The team pulling a large number of wounded people was bound to be unable to move very fast. Even with the witches' road knowledge as a basis, their daily journey was still only half of the original one - about 20 kilometers.
In addition to the fact that many sections of the road need to be cleared and many people move forward on foot, the bumpy carriage running too fast is also detrimental to the recovery of injuries. Moreover, even if the makeshift axle wheels have been improved in structural design, it is still doubtful to drive at high speed under such an astonishing load.
A team with a large number of injured people must have endless work every day.
As human beings, most of the injured miko's injuries were considered stable. Even the seriously injured ones were in relatively good condition. At least they could still retain their consciousness. Once you wake up, you can eat more or less porridge to help your body recover, so for those in charge of food, just make an extra dish.
But the ghost warriors whose injuries were so severe that they would have died several times on a mortal body were even more special.
Their stress protection state is similar to that of bears or cold-blooded creatures hibernating, which reduces the body's consumption to maintain life. However, this state is actually caused by forcibly using stimulating herbs to refresh themselves after being severely traumatized to protect the shrine maidens, which is excessive consumption. A self-protective sleep that takes away the body's organs.
It is by no means a selective act of autonomous recovery, but more like a desperate act in desperate situations that evolved from ancient times.
It is difficult for ghosts in this state to be awakened by ordinary external forces. In fact, through the mouth of the great witch, the group learned that many ghost warriors fell into an eternal sleep and never woke up. Come.
"Rebirth of the Great Era of Fighting Waves"
Under ideal conditions, a sleeping ghost's body can sustain life for several months in a low-consumption state, but the reality is that only a very small number of ghosts can fall asleep under ideal conditions.
Most of the accompanying soldiers were injured in one battle and went into the next battle before recovering. Because this special force was stretched thin, they had to fight many times in a short period of time. The irony is that the reason for the shortage of troops is largely because Xinjing wants to control the size of the shrine maiden troops to prevent them from having second thoughts about raising a flag to rebel against him. Xinjing's use of the witch troops is really a matter of asking the horse to run and not eating grass.
The old and new injuries were combined, and many of them reached deep into the internal organs. After entering a deep sleep state, the function of a body that cannot be considered healthy in the first place will decline far beyond ideal. To put it more bluntly, a ghost warrior may suffer from heart failure during sleep due to various injuries. Suddenly it stopped beating.
Moreover, they will still be disturbed by the outside temperature while sleeping. The discomfort caused by high humidity and high temperature is by no means an ideal environment for them. A huge body is more likely to generate high temperatures, and the loss of water caused by temperature is also the most likely cause of rapid death while sleeping.
The ideal environment would be a sheltered winter day, when low temperatures can reduce body temperature, slow down depletion and prevent water loss - but this is clearly a luxury right now.
The unconscious ghost warriors are still losing water but cannot replenish it. Directly pouring liquid water into their mouths will only cause them to be unable to breathe and drown. So the witches responsible for nursing had to constantly dip towels in water, then wipe the lips of the unconscious people, and replenish them with moisture in small amounts but multiple times.
Such boring and tiring work was repeated, but most of the witches, who were themselves injured, worked hard without complaint. No one expressed dissatisfaction or responded carelessly.
Since these Kazuto women who were originally ladies gave up their families, surnames and even children, what replaced these things was each other.
They have gone through so much suffering and bloody battles side by side, and the bond formed between them has long surpassed that of an aristocratic family that has no blood connection but is weak and bound by layers of rules and customs.
This is also the reason why the battle loss rate is so high, but there is always a steady stream of new people willing to become miko.
They can find where they belong here.
The companions are as close as sisters and truly care for each other. They can learn knowledge and prove themselves. Rather than just being like a doll to be played with, a prop for political marriage, or a vase.
The shackles formed by four thousand years of civilization are ultimately unable to lock the free heart.
Even if they are wearing anklets, even if they have to pick up weapons and fight bloody battles, they still yearn for the blue sky while dragging these heavy loads.
Maybe people have different definitions of happiness, and maybe there are indeed more 'traditional' Kazuto women who believe that having a husband and raising children is the meaning of their lives, but for the shrine maidens, this is theirs. Life.
Purdah with others is extremely terrifying.
It is absolutely unimaginable in this land that a noble lady from a noble family like Rigar, especially Parnilla, sneaks out to have a big adventure.
Women from the top central aristocratic families were almost not allowed to meet any man other than their relatives until they reached adulthood. Their faces can only be seen for the first time by their husbands who were married on their wedding night. Marriage and leaving the original family never meant freedom, it just moved from one deep house to another.
How horrific is this tradition? How strong are the constraints?
——Many women from noble families have never seen any common people until their death, even though they account for more than 90% of the population of Crescent Continent;
He has never been to a place other than his own home, and even the noble family's land is just a corner of a city;
I have never been on the street, even if the city I live in is famous for its lively festivals and prosperous commerce;
I have never seen the sea, even if I live in a country like Crescent Continent with such a long coastline.
The sunset scenery they see is always the unchanging wall outside the window of their backyard and the blurred horizon in the distance.
Even the nobles of Rigar may not understand this custom at all. Maverick noble women are not uncommon in that land. Although the proportion of those who join the army and even hold knighthoods is relatively low, they still exist.
The ladies of Kazuto are like birds locked in a cage, and their lives can only be transferred from one cage to another.
