Before officially setting off for the shrine on the mountain, the group returned to the villagers' houses where they had briefly stayed.
Although it was true that the staggering walkers suspected of being villagers had disappeared since the sun rose, Henry still directed everyone to check the surrounding environment to ensure safety. After that, he dismantled the inactive alarm and repackaged it for later use. After completing all this, he went inside the house.
The villagers' hut was in a mess. A wall was broken when a little unicorn kicked it while escaping, and everything in the house was covered with a layer of hoarfrost.
The surface of the unfinished soup was frozen, and the part that Galeva stepped on turned into a dazzling white crystal clear beside the fire pit. The broken paper windows swayed in the cold wind. Since the sunlight was blocked by the eaves, it was much colder to stay inside than outside.
Shaking his head to get rid of the thoughts of coveting the warmth of direct sunlight under the clear sky, the group walked into the house and began to check the supplies left behind.
"Wow." Galeva started to make a fuss again, which made the Luoan girl who was a little upset and had not fully recovered her energy very dissatisfied. The reason for the young porter's exclamation was that the clothes were hanging to dry, and the cloak hung to dry near the bathroom was also covered with frost because it was not dried at the temperature of the burning flue. When you pick it up and shake it, fine ice particles will fall down.
Cloaks made of wool are not a big problem because they are waterproof, at least compared to thermal clothing made of cotton and linen as the main body.
Because the paper windows were damaged and the walls were kicked down, the entire house lost its ability to keep out wind and rain. The house that became drafty from all sides was blown by the humid sea breeze all night long, so when the group got their own warm clothes made of cotton and linen, they were frozen to a hard texture and could be used to beat people directly.
"Let's bask in the sun. We also need to eat something." After checking the surrounding environment, the sage said.
His judgments were always sound. Last night's dinner was interrupted in the middle of eating, and even though I barely rested underground for a few hours afterwards, I didn't feel tired now because I was so excited, but several people in the team, including Mira, had their things. I vomited it out. Considering the upcoming trip, I had to eat something even if I had no appetite at all.
The nameless hill where the shrine is located is some distance away from here. Although it does not look particularly high from this distance, according to Lulu, who has been here before, the stairs on the mountain are narrow and steep, and it is very laborious to climb up. If you don't have enough to eat and are cold, and want to solve your doubts or escape from the area as soon as possible due to the fear in your heart, most people will fall down from exhaustion before they can climb the mountainside.
If you don’t eat to replenish your energy, you can’t do anything. This kind of thing is something that even Aggie, who has a weak psychological endurance, can understand. If the scholars and the others had not been left behind by them, the pampered Lisa and other younger generations might have complained that they had no appetite to eat after encountering this situation, and then lost their temper and refused to eat, and then became the ones on the way forward. drag.
But the missionaries knew how to survive. Even though they had just buried a companion and were exhausted after experiencing many unexpected situations, those who survived must move on.
No one is obligated to take good care of you. Even if a companion does so, never take it for granted and enjoy it with peace of mind.
People in the Rigal continent are considered adults at the age of 14. Except for Padrosi and the Southern City-State Alliance and the wealthy capital areas of the Otolo Empire, no country has the concept of "children".
Children should enjoy the support of adults and grow up in happy playing and learning. This kind of thinking can only be produced by wealthy upper-class citizens. In most other poor kingdoms and remote areas, children are weakened versions of adults in all aspects, so they should do what adults should do, and they should also have the ideological consciousness that adults should have.
The missionaries, Galeva and our Luoan girls all grew up in this cultural background. It is an idea that has been cultivated since childhood to support oneself and try not to cause trouble to others. Compared with Lisa and others who grew up in a wealthy upper class society and accepted the ideas of "advanced civilization", although they are older - the average age of the scholars is already 18 - they appear more childish, precisely because they are over-protected. for the sake of.
They spend more time demanding rights than responsibility. Even in situations where everyone is equally suffering from certain difficulties, they will ignore the facts and think that they have been wronged and targeted, and thus start to lose their temper childishly.
