Chapter 532: The Warriors' Determination and the Disposal of Corpses

The Warriors were each counting their combat rewards, joy written on every one of their faces.

They couldn't help but be happy, because compared to their previous lives of farming, being a Warrior was indeed a faster way to make money!

Generally speaking, one cannot make money from a year of farming. After setting aside seeds, rations, and tax grain, only the remaining grain can be sold for money. Grain is just grain; although it can be used as a general equivalent in many places, in rural areas that produce grain themselves, grain cannot be treated as money.

This newly harvested grain must be husked and dried before it can be put into burlap sacks and stored in a warehouse.

At this stage, this grain still cannot be used as money; one can only say it has the basic preparations for being exchanged for money.

Afterward, the farmers wait for the Caravans that specialize in collecting grain in rural areas to arrive, and the local Cunzi Chief and Elders engage in long, drawn-out arguments with these slick and demanding grain merchants over the purchase price of the new grain.

But arguments aside, the Shop Assistants of the Caravan do not stop working; they inspect, weigh, and mark the bags of grain brought out by each household before loading them onto wagons, waiting only for the Merchant Guild Steward and the Cunzi Chief to agree on this year's price before paying and leaving.

Sometimes the Merchant Guild will even hire or request the village to send young Villagers to guard the grain transport convoy. In most cases, the village agrees, as this is one of the few opportunities for many young people in the village to leave it all year round.

They bring a little bit of money, follow the grain-transporting Caravan to a nearby town to travel around a bit, and then return to their home village in groups.

This is the life trajectory of most young Villagers.

And after all this busyness, a family working hard in the fields for a year might not even earn a few Silver Coins.

Sometimes the price of grain outside rises, but the grain-transporting Merchant Guild keeps this news strictly confidential internally, specifically to deceive and bully the farmers in the countryside who are unaware of the changes in grain prices outside.

And sometimes when the price of grain outside falls, the grain-transporting Merchant Guild will spread the news to every village where they are to collect grain a few days in advance, so that all farmers know that this year's grain won't fetch a good price, allowing them to prepare themselves mentally.

By then, the grain-transporting Merchant Guild will be able to get a cheaper price.

Of course, there are corresponding countermeasures, but I won't go into detail here.

These young Warriors, who were mostly farmers, were weighing the heavy coins in their hands at this moment and couldn't help but think a lot, thinking about how easily this money came, while in their previous days, making money from farming was so troublesome.

Therefore, many of them were determined to continue working under Jier, and some even secretly vowed to work harder in future battles, defeat more enemies, perform meritorious deeds, and receive more bounty.

Nowadays, many people's hometowns have been abandoned due to fleeing, and although most of the houses and fields won't be damaged or disappear in a year or two, it will still take a lot of money for their families to return to their hometowns and rebuild the village in the future.

After realizing this, these Warriors understood the meaning of their fighting and the responsibility they held for the families behind many of them; they stopped resting, put away their coins, and, as if injected with chicken blood, pulled out their weapons and began practicing martial arts in the open space nearby.

The drivers and the rescued female Villagers watched in confusion, not knowing why these fine young men had suddenly become so diligent, especially the drivers. Most of them also came from farming families in villages, but because they were the first to join Jier, they were considered his subordinates by Jier very early on.

And driving a wagon is a technical job; after learning it in the Refugee Team, it is a job one can do for a lifetime.

Even if Jier doesn't use them in the future, they can easily find driving work elsewhere or in a Merchant Guild to support themselves.

Even if they can save up a sum of money, they can find a way to get a wagon themselves, and once they possess the means of production, they can support a family even if they leave Jier.

Jier smiled with satisfaction as he watched these Warriors practicing diligently. He paid out so much bounty this time, firstly because for these Warriors, the Defeated Soldiers were indeed very strong, and the harvest after defeating the opponent was also great, enough to justify this level of reward. Secondly, he needed these Warriors to realize that following him could earn them money they had previously found hard to earn. And if they wanted to earn money from him reliably, they had to have good martial arts skills.

Like Priest Bata'er, Weier, Sipulu, Bawei, and others today, and even the alien Mao Mao, they all received reward amounts they wouldn't have dared to imagine; that was money their whole family couldn't earn after working for several years.

As a result, they earned it in one day; how could they not be envious?

Envious, want it?

Then earn it with your own ability!

Jier has already provided them with a fair and just platform; how much they can get in the future depends on their own skills and efforts!

These young Warriors were now like a pack of vicious wolves, howling and wanting to obtain more in the future.

