Chapter 639: Heartfire Magic Dagger, The Agricultural God Church's Blessing Ritual

Jier carefully examined this Magic Dagger.

Heartfire, this was the name of the dagger. He had seized this item himself some days ago from the mistress of a high-ranking member of a rebellious Merchant Guild, who had been hiding in the interstitial space of a building, and had subsequently handed it over to Knight Kela as spoils of that operation.

It was laughable to say, but at the time, that mistress of the high-ranking Merchant Guild member, despite holding such a powerful magic weapon in her hand, had simply been approached step by step by Jier, who had waved his hand and knocked it to the ground.

It had not served any real purpose at all.

Because at the time, Jier had seen at a glance that the person had never killed anyone, nor was she a determined bandit, but merely a woman accustomed to a life of luxury.

Even with her own child, she could not be like a mother beast in the wild, fighting fiercely when facing a Hunter.

The blade of the Heartfire Dagger was made of an unknown material of pure red, like fire, and also like blood.

The twenty-centimeter-long blade was straight, with edges on both sides, making it a fairly standard dagger style. The crossguard was much more ornate, crafted from a substitute metal with the color of gold; on both sides of the center of the crossguard, a red Magic Gemstone was embedded, though the maker was not very picky about the choice of Magic Gemstone—one side featured a round, unpolished red Magic Gemstone, while the other side featured an exquisitely polished teardrop-shaped red Magic Gemstone.

The grip was tightly wrapped with a type of deep red metal wire. Jier pressed it with his fingernail and discovered that this unknown deep red metal had slight elasticity and was not tough, making it suitable as wrapping for a grip, though he did not know what other functions might lie behind it.

Finally, there was a larger gemstone on the base at the end of the grip, but this gemstone was not a ruby; it was a type of red stone that Jier did not know very well.

"That is a Pigeon Blood Stone. I heard it is a type of gemstone that only has a chance to be naturally produced when the blood of a flying Magic Beast drips onto a stone. It possesses a certain amount of Magic Power."

Kendall Baron was very knowledgeable about such information regarding Magic Tools; he had likely played with this dagger these past few days, and thus had a relatively good understanding of this Magic Dagger.

"When you go back, find some time to test the first two methods besides the third usage method in the instructions, see its strength, and utilize it to make it a help for your journey."

Speaking to this point, Kendall Baron raised the hangover drink in his hand as if it were wine: "If you, Jier, can successfully complete this journey, then it is yours. Haha, how is this help of mine?"

Jier immediately thanked the Baron for his generosity.

He excitedly took the Magic Dagger in his hand to play with it, holding the instruction manual for this magic weapon in his left hand, while his right hand held the ornate Magic Dagger, turning it incessantly.

"Be careful, remember that when touching the Magic Dagger, do not actually recite the incantations to activate it when there is no battle."

Knight Kela reprimanded Jier, because he saw Jier's lips moving as if reciting something, and his fingers occasionally touched the Magic Gemstones on the dagger while turning it.

This was truly dangerous.

Because the dagger had three attack modes, and the third method, used for self-detonation, could potentially destroy this room directly.

Although he himself and Kendall Baron clearly would not have any problems in a magic explosion, the two Church Priests on the opposite side who were completely unprepared, and Jier himself, would likely just die in such a ridiculous way.

He himself possessed powerful Life Energy to protect his body; as long as it was not exhausted, he would not be seriously injured by external energy intrusion, at most suffering burns on the surface of his body.

As for Kendall Baron, the self-protective Magic Tools on his body would protect the Baron himself; whether it was the magic gemstone crown he wore on his head or other magic trinkets, they protected the Baron in layers.

It was not visible usually, because those magic protections had not been activated.

After being reprimanded, Jier carefully put the dagger back into the Wooden box, then stuffed the box into his clothes, not caring that it looked unsightly.

"Warrior Jier, after hearing Kendall Baron's words and seeing the behavior just now, I think the Baron is quite right. The gods have their own arrangements, but we must also act fully."

Bataer Jiaoshi nodded to Kela'er Jiaoshi: "We discussed it just now; leaving directly like this is indeed a bit reckless. Although I don't know many people in the local parish, I still obtained the support of a Vice Dean of the local parish. Tomorrow, before we officially set off, we can go over to have you—and me—receive some practical ritual blessings. Or obtain some additional resource support."

