Chapter 334: On the Mountain Path, In the Yingdi — The Knight's Invitation, Refusal, and the Next Day's Battle

Night in the mountains arrived quickly. Having prepared beforehand and finished their dinner, several squads of Spear Militia arrived at the front line, each lighting small warming fires behind their large Mudu. They kept their crossbows ready for immediate use, and their spears stood slanted against the large Mudu.

The other militia retreated into the Yingdi to rest.

Knight Kela made even more preparations; he had the militia squads returning to the Yingdi organize into groups, dividing the entire night into four shifts. These militia only needed to keep their full equipment on and gather around the campfires to stay warm.

Their role was to prevent the Bandit Group from launching a large-scale night raid. If such an event—which he had anticipated—were to occur, these militia, having prepared for battle in advance, could immediately support the front-line positions.

Furthermore, to ensure the night-shift militia would not fall down the mountainside or get lost due to poor lighting while moving, Knight Kela had people set up many illuminating fires between the militia Yingdi and the front-line positions to serve as markers.

These fires were filled with enough firewood to ensure they would burn until dawn the next day, even in the windy night conditions.

While eating, Jier also received instructions from Knight Kela, telling him not to remove his armor while resting at night. As an important combat force capable of supporting the front line, Knight Kela hoped Jier could shoulder a bit more over these two days.

If a situation arose, he would need Jier to engage the Bandits in battle at any moment.

Of course, for these extra responsibilities and tasks, Knight Kela also promised Jier that he could be credited with more merit. This merit was not as intuitive as the number of Bandits killed, but he could personally convey Jier's actions in this battle directly to Kendall Baron himself.

"Jier, if you want to advance further in Kendall City later, gaining the Baron's appreciation is a must. After all, who would entrust important tasks to someone unknown and unfamiliar? Right?" The Knight patted Jier on the shoulder and said.

He then whispered to Jier: "You have been to Yinyulin Village; what do you think of that place?"

Jier vaguely sensed the Knight's meaning, yet did not quite grasp it: "Uh, to be honest?"

The Knight nodded.

"I feel Yinyulin Village seems too comfortable. Although they are very close to the vast Forest, it seems that apart from this Magic Beast, there are no safety issues like monsters or wild beasts in the Forest? After all, compared to Doraerlin Village in the other direction, there are plenty of wild beasts and monsters there."

The Knight smiled: "This is also the reason I heard Kendall arranged that useless so-called 'Knight' in Yinyulin Village. Jier, if you can successfully learn the method to become a Knight-rank Warrior next year, I actually think you could earn more merit and take over the affairs of Yinyulin Village."

Seeing Jier stunned, he kicked Jier lightly with his foot: "How about it?"

Jier felt somewhat troubled. Although Kendall County, from what he had seen, had been developing quite well in recent years, if he were a local, he would certainly use this opportunity to become a member of Kendall County directly.

But he was not.

His soul was that of a transmigrator; his real name was Zhao Ji, a young modern Chinese man.

Although he did not know what would happen to others after death, since he had luckily come to this fantasy world, he certainly had to go out and travel through this vast, wonderful world.

How could he possibly stay tucked away in an ordinary village, living out his life with a wife, children, and a warm bed?

Knight Kela saw the hesitation and resistance in Jier's eyes. He patted Jier's armored shoulder: "Alright, hmm. You are, after all, such a young fellow; I understand the urge to go out and explore. I was young once too. Back then, as soon as I came of age, I couldn't wait to take the recommendation letter my father had written and run off to join the Kingdom Army. Now, more than a decade has passed in a flash, and I have returned to this place I once couldn't wait to escape. Training the people here, defending our town and property."

Speaking to this point, Knight Kela seemed to lose the desire to continue the conversation, merely sitting on the ground, eyes fixed on the flames of the campfire, slowly chewing his food.

He seemed to be recalling his decades of life.

Growth, play, impatience, adulthood, joining the army, training, fighting, learning, transformation, slaughter, command, battle, emptiness, retirement, returning home, family, militia, friendship, and now.

Jier dared not disturb Knight Kela. After quietly finishing his meal, he returned to the tent to rest.

