Chapter 26: The People in Wilderness Village Are Increasing

When he returned to the vicinity of Wilderness Village again, Allen hardly dared to recognize this place as his own territory.

When he set out, this place was entirely dark soil and tender green sprouts, but by now it had turned into patches of a golden ocean.

This was the wheat planted in the spring nearing maturity, and on the road, one could see villagers from time to time chasing away birds stealing the crops in the fields.

It is estimated that in a few more days, the harvest will begin.

On the way back, Allen roughly calculated that he had been here for four or five months.

In less than half a year, this place had changed like this; Allen walked on the small path in the fields with deep emotion, finally feeling that he had changed this piece of heaven and earth.

Soon, Allen stepped onto the road built for the construction of the city wall and chatted with the villagers transporting wood as he returned to Wilderness Village.

At this time, the village no longer had just the two thousand people from when Allen left.

In the month Allen set out on his journey, many more villagers had moved here one after another, numbering about a thousand or so.

In the second month, a few hundred more came successively, and it was only recently that this situation stopped.

Clearly, the majority of the Woodland Residents living nearby had already gathered in Wilderness Village.

Allen naturally understood what was going on with this situation; as the Orcish activity in the Wilderland became more frequent, it would naturally drive the surrounding villagers to his side.

Before, having no choice, the Woodland Residents would still persist in the villages where they had lived for a long time.

Now that they had a choice, danger was also prowling by their side.

The instinct of Humans to huddle together for survival would drive these people to come to Wilderness Village to settle; this is a good thing, and also a bad thing.

The good thing is that with more people, things are easier to handle, and furthermore, with more people, Allen also has enough confidence when facing the Orcish.

The bad thing is that the Orcish of the Misty Mountains should not just sit by and watch Allen and his people build a human city on the Wilderland that originally belonged to them.

Allen suddenly had a feeling that a storm was coming and the wind was sweeping through the building.

In the evening, Allen summoned all his subordinates to begin understanding what had happened in the village during the nearly two months he was away.

Yamila reported first; now nearly four thousand people were living in the village, which was already a not-so-small town on the continent of Calradia.

With the increase in personnel, the scope of the village had expanded more than five times from its original foundation.

The increase in villagers also caused the difficulty of management to increase exponentially, and Yamila had to look and promote several assistants herself.

As for food, it was not particularly lacking; on one hand, Allen had purchased tens of thousands of Dinar worth of grain to store in the village warehouse before he left.

On the other hand, the goods Allen left in the general store and clothing store had actually been exchanged for a lot of grain, which made Allen's eyes light up, discovering a new path.

Regarding public security, there was nothing much to say; outside the village, there were Beorn and fully armed Knights patrolling everywhere.

Inside the village, there were sturdy and robust Nord Royal Guards and sharp-eyed Rhodok Sharpshooters; no one dared to cause trouble in the village, so the content of Bandak's report was not much.

And regarding the military, Fatis told Allen that the newly arrived Woodland Residents who could respond to the call of hunters, plus the original villagers, could form a force of over a thousand men.

However, their equipment was generally poor and their discipline was not good enough; if it were just participating in small-scale battles or ambushes, it would be fine, but for real battle formations, that was simply not suitable for them now.

If one really wanted them to have combat power, it would require long-term training and sufficient equipment.

Of course, Allen knew that saying this now was not realistic; even if it were just equipping them with simple Spears, it would be enough to keep him busy for a long time.

Artimenner had been waiting for a long time; several times he wanted to speak, but was interrupted by others, and now it was finally his turn.

As for the construction of the city wall, due to the large amount of preparatory work done in the early stages, it was currently less than one-tenth complete.

According to the current progress, to fully build it, it would take at least until this time next year, and it would not be able to cover all the houses in the village.

And for the construction of the village, Artimenner took a little bit of time to redesign it.

Now, the appearance of Wilderness Village, when viewed from high above, looked like a spider web, presenting an irregular circular shape.

With Allen's Lord's Longhouse as the center, it spread out in all four directions.

And the original wall built to defend against Orcish attacks had been completely dismantled and replaced with a city wall with a larger protective range, only before the city wall was built, the entire village was in an undefended state.

