Chapter 274: After the Battle and Revenge

The soldiers of Bingxun Pass were slow to arrive, and it was only then that the entrance to this inn became crowded with people.

"Make way! Everyone make way!" The soldiers hurriedly surrounded the inn, and the Captain leading the soldiers found the innkeeper to ask him what had happened earlier.

He covered his nose and mouth with an exquisite handkerchief to avoid being overwhelmed by the scent of blood scattered throughout the inn lobby.

The innkeeper was also stained with quite a bit of blood; he told the Captain in detail about the previous situation, and upon hearing the account, the Captain immediately realized this was a major incident.

He ordered everyone at the scene not to move and to stay where they were to await questioning, then he had the soldiers secure the perimeter and hurriedly took two soldiers with him to the Government Office of Bingxun Pass.

Jier asked the innkeeper and the Shop Assistant for some bedsheets, tore them up, and carefully bandaged the civilians' hands; not only to stop the bleeding, but also to clean the rolled-back wounds with fresh water, then apply charcoal ash from the inn's kitchen stove to the wounds to stop the bleeding.

Starting with the civilians in serious condition, Jier then treated those who were not as severely injured. The fresh water in several Wooden Basins was dyed red with blood, and then he had the civilians who only suffered minor injuries fetch more water.

He asked the soldiers at the scene if the injured civilians could first return to the rooms upstairs in the inn to lie down and rest.

The soldier was clearly unwilling, so Jier had no choice but to take a handful of copper and Iron Coins from his inner pocket and stuff them into the soldier's arms. After feeling the coins Jier gave him, the soldier finally cleared the way and arranged for another soldier to go up and guard the stairwell.

After everything was handled, the innkeeper came over and begged Jier to also help his Shop Assistants treat their wounds; although they only provided support in the back earlier, they could be considered to have heroically helped the attacked civilians.

Jier nodded and became busy again.

The injuries sustained by the inn's Shop Assistants were not heavy, mostly from the bandits' fists and kicks, with one or two teeth lost, and they had already stopped the bleeding with charcoal ash. But one Shop Assistant had his arm slashed by an axe; although the arm was not severed, the situation was quite bad, and since he had already tied his armpit with a Rope, the blood loss was manageable.

Jier could only clean the wound, sprinkle it with charcoal ash, wrap it with clean Linen Cloth, and wind it tightly around the wound.

"His wound is too large; if you want to save this arm, you must go to the local church, their Divine Art is very effective. Otherwise, his arm will not be saved," Jier said while washing the blood off his hands in the Wooden Basin.

The innkeeper watching from the side looked troubled: "The church's treatment is very expensive; how could he have that kind of money?" The Shop Assistant lying on the ground also looked ashen; his money had all been sent back to his hometown, and he usually ate and lived at the inn, so how could he have money to go to the local church to have Divine Art cast?

Jier rolled his eyes: "Then does he usually believe in any religion, or frequent any church? If so, for the sake of being a devout believer, perhaps those Priests would reduce the fees at their discretion?"

The innkeeper patted the face of the Shop Assistant on the ground and asked him in a low voice if he had any connections.

Unexpectedly, this Shop Assistant really did; he was friends with a Steward of a chamber of commerce, and both of them had come from a village in another county. The other party seemed to have become a secret Church Priest after joining a chamber of commerce.

Hearing this, Jier felt a sense of familiarity. Sure enough, the Shop Assistant took out a small silver pendant from his clothes, on which was a divine symbol he was very familiar with.

He had seen this divine symbol on every Steward in the Fox Tail Chamber of Commerce, and Jamula had even explained to him that their secret church was a righteous god, but its influence was small, so it had to preach in secret.

The name of that deity was: God of Wilderness Merchants.

It specialized in protecting merchants traveling long distances in the wilderness; it had few followers, but they were widespread, and it was a new god that had appeared less than a thousand years ago.

