A refreshing wind blew across the vast wilderness, stirring up the dry sand and dried leaves and grass. On the deserted land, the ditches that were once used for irrigation had dried up due to the interruption of the upstream. A collapsed wall lay in the mud, half of it covered by yellow weeds.
An abandoned old mill stood alone by the roadside. The huge windmill blades that had fallen from the mill looked like broken limbs, miserably hanging on a part of the half-collapsed red brick wall. Around the mill, traces of burning and explosive attacks could be seen. A charred road sign stood crookedly at the crossroads in front of the mill. The blurry handwriting on the road sign could be faintly seen.
"Long-tail Woodland – Cabre Town."
A rough and bulky hand brushed the road sign, wiping off a layer of black ash.
Norris looked at the black ash on his hand, then rubbed his fingers and looked at the abandoned old mill not far away.
A gust of autumn wind blew, and the cold air in the wind poured into Norris' lungs, which were no longer healthy. He could not help but bend down and cough continuously.
A few young men immediately came forward. One of them supported the minister of agriculture, who was slightly swaying. "Minister, are you okay?"
"I'm fine. I'm old, and the wind in this season is not very friendly to me." Norris waved his hand and refused his subordinate's help. He slowly looked away from the mill. "I've heard of this place. It is said that the most fertile land near the Long-tail Woodland is here."
"It's all deserted," a young official said with a sigh. "When the army attacked here, the entire Long-tail Woodland had already been occupied by the Crystal Cluster Army. There were less than a hundred survivors left. In order to completely eliminate the monsters, the soldiers carried out the bombing and burned all the towns, including the settlements around the towns."
"Deserted … Deserted is not scary. The deserted land can still be saved," Norris said slowly, looking at the weedy farmland not far away. "What I'm afraid of is the residual pollution. Let's go over there and take a look. "
The young official turned around and ordered a few magic carriages to wait by the roadside before following Noris' footsteps.
The once fertile farmland had been abandoned. After the weeds had grown, it had been bombed and burned. After the burning, new weeds had sprouted after a few storms. Now, it was almost impossible to tell that the farmland looked like it had in the past. Norris squatted down beside a barely discernible ridge, reaching out and grabbing a handful of soil, rubbing it lightly with his fingertips.
The black soil mixed with plant ash had a damp and sticky texture, and fell to the ground as his fingers rubbed them.
"What good soil …" Noris extended his hand to show the remaining soil in his hand. "Where would there be such good soil in the South?"
After sighing, he clapped his hands and began to order the samplers to collect soil samples. An accompanying clerk took out a folder and found the corresponding report. "This and the surrounding fields are part of the 'Velvet Sedge Manor', and belong to the private property of Viscount Kabre. However, it is difficult to calculate the population of the entire town of Kabre. We can only roughly estimate that there are about 300 households, not including the more remote villages and a mine."
A young technician in a field uniform, with an imperial rattan ring Druil badge on his chest, said as he inspected the soil. "The soil here still looks very healthy and fertile. It is much better than the previous two contaminated areas …"
"Mark it green for the time being." Norris slowly stood up with his hands on his knees. "Before the next planting season, collect as much information as possible on the land that can be reclaimed. Don't forget to mark the heavily contaminated areas …"
"Yes, Minister. Wait a minute, should we … "
An official from the Ministry of Agriculture responded. But before he could finish his sentence, a guard standing on the nearby ridge suddenly shouted, "Who's there? Come out! "
Several pairs of eyes immediately turned in the direction of the guard's shout. Noris raised his eyelids and saw that there seemed to be figures moving about in the abandoned mill not too far away. After the guard's second shout, the two figures that had been hiding in the mill finally walked out from the abandoned building.
It was a man and a woman. Norris could not tell how old they were. They were wearing gray clothes, and their hair and faces were dirty. They carefully bent their backs and walked towards him, with humility and fear, as if they were afraid that they would be caught by the 'big shots' in front of them if they took a wrong step.
The expression on Norris's face subconsciously trembled when he saw the man and woman. He recalled himself a few years ago … That humble and cowardly posture had been engraved in his bones for decades, and he was all too familiar with it.
"Survivors? There are survivors in this area? "A young clerk exclaimed in surprise.
Norris frowned. When the two people came closer, he asked, "Why are you here? Have you been hiding here? "
"Master, we … we ran back from the town in the south … We hid out and fought a war. After the war here, we came back," the hunchbacked man said carefully.
The hunchbacked man spoke cautiously as he tugged at the threads on his clothes. His words were a little confusing, but Norris soon understood what he meant. The two men had not been hiding in the mill all this time. They must have escaped with the others when the accident happened. Then, they were lucky enough to escape from this hell alive. For the past half a year, they must have been wandering in Pompeii or Skoderan. Now that they had heard the news that the north was safe, they came back.
Similar situations were not uncommon in this vast area. Although there were few survivors in the disaster, there were always people who could escape.