The Bandit's head was simply tossed into a pit dug to the side. The low-temperature air meant there was no need to worry about that thing rotting; aside from the bad smell, it didn't get in the way of anything. It was just unclear if the guard in the same tent would dislike this thing.

He hoped he wouldn't mind; in any case, tomorrow morning he would hand the head over to Knight Kela or the clerk's office responsible for merit.

Jier took off his armor glove and placed his right hand before his eyes.

The palms were gradually becoming rough. After months of constant fighting, he had gradually developed thick calluses on his hands from using various weapons. And on one finger, that inexplicably appearing Elf Metal Ring was worn on his hand.

Just like before, no matter if he left the ring in the Yingdi or his Backpack, as soon as he moved a certain distance away from the ring, it would inexplicably appear on his hand.

Still in a worn state.

Originally, Jier thought he had shaken off the entanglement of this thing back at the Ancient Elf Ruin, after all, he had already experienced the important life events of this ring's former owner in his dreams.

At that time, the ring no longer following him had made him heave a huge sigh of relief.

It was just that, previously, in the desperate situation inside the Magic Beast, his condition at the time was likely very dire.

He stared at this very simple-looking ring and whispered to it: "At that time, was it you who saved me?"

The ring did not react.

Jier breathed a sigh of relief; no reaction was actually fine. He was truly afraid the ring would suddenly start speaking—that would be the truly dire situation. Jier had once tried to destroy this ring, but no matter what method he used, he couldn't shake the ring in the slightest.

"Magic Ring?"

"Old Grandpa? No, wait, Old Grandma? Elf Old Grandma?" There was no reaction at all.

Jier curled his lip and put his armor glove back on. While he had dreamed of a new female Elf's story while unconscious, the last few nights of sleep had been calm, and he had not dreamed of the Elf again.

He guessed it was likely because he was some distance away from that ruin, so certain powers within the ruin could not be supplied to the ring, and thus could not influence his dreams.

"So, should I go back again? Some things in the dream were quite interesting; I vaguely remember that thing was still sitting in its original place. After defeating the Bandits, I'll follow Knight Lanisha back to Kendall to rest and reorganize before going." Jier muttered to himself.

Then, wearing his armor just like that, he covered himself with the Dog Skin Quilt, crawled into the Dog Fur Sleeping Bag, and fell into a light sleep. He still remembered the Knight's instructions: not to sleep too deeply at night, to avoid being unable to quickly get up to support the front-line positions.

As it turned out, the Knight's preparations that night were not needed.

The next morning.

Jier lightly tapped his torso and walked out of the tent.

Sleeping in armor last night while trying not to sleep too soundly meant Jier's sleep quality was poor all night. Aside from his mind being relatively clear, his body was aching and stiff everywhere. After all, when the armor was designed, it was never intended to be worn while sleeping.

Jier had the Bandit head he had killed with his own hands yesterday hanging from his waist. Now, before today's battle began, he had to have these heads counted toward his combat merit.

It wasn't just Jier who thought this; many militia who had killed enemies yesterday took advantage of the morning meal to handle this matter. Therefore, because Knight Kela's knightly dignity was too imposing, everyone was afraid to approach him, so they were all gathered around the old clerk responsible for recording matters.

The militia's merit yesterday was mostly one Bandit head, and the sight of Jier bringing a string of Bandit heads at once still stunned the nearby militia.

Based on Jier's activity on the front line yesterday, the militia who had killed enemies all knew Jier and understood that Jier had truly earned these Bandit heads through his own ability.

"Let me see, Qiao-Jier. A Warrior specially added by Knight Kela." The old clerk took out a large notebook that every clerk possessed, then took out ink that hadn't frozen even in the cold weather, dipped his pen, and earnestly recorded Jier's information on the page responsible for recording the militia's battle results.

Jier smiled and placed the Bandit heads on the wooden table next to the old clerk. The clerk's assistant squinted his eyes, looking fearful and disgusted as he untied the matted hair of these disheveled Bandit heads and counted them one by one.