It may be a kind of sadness to know the blue sky outside, because you can never go out. Therefore, many people choose to accept their fate, accept the fact that they will always be in a cage, and try to seek happiness from the cage.
That's why a strange existence like the Witch Army, which is composed purely of noble women, was born in Crescent Continent, a land that was originally extremely resistant and contemptuous of women joining the army.
Birds that have never had wings are flying freely, even if these wings are made of steel, thunder and blood.
The bond between them was extremely strong, as the force, which was nominally under the direct control of Xinjing, actually received far less support than it needed.
The great miko can still read out the names of her deceased companions one by one.
Although their unit is small, it is because of this that they are truly close to each other.
This is a flower blooming on the battlefield.
Traveling with the shrine maidens unveiled this mysterious force, but the in-depth understanding of them did not bring about disillusionment, but instead increased the respect and love for the Aota family samurai and his entourage.
After all, you can't discuss the art of war, marching supplies, and formation coordination with an ordinary Japanese lady; when you enthusiastically want to show off your wounds and describe their origins, she will either dryly repeat your praise of your bravery or He just fainted while covering his forehead with a pale face.
She won't correct you on how to treat wounds, or tell you the correct environment in which to maintain your sword.
Martial arts practitioners have many things in common with them, and on top of that, the witches have never given up on the artistic accomplishments necessary for ladies.
The samurai of the Qingtian family are more or less chauvinistic, because Kazuto's traditional education taught them this.
Men should be in charge of outside affairs and women should be in charge of domestic matters. Women should not get involved in war-related matters, because they all have empty brains and cannot offer any useful opinions on these matters.
Even when they meet someone like our Luoan girl who is still a woman at a young age but has mastered fighting skills that are not inferior to theirs, many people accept it on the surface, but secretly they can't help but say that it's the "Nanman culture" Don't say "the barbaric land is not as good as my four-thousand-year moon country", it seems that all adult women of the nation Mira came from are ferocious beings who can carry a log that requires several professional soldiers to carry with one hand.
——Although this may be true.
But all in all, as Kazuto and Kazuto nobles, the shrine maidens have mastered such skills and knowledge, which has more or less opened the eyes of everyone in the Qingtian family.
A weak lady can also become an experienced warrior.
Discrimination often stems from accumulated prejudice and cultural emphasis over the years. It is difficult to overturn it because you have to single-handedly fight against the accumulation of countless people over a long period of time.
Even if the facts are placed in front of them, what many people will do is not to accept the facts and change their inherent perceptions, but to find ways to deny them.
As long as the facts are false, then my bias is not wrong.
A fact that may not be so beautiful is that after learning that the shrine maidens have such powerful skills and combat experience, the samurai only have respect and love for them.
——From the beginning, they gained the respect of the warriors due to their noble status.
The samurai of the Qingtian family are, after all, the middle class in an authoritative society.
They are accustomed to obeying and respecting their superiors, so the same advantages will become bonus points for noble people.
And if it were placed on civilians, then the nobles might not even be interested in exploring it.
The words return to their original place.
The difficult but fulfilling march lasted for several days. After intensive training and running-in, the chariot composed of our Luoan girl and two warriors including A Yong was finally able to accurately hit the surrounding tree trunks while driving. . At this point, they finally have basic combat effectiveness, and even Henry seems to feel more at ease - although it is probably harder to see this kind of performance from the sage who does not show much emotion than to find a needle in a pile of thatch.
The quiet running-in and training made the group feel as if they had returned to the time when they had just left Qingzhi, but this was obviously not the case. The pursuers were more pressing than ever, and their allies were rarer than ever.
Even if they are officially under martial law to guard against the feudal army, the credibility of the territorial lords around Jeju is still doubtful. Because the Jeju Chinese who stabbed the witches in the back were quite sudden and lacked any warning signs, the vassal’s approach was most likely to cast a wide net and send many people to contact the nobles of the directly governed state who might be able to pry them off. This meant that the lords of the surrounding territories even He was loyal to Xinjing before, but now there is a possibility of him falling out.
If everyone is very healthy or is in a peaceful period, they may still be able to blend in with civilians and enter the city to obtain needed supplies and try to find reliable support.
But now they are carrying a large number of unconscious wounded people, it is difficult to maneuver, and the target is large. In addition, due to the landing of the feudal army, the surrounding provinces have set up many barriers under martial law. All they can do is to completely avoid contact with any outsiders. .
Even if necessary supplies are consumed along the way and it is really necessary to replenish them, they can only be separated out by small groups of people and purchased in several batches in different places to avoid attracting unnecessary attention by purchasing a large amount of supplies in one place at once. .
Many considerations and plans were conveyed after the discussion, but everyone, including the sage, seemed to have forgotten one fact.
They can indeed go to great lengths to avoid contact with humans, confuse enemy forces, and take routes on maps unknown to them.
But the pursuers are not just humans.
Something was moving quickly in the dark forest.
Toward the orange firelight in front of the carriage.
Neither human nor beast, it is human but also beast at the same time.
It doesn't need a map, it doesn't even need to see tracks or smell like a war dog.
The special senses originating from different worlds make the existence of magic power guide the direction like a torch in the eyes that do not have the distinction between pupils and whites.
Lurking.
Squirming.
It is an empty, soulless thing that does not belong to this world, and even the most acute worldly senses cannot detect its existence.
The eternally hungry prowler.
Closer.
