Chapter 44: The Church's Attitude, Astonishing Words!

"It was just good luck, defeating a group of routed soldiers while rescuing the villagers of Changmai Village. I can only say I took over the scraps they had on them," Jier explained modestly.

"They aren't scraps at all. If the men under you, Jier, are wearing scraps, then I'd have a hard time evaluating the elite soldiers under my command, haha." Bell then briefly explained the situation regarding Changmai Village that he had heard from Jier.

Many people were hearing about this for the first time, and none of them expected that someone could lead an army across the entire vast Southern Mountains to reach the remote southern region of Sasi County. Some who thought more deeply felt uneasy, because aside from the parasitic monsters causing trouble this year (which had previously even been told to the public as bandit activity outside the town), Sasi County was otherwise a very remote and safe place in the Southern Province.

The monsters in the Southern Mountains rarely head north because they were generally taught a lesson by those troublesome Siege Fish in the southern Sasi County; over thousands of years, the monsters in the mountains have basically not harassed the humans who settled there.

But who could have imagined that routed soldiers supported by an enemy kingdom would actually cross the mountains and plunder villagers to mine for ore?

This matter revealed an absurd feeling inside and out; if it hadn't been confirmed by the two young Knights present, no one would have believed such news—it sounded exactly like the drunken ramblings of a drunkard in a tavern.

"And with the addition of Knight Jier and his group of elite Warriors, our strike plan will certainly be able to achieve great results. If my previous plan seemed a bit like self-indulgent deduction, it's different now." Speaking of this, Bell picked up his wine glass and had the Butler beside him fill it with Wine, then spoke as if to Jier, but actually to the elder of his house on his left.

Some of the brothers and cousins who usually played well with Bell, or rather, those who would be his trusted subordinates after Bell inherited the position of Baron in the future, also raised their wine glasses one after another and said: "Wishing Brother Bell success in his military endeavors. May you sweep away the monsters outside the town and let the territory return to its former prosperity!"

Bell lifted his chin: "Those interested in joining can come find me after the meal. This is not just an opportunity for me alone to earn merit, but also a chance for everyone to prove themselves to their elders. I believe you have all practiced martial arts since childhood, so you surely won't lose to those Town Guards and Soldiers, right?"

Speaking of this, some of the children from Knight Lord families smiled with self-satisfaction. Their fathers were Knights of Sasi County, so they had naturally been forced by their families to undergo rigorous martial arts training since childhood, although many had not yet undergone formal Knight Training. Some families could not scrape together enough resources to exchange for Potions rich in monster nutrients, while others had not yet chosen their future path and were hesitating.

After all, many families did not have only one heir, and the family's resources were often only enough to let one person become a Knight and take over the father's status. As for the others, they needed to desperately hone their martial arts before the final selection; after all, Knights, being grassroots lords who rose through martial prowess, relied heavily on individual martial skill, which could not be guaranteed by the primogeniture succession system that only great Nobles could afford.

Therefore, before it was formally decided who would become the successor, all the children in a Knight family had a chance. Those who were not chosen afterward would mostly seek another way out, usually by relying on their father's connections to join the Kingdom's standing army, attempting to earn merit in the military and gain an opportunity to become a Knight through other paths.

So, don't look at the young people from the invited Knight families as not being Knights; they were all skilled in martial arts and mostly had their own weapons and equipment, with at least a set of metal armor used by ordinary people.

Bell hadn't called these people for his previous actions, but had called the Church Priests from the town instead, because unlike the Church Priests—if the Priests suffered losses during the operation, it was just because their individual strength was insufficient, and having other Church Priests for comparison would only bring shame to the afflicted church, without affecting personal relationships.

But if the children of these Sasi Family Knights suffered losses during the sortie, Bell would have a hard time answering to his Knight uncles.

It was only after witnessing the strength of Jier and his men joining that he, having a expectation of success in his heart, boldly invited these people to join.

"No need to do it privately, I'll state my participation in your plan right now, Brother Bell." A straightforward young man stood up immediately to express his participation.

They were both male and female, each tall and robust, and one could tell at a glance that they often engaged in martial arts training. Jier just took one glance and could tell they didn't have much real combat experience. Perhaps they had previously joined small-scale battles against bandits organized by local Knights, and had experience dealing with scattered monsters.

But the scale and number of the parasitic plant monsters were far from what ordinary Bandit Groups or monsters scattered in the territory could compare to.

Didn't you see that the Warriors under his command were all a bit low in morale yesterday because they had witnessed the inhuman side of the monsters?

Thinking of monsters, Jier suddenly remembered that there was still a Shapeshifting Monster in his team that had turned into a Huimao Hu Li; that guy had been very docile during this time, making him forget the other's identity for a moment!

Pursing his lips, Jier felt it would be safer to find an iron chain or a cage to lock it up. After all, this wasn't the forest in the south; surrounded by human towns, what did this count as for monsters?