The innkeeper asked clearly about the location of the Shop Assistant's friend, took the token handed to him by the Shop Assistant, came to the side controlled by the soldiers, called over a neighboring shopkeeper who was watching the excitement, and after giving him instructions, the other party hurriedly set off; after all, the sooner such wounds were treated, the better.

They were all neighboring merchants who usually looked out for each other, and the soldiers did not stop them because they knew what the innkeeper was going to do; in any case, not a single person at the scene was missing.

Seeing that he had nothing to do, Jier tidied up the corpses of the unknown civilians, covered the fatal wounds on their bodies, and straightened their faces.

As he worked, Jier lowered his head, and tears flowed from his eyes, dripping onto the corpses of the civilians along his chin.

"You all ran so far, why did you have to die at this place and at this time?" Jier laid out the corpses of the dead civilians and sat on a chair in the lobby.

"Just a moment ago you were enjoying life, sigh." Jier remembered the scene of everyone clinking glasses and drinking together; although these civilians did not talk to him much, he saw their trust and closeness toward him.

Because he was not old in this body, they all treated him as a reliable little brother. Trust, closeness, belief, reliability—these civilians would have had a new life because of his actions, but unexpectedly, they could only lie coldly on the ground now, no longer breathing.

Clenching his fists, Jier gritted his teeth; those bandits must be wiped out, every last one of them. He had to find a way to catch all those bandits in their lair.

A sweep by the Militia was one method; as long as they, who were still alive, provided guidance for the Militia, they would certainly be able to eliminate those bandits after a battle.

However, this did not vent his anger.

Leaning on the chair, Jier pondered if there was any way to deal with those bandits without letting them continue to do evil in the future.

He was only one person and could not do it alone, and those civilians harmed by the bandits not only lacked combat power but were also too few in number. It might be possible to cause trouble for the bandits in the future, but it was basically impossible to eliminate the Bandit Group on a large scale.

And the most powerful Militia only gathered every winter to train and clear out the bandits disturbing the Shanglu.

Just as Jier was pondering a solution, the Captain who had previously gone to the Bingxun Pass Government Office arrived at the scene with more soldiers and clerks.

The innkeeper immediately went up to meet them, and Jier also took out the Agricultural God Badge hanging inside his clothes to identify himself to the clerks who came to inquire.

As the religious church with the greatest influence and strength in Kendall County, the reward badge issued by them was naturally reliable. Jier told the highest-ranking clerk at the scene about being entrusted by the Simons Chamber of Commerce to rescue the kidnapped chamber personnel, and then traveling all the way and sneaking into the bandit lair called Luodai Cave. He also spoke of subsequently rescuing the civilians held by the bandits and leading them through all the hardships to return to Bingxun Pass.

Of course, there was also the final part: after they arrived at Bingxun Pass and settled down, they were ambushed by the Luodai Cave bandits that night. Because of their desperate resistance, the other party's plan to kill them all did not succeed.

The clerk's face looked particularly ugly; after all, if those lowly bandits dared to ignore the soldiers at the pass in the city they managed, they would have the guts to massacre their Government Office at any time.

Their Government Office was always offering rewards for those famous bandits; he estimated that in the eyes of those bandits, they, the clerks in the Government Office, could also be killed at any time.

Glaring fiercely at the Captain behind him, the clerk ordered his other subordinates to go and question the other people present. The final information obtained was consistent with what this young man named Qiao-Jier had said.

Not only that, he also learned that the bandit group had about one hundred people and used a Shandong in the mountains as their lair; many caravans that had lost contact had been plundered by those bandits.

Compared to bandits plundering two or three travelers or merchants traveling alone, these bandits plundering large and medium-sized chambers of commerce in batches made this clerk surprised and uneasy.

After clarifying the situation, they arranged for a small squad of soldiers to guard the inn, and they took away the bandits' corpses as evidence of the bandits attacking the pass. As for the civilians' corpses, they let Jier and the others handle them themselves; those with chambers of commerce and relatives to claim them could take them away, and those without would be handed over to the Church of the God of the Dead in the pass for free disposal.

