Chapter 2: The Gratitude of Lanse-Qingting Cunzi

"Thanks to Sir Knight Jier and the warriors under his command; without their rescue, we and those villagers from Changmai Cunzi would not know what our fate might have been!"

The rescued villagers of Lanse-Qingting Cunzi loudly proclaimed Jier's deeds, while Jier took off his helmet and waved at the surrounding villagers with a smile on his face.

"It is all what I should do. As a warrior of the Agricultural God, rescuing these innocent Nongshen Believers is my responsibility. Fortunately, I successfully saved everyone. Of course, this is not something I could have done alone; these warriors of mine also put in hard work and killed many enemies. And my drivers—they were the ones who drove the carriages to bring us back."

Jier modestly pushed his men forward, pointed at the captured soldiers, and said with an amused tone: "Look, these tied-up fellows are the remaining surrendered enemies from the battle. Oh, I wonder how that fellow who surrendered earlier is doing now?"

Jier shielded his eyes with his hand, and after passing through the village gate, he looked toward a prominent large wooden post erected in the open space inside the village.

At the top of that wooden post hung a dog cage, inside which a dying Defeated Soldier was curled up, his skin torn and raw from being scorched by the hot sun these past few days.

"Oh, that man is still there. Haha, drive these captured soldiers off the carriages and let them properly experience the 'enthusiasm' of the villagers!" Jier said with a teasing tone.

The villagers who gathered around saw these Defeated Soldiers, and after hearing the rescued villagers recount their experience of being abducted, they were filled with righteous indignation, rushed up, dragged the men away, and gave them a good beating.

The surrendered soldiers also had a way to deal with the villagers' beatings; they huddled together. Although their arms were bound, their legs could still run, so they squeezed together, protecting the soldiers who had been beaten too severely in the center, while those with strong bodies took the initiative to surround the outside.

In this way, although the villagers all wanted to go up and hit them a few times, when facing the huddled surrendered soldiers, they could only manage to squeeze in after much effort, strike twice, and then be pushed away by their own people.

In the chaos, the villagers actually ended up accidentally hitting their own people more often, while the huddled surrendered soldiers cleverly leaned against the wall of a house, appearing not to have received many beatings.

Jier pointed at this messy situation and said to his warriors: "Look, this is the importance of formation. Reduce the target area, rely on terrain or buildings to protect yourselves. Protect injured comrades in the center and maintain overall organization. In this way, even when facing enemies ten times your number, you can hold out for a long time. If they had weapons and armor, to be honest, a hundred villagers would not be able to take down these dozen or so people."

The warriors looked at the chaotic scene before them; some were lost in thought, while others were confused, not knowing what Jier was talking about.

It can only be said that everyone's comprehension and insight are vastly different.

"Let's go. The carriage team cannot stay at the village entrance forever. Drivers, drive the carriages to the Nongshen Church in the center of the village. Warriors, get off the carriages, guide the team, and keep a close watch on the items on the carriages."

After speaking, Jier ignored the surrendered soldiers and rode his horse ahead toward the church on his own; he still had a letter from Bata'er Jiaoshi that needed to be delivered to the Old Priest Jialade-Ruidekasi.

Furthermore, regarding the magical items borrowed from the Nongshen Church district in Montoka City, except for the items used personally by Bata'er Jiaoshi, all other borrowed items could be handed over to the Old Priest Ruiduokasi.

This is because although the Old Priest is also just a Cunzi Priest, he has very senior qualifications in the Borisfa City diocese, and almost all the self-governing villages of the Nongshen Church in the southern part of Sasi County were planned and established by the Old Priest leading the people.

He himself has a much higher status than the Nongshen Church in Yemei Town to the north.

Therefore, these borrowed items can just be handed over to him.

Quickly riding his horse to the entrance of the church, Jier jumped off, let Tianxuecao wander around nearby, and walked inside while holding the bundle already prepared on the horse's back.

The tall, beautiful wooden church doors were open. Because of the commotion at the village entrance on the south side, the believers who were originally praying in the church had all come to the entrance to look out. Seeing Jier arrive, they asked him about the situation with curiosity on their faces.

The villagers of Lanse-Qingting Cunzi had basically seen Jier's appearance, so although Jier's armor was fitted with additional Metal Armor Plates, they could still easily recognize him without his helmet.

Jier briefly explained the rescue situation of this trip, then pushed past the onlookers, arrived at the center of the church interior, and met the Old Priest himself, who had difficulty walking.

"You're back, Jier. How was it? Was the trip to the mountains to rescue the villagers smooth? Oh, looking at the smile on your face, it must have been very smooth, right?" The Old Priest only had difficulty walking, not an inability to stand up and move. Seeing Jier arrive, he stood up, walked forward, and patted Jier's tall body with his withered, thin palms.

Facing this old man, Jier was very careful not to bump into him. After carefully letting the Old Priest pat the armor plates on his shoulders twice, he placed the Nongshen Church items to be returned to one side, and then took out the letter from Bata'er Jiaoshi, which was clamped between wooden slats, from the leather pouch at his waist.

