Chapter 707: The Ashamed Priests and Setting Off Again

Just after sealing off the surrounding area of the priests under his command with a barrier orb, he asked in a deep voice: "Did a battle occur last night? Answer me!"

His voice was extremely loud, as he had used a divine art to amplify its projection.

Although this was a very common, general-purpose divine art that every house possessed, the Church of the God of the Dead advocated for the peaceful sleep of death, and the priests, who maintained silence year-round, actually rarely used this divine art.

As the words left his mouth, the leading priest was himself slightly startled by his own voice.

The noisy swearing in the surroundings was also silenced for an instant, and then the young Knight holding the metal spear spoke up: "A battle did indeed occur last night. I brought people to spend the night in this clearing, but a large group of bandits who have been plundering the merchant route launched an attack on us."

The young Knight's volume was not small at all; it was clear he did not want to lose even a shred of momentum.

Jier pointed a finger at the huge bonfire behind everyone: "We are currently disposing of the enemy and friendly corpses from last night's battle. You all should be very familiar with this, right?"

But Jier's sincere and truthful words were, after all, only one side of the story; to the priests of the Church of the God of the Dead, who did not know their identities and were on guard, they were not very reliable.

Thus, the leading priest reached out and pointed at a random young refugee nearby, letting this person also answer his question.

"Do not be afraid, answer honestly! Speak!"

The male refugee who was suddenly pointed at stammered; he was not making up lies, but facing such a scene, he was terrified for a moment. Fortunately, he was still able to recount his experience in fragments.

"Yesterday morning, the old men left in the village who were fleeing told the young people in the village to leave the checkpoint and go make a living with Knight Jier—no, to assist in the mission of the Knight."

"The various villages inside the checkpoint all sent out their young people, and everyone gathered outside the checkpoint, following the Knight all the way along the merchant route toward the east; we set off at noon and walked until evening, then stopped here to spend the night."

"Who would have thought, when we came through a few days ago we weren't robbed or abducted by bandits, but this time as we passed by, we were attacked by many bandits together. It was too dark at night, and although I didn't see clearly, everyone fought fiercely with the bandits, and many people died. It was also thanks to the Knight; he led everyone to defeat many bandits, and even in the second half of the night, he took people to raid the bandits' den and rescued some poor merchants and women who had been captured."

The leading priest stared with bright eyes, watching the young male who had been called out to answer without blinking. While listening to the content, he scrutinized the other's demeanor to judge whether he was lying.

But it did not seem to be a lie; the other's emotions were sincere and simple—at first, there was the confusion of being arranged by the village elders, then when mentioning the attack, a face full of panic and hatred, and when speaking of counter-attacking the bandits' den, a face full of satisfaction.

Although this person's hands were empty at the moment, it did not look like he had participated in the battle.

After exchanging glances with the other priests under his command for a moment, the leading priest continued: "Then, let this young lady also speak about what exactly happened yesterday."

Jier stood in place, leaning on his double-edged metal long spear, watching these fully armed priests of the Church of the God of the Dead go from their initial aggressive posture to the caution in their subsequent questioning, and then, as the two people spoke one after another, they gradually became embarrassed.

At a loss, they put away the Hushin Statue of the God in their hands without a trace, and the divine power short staff they had been gripping tightly in their hands also had its head lowered, no longer possessing its previous aggressive appearance.

Under the faceplate Jier had lifted, a mocking expression was revealed.

But none of the priests looked at him.

It was unclear whether they dared not look, or simply did not want to.

The female refugee who was pointed at also recounted her experience from yesterday; it was similar to the former, as she had also been terrified by the attack last night, either screaming or moving with the crowd—wherever everyone was, she was there.

However, fortunately, this one had a good memory; she remembered most of what Jier and Bata'er had shouted when the incident occurred last night, and being asked to repeat it now, it exactly explained the situation from last night.

Although the situation seemed clear, the leading priest did not carelessly put away the glowing sphere he was holding; neither Jier nor Priest Bata'er knew what this thing was, but unlike ordinary people, they both felt a powerful force from this gorgeous, brilliant sphere.

Therefore, not knowing the bottom of this thing, they did not act rashly.