It is true that avoiding putting pressure on children and letting adults bear more is a sign of social development and progress, and that there is room for more tolerance. But they are no longer in the imperial civilized society with abundant supplies. Since we are going on this kind of adventurous trip across the ocean to a strange continent that most people will never experience in their lifetime, we still need to have a good basic ideological awareness.
After experiencing some hardships, maybe Lisa and others will slowly become mature and independent, but this will take too long. Scholars are too arrogant. People who are educated in classical Lamanism are too arrogant. This is not unique to them. Many cultures that consider themselves to have long-established civilizations will have this tendency to put on airs. If a sense of superiority is coupled with poor social skills and government, it will evolve into a situation where people often change their identities and put their seniority in an attempt to get ahead of others, leading to frequent unnecessary conflicts within the team.
If he were traveling in the peaceful countryside of the empire, Henry might not choose to intensify conflicts and divide the team. Because annoying guys still have the possibility of growth, and tolerance for idiots is also a sign of maturity.
But they are now in an unfamiliar continent, operating within an unfamiliar sphere of influence, and as foreigners are hostile to mainstream society. In this case, in the face of a situation that may change at any time, what is needed is teammates who are adaptable and independent, rather than this kind of trouble that not only cannot support themselves but also causes extraneous problems.
All in all, the fact that everyone is sensible is an important reason why the sage's command can be effective. No one is going against you. Even if you really have no appetite, in order to warm up your body and gain enough energy to continue moving, the group of people silently processed the food and chewed and swallowed it with a slight force on themselves.
No matter how strong the winter sun is, it can't be compared to midsummer. Fortunately, after a series of preparations were completed and repacked, all their clothes were finally dried.
Wearing familiar clothes again, the warm clothes made me feel better. After changing back to adventurer clothes that were fully protective and easy to move around, Mira and Henry finally returned to their best condition.
The Luoan girl who was hit and punched by her own sword was lucky not to be seriously injured. The cushioning of her clothes and her armor effectively protected her. Despite some minor bruising and some soreness when moving, she was still able to move freely.
But because the long sword was completely damaged, Mira could only take over Galeva's one-handed sword and match it with a small shield. In addition, they also took the time to make many long swords using knives collected from nearby houses and wooden sticks. Spears, and simple shields made from nails and boards, armed everyone.
A village with sufficient supplies has everything you need. With sufficient tools and materials, it is not difficult to make some temporary weapons and armor.
Although you can get better-quality Moon Kingdom-style armor and weapons by going underground, even the sage with the highest combat power doesn't want to take unnecessary risks.
Wrapped everyone in thick armor and equipped with high-quality weapons may sound like a desirable goal, but it actually doesn't have much practical significance.
Because the only people in the team who have truly received professional combat training are Henry and Mira. Lulu is better at tracking and hunting, while Galeva just looks taller and more powerful. Although he has strength, he lacks the ability to use it rationally. experience.
The remaining three missionaries have no idea what fighting is. They are the kind of beings who, if given a sword and told to swing it, the chances of them hitting one of their own or spraining their waist or wrist are much higher than hitting the enemy.
So simply and crudely, just a spear that can be thrust forward and a shield that can be held to form a protective shield are enough.
If you have to take the risk to get those armors and swords, they will only become a burden that consumes physical strength and cannot constitute actual combat effectiveness.
People don't just pick up weapons and put on armor, and they will instantly transform from laymen to top warriors. It is true that a pair of well-made armor can greatly increase the survivability of a layman, but this is only limited to the case where the opponent is also a layman.
As long as the opponent is well-trained and understands where the weak points of your armor are, then you will have a higher chance of stumbling and dying faster because of your clumsiness while wearing the armor.
Henry and Mira, who knew this, only made some simple weapons. However, during the search for tools, Lulu also found a quite large bow in a nearby Orion's house. The bow, which was 1.5 meters long, was much taller than the small aboriginal girl. This made the Luoan girl, who was born in Yawenela and had some knowledge of bows, very worried about whether she could successfully pull it open, but Lu However, Lu went against her knowledge and held the bow at the lower three-quarters position instead of in the middle. She successfully drew the bow in a very skilled manner, tested the tension and then slowly released it. .
