"The people in the Miasma State are in dire straits, and the demonic obstacles are not limited to poisonous insects and evil dragons, but also take root in people's hearts. This is especially true at the border, where killing people and stealing goods is common. The unruly people here despise the king's laws. Although they are peaceful people, they are the same as barbarians. They are stubborn and difficult to educate. "——"Yue Xing Lu·Northern Chapter"
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After leaving Hot Spring Village, the group did not go to Pingshan County due to direction reasons. Their goal was to go to Xinjing, so they had to go as far south as possible, but after entering Zhangzhou, leaving was not as easy as imagined.
Although the national highways are easy to travel, some roads are not completely safe. Missing cases will always occur on the long and straight roads in some deserted places. Before leaving the last relatively stable town, the hotel owner, who had received a large sum of money as a material supply intermediary, made a very concerned statement. The appearance carefully warned the group of people to be extremely careful when walking.
It seemed to him that even armed and well-trained warriors were not safe in such a place.
In the Crescent Continent, where there is no adventurer culture and relatively few travelers, this innkeeper rarely reminded a few people from Rigar of the inn in their hometown - Rigar's inn was always a mixed bag, because adventurers were originally Made up of all kinds of people. All kinds of information will be spread through their boasts, conversations and discussions, or even inadvertent revelations after drinking. Therefore, there is also a saying among the people that "innkeepers are the best informants".
Of course, if you are a serious registered adventurer, it is far more efficient to obtain standardized information that has been compiled from the guild than some gossip. But to ordinary people the innkeeper does have the impression that he knows a lot of secrets.
This kind of co-existence in Xinyuezhou is usually a teahouse, and the tea drinking culture here is very popular. Even if commoners, traveling businessmen, and traveling monks could not afford to stay in hotels and usually stayed in ruined temples, they would often go to teahouses to drink a bowl of coarse tea or ask for some vegetarian food and fresh water.
Only outside the reach of power, in unconcerned areas such as the border, can there be chaotic and dense information exchanges and exchanges like Rigar.
Kazuto's disparaging name for the Rigar people as "Southern Barbarians" also has something to do with all this, because this kind of chaos that the Rigar people are accustomed to will be disgusting and unacceptable to Kazuto, who is accustomed to etiquette and restraint.
This country that has existed for thousands of years has engraved too many things into its bones - you need to say hello when you first meet; you need to be informed when you go out; you need to express your gratitude before eating. They regard discipline and order as the most important things, and the relationship between the upper and lower classes is far more strict than that in Rigar. On the bright side, Kazuto's society does look more stable and orderly. But this kind of stability is based on the premise that everyone follows the rules and is not offside or even allowed to think about it.
The most knowledgeable scholar class has been shackled. They can only serve as the "brains" of Crescent Continent and must not take action.
And the warrior class has repeatedly strengthened its loyalty to the master over thousands of years, so that they are not "an army loyal to the master", but "a group of many individuals who are loyal to the master" formed troops".
This may seem like just a play on words, but the difference between the two is that each individual's standards of loyalty are slightly different.
They were loyal to the Lord in their own way, and their priority was to be faithful to themselves as “individuals” rather than as a group.
Everyone follows the rules and stays where they should be. The civilization, prosperity and stability of this society are enough to shock the Rigar barbarians who saw this scene for the first time.
As expected, Kazuto's punishment for "offside" was extremely severe.
Society as a whole has an extremely high level of hostility toward offsiders.
Farmers will be punished if they give up farming. Once they become deserters, it is almost impossible to live a stable life.
Samurai are noble, but once they lose their master and become a ronin, they are an existence that even civilians can despise - even though they usually dare not do so in person.
There must be dissatisfaction under strong pressure, and dissatisfaction will show up when it accumulates to a certain extent.
The areas on the Zhangzhou border that are regarded by the mainstream as gathering places for unruly barbarians are where such people who are dissatisfied with this will gather in large numbers.
A young farmer who wanted to be a businessman but ended up running away from the farm; a middle-aged ronin who had achieved good results in martial arts competitions but could not find a master to serve him. Just like the equally chaotic area of Rigar, it is full of people with various pasts and stories, and Henry and his party chose such a place without bias - precisely based on the idea of hiding in the forest.
What's the best place to hide a secret.
It's not a place that no one can find, because there is no such place. The best place to hide a secret is a place with many secrets.
Three people become tigers.
Although this kind of mixed-race place will inevitably attract attention as long as they come into contact with people because of their team composition, because the information is confusing and the intelligence coming out of this place has extremely low credibility for the mainstream society of Kazuto, they can become a group instead. The whereabouts are covered to a certain extent.
It was impossible to completely hide their whereabouts from the rebels who were certainly still searching for relevant information, as they had learned after the attack. Since the information cannot be completely erased, the best way, besides choosing areas where they can't attack as much as possible, is to release false information.