Had they arrived at a buffet restaurant where one could take and eat whatever they wanted everywhere?

Sighing, Jier hoped that guy would continue to stay honest and preferably not cause him any trouble. Otherwise, Jier had originally intended to use the Shapeshifting Monster to spy for intelligence during the war, but if the other party would bring him a lot of trouble along the way, Jier still felt it was better to forget it.

His current Shadow Bird scouting ability was already quite good; he could conduct real-time scouting over short to medium distances at night, which was barely enough. It wasn't worth finding trouble for himself for the sake of a scouting method.

Bell naturally welcomed the friends and partners who expressed their participation in his plan now. Regardless of their specific strength, at least stating their position at this time could bring him more help.

Sure enough, some of the young people from Knight families who were still hesitating also expressed their participation one after another after seeing others do so. In the end, it didn't take long for all the young people from the Knight families to express their desire to join, even if some of them had already been identified as the next generation of territory Heirs.

After all, since those people already considered themselves Heirs, then using force to guard the future lord they were to be loyal to, and using force to defend Sasi County from being ravaged by monsters, was a thing that had to be done.

"Sorry, Young Master Bell, our church will not be able to participate in your counterattack plan this time."

At this moment, a jarring sound of refusal rang out. It turned out to be several Church Priests from the Church of the God of the Dead. They looked exhausted, many of them had pale faces, and they were relying entirely on Divine Power to hold on so they could rush over to attend the meal. Come to think of it, this meal was also a good rest opportunity for them to take a break from their complicated and endless work.

Bell was stunned, and after looking over, he immediately expressed his understanding.

But even though Bell understood, the Church Priests of the Church of the God of the Dead still had to explain to the others present to avoid being looked down upon: "Everyone, when the engineering work was being carried out outside the town some time ago, because the villagers from each village came from different places, quite a few casualties occurred after conflicts broke out. We have been dealing with those deceased villagers recently. Sorry, that was really not a small number; we have been busy until now and haven't finished yet, so we really cannot participate in Young Master Bell's counterattack plan."

There was also a Church Priest from the Church of the God of the Dead who bowed to the crowd and performed a simple Prayer blessing gesture: "Although we cannot go, giving everyone a simple blessing here is still possible."

This Priest had remarkable means; after just one short sentence, he performed a Prayer blessing on the spot. It was unknown what the other party had blessed or strengthened for everyone. In any case, Jier didn't feel anything.

However, it was clear that many people present did not like this, especially those Merchant Guild leaders; they even felt it was bad luck and stopped eating, glancing at the Church Priests of the Church of the God of the Dead with dissatisfied, subtle looks.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you to these Church Priests of the Church of the God of the Dead. Although you cannot participate, we have received your blessings." Bell raised his wine glass to signal, and everyone who had already expressed their participation followed suit and took a sip.

"Since the Church Priests of the Church of the God of the Dead have already stated their position and explained, what about you few?" Bell asked the Church Priest of the Church of Wealth with a smile. He actually knew the choice of the Church Priest of the Church of Wealth very well, but since the Church Priests of the Church of the God of the Dead had just refused, he had to immediately let the Church Priests who would definitely participate offset this negative influence.

"We, of course, fully support you and your plan, Young Master Bell! The current state of severed trade on the Shanglu in Sasi County is something we cannot tolerate under any circumstances, and it is also a state that our God is particularly unwilling to see. Goods and coins should be in circulation, and all the Merchant Guilds that make a living from this, as well as the many families and believers who depend on the Merchant Guilds, have been troubled by this for some time. We will fully support your plan and are willing to provide a considerable loan of money for this, so that every warrior who participates can enjoy a monetary reward after the battle!"

The Church Priests of the Church of Wealth had very loud voices, and the content of their answer also made Bell very satisfied. Not only that, the Merchant Guild leaders who expressed their support also immediately added: "We will also support your plan. Everyone's Merchant Guild has many idle carriages and vehicles, and the drivers and Shop Assistants who drive them can also be hired to you at a cheap hiring price. This way, you can invest more manpower to participate in the battle."

"However, it must be said in advance that our Shop Assistants do not have much fighting ability. Asking them to drive carriages is fine, but asking them to fight those monsters themselves is really making things difficult for them."

Bell waved his hand: "That is of course. It would be great if they could come to help; we will not let them participate in the battle."

With this guarantee from Bell, the Merchant Guild leaders felt more at ease. With the full vehicle support of these large Merchant Guilds in the town, whether it was the team's logistics or the Warriors riding in carriages to move quickly in the flat northern part of Sasi County, they could gain more advantages outside of battle.

This advantage was huge, because this way, a small number of elite units could be sent out as Scout units, and then more main combat forces could be transported by carriage to quickly engage in battles where monsters were discovered.

Especially the work of recovering the surrounding Village areas, and the work of transporting the overcrowded villagers outside the town to those villages after they were recovered, could all be carried out quickly.

