Chapter 658: Flowers in the Fire, Troublesome Young Refugees

Jier, seeing that Priest Bata'er had organized a group of young people to conduct church activities, did not go to disturb them. He walked in circles around the small groups of young refugees, separated by their respective villages.

He observed the organizational state, physical condition, and mental state of these people. He also spoke up, letting the newly arrived young refugees find people they knew to gather together.

Soon, Jier discovered that the physical condition of most of the young people was not very good, but at least they had the strength to walk and work. Perhaps because they had already eaten some of the God-given food from last night and had something in their stomachs, these young people, sent out by the elders among the refugees, looked mostly fine at the moment.

There were no cases of illness due to hunger or weakness.

These young people stood or sat; some stood quietly, watching Jier, this well-armed "Knight." Others sat boldly on the grass, remaining indifferent even when Jier walked past them, and even whispered and laughed.

Jier glanced at them a few times and found that their physical condition while sitting on the ground was much better than the others, and when they sat together, they sat very closely; it was clear that they were loosely gathered together because they knew each other, and these people were organized individuals with common interests.

In other words, they could also be called small-scale gang organizations that had spontaneously emerged among the refugees.

These guys, with more men than women, each had short swords, long daggers, or short knives hanging from their waists; compared to the other unarmed young refugees, they could already be considered "well-equipped."

This could be seen from the fearful expressions occasionally revealed by young people from other surrounding villages; these so-called refugee gang organizations were likely not only stealing and robbing others at the checkpoint, but the refugees themselves were likely one of the main targets of their attacks.

It was just unclear what method those old men had used to trick these people into leaving the White Stone City Wall Guanka.

It didn't look like it was achieved through coercion; it seemed as if these gang members had followed them out voluntarily.

Jier rested his hand on the hilt of the Long Sword at his waist and strode past this group of people, even nodding at the few young gang leaders who were looking over. Jier's nod as he walked by, and his failure to criticize or rebuke their wanton behavior, immediately made these people feel smug.

Some laughed in low voices, some raised their chins and gave contemptuous, strange smiles to the others around them who were huddled together obediently like quails, and some let their hands wander over the young female members in the gang, which made the eyes of some young villagers who had not yet started families stare straight. The female gang members being touched in public were not shy, and even twisted their bodies generously.

Jier ignored their behavior, merely secretly finding some future little "jobs and tasks" waiting for them.

Make the best use of everything; anyway, those old men "sending" these people out was likely the only way out of a desperate situation.

Perhaps they had the idea of finding a path for their current situation, but Jier felt that more of it was a means of self-preservation chosen by those old men in difficult circumstances.

After all, there would always be a day when the food ran out, and there were so many young men and women among the refugees who were restless due to hardship; for the survival of others, these people could only be "sent" out to act together with Priest Bata'er and Jier.

Anyway, following Priest Bata'er meant having God-given food to fill their stomachs; perhaps this group of people "sent" out could really find a way to survive in the increasingly chaotic Southern Province.

Jier circled the refugee crowd several times, and when no more empty-handed young refugees came out from the east gate of the checkpoint wall, he came to the center where everyone was gathered, preparing to speak.

Unlike Jier's side, Priest Bata'er's side had been exceptionally quiet.

Priest Bata'er, wearing his formal Priest Robe, corrected the field prayer postures of the new believers one by one whose prayer movements were not standard. As for the messy content of their prayers to the Agricultural God, he could not worry about that for the time being.

Correcting the prayer posture first meant that at least it looked very neat; not only could outsiders tell they were an organized whole, but even the believers who were praying, secretly opening their eyes to look around, felt that they and the people around them—whether they knew them or not—were praying to the same great deity in a uniform posture; at least the sense of stability brought by this connection and trust was there.

After he finished correcting the prayer posture of every new believer, the young priest rubbed his waist, stood to rest for a moment, and then came to the center where all the people praying around him were sitting.

Here, the Protective Statue placed on the top of the Amber Metal Long Staff had already begun to glow with a faint, chaotic green light; if one observed carefully, one could see that the fluorescence around the Protective Statue was already larger than when the priest had first taken it out.

Arriving at the staff that was inserted upright into the grass, Priest Bata'er coughed lightly, and then began to tell a guiding story about the Agricultural God Church.

His voice was calm but as loud as possible, and his wording was straightforward, without any descriptive vocabulary, trying his best to let the believers watching him hear clearly, understand, and grasp the meaning.

The story was very simple: it was about a tiny village in an era of turmoil.

A long time ago, in a chaotic era, the tiny village could be overturned by external crises at any time, until a young Agricultural God Church priest, guided by the Goddess of Spring, arrived there in the spring just after a cold winter.

The little young priest was thin and weak, but quite wise; although he was looked down upon in the village at first, he soon gained the trust of the villagers through his wisdom and resourcefulness.

