Chapter 437 Isn’t it common sense not to move during cutscenes?
Under the guidance of Saint Karen's oracle, a team escorted by a thousand Salvation Army soldiers left Quemu Fort in a mighty manner,
headed towards the direction of Wheatfield Village.
This team is mostly composed of villagers from Maitian Village, with nearly 900 families and about 5,000 people.
Since the refugees in the camp had been divided into areas according to their identity numbers, and the whole village lived together, there was no commotion when the team left.
Even when they left, it was the busiest time in the refugee camp in the early morning.
It is worth mentioning that when the soldiers of the Salvation Army initially asked them to return to their original villages, the vast majority of them were unwilling to go back.
First of all, everyone wants to get closer to Her Majesty the Holy Lady. Secondly, there is visible wheat porridge in the camp, and no one knows what the situation is in Maitian Village now. Maybe they will starve again when they go back.
Faced with this group of uncooperative villagers, even Brennan found it difficult. Now that they are no longer the Green Forest Army, he can't just wave his hand and let the brothers drive people over like sheep.
Happily, Her Majesty the Merciful Saint stood up again and persuaded them with the "oracle".
"This is the will of the gods, saying that the wheat field village will usher in an unprecedented harvest in the coming year."
I have to say that the oracle is really a very useful thing.
Even Brennan couldn't help but believe that God really said this, so that the team that escorted the refugees home became a hot job within the Salvation Army.
After all, which rebel who rose up was not a farmer?
Most of these people have no place of origin to return to, no family, and no worries.
Since the gods have said that this land will usher in an unprecedented harvest, it is naturally a good place to settle down.
Old Hank is very lucky.
He was once a villager in Maitian Village, and he was extremely familiar with the conditions there. He even knew the name of every tree, so he naturally joined the first batch of people returning home.
He can no longer remember how many years he has left there. The Earl of Quemu Castle just left a few days ago, but the barons, knights, and knights under him have moved to Twilight City a long time ago and will not come back. Otherwise, the Earl would not hide in the castle like a fox.
Some of those guys who broke their oaths simply ran to the royal capital, or Thunder City in the Principality of Campbell in the south, taking with them the property they looted from the territory.
· Nobles are often not bound to the land. Only cattle and sheep are bound to the land under their feet.
Of course, this situation will no longer exist in the future.
They no longer have nobles.
Still an oracle announced by the saint, the sons of Saint Sith took pity on the suffering in this land and allowed them to establish a kingdom without nobles. The army of salvation did not owe allegiance to any secular king, but only to the devout people of the holy land.
From now on, they are all free people, and everything they grow belongs to them. They only need to collect a tax when selling to merchants, instead of having to hand over all the output except rations to the lord as before. Only the fruits and vegetables harvested from the "fields" truly belong to them.
Because the tax is collected directly from the merchants, there is no need to pay!
Old Hank was full of confidence in his future life and felt that the wind blowing in his face was sweet along the way.
He no longer has to worry about where his next meal will be, he doesn’t have to be woken up by hunger in his sleep, and he doesn’t have to be afraid of those soldiers who once showed off their might.
It’s strange to say.
Those Salvation Army soldiers who escorted them, many of them were "green ghosts" who were detestable a month ago, but now they have become a group of people with faith. Old Hank even likes these young men a little bit.
They are no longer full of foul language, replaced by the teachings of the saint.
They will even take the initiative to help the old people pushing wheelbarrows and women who are weak, handing water bags to thirsty children and chatting with the refugees who are returning home.
There is an understanding of the past and a longing for the future.
"I still remember that when I was a child, during the best years, the soil beside the running river was so black and shiny that a handful of it could produce oil! A handful of potatoes planted in the spring could be dug out before autumn! They were all as big as a fist!"
The young soldier couldn't help but swallow, with unconcealable envy in his eyes.
The old man smiled and continued.
"This is nothing in Wheatfield Village! Have you ever seen raspberries as thick as two thumbs? In the past, when we went for a walk in the forest, we could bring out a big basket! We couldn't finish it!"
"Then, will you just eat raspberries and potatoes?"
“How is that possible! When autumn comes, there are so many mushrooms to pick from in the forest, and every household is busy smoking pork, stuffing sausages, and stuffing cabbage into jars. When winter comes, when the first snow falls, our family gathers around the fireplace to cook a pot of pickled cabbage and pork knuckle soup.< br/>
Paired with freshly baked rye bread—hey, I bet, Her Royal Highness has never tasted it!”
The old man said with a nostalgic look on his face, which made all the young men around him greedy, and the porridge in their mouths no longer tasted good.