"Thanks to your blessing, everything went smoothly on this trip." Jier said with a smile. He untied the thin rope binding the wooden slats and handed the thick stack of letters inside to the Old Priest: "Compared to my account, you should look at the specific process written on paper by Luosa! If there is anything that needs to be supplemented, you can ask me again. We won't leave until tomorrow; I will be here tonight."

"Very good, I am also very curious about your experiences. Hearing the young people who came back injured recount the attack on Changmai Cunzi earlier made my heart nervous for a long time. But you are all smart young people, surely you wouldn't be so reckless, right?"

The Old Priest smiled and patted Jier's shoulder with his hand. He wanted to pat Jier's head, but because of his height, it was not easy to do. There was no help for it; after people grow old, their stature shrinks somewhat due to bone loss. Originally, Old Priest Jialade-Ruidekasi was also a tall and sturdy priest, but at his age, he had to realistically grow old slowly.

Jier bent down slightly, allowing the Old Priest to successfully pat his hair. Afterward, Jier found a sturdy wooden chair nearby and sat down, while the Old Priest sat back in his chair, letting the children around light more candles in the church for him to read the letters.

The letters were very thick. This was the detailed process of retaking Changmai Cunzi and heading south to rescue the abducted villagers, written in detail by Bata'er Jiaoshi from his own perspective during his spare time.

These letters would be well preserved by the Old Priest as originals, while the content of the letters would be edited, recorded in books, and after a few copies were transcribed, they would be sent to several places respectively.

One copy would remain in the Nongshen Church of Lanse-Qingting Cunzi, another would be handed over to the Borisfa City diocese after the situation improved. The final copy would be sent to the Nongshen Church district of Montoka City along with the returned borrowed items.

To let them know exactly what these borrowed items had experienced.

Among them, Bata'er Jiaoshi also had to write a usage report for the armed priest's weapons and equipment, to be submitted together with that set of equipment.

The Old Priest read the letters in his hand quietly, while the children from Changmai Cunzi temporarily staying here curiously asked about their parents' situation.

These children were considered lucky. Because they were devout believers of the church, when the incident happened, they were able to entrust their children to Bata'er Jiaoshi to hide together, and later the priest sent them here and to Big Tree Cunzi for temporary residence.

As for some families whose faith was not so devout, or rather, who did not have such a good relationship with the Nongshen Church in the village, they could only take their own children and, after being captured, were sent together to the mine to suffer and starve.

Some unlucky little children died in that stuffy, dark mine.

They failed to successfully welcome Jier's rescue.

Do you ask if Jier feels regret about this?

Regret exists, but Jier does not take these things to heart. After all, he is a good person doing good deeds, and one cannot blame him for this. After all, the bad things and bad people were not him, right?

Children died in the mine; this account needs to be settled with those Defeated Soldiers. And those Defeated Soldiers, most of them have already died, and the remaining surrendered ones who are alive will inevitably have endless suffering waiting for them.

"Very good, you are a smart child; you did not recklessly rush up to rescue the villagers. This is very good, very good." The Old Priest seemed very happy, especially when he saw the number of rescued villagers recorded by Bata'er Jiaoshi and compared it with the population of Changmai Cunzi before the incident; he could know how much population was lost in this event in total.

About a little over a hundred people died in this incident.

Most of them died when the soldiers attacked Changmai Cunzi and just enslaved the villagers, driving them south toward the mine camp.

And after arriving at the mine, although the mining work there was very hard, not many villagers died during this period; most were some physically weak children and the elderly.

"Alas, it is all my fault." Seeing this, the Old Priest sighed and blamed himself.

"I should have let the villages in southern Sasi County train village militias earlier, but I was always worried that this would provoke the Sasi Baron Family, so I never issued this measure. If I could have trained the young people in each village earlier, things might not have developed this way. Those soldiers would likely have bumped their heads and retracted their inappropriate ideas, instead of successfully taking down Changmai Cunzi and reaching their hands to me."

The Old Priest sighed: "Alas, I am old after all. If I were young, why would I care about the reaction of a small Baron Family."

"It's not too late now." Jier said.

"Yes, it is not too late now. How does that old saying go? The best time to plant a tree is ten years ago; the second best time is now." The Old Priest said seriously.

At this time, Jier's carriage team arrived at the open space outside the church. Those surrendered soldiers also saw that no one was managing them, and the warriors even threw them to the villagers to be beaten, so they tried every possible way to run over.

These fellows who had done all kinds of evil were afraid that Jier would leave them here to be beaten by the villagers. They could defend against it for a moment, but could they defend for days or weeks?

Sooner or later, they would be beaten to death by the villagers.

Therefore, these surrendered soldiers who wanted to survive actually followed the carriage team closely and arrived at the open space in front of the church.

