Chapter 113: Difficult Movement, Handover

In the pitch-black night, various nocturnal birds in the mountain forest fluttered through the air; the eyes of some birds nearby even reflected the torches and other sources of illumination held by the large group of people led by Jier.

Individual points of light hovered and drifted in the air, occasionally emitting startling "Ooh—ooh—" calls.

"Shoo, shoo, shoo, don't come and make trouble!" Jier loudly shooed away these birds that had curiously flown over to observe the humans. He was, of course, not afraid, but the vast majority of the villagers in the group had no experience walking at night; after all, everyone knew that walking at night was extremely dangerous.

For a person to walk alone on a deserted forest path, it was basically the same as that person giving up their own life.

After all, unlike the plains where humans gather and live, on the edge of remote mountain forests, the number of wild beasts here far exceeded that of humans. Who knew when a wild beast might jump out and snatch away a lone human walking at night to eat them.

Or, encounter even more terrifying monsters.

Not only eating you, but also transforming into your likeness, coveting the lives of your family and friends.

At this moment, Jier and his few companions each held a bright torch, while the other villagers relied on the small glowing balls of Divine Power that Jier had temporarily placed on them to provide illumination for walking at night.

Furthermore, the two brightest items of all—Jier's Hunting Sword and the Sun God Statue made by Baishi—were respectively on the back of a sturdy farm woman at the head of the line, and above the head of a middle-aged farmer leaning on a crutch at the end of the group.

These two people illuminated the head and tail of the entire group, giving instructions to the others. One could not go ahead of the person at the very front, nor fall behind the person at the very end.

It was very difficult for the five of them, Jier included, to manage the people of the entire village, let alone on a night as deep and dark as this.

For the vast majority of people, managing thirty or fifty people to move in formation during the day was a difficult, laborious, and energy-consuming task, let alone in the middle of the night, and with the villagers in such a poor state; the five of them were simply not enough.

Jier even found ropes to tie the waists of the few half-grown boys in the village who were not injured, just to prevent them from running off, as they were lively and active. As for the smaller children, they were placed in large baskets on the backs of the Tianxuecao and several other sturdy horses.

The children who were too small were scared by the pitch-black night and wailed loudly, even attracting some secret gazes.

The blue 【Water-Crossing Skull】 was thrown out with force by Jier, turning into a blue swirling cyclone that plunged straight into the distant forest.

"Chi—"

A strange, miserable shriek rang out. The things seemed to be numerous; the group saw a mass of blue cyclone swirling left and right in the distant forest, cutting down a small patch of trees and crushing the small monsters that had been peeking from the shadows.

Jier snorted with disdain. Others might not have known what was peeking at them in the forest, but Jier had confirmed through the close-range Scout of the Shadow Bird that it was a small group of goblins.

Not the kind of goblins with clear hierarchies and full equipment, just a bunch of weaklings holding wooden sticks and stones.

The Two-handed Axe, having finished the slaughter, subsequently whistled back into Jier's raised hand, and then, with its blade unstained by blood, was hung back behind Jier. The villagers were stunned, only then realizing that among these few people, Jier, the fellow leading them, was actually so formidable.

The villagers who had originally intended to lean on their crutches and come over to chat a few times also consciously kept their distance from Jier. They understood that Jier, this young man possessing such skills, was certainly someone they could not approach at this time.

But Jier took the initiative to find them: "That should have been a small group of goblins just now. Does anyone among you know the situation with these goblins?"

A young man leaning on a crutch approached: "M... My lord, I know a little."

"Speak directly."

"Yes... my lord. That is a group of goblins that were driven out of the mountains a few years ago. There aren't many of them. The Hunter in our village occasionally encounters them when patrolling the mountain forests around the village. It seems to be a small goblin settlement with a scale of about thirty or so."

"Do the lords in town know about this?" Jier asked.

This young man grinned with an ugly expression: "The masters do know, but the scale of this group of goblins is too small, so no one has come to suppress or drive them away, and there isn't even a bounty. We can only rely on ourselves—I myself am one of the village Hunters—to randomly shoot and kill a few when we encounter them to limit their numbers."

Jier pointed to the small patch of forest that had been cut down by the 【Water-Crossing Skull】 just now: "But looking at it now, they aren't very well-behaved. There is no one in the village now; those guys might set their sights on the corpses of the Bandits in the village, as well as the corpses of the villagers who passed away recently and haven't been cremated."

He spat: "Too good for them."

When the surrounding villagers heard this, they all recalled the sight of the corpses of deceased villagers being carried away and eaten by goblins; their faces, which were already looking quite bad, became even worse.

The group moved very slowly. The door panels pulled by the horses could move easily, but it remained the same principle: the final moving speed of a group depends on the slowest batch of people in the entire group.

And that was the case now; the weak villagers who were not necessarily sitting on the door panels but were leaning on crutches slowed down the moving speed of the entire group.

Because of leg pain, some people's wounds, which had been simply bandaged, burst open and bled again after walking for a while. This left the Herbalist Zuojigela scrambling to find ways to re-treat the injured areas for these villagers.

