Chapter 619: After the Battle (Part 1)

Next, Jier led the remaining Warriors into the camp through the main gate.

First, he had to free the Hunting Sword that was holding the gate fixed. Jier had his Warriors grab the ropes pulling the wooden gate and stand their ground. Then, Jier drew his Hunting Sword, wiped it off, and returned it to its Sword Sheath. The Warriors used the ground nails from the collapsed tents nearby to secure the gate ropes to the ground, keeping the camp gate open.

"A few more of you, go over there by that collapsed wooden house, carry some timber over there—yes, right there at that gap in the camp wall—and block it up!"

Jier directed the Warriors to pull away some manpower to go and block the wall damaged during the battle. It was already afternoon; in another hour or two, it would be dark. In the mountain forests, it always gets dark quickly, so everyone would likely have to spend the night here.

It seemed the rescue and relocation of the Villagers would have to wait until tomorrow.

"A few more people, start clearing the battlefield! Lay the bodies of the Mao Mao out neatly in an open space. Strip the enemy Soldiers' bodies and pile them together to await disposal. Careful, that big Lizardman over there—I'll handle him myself."

Jier issued a series of orders, continuously directing everyone while reminding everyone present that not a single bit of food or water in the entire camp could be consumed. The water was likely fine, but the food was poisoned to some degree.

He had previously had the Spirit Dog, Big Nose, carry Poison Mushroom Powder and poison the food stored in the tents of many Soldiers in the camp, which meant all of this food was inedible. Eating it would cause vomiting and diarrhea, as well as hallucinations; it wasn't exactly lethal, but it would certainly be uncomfortable and embarrassing.

The captured Defeated Soldiers were also stripped of their Armor and equipment one by one by a Warrior guarding them. Then, naked, with their heads wrapped in their own sweat-soaked clothes, they were forced to kneel on the ground with their hands and feet bound. Their weapons and equipment were very valuable, and after the battle, they were all Jier's property.

Jier's Warriors were hired by him, had their own wages and combat bonuses, and could keep any loot they seized during battle; their compensation was quite good. Regarding the weapons and equipment seized from the Defeated Soldiers, aside from giving his own Warriors a set of these Plate Armor, which had a good price-to-performance ratio, he could keep the surplus weapons and equipment himself, or hand them over to Knight Kela or the Kendall Baron later.

This quantity of Plate Armor was far superior to the leather Armor of the Kendall Baron's guards, second only to the armor worn by the Kendall Baron's own personal guards. Once equipped by the guards and Militia in the Kendall Army, it would surely greatly increase the army's combat effectiveness.

It was a pity that Kendall County had no mines and did not produce iron locally, unlike the Southern Province, where the army under a single Knight possessed uniform, complete equipment, and could be called armed to the teeth. However, equipping so many Soldiers so luxuriously must have cost a lot; it was hard to say how long it took for the family behind Knight Hartna, or his superior Baron, to prepare this equipment.

Or how much money they had to borrow to fund this equipment.

They probably spent the entire tax revenue of the territory, right?

Thinking about these irrelevant matters, Jier personally collected Knight Hartna's body and his personal weapons and equipment. The Lizardman's body, over two meters tall and split in half from the center, was slowly undergoing physical disintegration.

The person was long dead, yet parts of Knight Hartna's limbs seemed to possess tenacious vitality; while disintegrating into small chunks of flesh from the wounds, these remaining body tissues were still twisting and twitching, full of vigor.

Staring at these Lizardman flesh chunks bouncing slightly on the ground, Jier even swallowed a mouthful of saliva, pulling his drool back in. His body seemed to be instinctively craving the dead body of Knight Hartna.

Jier slapped himself hard to wake himself up: "Jier, Jier, what are you thinking! This isn't an alien race; this is the dead body of a Human Knight! Besides, even if it really were an alien race, Lizardmen are intelligent beings—you can't eat them!"

Fortunately, after transforming into a Lizardman, Knight Hartna had voluntarily taken off his upper-body Knight Armor because his body had temporarily become more robust. Although he hadn't removed the armor on his legs and crotch, Jier had destroyed only the crotch portion of the Knight Armor with that crescent-moon-like sword strike when he killed Knight Hartna, leaving the leg and boot armor intact.

Combined with the upper-body armor that had been removed earlier, Jier essentially ended up with a complete set of Knight Armor, missing only the crotch piece and the Helmet.

But after Jier took the armor off Knight Hartna's body and laid it out on the ground, looking at this set of armor that had been severely scorched by fire and still retained a thick, rotting smell, he really couldn't bring himself to like it.

