From Skaven to God of War

Chapter 258: The Big Shot at the Table
This conscription included all residents in the city, even those poor guys and the thin men in the slums.

This is certainly good news for them. If the ordinary residents in the city of Crash are just finding it hard to support themselves, then these poor guys in the slums are almost at the end of their rope.

The doubled food prices have already forced these poor people to start getting food from all sorts of places.

Rat jerky has become all the rage among them recently. Even though there is no shortage of food in the city, they simply cannot afford the overly expensive ordinary food.

Yes, it's the rat jerky you think it is, the kind with hair and hands and feet.

The city defenders did not exclude these poor guys, but due to their general malnutrition and overly thin bodies, most of them were not even qualified to be consumables.

Fortunately, they are still recruiting sweepers. After the brutal battle, a lot of sweepers are needed this time.

The blackened old lantern was held high. In the dim light, on this dim street, thin men gathered together. It was inexplicably scary, and the city guards who came here couldn't help but raise their voices.

But these guys are not dangerous, they are calm and waiting to be picked.

Soon after, a group of thin men were taken away from the street.

In fact, the problems faced by this street are far more than just food shortage. Lighting is also a big problem. Compared with other areas of the city, this area is particularly dim.

Only at an extremely long distance would you see an oil lamp with a faint flickering light.

Light is a very important thing, especially after the world has entered the dark eternal night, the residents of Stirling City are working hard to maintain the light.

When the world falls into darkness, some sneaky guys lurking in the dark will become particularly active.

There is no shortage of traces of ratmen in the city. In a very short period of time, these sneaky guys are everywhere in the city. However, these ratmen are not large in scale, and there is no leader who can command them all. They do not pose a particularly serious threat. They will only roam around the city when chaos begins to spread, or when an area is completely plunged into darkness, these sneaky guys will begin to gather and become active.

The city's affairs officers are trying to avoid this situation. The darkness will attract the gathering of ratmen in the city. This is a very dangerous situation, not only because of what these guys do in the dark, but also because the ratmen may decide on a leader when they gather together.

But his words were not taken seriously. Compared with the possible crisis, the confrontation between the two sides inside and outside the city wall was obviously more dangerous and direct.

Fortunately, things did not develop to such a critical situation. Above the nobles' mansions, there was an uninterrupted lighting rising, and the bright and soft light dispelled all the darkness.

Ordinary urban communities also lit torches, placed candles, and even the wealthier ones could use some bulky magic props.

The Golden Wheatfield Academy in the City of Storms is not particularly good at making and using various magic props, but this incompetence is only relative. It is just not that outstanding and proficient. Facing the threat of ratmen, the academy began to change direction. Benefiting from the surge of magic tides, some magic-driven weapons should be put into use soon.

It is possible that we won't be able to wait until that time. This research has some big and small problems. The Gold and Wheat Field Academy is indeed not good at making and using various magic props.

That thing that can fill a small square and is carved with complex and staggered patterns is not cheap. Its function is just to cast lighting into the sky at regular intervals. Even so, it still needs to be charged by the wizard at regular intervals in order to operate smoothly.

But only wealthy neighborhoods can afford such equipment. The most common situation is to light oil lamps, plug in torches, and hire small teams of mercenaries to wander around the neighborhood.

None of this has anything to do with the residents of the slums.

Except for one strange guy, a hunched knight wearing old armor.

Wandering in this chaotic and barren area, fighting in the darkness and resting in the light, you can see him stepping into the darkness with a pitchfork in his hand, and you can also see him returning to the neighborhood where the light still exists with blood all over his body.

However, it is said that the light is still there, but in fact it is just a small oil lamp, with a faint flickering flame that illuminates a small area in the street. You can see that after the battle, this strange knight sits down on the street with a nonchalant look and rests against a simple shack.

A very strange guy.

Only when the city guards arrive in the slums will this place truly come alive.
This strange knight also witnessed this scene, leaning against the old shack, casting a curious look, somewhat tempted by the conditions offered by the city guards.

But in the end, he still didn't stand up.

He wanted to have a beer. He missed the old oak mug with some spots of mold and the beer in such an oak mug.

But in the end, I just watched silently.

The residents of the slums have not yet adapted to the presence of this uninvited guest, and the world has taught them to remain vigilant.

Sitting cross-legged in the street illuminated by dim light, I was in a daze.

Of course, he wasn't in a daze all the time. The Vatican Knights came to this area several times to distribute some free food, and he never missed a single one.

After participating a few times, there was a bulging pocket on his waist. This guy was not honest at all. He was ruthless in taking advantage of those knights and tried every means to put the money into his own pocket.

His pocket was bulging and he took out a piece of bread from it. It was the kind of bland bread without any taste, but he ate it with gusto.

What he did brought neither flowers nor applause, but he didn't particularly care.

………….

A new batch of guards climbed up the towering city walls. The first thing they saw was the endless piles of corpses. These piled up corpses were not easy to deal with. Those of the ratmen were easy to deal with as they could push down the wall and soon there would be a fire. However, the corpses of the human guards mixed in with the ratmen could not be dealt with so carelessly.