Fortunately, in Desaiwei's report, the Orcish around Wilderness Village were quite quiet, and the Great Eagles had not brought any bad news either.

Only from the Woodland Residents who migrated from the south could one sporadically hear traces of Orcish activity, as if they were looking for something, with the search range starting from the Old Ferry and leading to even further places.

Allen did not know what these Orcish were searching for; what Allen knew was that Isildur died in the Gladden River with the One Ring, and this matter was very clear.

In the past, a group of Hobbits lived in that area; Gollum, at that time he was still called Smeagol, he strangled his best friend to death and obtained the One Ring; where was he now?

Allen thought for a moment; Gollum should already be living in the lake under Orc Town.

However, this had nothing to do with Allen; he did not care about Gollum's fate, nor did he care about that One Ring; that was just a chicken rib.

Just as Allen was recalling, Desaiwei suddenly mentioned that while she was scouting, she discovered a small wooden hut in the eastern part of Wilderness Village.

It was very close to where Beorn lived, and a short old man lived inside; it was very strange, looking slovenly; out of safety considerations, Desaiwei did not approach him.

Suddenly hearing news of a Wizard, Allen was a bit nervous and opened his mouth to say: "Do not go and provoke him; I know who that is, and I will handle it later."

After speaking, Allen looked around at everyone in the room and asked: "Is there anything else important that I need to know?"

Everyone indicated there was not, and left at Allen's "Meeting dismissed."

Allen also returned to his bedroom, touched the neatly arranged bedding, lay down with peace of mind, and opened the Simulator.

【Simulator starting】

【Please select the world you wish to travel to】

【You have arrived on the continent of Calradia】

【Time: Late night on a certain day】

【Location: Uxhal, a certain street】

【At this moment, you are following your childhood friend Hunter, dodging patrolling guards, and traveling through the streets of Uxhal.】

【Regarding Hunter, you are exceptionally familiar, not because he is your childhood friend, but because he also has a name you are more familiar with: Night Owl.】

【You still remember that a few days ago, he told you with extreme excitement in a tavern in Veluca that he finally had the opportunity to restore the glory of his family, and as he spoke, he actually cried happily.】

【As a friend of twenty years, you had never seen him behave like this.】

【Hunter told you that he had a mission in his hands; if he completed it, he would become the lord of Serendil, which was what Count Mathias had promised him personally.】

【He also told you that by then you would no longer need to be a mercenary, and he would definitely give you the status of a Knight; facing such news, you did not know what to say.】

【As a fallen noble, Hunter treasures this opportunity exceptionally, but facing such immense benefits, there are not many people he can trust, yet you are certainly on this list.】

【Your group of four arrived in Uxhal yesterday, with the mission to rescue Count Tacias's son, Tachiman, or rather, to snatch his son back; this concerns the deciding factor in the war between Rhodok and Swadia.】

【Of course, you also discerned another layer of meaning from Hunter's expression and words: if you cannot snatch him back, then kill him; for the opponent to die in Uxhal might not necessarily be a bad thing.】

【With the help of secret agents, it took you one day to find the whereabouts of your target.】

【At this moment, you and Night Owl are heading to the location where Tachiman is being held; the other two will meet you near the city wall, and they will prepare for the escape, at which point you will all slip out over the city wall together.】

【The place where Tachiman is being held is a noble's mansion; it is clear that Tachiman is receiving good treatment, at least for now.】

【Hunter did not let you enter the mansion with him; out of the friendship you have shared since childhood, he whispered a joke, saying that the reward you would receive is not worth taking such a risk.】

【Hunter slipped inside alone.】

【Everything went very smoothly, so smoothly that it felt unreal; half an hour after entering the noble's mansion, Hunter slipped out carrying the unconscious Tachiman.】

【You took the unconscious Tachiman from Hunter's shoulder, and without a word, the two of you ran directly toward the planned location.】

【Soon you arrived near the city wall and met the contact person; you felt something was wrong because only one person was waiting for you at this time, and although he described that the other person was setting up ropes on the city wall, you did not believe him.】

【You handed Tachiman to Hunter and took the opportunity to give him a look; he clearly understood and stopped in his tracks.】