"For me to use it directly, that's impossible. The surface was melted by fire, and it's missing so many accessories—the armor lining, the Helmet, the waist and crotch parts, and the metal buckles connecting the armor are all lost or damaged. It seems this set of armor can only be reforged," Jier muttered to himself.

In fact, Jier also felt that this armor was unlucky. Although Knight Hartna was killed by him, the experiences and the ending of this twenty-something-year-old young Knight were not good—they were even bad enough to be called miserable.

Jier didn't want to wear this armor himself and end up with the same fate as Knight Hartna. So, it was better to find a Knight Armor Craftsman later to dismantle and melt down the whole set and reforge it.

He could even add some new things to the entire set of armor during the forging process, just like when he reforged the Hunting Sword.

For example, the expensive Magic Material he had on hand, the Magic Tool he had just obtained, and some rare materials. All of these could be added when the armor was being reforged.

On the wooden wall, sporadic alien Beast were gradually climbing up to peek; they were clearly the Mao Mao that had been routed and fled during the battle between Jier and the other man.

After several hours of fear, contacting each other, and organizing, they had returned here.

There was no help for it; although this group of Mao Mao could live and travel in the Southern Mountains, that was based on the premise that they had sufficient numbers. If there were only a few scattered dozen Mao Mao, one careless encounter with a ferocious Monster would mean the end.

And it wasn't just for survival; how could these greedy Mao Mao give up the Human weapons, equipment, metal items, and tools that were already "in their hands"!

That was not a small number. Not counting the weapons and equipment on the Mao Mao that had just died, and not counting the metal property and weapons abandoned when the Mao Mao fled, the dozen or so Metal Ingots left in the wooden houses in the camp were important assets that all the Mao Mao could not bear to part with.

Furthermore, the injured Mao Mao leader and its subordinate Warriors were still in the underground Mine, guarding those Metal Lumps.

Although they were inferior metal materials that could only be used for deception, not a single Mao Mao intended to give up those metal items that already belonged to them.

These greedy and cunning little guys, although dozens had been killed by Knight Hartna just now, had appeared again at this moment.

Jier was sharp; as soon as he looked up, he saw those peeking Mao Mao. Although he wasn't familiar with them, he had dealt with them before, and these Mao Mao had contributed to the previous battle.

"Hey! Stop peeking, just come over! I won the battle just now! Don't be afraid, come inside! Come in boldly! You can't just leave the bodies of your dead Long-haired Lynx Beast behind, can you?"

The Mao Mao could barely understand Human speech. Now, hearing the familiar Human greeting, they confirmed again and again that the Defeated Soldiers they had fought before were either dead or captured, and especially that the enemy who had killed so many of them was nowhere to be seen, before they gathered their courage and swarmed in through the camp gate.

Jier's Warriors had fought and lived alongside Yongqi Maomao and the others, so they were no strangers to the Long-haired Lynx Beast. Although these Mao Mao were not Yongqi Maomao's group, everyone continued with their own tasks, only discussing it with their companions: "So there are Mao Mao here too! I thought they only had settlements in the direction we came from."

"And there seem to be more of them here. They seem to know Knight Jier. Look, one of the leaders seems to be going over to say something to Jier?"

A Mao Mao leader came over, and the first thing it wanted to ask wasn't what to do with the bodies of its dead companions, but where the powerful Human who had fought Jier had gone. Was he dead or alive? Had Jier driven him away, or had he been defeated, captured, or killed?

"See, this pile of disintegrating, twitching, and bouncing flesh on the ground is the Human Knight who was fighting me just now."

Jier pointed to a "body" on the ground nearby that he had specifically cordoned off. Aside from the remaining bones that could prove it was a body, the large pile of small flesh chunks twitching and bouncing like a living thing next to the bones was enough to make anyone lose their sanity and shatter their spirit.

Jier's Warriors didn't dare to look a second time. They could calmly handle the bodies scattered across the battlefield, but almost every one of them, after seeing Knight Hartna's dead body, didn't dare to summon the courage to look a second time.

Jier, however, didn't care; he even felt this scene was interesting, and subconsciously, after seeing Knight Hartna's body, his stomach rumbled, and he didn't feel disgusted, but rather full of appetite.

It was hard to say if that was even worse.

The Mao Mao were all startled. This pile of twitching flesh made them react as if they had seen a Poisonous Snake; they all bristled and retreated more than ten meters, not daring to get any closer. The Mao Mao had seen similar things before; that was the state of powerful Monsters after being hunted and killed. These flesh chunks full of vitality looked edible, but they were actually inedible; any Mao Mao that ate them would soon die.

