Chapter 873 [0870] The Fall of a Kingdom

When the Frostguard priest arrived at the Delverhold, she was surprised to find that the situation here was worse than she expected.

Famine was spreading.

The Delverhold, which had been cut off from food transportation, had no food of any kind for sale on the market. The mines and blacksmiths were completely abandoned. The miners and blacksmiths either stayed at home to reduce consumption or tried their best to find food around.

Hunger was like a terrible plague, covering every civilian in the Delverhold. But even so, the Valrokan family still closed the southern gate tightly and prohibited anyone from going to Noxus.

Although this would further aggravate the dissatisfaction of the people, they knew very well that if the southern gate was opened and these civilians were allowed to contact Noxus, they would soon become the vanguard of Noxus' attack on the Delverhold.

If they starve them now, when Noxus attacks, they might be able to raise a large army to defend the city with food...

This idea is undoubtedly a self-consolation in a desperate situation, but at this moment, the Valrokan family has no choice. While preparing to defend the lonely city, they are also trying to arrange a retreat for themselves, and the envoys from Lissandra from the north have been warmly welcomed by them.

So, in this time of famine for civilians, in order to welcome the arrival of the Frostguard priests, the Valrokan family held a grand banquet, interpreting with actions what it means that the rich are feasting and drinking, while the poor are freezing on the road.

And the Frostguard priests who came to the Delverhold did not disappoint them. In the expectant eyes of many Valrokan members, the Frostguard priests said that the witches were willing to accept these lost lambs.

Withdraw from the Delverhold and hand it over to the Freldrow, the Valrokan family will be protected by the Frostguard tribe!

The promise of the Frostguard priests gave the Valrokan family a glimmer of hope.

However, they still hesitated - at this moment, the Delverhold was their only bargaining chip. If they gave up the Delverhold and went to Freljord to become a new tribe, these "Ironthorn Kingdom Royal Family" who were used to fine clothes and delicious food might not be able to adapt to the bitter cold of Freljord!

So, in addition to being excited, they were also bargaining with the Frostguard priests.

If possible, the Valrokan family of the Delverhold would rather join Freljord as a vassal, "looking forward to the door to the south" for the Frostguard tribe, and they could "face the Noxian army directly."

Pretty words sound good, but in essence they are still unwilling to give up the territory in their hands and hope to have more room for negotiation.

However, the Frostguard priests obviously won't indulge them.

Just when the members of the Valrokan family were still organizing their words and trying to launch a diplomatic offensive, the Frostguard priests had left a hard ultimatum of "join Freljord or face the inevitable demise" and left the banquet with a cold face.

Only the members of the Valrokan family were left, looking at each other in silence and embarrassment.

……………………

As the Frost Guard priests revealed their attitude, the Valrokan family had to face an embarrassing reality - even if Freljord was willing to accept them, they had no room to maneuver.

The specific details of Tukurgul's surrender have been revealed.

In order to save the Black Forest from the war, the leader who raised his arms and formed the Black Forest Federation took the initiative to surrender to Noxus with some people, and took the initiative to become a gladiator and entered the arena to "atone for his sins."

This also represents Noxus' attitude towards rebellious leaders: if you surrender voluntarily, go to the arena to atone for your sins.

Although there are rumors that those gladiators have a good performance in the arena and are expected to become the new Viscero - and they seem to have contacted the commander's brother Draven and became friends in a sense.

But this cannot alleviate the Valrokan family's fear of Noxus.

For many members of the Valrokan family, being thrown into the arena after surrendering is really no different from dying directly.

The leaders of the Black Forest Federation are all very capable and charismatic guys, otherwise it would be impossible to organize the loose Black Forest area with a single call.

Their entry into the arena is a kind of experience and tempering, as well as a kind of self-affirmation and redemption.

But the Valrokan family was able to establish the Iron Thorn Kingdom not by relying on personal ability!

At this point, the Valrokans still have some idea in their hearts.

For them, being thrown into the arena after surrendering means death, and it is an ugly death - on the contrary, the local miners and blacksmiths of the Digger Castle may not suffer such harsh treatment.

In this case, they will definitely fight to the end, and they will never surrender before the miners and blacksmiths are all dead!

After the failure of trade in the North and Ionia, the members of the Valrokan family have already faced the reality. The reality is that apart from the Noxian Empire, the Delverhold and even the entire Ironthorn Mountains do not have much strategic significance.

Whether it is the northern barrier, the positions of the northern warbands, or the dark iron mines and forging centers, these are all for Noxus.

Although there is now an option to flee to Freljord, compared with surrendering to Noxus, the biggest advantage of this option is that you can survive and will not die in the arena.

The choice is still difficult.

Moreover, the time left for the Valrokans was running out.

Because just three days after the arrival of the Freljord envoys, the news that the Noxian army began to gather came along. After regaining control of the Black Forest area of ​​Tuk'gul, Noxus was ready to attack the Delverhold from both sides.

They did not hide their mobilization of troops at all, and seemed to be ready to retake these arsenals and northern positions!

……………………

Under heavy pressure, the Valrokan family no longer had room to waver.

Because if the Noxian army was at the gates of the city, it would not be easy for them to retreat even if they wanted to.

In this case, they could only follow the requirements of the Frostguard priests, take the miners and blacksmiths in the city, take the initiative to leave the city, and burn the entire Delverhold when they left.

The miners and blacksmiths, weak from hunger, watched painfully as the place where they once lived was devoured by the raging fire, but they had to force a smile on their faces, hoping to get a slightly larger piece of bread from the soldiers who distributed rations.

Although in theory, the Valrocan family still controlled the order, in reality, when the residents of the Digger Castle were driven out of the city and left the Ironthorn Mountains along the mountain path to the north, this place had already become a purgatory on earth.

