Chapter 409

Although the Blackwater Shark school had retreated, no one could guarantee whether they would make a comeback, or when.

Therefore, Knight Hao took most of the mages and remained on the boats, standing by in full battle array.

According to the tradition of the Jin Jin Quehua Dynasty, when encountering danger, nobles must lead by example.

Therefore, from the flood to now, settling disaster victims, dealing with water monsters... all kinds of complicated matters, Knight Hao could be said to be so busy that his feet never touched the ground; in fact, he hadn't closed his eyes for almost two days.

After standing at the bow for a while longer and not seeing the Blackwater Sharks appear again, he finally could not hold on any longer.

He instructed others to wake him up if anything happened, and then he returned to the cabin to prepare for a short nap.

As a result, just as he lay down and his consciousness was blurring into dreamland, he was called awake again.

"What, have the Blackwater Sharks returned?" Although uncomfortable, Knight Hao still asked with vigilance at the first moment, his tone revealing some tension.

"No..."

"Then what are you calling me for?" He suppressed the anger in his heart and said.

"Someone has arrived!"

"Who, disaster victims? Can't you arrange it yourselves? Do you have to call me for such a trivial matter?" Hearing this reason, Knight Hao's anger grew even more.

He had been busy for two days, exhausted, and these people were so incapable of handling things, not letting him rest for a while.

"It's a Sea Hai Shao Bing mage, saying they came from Duo'en to provide emergency disaster relief!" The mage who woke Knight Hao also heard his dissatisfaction and quickly explained.

A Sea Hai Shao Bing mage?!

Knight Hao heard this and immediately felt a jolt throughout his body.

Whether it was the identity of a Sea Hai Shao Bing mage or the "rescue" it represented, both made his sleepiness dissipate temporarily.

He stood up nimbly and walked out of the cabin.

And Gao De happened to be climbing onto the boat from the water, using a tapir bag to retrieve the exhausted Tuanzi.

After putting Tuanzi away, he turned around and met Knight Hao's gaze.

Under the orange light, Knight Hao narrowed his eyes slightly, carefully sizing up the Sea Hai Shao Bing mage in front of him.

His gaze swept over the two copper stars on Gao De's cuffs.

A first-class apprentice mage... still a rookie.

Of course, he only thought this in his heart.

The promotion speed of Sea Hai Shao Bing mages is very fast, and it can be said that their future is boundless.

Don't look at the other party being a first-class apprentice mage now; in terms of status, he was still a bit lower than him.

But in just ten years, he would still be a knight, while the other party would definitely be a sergeant-level mage; if their ability was outstanding, they might even be promoted to warrant officer.

Then their status would already be above his.

Therefore, Knight Hao did not dare to be the slightest bit negligent.

"When I found this place just now, I happened to see a school of Blackwater Sharks besieging the fleet; it took a lot of effort to lure them into an undercurrent whirlpool I encountered on the way, and its physical exertion was too great." Gao De patted his tapir bag and explained.

He was not someone who did good deeds without leaving a name.

Luring away the Blackwater Shark school earlier was taking a huge risk; if he didn't speak up to "claim merit," wouldn't it have been in vain?

"Was the previous Blackwater Shark school lured away by you, my lord?"

Knight Hao was stunned at first, and then his head felt like it was about to explode.

He never expected that the Blackwater Sharks, which he couldn't figure out why they suddenly left, would be the doing of this first-class apprentice mage in front of him.

"Thank you for your actions; otherwise, we really would have had no way to deal with this group of Blackwater Sharks." After the shock, Knight Hao expressed his gratitude with great discernment and genuine sincerity.

"Did you come from Duo'en?" He then asked curiously.

"That's right," Gao De nodded, "After knowing that a super cyclone had landed in Auckland, the Sea Hai Shao Bing issued an emergency mission, letting us set off in batches immediately to provide disaster relief."

Such fast speed!

Knight Hao couldn't help but sigh in his heart.

Counting the time, it hadn't even been a day.

As expected of the Sea Hai Shao Bing!

"What is the situation above now?" Gao De pointed to the flickering lights on the high ground and asked: "Also, where is your Baron?"

In the Jin Jin Quehua Dynasty, the highest official of a town is generally a Baron.

"Before the levee broke, Baron Qiaoluoya sensed the possibility of a levee break and organized the townspeople to transfer here at the first opportunity, so after the flood finally broke out, most of the people in the town were already here and their lives were not threatened by the flood."

"But the nearby villages were too late to organize evacuation and transfer, so after initially stabilizing the commoners, Baron Qiaoluoya took the fleet out to search for and transfer disaster victims."

"She already sent two batches of disaster victims earlier today, and then went out again to go to more distant villages; she might not be back until tomorrow morning."

