Chapter 637: A Conversation Before Parting, A Promise

That evening, a massive bonfire was lit in front of the Nongshen Church. Although there wasn't much delicious food, the near-infinite supply of wheat porridge, bread, and the like, along with the Nongshen Sacred Artifact that seemed impossible to empty, still gave everyone a wonderful night.

Especially for the villagers of Changmai Cunzi who had endured such hardships, the drunkenness allowed them to stop thinking about their departed family and friends, and the pain in their bodies from the grueling labor of these past days no longer made it so difficult to sleep.

Everyone sang and danced, circling the huge bonfire, softly singing songs that were only sung during the Harvest Festival, treating today as a holiday even more important than the Harvest Festivals of previous years.

Although the dead needed to be mourned, the lives of the living also had to continue.

Normally, this would be a good time for the Cunzi Priest to come out and speak, which could greatly increase his authority, but Priest Bata'er no longer intended to continue serving as the Cunzi Priest of Changmai Cunzi; instead, he would take a portion of the villagers to New Xiwang Town, located behind Huitou Forest, to serve as the Town Priest.

New Xiwang Town would start with over a thousand people; as long as they could successfully clear enough farmland and keep these villagers who had fled from various places, it would become a small town.

Later, they could even absorb and merge with the nearby Torito Cunzi, which would increase the population by several hundred more.

Moreover, the town's location was in the middle of North Sas County and South Sas County, making it a place that connected the north and south, easy to launch attacks from, and easy to defend.

Although the population of New Xiwang Town would not all be Nongshen Believers and would not be as easy to manage as the villagers here in Changmai Cunzi, Priest Bata'er had led the refugees all the way from Baishiguan to here, establishing his prestige among these chaotic refugees, so it was hard to say which place would be harder to manage in the future.

The Warriors under Jier also set aside their respective patrol and guard duties and joined the celebration in the center of the village.

Everyone was tipsy and singing loudly; some even caught the eye of young women among the villagers and ran off to other secluded parts of the village to get intimate.

Others, overcome by the alcohol, simply collapsed on the ground right where they stood, snoring away, inviting laughter.

Jier had no choice but to send people to help these embarrassing fellows up and take them to the specialized tent for his Warriors to rest.

As for him, he led Huimao Hu Li and sat on the stone steps at the main entrance of the church with Priest Bata'er, discussing future matters in low voices.

Priest Bata'er still needed at least ten more days to safely lead the rested migrating villagers to follow him, returning along the road they had come from to Huitou Forest, but Jier could not possibly wait here for ten days.

Therefore, the two had to part ways.

Knowing that once they parted, it might be a long time or even impossible to see each other again in this lifetime, Jier and Priest Bata'er talked at length about many things.

Priest Bata'er spoke of his inner journey along the way, as well as his various realizations, feeling more and more the complexity of the world and the baseness and nobility of human nature. In this world, there were both detestable Defeated Soldiers like Yeluba, who completely ignored the feelings of the villagers in the attacked villages for the sake of his own interests, and brave young people like Jier, who stood up courageously when needed, shouldering the full responsibility for hundreds of people along the way, leading them safely to a suitable place to avoid disaster, and flexibly and cleverly rescuing the trapped villagers of Changmai Cunzi, as well as killing the ringleaders who caused the trouble.

Jier, for his part, focused on telling Priest Bata'er about the situation behind those Defeated Soldiers. From the possibility of Knight Hate defecting to the enemy, to making deals and promises with the other side to do risky things for the enemy country.

And what the other side was doing all of this for.

"Is it just for those Metal Ingots? So that's why they caused so many things..." Priest Bata'er looked regretful; he could never have imagined that it was for those Metal Ingots that the lives and fates of so many people were implicated in a chain.

Originally, the war in the Southern Province could not affect these autonomous villages of the Nongshen Church in the south of Sasi County; there were mountain ranges to the southeast and west, with only one narrow exit to the north.

And Northern Sasi County was managed and overseen by the Sasi Baron Family, with only one path leading outward to the northwest; it looked safe no matter how one viewed it. But who could have imagined that in such a place that should have been safe, they could not escape the influence and shadow of war.

"If we are like this here, I simply cannot imagine the miserable state of the war front areas..." After hesitating for a long time, Priest Bata'er still said these words.

