Chapter 54: The Well-Prepared Priests, Jier Picks Up People

In the end, Jier still knelt on one knee with his hands pressed together, closing his eyes to offer a prayer to the tall Divine Statue for a while.

Don't ask him what the silent prayer was; he didn't even know what he was muttering himself. Regardless, after putting on a show for a while, Jier stood up and had the young Priest who was guiding him go to meet the several Agricultural God Church Priests who would be accompanying the army in battle this time.

This time, the Sasi Family Heir—Bell-Sasi, demanded that every church in the town provide more church strength than before. There was no other way; the churches naturally had no choice but to comply.

After all, if other churches brought out their real skills and you didn't, would you still want to mix in Yemei Town in the future? Especially with the Sun God Church acting so aggressive this time; it looked like they were determined to win and were bound to shine brilliantly in this counterattack operation to crusade against the parasitic plant monsters.

The Agricultural God Church could not be outdone, so Jier met five fully armed Agricultural God Church Priests in the side hall of the church.

Leading the team was a middle-aged Priest at the level of a novice Priestess, who counted as the second-in-command of the Yemei Town Agricultural God Church, on the same level within the church as the Dean who presided over this place. Having him lead the team clearly solidified the importance of this operation.

"Very happy to see you, Warrior Jier! Welcome!" This middle-aged Priest took the initiative to step forward, reach out to shake Jier's hand, and pat Jier's shoulder.

"We have already heard about your successful operation with Luosa; it was truly amazing. To be able to perfectly complete such difficult two deeds, especially the latter—dozens of fully armed, fleeing Soldiers—I simply find it hard to imagine how to deal with them."

This person invited Jier to step forward and introduced the other four Agricultural God Church Priests who would be participating in the battle to Jier.

Jier had already met and known two of them during the previous battle at the Lumber Yard, while the other two were strangers. After the introductions, he understood that these four were already considered the young Priest strength within the Yemei Town Agricultural God Church. The rest were either too old—although their Divine Power was abundant, their bodies could not endure long periods of accompanying the army in battle. Moreover, they had never fought monsters in their entire lives, so it was hard to guarantee sufficient Yongqi and will.

Or the Priests here in the church were too young, introverted, and not brave enough, and their Divine Power had not accumulated enough, so they wouldn't be brought out to make a fool of themselves. Thus, five Priests were finally chosen to go to battle.

"You might think five people are too few, but actually, it is enough. Compared to three people, five Priests with sufficient strength can already use some medium-sized Battle Divine Arts, enough to provide all the participating Warriors with sufficient stamina and strength to continue fighting on the battlefield, and there is no need to worry about the army's food or post-battle treatment."

The middle-aged Priest gestured with his hand: "The five of us are enough to perform a simple ritual to treat serious injuries, so as long as the person isn't dead on the spot, there is a high probability we can save them right there."

Jier nodded in satisfaction; this was exactly what he needed. Previously, when attacking Changmai Village, his own men died by his side precisely because of a lack of means to treat serious injuries, so he could only watch them pass away helplessly.

Now with the help of this group of Priests, Jier and his men could fight with peace of mind.

"Then, is there any response to the parasitism of that kind of Monster?" Jier asked.

This question, instead, stumped the several Priests present.

"This..." The middle-aged Priest was a bit embarrassed. After hesitating for a moment, he said: "Regarding preventing or even expelling the parasitic plant monsters, this is very difficult; there is no good way. They are not ordinary mindless Monsters, but parasitic organisms with intelligence, and behind every parasitic monster, there is an Evil God who is hostile to Humans providing support."

"I understand. In battle, one can be wounded by the monster, but one cannot be dragged away or parasitized, right? My men have no problem; they all have thick Armor for protection. Then what about the other teams? How do they deal with it? Do you all know?" Jier asked.

The few Priests looked at each other, and one of the young Priests spoke up: "I have heard that Young Master Bell decided to prepare Long Spears of sufficient length for all the troops under his command to fight. By opening up the fighting distance from the monsters, they avoid having their battle lines broken, being taken prisoner, or even being parasitized. It seems to be a batch of four-meter-long Long Spears; some of the missing spear shafts were made a few days ago by temporarily connecting shorter Long Spears together."

Jier rubbed his chin with his hand: "That is indeed a method. Then, regarding the Sun God Church side, does anyone have any news? Last night, I saw them looking very confident, as if they had those monsters in the bag?"

