The next afternoon, when the sky was still bright, Raymond returned home. He lied to the knight's steward, saying that his mother was terminally ill and that it was time for her to prepare for her funeral.
The knight's steward reluctantly agreed to Raymond's request for leave. Brittany law had detailed regulations for serfs to be exempt from labor, which included sick leave.
The nobles still followed the spirit of chivalry … at least on the surface. The law was there, and the knights and nobles still maintained their fear of the Lake Fairy.
Raymond took the opportunity to return home early. He and his mother had agreed to cook in the afternoon. After the meal, the family would wait for the riot to happen. Once the riot started, they would immediately escape.
When the serf opened the door to his house, he was greeted by a burst of fragrance. It was because his mother had reluctantly taken out the seed grain to make porridge.
Seed grain was a serf's life. When he smelled the fragrance, not only was Raymond not happy, but his heart felt like it was being cut by a knife.
If there was a choice, who would be willing to do this? To be a runaway slave, to leave the land where his ancestors had lived and embark on a journey full of danger and uncertainty.
"Raymond, you're back? Hurry up and eat! I'll pack some more things. " His mother was putting away the family's property, which included a large number of bottles and some old clothes. This was almost all the family's property.
"Oh, Mom, we're running for our lives! These things are heavy and difficult to carry, we can't go far like this! " Raymond knew that the family had been starving for several months, and a full meal was not enough for them to go far. The eldest son decisively threw these things aside and signaled everyone to eat quickly.
The youngest son, Thomas, couldn't care less. His skinny little face was filled with longing. He grabbed the bowl with his small hands and gulped down the porridge and bread. After he finished the entire bowl of porridge, the child even stuck out his tongue and licked the bowl as if he was on a mission.
"Hurry up and eat, Lang and the others are going to make trouble!" Raymond urged his mother and brother to hurry up and eat. The serfs planned to start a riot in the evening, so he ate his fill. He put the rest of the bread in a burlap sack, which was their rations for their escape. Then he took out a handful of copper and a silver coin from a secret compartment under his bed, which was the family's last savings.
The riot was not an impromptu idea, but had been planned for a long time. In the evening, when the serfs finished their work, the defense was at its most lax.
The sky gradually darkened, but the arrival of dusk did not cause the village to fall into silence. On the contrary, a quarrel broke out in the direction of the knight's house.
"We plant food, we starve to death! Who are we planting this grain for? "
"I don't care! There was food here! We need food! "
"Vampire! Die! "
Quarrels, armed fights, and thick smoke began to rise from the direction of the knight's house. That was the sign of the house being set on fire. Raymond, who was inside the house, had been waiting for this moment.
The guards on the high wall of the village noticed the unusual movement in the knight's house and heard the order for help. They hesitated for a moment and then decided to rush to the manor to help.
Now was the time! After Raymond confirmed that the number of sentries in the village had decreased, the whole family snuck out of the house. Clark, who lived next door, also brought his family out of the house. Clark was also a young man. He had two younger sisters, but his parents had already passed away.
"Hey, Clark, are you ready?" Raymond whispered to his neighbor.
"I'm ready!" Another young man pulled his two sisters and prepared to escape as well.
"Thomas …" Raymond looked back and found his brother behind him, but his mother did not appear. "Where's mother?"
"I'm coming!" The old mother was carrying a large basket of bottles and jars, which were the things they had thrown away before. She gasped for breath. "Where are you going?"
"Ah! Mother, why are you still carrying these! "Raymond shouted angrily. He grabbed the basket on his mother's back and fiercely smashed it on the ground.
"Crash!" The large basket of bottles, jars, bowls, and spoons were all smashed into pieces.
"Oh! God! Raymond, do you know what you're doing? This is all of our family's property! " The old mother could not believe that her eldest son would actually do such a thing. She was so angry that she burst into tears. "You child! If your father knew you were wasting things like this, he'd beat you to death! "
"If we don't throw these away, sooner or later we'll die on the road!" Raymond gritted his teeth and pulled his mother and brother. "Let's go! It'll be too late if we don't! "
Taking advantage of the fact that the guards left to suppress the serf rebellion, Raymond and his group fled in the opposite direction. They ran all the way south.
