At the end of May, the farmers began to harvest the oats planted in the spring.
The cloudless sky was blue, and as the temperature rose, the farmers carrying sickles also put on short clothes and walked on the road in twos and threes. They went out in the morning, and at noon, they could be seen carrying oats back to the village.
These crops, which could be harvested in three months, were usually not for people to eat. As long as they were old enough, they were basically used as rations for livestock. In the past, after the harvest, the villagers always used these oats as tax deductions for the lord, but now, the farmers were very happy that Roddy directly bought them at a slightly higher price —
Because Roddy had ordered dozens of military horses from the other villages, and these fodder could only be exported and turned into domestic sales.
Fortunately, Rody had not only exchanged for the armor but also bought a large amount of salt, cloth, pig iron and a series of other things that could be traded with the villagers. That was how Rody managed to support his newly formed 'team'.
He paid for the soldiers' meals out of his own pocket, especially the supply of milk, meat and eggs, and the daily cost of meals increased by nearly ten times. This move was seriously puzzled by the farmers, and they even called it "extravagant", but Roddy did not care about it, and still strictly ordered the scouts to carry it out.
These changes began at the beginning of May, since the implementation of the new "training plan", until the beginning of June, the scouts were immersed in this cruel "devil's training".
Running ten laps around the village was a warm up, and thirty laps were physical training; the weapons used for face-to-face training were no longer wooden swords, but real swords wrapped in cloth; in addition to one-on-one combat, there were various kinds of cooperative tactics and even hand-to-hand combat; the weight of the short bow increased, and the target required to be farther and farther away.
Not only that, every evening, they would also have a class called "Combat Quality Training", taught by Roddy — the content taught included all the necessary combat awareness, tactical sign language, night communication signals, tactical intentions and so on. Every day, there was an assessment, and every scout who failed would be punished to run ten laps around the village.
At first, the high-intensity training caused the scouts to frequently faint, faint, and have cramps. However, after a month, they had completely adapted to this almost abnormal training. Every scout's skin was tanned, and all of them had improved in strength, endurance and combat level. At the same time, the whole team gradually condensed into a real "strict obedience" atmosphere.
Everything went according to Roddy's plan, and nothing unexpected happened … What made him feel strange was that Francis did not seem to suspect him at all, and there were no "strangers" in Norland Village to ask about the orcs.
Although he found it strange, he didn't spend too much energy monitoring the Count in Hollier City. He only knew from the occasional messages that the other party had been holding back all this while, which made him feel relieved. After all, no matter how daring that fellow was, he wouldn't dare to charge into the Rose Cross Cloister to kill. Roddy was much more at ease with regards to Sally's situation.
At the beginning of June, the horses that Roddy had ordered had arrived at Norland Village. At the same time, he had also gathered a new batch of materials for making bows. Roddy was already preparing to make his own short bow … But at this moment, an accident happened, causing the scouts of Norland Village to halt their training.
。
June 3rd, Cree Village.
Like Norland Village, this small village on the border of the kingdom had a similar quiet atmosphere in the summer. The farmers were busy working in the fields, occasionally pointing to the distance and talking about something. The children at the entrance of the village were playing. A little girl's braid was pulled by a little boy who hid behind her, and then it was followed by a scene of laughing and chasing each other.
It was just past noon, and the scouts of Cree Village were sitting under the shade of a tree at the entrance of the village, feeling bored. Their uniforms with the emblem of the Lucifron Family were askew on their bodies. Because of the hot weather, they were too lazy to button up their uniforms. Some of them even threw their leather boots aside and lay barefoot on the haystack under the shade of the tree, covering their eyes with their arms.
This was the norm for scouts, and the word "bum" was the most appropriate word for them.
The captain named Hank took two gulps of water from his water bottle, leaned against the mud wall, and looked into the distance with his hand covering his eyes. He asked, "Hill and the others are not back yet?"
"It's a sunny day. I guess they got a heatstroke?"
The team members answered casually. The lazy atmosphere was the norm for this team. To them, the only thing they could do in this life was to live like this day by day. Their lives were backward, and their knowledge was poor. Most of them had not even seen what a real city looked like, so they did not have much imagination for the future.
"Hey, Captain Hank, I heard that Norland Village has been doing something big recently."
"Norland Village? Heh. I don't know what's wrong with the captain. I heard that they ordered a lot of horses, and they want good military horses. I didn't hear any new orders from Old Duke. Maybe it's just a rumor. "
"A few days ago, I saw a lot of old guys carrying oats back happily. They said that Norland Village is buying them, and the money they get is more than the tax. I don't know if it's true or not."