If some particularly bizarre Monster flesh chunks were eaten, and the dead Mao Mao's stomach was cut open, the Viscera inside would be eroded by the Monster's flesh, and as a result, new physical organs and tissues would grow.

It was as if it wanted to use the Mao Mao Warrior's body to "reincarnate."

The tribe's Wizard would be furious every time this happened, as if facing a great enemy. They would send the dead Mao Mao Warrior's body into the fire, use the fire to purify these "Curse"-like Monster flesh chunks, and use some superstitious words to warn other Mao Mao Warriors that if they encountered such active, vitality-filled Monster flesh, they must throw it into the fire and burn it until it turned to ash before they could be at ease.

And the Mao Mao Warriors who had swallowed the Monster flesh and hadn't died yet naturally didn't have a good ending either; what awaited them was an even worse fate—they had to be thrown into the fire while still alive. To prevent them from running away or resisting, these Mao Mao Warriors would be given large doses of paralyzing Herb water or sleeping Herb water before being thrown into the fire.

The Mao Mao leader didn't explain to Jier that he should be careful of these flesh chunks; it just led the Mao Mao away from the thing and asked about the results of the previous battle, where the newly appeared Human "Soldiers" around them came from, and demanded that Jier and his men spit out the property on the dead Mao Mao. Most importantly, the Mao Mao "discovered" that they were entitled to compensation for the Metal Ingots—the ones currently stored in the wooden houses in the camp—which belonged to them, and they wanted to take them away.

Jier smiled, checking Knight Hartna's Sword—Aipiedela—in his hand while replying to the Mao Mao leader communicating with him: "You can take the bodies of the Mao Mao who died in battle. Look, over there, my men have already laid them out neatly. Although it's a pity, they were all excellent Warriors. They were just unlucky to run into the battle between me and Knight Hartna and couldn't withdraw in time."

"Please take the bodies of your dead Warriors away. However, regarding the property and weapons and equipment on them, I must clarify: that property is not theirs, nor is it the property of the Defeated Soldiers collected from the Defeated Soldiers' tents. It belongs to the Human Villagers of Changmai Village who were attacked, enslaved, and oppressed by the Defeated Soldiers. And my men and I came here specifically to rescue those Villagers; that property should be taken by my men as payment, or returned to the Villagers of Changmai Village."

Jier raised a hand, shaking his index finger from side to side: "Do you understand? The property is not yours; you have no right to claim ownership or possession."

The Mao Mao leader looked angry; the amount of that property was not small. Although they were mostly rough decorations made of small amounts of silver and mostly copper, they still had a certain value. It was impossible for it not to be angry at being withheld by this Human, Jier.

But the logic Jier spoke, as well as the force he possessed, made it dare not argue, so it had to stick its tail to the ground behind it, indicating a low mood.

"In addition, the metal weapons possessed by those dead Mao Mao Warriors, although they are only small things like Dagger, Iron Nail, and broken weapon blades... *cough cough*, but my men helped them collect the bodies and placed them neatly together. Shouldn't these things be the payment for this work?"

This time, the Mao Mao leader couldn't bear it. It braced its tail on the ground, lifting its entire body up, making it even taller than Jier, who was sitting. But before it could argue a few words, Jier squinted at it, and it subconsciously lowered its body height, keeping its feet on the ground and staying quiet in a state of being slightly looked down upon by Jier.

It didn't dare to argue about anything; it was scared.

Because it knew that if the killed Knight Hartna could rout the Mao Mao team at once and kill dozens of Mao Mao Warriors who couldn't escape in time, then as a Human more powerful than Knight Hartna, Jier should also be able to do it, and perhaps even do it better?

This forced it to subconsciously stand before Jier in a submissive posture, not daring to be taller than Jier's eyes, and cautiously acquiesce to what Jier said.

Seeing that the Mao Mao leader even acquiesced to this, Jier smiled and continued, "As for those Metal Ingots still in the room. You were deceived before, and I am clear about this matter; after all, it was I who informed you of it. So, as for those Metal Ingots, however many you can carry away, that many Metal Ingots shall belong to you. Whatever you cannot carry away will belong to us. How about it?"

The Mao Mao leader nodded repeatedly; although those Metal Ingots were extremely heavy, if they thought of a way, they could always carry them away. But it forgot that the previous battle had cost dozens of Mao Mao Warriors, and adding those who were injured before and after, the manpower they could utilize now was not as abundant as before.

When the time came, the Metal Ingots that could not be transported would belong to Jier. And with only seventy or eighty Mao Mao left, how many Metal Ingots could they transport?

Not to mention that they had too many things that needed to be moved.

?? Welcome everyone to subscribe to this book, and give this book recommendation votes, monthly tickets, and tips to support it.