Bataer Jiaoshi looked solemn; clearly, having seen the things Kendall Baron brought out, he could not relax after finding the person who came, so he had to ask for help when needed and owe favors when necessary. When the disparity in strength between the enemy and themselves was great, they had to bring out all their resources and skills.

Knight Kela and Kendall Baron looked at each other, and he sighed: "Since that is the case, I agree to Jier assisting the Agricultural God Church priests this time to go and find and rescue the stranded villagers."

The Knight patted Jier on the shoulder: "Be careful and cautious when acting; don't get caught by others, or be defeated and killed, and lose my face. Come to my place in a while; we will roast some Monster Meat Jerky overnight for you to eat on the road. Regardless, you are still in training, and this thing is indispensable."

Jier felt bitter at the mention of monster meat; usually, monster meat cooked in various ways was already strange enough, and he could hardly imagine how disgusting the roasted Monster Meat Jerky would be.

The conversation dispersed.

Jier had to follow Knight Kela to roast the Monster Meat Jerky he would need to eat in the days to come, while Bataer Jiaoshi was invited away by Kela'er Jiaoshi, intending to discuss this matter with another Agricultural God Church priest accompanying the army, as well as to exchange some different church knowledge between the north and south.

Kendall Baron still sat on the main wooden chair in the hall, letting the attendant remove the hangover drink and replace it with sour plum fruit wine just bought locally.

While tasting the flavor of the wine he had not tried before, he pondered the situation in the Southern Province and possible changes.

The attendants stood by the wall, softening their breathing, trying their best not to disturb their master's thinking.

And outside the house, the Baron's personal guards patrolled constantly around the house; not only on the ground, but even on the military camp wall that this house, prepared specifically for army command, leaned against, there were several personal guards patrolling back and forth on the wall.

Although the local Soldiers were initially unwilling to let these Kendall people from out of town get on the wall to interfere with patrols, even if they were protecting a Noble, after the army clerk took out a small bag of copper coins, these not-so-wealthy Soldiers tacitly accepted the matter.

It was only for two nights anyway; for the sake of the coins, let alone a small section of the wall, if you Kendall people like patrolling on the wall, the entire military camp wall can be left for you to patrol.

They could even slack off and rest themselves.

Early the next morning, Jier appeared before Bataer Jiaoshi with a completely different appearance, making the young priest almost fail to recognize him.

A tall and sturdy grassland horse with black-gray fur, a set of metal iron armor of the same color that wrapped the person tightly, a long sword hanging at the waist with a shimmering scabbard, a blue Two-handed Axe emitting a faint blue light hanging behind him, a metal Shield wrapped in animal skin, a Metal Double-Edged Long Spear mounted on the horse's weapon rack, several quivers of Crossbow Arrows, and a Hunting Bow set off by several bags of Arrows.

Especially when Bataer Jiaoshi saw that the red Magic Dagger, which had only appeared once yesterday, was now hanging on the metal belt of this Knight's right waist.

He could hardly believe it; could this majestic Knight be the 'person who came' he had sought yesterday?

"Is, is, *cough cough*, is it really Warrior Jier? Is it you?"

Bataer Jiaoshi, carrying the travel luggage prepared by the church, looked in shock at the strange Knight waiting at the exit of the military camp.

"It is me."

Jier's voice was a bit weary; he lifted the Faceplate on his Helmet, revealing a somewhat sleepy face. He had not slept all night, having been busy with Knight Kela fiddling with that Harpy monster meat.

The Knight himself had not expected that roasting monster meat dry would be so troublesome; they had been busy until dawn before they had roughly prepared enough Monster Meat Jerky for Jier to eat for a month.

Because it was dehydrated, and coupled with the non-perishable nature of monster meat, even in the rainy spring, as long as this batch of Monster Meat Jerky did not come into contact with moisture, it could be stored for a long time and still be edible.

It was just that the roasted Monster Meat Jerky was quite hard; when Knight Kela flicked it with his finger, it actually made a sound similar to metal clashing.

Regarding this, Knight Kela expressed his apologies to Jier and suggested that Jier try not to challenge the hardness of this food with human teeth when eating it.

