Chapter 5

Since half of the warriors and drivers were still waiting to bathe, Kiel and his group quickly applied fragrant plant extracts to their bodies after cleaning up, then walked out of the linen enclosure by the pool, feeling refreshed one by one.

They had originally thought they would need to ask the villagers for their own smelly clothes back, but they hadn't expected that although the village was only prepared on short notice, it was quite thoughtful in these details—the villagers not only returned everyone's original clothes but also provided an extra set of clean village garments.

Because their body measurements were unknown, the clean clothes provided were rather loose, but no one minded or complained; they all put on the clean clothes and walked back, looking refreshed and invigorated.

In addition, the villagers could also wash the warriors' undergarments for them; since it was a hot summer night, the clothes would dry in just half the night, allowing the warriors and drivers to collect them before leaving tomorrow morning.

Naturally, everyone jumped at such a good opportunity, handing their smelly clothes over to the villagers and reporting their names to ensure their belongings wouldn't get mixed up.

Kiel didn't need to do this, as he always took his clothes into the Lady's dream realm to wash them himself.

Whenever he had free time, he would bring in a bucket of clean water and pour it into the silver-plated bucket inside his pond camp in the dream realm.

Using a sturdy hammer, he would beat those silver plates from the camp into containers of various shapes.

There were small buckets with lids for water, airtight boxes for grain, large boxes for storing various items, and even simple commodes for temporary waste disposal.

Because he was strong and the silver plates were relatively soft and easy to shape, he could do this; although he wasn't very skilled when he first started, after long periods of practice, the various silver containers he made became increasingly useful.

If you asked him why he needed to transfer grain from sacks into specialized storage containers, it was because if left casually outside the pond camp, the reckless mushrooms around the camp would sneak in and steal it, ruining it all.

More than once, when entering the dream realm, Kiel had seen those walking, cargo-carrying mushroom boys sneaking around his belongings.

But after Kiel's harsh attacks and predation against those mushroom people, these little things had finally settled down and no longer dared to approach his pond camp, unless they were personally led by their master—the old fairy.

The group walking back in clean clothes immediately drew the attention of the other warriors and drivers waiting by the caravan.

Once these guys got close, Kiel and his group clearly smelled a thick odor of male sweat, and many warriors even had the smell of foot odor and sourness; only then did everyone realize just how strong their own scent had been before bathing.

"Are you kidding me? Bawei, the smell on you is way too strong, isn't it?" a warrior shouted, pinching his nose in disgust.

But Bawei sniffed himself, looking puzzled: "I don't smell anything on me? But you guys, Lord Kiel, you all smell so good. Spru, my good brother, let me get close and take a sniff!"

Spru pushed away the excitedly approaching Bawei in disgust and pointed to where they had just bathed: "Don't be ridiculous, go wash up. The water in that pool seems to have been treated by the Ceres priests from the church; soaking in it can heal the body."

Spru rotated his arms and said with a look of satisfaction: "My arms, which were aching from practicing martial arts earlier, feel so much better after that bath. I feel so light now, I could probably beat two of my former selves!"

Hearing something so outrageous, Bawei ran toward the pool in excitement, stripping off his clothes as he ran, stuffing them into a wooden box held by an approaching villager, and quickly dashed into the linen partition nearby.

"This guy..."

Kiel shook his head and grumbled: "I hadn't even explained how to use the soap or the small bottle of plant extract that came with the basin, and he just ran off."

Fortunately, Aoni was still there; after Kiel explained how to use the toiletries to the tall warrior captain, he let Aoni lead the remaining half of the group to rush over all at once.

Before, everyone hadn't expected that bathing in Lanse-Qingting Cunzi would be so comfortable, so they hadn't held any expectations, but seeing the first group looking so refreshed, the second group was naturally quite expectant.

And they wouldn't be disappointed.

Although there was no massage or similar process to relieve stiff and tired muscles, the effect of the old priest's blessing ceremony was clearly even better.

Even Kiel, who had no hidden injuries (the healing mushrooms in the Lady's dream realm worked very well, and their counter-intuitive healing effects lacked the hidden dangers and fatigue associated with traditional divine magic), felt light and nimble; as the warm summer evening breeze blew, carrying away the moisture from his hair, he had few complaints about the sweltering summer.

"Whew, everyone find a place to rest for a while. I estimate that after this second group finishes bathing, the villagers will still need to fetch water to wash up at home before the celebration begins in the village center."

Kiel pointed to the villagers preparing for various celebratory activities and told the group around him.