The surrounding soldiers dispersed in squads; they began to seal the pass, inspect every inn, and search for the bandits who were certainly still in the pass. Every church in the pass was notified of this matter; if they encountered anyone coming to treat wounds sustained after a battle, they were to directly notify the pass soldiers to check if they were bandits.

The secret Church Priest of the God of Wilderness Merchants, who had been blocked outside, also came. That person left carefully after treating his friend's wounds, and Jier did not even have the chance to invite the other party to treat the civilians' wounds.

With no other choice, Jier had to try to use the Divine Power on his badge to barely treat the wounds of the seriously injured civilians, although the function of this badge was said to be to prevent and cure diseases; Jier himself did not know if it would have any effect on such wounds.

He himself had suffered some minor injuries, which usually healed quickly, and he did not know if it had anything to do with this badge, or if it was related to the Divine Power Seed gifted to him by the Priest of the Agricultural God Church in his body.

Jier told the civilians the situation, and there would be soldiers protecting the inn. As long as they did not go out, those bandits would certainly have no way to deal with them. Later, as long as everyone recovered from their injuries and went out quietly, those bandits would not be able to recognize their appearances or who they were. Especially now in winter, if they wrapped a Linen Cloth scarf around their faces to cover their noses and mouths after going out, no one would recognize who they were.

Facing Jier's statement, the civilians were open-minded; after all, the bandits could not eliminate them even when fighting them head-on, which already showed that they were not afraid of those bandits. As long as they did not leave Bingxun Pass, they would be fine.

Jier also reminded the civilians to carry their weapons with them. They had suffered from not having enough weapons before; if everyone had weapons at that time, the matter would certainly not have turned out like this.

Everyone agreed on this point; having learned from the pain, everyone placed their weapons by their bedsides and on their bodies, no longer letting them leave their side.

Jier had previously captured many ordinary weapons; besides picking some good ones as spoils of war for himself, he also distributed some others to the various civilians so that they had basic weapons to protect themselves.

Seeing that everyone was prepared, Jier left the place expressionlessly. The events that happened here would certainly shock all the large and small forces in Bingxun Pass, but that had nothing to do with Jier. He returned to the inn he rented. Compared to the inn where the civilians lived, although the service of the Shop Assistant here was not good, because it was close to the territory of the Church of the God of Wealth, the public security here was good. After all, the Church of the God of Wealth was the largest church in Bingxun Pass, and the merchants coming and going were basically believers of the God of Wealth, so the influence of the Church of the God of Wealth here was great, and no one dared to use force at their door.

Of course, of course, it was hard for Jier to say for sure how much deterrent this had on those lawless bandits. He had fought the bandits in the inn earlier and estimated that he had already been targeted by those bandits.

He was not afraid at all; his heart was now full of anger toward those bandits.

Returning to his room, Zhao Ji took off his coat stained with blood, opened the dusty armor wooden box, and put on the well-maintained armor piece by piece.

Checking the wear and tear of his Long Sword, Zhao Ji also brought his Steel Dagger. Because the Long Spear was in a town environment and the terrain was not suitable for it, he did not bring it.

Taking out a piece of Linen Cloth, Zhao Ji tore it into strips and wrapped it around his half-finished Shield. Now, forced by the situation, this Shield had to be put to use even if only the main body was completed.

He used Linen Cloth to wrap the handle on the back of the Shield and the metal rod that secured his arm, and also covered the front of the Shield with a large piece of Linen Cloth, then bound it all with Rope and strips of Linen Cloth; this way, this metal Shield could be used in winter, and he would not feel the cold on his fingers while wearing Gloves.

He tapped the front of the Shield, and although the Shield was wrapped in Linen Cloth, it still emitted a series of crisp metallic echoes.

Clang, clang.

"Very good!" Zhao Ji slung the Shield onto his back, decided not to bring the Backpack, and instead just wrapped a wide wolf-fur Cloak around his back, then held a Short throwing spear in his hand; with this, his weapons and equipment were complete.