If you claim to be a civilized people, then some sense of ceremony is essential. The city hall has set aside a cemetery area for burying soldiers who died in battle.

Therefore, sorting out the piled up corpses one by one became a necessary task.

The thin men climbed up the city wall, sorted the corpses, hung thick hemp ropes around their waists, and began to descend along the city wall to pick up the scattered weapons. They were very busy, but the newly recruited guards, these new soldiers, seemed a little at a loss.

Standing blankly on the city wall, looking at the piles of corpses in front of them, in fact, what they saw was only a little left over from the brutal battle. More of them were piled under the city wall, a thick layer of rat corpses, so densely packed that it was difficult to see clearly, unless the many mages accompanying the army cast illumination spells towards the sky to illuminate the area, the traces left over from the battle would be impossible to see clearly.

These new recruits were a little shaken. Their eyes were swaying left and right. Regret was a normal expression, but it was obvious that it was not so easy to escape after getting on the pirate ship.

A tall knight came up behind this group of recruits and just stood still. His original impetuousness immediately disappeared and he looked honest and obedient.

Amidst loud cheers, these new recruits were assigned to their respective posts. They were not qualified yet and needed to be tempered, but that was not a big problem. After experiencing a battle, fighting in that horrific scene and surviving, everything would fall into place.

………….

Outside the city of Stormwind, there is a ratman camp hidden in the darkness.

The camp had some visitors.

Some visitors of some importance, one by one they were rat lords.

They arrived at the Eastern Expeditionary Force's camp almost at the same time.

Even if they arrived together, there would still be certain risks facing the manic guy Shu Zhan, but these guys still came.

For the special eyes of the Ghost-Eyed People, which are a very precious commodity and contain extremely huge profits, such profits are enough for them to abandon those dangers and come to this camp in person.

What's more, they didn't arrive one by one.

If possible, these guys actually don't mind kicking out their peers and monopolizing the extremely huge profits, even if they have to give up some of their own profits.

There is just one problem, the partner is Rat War, well, that's a big problem.

The rat lords brought their companions and arrived at the camp together. In the center of the camp, in the spacious tent made of various leather materials, both sides formally sat down and began to negotiate.

The arrival time was carefully selected and was very particular.

The blue eyes produced by the Ghost-Eyed People are ultimately just a special organ. Even if they are contaminated with magic power, they will inevitably become corrupted.

Of course, there are ways to preserve the quality. The rat lords have discovered that as long as they mobilize the elements to focus on these blue eyes from time to time, they can prevent decay from occurring.

However, this method requires the cooperation of enough ratmen priests, a condition that Rat Zhan lacks. The blue eye in his hand is already rotting.

The rat lords seized on this and delayed time in order to force the rats to surrender.

Of course, this underestimates the rat war.

The two sides were arguing fiercely in the tent. When they got angry, they showed their fangs and claws, and even violent fluctuations of magic appeared in the tent from time to time.

Obviously, this was the situation created by the rat lords. As ratmen, these guys were much crazier than priests of ordinary races even as priests.

It is really possible for it to transform into a suicide truck and die together with you.

But in the end, when these rat lords left, their faces were particularly gloomy. It was obvious that they did not gain any advantage.

Shu Zhan would rather wait for those precious eyes to rot and be destroyed than do business with these rat lords.

This made the rat lords look unhappy, but in the end everyone maintained some decency and did not really fight. Even if it was a rat war, they had to think about the price they would pay for leaving all these guys here.

The logistics of the Eastern Expeditionary Force still rely on the channels and caravans in the hands of these guys. What's more, there are people watching him from above.

Of course, it’s just a rat war. Even if the logistics are controlled by these guys, they can still adopt such an attitude.

Shuzhan knew very well the characters of these rat lords, or rather, these rat priests.

Taking over the logistics of the Eastern Expeditionary Force has brought huge benefits to these guys, so it will never be him who will take the initiative to maintain all this, but these rat lords.

Indeed, even though these rat lords were very unhappy with Rat War during the negotiations, in the end, they never raised the issue of cutting off logistics as a bargaining chip.

Of course, there is a prerequisite for these guys to be so tolerant, and that is that you must be qualified to negotiate with them.

The two sides parted ways unhappily, and subsequent twists and turns will certainly not cease. The rat lords will not give up. It is true that they can no longer challenge the Rat War militarily, but the circulation and trade of resources in the Rat Empire cannot bypass them.

And Shu Zhan would certainly not give in easily. He was unwilling to compromise with the rat lords even if it meant watching these precious things in his hands being destroyed. The reason behind this was not complicated, it was even very simple.

For the sake of profit, for the sake of monopolizing the huge profits that may arise.

He instinctively wanted to take everything because of greed. Although Shu Zhan and these rat lords were almost the absolute top of the Rat Empire and real big shots, these guys were still so rude when taking food at the table.

They even protect their food with bare teeth.

The negotiations ended unpleasantly and the war was about to continue. In the huge camp, the number of ratmen gathered did not decrease. It was still so boundless and difficult to count. