Chapter 484: Capturing Soldiers, Rescuing Villagers

"I spare you; just surrender. Take off your weapons and equipment yourself, throw them to the side, and kneel down honestly."

Jier could not let these immoral Defeated Soldiers go, but in order to exert less effort and perhaps even dig some information out of the mouths of those who surrendered, he feigned agreement to this man's surrender.

"What about you two? Do you surrender or not?"

Jier walked to the campfire and, facing the two Defeated Soldiers on the ground who were still clutching their eye sockets and wailing in pain, confirmed one last time.

The Defeated Soldier who was a Deputy Captain, having already surrendered, was kneeling on the ground nervously, pricking up his ears to monitor the situation. His eyes were still a blank white, but fortunately, because he had been facing away from the Hunting Sword, he was only blinded and his eyes were not actually injured.

The two soldiers did not notice the changes around them at all; they did not even know that Jier had walked to their side and was asking them for the final time whether they would surrender.

Seeing the state of these two soldiers, Jier knew they had not heard or paid attention to his words, so he treated it as a refusal.

He immediately kicked out fiercely, sending one Defeated Soldier flying with a single kick; after crashing through several bowl-thick trees nearby, the man's entire body snapped in two, and he died instantly.

Jier had not expected that he had only used a bit of strength, yet this type of ordinary person had become so fragile under his foot.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk, tsk, the human body is still too fragile." Jier shook his head, raised his foot, and stepped down, snapping the other soldier's neck.

With a *crack*, hearing this sound, the Deputy Captain began to breathe nervously; he quickly took off and unbuckled his weapons and equipment, threw them to the side, and prayed that his obedience would allow him to escape the outcome of death.

Jier opened his palm, and the Hunting Sword that had pinned the man to the tree trunk automatically pulled itself out and flew back into Jier's hand.

He turned to face the two Blue Dragonfly Cunzi Villagers on the ground who were also very nervous, first using his hands to grab their bodies—which were not stained with feces or mud—to drag them out of the excrement on the ground, then using the tip of his Long Sword to gently flick, freeing the hands and feet of the Villagers who could only tremble and dare not speak.

The Rope binding their hands and feet was severed.

"Relax, don't be nervous. Do you know Priest Bata'er? The Priest of the God of Agriculture! I am the Warrior of the God of Agriculture he specifically sent for; I am here to rescue you."

Jier spoke kindly to the two terrified Villagers, but the two of them wore expressions of disbelief; clearly, they had suffered excessive fright, intimidation, and beatings, and at this moment they neither moved nor cried out.

It should be known that these two people did not have anything stuffed in their mouths, nor was there any blood in their mouths, so their mouths and throats were clearly fine; yet they were so quiet, evidently terrified into complete silence by these Defeated Soldiers.

Jier sighed, feeling that since these two had suffered such fright and intimidation, they could only rely on their own recovery in the future; there was nothing he could do right now.

"Forget it, you two just rest like this; anyway, no one will hit you anymore."

Hearing Jier say this, the faces of the two trembling, frightened Villagers changed, but with their vision still a blank white, they remained cautious and silent, not moving at all.

Because only by doing this could they make those vicious Defeated Soldiers hit them less.

The more vigorously you cried out, the harder those soldiers would hit; your struggle and resistance would only make these Defeated Soldiers more excited and prolong the duration of the beating.

Jier turned to look at the Deputy Captain who had removed his weapons and equipment and was kneeling honestly on the ground with his head bowed; feeling a surge of anger, he slapped the man on the head with his hand, knocking the soldier over to the side.

But the soldier dared not cry out in pain and could only immediately straighten his body, putting on a look of accepting the beating and punishment.

"Hmph, honest now? Not so arrogant anymore?" Jier asked irritably.

The Deputy Captain immediately shook his head: "I dare not, I dare not. I didn't beat the Villagers much; it was them, it was all them. Many people in the troop, ever since crossing the mountain forest, have had their nerves stretched tight and unable to relax, which is why they were so brutal every time they caught someone."

Jier did not believe this man's sophistry; anyway, everyone else was dead, and he had no one to verify it with. No, wait, weren't these two Villagers here? But these two Villagers would not speak at all, merely putting on a submissive appearance to protect themselves and survive.

Jier squatted down and began to interrogate the surrendered Deputy Captain for information.

"Tell me, where did you come from, and why did you appear in the mountain forest south of Changmai Cunzi, attack the village, and capture the Villagers? And as if that weren't enough, you continued to plunder and harass the people of Blue Dragonfly Cunzi?"

Jier asked in a casual tone, as if his questions were not important at all.

"Ah, yes, yes, we are soldiers, soldiers of the Southern Province fighting against the neighboring country! We are our own people! Before, the troop had no leader, and everyone was tired and hungry, so we mistook that village for a village under the rule of the neighboring country, which is why we attacked! Really, it was all a misunderstanding! A misunderstanding! Later, when we discovered the village wasn't from the neighboring country but our own Southern Province, we couldn't help it; we had already killed people and seen blood, so after suppressing the village's resistance, we had to loot it and take the people away."

