The finishing touches after the battle were more difficult than originally expected. Under the impact of the multi-ton monster, almost all carriages suffered from structural integrity problems. The wheel hubs were damaged, the axles were broken, and the frame of the top tarpaulin was also broken and the fabric was torn, and it could no longer provide protection against the weather.
Although no one was seriously injured, the most serious injury was that one samurai's ankle was sprained when the horse fell to the ground and was pinned underneath. However, the horses had serious injuries such as broken feet and had to kill three of them with their own hands in order to relieve the pain. .
Various sanitary products that Ying worked hard to make and Jianye's medicine cabinet were also overturned due to the impact. Many ceramic vessels were broken and various medicinal liquids flowed out and mixed together. There was not much possibility of recycling. But the most important issue is probably drinking water and food.
The situation was urgent and there was no time for them to evacuate things bit by bit. It was lucky to save lives. But looking at the mess in this place, no one is feeling relaxed. The water tanker was hit and opened a large hole, and the fresh water inside flowed to the ground. Under the bright sun, a thin layer of water vapor rose up and distorted the vision. The spicy and pungent smell made the group even more irritable. increase.
The crack was nearly one meter long and several to ten centimeters wide. If it was smaller, they could seal it with pine resin and other natural resins mixed with coke, but for such a big hole, they could only find a bamboo craftsman to repair it - but the problem was that the nearest settlement, that town, had been destroyed. , and the axle of the waterwheel was also damaged and could not be pulled away.
The water storage equipment suffered a devastating blow, and the food and grass were not much better. The carriage carrying the millet was overturned and the millet spilled all over the ground. If it were just like this, it wouldn't be a big problem, but the blood that flowed out after the monster was killed by them contaminated all the food and grass on the ground. In the still hot weather, the coagulated blood soon began to stink. Even if we did not consider whether the monster's blood was harmful to humans, it was obvious that this part of the food could not be recycled.
All large water storage vessels were destroyed, half of the grain and grass were lost, and most of the medicinal materials and health care supplies were also lost. The personnel were slightly injured, three horses were lost, and the carriage was almost completely damaged, plus the loss of weapons and armor.
Although this battle did not last long and they were victorious purely in terms of personnel losses, no one felt the heartfelt feeling of victory.
Pick out things that are still usable and organize them. After taking care of the wounded, the group began to think about their next move - they definitely couldn't stay here. The rift opened by Placia's people had made the entire area unstable. If there is only the possibility of divine concealment, it would be troublesome, but the problem is within the acceptable range. However, the appearance of this Cerberus and even those Otolo rock dragons shows that the location of this gap is connected to a place that is much smaller than initially thought. is even more terrifying.
According to the sage's brief explanation, the space and even time in the inner world are chaotic, which will disrupt some concepts of geographical distance in reality-Henry and his party have actually experienced it in the north before, and the location and exit of the exit after mistakenly entering it. It turns out that the location of the entrance is very different and cannot match the physical distance traveled.
Therefore, it is possible for organisms to move across continents, and Rigal organisms from far across the ocean to appear in Crescent Continent.
——This is exactly the problem at hand.
No one knows where the crack is connected, so there is no way to tell what will come out of it.
The shallow level will affect people's body and mind, making you go crazy and turn into a wandering humanoid beast. But mid and deep layers.
There are existences hidden there that should not exist in this world and violate human understanding of normal creatures.
They do not follow the rules of the ordinary world, and possess special powers that are enough to escape the understanding of mortals - just one of them is enough to harm an entire village.
What if there were more of this kind of thing?
The traveling speed is comparable to that of a carriage, and the combat power of the monster weighing several tons is second to none, although it is powerful. High endurance, a certain degree of intelligence and strong mobility are the root of its harmfulness.
The spear-wielding ashigaru and other armored infantry cannot catch up with it, but the cavalry that can catch up can only harass Kazuto and cannot effectively kill him because most of Kazuto are horse archers. Such monsters running around in the territory will have a huge negative impact on people's lives and production.
If it were left to Henry and others to make the decision, it would be best to seal off the entire Jeju area and send scouts deep into the mountains and forests to find the location of the crack. Then the elite army was used to suppress it, and the Land Bureau planned to build a city wall and a fortress system to close it until the witches figured out a way to close it again.