"Nine Bandit heads, Boss, Jier killed nine Bandits." The assistant nodded fawningly at Jier and reported to the old clerk.

"Very well, nine Bandits." The old man drew nine small crosses under Jier's name, indicating that Jier had achieved nine Bandit combat merits.

Jier asked: "Sir, then if one kills a Bandit Leader, how should that be recorded?"

The old clerk smiled and said: "That wouldn't just be a cross. I would ask Knight Kela to confirm it, and then specifically write down that you killed that Bandit Leader. The news is that the Bandit Group has five leaders, but one of them died at the hands of the Bingxun Pass soldiers some days ago. That guy actually dared to sneak into the pass to attack the people fleeing their clutches; he truly died as he deserved. However, Jier, if you really defeat a Bandit Leader, remember to first find Knight Kela and the captured Bandits to confirm. After confirmation, I will record the merit for you. But be careful, a hunting dog that is too fierce might not catch its prey, because the prey will all be going around it. Remember this."

Jier nodded and thanked the old clerk for his advice. The surrounding militia were very envious of Jier's merit; although they had also fought very fiercely, they were far behind Jier, and not just in attack weapons and combat techniques—the superiority of their armor was the most important factor.

Because their armor was very average, during battle, aside from when the timing was truly excellent, the other militia were more concerned with how to protect themselves from injury. Therefore, everyone was relatively cautious during battle; to put it bluntly, they were a bit timid and didn't dare to fight openly. After all, each of them was the main laborer of their family; it would be bad if they were injured or killed.

Jier, however, was quite different; many of the bandits' weapons could hardly injure him, and they couldn't even cut through his armor, so naturally, they could not pose a sufficient threat to him. Therefore, when Jier fought, he would use wide, sweeping movements, trading damage to his armor for the deaths of the bandits.

His overly valiant appearance, conversely, frightened many of the bandits who were only fierce in name.

The bandits were truly incompetent; they only dared to brandish their blades against the weak. Facing the strong, they were the weak ones, unable to face the edge of their blades.

As for Jier, whether facing bandits or mysterious and terrifying Magic Beasts, he dared to fight in earnest.

After finishing his meal in the morning, Jier stood behind Knight Kela and waited for a while. Many Militia who had exhausted their Crossbow Bolts yesterday were exchanging and splitting the remaining Crossbow Bolts with other Militia.

Once everyone had roughly enough Crossbow Bolts, Knight Kela led the team, and a large number of Militia walked out of the Yingdi together, arriving at the frontline position captured yesterday before long.

Jier looked over and discovered that between the area outside the campfire and the bandit position on the high ground opposite, many dead, frozen-stiff bandit corpses were lying about.

The Squad Leader of the Militia who had remained here last night came over to report that those corpses were either bandits who had tried to see if they could rush past the campfire last night, or scattered bandits who wanted to flee the bandit lair from the front of the position.

Many bandits who took advantage of the night to escape could not be held back, and only those who ran slower were shot. After being wounded, the bandits were quickly bled out and frozen to death between the two sides' positions.

Without fire for warmth, the outdoors here at night was simply not a place where a person could stay.

After confirming the results, Knight Kela had these Militia quickly return to the Yingdi to eat and rest; if possible, he would have them take the field again in the afternoon, so they would not need to rotate for tonight's mission.

After all, Knight Kela had set a goal to take this bandit lair in three days, and to take it with low casualties, so the night-watch Militia had to work in shifts.

Letting just one wave of Militia stand watch all night was something no one could endure.

Soon, after throwing Rope to drag the bandit corpses back as battle merit for the night-watch Militia, today's battle began.

Knight Kela, just like yesterday, had the front-row Militia carry large Mudu and advance slowly, while having the rear-row Militia use Crossbows to shoot at any careless bandits who dared to show their heads.

Watching the Militia carry the large Mudu and advance was slow, but in fact, as Jier observed, this speed was already lightning-fast; it was not only safe but always pushing forward, and every time they advanced a little, all the Militia would move forward a little.

Therefore, not only could the Militia fighting in the front confirm they were truly advancing, but even the Militia in the back prepared for battle could feel that they were making progress.