They even jumped onto the carriages, preferring to huddle on the carriages for the night rather than get down and be beaten. And the villagers could not climb onto the carriages of Jier's team because the carriages were carrying a lot of spoils and captured goods. When the surrendered soldiers approached, Jier's warriors did not stop them, but when the villagers tried to approach during the chaos, the warriors blocked them outside.

When the villagers saw that they could no longer beat them, they did not disperse but gathered more and more. Farmer families whose young people had been abducted came over with thankful supplies to express their gratitude, and there were also villagers asking about the rescue situation, curiously listening to the bragging of Jier's warriors.

There were also their own people who had been injured in the liberation of Changmai Cunzi; now that their injuries were healed, they returned to the team to ask about the various things that happened afterward.

Because it was almost dark, the carriage team and the villagers all lit campfires. Villagers living nearby quickly prepared a delicious dinner for everyone: vegetable soup and cured pork, paired with freshly baked bread. There was plenty of food for everyone!

The Warriors and the drivers ate their fill, while the surrendered Soldiers huddled on the wagons, forced to go hungry, watching the food with longing eyes and smelling the fragrant aroma of the meal.

Jier was hungry too, so he went out to grab a portion of food and returned inside the Church.

The Old Priest, while reading a letter, would occasionally answer questions from the elderly Villagers who came in to ask about something.

Jier heard words like "gratitude," "sacred," and "bathing," and felt a bit curious, wondering what the Villagers of Lanse-Qingting Cunzi were planning to do.

Interestingly, when it was dark and time to eat, the Deputy Captain of the surrendered Scout team, who was locked in a dog cage atop a wooden post, was specifically let out to have a meal, while those surrendered Soldiers on the wagons had nothing to eat.

Of course, once it was late at night and the Villagers had dispersed, the drivers would give these fellows something to eat.

After all, these counted as prisoners of war, won in battle by Jier and his Warriors. The handling of these prisoners could only be decided by Jier himself; until Jier made a decision, they would have food and drink, and their lives could still be preserved.

"Jier, in a moment, to thank you and your Warriors for your contribution to the village, the Villagers have proposed that you may exclusively use the lake water behind the Church to take a bath." The Old Priest put down the letter he had been reading halfway through, and after whispering with some old Villagers, said this to Jier.

The elderly Villagers standing nearby who had not yet left also nodded at Jier one after another, smiling and adding: "Yes, Warrior Jier, you may use the lake water to wash your bodies. This is the village's precious water source, and only you, who rescued those young people, have the right to do so."

"Oh, is this a reward of gratitude?" Jier asked curiously.

"This is everyone's appreciation and thanks to you. You and your subordinate Warriors saved more than a dozen families on this trip, sparing them from a sorrowful outcome. After discussing it, everyone decided to allow you to bathe in the lake behind. You must know, usually, people are not allowed to enter the lake at all."

Jier scratched his head; because he hadn't cleaned his body properly for a while, dandruff was flying everywhere from his hair: "But my subordinates and I don't smell very good. If we stinky guys go down to wash, will you still be able to use the lake water properly afterward?"

The few old Villagers nearby felt a bit awkward, not knowing what to say, because Jier's words were truly simple and direct, leaving them unsure how to respond.

It was the Old Priest who knew how to speak: "We will use the lake water with a heart of gratitude. Furthermore, after the special bathing, there will be a grand celebration tonight. I suppose before leaving the ruined Changmai Cunzi, everyone hasn't been able to celebrate properly, right? Then that's perfect; let's use all the supplies for this year's Harvest Festival here! The Harvest Festival happens every year, but this opportunity to thank you for rescuing the Villagers does not come often."

After speaking, the Old Priest had these old Villagers who held prestige in the village go down to arrange the celebration activities and prepare for the bathing first.

These preparations were not as simple as just letting Jier and his subordinates jump into the water for a quick rinse. This included special cleaning tools for washing, temporary screens for changing clothes, the preparation of twenty or thirty sets of clean clothes for after the wash, dry cloths for scrubbing, and more, all of which had to be prepared as quickly as possible.

Moreover, not everyone likes being watched while bathing; even though Jier's subordinates were all sturdy young men and wouldn't be shy, lighting and screening still had to be prepared immediately.

"Alright then, since you don't mind, in this hot weather, we'll go down and take a bath! I've long wanted to take a bath in the Pond or small lake in your village. Haha."

After Jier finished speaking, he hurried out to announce the matter.

The Old Priest hadn't finished speaking yet; he would later cast a blessing Divine Art, using the cool water behind the Church to greatly relieve the Warriors' fatigue and heal the minor wounds on their bodies. The temporarily blessed water would also be drawn by the Villagers in bucket after bucket and quickly transported home, so they could also take a quick bath at home before the blessing effect faded.

This kind of thing did not happen often; it only happened once every few years, and only after outsiders had made important help and contributions to Lanse-Qingting Cunzi, and with the permission of the Old Priest and the joint recommendation of the Villagers, could such a thing occur.

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