People at the border will pretend to be old acquaintances and get close to you just for 5 copper coins. Even if there are servants sent by the noble master to find out the news after they leave, the servant who looks like a fat sheep comes, and every tael of silver he can get is completely different from a different person. "See it with your own eyes" information.
Of course, the premise of all this is still based on limited contact with other people. All they need is to pass by and stop briefly. If you keep it for a long time, not to mention the possible pursuers, the local gangsters will also be enough to cause a headache.
After all, mainstream society's prejudice against this kind of place is not entirely contempt for those who deviate from society.
As the carriage passed through a suburb with signs of human habitation, the group saw a scene that was actually not common even in the so-called "southern" world of Rigar.
It was obvious that the civilians, men, women, and children who had been intercepted and killed were dumped in a pothole on the roadside. Judging from the hands tied behind their backs and the random cuts mostly on the back of the neck and shoulders, it was obvious that they were submissive to the gangsters. Although he lost his property, he still failed to save his life.
What is even sadder than this is that their encounter did not end after death. When the group came over, there were two short men groping in the pit. One of them tried to find some more belongings from the tattered clothes. After failing, he took off the dead man's shoes and compared them to see if he could wear them.
The other man was rubbing the body of the dead woman up and down, not caring about the dirt and blood.
When a group of people came over, the sound of the carriage alerted them. The two people turned around and tried to hide like frightened mice. Then they looked at their carriage and the accompanying women, with greed in their eyes.
It was still summer at this time, and even though Zhangzhou was located in a relatively northern zone, the temperature was actually very hot because the overall latitude of Crescent Continent was lower than that of Rigal Continent.
The smell of the dead bodies was not very strong, and it was probably just over before they arrived. And what these two men did was a serious "ghoul" in the context of Kazuto's terminology.
Most of them followed the bandits, waiting for them to finish killing people and stealing goods, and then followed them to see if they could pick up any leftovers.
Just like scavengers in nature, these short, thin people who are unable to kill themselves have become "ghouls" who specialize in picking up the corpses of bandits.
They are not like the rogue robbers who stare at gold and silver treasures and want to make a fortune. After groping for a long time in a corpse pit with a strong smell of putrid smell, just to dig out a mouthful of dry food that was still warm from the corpse, or to peel off a piece of wearable clothing.
To ensure minimum survival, or to meet the needs of men and women that cannot be achieved in a lifetime under normal circumstances.
Warriors admire beasts, so they will even fight against some famous bandits in the right way. Just like those who fight bears and wolves will always become famous. But for this despicable "ghoul" like a mouse, all they have is contempt and hatred.
"Raise the bow——" Narumi gave the command without hesitation.
The two men, who still didn't quite understand what happened, stood in the corpse pit, tensing up like mice after seeing a cat, daring not to escape. Then the sound of loose strings sounded, and they themselves fell down and became corpses.
The exquisite and Yugashigeya penetrated the heart effortlessly, and the black and white mixed-color inujiu tail feathers were stained with blood and became dirty at the moment the two fell.
The arrow from the samurai's big bow was even more valuable than the lives of these two people - but the samurai who shot the arrow had only disgust on their faces. Even if they could still recover it, they didn't want to go down into the pit.
When a beast is killed, its head and the bow and arrow used to kill it or the sword used to kill it will be named. This is an honor.
But there is no honor in killing a rat.
No one said anything about the merciless killing of the samurai, not even the soft-hearted Miss Doctor or Rigar and his colleagues who had a different background and education.
No matter what these two people have experienced, it is true that the overly harsh social system cannot be completely agreed with, but if they have completely lost their bottom line as a human being, that is beyond the scope of sympathy.
"Go find those rogue bandits. Although it is not a good thing to cause trouble, but you can kill the defenseless people who have surrendered." Narumi said this and looked at the young master, who nodded in agreement.
"Sir, please, Miss Yi Ren." The warriors made this request to Henry and Lulu, who was born as a hunter. Although they had fighting skills, they were not good at tracking. This massacre occurred a few hours ago, and the traces are still fresh, but they are not easily detectable by laymen.
"The clothes were good, but they were just made of linen. The woman still had a sachet hanging on her body, but it was chopped so it was not taken away. It seemed to be a businessman's family, and the big family was traveling together." Two "ghouls" were shot dead After that, Mira and the rest of the people got off the carriage and observed it for a while.
"If we can arrive earlier." Yajiro said.
"After all, why do unarmed civilians choose such a dangerous path?" Ayong was indignant, and the warrior next to him also echoed: "The men in this family are too cowardly. They surrendered directly and failed to muster the courage to resist."
Various opinions and voices came and went next to them. Henry and Lulu checked the trampled weeds, broken branches and bloody footprints to sort out various information about the number of people and directions, while Ling clasped her hands and looked at the corpse. Pit bowed.
"I'm sorry, I will bury it properly later."
"Six people, one of them is lame."
"Without any means of transportation, I can't walk very far with just my legs and belongings." The sage turned his head, and Narumi glanced at Yajiro and gave the order.
"Untie the traction and put on the saddle!"