There were really no clean and suitable strips of cloth at hand, so he could only use a Dagger to cut open the villagers' clothing, cutting up the already crudely made Linen Cloth garments, being careful not to let the strips fall apart, and then re-bandaging the villagers' wounds.

And facing the burst wounds, Zuojigela, who had long since used up various medicines at hand, had to try to find wild herbs or shrubs in the grass by the side of the path that could stop bleeding.

They weren't even Herb.

"Hey! Leaving the group is too dangerous, Mr. Zuojigela, come back quickly!"

Seeing the Herbalist leave the group and look like he was searching for something in the withered grass by the road, Jier immediately spoke up to warn him.

"Lord Jier, there are no Herb left, not even anything to stop the bleeding. Let me look by the roadside for something that can temporarily stop the bleeding, at least to plug the burst wounds!" the Herbalist shouted in explanation.

Jier shook his head; he had no way either. He felt around his body; it was basically weapons and equipment used for killing, and there was not a single thing that could be used for treatment. Originally, he had a Badge of the God of Agriculture that could slowly heal wounds and illnesses, but ever since it was destroyed by a werewolf, he hadn't found anyone to repair it.

The Agricultural God Church in Kendall County had told him that if he took the remains of the broken badge back and paid a sum of money, they could repair the badge for Jier. But last winter, Jier didn't have that much money on hand, so he didn't repair this badge.

If he had such an item on hand now that could also be used by others, it could play a key role.

But unfortunately, ever since Jier possessed the Treatment Mushroom Bed that could heal his body at any time in the lady's dream, he hadn't paid much attention to these things.

The treatment of his subordinate Warrior was previously handled by Priest Bata'er, but now it was temporarily assigned to Mr. Zuojigela.

But obviously, the Herbalist had to have enough Herb on hand to perform treatment; without Herb, he could only be at a loss, watching the injured villagers suffer.

And although Priest Bata'er also had to consume Divine Power for treatment, possessing the limitation of the Agricultural God's Divine Power, this inconspicuous young Pastor had always been able to take good care of the injured Refugee and Warrior when leading the Refugee Team before.

Thinking about it now, Priest Bata'er was indeed a very outstanding Priest in terms of methods for treating the public.

He could always make his scarce Agricultural God Divine Power rely on the Nongshen Believer accompanying the team to replenish, and safely use Divine Power to treat the injured.

"Mr. Zuojigela, if it really doesn't work, how about using a Rope to tie the right leg of the villagers whose wounds are having problems? Although this is not good for the leg, at least the wound will not lose blood anymore?"

Jier offered a suggestion.

When the Herbalist heard this, he knew it was a bad idea, but it was also the only way for now.

So he found a way to get some belts from the villagers and tied them tightly around the thighs of the villagers whose wounds had burst due to movement; this way, by compressing the thigh, the knee would not bleed. But the disadvantages were also very obvious: the villagers' right legs no longer hurt, but even if tied for a long time, the entire leg would lose sensation, go numb, and even change color.

If it went on for a long time, the knee and lower leg and right foot below the thigh would be ruined.

Therefore, every time there was a rest period after walking for a while, Mr. Zuojigela had to let the villagers untie the tightly bound strips of cloth, so that the blood in the body could flow back into the injured leg and bring fresh blood to the body tissues in other parts of the right leg.

Naturally, the wound would bleed again at this time, and Mr. Zuojigela would temporarily teach the villagers to use their hands to press the wound during the rest to prevent the wound from bleeding, and to press and massage other parts of the right leg to promote the circulation of blood again.

And when they set off again, the Rope and cloth strips binding the thigh had to be tied up again.

Just like this, the group walked slowly, walking and walking, until the sun began to rise, and they even encountered Jier's team on the Shanglu.

Finally, Mr. Zuojigela replenished enough wound medicine on his newly bought carriage and hurriedly performed emergency bandaging for the villagers whose wounds had burst due to movement.

And because the caravan was preparing breakfast, Jier directly let the villagers eat breakfast in his caravan.

These villagers hadn't eaten such sumptuous food for many days; Jier's team even had meat soup to drink, and many villagers ate several large bowls of soup and a whole loaf of Bread.

During the days the Bandits occupied the village, the Villagers suffered for quite a while. The cattle, sheep, pigs, dogs, chickens, ducks, and other poultry and livestock raised by every household in the village were all devoured by those Bandits. The Villagers had worked hard to raise and breed those livestock and poultry, only to end up not even getting a single bone to chew on.

It really was unlucky enough.

After eating their fill, Jier let the caravan continue forward. Although the caravan had fewer horses, it did not matter; everyone could get off the carriages and walk, and then the lightly loaded carriages could be pulled by the Defeated Soldiers.

Those Defeated Soldiers had been eating and drinking well these days, and without needing to fight or train, they did nothing but eat and sleep. Some had even gained a bit of weight; it was time to put some pressure on them.

And the Villagers of New Clear Spring Cunzi only then realized that Jier was not just a young Knight with four subordinates and a five-person squad, but a young Knight who possessed a caravan of nearly a hundred people, and where people clad in helmets and armor were everywhere.