"You can boil it in water to eat, or cut a small piece off and hold it in your mouth to savor it. Just treat it as a snack!"

Facing Knight Kela's rhetoric, Jier chuckled, expressing disdain. Because Knight Kela had clearly never eaten such an outrageous thing.

When he was packing his things and putting on his equipment in the morning, he felt that this roasted Monster Meat Jerky could even be hung on his body as additional protective armor.

He believed that even strong bows and crossbows could not shoot through this Monster Meat Jerky.

Hearing Jier's voice and seeing the young face under the Helmet's Faceplate, Bataer Jiaoshi suddenly felt that the Agricultural God's arrangements really had no problems; such a mighty and majestic Knight might really be able to rescue the abducted villagers in a situation where the enemy and they were vastly outnumbered.

"The great Agricultural God is above, Jier, let's go!"

Taking a deep breath, Bataer Jiaoshi said so.

But Jier raised his hand to stop Bataer Jiaoshi's movement: "Wait a moment, you don't really intend to set off on foot like this, do you? Xueya Site!"

Jier's new partner, Xueya Site, immediately drove the two-horse carriage and appeared before Priest Bata'er after hearing Jier's shout.

The carriage had a canopy, inside of which were many wooden boxes and bundles of dried forage, along with various tools hanging from the inner side of the carriage frame. Additionally, a prairie horse was connected to the side of the carriage by a rope and followed along; this was a prairie horse that Xueya Site had just bought.

"Lord Priest, please come up and ride with us."

After speaking, Xueya Site stepped aside, leaving an empty spot for Priest Bata'er to sit in the driver's seat.

"Yes, yes, yes, indeed we cannot walk there; it would delay time, delay time."

Priest Bata'er patted his forehead, first handing his travel luggage to Jier's companion, letting the other party put the luggage into the carriage's cabin. Afterward, he climbed up and sat down himself.

The priest was clearly very happy, saying with a smile: "Then let us set off! First, go to Mengtuoka City to obtain the support of the local diocese's power."

"Let's go."

Jier stroked the strong neck of the Tianxuecao and lightly tapped the horse's belly; the entire horse accelerated into a trot with a 'whoosh'. The speed of the trot was even faster and easier than when he had run while wearing his full set of weapons and equipment on his own horse before.

This forced Jier to deliberately slow down a bit, otherwise the two people behind him driving the carriage would not be able to keep up with him.

The three of them passed through the military camp gate; behind them, inside the military camp, the army of the Kendall people had already begun to assemble, preparing to set foot on the marching journey once again.

On the commercial road outside, caravan carriages one after another, loaded with all kinds of supplies and goods, were traveling on the road gradually converging toward Mengtuoka City.

Not only were there various caravans moving toward the city, but there were also many people and carriages departing from within Mengtuoka City.

A large number of farmers and farm women who had their own fields or rented fields around the city exited the city one after another through the small gates under the city wall specifically for people to pass through. By the side of the road, there were sometimes priests of the Agricultural God Church holding large water bottles, using fresh tree branches from spring to dip in blessed clear water, sprinkling it liberally over the heads of the believers who approached.

It didn't matter if one wasn't a believer; by brushing past a few times and chatting with the priests or Novice Priests a few times, one would slowly become a believer of the Agricultural God.

The caravan vehicles leaving the city gathered in the small square inside the city gate, waiting for their turn to exit the city. Caravans with connections did not need to be inspected or carefully checked, and they often lined up and left the city very quickly.

As for the carriages of other small and medium-sized Merchant Guilds, they could only honestly let the town Tax Soldiers inspect them, confirm that the transported goods were consistent with the documents submitted to the tax official, and then, after paying the tax, they could leave the city.

Mengtuoka City was located at a trade hub and was a major trade transportation point connecting many places, so the daily trade volume was very large. The local Montuoka Viscount therefore specifically lowered the tax share for those coming and going, precisely to continuously consolidate the trade scale of Mengtuoka City.

Once the scale was up, even if the tax was much lower than in other places, once it was combined with a trade volume that far exceeded other places by several times or even dozens of times, the Montuoka Viscount's territory income far exceeded that of other Nobles.