But when he said this, the old man also had a melancholy expression on his face,
That was all a long time ago.
In a place where people don’t even have enough to eat, you can’t see pigs anywhere, let alone livestock such as pigs, cattle and sheep. Even the dogs that guard homes and help with hunting are almost extinct in the Dusk Forest.
Listening to what the old man said, Old Hank was also aroused in his stomach. He couldn't help but miss the taste of the broth and felt that his rusty legs and feet had regained their strength.
Having been hungry for so long, he almost forgot what life was like for people.
However, soon, his enthusiasm that he had just raised was hit the bottom by the reality that followed.
They arrived at Maitian Village.
What comes into view is not the hometown that I miss so much, but the ruins and ruins.
Thorns and weeds half as tall as a man are devouring every inch of the land crazily. The foundations of burned-down houses can be faintly seen on the black scorched earth. The poetic pastoral scene seems to exist only in dreams.
The hungry people passing by here ate everything they could eat, and the inedible ones were taken away and used as firewood. The only things that survived were bones and thorns that even beasts felt like cutting their mouths.
"Is this Wheatfield Village?" Standing on the edge of the village, the young man in the team returning home said to himself in confusion, the hope in his eyes gradually being replaced by despair.
He originally thought confidently that he was extremely familiar with his hometown, but he did not expect that this place had turned into hell.
Old Hank was silent, squatting down and grabbing a handful of soil, rubbing it carefully with his rough fingers, and then let out a sigh.
The land has been laid waste.
As an old farmer who has been dealing with the land all his life, he knows what this means better than anyone else.
If they want to reseed this land, they must first pull out the weeds that are half a man's height, dig out the stubborn grass roots, and then use animal power. No, they don't have animal power, so they can only use human power to grab the hoe and dig up the rock-solid land bit by bit.
Then the seeds can be sown.
This is not a job that can be completed in one or two months. Normally, they need to reserve three years of food rations before reclaiming new wasteland.
Although restoring these farmlands will not be as difficult as reclaiming wasteland, it cannot be completed in a short time.
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The old man who had previously described braised pork knuckles with pickled cabbage also sighed, looked at his hometown that was crying near him, and murmured to himself, "If we had started making preparations last autumn, we might still be able to catch up now."
What made them feel particularly heavy was that they thought of another oracle that the Holy Lady had given them before leaving - "You will live and eat together with the villagers who have returned home. You must treat them as your brothers and sisters and clear all obstacles for them. If we miss this year's spring plowing, not only will the harvest promised by the gods not happen, we will also face more serious problems than this year."
Everyone feels the heavy weight on their shoulders. At this moment, they bear not only their own fate, but also the fate of everyone around them and even behind them.
No one wanted to go back to the hell of a few weeks ago, whether it was the hungry people or the soldiers. Just when everyone fell into silence, there was a sudden movement in the distant forest.
It was a group of people wearing dark green cloaks. The hoods covered their faces, making their identities unclear.
The first person to spot them was a sentry. He was confused about what they were going to do, and saw them taking out vine-like crutches from their arms and pointing toward the sky.
"Stop, who are you!" The Salvation Army sentry shouted sharply. He was about to step forward to see what was going on when he saw the sky change color.
".—.The spirit of fire flying above the molten stream, I pray to you for the rain of fire from the sky—"
The mysterious man in the lead seemed to have not seen him. He raised his slender arms and poured out ancient and exciting spells from his mouth.
That is the Elvish language.
The next moment, the gray sky suddenly became darker, and countless sparks fell from the sky, like burning arrows flying towards the overgrown land!
The sentry was startled and ran behind him as if lifeless, shouting "enemy attack" at the same time.
He thought he was dead, but something unexpected happened to him!
The flaming arrows seemed to have eyes, accurately avoiding his escape path, and instead landed in the weeds, thorns and bushes!
The arrow not only avoided him, but also the crowds not far away. The boiling flames were like a huge scalding scythe, burning all old and withered things wherever it passed!
The refugees returning home screamed in terror, thinking that the end of the world was coming, and the restless retreating crowd was about to flee.
The captain who led the team drew his sword and shouted loudly to the panicked people behind him, "Don't panic! They are the elves from the rushing river, friends of Her Majesty the Saint, the envoys sent by the Son of God "Fire King" to help us! "
"Their fire will not harm you! They are here to help us!"
Her Royal Highness the Saint told him about this "reinforcement", but he did not expect that the aid from the allies would come in such a sudden way.
The mysterious man in a cloak glanced at the fleeing figure and the noisy crowd in the distance. The corners of his mouth covered with purple lipstick curled up in a mocking arc, and then he continued to weave a spell with cold eyes.
