Chapter 820: Negotiations in the Baron's Mansion Hall

After Jier finished listening to the other party's explanation of his own noble emblem, he brought his feet together and struck his left chest with his right fist, producing a dull, heavy sound of metal colliding.

Although the armor he wore was of his own design and he had not given much thought to the increase in ability after Knight Training during the design process, it was made with plenty of material; even setting aside its overall defensive power, the exquisite design and manufacturing at least protected his entire body.

At this moment, the collision between the steel on his fist and the steel plate structure of his left chest produced a sound that made the armored soldiers of the Baron's family on the stairs in front of the hall frown.

Without needing to look at the differences in their armor with the naked eye, anyone with a discerning eye could tell from the sound alone that the thickness and weight of Jier's armor far exceeded the full sets of iron armor worn by these soldiers.

"Jier, Apprentice Knight from Kendall County in the Northwest Province, student of Knight Kela. Acting under the orders of Kendall Baron, who received instructions to lead troops south while passing through Mengtuoka City, I am here to assist Priest Luosa-Bata'er of the Agricultural God Church in traveling to Changmai Cunzi, where the priest is stationed, to rescue the faithful villagers and other civilians of Changmai Cunzi who were abducted by deserters and defeated troops."

Jier stated his mission completely as soon as he began.

He had considered this; concealing his mission and putting the matter of the Refugee Team at the forefront was certainly possible, but there were matters of varying importance. To him, the matter of the refugees was actually not very important; with the Refugee Team having organized several Armed Squads, the previously dangerous Bandits were no longer much of a match for the Refugee Team.

If he just found some remote place on the map and led the team there to take root, he could fulfill the oath he had made at the Baishi Chengqiang Guanka.

That was a minor matter. The major matter was the business of the Agricultural God Church.

To tell the truth, over these past days, his energy and the journey along the way had been occupied too much by these refugees; until now, he and Priest Bata'er had not even reached the Changmai Cunzi where the incident occurred!

It was as if he had put the cart before the horse.

Of course, things could not be viewed separately; they could also be viewed together. Rescuing the villagers of Changmai Cunzi and leading and managing the Refugee Team could be perfectly combined.

Because, in the final analysis, the matter of Changmai Cunzi was a matter of Faith regarding a faithful village located in a remote area for the Agricultural God Church, and the Refugee Team contained an ever-increasing number of believers in the Agricultural God, which was also an important matter of Faith.

Relying on some experiences and knowledge from his previous life, Jier had gradually figured out the ins and outs behind some things these days.

To the Agricultural God and the Agricultural God Church, the palm and the back of the hand were both flesh.

As for Changmai Cunzi, as time passed, regardless of the current situation of those who were taken away, the number of people would certainly decrease, and their Faith would be worn away. This was a high-probability event; after all, those broken, defeated troops who captured people could not possibly be treating them like masters, right?

As for the Refugee Team, first of all, most of the refugees were villagers from various regions who did not have enough strength to defend their own villages in the chaotic situation, and most of them had a shallow Faith in the Agricultural God. For the farmers in the vast village areas, even if they did not believe in the Agricultural God themselves, their lives and labor could not possibly be separated from the widespread influence of the Agricultural God and the Agricultural God Church.

They were all nominal believers; this was the premise.

And after the able-bodied population of these fleeing civilians gathered under Jier, these people had been eating the "God-given food" produced by Priest Bata'er's ability these days, receiving Divine Magic Healing when injured—which used to cost a lot of money to enjoy—and hearing the religious activities held by the Agricultural God Priest twice a day. How should he put it?

Judging from Jier's observations along the way, the number of people in his team who sincerely believed in the Agricultural God was actually constantly increasing. It was just that many people, hindered by face and thresholds, had not declared their identity as believers at the beginning, and later on the road, they believed in the Agricultural God but were too embarrassed to join Priest Bata'er's religious activities.

So the question arose: at this point, was it more important to save the potentially still-living faithful villagers of Changmai Cunzi, or was this larger group of refugee youths who had their own armed forces more important?