But this is all just a thought. They are insignificant people, either outsiders or the lower-class Chinese and nobles in the domain. Considering the rules and exclusion of the noble society of Kazuto, even if they file a report, there is a high probability that they will be intercepted by the Chinese in some places and unable to go. Go where you need to go.
The only hope is Miss Doctor.
Her distinguished status as a senior scholar gave her a practical channel for input. If she went to Tiange Academy to report and summarize with the academicians, and those influential figures reported it, Xinjing would definitely pay different attention to it.
But she had to do all this in person.
Crescent Continent, which has a history of thousands of years, has a lot of red tape. The huge country and large population mean that there are a lot of things happening every day. Therefore, even if the higher-level officials and those in power want to, they are unable to intervene one by one. Most of the matters they handle every day are 'important matters' screened by grassroots personnel, while others are either ignored or handed over to lower-level personnel for resolution. .
And this is also the problem - Ling sneaked out on her own.
She was not authorized by the royal family or the academician of Tiange Academy to come to investigate as an official official. She had no official documents and rights of passage, and no superior to report to. It was Ms. Doctor's own decision to secretly come to the north, so even if she wrote a letter and attached proof of identity to explain what happened and request a notification from her superiors, because of the lack of official proof, even if she was a doctor, she would be separated and inspected by the grassroots.
Then after reading the content, a grassroots staff thought it was nonsense and even suspected her identity. The chance of intercepting the letter was naturally much higher than the possibility of understanding the urgency of the situation and rushing to deliver the letter immediately.
Not to mention that related issues also involve those rebellious Chinese who have not yet shown up. If they are intercepted and verified, they will only add risks to themselves.
So all they could do now was pack their bags, re-plan their route, and then try to leave.
Because the edges of the inner boundary are irregular, the area they need to avoid will be far larger than imagined.
But before getting back on the road, Henry and Narumi discussed it and instead sent an uninjured samurai to ride with the Luoan girl back to the empty refugee temporary camp.
These people had almost no rations or supplies available to them, so this was not the reason why the sage asked his disciples to go back.
What they need is something else.
Priests are basically clerks, and recording is their instinct. Returning to the empty and messy camp, the Luoan girl went straight to the most luxurious tent, and found various files and books in it. She packed them all up and quickly returned to where Henry and his party were.
"Destiny is clear and justice will prevail. It has been a long time since I arrived under the orders of the Pope."
The sages translated the texts recorded in Lamani into the Japanese language, looking for useful information. And as he read out the words, the brows of the people around him became more and more frowned.
Although some problems were somewhat inferred from the chaotic situation, they did not fully understand the current situation in Jeju until they obtained detailed records from the texts of the late bishops.
"Monsters, rebels, and now even civilians." Narumi held his forehead, the influence of the magic halo was still there, and they couldn't get a proper rest after fighting Cerberus.
"The mob driven out by the feudal army should have spread throughout the forest. Now I think that these fanatic believer refugees who followed the bishop may be easy to deal with." The sage analyzed: "The feudal army should be able to deal with it in the short term. They will still stay at the landing place, but their behavior of arresting strong men will only intensify the conflict. There will be more escapees and people who rise up to resist, but these people cannot defeat the feudal army."
"So they will be more inclined to attack other people and the distressed former Jeju Chinese and nobles, right?" The Luoan girl rolled her eyes: "The world is really unified. If you can't fight foreign enemies, you will fight your own people."
"But if this is the case, wouldn't it mean that no one can be trusted, and there is no way to obtain supplies?" The young master said as he touched his chin, which was beginning to grow some sparse down.
This is indeed a serious problem. The rising prices of supplies in Zhangzhou originally gave people a headache. Now they have suffered serious losses in the battle with the Cerberus, and it is very likely that they cannot find them in the entire Jeju. Suitable supply points.
"The bigger problem is that the surrounding territories are under martial law due to the landing of the vassal army. It doesn't look like our group can pass." The sage glanced at the people around him: missionaries; foreign mercenaries; a few barbarians Nation; feudal warrior.
The words and deeds of the Qingtian family are very different from those of the samurai in the directly governed states. They are more traditional and conservative. When I was in Ziyun, I was recognized at a glance because of this. Coupled with the accent of the feudal lord, at this time, other people with foreign origins may not receive as much attention as them.