It's too weak. I really don't know why the Demon King wants to help them. Is an ally of this level really worth the time and energy that the adult invests?
However, even though her heart was full of confusion, Helen Moonblade did not pervert the mission entrusted to her by His Majesty.
Thanks to His Majesty, she was able to break through the innate bottleneck and become a gold-level night elf that is not inferior to her father Tyrell!
The flying fire rain is still raging across the vast land, and the noisy heat waves are rising one after another!
Under the joint chant of one hundred and twenty adamantine-level night elf mages, the vast withered yellow surrounding Wheatfield Village faded at a speed visible to the naked eye, and was recolored with black tracks!
After the flames swept across, the earth was dark, and the air was filled with the pungent smell of smoke and grass.
Before everyone could recover from this incredible sight, the night elves all unscrewed the medicine bottles and drank in one gulp. They took a moment to breathe, raised their wands again, and began the second round of casting.
This time - they rained heavily!
"—The water spirit floating above the atmosphere, I pray that you will turn into a continuous rain and bring down the sweet rain to the earth!"
Purple lightning shot into the sky from Helen's raised wand, and a flashing silver dragon seemed to pass through the dark clouds.
Everyone seemed to hear thunder.
Not long after, heavy rain fell from the sky, catching everyone off guard.
The night elves are fine.
They were well prepared and came wearing "raincoats".
In fact, the Salvation Army and the refugees are also fine. What they are looking forward to most at the moment is undoubtedly the rain falling from the sky.
The pouring rain extinguished the last embers on the ground, turning the ashes into mud and seeping into the charred earth.
That was not ordinary rain, but a "carbon dioxide-rich rain" that was fused with air magic.
This is one of the masterpieces of the magic researchers in the Necropolis. Through in-depth research on the so-called periodic table of elements, they made the originally ordinary spells have incredible effects.
After the rainwater is integrated into the soil, it will release the gas contained in the rainwater, thereby loosening the hard soil to a certain extent.
Although this cannot completely replace the hoe and plow, it can at least make the work of clearing land easier.
The spell casting is over.
The land outside Maitian Village has been completely renewed.
Helen retracted the wand in her hand, nodded to her sister Shirley who was standing aside, and retreated into the shadow of the forest with the night elves behind her.
They have practiced this spell-casting process countless times in the Janna continent, and it is as easy as breathing.
Soon they would be riding elk to the next village and repeat the same thing.
This is the task assigned to them by the Lord Demon King. They need to represent the necropolis and ensure that the Salvation Army's spring plowing plan can proceed smoothly. "They left-" Looking at the direction in which the group of river elves left, Old Hank couldn't help but mutter to himself.
The elves on the running river—he always thought it was just a legend, but he never thought they really existed!
Just when he was so moved that he couldn't help crying, there was another sound of bumping in the forest, like bones colliding together. Seeing the situation in the forest, the expressions of everyone who was immersed in joy a second ago changed instantly.
Especially the captain who led the troops, his eyes widened and he screamed out in surprise.
"Death, undead?!"
Generally speaking, the undead will march in groups only when the Necromancer is nearby.
Normally, most of them wander unconsciously in the mountains and wilderness, and are not even as dangerous as jackals.
The commander couldn't help but swallowed. The undead walking from the forest must have been at least two thousand in size, and many of them exuded extremely terrifying auras!
Even if we do not consider the necromancer hiding in the dark and causing mischief, he has little chance of winning with his men.
Just when everyone was panicking, a short green-skinned thing suddenly jumped out.
He looked very much like a goblin, sitting on a metal machine that was emitting black smoke.
When everyone saw him, he was waving his arms and shouting at them.
"Put down your weapons, don't face your friendly forces! They are not undead! They are the Holy Spirit summoned with the Holy Light! If you don't believe it, just shine the Holy Light on them and they will know!"
The visitor is none other than Ork from the Ork Magic Workshop, the Goblin that Miss Mia bought from the slave market in the Magic City a long time ago as a gift to the Demon King.
However, because the greener the Goblin's skin, the nobler and purer his bloodline, the gray-skinned Goblin looks like an alien. It is only because he knows rune technology that he is sold more expensively.
Everyone was stunned for a moment, lowered the weapons in their hands, and exchanged doubtful glances at each other.
Of course, this was also the first time they saw a creature like Goblin in the Dusk Province, so they were not sure whether it was a Goblin.
In the Wanren Mountains, rat people and dwarves are the most common alien races. Further towards the Campbell Principality, there are also lizard people.