"From the Kingdom of the Moon, you have to take it like this." Seeing Mira's curious eyes, Lulu answered in a short sentence.
She had no real education, so she couldn't explain why. The white-haired girl understood this and just nodded.
After obtaining the hunting bow and twenty arrows, together with the three crossbow machines and matching crossbow arrows they recovered, the group was armed to the teeth this time.
A total of four shields made of long vertical boards and short and thick horizontal wooden strips, four spears made of kitchen knives, and long-range firepower composed of three crossbows and a bow. With the little unicorn as the center, seven People can now form an armed squad that is quite balanced in offense, defense, and both long-range and melee combat.
Although there is still a question mark as to how much combat effectiveness the missionaries who sharpen their guns in battle and the stupid young man like Galeva can exert, it must be admitted that they at least look quite intimidating.
The people who had become habitual offenders "borrowed" the sleds used by the villagers to drag goods on the way to the shrine. Although it had not snowed in the past few days and the snow had melted, the still hard frozen soil had a smooth bottom. It takes less effort to drag things with a sled.
They packed all the supplies into their backpacks and put them inside. They dragged them a few hundred meters in an effortless way. When they reached the bottom of the steep stone steps, they put the backpacks back on their bodies. .
This method of saving energy prevented them from consuming too much energy before climbing the mountain. However, despite this, looking at the winding and disappearing part of the mountain forest, which already had hundreds of steep steps, the group was still He took a deep breath involuntarily.
"Let's go." Leaving the sled behind, a group of seven people, including the little unicorn, began to climb the long stairs.
"So magnificent, and, so--" Mira thought about the words: "So ancient."
Climbing stairs are not unheard of in the Rigal continent, but they are usually found near the most prosperous cities. The shrine roads near such small villages are all paved with stone steps. Not to mention financial problems, at least in terms of construction period, this is a characteristic that can only be possessed by a country with a long history.
"The gods of the Kingdom of the Moon..." Ai Ji gasped and said, "It is said that there are eight million."
"A lot of places like this are as old as a village."
"But because it will be replaced and renovated every few decades, there is no way to tell how many years it has been there without digging out the foundation."
The missionaries became talkative when they encountered something of their own expertise. Their explanations made the atmosphere in the team more relaxed, and in the second half, because Lulu also showed interest, they switched to the language of the Moon Country and began to communicate.
There were more than a thousand steps that slowly climbed up. Some places were so narrow that you could only fit half of your foot. Coupled with the frost, everyone slowed down and were cautious.
It took them nearly an hour to climb to two-thirds of the way, and after turning a corner, the end of the stairs finally appeared in sight.
At this point, the conversation stopped due to fatigue and nervousness. The team became silent again, and the novices couldn't help but clenched the weapons and shields in their hands, hoping to draw courage from them.
"Ha-hu, ha-hu." Many people began to breathe. At the end of the stairs, a huge red pillar stood tall. There were two horizontal pillars stacked on top. The one on both sides of the upper one stood tall. Still slightly raised. From this distance it is unclear whether it is made of wood or stone.
After walking for a while, they finally stepped onto flat ground.
The mountain wind is bleak, and there are traces of snow everywhere on the ground. It seems that this place is as deserted as the village. This somewhat relieved the tension, but after looking at it for a while, Mira frowned.
"How does it feel...it's better than I imagined."
"It's small." She said this. Because the stairs were very long and all paved with stones, the Luoan girl expected to see a magnificent temple after climbing to the top. However, the so-called "shrine" above was not It's only about the same size as the village chief's house.
"Well, how should I put it? People in the Kingdom of the Moon have a different concept of God than we do." Aiji was a little confused about how to speak. He thought for a long time but still couldn't come up with an explanation. The sage in front also interrupted them at this time - he waved his hand: "Get ready to go in and investigate."
So said.