The current situation has changed so much in a short period of time. Originally, as samurai nobles, the Qingtian family provided a lot of convenience and shelter to foreigners like Henry, but now due to the conflict between the feudal territory and Xinjing, it would be a disaster for them if their identities were exposed.
In the past, when the vassal army was still in the north, the gentry and Chinese in the directly-governed states would at most have some contempt and ridicule for the vassal nobles. Now, with the approaching pace of the vassal army and the results they have achieved, I am afraid that they, the northerners, will be in a difficult situation. It's only going to get worse.
The family head's loyalty to Xinjing, which he had proven with his own life, was ultimately not as important as their origin and accent in the eyes of the nobles of the directly-governed states.
The Qingtian family fell into silence.
The Luoan girl looked at the flashing eyes and actions of several of them as they started to speak and then stopped. She knew what these people were thinking.
'It would have been better if I had not left in the first place and joined the domain army'
A child's world is simple. It’s black and white, know the clear right and wrong of good and evil, and make decisions accordingly.
But when you put loyalty and your own survival on the balance, how many people can unswervingly choose the former.
The head of the Qingtian family is great. He sacrificed himself to maintain his loyalty to Xinjing. But who cares about this loyalty; but not everyone wants to be a great man like him.
People in the autonomous states would only judge them based on their accents and origins, and ostracize them as people related to the rebels.
This loyalty is nothing in their eyes.
And the people in the vassal area would point their fingers behind their backs and curse them as traitors.
It would be fine if the domain was easily defeated by Xinjing as everyone, including the Qingtian family and his entourage, initially expected. At this stage, they are winning one after another, followed by Taizhou and Jeju. If they had joined the vassal side from the beginning, they might have been able to share the honor and fruits of victory with them by now.
Those are people who speak a common language.
The traditional education received by samurai requires them to be loyal to the royal family and Xinjing. In addition, they must also be loyal to their superiors and the lords.
Xinjing is far away from the imperial family, but the immediate superiors and the feudal princes are very close. They spoke with the same accent and had the same understanding of warrior creeds and ethics. They were different from those warriors in the directly governed states who would laugh at these as backward and outdated gadgets.
When there was a conflict between the feudal king and Xinjing, many warriors in the feudal land did not hesitate to choose their more trusted lord to pursue them.
This was the fundamental reason why the feudal king was able to mobilize a large army.
The Qingtian family is an anomaly. Because of the geographical location and business contacts, as well as the personality and political leanings of the family owner, they have always been out of place in the feudal territory. Just because the territory is rich, there has been no direct contradiction or conflict.
From the perspective of traditional samurai creeds, what the feudal kings did was shameful. They betrayed Xinjing, betrayed the gods on earth, and started a rebellion below.
Judging from the information they themselves came into contact with, the actions of the feudal kings were also shameful. They used the power of darkness and filth to destroy and trample the ancient civilization of the Moon Country.
--But.
Even Narumi and Yajiro had thought about many of the next words.
History is written by the victors. Their loyalty was ignored, and the death of the head of the Qingtian family was probably not even heard of or paid attention to in Xinjing. All kinds of hardships along the way, casualties and material losses.
If they advance hand in hand with the feudal army, all these pains and troubles will not exist. Instead, they can enjoy victory together.
It’s time to stop thinking about it.
Can't think about it anymore.
When the ideal object of loyalty conflicts with the group that one divides into in reality, people will naturally be confused.
The feudal warriors who are loyal to Xinjing are just feudal warriors. They will be treated as feudal warriors first, and then whether they are loyal or not.
Knowing the current situation brought a considerable impact to these warriors who were already running all the way and were confused by the magic power.
But they didn't even have time to stop and think about it all.
Dead bodies will attract more beasts. Crows are already hovering in the sky, waiting for people to leave and come down to feast. This is a national highway, so even during wartime there will still be people coming and going. The thousands of refugees who escaped may return if they realize that the monster is dead. They have set up minions against themselves. Even if the bishop is dead, they may not immediately become friendly.
It's time to go, but where to go.
The warriors looked confused.
The family is no longer there, and the object of devotion may not care about their loyalty. They couldn't find a home, and the entire Crescent Continent became so strange, and everything they saw was hostile.
"Anyway, pack lightly and take the forest trails to avoid it."
At this time, they were more or less envious of Henry's ability to remain calm as a foreigner.