As for Goblins, they are commonly found in the Kingdom of Rhodes, the northern wilderness where the academy is located, and the New World.
.—How about we try it with the Holy Light?”
"Good idea, can you?
"Are you kidding me - if I know how to do that, I'll come here and swing a hoe with you?""
Several Salvation Army soldiers exchanged glances and whispered to each other.
Their captain did not speak, he just stood there with a strange look on his face.
The reinforcements Her Royal Highness the Saint mentioned, could they be these guys?
Holy Spirit.
This sounds too weird.
Seeing that the humans still seemed unable to accept it, Ouk patiently said.
"Well, to tell you the truth, they are your ancestors! They saw that you were suffering, so they prayed to the Son of God to let them return to the world. Don't let their good intentions go down!"
"In any case, don't worry about what they are, they will help us plow the land and use machinery!"
If it weren't for His Majesty the Demon King's request, he would not bother to talk so much nonsense with this group of humans.
ance, ancestor? !
My grandfather? ?
Old Hank was startled, and his eyes changed when he looked at the group of skeletons.
He remembered that his grandfather was also named Hank, and he inherited his name from his grandfather.
In other words, there is also an old Hank over there?
It’s not just him.
The surrounding villagers were the same, with a mix of joy and fear on their faces. They were happy that the spirits of the ancestors still remembered them, but they were afraid that the ancestors would fall apart while working.
That’s so blasphemous!
The captain looked at the short guy in front of him hesitantly. He always felt that he looked like a goblin, but he was too embarrassed to ask.
But what matters now is not what he is, but what they are going to do now.
He walked up to the guy who looked like a goblin, stared at him and whispered.
".This is a task assigned by Her Highness the Saint, can you leave it to them?"
"Saint?! Ah - no problem, it can be done, it can be done!" Oke's mouth opened wide, shocked.
When did the honorable Miss Partridge show up with a competitor, and she was also a saint of the church? !
But wait—the Demon King has even corrupted the saints of the church. Doesn’t that mean that the corruption of the necropolis has spread to the holy city? !
Ok was instantly excited, even happier than when he heard that his young lady had become the mistress of the necropolis.
This is a great thing!
Looking at the unusual little guy, the captain hesitated, but reluctantly nodded.
There is nothing you can do if you don’t nod.
The soldiers in his hands are okay against ordinary bandits, but they are really not sure about dealing with this group of undead.
And if they really had bad intentions, there was no need to talk nonsense with him. They should have taken action just now.
"Since Her Royal Highness the Saint knows about this matter, I will not ask any more questions—"
Oak: "That's right, shut your mouth, humans! You have so many problems! What you have to do now is to let your people follow our tractors and sow the seeds! Also, send some people to the river. Our engineers have been waiting there for a long time! You should have arrived yesterday!"
The captain looked disgusted and was stunned for a long time before he said anything.
"Tug, tractor?! What is that——"
"You will know what it is soon! With all due respect, the human things in Thunder County are smarter than you!"
Ork is not shy about his venomous tongue.
As a pet that is weaker than Arakto, he can only find a sense of superiority from these weaker human things. When he was in the necropolis, he didn't even dare to mess with Arakto.
Just when he turned around and was about to leave, the human captain suddenly stopped him again.
"Wait a minute."
Oak: "What's wrong?! What's wrong?! Can a human thing finish talking at once?!"
Ignoring the noisy voice, the captain stared at him suspiciously and asked in an uncertain voice.
"You are——Goblin?"
Ok's eyes widened.
Of course he is.
But the Demon King did not allow him to be.
The first sentence that adult said when he handed over the task to him was that he must not let the people of Twilight Province see through his identity as a goblin, otherwise he would suffer the consequences.
Which of your eyes sees that I am a goblin, I, I, I am a goblin! It turns out to be a goblin.
The commander breathed a sigh of relief, looked at the frustrated Oak, smiled, and apologized.
"Sorry, I thought you were a Goblin."
"Hahahahaha! You really know how to joke!" Oak laughed loudly and cursed the damn human things in his heart.
"My name is Luke, what's your name - "Ok! By the way, your name is really unpleasant!"
Looking at this irritable little thing, the captain had a strange expression.
There is no difference, only one syllable is missing.
Not far away, the undead man sitting on the tractor yawned, looked at the good brother beside him, and made a croaking sound.
"When can we start?"
"I don't know! I just hope that these NPCs will work faster and stop grinding!"
While the two were communicating, another undead brother standing not far away cursed.
"Fuck! Why can't I move my legs?"
The veteran player standing next to him joked.
"Are you a newcomer? Isn't it common sense not to move during cutscenes?"
"@%#!"