Consequently, they grew even more in awe of Jier. The words they had originally intended to say to borrow money and obtain more help were all taken back, and they honestly accepted Jier's arrangements, walking straight ahead along the Shanglu toward Yemei Town.

Because they had resupplied at the caravan once and everyone had eaten their fill, the subsequent movement was a little faster—really, only a little. After all, having a knee pierced through from front to back by an Arrow and having been injured for several days, such a serious injury made it inherently difficult to move.

Many Villagers had foreheads covered in cold sweat brought on by pain, and as the morning sun rose, this sweat was evaporated by the sunlight, leaving salt stains on everyone's faces and necks.

By nine or ten in the morning, the road that Jier only needed a moment to ride across on horseback was finally reached by the Villagers after walking for nearly eight hours—this supply point near the Shanglu at Momona Cunzi.

"My Lord, are you saying that these Villagers from New Clear Spring Cunzi all had their legs broken by shots from the Church Hunters of the Hunting God Church?"

The Town Guard Squad Leader talking to Jier looked horrified and incredulous. He had participated in the battle at Momona Cunzi and naturally knew how formidable the Church Hunters of the Hunting God Church were. But at the time, the Church Hunters of the Hunting God Church were on their side, all fighting against the evil parasitic Monster; he could not believe that these formidable Hunters would actually commit such a terrible act.

Jier curled his lips: "Don't say you don't believe it; I didn't dare believe it at first either. How could they! How dare they!"

He shrugged: "But they really can do such things, and they really do dare to do such things. I can guess a thing or two about the reason. In any case, these Villagers belong to the population of Sasi County, no matter what; we can't just leave them be, right?"

"So, these people are handed over to you. Watch over them and send them to Yemei Town in batches using the Merchant Guild's carriages. You don't need to worry about the medical treatment; they have the wealth to pay for the costs, and at the very worst, they can mortgage the houses and fields in their village."

This Town Guard Squad Leader looked at these hundreds of wounded, while he only had a dozen or so men on his side; his head was simply spinning!

"My Lord, Lord Jier, I am just a small Town Guard Squad Leader. I really cannot bear the responsibility for so many people. Not to mention anything else, just for so many people to drink water, I don't even know where to find water for them to drink."

Seeing this person sweating with anxiety, Jier laughed out loud: "It's not really relying on you. This is a letter I wrote; quickly find someone to deliver it to your Young Master Bell, and have him send people to pick up these injured Villagers, and dispatch men to take over New Clear Spring Cunzi and Banbo Wood Cunzi. Don't let any Monster or goblin occupy them, or things will become very ugly again."

"Additionally, I also asked him in the letter to find Priests from the Church of the God of the Dead and arrange for some people to make a trip to New Clear Spring Cunzi. My men and I killed a wave of dozens of Bandits there; the corpses of the Bandits and the corpses of the Villagers who died recently have not been properly handled. If left alone, there will likely be some problems."

Speaking of this, the Town Guard Squad Leader guarding this supply point immediately said: "Lord Jier, you don't need to have the Young Master notify the Church in town about this. Right now, basically all the Priest masters of the Church of the God of the Dead in our Sasi County are over at Momona Cunzi. I heard they are going to hold some kind of ceremony to suppress something after it dies, or something like that."

What he said was vague, but Jier understood: "That works out perfectly. Although I don't have the chance to go over and see, you send someone to notify the Priests of the Church of the God of the Dead, and have them make a trip to New Clear Spring Cunzi once they are done or if they can temporarily dispatch a few people."

"I understand, Lord Jier."

"Then, these people have all received simple treatment, so they should have no problem holding out until Yemei Town. They are handed over to you; I am leaving."

After Jier finished his instructions, he handed the letter he had written on the road to this Town Guard Squad Leader, and he and his few companions rode away quickly. All that remained were a large group of injured Villagers and the Merchant Guild Shop Assistants and Town Guards in the supply point looking at each other in dismay.

This Squad Leader looked at the injured Villagers lying all over the ground, his ears filled with the wailing and cursing of the Villagers.

Jier had not avoided the Villagers during his conversation with the Squad Leader just now, and neither of them had spoken in low voices, so the surrounding Villagers finally figured out who had harmed them to this state and what the background of those terrifying strange people was.

"Damn the Hunting God Church!"

"I %%% the Church Hunters! Once my leg is healed, I must kill you all!"

Curses of this kind rang out continuously in the Squad Leader's ears. He gave a bitter smile, thinking that the position at this supply point he had begged for was a leisurely job with good perks. Later, this supply point would even be planned as a checkpoint guarding the entry and exit of Sasi County; now it seemed he had to start getting busy ahead of time.

"What are you all standing there for? Move, move! Take out the stored food and water, and some medical supplies. And you, you know how to ride a horse; quickly take Lord Jier's letter and run to town, and deliver the letter to Young Master Bell in person! And you, take some men with buckets, take a carriage and run to Momona Cunzi, and bring me back enough water for everyone to drink. This damn weather—you can go without eating, but you can't go without a single sip of water."

"Move quickly!"

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