In order to avoid troublesome resistance and to save the already scarce rations, the Valrocan family set an outrageously low ration standard for these residents who were coerced by them - one pound of coarse bread for every seven people every day, and a pitiful portion of side dishes for every ten people.

This amount of food is difficult to keep one person alive, but the soldiers of the Valrocan family still have to drive them forward.

In order to fill their stomachs, many people chose to drink water during the rest time, trying to fill themselves up and feel more comfortable.

However, after leaving the well of Digwort Castle, they drank mountain spring water without special treatment, and many people suffered from dysentery and diarrhea.

In the case of malnutrition, once diarrhea started, the result was death.

And diarrhea plus death soon brewed a terrible plague.

Even though the priests of the Frost Guard tried to treat them, the miners and blacksmiths and their families who were forcibly relocated by the Valrokan family still suffered more than two-thirds of casualties in this death march.

Almost all the old and young died on the way.

When the team walked out of the Ironthorn Mountains, these people didn't even dare to look back at their former homes - for them, it was no longer their hometown, but hell.

In contrast, many members of the Valrokan family suffered no losses during this death journey, and some even complained that "those unfortunate civilians wasted too much food, leaving their precious purebred horses hungry" and so on.

When these high-ranking nobles passed by, the civilians around them would bow their heads.

But this was not because they were truly obedient, but because they wanted to hide the uncontrollable anger and pain in their eyes.

Since then, the last bit of influence of the Valrokan family on the Diggerburg and the Ironthorn Mountains has been completely eradicated. No one will have any respect for them. If it weren't for the lackeys who were tied to them, I'm afraid these people would have been torn apart by zombie-like civilians.

Most members of the Valrokan family could not see this.

At this time, they were observing the "hunting ground" divided for them by the Frost Guard priests. This vast plain will be the place where they will build their new home in the future.

Although the terrain is obviously not as good as the Diggerburg in the Ironthorn Mountains, it is visibly rich in resources, with large areas of swamps and forests. As long as it is well developed, it should be very useful.

So, the Valrokan family gladly accepted this kindness and instructed the soldiers and civilians to stop and settle down here completely.

It's time to build a new Delverhold. The Valrokan family will use their architectural talents here to build a frontier position for the Freljord and the Frost Witch to attack the Delverhold and the Ironthorn Mountains!

Although many members of the Valrokan family wondered why the Freljord people would voluntarily give up the ready-made city of Delverhold, they still breathed a sigh of relief and focused entirely on the construction of the new territory.

However, that night when the Valrokans thought they should hold a grand banquet to celebrate their arrival at their new home, five united raiding tribes visited the new owner of the territory.

The Valrokan family's private soldiers were good at suppressing hungry miners and blacksmiths, but in the field, facing experienced raiders, the result was only death.

When the raiders rode on Enyuk, formed a spearhead formation and rushed into the private soldiers' formation; when the polished and shining horns of Enyuk easily pierced the private soldiers' armor and hung them on their heads; when the simple fence was trampled into dregs by these unreasonable and uncommunicative Freljord barbarians, the nobles of the Valrokan family were finally stunned.

"No!" Old Valrokan shouted in a half-baked Freljord language, "This is the will of the witch. We came here to follow the will of the witch. You can't do this-"

However, no looters paid any attention to him. Even many Enuk knights who were charging back and forth only looked at him calmly after hearing his call, as if they were speculating on his threat.

Well, an old man who could only talk.

So, they didn't even think of attacking him.

Finally, when no armored warrior stood on the ground, the raid finally came to an end.

Looking at the private soldiers who had been completely destroyed, the former King Iron Thorn, now Mr. Old Valrokan, could only mutter "Your actions will surely anger the Frost Witch", and then he shook like a big, fat sieve, like a ricket.

"Come on, old man." While the other looters were cleaning the battlefield and collecting spoils, a leading war mother rode a warg that was taller than a horse and came to him. "The Frost Witch won't care about these things, and she can't do it."

"You!" Old Valrokan's eyes widened, "You damned-"

"Noisy." The war mother riding the warg took back her True Ice Scimitar, and flexibly bent down, picked up a spear from a corpse on the ground, and easily stabbed the old thing through, "We have followed the will of the Frost Witch and given you the most precious territory, but it's a pity that you can't keep it."

Blood gushed out, and the warg subconsciously wanted to open its mouth, but the war mother grabbed the reins and led it to jump to the side-her disgust for the blood of old Valrokan was almost visible to the naked eye.

"The witch gave you a chance, but you are useless, old man!"

At the same time, most of the direct members of the Valrokan family were executed, and the former Ironthorn royal family completely disappeared in the long river of history.

In contrast, those blacksmiths who were pale and thin and looked like skeletons were valued by these looters, and were quickly divided up and became furnace households of various tribes-even for these blacksmiths, several tribes that had just joined forces almost turned against each other.

In the end, in a mess, the blacksmiths were divided up and taken away, the nobles and soldiers became fertilizer for the wasteland, and only the largest number of miners were left trembling, not knowing what to do next.

Fortunately, not long after, the Frost Guard priests arrived and provided them with basic survival guarantees, taking them to a col.

At the same time, in the Immortal Fortress, a Frost Guard priest also met the current Noxian commander as an envoy.

"Sir Darius." The Frostguard priest's Noxian language was stiff and strange, with a distinct Delvergard accent. Fortunately, Darius was originally from the Northern Warband, so he could still understand, "Does Noxus need 200,000 skilled miners?"

Kalya's Little Classroom·The Cruel Law of East Freljord:

In East Freljord, no one will go against the will of the witch, so the area divided by the witch will always count.

But if the witch does not declare to protect a tribe or a person, then killing him and annexing his territory will not be considered against the will of the witch.