Some of these people were taken in and protected by the troops sent from the south. Some of them may have found a place to stay in the south for a long time, and some … they could not give up the land they had cultivated for generations, could not give up the only familiar hometown, or could not find a way to survive in the south, so they ran back and wandered in this land that had become a wasteland of war.
If left alone, most of these people would sooner or later die of hunger and disease, or die in the mouth of wild beasts. The rest could become bandits in the eastern part of the Holy Spirit Plains. This wasteland would become an astonishingly large area of lawless land.
But the Empire would not leave it alone. Norris and the team he led, as well as a few other troops who were moving in different directions, were tasked with the task of rebuilding the Empire's granary.
"I'm not a master. My name is Norris. I'm here on His Majesty's orders to rebuild this place," Norris shook his head and shook the complicated thoughts out of his mind. He said to the man and woman in front of him, "This is not a suitable place to settle down. You can go to the southeast first …"
The woman with dirty hair did not seem to understand what Norris said. She widened her eyes and asked, "His Majesty? Which His Majesty? Isn't His Majesty Francis no longer around? "
Norris was stunned.
Among the refugees in the central region, news was so slow and backward. Not only did they not know about the establishment of the Empire, they did not even know if the civil war had really ended. When did they start to flee? How long had they been isolated from the civilized world?
After living in the advanced and prosperous city of Cecil for several years, Norris once again saw the familiar poverty and the familiar backwardness. For a moment, he forgot to speak. Instead, Technician Druil, who was standing beside him, could not help but say, "Is it Gwen? His Majesty Cecil, he's already the Emperor. "
The man and woman were stunned for a long time before they finally exclaimed.
"You can go to the southeast first," Norris said to them again. "We have a car, we can take you there. There are also some refugees who have temporarily settled down there. It's too dangerous for you to stay here. No one can live here now. "
The man and woman finally understood what Norris meant. They hesitated, but when they saw the entourage and guards around Norris, they became nervous and fearful. However, Norris did not know how to explain everything to the two except to comfort them. He could only make some promises and ask the entourage to take out some food. He also emphasized that this was an "order of His Majesty the Emperor", and only then did they feel relieved.
But before they left with the soldiers, the hunchbacked man suddenly opened his mouth again. He tugged at the thread on his clothes and said carefully, "Master, we still have some things... can we take them together?"
Norris nodded and said, "Yes, but not too much. The car can't fit them."
The man immediately thanked him profusely and then quickly ran back to the abandoned mill. A moment later, he came out pushing a small, tattered cart that looked like it would fall apart at any time. The cart was filled with all kinds of junk, old pots, basins, and rags of unknown colors piled together. There was also a seat for people to sit on.
This was all the belongings of the man and woman. Norris could almost imagine how they escaped with this cart, wandered between the villages in the south, and then pushed it back to this place.
"That's all," the man said with a humble smile on his face. "Not much."
The soldiers who were going to escort the man and woman to the resettlement camp glanced at the things in the cart. They originally wanted to say that these junk could be thrown away, since the resettlement camp would give the refugees a set of daily necessities. But in the end, the soldier did not say so. Instead, he sighed and said, "Sigh... we can bring the things, but this cart can't. It can't fit in our car."
"Old … Old Master," the man suddenly panicked, "I can push the cart and follow behind you! I can run very fast! "
The soldier shook his head and said, "No, you don't know..."
Norris interrupted the soldier and said, "Tie this cart to the roof of the car."
The soldier looked embarrassed and said, "... Sir, this..."
"Do as I say." Norris shook his head and said, "This is their most precious thing now."
"Yes, sir."
"Master, you're a good man!" the woman with dirty hair said quickly. "You look like a kind noble master!"
"I'm not a master, and I'm not a noble master. You can call me sir." Norris corrected her again, then waved his hand and said, "Let's go. Follow this soldier. Our car is waiting by the roadside. Don't be scared by the car. "
The man and woman hurriedly agreed. But after a few steps, the hunchbacked man could not help but turn back and asked, "Master... Sir, do you think this place can really be changed back to how it was before?"
"... It will be better than before." Norris looked into the pair of cloudy but expectant eyes and said word by word, "This is the mission given to me by His Majesty."
"Then... can we come back by then?" The man looked at the soldier's face and said quickly, "Our house is in the town, there's..."
Before he could finish, the woman next to him seemed to secretly bump his arm. Norris guessed what the unfinished sentence would be. A can of wheat? A box of flour? A sickle? Or a few silver coins that he had painstakingly saved?
He did not ask, but just nodded and said, "We will come back. This is His Majesty's order."
The hunchbacked man laughed and said, "Ah, it seems that His Majesty Cecil is a good man."
They left.
After a long time, Norris finally broke the silence and said, "We still have a long way to go."
"Yes, minister."
"But everything will get better." Noris turned around and looked at the vast expanse of fertile land that had been burned by the flames of war. He seemed to be talking to himself as he said, "Just like what His Majesty said... this land that has been burned will eventually sprout new leaves."
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