"My lord, Knight, we had no choice either. Having made such a mistake, and without the management and leadership of a Noble, there was no one in our entire troop who could make a decision. No one would take responsibility either, so everyone had no choice but to come up with the plan to take the surviving Villagers away and hold them in custody."

Jier's mouth twitched; this man was full of crap, and one couldn't find a single word of truth in his sentences.

He had learned from Priest Bata'er that when the Defeated Soldiers attacked Changmai Cunzi under the cover of night, the village had actually communicated with them during the day; those soldiers should have known that the land here was not the neighboring country, but the Southern Province. Using the excuse of getting lost in the mountain forest to cover up their crimes was simply not perfect enough.

If Jier were an outsider who had stumbled into this place and did not understand the detailed situation, he might truly have been deceived by this man.

Moreover, this man had said so much but had not said anything useful at all; Jier asked him where he came from, and the man did not answer, only vaguely stating that he was an army of the Southern Province.

Hmph, with so many Noble territories in the Southern Province and so many armies organized by Nobles themselves, he never answered where they came from or who the lord leading the troop was.

And regarding the most important issue of the whereabouts of the Changmai Cunzi Villagers, this man was also full of lies; he had previously secretly heard these soldiers say they wanted to stuff the captured people into some cave, which seemed to bring them benefits, which was why they were so impatient to capture more people at this time.

But in this guy's words, it was because they had made a big mistake and didn't know how to deal with the living, so they had to take them away and hold them in custody in a panic.

How ridiculous; can holding people in custody mean holding them in a cave?

Jier guessed at this moment that either these people had discovered a mineral vein somewhere, and besides the fact that mining new ore could bring huge and rich returns, they had discovered an underground settlement of Dwarfs?

That is, some kind of Dwarf underground town. They needed manpower to venture in and explore, which was why they kept capturing people and sending them into the cave.

Both were very likely; based on Jier's previous experiences, he felt at this moment that the latter possibility might be even greater.

After all, this was the land of the Dwarfs a hundred years ago; the Dwarfs were driven away in a hurry, and their former towns might still be quietly sleeping underground in some mountain.

The wealth contained in a town from which the Dwarfs had hurriedly evacuated, needless to say, must be very great—so great that these soldiers abandoned their consciences, bared their fangs, and regressed into beasts.

Just for the sake of profit.

Being stared at silently and coldly by Jier like this, the Deputy Captain broke out in a cold sweat all over his head and face. He desperately hoped that the Knight opposite him would ask him something else—anything would do—but please don't keep silent like this.

This kind of silence was as if everything he had just said was a lie, all just crap.

Although what he said *was* a lie, and *was* crap. But he considered his fabrication to be decent, with enough reasons to explain many things.

"M-my lord?"

With his vision blurry and still wrapped in mostly white light, the soldier Deputy Captain spoke cautiously, reminding Jier whether to continue the questioning or stop here.

Jier had originally wanted to just beat this man to death, but on second thought, perhaps it would be better to send him to Blue Dragonfly Cunzi for the Villagers to deal with? After all, the village had suffered quite a bit of abuse from these people over the past few days, so there should be an outlet for the Villagers to vent.

"Hmm, you answered well, let's leave it at that. I don't have anything else to ask; I'll just hand you over to the village and let the people in the village decide how to dispose of you."

Jier picked up the broken Rope nearby that had been used to bind the Villagers and had been severed by his Long Sword; he didn't need anything complicated, just picked out some that were still usable and tied the soldier up.

But Jier's answer terrified the soldier, who immediately shouted: "No, my lord! Please don't hand me over to the Villagers here; I was captured by you, and I surrendered to you under your attack! How can you hand me over to those Villagers? That's not right, this doesn't follow the rules of war!"

Jier hummed: "What kind of bullshit rules; be honest and stay quiet."

Jier tied the man up and stuffed some of the unusable, shorter pieces of Rope into the man's mouth so he could not speak.

However, there were quite a few suspicious stains on these pieces of Rope stuffed into his mouth, and it was unknown whether this soldier had tasted that rich flavor?

Jier looked left and right, finding that in this Temporary Camp there was now one prisoner, three corpses, and two Villagers acting like turtles who wouldn't move; he shook his head and checked the Tents and stored supplies in the camp.

He found that the supplies in the camp were not much, and many were cheap, rough daily necessities of the farming type, mostly things that had been used by people for several years. As soon as he saw these tools, he knew they were things the soldiers had brought out from Changmai Cunzi.

"You lot are truly damned."

Jier shook his head; he had taken a liking to these few tents. Among the supplies in the Yingdi, these tents were clearly the soldiers' own belongings.