Under the direction of some village elders, the villagers brought out various celebratory items from the village warehouse that were usually only used for the Harvest Festival.

Small, colorful flags dyed with local dyes purchased from Night Charm Town were taken out by the villagers and inserted all over the open space in front of the church; with these colorful flags fluttering in the wind, a lively atmosphere immediately emerged.

"Go help! Don't just stand there!" Kiel waved his hand, making his lazy, freshly-bathed subordinates get moving to help the villagers prepare for the celebration.

As for the surrendered soldiers on the wagons, Kiel kept watch over them himself to prevent them from taking the opportunity to escape.

Even though Kiel stood by the fire empty-handed, watching them, these surrendered soldiers, who were greater in number, dared not make any further moves.

Because they knew that for a knight, dealing with a dozen or so men without armor, it made little difference whether he had a weapon or not; he could basically kill them one by one with his bare hands.

"My lord, Lord Kiel. Look, we haven't eaten anything yet..."

A squad leader of the surrendered soldiers poked his head out of the wagon to ask Kiel for food. They had drunk plenty of water while resting in the wagons today, and since they hadn't been active or sweating, they weren't very thirsty, but their stomachs were growling with hunger.

But Kiel wouldn't give them a pleasant look: "Get back into the wagon and stay quiet. If you think it's too crowded with a dozen people in there, you can come down; I think the villagers have plenty of people who would love to come over and beat you to vent their anger! Hmph, compared to the harm you've caused, just getting beaten up a few times is a very, very light punishment."

After the threat, Kiel added: "Later there will be a celebration for the rescue of the villagers taken from Lanse-Qingting Cunzi; don't be so eager to come out and get beaten. Nobody wants to see you guys. Of course, after the celebration ends at midnight, you'll be given some food; stay in the wagon and behave."

Hearing that Kiel would indeed give them food, the squad leader of the surrendered soldiers finally retreated into the wagon, satisfied. Besides asking for food, they also wanted to gauge the attitude of the knight who held their fate in his hands.

Seeing that Kiel was unfriendly but would still provide food, this attitude actually made the surrendered soldiers breathe a sigh of relief.

But at this moment, someone outside called out to them again.

"Is that Midozev? Was that Midozev talking to Knight Kiel just now?"

The person calling out had a hoarse voice and didn't seem to have much strength, but they still sounded like they were trying hard to shout toward Kiel's wagon caravan.

Kiel looked up and saw the deputy leader of the scout team, who was locked in a dog cage on a wooden pole in the middle of the open space; this surrendered guy had clearly suffered quite a bit in Lanse-Qingting Cunzi these past few days.

But this was all he deserved.

Who told him to lead the scout soldiers of the defeated army to Lanse-Qingting Cunzi to kidnap people after attacking Long Wheat Cunzi, causing no small amount of trouble for the village?

Although it didn't affect the village's spring plowing, the subsequent care and tending of the crops in the fields had been neglected because no one dared to leave the village while they were out kidnapping people.

These things would still affect this year's crop yields.

Especially since not a single drop of rain had fallen from the sky this year, and irrigation for the crops relied entirely on human labor; when these defeated soldiers were rampaging a few days ago, no one was watering the fields, and some crops had withered and died.

It wasn't until Kiel killed and captured those people that the villagers dared to go out and resume the work of watering and irrigation, and some of the withered crops were replanted.

Although it would still affect the yield, it could at least make up for some of the losses.

A head poked out of the wagon carrying the surrendered soldiers; it was the squad leader who had been called. He looked out curiously, but besides Knight Kiel, who was looking at him coldly, there was no one else around.

"My lord, Lord Kiel, did you hear just now..." Before he could finish his question, a hoarse voice continued to call out from the air in front: "Idiot! It's me, the deputy leader of the scout team, Bert Conaways, the one who..."

"Cold-Face Bert? Didn't you die? Are you a ghost?"

The squad leader was startled and jerked his head back into the wagon, clearly frightened by his own thought.

He couldn't help but be afraid; after all, the entire soldier team, from Knight Hate down to the ordinary soldiers, had basically been killed or defeated in batches by Knight Kiel and his men.

It was entirely possible that one or two people were unwilling to die and had turned into ghosts.

At least that's what the bards singing in the taverns said, and those ominous priests of the Church of the God of the Dead often 'threatened' everyone with such things.

