Chapter 488: After the Battle

The warriors soon returned the way they came, dragging the enemies' corpses, humming songs excitedly in their mouths.

It started with one or two people humming casually, but soon, more joined in, and then everyone simply began to sing aloud.

"A major victory."

"We defeated the enemy!"

"Let us celebrate."

"Let's get drunk together until dawn!"

"The maidens scream for me."

"The youths imitate my words and deeds!"

"The elders nod in affirmation of me."

"My parents are proud of me!"

"This is a great victory."

"Because we defeated the enemy!"

"Let us celebrate wantonly."

"Let's sing and be wanton together until dawn!"

Bata'er Jiaoshi's greeting rang out; he heard the warriors' excited singing and immediately called for people to come over and drag away the enemy trapped in the dim yellow light.

Seeing that Bata'er Jiaoshi had not only defeated an enemy soldier but had even captured him alive, the warriors were filled with admiration for Bata'er Jiaoshi.

They hadn't noticed much before, but having engaged the enemy soldiers in battle themselves this time, everyone finally realized what each person's true skill and strength looked like.

Among the warriors, Weier and a few others were clearly above the average level of the group, while Weier was calm and in control of the overall situation, clearly a cut above everyone else.

But on the other hand, Bata'er Jiaoshi could defeat and capture an enemy soldier all by himself; in comparison, he alone was much stronger than a dozen warriors.

This discovery left many feeling disappointed, while also causing many to re-evaluate Bata'er Jiaoshi's personal strength.

The subsequently reunited team then further linked up with Aoni and the others; knowing that Aoni and the others had easily defeated that soldier archer made the melee warriors realize their own lack of strength and that they needed to work hard to improve themselves.

The warrior team, having killed two enemy soldiers and captured one, did not return directly to the village; they arranged for two people to watch over the two corpses and the trapped soldier by the farmland outside the Shulin, while the others continued to form a team to search the area behind the hill to the east of the village.

By this time, it was dark, and Bata'er Jiaoshi had the group form a tight line, with each person grabbing the belt of the person in front, marching in a single file; he led the way at the front, while the warriors' Captain, Aoni, was placed at the end of the line to prevent any warriors from falling behind.

Because of the poor lighting, it took them quite a while to reach the hill, but after circling it, they did not find any traces of an enemy camp.

"It seems the enemy's camp is over by Jier the warrior." Bata'er Jiaoshi stood on top of the hill, looking toward the west; the village emitted flickering lights, but what was most eye-catching was the shimmering reflection of moonlight on the small pond in the village.

Even from this far away, one could feel the beauty of that reflected moonlight.

"Let's go! Meet up with the two people from before, we're heading back to the village, and we can light the torches we're carrying. Sigh, I hope Jier can find the enemy's camp over there." Bata'er Jiaoshi sighed, feeling it a pity that they weren't the ones to find the enemy camp, as he could not personally defeat the enemy to avenge the Changmai Cunzi Villagers.

However, there were still many enemies, and there would be plenty of opportunities for revenge in the coming days; he suppressed his restlessness and anxiety, leading the warriors back with a composed pace.

After the team returned to Lanse-Qingting from the east gate of the village, Bata'er Jiaoshi heard news of Jier from the gate-guarding Villager.

"What? Jier the warrior defeated all the remaining enemies? And rescued the two Villagers captured at noon? Phew, I knew it, I knew it, Jier wouldn't let me down."

Bata'er Jiaoshi waved his fist fiercely in happiness and immediately told the accompanying warriors to hurry toward the Nongshen Church in the village.

Before he even reached the Church, he saw many Villagers gathered in the open space in front of it, with many people indignantly pointing at someone in the crowd; fearing something had happened, Bata'er Jiaoshi brushed off the warriors and jogged over.

But only after getting closer did he realize it wasn't what he had worried about at all; it was just that Jier the warrior had captured an enemy intact, and it seemed the enemy's corpses had also been brought back, all displayed in the open space in front of the Church.

Once the Priest heard the words of the emotionally agitated Villagers around him, he realized that the Villagers gathered here were all from families whose members had been taken away by those Defeated Soldiers in the previous days.

They were basically all pointing and cursing at a sturdy figure in the middle of the crowd; the Priest looked up and saw a sturdy man with red eyes, a flushed face, and heavy breathing.

This person's mouth was gagged, so he could only listen to the curses of the people around him, unable to refute a single word himself.

This person's hands were tied, so he could only barely wave them up and down, using his fingers to make insulting gestures, offering a small counterattack to every Villager who cursed him.