And Jier, the wolf king, would lead them and satisfy their wishes, and Jier would truly satisfy their wishes, not just talk empty words or draw a pie in the sky.

"Siter, what do you think? Of this morale?" Jier asked Xueya Siter beside him in a low voice.

Xueya Siter had a strange expression on his face, and he muttered: "Jier, you guy look so young, I didn't expect your ability to be so great. You were born to start a Merchant Guild and make big money! If only I had met someone like you when I was thinking about making money back then, I wouldn't be a Caravan guard even now."

Jier patted Xueya Siter on the shoulder: "Don't look down on yourself, my good friend. Starting from Montoka City, you have embarked on a path that will far exceed that of a Caravan guard in the future. Think about your experiences during this time; what do you think you can achieve in the future?"

Xueya Siter scratched his head, thought for a moment, and first sighed: "With my luck, I think I'd better not go into business."

He then changed the subject: "But in the future, I could find a few people and organize a small Caravan guard squad of several dozen people. Because I found that managing several dozen people isn't that complicated. And since I am familiar with the work of a Caravan guard, I could develop in this direction in the future."

Jier patted his loyal friend on the shoulder with satisfaction and said to Xueya Siter, who was more than a dozen years older than him: "Then I wish you success in the future!"

"Hahahaha."

The next morning.

The Lumberjacks got on the wagons and were taken away by the drivers early in the morning to cut wood.

Burning dozens of corpses requires quite a lot of wood, and the enemies had been dead for a day and were gathered so densely; it was time to deal with the enemy corpses as soon as possible.

Jier walked out of his tent, shaking his head and looking satisfied.

Last night, he had fulfilled his wish in his soul or dream, seeing those newly found lingering resentful spirits, ha! These troubles that used to constantly plague him had now become 'necessary nourishment' for the growth of a part of Jier's strength!

The special Shadow Bird had completely killed and digested the lingering resentful spirits of five or six Defeated Soldiers in one whole night, and it had grown quite a bit, its size a circle larger than before.

As Jier estimated when he woke up, once the Shadow Bird finished digesting this wave of the enemy's lingering resentful spirits, his Shadow Bird would likely become stronger by another notch.

But it probably won't be so easy in the future; after all, the Shadow Bird's strength is weak, so digesting the lingering spirits of just a few enemies makes it look like it has become much stronger. Once the Shadow Bird's strength improves to a certain level, it won't be so easy to become stronger again.

But Jier didn't care, because he had many enemies.

Yes, whether it was the remaining Defeated Soldiers he would fight in a few days, or the enemy army he might engage in a month or two, he still had many enemies, enough to feed and strengthen his Shadow Bird.

"Everyone, get moving!" Jier shouted.

He took the Wheat Porridge and freshly baked Bread handed to him by a female Villager, and while eating, he directed everyone to work in the open space around the Church.

"Eat your fill in the morning! Eat a bit more! Today we are going to burn the corpses of these enemies! Also, we must make some preparations for the upcoming attack."

Jier walked to the fresh wood the Warriors had cut back yesterday and kicked the fresh logs that still held moisture: "Looks like they can burn; although they are still fresh wood, as long as they can burn, that's fine!"

"A few people, come here! Get ready to move this wood. Priest Bata'er! Priest Bata'er!"

Jier shouted the Priest's name loudly, looking for him.

Pointed out by someone, it turned out the Priest was in the Church he had reclaimed, leading the rescued female Villager believers in morning Prayer early in the morning!

Although the original Agricultural God Statue in the Church hall didn't know where the Defeated Soldiers had taken it, and the Priest had searched for half the night last night and hadn't found it, obviously one couldn't stop praying just because there was no Statue, right?

Besides, when they were on the road with the Refugee Team before, there was no Agricultural God Statue, and they prayed just fine, didn't they?

It was just like that now; several believers and Priest Bata'er were kneeling and praying to a small Wooden Agricultural God Statue, softly chanting the Prayer, and the believers repeated each sentence after him.

Jier's shouting was of course heard by the Priest; he tried to finish the prayer as soon as possible, and after feeling that the Divine Power in his body had recovered a little, he smacked his lips with slight dissatisfaction, let the believers disperse on their own, and walked out of the Church to find Jier.

"Warrior Jier, a lot of Divine Power was consumed yesterday. I was counting on leading people in prayer this morning to recover some of the consumed Divine Power."