Speaking of this, the middle-aged Priest leading the team said: "I did ask about this when I was praying last night. The great Agricultural God vaguely informed me of a method of the Sun God Church; it seems they have a way to imbue a kind of scorching power onto the Warriors' weapons. This scorching power is very effective against that kind of plant monster."

"That is probably it, right? That is why they are so confident that they can handle one direction of the attack alone."

Hearing the middle-aged Priest's words, Jier had a sudden inspiration and said: "If we gather the most Refining Qi Warriors in Yemei Town, let them wear the Plate Armor of my men, hold the four-meter-long Long Spears prepared by Bell's side, and then let the Sun God Church imbue the scorching power onto the Long Spears, then in this way, we could finally obtain a combat team specifically designed to restrain this kind of parasitic plant monster!"

The few Priests laughed: "That is the logic, but Warrior Jier, this is very difficult. As for why, I think you understand, right? Would you let your own Warriors give up the Metal Armor Plate that protects them? Would Young Master Bell give up the Long Spears he had people make in advance? Would the Priests of the Sun God Church give up an opportunity to show off? It is not very likely, right?"

Jier hummed twice and stopped bringing up this matter.

Afterward, Jier checked the armament on the Priests again. Actually, not only did the Mengtuoka City Agricultural God Church diocese have sufficient armed Priest equipment, but Yemei Town also had it. However, because of considerations for other churches, the armed Priest equipment of the Yemei Town Agricultural God Church had not been used even once since it was crafted decades ago!

These things were sealed in the Secret Chamber under the church. It took the Dean and the Vice Dean several days to find the existence, location, and opening method of this Secret Chamber from the written records of the previous Deans of Yemei Town.

Then they spent some time recharging these pieces of equipment that had lost their Divine Power charge with the Divine Power of the Agricultural God.

This set of armed Priest equipment was different from the things borrowed from the Mengtuoka City Agricultural God Church for Bata'er Jiaoshi. It looked strange itself; it was a set of wooden armor, and the connecting Rope that connected this wooden armor was actually made of seemingly fragile Wheat Straw.

However, this thing only looked fragile. Jier tried it out, and the Wheat Straw that looked fragile and would break with a snap was actually stronger than hemp rope with steel wire added. And the large pieces of wooden armor, which looked simple and crude, were filled with the cyan divine light of the Agricultural God's Divine Power, which was also a type of equipment that could spontaneously protect the Priests.

Before the Agricultural God's Divine Power inside it was exhausted, the Agricultural God Priest using it would not suffer external sword, fist, or foot injuries.

As for changes in air pressure, oxygen-free suffocation, toxic gases, smoke that causes hallucinations, corrosive acid, or high-temperature combustion, these were not included in the protection.

But this was already powerful enough.

Besides this, every Priest also took a Metal Long Staff. The staff head had fruit-shaped objects that looked like Gems; that thing emitted a soft radiance and looked like it should have some magical effects.

"This is?" Jier pointed to the fruit-shaped glowing objects on the staff heads at the Priests' sides, asking what this thing was.

"Looks like fruit? And also like Gems, right? Warrior Jier, actually these are crystals shaped into fruit styles. They can slightly control the vegetation around the user under the supply of Divine Power. If there are seeds of crops, that is even better. So this time we will bring some wheat seeds to let these crops assist us in battle. We are not without combat effectiveness."

As they spoke, the four young Priests demonstrated their skills in using the Metal Long Staff here.

A Metal Long Staff of considerable weight whistled as it was brandished in their hands, looking quite intimidating, but it was just looking intimidating. These Priests had never killed anyone or fought a life-and-death battle at close range with non-human monsters. They looked in good condition now, but it was hard to say when they really started fighting.

So if it was hard to say, then don't say it. Jier just nodded simply, feeling that it was better to try not to let the Priests fight the monsters head-on, and let them cheer from the back and provide treatment.

"Since you all are prepared, shall we go? Today, first get familiar with the Warriors under my command; we have to set off early tomorrow morning."

The Priests nodded, and the few of them shouldered their respective luggage and followed Jier out the door.

These few Priests all had horses. Although they were only low-stature horses bred by the Southern Province itself, far inferior to the prairie horses of the Western Province, the horses of the Southern Province excelled in better load-bearing capacity and higher obedience, making them very suitable for novice riders or for pulling carts and transporting goods in rugged places.

Simple riding was also fine; they had strong endurance and could walk slowly for a whole day.

