Chapter 97

Ti Li Ang saw the mercenaries cleaning up corpses, with some still on the small hills on either side, wary of possible another demon ambush. He walked over the bloodstained, black-blooded Wa Lei Li Ya avenue, feeling satisfied, humming a tune, walking along the edge of the avenue. At this moment, part of the mercenaries, including Qiao La, were using tools to dig out big pits, stripping the dead comrades naked and burying them.

As a mercenary who sells his labor, Qiao La is undoubtedly qualified, but Ti Li Ang doesn't quite understand why a noble who has been a count for many years can be so 'diligent'.

The mercenaries collected the deceased comrades' various personal items one by one; most of the items lacking value or strong personal significance were stuffed back into their 'pockets', while anything other mercenary units could use was retained one by one, such as gold, gemstone rings, weapons, armor, and complete robes.

A large pile of armor, weapons, and robes was stacked to one side.

Without a quartermaster, Ti Li Ang could freely choose whatever armor he liked here. After picking for a long time, he finally felt that the quartermaster's words were not wrong—his stature was too small, and there was no armor that fit him.

If there was none that fit, he would look for something close to fitting.

After this demon attack, Ti Li Ang understood that the meaning of armor is life, especially knowing that there might be more demons ahead, and especially thinking of the horse that died for him.

He picked out a set of leather armor and a set of mail armor for himself. Leather armor merely needed width adjustment; he had already learned tailoring from a nun on the ship (mainly cutting children's clothes in half down the middle); mail armor would be a bit more troublesome, being wide and long, and he lacked the ability to handle it, so he could only take wine to coax the sole surviving blacksmith, begging him to show mercy and help with the processing.

The blacksmith's handling was no different from his treatment of leather armor; he directly used an axe to 'cut' the mail armor, then used several small links to rehook the split parts.

"Damn, this is all I can do." The blacksmith casually tossed the mail armor back to him.

Upon receiving the mail armor, Ti Li Ang couldn't help but praise specialization, feeling that his own leather armor might not be able to achieve such perfection.

After putting on the mail armor, he felt it fit just right; aside from the gaps where the links were, it could already be called perfect.

It wasn't very handsome, but it was sufficient.

He hoped the demons hadn't figured out where the gaps in his mail armor were.

The demons might not know where the mail armor's gaps are, but they definitely knew exactly where the gold in the mercenary band was located.

Setting aside magic that could explain everything, from normal logic, if the enemy knows something it shouldn't, it's likely there's a traitor on our side.

Could someone in the mercenary band be colluding with the demons' master? Ti Li Ang shook his head; he didn't believe it. Accomplishing such an unbelievable communication feat would be extremely difficult. Moreover, what would the purpose be? To make himself poorer and weaker?

After donning the armor and leather armor, he prepared to visit each captain within the mercenary band. After this demon ambush, only fifteen squad leaders remained alive.

In the position of chief financial officer, he had undoubtedly secured Tuo Lei Mi's support, although he still didn't know what conditions he would have to agree to, and both sides needed to be frank, but no matter what the conditions, he already felt Tuo Lei Mi was no obstacle, so winning the squad leaders' support was important.

Unfortunately, among the fifteen squad leaders, only seven could speak the common tongue, and excluding Qiao Ge left only six. This communication difficulty was considerable.

Just as he was lost in thought, a troop of cavalry returned from the front. The soldiers of the Picnic Troop, hearing the hoofbeats, each returned to mount their warhorses, drew their swords, and several dozen mounted archers nocked their arrows.

Ti Li Ang grabbed a shield and an axe, bracing against the approaching cavalry.

"Enemy ahead! Please hurry to reinforce!" The soldier at the front, bearing a flag with a tiger king crown, shouted at them in Wa Lei Li Ya.

The mercenary troop members looked at each other, with no one stepping forward to speak.

"Damn, what does the enemy ahead have to do with us?" He heard a soldier mutter softly, "If they hadn't failed to notice the demons, we wouldn't have suffered losses!"

"Haven't they noticed now?" Ti Li Ang lowered his axe, smiling, and said, "Kid, look at the black blood on him."

The newcomer wore a white outer robe, dotted with black blood spots, very distinct.

"Where is your regiment commander?" he asked.

Eaten by a dragon. "Just died in battle." Ti Li Ang stepped out of the ranks, Qiao La suspiciously blocked him, Ti Li Ang shrugged off his hand and moved forward.

"Who are you?" he asked sternly in Wa Lei Li Ya.

"I am Hu Ge Xi Shan, a member of the Picnic Troop." Ti Li Ang answered with a smile in the common tongue, "Sir, what enemy lies ahead?"

"Damn, does the Picnic Troop now have only a dwarf in charge?" He flicked his whip and replied in the common tongue, "I'm not used to answering a dwarf's questions!"

"Whatever you think, even if a whore from Valyria came, we'd still need to get this straight before we could go rescue." The dwarf's words made the Picnic Troop members burst out laughing, after which Ti Li Ang looked left and right, as if rallying or giving a speech, "Besides, why should we risk our lives?"

That person's face instantly turned crimson, and he dared not flick his whip down.

"Hey, sir, if you can't bring yourself to whip, then hurry up and say what enemy lies ahead, don't act like a maiden!" Ti Li Ang smiled, and the mercenaries around him all laughed until they doubled over.

Ti Li Ang felt this feigned might was exhilarating.

