I, the Villain, Want to Save Myself, But the Yandere Heroines Disagree-Chapter 4 - Early Signs of a War Criminal (1/3)

After capturing several small towns along the border, the beastmen acquired relatively sufficient supplies. These resources, originally prepared for the defending human soldiers, were now entirely in the pockets of the beastmen army.

Inside a captured human city, the commander-in-chief of the beastmen tribal alliance, the United Chieftain Balu, sat in the administrative office.

The war reports sent from the front lines were very encouraging. The human side apparently had significant internal conflicts, with many armies unwilling to obey their commanders’ orders. Furthermore, Lucius, the nightmare of the beastmen in the previous war, had now fallen. The beastmen’s morale was unprecedentedly high.

The beastmen coalition army had now captured many villages and towns. fгeewёbnoѵel.cσm

The granaries in these villages and towns happened to be stockpiled with grain that hadn’t been transported after the autumn harvest. Although the yield of this grain wasn’t particularly large, it was enough to sustain the front-line troops for half a year.

The logistics problem, which was quite strained at the beginning of the campaign, had gradually improved with this method of living off the land.

From now on, every time the beastmen army captured a town, the plundered resources could be transported back to the rear for the women and children of the tribes, as they represented the future of the beastmen.

As the troops penetrated deeper into the Empire’s territory, the resistance they faced also slowly increased. All of this was within Balu’s expectations. In fact, the progress achieved so far was already enough to make Balu overjoyed.

Looking at the map originally used to defend against the beastmen, Balu’s gaze was fixed on Phenix City, a large city in the eastern part of Antica City, and also the location of the Imperial Army’s front-line command headquarters this time.

As long as they could capture that place, they would obtain enough supplies. At that time, they could retreat to the depths of the desert with the provisions before the human army arrived to surround and annihilate them. This way, the lives of their tribesmen in the rear would be comfortable for a good while.

You know, during this period, in order to carry out his revenge plan, almost all the beastmen in the rear who were not participating in the battle had tightened their belts, saving up grain to supply the front lines.

For these people, Balu felt nothing but gratitude.

...

In a village within the beastmen-controlled area, a beastmen army of about two hundred soldiers was currently resting.

Seemingly to celebrate the victory in battle, this group of beastmen had specifically set up logs in the village square and lit a large bonfire. They planned to spend the night gathered around the bonfire.

Beside the bonfire, several humans were tied up, their faces showing nothing but despair.

Some of these people were elderly who had difficulty walking and couldn’t evacuate, while others were young men and women who had stayed behind to take care of the elderly.

The small beastmen unit planned to burn these people to death as a sacrifice to their ancestors who had died in the previous war.

The flames burned fiercely. The commander of this beastmen troop walked up to the human captives. He scanned the crowd and knelt beside a village girl.

“Ugh... kill me,” the village girl said, feeling very uncomfortable under the beastman’s gaze.

“It’s alright, you’ll be the first to die,” the beastman commander said in broken Common speech.

He had just scanned the captives to find the one he disliked the most to throw into the bonfire first.

Although this village girl was not ugly by human standards of beauty, and could even be described as delicate, in the beastmen’s view, women with soft, tender skin, fair complexions, and no muscle were unhealthy and unattractive.

In the beauty contests held in beastmen tribes, the winning female beastmen basically all possessed very athletic physiques.

As for facial features, for species with different aesthetic standards, beastmen looking at human faces couldn’t distinguish much between beauty and ugliness. In fact, someone considered ugly by human standards might even be more popular among beastmen.

Subsequently, the beastman commander grabbed the village girl by the throat and lifted her up.

The village girl felt the pain of her throat being constricted and struggled continuously.

Just as the commander was about to completely snap the village girl’s neck, something unexpected happened outside.

Dozens of crossbow bolts flew out from the forest, striking the unsuspecting beastmen. In an instant, dozens of beastmen fell to the ground, emitting painful wails.

Although beastmen had significantly stronger vitality than humans, being directly hit by high-velocity crossbow bolts would still incapacitate them.

The other beastmen hadn’t even reacted when another volley of crossbow bolts was fired from the woods on both sides of the square.

Then, from the woods, a group of human soldiers rushed out and engaged the beastmen here in combat.

Seeing this, the beastman commander quickly threw the village girl aside and picked up his massive battle axe, joining the fray.

The mercenaries also noticed this exceptionally large beastman, so some of the stronger mercenaries proactively grouped together to confront this beastman.

The tide of the battle quickly turned. The beastmen side lost one-third of their forces in the surprise attack, while the total number of human mercenaries who came to attack them was twice that of the beastmen. Moreover, since they were mercenaries, their overall strength and quality were generally equal to or even better than those of conscripts and regular soldiers. They could hold their own in one-on-one combat against the beastmen.

Of course, when facing the beastman commander, the mercenaries maintained sufficient vigilance and kept their distance from the big guy.

After all, they were mercenaries who had faced real battles against bandits before. Their combat experience was very rich. The beastman commander had brute strength but couldn’t utilize it effectively. Every time he knocked someone down and prepared to finish them off, another person would cling to him like a fly.

The big commander felt something was off as he kept fighting. He swung his massive axe in a horizontal sweep, pushing aside the people around him, then scanned his surroundings.

Then, he realized that on the battlefield, he was the only one still standing.