Thus, people began to unite around the young priest.

He taught the villagers who trusted him advanced and effective planting techniques, and during the autumn harvest, he used his status and Divine Art to deter a small number of bandits who wanted to come and seize the grain.

Thus, more people united around the young priest.

In an era where survival was difficult, winter was always exceptionally long, so the young priest taught the people who united around him new knowledge and strength.

Through learning knowledge, the ignorant villagers learned for the first time that the earth was a ball of soil floating in the void, and above the empty sky was a more distant universe; people did not live on the back of a sea turtle, and the sky was not the night curtain or day curtain pulled by the cloaks or chariots of other gods.

They learned some characters; although not many, everyone learned to write their own names and those of their companions.

They learned arithmetic; although not much, everyone could finally accurately calculate how long their family's grain would last and how much it could be sold for.

They also picked up farm tools and practiced martial arts in the open fields, so that if the young priest left one day, they could defend the fruits of their labor with their own skills.

The harsh but passionate winter passed, and spring came again.

This time, the young priest guided the people who believed in him to work together to farm, and they did many things.

They cut wood to repair everyone's houses, used traps to hunt animals that came to steal grain, and used animal fur to make new clothes for the people who believed in him.

During the busy farming season, everyone took time to repair small irrigation ditches, and amidst the envy of other villagers, after satisfying their own agricultural water needs, they generously shared them with other villagers.

Thus, more people united around the young priest.

The young priest used Stone blocks unearthed from deep plowing in the fields to build a simple Divine Statue of the Agricultural God by the farmland, so people knew the deity and church that the young priest represented.

It was harvest time again; this time the young priest stood behind everyone, smiling as he watched them wave sturdy farm tools to drive away the scary-looking bandits and marauders, so no one bullied them ever again.

Life got better and better; a wooden fence was built outside the village, so wild beasts could not disturb the livestock being raised.

The fields were increasingly cultivated and vast, and warning wooden towers and windmills were built, so coarse wheat cakes were far from the villagers' tables, replaced by delicate Bread.

The young priest also grew into a youth, just like the changes he brought to the originally tiny village.

The smartest youth in the village packed his bag, took the small Divine Token given by the young priest, and set off for distant towns; perhaps in a few years, a former young priest would appear in another village in need.

The church guiding story titled "Flowers Growing in Fire" stopped here; it was not that there was nothing left to tell, but Priest Bata'er looked at the crowd Jier had gathered opposite, where a fight had broken out.

"Everyone listen to me, although you come from different villages on the west side of the Southern Province, perhaps you are not very familiar with each other yet. But from now on, you need to listen to my instructions for a certain period of time and run errands and assist in a mission that I and Priest Bata'er of the Agricultural God Church are responsible for."

Jier spoke directly and bluntly, informing the refugee youths of the things and work they needed to do.

"This is not an easy task. Changmai Cunzi—perhaps some have heard of this remote village, which is also on the west side of the Southern Province. Unlike you who fled your hometowns early, this village encountered a worse situation. A group of people, on a certain night a while ago, suddenly killed their way into this somewhat unguarded village, captured and kidnapped everyone in the whole village! And now their whereabouts are unknown!"

Jier's words made some of the young men and women show fearful expressions; after all, many people had left their original unstable hometowns with their families and friends, whole families and whole villages, just to avoid such terrible things from happening, trying to cross the border checkpoint on the west side of the province to reach the safe, war-free Western Province to avoid various dangers.

Although life as a refugee was not easy, everyone had suffered a lot along the way, and they had been plagued by hunger and hardship at the White Stone City Wall Guanka, but at least disasters like that of Changmai Cunzi would not happen.

"P-please, Lord Knight, w-who captured all the villagers of Changmai Cunzi? Are they dead?"

A young female villager asked boldly. Jier hesitated, but he still said it; he had to see what kind of stuff these people were made of.

Although he said he needed their assistance, those who dragged their feet and cowards would not only be useless but would also make things worse.

How could it be that among these 887 people, at least a hundred could not be picked out to be of some use, and dozens of young villagers who could fight could not be selected?

"It is a group of defeated soldiers who were beaten in the border war last year. The number is unknown, but there are at least a hundred of them."

As soon as Jier's words fell, he saw the vast majority of the refugees subconsciously shrink back.

Some people quietly took a step back, some lowered their heads, and some even whispered in a shrill voice: "Hundreds of soldiers! At least! God, I beg you to save me."

Jier frowned, not expecting these people to be such cowards.

He raised his arm and pressed it downward, temporarily letting the chattering young people quiet down: "Listen to me, I am a Knight, and this is my mission; naturally, I will be the main force in the fighting."

"You're lying!"

"Shameless liar!"

"Saying that now, but when the time comes, you'll definitely make us rush to the front to risk our lives, right!"