Of course, children make choices; adults want it all. The optimal solution for the Agricultural God Church was naturally to save the people of Changmai Cunzi while also controlling the newly developed faithful refugees in the team.

And for Priest Bata'er, after the previous failure of losing all the villagers of Changmai Cunzi, the faithful civilians in the team these days seemed to have become a new pillar for his own spirit and the Divine Power of the Agricultural God.

If this person were forced to choose one between the two, it would likely be very difficult to choose, and the final choice would surely be very painful.

But what did all of the above have to do with Jier? Although he understood and guessed some of the things behind this, what did it have to do with him? He was merely the result of a transaction between Kendall Baron and the Agricultural God Church. He had not forgotten that he was not some chivalrous knight-errant, nor was he a loyal dog of the Agricultural God Church; his actual status and strength basically came from Kendall Baron.

Or rather, from Knight Kela, and his own hard work and struggle.

His mission, from beginning to end, was simply to work with Priest Bata'er to rescue the villagers of Changmai Cunzi and beat the forces obstructing and hindering them along the way to a pulp.

Of course, if the matter of the Refugee Team was handled well, not only would he be very satisfied and happy, but presumably the Agricultural God Church would not forget his contribution, right?

Having said so much, it was actually all a matter of an instant. Jier naturally knew from Priest Bata'er that Changmai Cunzi was an autonomous village under Sasi County, so at this moment, facing the Heir of the Sasi Family of Sasi County and the temporary administrator of Yemei Town, he stated his mission directly.

Once Jier's words were spoken, the three close relatives of the Baron who had management rights over the territory all changed their expressions.

The three had different facial reactions.

The young man in front, the Baron's eldest son, had his mouth twitch, and he muttered a sentence: "Apprentice Knight..."

And the Second Butler beside him had no reaction at all.

An old man with gray hair behind him, wearing traditional noble attire, rolled his eyes and subconsciously stroked his beard: "Changmai Cunzi? This name, hmm, is a village in the territory."

Another middle-aged lady twitched her slender eyebrows, and a small fan she had taken out from somewhere was directly unfolded, shielding her face while she fanned herself slightly: "The Agricultural God Church really has sufficient manpower to be able to send out this scale of force at this time."

Then her eyes narrowed, and it was unknown what she was thinking.

The atmosphere was dull for a moment, and then the Baron Heir lifted his chin slightly and said: "Although you say you are an Apprentice Knight, I heard from my sentries that there seems to be a team of hundreds of people with you, with at least one or two hundred armed personnel. Is this true? Can you explain it?"

Jier shrugged and said indifferently: "The lords of various places have all led their troops to the Province Capital. These days, bandits everywhere are doing evil, the Shanglu is cut off, and remote villages that cannot protect themselves are repeatedly broken or abandoned by villagers fleeing spontaneously. The situation is not good. The people I lead are actually refugees fleeing from various places. The scale was originally even larger, but walking on the Shanglu these days, we have been attacked by bandits from various places and have suffered quite a few losses."

The young man glanced at the northwest direction of the town: "Including our family's Sasi County? Those 'bandits'?"

Seeing that the young master was still hinting, the Second Butler beside the young man coughed slightly and whispered a sentence into the young man's ear.

After hearing it, the young man opened his eyes wide: "You killed at least ten of those monsters on the way here?"

Jier smiled slightly: "Easy, simple. At first I did it myself, but last night I handed it directly to my subordinates. Those parasitic monsters are nothing impressive."

"Hmph, anyone can talk big. How could I not know whether those monsters are impressive or not?"

Jier chuckled and scanned the young man, who was actually a few years older than him, from head to toe: "Then how many did you kill with your own hands? When you crushed their Core Human Face with your own hands, did these guys beg you for mercy?"

Jier's words immediately stumped the Baron Heir. This person had always been protected in the mansion; even when the parasitic monsters attacked the south side of the town a few days ago, he only sent his elite soldiers to support and had never personally fought those monsters that were said to be terrifying.

