The ghouls who lost their command after Saburo's death seemed to have been summoned or driven out of the hot spring village before the first ray of dawn fell.
The people who were covered with bruises and bruises didn't even have the energy to count the dead and injured. They just breathed in the air filled with the smell of ashes from the fire and the smell of corpses and blood. Like all those who had gone through bloody battles, they breathed air desperately as if they had just been born into this world.
People who were exhausted physically and mentally could not stop trembling. Some people turned pale and finally noticed how disgusting their surroundings were, but they had nothing in their stomachs due to hours of high-intensity consumption. , I retched for a long time and only vomited out some sour water.
When they finally returned, the villagers tried in vain to get water from the well to put out the fire, only to find that the rope of the barrel had been broken during the battle. Then he spent time finding another barrel and tied it with a rope. The first barrel of water he fished out still had half of a ghoul's forearm soaked in it.
The bucket spilled, and the man carrying the water sat down on the ground, soaked in water, and cried loudly.
Like ripples that spread, most of the surviving villagers in the hot spring village, whether they were men, women, old or young, were affected by this.
Some cried loudly, and some sobbed quietly.
It lasted a short while before they continued trying to put out the fire. Most of the people who still had energy and were not seriously injured, such as Rigar and his party, also joined in this act. However, if the fire was allowed to burn for so long, even the iron tools were basically burned out.
Home is gone.
All furniture was destroyed, and only money and belongings were destroyed - but the farmers didn't have much money.
So the loss in pure actual currency does not seem to be a lot.
The real issue is the means of livelihood.
The seeds are gone, and so are the rice fields. All the food stored in the house was burned, and all the fish raised in the fields died.
The farm tools were gone, and even the fishing boats were stolen by the fleeing bandits. Nothing left, survived, but nothing left.
Only the charred frames of the houses were left, and the water poured on them caused mist to rise in the first light of the morning. The scenery mixed with the mountains on the skyline in the distance was breathtaking. But the farmers couldn't stand up. They slumped on the ground, dazed.
"If" the young adults were not allowed to escape in the first place, would all this change?
"If" the people standing guard cheer up and focus more on defending their area, wouldn't this be better?
There are a lot of "what ifs" surrounding the hearts of some people, and some people turn to hating the leader of this battle - that is, Ryunosuke - because they are unable to change the reality of loss, but there are more people.
It just became empty.
Kazuto farmers can withstand oppression very well.
As long as they still have something to eat, they can live happily being relegated to the bottom.
The class solidification in this 4,000-year-old country is far more serious than the small kingdoms in Rigar that can be called old-established over 300 years ago. Farmers hardly pursue progress or take risks. They just farm well and occasionally have a big meal. Then I will be satisfied.
So Kazuto's farmers are numb.
Regardless of the gentry's creed of being loyal to their masters and pursuing personal martial prowess, or the so-called national and national affairs of the Chinese, they would only pay lip service to them at most.
As long as you have food to eat, the important people should worry about national affairs.
Turn a blind eye and be indifferent. I think that these things have nothing to do with me and are far away from me. I just need to guard this three-acre land well, and everything will continue as it is now.
Then a fire, a war.
Nothing is left.
What will pass, will pass. It's a small thing, it's all a small thing.
The wall was erected, and the ronins took control of the village. The samurai and the store manager Masazuki repeatedly summoned the villagers to emphasize the seriousness of the situation. Henry even killed a ghoul and dragged it back down the avenue.
The group tried every means to convey the seriousness of the situation to the villagers of these hot spring villages, but almost without exception they still thought about:
"Everything will be over tomorrow? It will all go back to the way it was in the past."
They never thought that they would die? They never thought that the house would be burned down.
Even the young adults who were sent out were just "temporarily avoiding the limelight" and would come back to the village after the incident was over to continue living their old lives.
But there is no going back.
Because all the young men who could fight fled and the wall was lost, more than half of the villagers in the entire hot spring village died.
Most of the village was burned to the ground, and even the hotel manager Masazuki's hotel was in dilapidated condition due to the siege of ghouls - these bloodthirsty beasts continued to attack them for several hours after Saburo's death. It's just that they have lost their unified command and will bite their own kind according to their appetite. They no longer pose the same threat as before.
Houses can be rebuilt? Fields can be plowed again and livestock can be grazed again.
But the dead never come back.
The open space in front of the hotel was covered with corpses covered with straw mats? Many of them were children.
The reason they were not sent away was the same reason the young adults were sent away? It was love and care.
"You're young? It's not safe to travel far."
Not only was it unsafe to travel far away? Even according to Henry's original plan, it was unsafe for them to place the old, young, women and children collectively in a hotel for centralized protection - 'It is best for children to stay with their parents'.
The same goes for rations and many other supplies.
Can the prestige and power of the warriors require the peasants to hand over these things for centralized control? But the peasants also have many ways to delay or hide them, just like they sent away the young and middle-aged laborers.
