Chapter 455: Panic in Big Tree Village, Priest Feilina

As the caravan drew closer to Big Tree Village, the villagers on the north gate of the village became increasingly nervous.

Because they had not seen with their own eyes the defeated army that Bata'er Jiaoshi had warned them about when he passed through here before, they first assumed that a caravan like Jier's, consisting entirely of carriages and with the front carriages full of people, was that very group of defeated soldiers.

The *dang-dang-dang-dang* sound of metal striking metal continued to ring out on the north gate; even though their arms were aching, the village guards holding the Small Iron Hammers dared not stop the hammering, and could only switch hands, letting the warning signal continue to spread throughout the entire village to summon more villagers to bravely defend their village.

Changmai Village was too miserable; the entire village had been burned down, and the property, food, and even the villagers themselves had been taken away by the army that had committed every evil deed, leaving only Bata'er Jiaoshi, who had hidden under the church with the young children.

They in Big Tree Village did not want to follow in the footsteps of Changmai Village and end up with such a tragic outcome.

At this very moment, along with the metallic clanging of the alarm and the tolling of the bell in the center of the village, many villagers still rushed out of their homes carrying whatever weapons they could find at hand, warning the growing boys at home to look after their younger brothers and sisters, and resolutely hurried toward the north side of the village.

But those twelve or thirteen-year-old boys and girls, regardless of gender, could not hold back either; the kitchen knives and pitchforks at home had all been taken by their elders, but they did not care, picking up wooden chairs and leading many children who were still wobbling as they walked, they chased after their family members toward the north side of the village.

It was a scene of chickens flying and dogs jumping, with a clamor of human voices.

Some startled Farm Pigs knocked open their pens and ran aimlessly on the village roads. The Plowing Oxen stretched their necks, trying hard to see over the fences of their homes, wanting to see what exactly had happened to cause everyone to be in such a panic.

The roosters and hens also sensed the uneasy atmosphere coming from the humans; one by one, they stopped hatching their eggs and flapped their wings, flying up onto the roofs of the farmers' houses.

Most of the domestic dogs were led by some farmers to the side of the village fence. They understood that they had never fought before, and if a real fight broke out, they might not be as effective against the enemy as their own guard dogs, so they brought these dogs directly over and tied them one by one to the base of the inner side of the wooden fence.

The village guards with combat experience stood at the northernmost part of the fence, holding the few wooden Long Spears and Long Swords in the village. At first, when they discovered Jier's caravan, they were a bit nervous, but as more and more people gathered behind them, they relaxed, knowing that with so many villagers present, those enemies should not be able to break in.

Should be, right?

Jier silently recited a Prayer, and his vision quickly improved. He was already on horseback with excellent sight, and now that it was enhanced, he saw the increasing number of villagers on the village fence.

As well as their anxious and nervous expressions, and their stiff, helpless limbs. There were men roaring and cheering each other on, though it was unclear what they were saying, and there were farm women raising large wooden spoons or kitchen knives in their hands, looking worriedly at the caravan he was in while turning around to scold the growing boys and girls who had followed them.

Only then did Jier realize that the villagers of Big Tree Village had mistaken their caravan for bad guys and were preparing to fight them to the death!

"Whole team, slow down and stop! Whole team, slow down and stop!" Jier shouted loudly, and the drivers quickly executed Jier's order.

Everyone in the caravan looked over, and Bata'er Jiaoshi was even more puzzled. After moving closer, he asked Jier: "Warrior, we are about to reach Big Tree Village; why stop the entire caravan from traveling?"

The drivers felt the same way, but they knew that no matter how absurd Knight Jier's orders were, they would just follow them first.

Jier pointed to his ears; his hearing was better than others, so he could clearly hear the metallic alarm signal coming from the village not far ahead, as well as the continuous warning sound of the bronze bell. But others were not as sharp; the noise of the carriages traveling was quite loud, and with the neighing of horses and the chatting of the team members, the alarm sound from the village on the plain ahead was not easy to hear.

At this moment, as the caravan stopped, some people at the front of the caravan noticed the *dang-dang-dang-dang* alarm sound coming from the direction of the village.

Bata'er Jiaoshi was even more surprised: "Could it be that they have mistaken me and our team for bad guys?"

Jier spread his hands with a grin: "Is there any other explanation? Bata'er, so as not to panic the people in the village, you had better ride over alone to explain! You are sure that the people in Big Tree Village ahead recognize you, right?"

"Ah, yes, yes, yes. They recognize me. I was a fellow Apprentice Herdsman with the Village Priest of the Nongshen Church in Big Tree Village; she and I both studied in the same village for Zhengshi Musou for two years. Sigh, it's all a misunderstanding. Why don't those people think about it—if it were that group of defeated soldiers who attacked Changmai Village, how would they come from the north?"

The Priest shook his head, immediately turned his horse around, and accelerated alone to ride toward Big Tree Village to explain.