Not daring to take the main road, the group only dared to take small paths.
Raymond and Clark were shocked by what they saw and heard along the way. Serf corpses were hung everywhere near the village, and groups of serfs were executed.
Under the faint moonlight, Raymond could see that some of the serfs were captured and executed as fugitives, some were executed after a riot, and some were starved to death.
No matter what, the end result was death.
It was chaos everywhere. Bandits and bandits were traversing in the night. Raymond and his group had already avoided two waves of bandits. These bandits attacked the village, killed the guards, and plundered everywhere.
If it was in the past, the knights would have mobilized and organized an army to eliminate these bandits and bandits. However, the War of Chivalry five years ago had left many areas in the territory in a difficult situation. The knights could only protect the core areas and key roads. Many of the villages and small paths at the edge of the territory had become a playground for bandits, bandits, and orcs. The knights were still bravely fighting against evil, but the insufficient number of troops meant that the knights could not protect all the territories.
They could only desperately escape to the south.
It was said that the south was different from the north. The south was ruled by the Holy Grail Knights. The virtues of the Holy Grail Knights were trusted by the serfs. In fact, when a Holy Grail Knight passed by, the lords would restrain themselves and not dare to go too far.
Perhaps the lords of the Holy Grail Knights would be willing to accept these poor people?
… …
Just like that, the group found a place to rest during the day and continued their journey at night. They followed the edge of the Arden Forest southward. After two days and two nights, they spent the last of their savings to sneak across a large river.
A few hours later, they entered a dense forest.
"Raymond, I can't walk anymore." The old mother was panting heavily. She leaned against a tree and said, "Let's rest for a while, shall we?"
"Damn it, where are we?" Raymond had no choice but to stop and rest.
After two days and two nights of frantic escape, the group did not know where they were. They had lost their way during their escape. The nobles did not send many troops to search for the serfs. Raymond knew that they had left the Duchy of Lyonassi and entered the territory of another Duchy, but no one knew where they were.
In Britannia, most of the serfs would never leave their village. Usually, they would only have a few chances to leave their village and go to other places under the orders of their lord. Once they left the village where they had lived for generations, the outside world would be chaotic and unknown to them.
To avoid the patrols of the bandits and nobles, they did not dare to walk on the main roads. To avoid encountering Orcs, they did not dare to venture too deep into the forest.
"Ouch, ouch!" Raymond's mother could not walk anymore. She had never walked such a long distance before. Her feet were swollen, and she could barely walk. "Raymond, my son, when are we going to stop running?"
"Mom, don't worry. Come, have something to eat." Raymond and his neighbor, Lake, took out some food. They started cooking by the fire.
After escaping, the two families ate better. Even though it was late winter, there was still food in the forest. There were fish in the pond, rabbits, and birds in the forest. They found a large tree and sat down. The serfs did not have thick clothes. They hunched their bodies and hid under the tree as they ate.
"Brother, I'm cold," Raymond's brother, Thomas, curled up and said uncomfortably.
"Be strong, Thomas." Raymond stuffed a loaf of bread into his brother's hand and said softly, "Be strong. Everyone is cold. We'll walk out of the forest in a few days. Then we won't be like this."
After a simple meal and boiling some water, the group prepared to continue their journey.
The dark forest was terrifying. During the arduous journey, they did not know the color of the sky.
"What time is it now?" Raymond licked his lips. His nose was red from the cold. In this cold weather, the serfs could only wear a thin layer of clothing and a cloak covered with a lot of thatch. He didn't know what time it was.
"It feels like … three hours? Four hours? "Another serf, Lake, was puzzled.
There was no sunlight in the forest, so the serfs could not differentiate north from south.
After walking for a while, the two serfs felt that something was amiss.
There was a fishy smell in the air, and deep roars were heard from the forest.
It was the Orcs!
"Mother! Thomas! It's the Orcs! Quick! Get up, let's escape! " Raymond and Lake looked at each other, and their faces turned pale. How were they going to deal with the powerful Orcs? They had only a few sticks in their hands, and two knives with which to cut bread!
