordered the troops who drew their weapons and readied themselves for battle.

“Who is it?!” Ji Ling raised her spear cautiously.

I tried to find where the sound came from but to no avail.

Just when I was naively hoping it was a delusion, a black figure slid down from the tree.

As the figure stepped out into the light, a female warrior holding a large halberd could be seen. The aura that emanated from her triggered alarm bells in my head.

“I am Lu Bu Lu Feng Xian, and I have been waiting for you all for some time now.” She said as she stuck the halberd into the ground, sending soil flying everywhere. When the soil landed, several rows of troops came crawling out of the shrubbery like magic and blocked our escape.

“Kuh, we fell for it.” Yan Xiang said with a despondent look. “Looks like the thin defenses back there were to lure us here huh.”

How could that be? …

I s.h.i.+fted my eyes away from Yan Xiang and looked at the warrior once more who was looking at me and she said–

— Relax, I’m here to capture you alive.

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