Jier shrugged at everyone: "That's hard to say. Sometimes enemies jump out from places you don't expect, and then give you a big scare."

"Hahahaha." Everyone on the carriages laughed heartily. After last night's martial arts training, not only had the Warriors' relationship with Jier strengthened, but they also knew and understood each other; the companions who trained together even specifically adjusted their positions to sit together today.

During the free time of riding in the carriages all day, they would either sleep soundly or discuss with their companions how to fight and how to further improve their various weapon skills.

On the north gate of Big Tree Village ahead, the village guards naturally saw the suspicious caravan stop a few hundred meters away from the village, and then a person wearing a familiar Robe rode a horse and galloped toward them quickly.

"The carriages opposite have stopped!"

Someone loudly informed the villagers around them who couldn't squeeze onto the wooden fence about the situation they saw, and this news caused exclamations and discussions among the villagers below.

Many people felt that the other side was scared by their gathering speed and numbers, so their confidence was boosted even more.

Some people put forward different opinions, believing that the other side stopped the carriages to deploy their troops, and once the troops were deployed, they would attack their village.

"One person from the opposite caravan is riding over!"

Someone on the gate still loudly notified the crowd of villagers behind the fence about the intelligence they saw, which again caused discussions among the villagers.

Many people thought that the other side was afraid, so they sent one person over to negotiate. They therefore proposed to detain the other person and keep them as a prisoner and a Chip in their hands.

Others gave a different point of view, believing that it was a person sent by the bad guys to persuade them to surrender, and that they would definitely offer good terms for surrender after seeing the stubborn resistance of Big Tree Village.

But no one in the village wanted to surrender; they all knew the tragedy of Changmai Village, and even some timid villagers dared to fight the bad guys to the end for the sake of their families and property.

But as Bata'er Jiaoshi rode closer and closer, the people on top of the gate finally saw clearly the Nongshen Church Robe worn by the Priest. Although there were some "decorative parts" added to the Robe, Big Tree Village only had Faith in the Agricultural God, and they were most familiar with the Robes of the Nongshen Church priests.

"The person riding over seems to be wearing a church Robe! Ah, I recognize him, it's Bata'er Jiaoshi from Changmai Village!!!" The villager who notified the news raised his voice extremely high due to surprise; clearly, he did not expect that Bata'er Jiaoshi, who had left alone in a dejected state toward the north, would return riding a horse from the north with a whole caravan of people after such a period of time.

The news that the person riding over was Bata'er Jiaoshi immediately made more than half of the villagers in Big Tree Village surprised and excited; many did not expect that the visitor was the Bata'er Jiaoshi who had left earlier. Someone immediately ran to send this news to the Nongshen Church in the center of the village, so that Feilina Jiaoshi, who was sitting in command inside, would know the news.

Others wanted to squeeze onto the wooden fence of the village to see if Bata'er Jiaoshi, whom they hadn't seen for a while, still had that dejected look from when he came to their village before.

Some wanted to go down to notify the village, some wanted to go up to see the situation; they squeezed each other, then cursed each other, and then started fighting, ending up in a brawl.

Everyone finally felt a sense of relief in their hearts, which was why they dared to mess around; even the brawl at this moment was a means for some people to deliberately relieve their tension.

"I am Luosa-Bata'er! The Village Priest of Changmai Village, Sasi County, Bolisifa Jiaoqu, Southern Province, Saint Hors Kingdom of the Nongshen Church! My position is Zhengshi Musou. I have been to your Big Tree Village; look closely at me, I believe some people still remember my appearance!"

The Priest arrived at the open land outside the gate and did not dismount, but shouted to the many villagers and village guards on the platform of the four-to-five-meter-high north gate fence ahead.

Many people still recognized Bata'er Jiaoshi. There was no help for it; every year when Bata'er Jiaoshi went from the south to Yemei Town in the north to report for duty, he would pass through Big Tree Village, and since he and the Village Priest of Big Tree Village were classmates, people in the village had all seen this young Nongshen priest.

Moreover, when Bata'er Jiaoshi had previously brought some young children to their village, crying while telling every villager about the tragedy of Changmai Village, it had made everyone remember this haggard and terrified young priest.

At that time, the resident Feilina Jiaoshi accepted and promised to take care of those young children, while on the way here, the other half of those young children had already been entrusted by Bata'er Jiaoshi to be raised in Lanse-Qingting, which was further south.

"Let me in, or have your village's Feilina Jiaoshi come over, and I will explain the situation!" Bata'er Jiaoshi then shouted loudly.

Among the villagers crowded on the gate platform, a village guard replied to the Priest on behalf of everyone: "Priest, we have already sent someone to notify Feilina Jiaoshi, and she should be here soon. But we want to ask first, what is going on with the caravan that came with you?"

Someone next to him asked loudly: "Is it the brutal defeated army you mentioned before?"