But this only invited more curses, as well as the blood-weeping accusations of the Villagers.

Bata'er Jiaoshi squeezed through the crowd to the center, only to find that besides a corpse covered with a white cloth and a few Villagers crying around it, the other corpses were just left exposed on the ground, with Villagers occasionally throwing Stone and dirt at them; these were clearly the enemy soldiers killed by Jier.

However, these enemy corpses were not complete; some even lacked heads, and on the severed necks, one could barely see what looked like handprints in the light of the surrounding Torch.

One really wondered what method Jier the warrior used to kill the enemies.

"Ah, Bata'er! You're back! How was it? There should still be a few enemies on your side." Jier waved at Bata'er Jiaoshi, signaling him to come over and talk.

Old Priest Ruiduokasi was also by Jier's side, currently stroking the faces of the two young Villagers who had been captured at noon with his hands; under the close-range illumination of the cyan Divine Power, the wounds on the captured youths were rapidly healing.

The surrounding Villagers looked at the Old Priest's healing with awe.

"We found three enemy soldiers in the Shulin where we were gathering firewood; we killed two, and I captured one who was wounded. Besides, the warriors performed excellently this time; they took down the other two enemy soldiers without a single casualty."

Bata'er Jiaoshi pointed to the warrior team approaching; the Villagers gathered in the open space saw the warriors carrying the two corpses of the Defeated Soldiers, as well as one enemy soldier who looked wounded and was wrapped in a layer of dim yellow light, automatically clearing a path and cheering one after another.

The Villagers encouragingly patted the warriors' shoulders and arms, which made the warriors puff out their chests with excitement.

Seeing the soldier corpses they brought, Jier directly instructed: "Take off all the weapons and Armor from the corpses. I intend to collect the plates from their Soldier Armor; one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine. With the Armor plates of nine soldiers, I plan to concentrate them onto three people, so that at least three warriors in our team have sufficient protective Armor and can take on more dangerous battles."

"As for their Metal Helmet, they will first be equipped to the shield-bearers to make up for their previous lack of head protection, and then the remaining helmets will go to the melee warriors."

Bata'er Jiaoshi nodded, feeling Jier's measures were fine; he pointed to the wounded Defeated Soldier, who was covered all over in magical dim yellow light: "I also captured an enemy; is there a need to treat him?"

Jier shook his head: "With such heavy injuries, there's no need for treatment. Save your and Priest Ruiduokasi's Divine Power; after releasing it, ask a few simple questions to see what you can find out, and then give him a quick end."

After speaking, the two walked to the soldier lying on the ground covered in light, and the surrounding Villagers looked curiously at the light on this person, whispering and guessing what was going on.

Then they saw Bata'er Jiaoshi lightly tap the Defeated Soldier with the long staff in his hand, and the magical light on the other person was retracted into Bata'er Jiaoshi's long staff. Everyone then realized that this magical ability belonged to Bata'er Jiaoshi.

And the Defeated Soldier, the next moment, recovered from his motionless state and gasped with difficulty.

Jier squatted down and said a few words to this heavily wounded person, but the Defeated Soldier would not grant them their wish at all; not only did he not reveal any news about other Defeated Soldiers, but he also used vicious words to Curse Jier and the others.

"This person is still a stubborn diehard. Two Priests, shall I finish him?" Jier pointed at the soldier and asked the two Priests present.

Priest Ruiduokasi had no objections, but Bata'er Jiaoshi, having heard the soldier's Curse just now, was in a bad mood; he spoke up: "It is clearly these people who committed violence first, but why are they always blind to the evil consequences caused by their own violence, and only hold such great malice toward the resistance of others against them? Is there not even a shred of fairness and justice in these Human Mind?"

Jier twisted the wounded soldier's neck, which made the Deputy Captain of the soldiers nearby tighten his own neck and close his eyes tightly, not daring to look at his companions with their tragic deaths anymore. At the same time, he was still rejoicing that he had surrendered; otherwise, he would surely be one of the corpses on the ground.

No matter what, he was still alive, and that was enough.

"These people were just ordinary farmers on the territory before they became soldiers; naturally, they have the basic fairness and justice you speak of in their hearts. But these things are systematically dissolved by the organizational structure of the army. One thing is very evil, but if it is divided into a dozen parts and completed by different people, then don't these dozen people all have a reason to say: 'I only did a tiny bit of bad things, how can you say that about me? Besides, I was just following orders; if I didn't execute them, they would only kill me and have someone else do it.' They will say these words to defend their own actions."

Jier stood up and explained to Bata'er Jiaoshi.