When the three of Jier entered the city, Jier's full set of weapons and equipment would normally not have been allowed to enter the city directly, but Priest Bata'er directly contacted the local Agricultural God priest who was performing church duties at the city gate, and by giving Jier the temporary title of Agricultural God Warrior, he allowed Jier to enter from the city gate fully armed.

The carriage driven by Xueya Site would not enter the city, because the carriage carried quite a few supplies; you could say these things were consumables needed for a long journey, or you could say they were goods for sale, and neither would be a problem.

Therefore, if the carriage were to enter the city, it would naturally have to pay a tax that was neither small nor large for the supplies on the carriage.

"Then I will trouble you to wait at the city gate. Priest Bata'er, about how long will we be delayed inside the city?"

Facing Jier's question, Priest Bata'er already had an answer: "There aren't many people, the Blessing Ritual will be very quick. We should be able to come out around noon. If we set off immediately after coming out, by evening, we might even be able to pass through the Baishi Chengqiang Guanka in the east and reach the Southern Province."

"Very good, then let's do that. Siter, watch the carriage, we will be back at this city gate at noon."

Jier said to Xueya Site.

"Alright Jier, I will wait for you here."

Xueya Site was an old caravan guard, and this little matter could not stump him.

Xueya Site temporarily lent his prairie horse to Priest Bata'er to use; the priest also knew how to ride a horse, although he rarely used it, but when the church trained Cunzi Priests, all kinds of skills that might be needed were already taught.

The best Cunzi Priest, of course, was the kind who could develop the Cunzi by themselves and make the Agricultural God Church have the largest proportion of power in the village; that situation was the best.

But some remote villages could not be expected to be like that, and at this time the church could only let the dispatched priests find ways to solve various troubles themselves. So during preparation, these priests were taught all kinds of skills; not to mention becoming a Cunzi Chief, at the very least in the development of the village, the priest had to be able to occupy one or several projects that would not work without him.

Although Priest Bata'er was relatively young, he had mastered a pile of various skills that could be used or not used, including horse riding.

"Jier, our Southern Province has many mountains, so various regions are relatively scattered, unlike the Western Province which has large areas of open land that can accommodate enough population and highly developed industries."

On the way to the church, Priest Bata'er told Jier about some things in the Southern Province.

"But our population there is actually not small; it is mainly concentrated in a few small plains areas sandwiched between mountains, or in the northern part of the province near the Central Province and the Eastern Province. There are more open places there, and the Province Capital is also there."

"In general, we have many mountains and rivers there, and the population is not small, but it is very concentrated. Few people approach the depths of the mountains; there are alien races, Monsters, and Magic Beasts there. Of course, now there are also enemy troops from neighboring countries attacking from further south."

Jier rode his horse side-by-side with Priest Bata'er, and after listening simply, he sighed: "It sounds like a place with complex terrain and landforms. Added to the defeated troops from last year and the tense situation, I imagine the residents in many places are having a very difficult time."

The priest nodded, then introduced to Jier the Blessing Ritual he planned to have the Vice Dean he knew and who supported him perform in a moment.

Because Jier himself had a large amount of Agricultural God Divine Power in his body, some blessing items that relied on using Divine Power could barely be used by Jier. In this way, many rituals with simple and ordinary effects did not need to be performed on Jier.

Skipping some rituals directly, one could choose better and stronger Blessing Rituals.

For example, the 'Food Special Intake' that could be prepared by a small number of priests or a single high-Tier priest could allow Jier to enhance a certain aspect of his special abilities by consuming food within a period of time through the ritual.

It doesn't look like much, right? But what food does the Agricultural God Church not have? This blessing, combined with many foods with special effects prepared in advance, could allow the blessed person to temporarily acquire many practical or strange, messy abilities, provided their body could handle it.

Besides this, there was also the Blessing Ritual to avoid Curses or temporarily resist Curses within half a year—'God's Soothing'.

There was also the powerful Blessing Ritual that could acquire infinite stamina recovery with controlled release—'Grass and Wood Source'.

Or the ritual where pure strength was temporarily doubled on its original scale due to the blessing—'Iron Farmer'.

The Blessing Ritual that could allow one to survive for a period of time by relying on the blessing while consuming less or no food and water—'Difficult Survival'.

There were other more powerful permanent blessings, but Jier estimated he did not have the qualifications to use them.