The nobles looked at each other, no one answered Joseph’s question.

Joseph’s face looked a bit unpleasant.

"Roland, didn’t you say Wagner would arrive in three days at most? Now the third day is almost over."

He looked at the middle-aged noble beside him, his expression carrying a hint of dissatisfaction.

The middle-aged noble’s expression also didn’t look good, his brows furrowed, and he said in a deep voice:

"Duke, perhaps they encountered some trouble on the way, as you know, they are transporting a lot of goods, and the weather in the Western Domain hasn’t been great these past couple of days. We could wait a bit longer..."

"Wait? Still wait? Time is most precious to us now. Maintaining such a massive army incurs astronomical costs every day!"

Joseph snorted, clearly discontent.

War is indeed a spender.

Although in this holy war many nobles have their own logistics, the Rosen family’s pressure as the leader of the army is absolutely the greatest.

Every day’s delay means a tremendous expense.

And at this moment, a knight on a fast horse rushed over from the rear of the formation, shouting loudly while hurrying:

"Duke! Duke!"

Upon hearing the call, Joseph looked over quickly, soon recognizing the knight he had personally sent out to assist the Wagner family two days ago.

Recognizing him as the returning assistant, Joseph’s expression turned joyful.

But, as he noticed the knight’s grim expression, his heart sank, having a bad premonition.

The knight galloped off the horse, panting heavily as he came before Joseph, pale-faced and said:

"Du... Duke... It’s bad! Viscount Wagner’s army was ambushed, and... and it has been completely annihilated!"

"What did you say?!"

Joseph couldn’t help but change his color.

The surrounding nobles also widened their eyes, showing expressions of astonishment.

It was hard for them not to be astonished.

The Wagner Family is not a small family in the northern empire, and reportedly this time the number of participants exceeds five thousand, and their family isn’t short of Golden Rank professionals.

Such power could dominate the continent in times of peace, even now with the resurgence of magic power, they’re definitely a faction of lords.

But such power could encounter an ambush without a sound and be completely annihilated?!

No... 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

Even if it was completely annihilated, it’s already been two days, yet not a single survivor escaped to report?

They still have to rely on scouts dispatched here to gather news?

The more the nobles thought, the more absurd it seemed, and simultaneously the more horrifying...

"It’s true... it’s true... I saw... saw the remnants of the baggage train in the Hill Forest, the whole road was stained black with blood, and saw the Wagner family’s tattered banner..."

"The battlefield was chaotic, stretching for kilometers, it seems an ambush occurred..."

"Found no survivors, and no traces of a fleeing army, only some elf footprints in the forest..." "It seems... seems Viscount Wagner’s whole army was wiped out."

The knight said, panting.

Upon hearing this, Joseph’s expression became even more unsightly, and the surrounding nobles, their astonishment quickly turned to shock.

"El... Elves? No... how could elves possibly be behind us? Can they swallow an army of five thousand? Are you really sure?"

Joseph, regaining his senses, asked incredulously.

The knight nodded, speaking dryly:

"Duke, it’s elves, almost no corpses can be seen on the battlefield. This kind of situation can only be done by the legendary brutal and savage Elf Chosen Ones who love ’destroy the evidence’!"

"Duke, it must be the elves sending their army behind us, attacking them!"

Joseph fell silent.

His expression changed several times, finally stomping a large stone underneath him into pieces, gritting his teeth and cursing:

"Those damned, cunning elves!"

"But... how did the elves know Wagner’s movements?"

The middle-aged noble couldn’t help but ask.

The knight was speechless, the nobles looked at each other.

No one could answer his question.

"What else could it be? It must be some commoners reporting the news!"

Joseph sneered.

His gaze was very gloomy, biting his teeth fiercely as he said:

"The Life Church’s thorn has never been fully rooted out, those cunning fellows are lingering evil spirits, possibly passing the news at any time, and judging from the results, they probably knew since Wagner set out from his territory!"

That early?

Upon hearing this, the nobles all exhibited expressions of horror.

It’s known that Wagner’s territory is at least fifteen days away from here, if elves knew the news fifteen days ago...

Hiss...

The nobles’ expressions shifted.

At this moment, they suddenly felt as if the entire empire was full of Life Church’s eyes.

Meanwhile, they felt fortunate, lucky that they set out early enough to catch up with the main forces, otherwise... Wagner’s fate might have been their own.

"Duke, this is not good, if our rear has an elf army powerful enough to wipe out five thousand soldiers wandering around, then our subsequent battles might be significantly disadvantaged. Our reinforcements, our logistics, will face tremendous pressure..."

The middle-aged noble spoke up in a deep voice.

"I know."

Joseph said, his expression looking unpleasant.

Taking a deep breath, he said in a deep voice:

"The elves shouldn’t be too many, otherwise, they wouldn’t choose to attack Wagner in an ambush style."