Several people were walking in the snowy wasteland.
The few people who escaped the pursuit walked in the darkness all night. Art could identify the general direction, but they still got lost. They first walked eastward for most of the night, and then turned to the southeast. As dawn approached, the trade road that should have appeared long ago never appeared in their sight. A few people were a little panicked. The surroundings were completely white, and there were no traces on the ground except for a few sets of footprints left by themselves.
Basi ran to Art, who was looking up from a stone, and said anxiously: "Sir, Odo is dying."
Odo's forearm was cut open by a sharp blade. Although the arrow wound on Beat's chest was serious, the bleeding had stopped, so there would have been no major problem. However, from noon yesterday to now, they had been running for their lives non-stop. Coupled with the cold weather and the freezing weather, without a grain of food in their stomachs, they lost too much physical strength. A small wound that was not serious has now become a fatal problem.
Matt jumped off the stone and came to Odo who was sitting in the snow. He touched his hot forehead and opened the rag on his forearm. The wound had begun to become red, swollen and purple.
"Odo, can you still hold on?"
Otto nodded, but his face was pale and his mouth was turning purple, and his consciousness was a little blurry.
Matt grabbed some snow from the ground and put it on Odo's forehead, and then asked Bas and Kazak to go around to see if they could collect some firewood to make a fire.
“Sir, look, there seems to be a puff of smoke in that direction. Is there a village ahead?” Kazak lamely ran to Art’s side excitedly and told him this happy discovery.
"Go, walk in that direction."
Hence, the four of them supported each other and walked toward the place where the smoke rose.
�������������������������������������������������������������������������tting,'� a group of bandits are coming!� The refugee guard who stood on a boulder with a spear and looked out loudly shouted to the crowd.
Ron threw down the wooden bowl in his hand and stood up: "Damn it! The smoke from the fire must have attracted the robbers."
"Don't panic, everyone. Those with weapons will follow me, and everyone else should hide in the pile of boulders."
Ron led Lawrence and four other refugee guards armed with short spears and ran to the direction of the "robbers' attack." He drew his sword and stood in front of a few people, preparing to meet the "robbers'" charge...
After a while, Ron's sword He lowered his head lower and lower, and his eyes looked straighter, "Master? Master!!!"
"Ron, we'll talk about the rest later. Hurry up and boil some hot water and cook some wheat porridge." Art threw the riding bow and knight's sword to Ron, supported Odo and ran directly towards the fire.
"Brother Ron, sir, what's wrong with them?" Lawrence ran over and asked.
"First do what the adults say."
Kazak buried his head in the wooden bowl in his hand, rolled the last grain of wheat into his mouth with his tongue, stood up, picked up the wooden spoon and put it into the copper pot on the fire, scraping the copper pot with a loud sound, and even after scraping for a long time, he could not scrape out a few grains of wheat. Kazak turned to Lawrence, who was feeding Odo wheat porridge, and said, "Brother Lawrence, can you cook another pot of wheat porridge? The gaps between my teeth haven't been filled yet~"
Lawrence was about to get up to cook the second pot of wheat porridge, but Art stopped Lawrence, "Okay, just eat these, he is too hungry, and he will starve to death if he eats any more."
"Kazak, you should learn from Bass and take a nap after eating, and eat lunch when you wake up. At noon, I will make broth and soak bread for you guys alone." Lawrence said to Kazak, Kazak licked his mouth and had to give up.
Ron was cleaning Art's wounds. The arrow wound on his chest was not deep, and the blood had solidified. There were scratches on his arms and face, and the blisters on the soles of his feet had been worn away. He didn't ask the people in front of him what they had experienced in the past afternoon and night, because the scars on their bodies and the missing weapons told everything.
Matt slept for a while, to be precise, he slept the whole morning. When he woke up, Ron had delivered a large bowl of bone-in-bone stew to him. He grabbed a rib and tore it into pieces. He chewed it twice before swallowing it. Then he turned to look at the two people tied to the grain truck and asked, "Ron, what's going on with them? Why are they tied up?"