Even though he had seen the corpses of those monsters afterward, as well as the broken appearance of the parasitic human bodies being split open to reveal the plant roots inside.

"You! Hmph—"

With an unhappy snort, the young man stopped talking about this and turned around, instead inviting Jier, this Apprentice Knight, to follow him into the mansion's main hall.

Everyone walked into the bright, white-lit hall. As for the elite soldiers acting as guards, half guarded outside the hall, and half in appropriate numbers guarded along the walls inside the hall, one by one, they did not speak, very professionally keeping their eyes on the visiting knight.

If Jier made any unusual movements, these loyal soldiers would inevitably draw the Heavy Weapon they carried on their backs and strike fiercely at Jier.

The hall was relatively spacious; except for the Baron's main seat in the center, there were three other chairs placed, two on the right of the main seat and one on the left. In addition, a huge cowhide map was laid on the floor in the middle.

Jier took a look and walked to the single chair on his own. He fiddled with the cloak buckle on his chest outside his armor, nimbly took off the black-red gorgeous cloak he had been wearing, folded it simply, and placed it on the back of the wooden chair.

The middle-aged lady looked at Jier's cloak curiously and chatted with Jier in a low voice about the cloak while waving the scented fan in her hand.

"Ah, I bought this at a clothing store in Duoen Town. This cloak has a name, called 【Night Ambition】, and it is the work of a famous Craftsman, my lady."

Seeing someone mention the cloak he also liked very much, Jier spoke proudly.

The young man sitting in the Baron's main seat was also curious about this cloak. He was certainly not ignorant; he had many cloaks of his own, and they were all relatively expensive, just not as good-looking as Jier's.

The middle-aged lady seemed to smile, and a light chuckle came out, but the smiling face was hidden behind the fan in the lady's hand: "It's a good name. Can you tell me the name of the Craftsman? Once the war is over this year, I will order two pieces for my husband and son."

Jier naturally could not remember things from a while ago, so he checked the name on the cloak's lock and then said the Craftsman's name.

Upon hearing it, the middle-aged lady's smile paused: "It is the work of this master; this is not easy to handle."

"You don't need to worry about this. That clothing store in Duoen Town is not small. I heard from the shop assistant that through the circulation of the Merchant Guild in Duoen Town, the goods there are sold to many places nearby. If you like this kind of cloak, you can wait until the war is over and go to Duoen Town to take a look. I believe you will definitely be able to buy all kinds of things you like. Powerful Merchant Guilds gather there, and they have all kinds of good things!"

"Thank you for your generous information, Knight Jier. I will go and take a look."

The middle-aged lady smiled.

Through this lady's diversion and regulation of the atmosphere, the conversational environment improved again, and the small clash between the two young people was thus dissipated.

Therefore, very soon, the old man sitting opposite Jier spoke up: "This Knight, I just heard you mention Changmai Cunzi. Hmm... that name." He lowered his head slightly, his gaze darting toward the map in the middle of the hall.

"This name seems to be one of the villages in our Sasi County, right?"

Facing the old man's doubt, Jier nodded candidly and stood up. As soon as he rose from his chair, at least ten Refining Qi soldiers along the walls of the hall took half a step forward.

Hearing the rhythmic sound of footsteps coming from around him, Jier did not mind; he continued walking two steps, arrived at the spread-out cowhide map, scanned it with his eyes, and quickly found the location of Changmai Cunzi.

He pointed and said: "It is this village, Changmai Cunzi, a remote village on the edge of the Southern Mountains in Sasi County. There is still such a long road ahead."

Jier reached out a finger, and the others all stood up and walked over, looking toward that spot one after another.

The Baron Heir frowned and asked: "What happened there? You, a Knight from the Northwest Province, want to represent the Agricultural God Church to go there?"

Jier blinked: "Did I not make it clear? This village, um, about a month or so ago, around this date, was attacked and broken by, um, you see, from this direction, it should be this direction."