The Orcs realized that there were Humans nearby. Their targets were a few Horned Beasts. They let out shrill roars and charged towards the group. They were ordinary Horned Beasts that were injured. Even so, they were not a match for the escaped serfs.
After walking for two days and two nights, the group was already very tired, especially Clark's two sisters and Raymond's old mother. After just two steps, the old mother wailed and fell to the ground.
She had reached her limit.
"Mother!" Raymond discovered that his mother had fallen to the ground. He turned around and said, "Mother, let's go! Otherwise, we'll all die! "
"No, I can't walk anymore. Raymond, bring your brother and escape!" The mother shook her head, her face full of tears. "Raymond, bring Thomas and escape. If the Orcs see food, they won't chase after you!"
"Mother!" Raymond carried his mother with tears in his eyes. He shook his head vigorously and said, "No, it wasn't easy to escape. It wasn't easy to escape here. Mother, I won't give up on you."
The roars of the Orcs were getting nearer. Their shrill cries were loud and clear in the dark forest.
Raymond carried his mother on his back and pulled his younger brother as he ran. His neighbor, Lakel, pulled his two younger sisters and ran for their lives.
A few Orcs were getting closer. Only a few Humans could outrun the terrifying Orcs.
"Ah, ah, ah!" The first to be caught was Lake. The pitiful serf was being overtaken by the Horned Beasts. He pushed his sisters away and tried to stop the Orcs. "Run!"
How could the serf be a match for the Horned Beasts? After two rounds, Lake's left arm was chopped off. The Orcs grabbed his body and tore it in half. His organs and blood splattered all over the ground.
"Run! Raymond. " The mother cried and said, "Don't worry about me. I've lived for more than 40 years. I've lived enough."
"Mother! Mother! " The short Thomas wailed. Not far away, the Orcs were enjoying a feast. Though Lark pushed his two sisters away, they couldn't escape their fate. A few Orcs captured the two sisters and ate them cruelly.
"We can't escape. We can't escape. Perhaps this is our fate." Raymond sobbed and said, "Perhaps this is our fate. Lady of the Lake, Lady Shalia, no matter who it is, please save us. Please save us!"
Perhaps this was the fate of the serfs. No matter how they tried, they would die.
"Save us!" Raymond's shout reverberated in the forest. His voice traveled far and wide.
The serfs didn't have the ability to fight against the Orcs. This was their last attempt to save themselves in despair.
His cry for help wasn't ignored.
A golden arc appeared from the depths of the forest. In the blink of an eye, the Orcs who were wreaking havoc were sliced into pieces.
A three-meter tall golden-armored giant appeared in front of the serfs. He wielded a Halberd and wore magnificent Golden Power Armor.
The Ramones were speechless with astonishment.
The golden-armored giant looked at the dead Clark family on the ground, then looked at the horned beasts that had been chopped into pieces. He shook his head and then said something to the serfs that they didn't understand.
Raymond had never seen such a brilliant figure. He forgot to kneel down and kowtow. He shook his head in bewilderment, indicating that he didn't understand what the giant was saying.
"Another escaped slave …" The golden-armored giant was expressionless. He coughed and said in Gothic, "I mean, you should have shouted for help earlier. Otherwise, your companions wouldn't have died."
"You … are you a God?" Raymond was still in a daze.
"No, I'm not a God, but I'm serving someone greater than a God." The giant pointed to a direction in the forest and said, "Go that way. There's a new road there, and there are people patrolling. If you see them, tell them that you're refugees. They won't make things difficult for you. Follow their directions and you'll reach the territory of the Holy Grail Knight, Earl Laing. You'll find work and food there. Be more diligent."
The golden-armored giant turned and was about to leave.
"That, Lord, can you tell me your name?" Raymond shouted instinctively. He knelt down and kowtowed. Then he said resolutely, "Though I have nothing, Thomas, my mother, and I will find a way to repay your kindness!"
"Name?" The giant turned and looked at the sky. Then he shook his head and gave up the idea of revealing his name.
"I never leave my name when doing good deeds. You can call me Black Glove."
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.