Jier looked strange: "The Sacred Artifact the God of Agriculture gave you, and the high-Tier blessing Divine Art 【Blessed Grain】 that you haven't cast these days—can't you directly borrow the Divine Power of the God of Agriculture from them?"

Jier gestured: "I mean using the power inside the Sacred Artifact directly, or taking the Divine Power of the God of Agriculture that was originally transformed into countless plump wheat seeds and using it directly? Like for protection, attack, healing, or something?"

Bata'er Jiaoshi looked helpless: "How could it be that easy?"

He shook his head: "Not to mention the Sacred Artifact bestowed upon me by the great God of Agriculture, I still haven't figured out some of its other uses even now. Perhaps the great God of Agriculture just bestowed it upon me as a testament to a reward?"

"How is that possible?" Jier did not believe it. The deity is powerful; how could the item given only have the single function of endlessly flowing wheat ale?

"Not to mention, 【Blessed Grain】 is a large-scale Blessing Ritual collectively cast by the various Priests of the Mengtuoka Cheng Jiao Qu. Perhaps someone has a way to utilize the Divine Power of the God of Agriculture within it, but that person is clearly not me. I can only follow the method provided by the blessing to simply transform the Divine Power of this blessing into the plump wheat seeds it is supposed to become."

Jier pursed his lips, feeling that the Divine Power of the God of Agriculture was quite inconvenient. He didn't stop to think that he himself couldn't make the vast Divine Power of the God of Agriculture in his body do anything other than provide endless energy for a short time, so why would he think Bata'er Jiaoshi could do it?

"Alright, then you try your best to find a way to recover your Divine Power later. I came to find you because I hope you can organize everyone to burn the enemies' corpses in a while. Of course, there is also the Warrior on our side who died in battle. He must also be burned, but they must be burned separately. I will find a way to bring his ashes to his family and friends, along with the pension and property he left behind."

Bata'er Jiaoshi nodded in agreement. This kind of thing should have been the responsibility of their Church Priests, although in larger towns, this is generally the responsibility of the Priests of the Church of the God of the Dead. But in remote places like Changmai Cunzi, the corpses of villagers who died naturally or accidentally were all organized by them, the Cunzi Priests.

And often, the scale of post-mortem processing for a villager is also a key point for church proselytizing.

For example, if it were an ordinary villager, the processing of their corpse would generally just involve family and friends watching and mourning for a while, then burning it. But if it were a Nongshen Believer in the village, they would organize not only the other party's relatives and friends but also believers from the same village and even nearby villages to come and mourn, grieve, and remember.

And a Cunzi Priest like him would also read out the deceased's contributions to the church and their contributions and degree of pious Faith to the God of Agriculture at the funeral where the corpse is burned, and lead the believers present to hold a Prayer and Blessing Ritual.

Sometimes, some exceptionally pious believers are even named by the higher-level church before they die of old age or illness, and special Priests are sent in advance.

These Priests will dress solemnly and carry a lamp made of special materials to visit.

They will specifically wait for this pious believer to die, and then, amidst the envy of their family and the admiration of other believers, cast a special Divine Art to gather and control the Spirit of the deceased believer, placing it into the lamp they carry with them.

This is taking away the deceased Spirit of a pious believer; this is not a bad thing, but rather a great thing!

Because the Spirits of these pious believers will be taken by these special Priests to a higher-level diocese, and then people from the diocese will be sent in batches every year, or every few years, to travel long distances to send the Spirits of the believers to the deity's Divine Kingdom on earth, far away in the Holy Land.

These pious believers will enjoy a second life in the deity's Divine Kingdom, and it will be a long, quiet, prosperous second life that perfectly conforms to the deity's doctrines.

Until the Spirits of these pious believers weaken and dissipate in the long, peaceful life.

"Jier, I hope to prepare a separate funeral for the three female villagers who were killed by the Defeated Soldier. This will require some extra wood, but not much; they didn't have much of their bodies left anyway."

Speaking of this, Bata'er Jiaoshi felt a bit sad.

But Jier sighed; he had to remind the Priest: "It is possible, but don't forget, the villagers who were taken away, they were forcibly abducted to work in the Mine, and who knows how many will die? How do you plan to hold funerals for the dead villagers then? Will you hold them nearby the Mine occupied by the enemy? Or transport the corpses back to be processed in Changmai Cunzi?"

Bata'er Jiaoshi was speechless.

Jier patted the Priest's shoulder: "Let's do it first, we'll talk about the specific situation when the time comes."

"That is all we can do. May the God of Agriculture bless them, and may they all still be alive."

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