Often, the faster the speed, the more the monsters moving on foot would be unable to keep up with the human side's speed, and they would be defeated one by one by humans in various directions.

"What about the Agricultural God Church? I remember Knight Jier mentioned to me that he is also a Warrior of the Agricultural God?" Bell looked at Jier, and Jier nodded.

And the local Church Priests of the Agricultural God naturally supported Bell's counterattack plan. They had actually opposed the order to gather the population of each village outside Yemei Town from the beginning, but the Sasi Family, having had their first contact with the parasitic monsters, had given a strict order, so the Church Priests of the Agricultural God had to cooperate with the officials and Town Guards in the town to temporarily gather the villagers from village to village outside the town.

And the result?

Neither good nor bad. On the good side, this order avoided the possibility of the monster scale expanding exponentially in the early stages of chaos, keeping the number of monsters from rising, and naturally, they couldn't take down the humans who had consolidated their strength.

Although the parasitic monsters caused quite a few casualties every time they attacked Yemei Town at that time, the parasitic monsters themselves did not suffer small casualties without the leadership of the flowering monsters. In the back and forth, only some small Caravans and villagers who ran out spontaneously were defeated and captured by the monsters and transformed into new hosts.

And on the bad side, it was also a feeling of being cut by a dull knife. If there were no counterattack plan from Bell at this time, the strength of the parasitic monsters would still be growing slowly. Not to mention anything else, there hadn't been any obvious leader-level monsters like the flowering monsters before.

As time dragged on, the parasitic monsters supported by the Evil God behind the scenes clearly became stronger.

Who knows when the strength of the monsters would cross that invisible line of strength, thereby causing Yemei Town to completely fall into the Abyss of terror.

"We join! Young Master Bell, we will firmly support your counterattack plan! However, we hope that in this plan, our Church Priests can follow in the team of Warrior Jier."

The leading Priest of the Agricultural God said so.

Jier shrugged; he didn't mind continuing to fight alongside the Church Priests of the Agricultural God. After all, although their strength in dealing with monsters was not good, they did have the ability to heal the Warriors.

It was just a pity that the Healing Ointment of Zuojigela hadn't had a chance to show its power, and this time it would be overshadowed by the Priests of the Agricultural God again.

Jier was not surprised that the Church Priests of the Agricultural God wanted to be paired with him. Bata'er Jiaoshi had clearly informed the Agricultural God of the specific events through Prayer these days, and it was unknown what the Agricultural God had relayed to these Church Priests of the Agricultural God in Yemei Town.

Jier guessed that at least the fact that the Dwarf was in his team had probably been told to these Church Priests by the Agricultural God; it just depended on whether these Church Priests would tell others about this before he said anything.

"Then what about the Sun God Church? You few have not expressed any opinion; is the food and meal of my house not to your taste?" Bell was already confident. Although it was a pity that the Church Priests of the Church of the God of the Dead, who had great power against parasitic plant monsters, could not participate, with the support of the other two churches and the Merchant Guilds, as well as the young people from the Knight families joining in, he already had a 70% to 80% guarantee of beautifully completing this plan.

Therefore, if the Sun God Church does not want to come and participate, he can also accept it.

Of course, it would be best if they could come.

"Young Master Bell, you actually do not need to prepare so many people and forces at all," the leading Priest of the Sun God Church said with a mysterious look on his face.

The others were all a bit confused upon hearing this, unable to tell for a moment whether the other party was supporting Bell's plan or opposing it.

"How so?"

Bell raised his wine glass, using the glass and his palm to shield his face, so as not to let the others present see his slightly shifting expression.

"Because there is absolutely no need for so much trouble; I have a method that can directly deal with all those plant Monsters rampaging through Sasi County." This Priest had also participated in the battle at the Lumber Yard last time; speaking of an understanding of the Monsters, the other party clearly had some contact with them. Although it sounded a bit outrageous, it was unclear what this person's intentions were.

"Oh, a method? No need for so much trouble? I am actually a bit curious as to what method you have to simply solve the Monsters of the entire county," the Priest of the God of Wealth asked with a mocking tone.

"Simple!"

A fanatical expression appeared on the face of this Priest from the Sun God Church: "It only requires holding a massive Prayer ceremony on the scale of ten thousand people. The great Sun God will surely grant our mortal Prayers and rain down scorching flames upon the plant Monsters that endanger our lives!"

While the others were shocked by this person's words, the expressions of the Priests of the Agricultural God Church changed, because having ten thousand people hold a ceremony of Prayer to the Sun God, didn't that mean having at least ten thousand people convert their Faith to the Sun God?

Although the Villagers outside the town believed in all sorts of gods, most of them believed in the Agricultural God due to their status and work. Converting their Faith to the Sun God—wasn't this even more serious than taking the lives of these Priests of the Agricultural God?

"You are spouting nonsense!" they shouted in unison!

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