The tents were beige, but long-term use and a lack of washing had left brown and dark red stains in many places. Many of the tents had also been carefully mended; judging by the craftsmanship, it did not look like something men could skillfully repair.

In the center of the tents, there had originally been a Noble Emblem meant to be sewn on, but it had long since been removed and its whereabouts were unknown, leaving only the traces of where it had once been stitched.

Clearly, these soldiers had once been under the command of a Noble Lord, but after suffering a defeat last year, they had burrowed into the uninhabited Shulin to evade the enemy. Unexpectedly, they had traveled through the Shulin and arrived in the southern part of Sasi County, near Changmai Cunzi, this spring.

Jier rummaged through the various supplies in the Yingdi again, but he did not find anything related to noble emblems or badges. The only things were the tents, but the emblems and markings on them had long been removed by these soldiers.

It was unclear whether they had been discarded or collected together.

If they had been discarded early on, it meant that these soldiers would likely not return home in a normal fashion; they would mostly commit every evil deed possible, seize enough profit while they had the chance, and then the soldiers would disband, each taking their money and running.

But if the removed emblems and markings were just stored together somewhere, it likely meant that after committing a series of evil deeds here, they would probably run to another place, transform themselves, and become the scattered army of some Noble Lord in the Southern Province again, becoming a reliable force in the hands of a noble once more. To be able to rejoin a unit after being missing for half a year—they were truly a loyal, Refining Qi force.

"Hmph..." Jier snorted coldly and glanced at the soldier Deputy Captain who had surrendered voluntarily.

How could he let people who had committed so many evil deeds change their appearance and live comfortably in this world?

He was determined to kill all the dregs among these troops this time.

It was for the sake of justice, and also partly out of personal motive.

Jier tidied up the supplies in the Yingdi, placed them together with the corpses of the killed enemies in the same spot, and then primarily removed the armor and equipment from the enemies, carrying them himself. Then, leading the captured soldier and pushing the Villagers who had regained their freedom but remained silent, he returned along the same path he had taken into the Shulin toward the south side of the Shulin.

Passing by the corpse of the Villager who had been dead for some days, Jier told the two Villagers about the situation of the corpse, asking them to have their village send someone to bring the corpse back later, and to be careful not to let the corpse turn into a living corpse, dealing with it as soon as possible.

The captured soldier, seeing the Villager's corpse 'buried' so crudely in the thin soil, cursed wildly in his heart. He understood that it was likely the smell of the rotting corpse that this young Knight had caught, which was why he had found their hidden Yingdi in the Shulin.

If it weren't for the fact that his mouth was still stuffed with a Rope stained with excrement, he would have cursed the soldier who handled the corpse to his face.

But when he thought that the lazy fellow was probably already dead, his desire to curse extinguished, and he felt a slight sense of joy in his heart: the others were all dead, but he had surrendered at just the right time and survived.

But this soldier Deputy Captain did not know that Jier handing him over to the local Villagers to deal with was not a good thing for him. Sometimes, being killed directly in battle is a way to avoid suffering.

Yet this soldier Deputy Captain, who thought he could still survive, did not know how miserable his fate would be.

"Look, this is my warhorse. It is very well-behaved. You have endured so much beating, your bodies can't take it anymore, right? Come, how about sitting on my warhorse to go back?"

Jier pointed to the Tianxuecao he had called over with a whistle, letting the two Villagers who had suffered so much ride it.

From here to Lanse-Qingting Cunzi, it was neither far nor near. When these two Villagers had just walked out of the Shulin, they were stumbling and bumping into things, their steps unsteady, their bodies swaying, and they could fall over at any moment.

So Jier intended to let them ride the horse.

There was no need to worry about the filth on them dirtying the warhorse's Muan; Jier had just stripped the undergarments from the dead soldiers and had the two Villagers put them on.

They could take a bath when they got back, but as Human beings, they could not go without clothes.

"M-my lord."

Led by Jier out of the terrifying Yingdi and Shulin, the two of them dared to speak at this moment.

"We, we are a bit dirty. You should ride it instead."

"Yes, yes, you saved us, we, we dare not sit on your horse."

As they spoke, the two Villagers knelt on the ground; it seemed that Jier letting them ride on the horse's back was actually hurting them.

Moreover, the sensitive nose of the Tianxuecao smelled the scent of feces and urine on the two Villagers and it retreated a few steps in disgust. Jier pulled it closer, but it absolutely refused to get near the two Villagers.

With no other choice, Jier felt bad about making the two dying Villagers walk on the ground while he rode the horse himself.

So the four of them could only walk back to Lanse-Qingting Cunzi, with only the Tianxuecao triumphantly shaking its head up and down, running around the four of them freely.

Jier rolled the soldiers' weapons and equipment into a bundle, threw them on the horse's back and tied them up, then stopped worrying about the Tianxuecao; it could run however it liked.

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