The light in the temporary hall flickered between bright and dark. The candlelight had been deliberately reduced, and the dim light left deep marks on the texture of the wood.
The remote corner was quiet, and the air was filled with an eerie atmosphere.
Everyone present wasn't used to the bright firelight, but as long as the pale-faced middle-aged man with an eye patch didn't open his mouth, the rest of the people didn't dare to act rashly.
If Sophie was here, she might be able to recognize this person, because his appearance had not changed much after more than ten years. This was the deputy of the Black Lord Incirsta, the vampire baron, 'One-eyed' Tarkus. He was a member of the Manlyne family, the 14th generation vampire, and also the younger generation. But compared to his experience in the Madara army, he was far more experienced than the young Incirsta.
But it did not matter, this was just the beginning of their cooperation.
Tarkus looked at the skeleton soldiers taking out stacks of information from the library. He paused for a moment, turned his head, and asked the lich beside him, "Tell me, what did Rothko leave you here to report?"
"Honorable General Tarkus, my master found a scout in the manor." The lich lowered his head and replied with a dry voice.
"So?" He glanced at it, and his gaze returned to the tactical map spread out.
"He escaped."
There were a few disdainful sneers around.
The vampire general raised his head, and the soft voices immediately subsided. He paused for a moment, and then said, "I know, Rothko did a good job. But I hope it will be better, so that he will not be distracted by these trivial matters. I want to see him arrive at the Beldor Forest before noon. "
The lich nodded respectfully and left.
But as soon as it left, there was a discordant voice in the meeting room. This time, the one who spoke was a tall skeleton. Its whole body was covered in an old brass armor. Dark yellow flames flickered in its eye sockets, revealing a kind of anger.
"Lord Tarkus, maybe the humans have discovered our intentions, that scout —"
It opened its mouth, but suddenly no sound came out from its leaky jaw. This was because it saw Tarkus staring at it with its remaining eye. This gaze made it subconsciously shut up.
A burst of low laughter came from the surroundings, and the sarcasm in it made the flames in its eyes flicker in annoyance.
"Kabias."
"Here!" The tall skeleton immediately replied with its chest puffed out.
"You go and take down this place." Tarkus pointed at a village on the map.
"Before sunrise," he pointed at the roof again, "I want to see the results —"
"Yes, Lord Tarkus."
"Wesa, Ebdon."
"Here!" They answered in unison.
"All of you, attack Verbin and seal off the River of Daggers."
"Yes, Lord Tarkus."
"Jinx."
"Here!"
"I'll give you two squads. Search and clear this area."
"Yes!"
Tarkus raised his head and coldly swept his gaze over everyone. "You are all nobles of the darkness. We want to see you execute my every order gracefully and swiftly, meticulously. Fortress Riedon is our next target. "
He took the lead and stood up. He placed his pale hand on his left shoulder and chanted, "Madara will be victorious —"
All the undead stood up and replied in a low voice, "Madara will be victorious —"
Tarkus lowered his head and looked at the map again. He first saw the Red Pine Forest in the south of Bucce, then moved up to Green Village, Beldor Forest, and then Fortress Riedon.
Human scouts? He smiled coldly.
… …
At the same time, the full moon shone on top of the pine forest.
There were no wolves howling in the mountains of Usong, but there was a wind in the Black Pine Forest. The cold wind was like smoke that passed through the branches of the trees. It was so cold that people could not help but feel a chill down their spine. The youths of Bucce had never spent the night outside. The fog in the forest made them a little suspicious, as if every shadow was a terrifying monster.
But a voice calmed them down.
"Press down on this spot."
"Yes, that's right."
"Water —"
"Give me a bandage."
"Press it down."
It was finally done. Sophie wiped the sweat off his forehead and let out a long sigh.
He saw a light green + 2 appear on the youth's body. Only then did he feel relieved.
After his [First Aid] skill reached Beginner (Level 0), the healing effect of the bandage naturally increased. There was no difference between this and the game, but every part that matched Sophie's memories made him feel more at ease.
How to clean the wound, prevent infection, stop bleeding, bandage, and what details to pay attention to. He guided Mackie and Neberto to complete all of this. Of course, he did not have the stamina to do it himself. His body was weak, but only slightly better than the unconscious Jonas.
When Niberto completed the last step under his instructions, Sophie looked up and realized that everyone was staring at her with their mouths agape.
Professional.
This was the only comment they had in their hearts.
Petit-finis even turned his head and said to Freya in a serious tone, "Big sister, compared to your skills, it seems that your skills are inferior —"
As for Freya, she stood on the side of the crowd with a calm face.
Sure enough, he was just looking for an excuse to get close to her. Shameless! She could not help but conclude in her heart. She looked at the Roman with some concern, only to see him counting the spoils on the ground with a smug look on his face.
This damned girl.
However, only Sophie himself knew that all his knowledge came from the skill 'Battlefield First Aid'. It was only when he recalled the skill in the list that all the knowledge appeared in his mind. And in the young man's memory, most of the Beginner First Aid knowledge came from the first three sections of the book "Gerson's Holy Cross", which mainly talked about bandaging skills. Sophie happened to know Gerson in the game, the current High Priest of Braggs.
The content of the book was as if he had seen it himself, as if he had studied it hundreds of times. The feeling of being at ease was like learning first aid skills with a plug-in.
Unfortunately, there was a price to pay for using a plug-in.
On the other hand.
Sophie quickly understood that in fact, there were a total of ten members in Bucce's third militia team. Including Freya, there was Mackie, Irene, Ike, and Petit-finis, who he was familiar with.
Then there was Neberto and Vlad, who did not like to talk much. The two brothers' families were mountain people who migrated from the Bora region. They inherited the quiet nature of the locals and loved to do more than talk.