Not long after, Jier rode his horse and brought the other five Agricultural God Priests who had come on horseback to the Caimen Inn.

The Priests thought Jier's team was staying in the inn, so as soon as they dismounted, they walked toward the colorful main entrance of the Caimen Inn, but Jier pulled them back: "Sorry, sorry, my men and I actually don't live in the inn, but are camping in the backyard of the inn."

"Why is that? Bell also takes you and your team too lightly; how can he let Warrior Jier and your team that has made contributions live in the backyard of an inn? Why not let the team move to the church? There are still enough rooms in the church for your people to stay temporarily, Warrior Jier."

The middle-aged Priest leading the team spoke up for Jier.

Jier waved his hand: "It was I who didn't let Bell do that. Look, this Caimen Inn is already full of all kinds of residents. If we forced our way in, where would they live? Everyone knows the situation in Yemei Town now; if they were driven out of here, they could only sleep on the streets."

"And my men have been camping and resting in the wild all along, so camping and living in the backyard of the inn is not a problem. Moreover, the counterattack starts tomorrow, so moving now is not very appropriate."

"And, I think you all have heard that there is a group of Dwarfs in my team. Letting these alien races live in the Agricultural God Church is also not appropriate, right?"

The few Priests looked at each other, and it was estimated that the last situation dispelled their thoughts, and afterward, they did not mention the matter of Jier's team changing their residence again.

Although they had roughly learned about the Dwarfs in Jier's team from their prayers to the gods before coming, these few Priests still showed quite a few surprised expressions after seeing the Dwarfs with their own eyes.

Clearly, like everyone else, most people had only heard of what Dwarfs looked like; seeing them was the first time for all of them.

After all, they were Priests who had received church education. They did not curiously point at the Dwarfs like others, but after watching for a while, they entered the Yingdi of Jier's men, and here, the first thing they did was ask the Warriors who were still in the Yingdi who among them were Nongshen Believers.

Knowing who was a Nongshen Believer helped in inviting these Warriors later to pray to the Agricultural God together in the morning and evening, using Faith to restore Divine Power.

And the Warriors under Jier were already familiar with this routine from Bata'er Jiaoshi, so both sides quickly agreed to pray to the Agricultural God together to deepen their relationship.

That afternoon, Jier still went out to help the Warriors under his command settle two matters they couldn't handle.

One of them was that a merchant deliberately raised the price, wanting to rip off the Warriors. These Warriors didn't realize they were being ripped off at first, until they saw the same thing in other shops for only one-third of the price, and only then did they realize they had been slaughtered.

They returned to the previous shop and demanded that the shop owner refund the extra money collected.

The other party naturally refused to yield, claiming that prices in Yemei Town were currently soaring, that his prices were just like that, and furthermore, that they were reasonable.

The two sides argued for a long time; the Warriors drew their Long Swords, and the Merchant was not intimidated, having the thugs guarding the shop bring out Iron-wrapped Short Clubs. This chaotic standoff quickly attracted the Town Guards who were constantly patrolling the street.

Seeing the Town Guards arrive, the Merchant was not only unafraid but actually smug, because they often gave money to the Town Guards in town.

But this time, things did not develop the way the Merchant had expected.

Because the Town Guards recognized the group of Warriors under Jier, they dared not collude with the Merchant to swindle money, and since they could not persuade the Warriors who had been cheated to leave, they had no choice but to send someone to notify Jier.

After Jier arrived on horseback, he immediately took control of the scene, not only making the shop refund the overcharged money but also taking away a batch of goods the shop had displayed outside.

"Let these serve as an apology to appease my Warriors!" Jier said this before leaving, and he glared fiercely at the Town Guards who had colluded with the shop to swindle people; the other party simply could not afford to offend him, and besides that, he did not know how many Villagers from outside the town they had swindled together.

Another time, Jier rushed over and embarrassingly led his Warriors out of a Red House in town.

It turned out his men felt they had earned a sum of money, so they spent lavishly at the Red House, only to find when the bill came that they did not have enough money on them. There was no other way; they had to have Jier come over to collect them and pay the bill.

This time, Jier had no choice but to give his men a sound scolding, and after paying the difference out of his own pocket, he led them sheepishly back to Caimen Inn.

Of course, the money this unlucky fellow owed would have to be repaid to Jier through heroic fighting in future battles.

?? Welcome everyone to subscribe to this book.