"Regarding the bandits captured in last night's attack, please bring them over."

The leading priest requested this, but the wording of his speech had already quietly softened.

Jier gave a light snort and waved his empty left hand backward; his subordinates naturally brought the people over.

He had roughly figured out the reason for the other party's caution, so he mocked at this moment: "You all are of such an age, you must identify them carefully; be careful not to believe whatever those bastards say! In order to survive, there isn't a single word of truth in a bandit's mouth."

The few priests of the Church of the God of the Dead curled their lips and did not reply.

Soon, nearly ten bandits, their arms tied with rope and their legs connected to others, were escorted over. These people looked nervous, fearing that being brought over now meant they were to be executed in public.

As it turned out, they only came over to see a few strange priests who were surrounded, and then these people were not questioned by the priests; after being looked over carefully, they were taken back down.

They came over with nervous faces and left with confused ones.

Subsequently, the priests of the Church of the God of the Dead called over the commoners rescued from the bandits' hands to inquire; Lady Feiniya was chosen this time, and she calmly recounted the general events, omitting the struggle with Shanlang Bani.

The priests then continued to ask two other people rescued from the bandits' den, and everyone spoke the true words of what they had seen.

The truth often cannot be refuted.

Roughly like this, the priests of the Church of the God of the Dead had already generally judged that this was indeed not some evil ritual cooked up by an Evil God church, but simply bandits attacking gathered young refugees.

They had been mistaken on the road when they arrived.

It was just that when the attack occurred, the number of people on both sides of the battle was large; there were over eight hundred young refugees, and the number of bandits was also not small—several waves back and forth, with attacks launched from both sides of the clearing, estimated to be over a hundred people.

If it were a normal situation, a single night raid by bandits would have been enough to scatter the young refugees who lacked organizational ability and combat capability, and then they would have been captured one by one; there would not have been significant casualties.

But here among the young refugees, there was a Knight and a church priest of questionable status.

This caused the originally one-sided battle to develop in the opposite direction.

The leading priest let out a breath and had to meet the young Knight's eyes; after his face twitched, he asked: "Young Knight, where are you from, and to which Noble Lord nearby do you owe allegiance? Why lead so many young people out of the checkpoint to the east this time? Please answer properly."

Jier snorted, then answered loudly; his voice was very loud, allowing everyone to hear clearly.

"I am Qiao-Jier. I am not from nearby, but from Kendall County in the Northwest Province. I follow the Kendall Baron, and together with Knight Duōde'er-Kelaó, who taught me the Knight's skills, and Knight Pángkè-Lūmǐ, we led the elite Militia of Kendall County, setting off early this spring to head to the border of the Southern Province to support the local war against the neighboring country."

"However, when passing through Mengtuoka City in the Western Province, I met this person—Shepherd Priest Luosa-Bata'er of the Agricultural God Church."

Jier then raised his voice to the maximum, letting everyone hear it clearly: "Everyone listen clearly, inspired by the great Agricultural God, Luosa-Bata'er, whose village was attacked and whose villager believers were abducted by defeated troops, came to Mengtuoka City and found and waited for me, who was also designated by the great Agricultural God! Qiao-Jier! We are going together to rescue the abducted villagers who are currently in deep distress."

The leading priest was about to open his mouth to ask about the truth of this matter, but was blocked by what happened next.

Jier directly slammed his right-hand long spear heavily into the ground, then used the buckle under his neck armor to remove his helmet, followed by taking off the complex full-body metal armor on his upper body, unfastening the inner armor clothing beneath the armor, and directly exposing his head, face, and upper body.

"Look closely, this is the proof; it is the ritual blessing personally bestowed by the Agricultural God in the Mengtuoka Diocese of the Agricultural God Church!"

Jier turned to face the surroundings, letting everyone see clearly.

Then he shouted loudly, activating the 'Grass and Wood Source' ritual blessing ability that could bring infinite energy.

The powerful divine power of the Agricultural God surged surgingly, following the path that had been opened once before, instantly filling Jier's entire body.

The visible cyan divine power of the Agricultural God moved like flames on his skin, and his originally bright eyes were replaced by a pair of eyes emitting cyan divine light.