"What's wrong, worried about my safety on this trip? Rest assured, I am a member of the Kendall Army who came to help from the Northwest Province, not a local. No matter what, the Noble Allied Forces of the Southern Province will not let us guest troops serve as the main attacking force. Even if we were willing to do such a thing, they wouldn't dare let us be truly responsible for such important matters. Think about it carefully, right?"

Priest Bata'er nodded, feeling that what Jier said made sense; since there was an army under his command, indeed, one's own people were more reliable, and in critical battles, one still had to rely on one's own people to fight.

"So I reckon I will follow the Kendall Baron's team afterward, doing some small-scale flanking battles throughout the war, such as taking control of some remote areas or harassing the supply lines of the main force. Heh, perhaps they won't even trust us outsiders to participate in the logistics and supplies that determine success or failure, but will instead send us far away and let us play it by ear? Fighting wherever we go?"

Jier thought whimsically.

Priest Bata'er also felt that these analyses by Jier were reasonable, so he was finally relieved about Jier's safety afterward.

"Will you leave tomorrow? Not rest for two more days?" he asked.

Jier waved his hand: "This trip has been delayed for too long. If I hadn't been kind-hearted at Baishiguan and taken in hundreds of refugees to form a team, and if it had just been you, me, and Xueya Site, I reckon it would have taken only a third of the time to reach Changmai Cunzi and spent ten days or so to rescue the villagers. Time-wise, it would likely have been faster than now."

"But along the way, there probably wouldn't have been so many big and small things happening." Jier patted the armor on his body and then subconsciously touched his right eye.

"In short, I have been delayed for too long. Who knows where the Kendall County army is now? Are they waiting for me, or have they already set off for the front lines? Or have they already started fighting at the front? Or have they even been defeated? All of these are possible. However..."

Jier pondered and said: "Since that Magic Apprentice only just went back with the collected Metal Ingots, considering the time on the road and the time consumed in forging the large quantity of Metal Ingots into weapons and equipment, looking at it this way, the enemy country to the south is still far from ready for war."

"That means, until now, the armies of both sides at the front haven't started fighting?" Priest Bata'er became worried instead: "Because you see, it's already summer, and war is said to be a cruel and slow thing. If the war doesn't end this summer, what will happen to this year's autumn harvest? What about this winter? I don't know how many more people will have to die of hunger."

Jier sighed: "That's true, but there's no way around it. To fight a war, one must assemble soldiers, and soldiers are assembled from the villagers in various villages. And most of them are young and strong men; without them, the villages everywhere will lack labor, causing farming to be unable to proceed normally."

"But in order to raise the resources needed for the war, more war taxes must be levied, which will further increase the burden on the farmers. If they can't pay the taxes, or don't want to send people to join the army, they have to flee."

"Once the population leaves the place where they originally lived, they become refugees. They don't have the means or assets to support themselves, so they will find ways to survive."

Priest Bata'er took over the conversation: "Survive, sigh, it's not that easy. Many people will embark on the wrong path, and then many people will come to criticize our Nongshen Church, saying that we failed to manage those farmers well and disrupted the whole society!"

They then discussed the prophecy of Dashu Bi'ao and its powerful abilities, and tried to stand from the perspective of such a transcendent existence to view human war and social changes.

Then they would find that everything about humans was somewhat ridiculous.

It is said that the big tree has already lived for thousands of years, while the Saint Hors Kingdom was established less than a hundred years ago. Hundreds of years ago, this place was not even the territory of the Dwarf, but an ownerless wilderness area.

And at that time, Dashu Bi'ao had already lived for several hundred years.

Looking at it this way, everything became absurd and meaningless.

To a wise creature that has lived for thousands of years, what exactly is this war that humans have been fighting for a few years?

Two groups of ants fighting over a piece of bread dropped on the ground?

"That's why I heard Feilina say that compared to those things that sound grand, Dashu Bi'ao prefers to pay attention to the small things in the village. The names she gives to many newborn children in the village are actually the names Dashu Bi'ao gave to the newborns. It cares very much about the various small things of the villagers and always guides Feilina to handle them correctly and properly."

Priest Bata'er was clearly very envious when he said this. As the saying goes, an old person in the family is like a treasure; although there were no similar proverbs in this different world, similar principles existed.

If he had the constant help of Dashu Bi'ao here, Changmai Cunzi would not have ended up the way it is now.

"After you leave Changmai Cunzi, will the church send someone else here?" Jier took a sip of wine and asked casually.