"Heh, looks like they bought a lot of horses? Heh. And they have to feed them with oats. Do they really have too much money to spend? Could it be that Lord Kirk is going to war? How can Old Duke not know that he's secretly doing these things? "
"Sigh, Old Duke. I haven't been here for a long time. Didn't Young Master Francis and Miss Sally want to come too? If it wasn't for that incident, it would really be — "
"Orc attack? Could this kind of thing be fake? They described it very vividly, but no one has ever seen a real orc. "
Captain Hank waved his hand and said, "Okay, okay. We don't care if it's real or not. The people above don't want to see any trouble, so …"
"Captain, they seem to be back."
The guy who was looking into the distance interrupted Captain Hank's words. He sat up from the haystack, shook his clothes that were covered in grass, stretched, and looked into the distance again. "Oh, it's just that they came back a little late. Is it because they are learning how to line up? Heh, this group of idiots, they really think they are knights … "
Because of the rising temperature, the figures on the horizon in the distance were somewhat unrecognizable because of the distorted air. But at this time, no one could be here, so the scouts didn't care. Captain Hank clapped his hands and gestured for everyone to prepare for the afternoon patrol. He tightened his grip on his sword, which he hadn't unsheathed for a long time. When his horse came, he looked into the distance again.
This time, he sensed something strange.
"What is that?"
A scout on horseback suddenly asked.
No one answered his question because the black figures in the distance were not the team led by Captain Hill, but a large group of strong fellows rushing over the grassy slope. When they galloped, their bodies moved up and down, and no matter how you looked at it, they didn't look like warhorses. Wolves?
"It can't be. This is. Warwolves? "
"Wolves. Wolf riders? Orcs? "
The discussion came to an abrupt end. The group of scouts couldn't quite accept the scene in front of them. Because the topic that they were discussing just now, which seemed to be extremely far away from them, had suddenly become a reality. This strong contrast made them collectively stunned for a moment.
While they were hesitating, the team in the distance had already begun to sprint at full speed. The dozens of warwolves clearly appeared in their field of vision. Although they weren't as tall as warhorses, their upright fur, razor-sharp teeth, and the Orcs holding machetes on their backs all showed their true identity.
Wolf riders, the most terrifying mobile force of the Orcs.
"Run. Quickly run! What are you waiting for?! Quickly retreat — "
Hank opened his mouth, but he was unable to say the words "prepare for battle" because of the fear that arose in his heart. He only had nine scouts by his side, and the other side had a total of nine scouts. But the enemy had a total of 30 strong Orc warriors riding on warwolves! The consequences of rushing up to battle were obvious even with their knees!
These words caused the scouts to lose all their morale. Or it could be said that they never had any morale in the first place. When the Wolf Cavalry was still a kilometer away from the village, the scouts on horseback scattered in confusion. They didn't even have the thought of resisting.
"Enemy attack! Quickly run! Quickly run — "
Some scouts didn't forget to loudly warn the villagers, but they also knew that such warnings were of little use.
At the entrance of the village, two little girls with braided braids finally caught up to the boy who pulled her braid. She panted and said something, but the boy replied with a grimace. The girl pouted and wanted to pinch the boy's nose, while the boy smiled and wanted to dodge … But then, their actions were interrupted by the dull sound of footsteps.
The two of them curiously turned their heads. On the road that traversed through the village, there were some guys that they had never seen before. The ferocious-looking soldiers on the back of the wolves swept out like a black wave. In the billowing smoke, the weapons in their hands were waving mercilessly.
The little boy was stunned. He seemed to have thought of something and wanted to pull the girl behind him who was scared silly to run away. But just as he turned around, the blood-stained long sword had already torn through the air and slashed towards him.
"Pu —"
The broken body flew out, and blood splattered all over the ground. The frightened girl screamed and tried to escape, but a wooden stick slammed into her chest. Her small body was almost blown away by the blow. Her twisted body rolled on the ground, and soon, it was trampled by the howling wolf, and no one could tell what it was before.
The Orc riding the strongest warwolf slowly stopped at the square in the middle of the village. In his hand was the head of the Cree Village's butler.
He casually threw the head on the ground, and stood next to the low wall where the scouts were. The Orc behind him was reporting the things they had looted.
Grain, dried meat, bread, oats …
"Take whatever you can. Burn everything that you can't. Don't leave anyone alive."
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
