Warhammer Divine Throne

"Because Duke Lorne’s Knight Army cannot distinguish between the twisted creations of Chaos and the physically deformed peasants, there’s no obvious dividing line, so they simply treat them all as Chaos creations, and that means everyone is sentenced to the stake."

"Therefore, the first reaction of the local peasants when they see us is to run for their lives. And that young man, simply because he couldn’t bear the hunger anymore, was ready to die just to have a full meal when he spoke to us. He said he had only had one full meal in three months, and that was frogs from the swamp, which he swallowed whole while they’re still alive, writhing in his stomach for a long time before they stopped."

Bertrand choked up as he spoke here.

Remon took over the topic, the young Long Halberd Company Commander cautiously said, "Moreover, the wilds of Musillon are extremely unsafe, with Undead, Beastmen, and Chaos creations roaming around. We encountered several instances along the way, and if not for Sir Bertrand’s excellent archery, and our equipment with firearms to deal with those formidable enemies, perhaps we wouldn’t have been able to return alive."

"That place is still as corrupt and depraved as ever." Laine sighed.

The room fell into silence, only the sound of Thomas doing arithmetic outside filtered into the dining room, and Remon somewhat awkwardly wanted to go out and stop him, but Laine immediately signaled with a hand not to bother.

"So, have you gotten close to the lord’s castles?" Laine continued to ask.

"Yes, there are many lord’s castles in Musillon." It was Bertrand’s turn to answer because his eyesight was the best: "Many castles, but most are in ruins. Some were breached by Duke Lorne’s two attacks on Musillon, but some remain. A common point among them is that outside the castles lie a large number of corpses. Some are left by the Knightly Army led by Duke Lorne after they breached the castles and killed the Vampire Lords, but mostly, they are of those any unauthorized intruders who dared encroach on the Vampires’ territory, left as a warning."

"From the local peasants, we learned that these Lord Nobility spend all day wearing black armor and helmets, locking themselves deep within the castles. They’ve possibly been ruling these castles in their name for several centuries, and in Musillon, nearly all the lords are Undead. It’s said that the Undead Lords are very dissatisfied with the current pseudo-Duke of Musillon, Mathew Bade, because they are furious at his decision to retreat twice to Musillon when facing Laine’s attacks, ignoring their interests."

"Good, now we have basically figured out the situation in Musillon." Laine acknowledged, "Good, you’ve completed most of your mission this time. What about Leonais? Remon, I heard you went back to your original village?"

As soon as these words were spoken, the atmosphere in the room noticeably changed to something peculiar. Both Laine and Surya immediately sensed that there could be an important finding in this investigation.

Laine signaled Juan to close the door.

"The situation is dire, my Count, Leonais is in very bad shape." Remon finally spoke, with an air of mystique, "The nobility is in-fighting, the peasants are rioting and there’s small-scale civil wars, and threats from Beastmen and Norsca Pirates. Now, the entire Duchy is just a lid on top of a powder keg, with the fuse already lit and burning into the keg."

"This Duchy could explode at any moment, any moment."