"But the evil deeds were still committed by them; this does not mean that by spreading the blame to everyone, the guilt ceases to exist," Bata'er Jiaoshi murmured.

Jier gave a disdainful snort: "Therefore, there are generally two methods. One is to capture the military leaders who bear the overall responsibility and put them on trial."

Bata'er Jiaoshi shook his head: "Impossible. The armies are all led by Noble Lords from various places and the Knights under their command. Who would judge them? With what laws or decrees would they be judged? Higher-ranking Nobles? Or the Noble Council? Or perhaps some deity in charge of this?"

Ruiduokasi Jiaoshi paused his healing, gave a deliberate cough to remind the two young men, and seeing they were still discussing these somewhat dangerous topics, he had to speak up: "The corpses of the dead enemies are fine; tomorrow I will have the Villagers find some firewood and light a fire to burn them. But what about this captured Soldier?"

Jier pointed at the surrendering Soldier, who was being continuously cursed by the surrounding Villagers, and said: "I want to interrogate this person; perhaps I might even need to torture him a bit."

This surrendering Soldier had been keeping an eye on Jier, and seeing him say this, he hurriedly shook his head vigorously.

But his behavior was not even considered by Jier; Jier directly grabbed the Soldier by the collar and dragged him away: "Make way, everyone make way, I need to question this surrendering Soldier for information, clear the path."

After Jier had dragged the person far away, Ruiduokasi Jiaoshi officially finished the healing. He came before Bata'er Jiaoshi, first praising the battle fought by Bata'er Jiaoshi and the others, then said: "You were just discussing some dangerous matters."

Bata'er Jiaoshi's expression was somewhat strange: "Dangerous? But that is how things happened. This time, the warrior Jier should be able to defeat those Defeated Soldiers and rescue the Villagers, but who will be held responsible for this incident? The dead Changmai Cunzi Villagers were innocent; did they just die in vain?"

The Old Priest shook his head: "You cannot think like that. Those Defeated Soldiers were enticed and corrupted by the demons in their own hearts, and they voluntarily committed evil deeds. Therefore, they must naturally be responsible for their own actions. They attacked the Cunzi, seized the Villagers to enslave and torture them, so naturally, the warrior Jier, representing the Agricultural God Church, will punish them. Punish them with the death brought by sword and fire."

"Luosa, you have grown up and started to think more, but you must understand that this society has its own laws of operation. It may not be perfect, but at least it is running smoothly. Everyone lives under these social laws, and even our Agricultural God Church is a part of these social laws. You are not ready now, but in the future, if you become successful and gain status and power, then perhaps you can try to improve it."

"But remember, do not try to challenge it. When you try to challenge it, you will find that everyone, every organization, and every force within the scope of these social laws will ostracize you, expel you, and eventually destroy you."

Upon hearing this, Bata'er Jiaoshi trembled all over. He widened his eyes as he looked at the aged Priest and asked in a low voice: "Is that why you were assigned to this remote place in the Nanbu of Sasi County?"

"That is another long story. Little Luosa, if you are interested, then I will wait for you to pass by here again on your return trip after you rescue the Villagers this time, and I will tell you all about it. This time, do you intend to give up that land in Changmai Cunzi?"

Bata'er Jiaoshi nodded: "I have found a new place, safer, wealthier, and with more people."

"Sounds like a good place? What is it called?"

"Yes, it is a good place, right across from Huitou Forest. You certainly wouldn't believe it, but it turns out the area across from Huitou Forest is not a terrifying place at all, it turns out..."

Amidst the noisy crowd, Bata'er Jiaoshi told the Old Priest about the various conditions behind Huitou Forest, and the Old Priest nodded from time to time, encouraging Bata'er Jiaoshi to develop there.

As for Jier, he found an empty room in the Church, threw the surrendering Soldier he was holding inside, then pried out the gag from the other's mouth and asked: "You saw the fate of your other companions. I will make it clear to you beforehand: you have done so many evil deeds that ending up like this is only natural. But if I offer a recommendation, you might still live."

"I want to live! I want to save my life!"

The Soldier knelt on the ground, looking up at Jier's young face. Unlike his unruly attitude toward others, the moment he saw this Knight Jier, he had no intention of resisting at all.

"Then speak, and don't try to fob me off with lies again. Whether you can live or not depends on what you say. First, where is your hometown?"

The Soldier was in a difficult position; clearly, he was very unwilling to reveal the location of his hometown.

But Jier was not in a hurry; he just leaned against the wall, his gaze fixed on the Soldier, watching whether he intended to make up a lie or tell the truth honestly.

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? (End of this chapter)