Although slow, it was very steady.

The bandits were not without a response after suffering such a loss.

With the Bandit Leader now in command, these bandits also tried to howl while holding some homemade wooden plank shields, blocking the Militia's fierce Crossbow bolts, and attempting to charge the Militia's frontline position from the side of the mountain path.

"Jier! Block those bandits!" Before Knight Kela's words had even finished, Jier led the ten Militia assigned to him, all of them holding their weapons, and counter-charged the incoming bandits.

Seeing ten Spears and one Double-edged Spear leveled and thrusting toward them, the bandit in the very front cursed with foul language, his soul fleeing in terror. But other than being able to utter two laughable profanities before dying, he could change nothing.

Puchi, puchi, puchi.

Having gained practical experience from yesterday, the Militia best at using Spears followed Jier into battle; with one charge, they poked several of the rushing bandits over, along with their makeshift shields.

Jier's Double-edged Spear was slightly shorter, so he specifically aimed for the "lucky" bandits who had dodged the Spears, piercing them directly and tossing them away with a thrust. Then, he swept left and right, forcing back the bandits who wanted to close in for melee combat.

Immediately following this, the Militia, having pushed forward a step or two, once again charged and thrust their Spears. The bandits, whose bodies were protected only by animal skins, could not withstand the sharp tips of the Spears at all; even a light graze would tear through their Leather Clothing and muscle.

Of course, it was not as if no brave and Refining Qi bandits rushed up; at this time, one had to rely on Jier's formidable close-quarters combat ability.

When facing bandits using Heavy Weapon who rushed up, Jier would either use his Double-edged Spear to create distance, leading the reckless bandits away from the chaotic frontline; as soon as they walked slightly into the open, without Jier needing to give a signal, the rear-row Militia would directly volley-fire at that bandit.

The rear Militia would not stop until they had shot that fellow into a sieve.

At these times, Jier was always worried that a Militia might carelessly shoot him, so even on a cold day, he was scared into a cold sweat.

Fortunately, when the Militia trained in Crossbow shooting outside Kendall City, they had all trained seriously; those Militia whose Crossbow shooting did not pass were not brought along by Knight Kela—either they were assigned to handle unimportant things, or they were sent directly back to their original homes. The biggest difference between these semi-regular Soldiers and the scattered, disorganized bandits was that they possessed powerful projectile weapons supported by Kendall City.

Militia who could not master these weapons naturally did not count as qualified Militia and could only return home, unable to enjoy any subsequent Militia benefits.

For example, if the main young adults in a Cunzi had all joined the Militia and had forged bonds of camaraderie during the process of clearing out bandits, then those young people who had never been able to join the Militia would naturally be excluded from affairs in the Cunzi. When good things happen, they don't think of you; when bad things happen, you are the first to go.

That is just how it was.

Of course, one could still join Militia training later, but one had to sign up personally. If one failed the important bow and crossbow shooting training during the second round of training, then even if you wanted to join again, they wouldn't take you.

By the time Jier led his men to coordinate with the rear-firing Militia and beat back the bandits' counterattack, the bandits had voluntarily retreated from their position on the second day.

They had become smarter; when retreating voluntarily, they knew to carry important items like the Wooden Box used to resist Crossbow bolts back to the rear.

But what the bandits failed to account for was that because most of the Militia were waiting for the large Mudu to be manufactured in the rear on the first morning, strictly speaking, the Militia, under Knight Kela's command, had only used one afternoon to achieve the frontline advance.

Therefore, on the second morning, they only used half a day to force the bandits to retreat again. In this way, the Militia were not far from the entrance of the Shandong where the bandit lair was located.

Knight Kela even told Jier that if everything went smoothly, by the time it got dark today, they should be able to point their military force directly at the entrance of the bandit Shandong.

At that time, the bandits would be forced to retreat into the Shandong. The bandits would only have one Vertical Shaft left to escape through.

But Knight Kela already had a means to deal with the bandits' stubborn resistance when he scouted the terrain earlier. Today, the scribes in the rear Yingdi and their assistants had been busy with this.