【You quietly drew the short dagger from your waist, walked behind the contact person, grabbed his hair with one hand, held the short dagger against his throat with the other, and told him to back up slowly and not make any sound.】

【Just at this moment, countless torches were lit, illuminating the surrounding area, and you saw countless Swadian soldiers rushing toward you from the direction of the city wall.】

【The contact person you were holding was about to say something, but you did not give him the chance; you stabbed the short dagger directly into his neck, hoisted him over your head, threw him with force at the pursuing soldiers, and while the soldiers had not yet surrounded you, you ran with Hunter toward the depths of the night.】

【Doing this kind of thing, given your and Hunter's abilities, how could there only be one plan?】

【You still had a backup plan unique to the two of you, but now the enemy was in hot pursuit behind you, and the commotion of the chase would alert the soldiers originally on night watch, who would all run over to intercept you; you knew you could not go on like this, for if you kept running this way, both of you would die here.】

【You stopped, and Hunter, who was running behind you, found it strange; he also stopped by your side, wanting to continue pulling you to run with him.】

【You quickly told him that you could not run like this, as running like this would mean death for both, and that you would stay behind to attract their attention.】

【At this point, you joked that only in this way could you live up to the Knight status Hunter had promised.】

【Hunter's eyes turned red in that instant; you could see the struggle in his heart, but the enemy would not give him time to hesitate, as figures had already appeared behind you again; you waved at Hunter, who was carrying Tachiman, and charged directly toward the enemy.】

【Those pursuing you now were just a squad composed of Swadian militia and light infantry; they were wearing light armor or no armor, and their pursuit speed was faster, but to you, taking their lives was no different from stepping on an ant.】

【You did not kill them, but heavily knocked them unconscious, then hoisted one of the enemies from the ground, picked up a sword, and shouted loudly at Hunter, who was still standing there blankly in the distance, "I'll carry Tachiman, meet at the old place."】

【After saying this, you ran toward the other side; after turning, you did not see Hunter's subsequent actions, but in any case, he did not follow you.】

【More and more soldiers caught up with you, and with your keen senses, you could even hear the sound of hooves flying; you had no choice but to run into some narrow alleys.】

【At the same time, you created some commotion to attract the attention of the soldiers in the city; a large area of the city became lively during your desperate run.】

【Finally, you felt the time was about right, and a large number of troops had surrounded the area where you were; every time you broke through a siege, you had to kill more and more people, and there was no longer enough space or time for you to run for your life; you hid in a narrow dead-end alley and rested.】

【Of course, you would not just surrender like that; you tore a piece of cloth from a captive, leaned against the wall panting, and wiped the blood-stained Longsword in your hand.】

【Slowly, you heard more and more sounds blocking the outside of the dead-end alley where you were hiding.】

【Then, the voice of a middle-aged man rang out; he told you that your accomplice had been caught, and as long as you handed over Tachiman, he could guarantee the safety of both your lives.】

【As soon as you heard it, you knew the other side was talking nonsense; it was clear that Hunter had not been found yet, and you felt you should create an even bigger commotion.】

【You laughed loudly and told the people outside that if they wanted him, they could come and take him over your dead body.】

【The middle-aged man's voice was no longer heard, and soon four Swadian Sergeants holding Shields and carrying Maces walked in, followed by a dense crowd of soldiers.】

【You carried the Longsword and walked slowly toward the shield wall formed by the Swadian Sergeants.】

【The Swadian Sergeants saw you advancing instead of retreating, and four Maces thrust toward your whole body with speed; you dodged three of them by turning sideways and parried the last one with your Longsword, then your left hand quickly gripped and caught a spear shaft that was trying to retract, and with a force of your arm, you dragged the unprepared Sergeant in front of you as if pulling a chick.】

【As he stumbled toward you, your right-hand Longsword slashed directly across his neck, and the spurting blood splashed onto your face, looking ferocious and terrifying under the glow of the fire.】

【This maneuver made the three Sergeants nervous; they stood in place and gripped their spears tightly; you did not give them much time to think, but directly reversed the Mace in your hand and threw it into the crowd without shield cover; this Mace pierced through three or four people before it stopped, and then you picked up the Kite Shield from the ground and charged toward the enemy like a demon.】