And the blessing patterns on his chest and ribs were shining even more brightly.

The surrounding young refugees were seeing such an ability so clearly for the first time; although they did not understand what was happening, they at least knew that this powerful young Knight was indeed blessed by the great Agricultural God.

For a time, the believers who followed the Agricultural God immediately knelt on the ground, kowtowing to the young Knight, whose momentum was magnificent and astonishing.

Other rescued commoners also whispered in discussion.

But laymen watch the spectacle, while experts watch the technique. Unlike the ordinary people who were surprised and astonished to see the "Grass and Wood Source" activated, the priests of the Church of the God of the Dead noticed another ritual blessing ability on the young Knight's chest that had not been activated.

Under such exposed and close-range observation, they could clearly perceive something that shocked them from that unactivated blessing ability.

The power of a divine ritual blessing bestowed by the God of Agriculture himself.

In the perception of the priests, that thing was so pure and dazzling, powerful and complex.

Although he did not activate the ability to reveal his identity, it was just as well that he did not.

"I am truly very sorry; you are indeed a warrior favored by the God of Agriculture. Please, there is no need to prove it, but please forgive our caution, for we sensed the aura of a large number of deaths in the early morning, and we were terrified that this unmanaged area would erupt with the evil conspiracies of an Evil God's church against the backdrop of the gradually chaotic Southern Province."

The leading Priest only then bent his waist slightly while holding the Repulsion Orb, bowing his head to apologize to the young Knight.

"It is not I who should accept your apology, but all the innocent people who have been harmed and lost their lives to Bandit attacks on this Shanglu. They are the ones you truly need to apologize to and compensate! Go and look, where under the green grass on this Shanglu has not been soaked with the blood of innocent people? Go and look at the various Bandit lairs not far from here, at the scattered bones and walking living corpses. Go and look at the ear-piercing wails echoing where the people are imprisoned. Go and look, don't shrink behind the city walls and inside the towns. It is not just this long, unmanaged Shanglu that has been abandoned, but also all the refugee people inside the Baishi Chengqiang Guanka who have discarded their dignity to kneel and beg!"

"The White Stone City Wall left behind by the Dwarf seems eternal and pristine, but who knows how many wronged souls are wailing beneath the shroud of its sacred feeling! And you? You just live in the sacred Church temple and Church, praying to the gods all day long? Have you ever walked out of the thick walls to listen to the pleas of every person kneeling and begging on the street? Heh, kneeling to beg and praying are really quite similar, aren't they?"

"You! This is blasphemy!"

A Priest of the God of the Dead who was over twenty, nearly thirty years old, shouted sternly, but the other priests remained silent.

Beside them, the Bata'er Jiaoshi, who had not spoken until now, was also staring blankly at the young Knight he had only known for a few days.

He thought that after learning about the weapons, equipment, and skills of this Knight Attendant in training, he understood this person well, but he did not expect that after hearing these words, he would realize that this young man, who was usually cheerful and loved to laugh, actually possessed such a burning and compassionate heart.

The priests of the Church of the God of the Dead drove the donkey carts away.

However, they did not return to the Baishi Chengqiang Guanka, but after taking on a surrendered Bandit from the Fatty's Bandit Group, they drove the donkey carts toward the Bandit Shandong lair that Jier and the others had set fire to last night.

Although fire can destroy a large number of low-level undead living corpses, the Founengliang aura filling the Shandong is not so easily dissipated.

The fire will eventually go out after the combustibles are burned up, but the Shandong, which retains the Founengliang aura, is very likely to be coveted by other monsters in the mountains and forests, who will then occupy it.

They still have to carefully deal with it; they cannot just set a fire and call it a day.

Of course, these priests moved very quickly, which to Jier seemed like an excuse to save face for their own mistakes on this trip. However, Jier noticed that the leading Priest never once put down the activated Repulsion Orb from start to finish.

Even when apologizing, and even when performing a brief farewell ceremony for the innocently deceased refugees, he cautiously held the heavy, ornate sphere.