The Baron of Yaxi Town was actually a rare female noble... Gao De's thoughts flashed through his mind.

Under the traditional concepts and strict laws of the Jin Jin Quehua Dynasty, it was not surprising that Qiaoluoya had such active disaster relief actions.

"How many people are up there?" Gao De asked again: "Are all the disaster victims of Yaxi Town transferring here?"

"About a hundred thousand or so," Knight Hao actually couldn't say the specific number, thought for a moment and said: "This is only a portion of the disaster victims; like the disaster victims in those slightly more distant villages, Baron Qiaoluoya certainly wouldn't go to great lengths to transport them back."

"One is that it would waste too much time, and two is that the capacity of this high ground is also limited, so they should be arranged nearby in places with high terrain around the villages."

"Everyone has been here for more than a day, and we left in a hurry, so we couldn't bring many supplies at all; now everyone is hungry."

"And this rain has been falling continuously, and there are no rain-proof facilities on the high ground; if this continues, the old and children certainly won't be able to hold on." Knight Hao frowned tightly and informed him of the current grim situation.

Gao De nodded.

This was within expectations.

As for why, despite having boats here, Knight Hao did not organize the disaster victims to transfer, but waited here, putting everyone in a dire situation lacking food, drinking water, and prone to disease, the reason was also very simple:

In the early stages of the flood, the water flow was too turbulent, with dangerous conditions like undercurrents and whirlpools, plus the bad weather, which would bring huge risks to the fleet's navigation, easily leading to boat capsizing.

There were a large number of floating objects in the water, such as furniture, building debris, etc.; these floating objects, led by the turbulent water flow, could hit the boats and damage the hulls.

The weather was bad, vision was blocked, leading to a significant increase in the difficulty and risk of transfer.

In addition, the existence of water beasts also made them afraid to easily organize large-scale transfers.

What's more, the boats were limited, and there were so many disaster victims; with insufficient manpower, rashly organizing a transfer could easily lead to a chaotic situation.

Therefore, after a flood occurs, disaster victims on high ground are generally not suitable for immediate transfer via fleet.

These were all key points highlighted in the "Cyclone Rescue Guide."

"On my way here, I passed by Taireier Town and already had the officials of Taireier Town borrow boats in advance to organize a fleet to stand by, ready to set off for rescue at any time."

"When dawn comes, if the weather is a bit better, we can notify the Taireier Town fleet to set off to meet you." Gao De comforted him.

"That would be great!" Knight Hao heard this, and the worry in his heart eased slightly.

If there were too many casualties among the town residents, after the disaster, these nobles would all be held accountable, so his pressure had always been very high.

"By the way, I still don't know how to address you?" He remembered this matter again and quickly said.

"Just call me Gao De." Gao De took out his identity badge and handed it over.

Knight Hao took the badge, looked at it, and then handed it back with both hands.

The Sea Hai Shao Bing mage uniform might be forged, but in such a situation, besides a Sea Hai Shao Bing mage, who else would take such a huge risk to appear here?

This so-called identity confirmation was actually just going through the motions.

"Take me up to take a look." Gao De made another request.

"No problem, Mage Gao De, please come with me." After such a toss, Knight Hao's sleepiness had already disappeared.

On the high ground, simple temporary tents were densely packed together.

Although it was already late at night, in the torrential rain, almost no one could sleep.

The temporary tents actually couldn't keep out such heavy rain; basically, all the tents were leaking, only the degree of severity differed.

A foul smell permeated the air; it was the smell of excrement mixed with the rot of rainwater.

The area of the high ground was limited, so the excrement of so many disaster victims was generally dealt with on the spot.

Randomly lifting a tent, two families were squeezed inside, sitting together huddled against each other.

They were trembling because of the cold, their faces had turned sallow because of hunger, their lips were even paler, and the whole person presented an abnormally weak state.

The child held in a woman's arms had abnormally heavy breathing, and her face was even flushed, obviously already sick.

The woman kept patting the child's back, comforting her in a low voice.

Gao De glanced at it and sighed slightly in his heart.

A burst of green light swirled, and several goodberries appeared in his hand.

He distributed the goodberries to the people in the tent, "Feed one to the child."

Goodberries could provide the nutrition needed by the human body for a day.

When sick, what is needed most is to replenish nutrition to enhance resistance.

After doing this, he lowered the tent curtain and followed Knight Hao to continue investigating the situation of the disaster victims.

After walking a circle, Gao De shook his head, "The situation is already very bad; if excrement is not handled, it is very easy to lead to a plague, but now the rain is so heavy and there are so many people, wanting to handle the excrement is not realistic."

"In such a densely populated situation, once a plague appears, the consequences can be imagined."

"Moreover, with torrential rain and lack of food, these people simply won't be able to hold on for long."