"You..." Bata'er Jiaoshi was almost rendered speechless by these people.

"You guys, do you really think I would walk with those scumbags who destroyed Changmai Village? No, I would rather die than surrender to them. The caravan behind me is the reinforcements I found, reliable reinforcements going to save the villagers of Changmai Village! There is a Warrior Qiao-Jier inside, who is even a reliable companion sent to me by the great Agricultural God. With him here, we will definitely be able to rescue the villagers who were abducted!"

The Priest shouted while pointing at Jier and the others who were still staying hundreds of meters away.

"It's actually reinforcements!"

"I thought the Nongshen Church had no armed forces!"

"Warrior? The one riding the horse? But with so few people, can they beat and rescue so many enemies, as well as so many Changmai Village people who were abducted?"

The villagers discussed among themselves. Some people saw that Bata'er Jiaoshi did not look like he was lying, nor did he look like he had surrendered to the bad guys, so they breathed a sigh of relief, picked up their respective weapons, and were about to catch their disobedient boys and head home.

There were also some people who wanted to watch the fun; anyway, it was already afternoon, most of the farm work for the day had been finished, and for what wasn't finished, it would be in time to do it tomorrow.

For quite a while, just as Bata'er Jiaoshi was loudly telling the villagers at the gate about what had roughly happened to him during this period, a sturdy woman wearing the Robe of the Agricultural God Church walked quickly onto the gate platform as the villagers of Big Tree Village took the initiative to make way for her.

"Quickly make way, Priest Feilina is here!" Someone organized the way for Priest Feilina in advance.

There were also more villagers respectfully greeting the tall and robust Priest Feilina: "Priest Feilina, good afternoon!"

"Priest Feilina, thanks to the farming techniques you taught, my family's fields were finished more than ten percent faster this year than in previous years!"

"Priest Feilina, Priest Feilina! Can you organize people to dig a new well on the north side of the Cunzi? There has been no precipitation since the end of winter this year; relying solely on transporting water from the village to the Bei Mian is truly too exhausting."

"Priest Feilina, my son's second child is about to be born, could you please give them a name that people in the city would use?"

All along the way, people greeted her, entrusted her with matters, and requested that she name their children.

This forced the serious-faced, tall, and robust female Priest of the Agricultural God Church, who was stronger than most men, to spend extra time dealing with these trivial questions.

"Good afternoon everyone, don't go home yet. Gather inside the perimeter wall; I will notify you when it is time to go home later. The situation is not yet clear, so this is not the time to slack off."

"It is good that your farming efficiency has increased. Please contact the other families near your fields and specifically set aside time to teach them the farming techniques you have learned. I will come over to watch and provide guidance. If you do well and teach others the new farming techniques, I will record a merit for you, and next year I will prioritize letting your family's eligible boys and girls go to Borisfa City to see if they can be selected to stay there."

"A new well cannot be dug on the north side of the Cunzi now. It is not because of a lack of manpower or supplies in the village, but because if too many wells are dug, the water level of the wells used for drinking will drop. It hasn't rained once this year, so everyone should be careful when watering the fields. Do not pour water over the entire edge of the fields; instead, use small buckets to carefully water each crop."

"As for your new child, ha, Luosa happens to be outside, how about using his name? He is from Borisfa City, which is the largest city in our vicinity!"

People spoke to this woman all along the way, and Priest Feilina responded quickly and accurately with ease; not a single question or topic from the villagers could stump her.

When she climbed onto the north gate platform and walked to the edge to look, Priest Bata'er had already been waiting impatiently below.

"Feilina! The sun is about to set, look, it's me, right? Let us into the Cunzi to spend the night and rest. We have to set off early tomorrow morning to continue heading south, striving to reach Lanse-Qingting by the day after tomorrow. By the way, do you have any news about Lanse-Qingting? I know you are fine here, but I am afraid that something might have happened to Lanse-Qingting."

Priest Feilina looked at the full set of equipment on Priest Bata'er with some surprise, especially the Amber Metal Long Staff held in the priest's hand. While signaling the villagers to open the village gate, she asked about the equipment on Priest Bata'er: "Luosa, where did you get this set of things? And your priest's robe, why is the color so strange?"

Priest Bata'er found it hard to explain; the priest's Robe on his body was stained red, and that was not a story that could be finished in a moment, so he just pointed in the direction of the west: "You certainly wouldn't imagine how far I ran while following the guidance at that time."

"How far? Luosa, could you have possibly run out of our Southern Province?" Priest Feilina laughed loudly, her voice ringing out.

Compared to her, Priest Bata'er could be considered someone who had seen the world, but his voice was still much quieter.

"Yes, in a daze, I actually walked out of the Southern Province and arrived at Montoka City in the Western Province." Priest Bata'er sighed, then turned around to whisper a Prayer, using Divine Power to amplify his voice, and loudly called over Jier and the others who were waiting in the distance.

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? (End of this chapter)