Jier smacked his lips; he wanted to say he didn't mean that, but he couldn't exactly say he didn't either. However, this method was mainly used to deal with the Refugee gang members he had seen earlier.

There was no need to use this approach on ordinary young Refugees.

"Quiet, quiet!"

Raising his voice a little, Jier continued: "It's not that I look down on everyone, but you really can't be of any use in combat. The promise I made to the elders of your village earlier wasn't actually because I really need you to fight."

Jier tapped the metal spike on the forehead of his Helmet with his finger: "A safe Yingdi, a safe village where both the people of Changmai Cunzi and all of you can live safely in the future—that is what is troubling me. The root of the chaos in the Southern Province lies in the war at the border; as long as the war continues, the chaos will not cease. And none of us know how long this war will last! Therefore, a place where everyone can live safely is the most important thing."

"Where is there such a place! Unless it's a large town, but I heard before that some towns were breached by bad guys, and many people died."

Someone shouted this, immediately triggering a wave of follow-up discussion among the others.

This person was indeed correct, but regarding this point, Jier actually had a preliminary plan, only it wasn't easy to talk about right now; he would have to see it on the ground later.

Once the discussion started, some people immediately felt that being pushed out of the White Stone City Wall Guanka at this moment was a very risky thing.

Once someone took the lead, more than twenty people immediately wanted to move toward the White Stone City Wall Guanka, wanting to sneak away.

But Jier had been facing the White Stone City Wall Guanka the whole time, and as soon as there was any movement in the crowd, he saw it.

"Where do you think you're going? Stop, those people over there!"

Jier shouted, and hundreds of young people immediately turned to look, only then discovering that some people had broken away from the group and were trying to sneak back into the White Stone City Wall Guanka.

"Stop them! Those who stop them will get double the food rations later!"

Just as the words "double the food rations" emerged from Jier's mouth, the moment his voice fell, dozens of nearby male Villagers quickly ran out and caught those cowards who couldn't run fast due to their fear.

These people were pressed through the crowd with their arms twisted; although they were caught, their mouths were not quiet: "Everyone heard it, this Knight wants to find a safe place to settle us, this is sending everyone to their deaths!"

"Yeah, yeah, never mind saving those people from Changmai Cunzi, how many of us will die, just look at this Knight's delusional plan; we finally escaped from our hometown, the White Stone City Wall Guanka might not have much to eat, but at least we won't be killed by anyone!"

"Going back to live there will kill everyone! He saves people, then leaves here, and what about us left behind in that so-called 'safe village'? Isn't that just waiting to die!"

These people became more and more outrageous with their words, and Jier finally lost his patience; he strode over, and just as he raised his palm to slap someone's face, he hesitated.

Only then did he notice that he was still wearing his Gauntlet with Metal Armor Plates; if he slapped them like that, these few who were talking would probably lose half their lives.

In the end, he didn't slap them, but instead fiercely tapped the foreheads of these few people with his finger.

He knocked them over with his finger.

"Take off the shoes from this person's feet and stuff them into his mouth."

Jier ordered, and the young people holding the men hesitated for a moment, but still followed through.

Very good, although these people were greedy for the double food rations he promised, at least they could follow his orders and act simply. That was enough.

Jier didn't have the ability to train these people into brave fighting Soldiers or Warriors like Kela and Lumi; he didn't have that skill. If these people could cheaply and effectively assist him in rescuing the people of Changmai Cunzi without losing too many, Jier would be satisfied.

Of course, Jier had other plans to save the people even without these people appearing, but since there was enough manpower to assist, he had to make good use of them.

Jier prepared to return to the center of the crowd to speak again, but a group of young men and women wearing Short Knives and Short Swords at their waists blocked his path: "Do you really intend to settle us in that so-called safe village as these people just said?"

This group was another gang organization formed within the White Stone City Wall Guanka; Jier had seen them when he was patrolling the crowd earlier. With over eight hundred people, there were actually five such small gang organizations.

It was estimated that those elders also understood that as time passed, more and more young people would definitely join or create similar Refugee gang organizations. Not only would this worsen the security inside the White Stone City Wall Guanka, leading to the disgust and crackdowns of the Soldiers, but these gang organizations would certainly bully their own fellow Refugees first.

That was why those elders took this opportunity to kick them out—no, to trick them out—into Jier's hands.

Looking at the dozen or so people blocking his way, Jier placed his hands on his waist and responded with even greater presence: "What? What is wrong with my plan? I have a plan that can keep you safe."

The leader, a somewhat sturdy youth, narrowed his eyes, pressed his lips tightly together, and then said: "Is that so, is that so. But your 【expletive】 so-called bullshit plan! There is nothing 【expletive】 good about it at all!"

Having said that, he lunged forward two steps and kicked out, aiming straight for Jier's chest!