Priest Bata'er shook his head: "I really don't know about that. However, I have already told the Old Priest about this matter, and he will write a letter to the Nongshen Church in Yemei Town later, hoping they can send someone over."

"Heh, I think it's difficult; they are probably busy fawning over the young Heir of Yemei Town!" Jier laughed.

The Priest also smiled, but quickly put away the smile: "So Feilina and I, as well as several other young Cunzi Priests, were all sent from the church diocese of Borisfa City. I am also from Borisfa City myself. When I first arrived, the villagers even disliked me for being a city person from a big city. At that time, it was very difficult to carry out various church activities. It was only after I had been here for two or three years, when the villagers accepted me and I became familiar with the duties of a Cunzi Priest, that I could be considered a qualified Cunzi Priest."

"Then you are considered promoted now, from a Cunzi Priest to a Town Priest! I reckon you will go from an ordinary Church Pastor to a novice Priestess? Work in New Xiwang Town for a few years, take over the church work in Yemei Town? Or return to your hometown, the Borisfa City diocese?" Jier asked curiously.

But who would have thought that Priest Bata'er shook his head: "I don't know, I want to..."

He hesitated for a moment, seemingly embarrassed to say it out loud.

Jier patted the Priest's shoulder, encouraging him to say it.

"I want to be with Priestess Feilina. I have heard some things about her and know that she has some things that must be completed. She certainly can't complete them alone and needs someone to help. I hope I can help her." Priest Bata'er finally said it.

"Is that so? I don't know about that female Priest yet. She looks experienced in handling village affairs, and I thought there was nothing she couldn't handle. So, is she similar to Weier under my command?" Jier asked curiously.

Priest Bata'er had also heard the story of Weier-Gangtenier, so he waved his hand and quickly said: "Of course it's not as exaggerated as Weier's story, it's just that I heard her parents were both big figures, but they offended even bigger Nobles, so the result wasn't very good. In order to protect her, the church arranged her in this small place, and at the same time, specifically arranged for her to be in Big Tree Cunzi, which is not only for her protection but also for her cultivation."

"So, you are going to abandon the affairs of New Xiwang Town? At a time when New Xiwang Town has only been under construction for a few years?" Jier raised his eyebrows and looked at Bata'er Jiaoshi in surprise.

The Priest nodded, and after a moment of silence, he said: "I always used to feel that my abilities were insufficient, far inferior to Feilina, and that I couldn't help her with anything. But this time, I finally discovered that I am not incapable of doing anything after all. Many things, if you just look at them or just think about them, you will always feel that your abilities are insufficient, but once you actually start doing them, even if you do them in a state of great panic, you can discover that you had underestimated yourself before, and that you are actually capable of doing them."

"You need to think this through; New Xiwang Town and Priest Feilina, consider the importance of both sides!" Jier reminded him one last time.

"I have thought it through. Just as I said before, I will spend these two years getting New Xiwang Town off to a good start, and once the town has taken initial shape, it will be able to run smoothly even without me," Bata'er Jiaoshi said with a smile.

"Good, when the time comes that you need to set out to do something, remember to call me! As your friend, I will certainly be able to help you."

"Not helping me, but helping Priest Feilina," Bata'er Jiaoshi hurriedly waved his hands and said.

"But is it really okay with the Church for young and capable priests like you to leave your posts without authorization to do private things?" Jier asked curiously.

Bata'er Jiaoshi paused for a moment and said: "I asked Feilina in private, and she said the attitude of the higher-level Church is very vague; they do not oppose her doing something later on."

Jier nodded: "So, regardless of what happened to Priest Feilina's parents, the Agricultural God Church is clearly not satisfied with that outcome, right? They must have been at a disadvantage back then, haha."

"You can still laugh, Jier." The Priest felt somewhat helpless.

"So don't forget, you must come find me when the time comes. I dare guarantee that I am already this formidable now, and in a few more years, I will definitely be formidable as hell!" Jier patted his chest and said confidently.

Bata'er Jiaoshi nodded in agreement: "Yes, you are already so formidable now that I cannot see through you. I truly cannot imagine what your strength will be like in a few years. I will definitely come to find you when the time comes, Jier. I just hope you won't have forgotten the promise you made today by then. You will surely be a very busy person by that time."

"I won't forget, good friend!" Jier patted his chest and promised.

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