The other party did not explain what this thing was, and Jier did not find it appropriate to ask. He also did not know how powerful the thing in the other party's hand really was.

A large number of corpses were subsequently burned into ashes filling the sky in the morning, and the people then poured water to extinguish the fire piles and dug pits to bury all the ashes of the Bandits' corpses, while for the ashes of the deceased young refugees, everyone, after losing friends and relatives last night, grabbed a handful of the grainy, slag-filled ashes, found small bags to put them in, and carried them with them.

Thus, after eating a meal of Wheat Porridge in the afternoon, everyone set off again, walking along the deserted Shanglu toward the east.

The line was very long, and everyone was carrying things to a greater or lesser extent, either the weapons and equipment from the Bandits last night, or valuable items searched from the Bandit lairs.

For small items, the young refugees who had not participated in the battle, regardless of gender, all carried one or two pieces. As for the stronger ones, two people used a Rope and a wooden stick to work together to carry heavier things on their shoulders.

The rescued Merchant people no longer had the right to ride in carts, and they also had to walk to keep up with the team. Some wanted to return west to the Baishi Chengqiang Guanka; after all, it only took half a day to return to a Human civilized town, which was far better than being in the desolate and dangerous wilderness.

But they could not bring themselves to say it. Having been rescued by Knight Jier, not only did their words carry no weight regarding where the team went, but how could they repay the debt of salvation owed when they were rescued?

Some destitute Merchants who had nothing but their Merchant clothing might still be immersed in the sadness and loss of their total defeat and had not thought much about it, but they still understood such logic.

Before the debt of gratitude was repaid, they could not just walk away.

Unless they could be like Feiniya, using buried wealth and other valuable assets to repay (regarding her and Shanlang Bani, Jier and the young people at the time did not mention this matter additionally).

Of course, for some teenagers and women who truly had no property or ability to repay, the others around them did not expect them to do anything.

For the whole afternoon, the hundreds of them only walked a short distance before they had to set up camp early to spend the night at about dusk, when the sky turned gloomy and a light rain began to fall.

Thanks to the various animal skins and bedding obtained from the Bandit lairs, although these things were rarely washed or cleaned by the Bandits, these oily and smelly things could at least be set up to shelter everyone from the rain and keep them warm.

The grass by the Shanglu was trampled flat by everyone walking back and forth repeatedly; this was not only to facilitate camping but also to drive away animal dens and poisonous insects in the grass in advance.

The wood ash that everyone carried was scattered on the ground, and the insects that could not stand the smell of this ash fled for their lives, crawling into the ground or far away.

Xueya Site specifically selected thirty strong young men who were skilled and nimble at logging in the morning, letting them not carry extra luggage or heavy loads, and their daily work afterward was to build up their strength and chop wood to make firewood for everyone to burn when camping.

Therefore, after selecting the campsite location, Xueya Site led the logging team, along with twenty young people holding swords who were responsible for protecting everyone, to the Forest not far from the camp by the Shanglu to obtain firewood.

After they felled a tree, they could immediately chop the large tree on the spot into firewood of suitable size for people to use and carry. Bringing this firewood back to the camp, their work only came to an end when everyone had enough fuel to barely burn for the night.

It seemed that this job was a bit of a loss, but in fact, those who were selected were envied by everyone else.

After all, carrying things while traveling was quite exhausting, while those who logged only needed to carry their own logging tools and could walk gracefully in the middle of the team.

A major reason for the team's sluggish pace was actually the rescued people who walked the slowest in the team. They were different from the young refugees.

The young refugees had been weak from not having enough to eat before, so they started off walking slowly, but as they had been eating bowls of thick Wheat Porridge that they couldn't finish for the past two days, the resilience and physical advantages of the original Farmer families began to show.

Everyone, regardless of gender, had "iron feet," and many people carried things while still being able to chat and laugh on the road, occasionally exchanging the iron swords assigned to their partners and friends.

As for the Merchants, they usually traveled by cart to do business, and the rescued women had never walked such a long distance, and everyone had been tortured and imprisoned by the Bandits for a long time, so they all walked very slowly throughout the afternoon.

The speed of the team slowed down because of this.

But Jier did not care about this.