After locking the door, Jier walked out of the inn in front of the Shop Assistant in the inn lobby.

Not wearing the Faceplate of his Helmet for the moment, Jier returned to the previous inn following the moonlight.

There were far fewer people here, but some busybodies were still going in and out of the inn, curiously looking at the charred marks left by the Torch that had been lit earlier and the chaotic state of the inn lobby.

He had already moved the corpses of the commoners to an empty room upstairs in the inn; tomorrow he would find someone to contact their potential relatives and friends, and if there was truly no one to be found, they would have to be handed over to the Church of the God of the Dead to handle.

The Church would burn these corpses for free, and as for those who wanted to reclaim the ashes, they would have to pay a sum of money that was not much, but not little either. Of course, one could also spend a little less money to have the Priests of the God of the Dead dispose of the ashes with a processing ritual.

In fact, the best way was to hand them over to their respective churches according to their Faith; people in this other world all believed that this way they could receive the protection of the god they believed in, and would still receive the protection of the gods in the afterlife.

It was not that people had never thought about entering the Divine Kingdom of the gods, but that was not something ordinary commoners could enjoy; only believers who were pious and had made outstanding contributions to the development of the church could possibly enter the Divine Kingdom of the gods. If one failed to enter the Divine Kingdom after death in this life, then please work harder in the next life.

People in this other world all believed that humans had a Spirit, and this was also verified in their culture and actual reality. They believed that generally, the Spirit after death would wander between heaven and earth, and because the places where Humans lived were small, the Spirits would mostly wander in the wilderness. Until they were attracted by heaven and earth, and dissipated between heaven and earth.

Then the remnants of the Spirit would be in a newly born infant, and then it would be a new life.

Jier did not know if their theory was correct, and he had never come into contact with related powers, but he himself was a ready-made example of a Spirit borrowing a corpse to return to life, so in his view, everyone had a Spirit, and this point was true and undeniable.

Thinking of this, Jier sighed; he walked along the shadows of the street, trying his best to cover the armor on his body with the wolf-fur Cloak, and used the wolf-head hood to cover the Helmet he was wearing on his head.

Arriving around the inn, Jier carefully searched for some traces.

Although the onlookers from before had already trampled all kinds of traces in the surroundings into a mess, there was one that absolutely had not been.

Jier squatted on the ground, took a deep breath, and carefully distinguished the smell of blood in the surrounding air; the smell was strongest in the direction of the inn, but after he carefully sniffed repeatedly, a thick smell of blood also came from a small alley directly opposite the inn.

If it were daytime, he could easily observe the bloodstains on the ground, but at night there was no way.

He came to the opposite side of the inn and found that here in the shadows, there were traces of many people having trampled for a long time. This was in the same direction as the smell of blood. Jier followed the small alley connected to this shadow and moved forward, smelling a scent of blood all the way; this was the blood dripping from the bodies of those injured Bandits.

Jier and the others had been treating wounds ever since the Bandits retreated, and those Bandits certainly could not have properly treated the large and small wounds on their bodies while retreating.

He followed the traces all the way, passed through two small alleys and one street, and then found himself arriving at the busiest street in Bingxun Pass, where the social situation was the most chaotic.

This was the place where all kinds of places for people to seek entertainment in Bingxun Pass gathered.

Usually, even on a cold winter night, there would likely be all sorts of people coming and going here, but it was likely that after the incident at the inn earlier, these well-informed people had realized something; the entire street had its doors closed, every shop was only letting people out and not in, and every traveling merchant or Caravan Shop Assistant who came looking for fun was turned away and told that they were not open tonight and to come back tomorrow.

Seeing that he had found his way here, Jier felt that he had not come to the wrong place; after all, those Bandits were all rough men, big and burly, guys who would draw their blades to kill at the slightest disagreement, so which inn in the city would dare to accept their kind of guests in a whole group.

Therefore, only this street, where all kinds of people existed, was a good and safe place for those Bandits to hide and live.