【The Longsword in your hand soon became notched, covered in thick blood; it was just an ordinary sword, and even if it cut too many bones, it could not withstand it.】

【Now you had switched to a Mace, and you felt that this thing was much more useful than a Longsword; you didn't need to care at all whether the place you hit had armor, as your powerful strength was enough to break tendons and bones and crack skulls even through armor.】

【Soon, there were no more enemy figures in front of you; except for the dozens of enemies lying on the ground, the rest all ran out screaming.】

【You did not care about the enemies groaning on the ground, but listened carefully to the arguing sounds coming from outside the alley.】

【A rough voice strongly demanded the use of a Crossbow formation to shoot you to death while you were hiding in the alley, saying they couldn't let their own soldiers go in and die for nothing, while the previous middle-aged man strongly opposed it, stating that Tachiman could not be allowed to die in Uxhal; if the favorable situation of the frontline war were ruined and King Harlaus were to blame them, not to mention the two of them, even the Lord of Uxhal could not afford the consequences.】

【The situation thus strangely reached a stalemate; a moment later, the middle-aged man outside very politely asked if it was possible to arrange for people to rescue the wounded inside; you agreed, as they had already lost their combat effectiveness and could not join the hunt for you again, and staying here was just waiting for death, so you didn't mind giving them a way out.】

【You considered this your compassion, and this kindness was an inseparable part of your character, but this kindness ultimately brought you trouble.】

【After the few people who entered carried out a few wounded, seeing that you did not take the initiative to attack them, they took advantage of your inattention to throw the torches in their hands into the depths of the alley; in the firelight, they saw the captive's face, which was not Tachiman at all, and they shouted loudly at the first opportunity.】

【This simple but useful ruse was thus exposed along with their shouting.】

【When the torches were thrown to the ground, you sensed something was wrong; you did not give these people who traded their lives for information a chance to run out, and you smashed their heads with the Mace.】

【Even so, you still did nothing to the enemies groaning on the ground, but picked up the Mace in your hand, grabbed another fairly intact Shield, and charged directly out of the alley where you were hiding.】

【While in the alley, from your perspective, you could hardly see any enemies, but after you charged out, you found hundreds of soldiers holding dense torches, blocking the entire street completely.】

【And right next to the alley stood a middle-aged man with a hairless face and gorgeous clothing, hiding behind a few seemingly shrewd and capable guards, staring at you in a daze; he could never have imagined that you would actually charge out just like that.】

【Without needing to think, you killed the few mercenaries guarding him in a short time, held him hostage, and blocked him in front of you.】

【Just after you completed this series of actions, four or five meters in front of you, dozens of Swadian Sniper Crossbowmen holding Heavy Crossbows had already formed a formation, and they were commanded by a bearded officer; you couldn't see the expression under his beard clearly, but you only heard a "Fire".】

【Dozens of crossbow bolts shot directly at you; caught off guard, you dodged a portion, and the middle-aged man in front of you blocked a portion for you, but two crossbow bolts still pierced your thighs; the pain coming from there was telling you every moment that you were going to die here today.】

【In fact, you no longer wanted to kill anyone; the time had been delayed long enough, and if Hunter hadn't escaped like this, then this was his fate; you had already done your best.】

【Since you couldn't run away anymore, you thought that a quick death might not be a bad ending.】

【You held the corpse in your hand, watching the Sniper Crossbowmen opposite quickly and steadily loading ammunition into their Heavy Crossbows; you lifted the middle-aged man who was already dead, making a gesture to throw him toward the crossbowmen, and you heard the command "Fire" once again.】

【Your chest was instantly pierced by crossbow bolts; you slumped to the ground, blood foam bubbling in your mouth, grinned and smiled at the bearded officer who was walking over slowly; the people in front of you became increasingly blurred, and finally, everything went black before your eyes.】

【You have severe internal bleeding.】

【You died.】

【This simulation has ended, simulation result: Failure】

【You have gained 1 point of Honor, gained 50 points of Reputation, and gained 1000 Dinar.】

【Simulation can be continued, Yes/No?】

Allen chose No, because there were still many things to do in these recent days, friends who needed to be visited, and a Maia waiting for him to get to know.