Ron handed a piece of toasted rye bread to Art and replied: "They have been clamoring to leave the team and run for their own lives since yesterday afternoon, and this morning they actually planned to steal food and run away. The most annoying thing is that the woman even instigated Everyone was looting food. If Brother Lawrence hadn't stopped me and waited for you to come back to deal with it, I would have chopped these two bastards to death with a sword. At that time, Lawrence and I..."
Ron told what happened to the refugee team.
"Well, you did a good job." Art listened to Ron's story and roughly understood what happened. Ron and Lawrence's handling methods were very appropriate, both stabilizing the refugee team and punishing the food-stealing couple.
After finishing the food in front of him, Art stood up and walked over to Odo and Kazak to check their injuries. Kazak's injured toe was a little red and swollen, but it was not a big problem; Otto's forehead was no longer very hot, and the wound on his forearm had returned to flesh red.
After making sure that several people were in good condition, Art put on his leather armor and picked up his sword and walked to the grain truck. The refugees followed Art and surrounded him.
The two people tied to the grain truck were shivering with cold. They were dirty and their faces were covered with bruises and scratches. Ron explained that they were beaten by the refugees in the morning.
Att walked up to the man and raised his head with the scabbard. Several teeth were knocked out, and the right side of his face was swollen like baked yeast bread.
Att turned around and pointed at the two people tied to the grain truck and said loudly to the refugees who were watching: "Everyone, I believe you know their affairs better than me. I am not in a hurry to deal with these two guys. I want to give everyone another chance to choose. Now there is Anyone who wants to leave, just keep the food I give you, and I swear with the sword in my hand - I will never force you to stay."
Ate looked around the crowd with his sword raised, and after waiting for a moment, there was no sound from the refugee team.
"Okay, since everyone has chosen to stay and follow me, I have to tell you that I am not recruiting you to enjoy life. To eat my food, you must listen to my words, do my things, and abide by my rules! If you behave properly, I will give you a stable life; if you have bad intentions, the sword in my hand will let you know how God punishes sinful souls."
After saying that, Art pulled out his long sword and pointed it at the man tied to the grain cart. There was a burst of exclamation from the crowd.
"What's your name?" Art asked.
"Nu~erduo~" The man was so frightened that he was speechless.
让你们饿过肚子？」
「没～没有～」
「那我可曾让强盗抢掠你们的财物，威胁你的生命？」
「没～没有，大人」
"Then why did you steal the food while I was away? Why did you instigate everyone to accompany you to die?" Art's accusation was almost a roar.
The poisonous-mouthed woman on the side who had the rag pulled out of her mouth knew that her doom was coming, and her face became increasingly pale.
"We realize our mistake, please forgive us. We are willing to be your slaves, we just ask you to spare us from death." The woman's face was dripping with snot and tears, and she kept begging Art.
"No, I will not let two family friends with evil intentions by my side." Art's eyes were filled with murderous intent.
"On behalf of God and the God of Justice, I declare judgment on your sinful souls." Art raised the sword above his head and aimed it at the man's head.
“Ah~~~~” The man opened his mouth and closed his eyes and shouted, as if only shouting could eliminate the fear in his heart. The woman beside him had fainted with fright, and the timid crowd of onlookers had turned their heads.
Bang!
The long sword did not cut off the man's head, but cut off the hemp rope tied to the carriage.
"Keep the food I gave you, and take your women to fend for yourself!"
Looking at the two figures disappearing into the vast snowy field, Ron asked softly next to Art: "Master, is it too merciful to just let them go like this? How can we deter this group of refugees if we don’t kill them~"
"Mercy? Do you think they can survive in this wilderness? Ron, sometimes you don't need to use a sword to kill."
After Art finished speaking, he returned to the group of refugees who continued to go south...