Then there was Jonas, but the latter was unconscious and the chances of waking up were not high.
Then there was the dreamy merchant girl, and the girl who was with her. Sophie later found out that the girl was the town's baker's daughter, but she was shy and introverted, unlike the other two ladies who were generous.
The girl was called Bertha. She had a gentle personality, but at least she was a good girl with a kind heart.
These were all the people Sophie had to deal with. They seemed to be very outstanding young people, but Sophie knew that they were a bunch of newbies who did not understand what they were going to face.
Thus, he thought for a while and asked: "Do you have any plans?"
In the next moment, the smiles on their faces disappeared, and it was replaced by silence.
"Let's go to Fortress Riedon." After a while, Irene suggested.
"That's right, Captain Marden and the rest will definitely go there." Ike agreed.
As expected, Sophie shook his head.
He raised his head to look at the youths, and saw that they were silent, uneasy, and at a loss for what to do tomorrow. Even though Freya seemed to be in a better state, her grip on her sword was so tight that her knuckles turned white, betraying her true feelings.
Only Roman answered naturally: "I'll go with Brando."
Sophie was both annoyed and amused at the same time. However, the merchant girl's straightforwardness left a good impression. The young man paused and said: "Alright, I agree with you on one point — — the most important thing for us now is to leave this place."
"That means there's something you don't agree with, right?" Freya asked.
Sophie nodded: "Does anyone have a map?"
Everyone looked at each other, who would have such a thing? Although they were militia, most of the time, they were under the command of the local guards. To put it bluntly, they were just a reserve team.
Sophie also realized his slip of the tongue. In Erouine, without the permission of the Holy Cathedral, he would be treated as a spy if he carried a map. He always thought of himself as a traveler, and forgot that he was already a member of this world.
And here, there were no more players.
"The guards seem to have one … …" Mackie stammered from the back of the crowd.
Sophie shook his head, and thought to himself: "Isn't that nonsense?" He sighed and turned to the merchant girl: "Roman, give me a sword."
"Alright, Brando."
Sophie took the sword and drew two lines on the soft ground.
"This is the Weishi River, and this is the Yu Song River."
He used the tip of the sword to point a few times between the two rivers: "This is Bucce, this is Green Village, and this is Weibin."
He only used a few simple strokes to draw a rough outline, but it opened the eyes of the young people once again. After all, in this era, there were not many people who understood the world as well as he did.
"Isn't that the Three Towns?" Bertha couldn't help but cover her mouth.
"That's amazing, so this is what we look like here." Ike looked at Sophie with admiration.
"So Bucce is here?"
"Brando, how did you know?" Everyone asked at once. After all, they were young people, and they couldn't suppress their curiosity.
Sophie shook his head.
What a joke, he didn't even recognize the Three Towns Novice Village, then he might as well find a piece of tofu and kill himself. Of course, he couldn't answer like that, so he purposely asked: "Haven't you learned about tactical maps?"
Tactical maps? What's that?
Everyone was at a loss. Mother Marsha above, could it be that even the militia of Bruglas had to learn this?
Everyone couldn't help but admire him blindly.
But our main character laughed in his heart, even the lower ranking officers in the regular army wouldn't know about it, so it would be strange if the militia learned it. Of course, he wouldn't expose himself in front of everyone, but he pointed at the intersection of the two rivers:
"This is Fortress Riedon."
"Ah, this is Fortress Riedon?" The Roman asked curiously.
"What's wrong?" Sophie could clearly hear the stifled laughter around him, and he couldn't help but raise his head to ask.
"It's like this, brother Brando. When the Roman was young, she was very envious of the merchants in Fortress Riedon, and wanted to be a merchant every day. Once, she ran out and said that she wanted to do a big business in Fortress Riedon, but in the end — — "Petit-finis not only betrayed the country, but also kept them guessing.
The people around couldn't help but laugh.
"In the end?" Sophie asked.
"Haha, she got lost in the forest halfway, and it was Uncle Ciel who found her." Petit-finis laughed.
"No, no such thing." Roman's eyebrows were raised.
Sophie looked at the future merchant lady, and couldn't help but think that she didn't learn her lesson.
"Alright, let's get back to the topic. Why do you want to go to Fortress Riedon? "He calmed himself down and continued to ask.
"There's an army there."
"Captain Maden and the others will definitely go there."
"My uncle too." Everyone started to talk at once, but they all had the same idea, they all had their own family, and although they were separated, they might go to Fortress Riedon, so why not go there?
Sophie couldn't refute this answer, but it was normal, who would leave their family behind? But he also knew that those who escaped from Bucce would most likely be caught by Madara's army. And if they went to Fortress Riedon now, they would only be walking into a trap.
Sophie was very clear that they had to advance parallel to 'Death God' Kabias' and avoid it by entering Beldor Forest. They had to cross the River of Daggers before Ebdon and Wesar could surround them. From there, they would enter the Hunting Deer Forest, and pass by Incirsta's main force to Anzek, where they would inform the local garrison about the Gusta tribe's plan.
This was the only way for them to survive, and Erouine wouldn't lose as badly as he did in history.
But how should he say it?
Forget it, let's just follow the old rules and take one step at a time. He rubbed his heavy forehead and changed his words: "Alright, we can go to Fortress Riedon first, and decide what to do next based on the situation."
He raised his head and saw Freya's worried expression, the girl obviously didn't believe him.
"Mr. Brando?"
"It's nothing, just a guess. Maybe the situation will change. "He smiled at the girl. But even though he said that, he couldn't help but sigh in his heart.
Reality was cruel, and it wasn't up to him to make a choice. Of course, if there was a chance, he would definitely try again.
Otaku, you're so naive.
He couldn't help but laugh at himself.
… …
(PS: My grades never went up, sigh.)
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.