"Idiot! Moron! I'm not dead yet! I, I, I was afraid of death, so I surrendered." The hoarse voice hesitated for a moment before continuing: "Just like you cowards, yes, I disappointed Lord Hate; even his most elite scout team has cowards in it."

Jier snorted and looked at the Dog Cage in mid-air: "That Knight Hartna of yours, he is already dead too, died right under my sword! Lenglian Bote, is it? Have you been out in the sun too much these days, and want to taste my Water Torture again? I guarantee, this time you will definitely die."

Lenglian Bote, who had been continuously exposed to the sun these past few days, shivered, realized he had said the wrong thing, and began to beg for mercy: "Lord Jier, respected, kind Lord Knight, please spare me. I was indeed muddled by the sun. I regret it; I should not have followed the orders of that damned scoundrel Yeluba, even though I knew he was impersonating Knight Hartna when he issued the orders to us. My Squad Leader and I should never have brought men to attack Lanse-Qingting Cunzi back then. We are bad people; we deserve to die!"

Jier chuckled: "It seems that getting some sun isn't such a bad thing after all. Look at this, a stubborn Soldier who once required multiple rounds of torture from me to spit out the truth can now realize his own mistakes. Have you apologized to the Villagers in the Cunzi?"

"My Lord, oh my Lord, I say it every day. I apologize to every Villager who passes by the open ground every single day. They are all good people; they accepted my apology and even gave me food to eat. Some even wanted to ask the Old Priest in the Church to let me down from here and just keep me locked in a house instead. Ah, they have already accepted my sincere apology."

"Is that so? It seems the Villagers are still kind and simple." Jier sneered. He knew that regardless of whether the repentance was genuine, the Villagers had clearly forgiven this surrendered Soldier. But the Old Priest was not one of these simple Villagers; the Old Priest had traveled far and wide his whole life, had been to countless places, and had seen all sorts of people. How could he possibly believe the repentance of such a person so easily?

Therefore, even now, this fellow was still hanging on the wooden pillar in the middle of the open ground, inside a Dog Cage.

In Lanse-Qingting Cunzi, as long as the Old Priest did not nod, no one dared to act on their own kindness and secretly release the surrendered Soldiers.

At this moment, the surrendered Soldier Squad Leader in the carriage poked his head out again. After hearing the conversation just now, he understood that he wasn't being haunted by a dead ghost, but that the Deputy Captain of the Scout team, Lenglian Bote, was also afraid of death and had surrendered.

And he was the very first guy to surrender, earlier than anyone else in their team.

However, the difference in treatment was just too great. They were only tied by their wrists and arms; their legs and feet were not bound, and they could walk around quite freely. Of course, this was also because they were being guarded by an entire team of fully armed Warriors, who were not afraid of these unarmed surrendered Soldiers escaping. In fact, escaping wouldn't be bad either; catching those who escaped or killing those who ran away was just another merit for the Warriors.

And this Lenglian Bote, he was actually hanging in mid-air?

Faintly, by the light of the fire on the open ground, the Squad Leader who had poked his head out finally saw a cage in mid-air, suspended there.

That must be truly miserable. In this season, in the middle of summer, a person would have their skin peeled off after just one day in the sun. It had been so many days; it was only by sheer luck that this person hadn't been baked to death yet.

Or perhaps the Villagers of Lanse-Qingting Cunzi were just kind-hearted.

"Bote? You're not dead, right? It's good if you're not dead, it's good if you're not dead." The surrendered Soldier Squad Leader called out tentatively.

"It's not good at all. Lord Jier, I beg you, every day is a torture of torment. I beg you, could you speak to the Old Priest in the Church and let you take me away? After all, I am your captive, just like these people. It is only right that you take me away."

Lenglian Bote pleaded from the cage in mid-air.

Jier circled the wooden pillar on the ground, looking at the naked Lenglian Bote in mid-air, and replied: "You don't even ask what I plan to do with these surrendered people? Perhaps I will take them to the local Baron and hand them over to the local Noble to deal with? After all, you attacked two villages in Sasi County; it is only right for the local Noble to handle it."

"Or perhaps, I will take you to the Southern Province Noble Coalition at this time? Let the various Nobles of the Southern Province see what you local troops who were scattered on the battlefield look like? I think those big shots all cherish their face and dignity and would have you secretly executed."

"Having heard this, do you still want to come with me? After all, staying in Lanse-Qingting Cunzi, although life is a bit bitter, you can still live. Getting more sun is good for the body. And it can even restore a person's morality and conscience; this is truly a remarkable discovery!"

Jier mocked Lenglian Bote.

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