"When dawn comes, regardless of the situation, we must organize the transfer of disaster victims." Gao De asserted.

These were all knowledge he had learned from the "Cyclone Rescue Guide."

Although Knight Hao hadn't read this book, his rich experience made him understand this truth.

It was just that Baron Qiaoluoya hadn't returned, and he had always been afraid to make a decision rashly.

If everything went smoothly, it would be fine, but once something went wrong during the transfer of disaster victims, he would have to take full responsibility.

This kind of matter needed someone to make the call; anyway, Knight Hao's conservative personality made him somewhat afraid to easily be that bird that sticks its head out.

Now that Gao De had arrived and stood up to make the decision he had long wanted to make in his heart, Knight Hao was naturally overjoyed and agreed readily.

"Go back to the boat and rest for a while first; I've been traveling for a day and am also very exhausted." Gao De waved his hand and said.

Returning to the fleet from the high ground, entering the cabin, finding a bed, Gao De cast 【Comfortable Sleep+】 on himself and entered into sleep.

No one knew how long this disaster relief would last; he had to seize every moment to rest and restore his state.

It was already the second half of the night, but there was still some time before dawn, so he could still rest for a while.

Under the effect of the spell, even though the boat was abnormally bumpy in the turbulent water flow, Gao De still successfully entered a deep sleep state.

After a short three-hour rest, dawn came.

Gao De was called awake and looked out of the cabin.

Not only did the sun rise, but the torrential rain that had been falling all day finally turned into light rain at this time.

At this time, Knight Hao also happened to walk out of the cabin and met Gao De.

Looking at him like this, Knight Hao discovered that Gao De was actually so young.

The light was not good last night; by the dim light, he could see that Gao De was very young, but he didn't expect him to be this young, looking like he wasn't even twenty yet.

Such a young Sea Hai Shao Bing first-class apprentice mage must have an extraordinary background.

And he was also so courageous; his future achievements would definitely be extraordinary.

Knight Hao's expression became increasingly respectful.

"Luck is not bad; the rain has lessened a lot; we must hurry to transfer."

"I understand."

"Send two small boats to Taireier Town to notify the fleet standing by there to come for rescue, and also take the opportunity to scout the path." Gao De already had a detailed arrangement.

If he transmitted the message himself, the speed would be faster, but the path he and Tuanzi took was definitely different from the path normal boats took, and had no reference significance.

In addition, Gao De was not satisfied with a small Yaxi Town; he was also prepared to go to Auckland City to see the situation.

Just as Knight Hao thought, Gao De also felt that this cyclone disaster faintly revealed a heavy, wrong smell.

But where exactly it was wrong, perhaps only by arriving at Auckland City could he get the answer.

In addition, this was a rare opportunity to earn merit.

He might be able to save up enough military merit in one go to be promoted to the second circle in this disaster relief, so naturally, he couldn't be satisfied with the "petty merit" in front of him.

"No problem." Knight Hao nodded.

Yaxi Town and Taireier Town were adjacent to each other, one upstream and one downstream; everyone was very familiar with the route, so naturally, they knew how to go just by saying the name.

Soon, two small and medium-sized boats carrying mages sailed out in the light rain, breaking through the water waves, and before long, disappeared from sight.

"Lend me another small boat; I want to go to Auckland City to take a look." Gao De said again.

Knight Hao also nodded readily and assigned a small boat to Gao De.

Although boats were in short supply at the moment, such a small boat couldn't carry many people to begin with.

Besides, if Gao De hadn't taken action last night, these boats would have all been destroyed by the Blackwater Sharks long ago.

Whether in terms of emotion or reason, he had no way to refuse Gao De.

Gao De leaped down from the large boat and landed on the deck of the small boat.

The tapir saddle had been actively destroyed by him last night to escape the whirlpool's suction, and this was a delicate thing, not easy to make, and he didn't bring a spare, so he couldn't rely on Tuanzi to pull the boat now; he could only row the boat himself.

Fortunately, as the rain lessened, the water flow was no longer as turbulent as last night.

After Gao De cast 【Enlarge/Reduce】 and 【Expeditious Retreat】 on himself, he shook the oar and headed toward Auckland City.

Along the way, he also passed several towns, but he did not stop again.

But he also let down Tuanzi, who had also rested for most of the night and recovered its vigor, letting Tuanzi help scout the water depth and boundaries of these towns.

Besides saving people, scouting the disaster situation and the disaster range was also extremely important work.

Scouting the disaster situation early could allow rescue resources to be allocated more effectively, and could also facilitate overall planning, improving rescue efficiency.

Therefore, this matter also had a generous military merit reward.

Gao De wanted it all; he wasn't prepared to let a single merit slip by.

(End of chapter)