"Hot Spring Village" sounds like a whole? But all these villagers who are forced to participate in the battle only think about themselves, and perhaps some familiar neighbors, friends and relatives.
The defense and warning plans they made were considered excellent, but they overestimated the quality of those who executed the plans.
One link after another, the missing links together lead to the inevitable collapse.
The so-called sage? The so-called guide? If others are unwilling to follow.
It is so powerless after all.
The sun has officially risen.
Looking at the devastation all over the ground, Ryunosuke gave the order to disband the team.
His revenge is over.
Many of the remaining ronin were injured, and they became as lost as the villagers, not knowing where to go.
The scene they were looking forward to, when Ryuunosuke returned to the Chinese race after the revenge was over, and they once again had the status of samurai, did not appear. Loyalty restrained them and they still respected this man, but where should they go from here?
Ryunosuke chose to stay in the hot spring village.
This matter is not over yet.
Pingshan County will definitely receive the news and send personnel, and he, who has rich experience in Chinese life, understands.
These people are not here to rescue or clean up the mess.
They need someone to take responsibility for this tragedy, and they need an answer that can be handed over to the higher ups. And if he, the leader of the ronin and the former Chinese clan, leaves. Then the store manager Yazhi will become this target.
It is precisely for this reason that Henry and his team got ready, accepted the last gift from Ryunosuke, and left this land of right and wrong in the early morning.
Joshua, who was originally a wanderer, followed Henry and the others. Because there is no such organization as the mercenary union in New Moon Continent, as a foreigner, he and Ryuzosuke not only share the same temperament but also have the necessities of a simple life.
The only skill the red-haired swordsman has to make a living is swordsmanship, so he has nowhere to go unless he joins those groups who need to fight.
tomato
The Qingtian family, who had seen his skills, were happy to accept him as a guest. Joshua had almost no desires and was willing to go along as long as he took care of the food. However, Yajiro still provided him with a salary on the grounds of teaching expenses.
No one needs to walk anymore.
Ryunosuke gave them all the remaining carriages. These horses of Rigal blood were protected in the hotel's stables together with the unicorn Media because they had no saddles. He did not participate in the final charge of the Ronin cavalry, so he was the only horse left. The group, which now had a total of three horse-drawn carriages including the waterwheel, was traveling at a much faster speed. Not long after setting off, when they looked back, they could no longer see the lingering smoke from the hot spring village.
Many of them still want to stay and witness the follow-up, but as participants, if they don't leave and wait for the regular army troops from Pingshan County to arrive, I'm afraid their position will be very embarrassing.
Especially after Henry finally decided to inform the senior warriors of the Qingtian family about the letter of surrender after discussing with Miss Doctor.
The head of the Qingtian family knew that they had some secrets when they first met, and he believed that moving forward with them would be beneficial to the continuation of his family in the future. The many encounters such as keeping a low profile, avoiding the limelight, and encountering some attackers along the way made Narumi and others more or less guess something.
But no one thought that this matter would be so big.
As for the fundamental reason why the sage chose to conceal it until now, just one sentence is enough to silence all the warriors:
"Before you experienced these things, I'm afraid you wouldn't think this is a big deal based on your unreserved trust in Xinjing."
Just like the numb farmers, before experiencing the encounter between the mountain village and the ghost tribe of the shrine maiden army; before the battles and mutual understanding along the way; before meeting Saburo in the swamp village this time, he has mastered the power that can shake the 4000-year-old samurai society. before the power.
They firmly believe that what is happening now will last forever.
But what has always been like this is not necessarily right. When high-sounding words are spoken, the reality may not always come true.
Following the rules, the thousands of years of tradition of samurai society, does it really have to be correct? It does give people a creed that they can rely on, but it can sometimes become a shackles.
Binding the mind and vision with blind faith.
"The unified royal family endures forever."
But the shrine maiden unit that is the Sword of Shinkyo is already scarred.
"The Kingdom of the Moon for four thousand years has been peaceful and healthy."
Trouble has emerged, and the power that is enough to challenge the foundation of society is even controlled by a local gangster leader in a feudal territory.
He talks about "confidence" and curses those who lack "confidence" and thinks they are "not loyal enough".
But what they are doing is actually choosing to turn a blind eye.
time to go.
The group of people who learned this big news naturally came to this conclusion - they could not meet with the main force of Pingshan County because there were many people talking in such an occasion. Once the investigation left too detailed records, there would always be some information. Leaked from unknown places.
"No, just leave it to the people in Pingshan County?"
The person who said this was A Yong. After a bloody battle, he finally smoothed off some of his edges. At least when he said this, he made this suggestion based on his understanding of the weight of the petition and thinking that the burden was too heavy for the small Qingtian family.
But as always, Henry shook his head.
"An important piece of information that can affect both the domain and Xinjing."
"If it is important to both sides, it means that the person who obtains it can choose which side to take."
"That's the critical thing, we can't be sure what the people who get it will think."
"The higher the status, the more sensitive people are to this kind of thing, and the more they can notice the value of this information."
"I can only send it to Xinjing with my own hands."