"Ghost cavalry." The soldier beside him, holding a battle flag, urged his horse forward, "They burst out of the Black Lake."

"What are ghost cavalry? What is Black Lake?" Ti Li Ang felt he could no longer laugh.

"How many ghost cavalry?" Tuo Lei Mi rode out from the crowd, "How many do you have? How far are you from here?"

"About twenty. We still have over forty there, retreating behind the rocky slope, roughly ten li." He glanced at the demon corpses still piled by the roadside and asked, "Did you also encounter enemies?"

Tuo Lei Mi nodded, "They are demons."

"These damned witches!" the flag-bearer cursed, "We were perfectly safe when we passed through here."

He seemed to be shirking responsibility. As the vanguard, they ought to have proactively detected danger.

"Pass the word backward. We'll go over immediately!" Tuo Lei Mi replied.

At that moment, a dozen or so cavalry rode back along the avenue, leaving the soldiers staring at each other.

"Get ready at once, move out!" Tuo Lei Mi ordered.

Ti Li Ang glanced at him, feeling his gaze also lock onto him; Ti Li Ang smiled, but only sensed the other's eyes were icy.

He dismissed it as an illusion and hurried over to Sir Qiao La's side.

This big black bear, though rather dull, had seen a fair bit; during his seven or eight years in the Eastern Continent, wandering south and north, he perhaps had some basic understanding of these demons and monsters.

But thinking about it, it's strange that these natives of the Eastern Continent appear just as ignorant as he is.

"Sir Qiao La," Ti Li Ang hurriedly caught up to Qiao La and shouted, but he was somewhat unwilling to engage, so he raised his voice, "Sir Qiao La!"

He turned his head to look at Ti Li Ang, directly blocking his path; Ti Li Ang felt the big bear was blocking out the sky.

"What is Black Lake, and what are ghost cavalry?" He slightly shifted his position to make viewing easier.

"Black Lake is the name of a lake." He said coldly.

"Damn, those ghost cavalry are just a knight's name!" Ti Li Ang complained.

"I don't know, I've heard rumors about the sheep people; if you want to know," Ti Li Ang nodded repeatedly, "the rumor says that sheep-person sorcerers use male goats as sacrifices, able to turn goats into tall warhorses; these warhorses know no fear, and those who ride them become fearless and brave. That's the only thing I can recall relating to ghost cavalry." He spoke gloomily while packing his belongings.

Watching him busy, Ti Li Ang felt somewhat reassured. Indeed, fighting and laborious tasks truly require tall people.

"If that's the case, ruling the world—damn, at least ruling the Duo Si La Ke Plains would be the sheep people's, not the Dothraki's." Ti Li Ang hung his axe on an empty horse, put on his helmet, and with difficulty climbed onto the horse's back.

The other soldiers hastily gathered the dead bodies, pushing earth to bury them quickly.

Ti Li Ang hoped no wolves would dig up these shallow graves.

Poor regiment leader! The green beard is still quite handsome, it's really a pity.

Maybe he should also have shot the little demon's spear at the dragon named Zhuo Geng; he's so small, perhaps he could be swallowed whole by the dragon without being torn apart. How could a grave compare to a dragon's stomach?

When everything was cleaned up, Lord Tuo Lei Mi took his fine horse and set foot again on the Wa Lei Li Ya Avenue. The fine horse let out a long neigh, breaking the mountain's tranquility; they continued along the avenue in a mighty procession toward the front, as if everything that had happened before had become ancient history.

Ti Liang Ang admired the mercenary corps' good morale, and was also shocked by their cold steadfastness.

This world belongs to such cold and steadfast people.

He envied, envied, but thinking that he might have to be buried together with this group of mercenaries, he felt afraid. The soldiers here all looked foolish; if they were buried in this dark, gloomy mountain listening to their boring dirty jokes day and night, wouldn't he be suffocated to death? If they spoke in Wa Lei Li Ya language, it would be even worse.

A breeze blew by, and Ti Liang Ang felt the troops' speed increase; soon they were all galloping at full speed.

At this speed, before long they arrived at the barren stone slope.

The so-called barren stone slope was built from some large stones piled up; after long weathering, only a chest-high (Mo Er Meng) stone wall remained, showing that the vanguard of Wa Lan Ti Si had clashed here with the so-called ghost cavalry.

Now, the battle was clearly over.

Several wounded slave soldiers crouched against the stone wall, covering their wounds, showing pained expressions. The other thirty or so continued to guard cautiously against possible enemy attack.

The surviving Wa Lan Ti Si soldiers instantly relaxed upon seeing the picnic corps' banner.

After directing several squad leaders to occupy the surrounding high ground for early warning, Tuo Lei Mi approached a man who looked like a leader.

The leader's face was dark brown, with a fierce tiger tattooed on his forehead; his face was covered in sweat and dirt, and there were some black bloodstains—he looked utterly exhausted.

'Have the enemies left?' Tuo Lei Mi asked in Wa Lei Li Ya language.

'After you arrived, they retreated.' He replied.

These were the only words Ti Liang Ang could understand, a bit of nonsense; when he realized these people didn't understand the common tongue, he left, bored.

He squeezed through the mercenaries and got close to the big bear.

He squeezed through the mercenaries and got close to the big bear.

'Is this the ghost cavalry?' Ti Liang Ang asked Mo Er Meng. 'It really looks like a goat!' But which head do you think does the thinking?