Jier pointed toward the southeast of the county, the continuous mountain range on the southern border where the Southern Province and a neighboring country were fighting over a large mineral vein, and said: "A small group of defeated soldiers who were beaten last year came from this direction and directly conquered it."

As soon as Jier said this, the Baron Heir snorted coldly: "Impossible! You are from out of town, so you wouldn't know, but I have been staying in Yemei Town all this time; how could I not know about this?"

The young man did not believe it, but the old man who had opened this topic did. The old man paced back and forth in a small circle in agitation: "Bell, this Changmai Cunzi is one of a series of remote autonomous villages in the south of the territory. Aside from the territory's Tax Officer making a trip every autumn, it basically rarely has any contact with us here."

The old man did not finish his sentence, but the underlying meaning was that regardless of whether this foreign Knight Jier was right or not, at least they were definitely unaware of this matter.

"Moreover," he added: "This location, um, crossing two major border mountain ranges, is another Baron territory occupied by the enemy country. However, how is it possible? With so many monsters and Magic Beasts in the deep mountains, it is impossible for anyone to cross these mountains that no one has ever walked through."

The corners of Jier's mouth curled up: "That is hard to say. Who knows what peculiar experiences those small groups of broken armies that fled the battlefield last year encountered to be able to cross mountains that no one had crossed before."

"Is the news true and reliable?"

The old man asked.

Jier shrugged: "I came with the Agricultural God Church Priest Luosa-Bata'er. This Bata'er Jiaoshi is the Cunzi Priest of the Agricultural God Church in Changmai Cunzi himself."

The Baron Heir snorted: "Why didn't he come to Yemei Town? If it was over a month ago, I would have dispatched a team of Refining Qi armored soldiers leading the Town Guard to defeat those cowards who fled the battlefield and take back the subjects our family lost!"

The old man glanced at this grandson and Heir, but said nothing. The middle-aged lady beside him also did not chime in to her nephew, only continuously fanning herself slightly with the fan in her hand.

Jier, however, said: "After the incident, according to Bata'er Jiaoshi, he received guidance and revelation from the Agricultural God. After settling some of the village children he had saved, he went alone to Mengtuoka City in the Western Province. Haha, I didn't expect to wait for me."

He shrugged: "I was then arranged by the Kendall Baron to return here with Bata'er Jiaoshi. But the road here was really not easy to walk. It was easy for him alone, as he is a Church Priest, but I had to cut down wave after wave of Bandits while bringing a large group of Refugees before I finally arrived here."

Having said this, the old man ordered the Second Butler in the hall to send someone to invite this Bata'er Jiaoshi over.

"By the way, Bata'er Jiaoshi should have also entered the town; he should be at the Agricultural God Church in town."

The Second Butler bowed and walked out of the hall to handle the matter without saying anything more.

Afterward, everyone sat back in their chairs and began talking about the security situation in various places outside Sasi County.

When Jier spoke of this, he laughed a few times, briefly mentioned the security situation in other Noble territories, and then changed the subject to talk about the several waves of Bandits on the trade routes of Sasi County.

"You all are quite lively here too. On such a small stretch of trade route, there are actually three waves of Bandit Groups—front, middle, and back—just because there are a few villages and settlements in the mountains beside the trade route!"

"What!!!"

"Impossible! Where would Bandits come from!"

"How is that possible? My husband leads troops to patrol the surroundings every year to drive away and kill those Bandit Groups."

The three people reacted differently, but all were very shocked.

Thus, Jier told them in detail the information he had interrogated from the captured Bandits.

After speaking for a while, the young man sitting in the Baron's main seat was so angry that he slapped the metal armrest of his chair, making it clatter. Jier glanced at him and discovered that the force used when he was angry already exceeded that of a normal person, so he understood in his heart that this Heir of the Noble family had clearly also undergone Knight Training.

It was just unclear how his strength was.

Seeing the look of contempt on the other party's face earlier when he heard him say he was an Apprentice Knight, he probably had some strength?

Jier guessed.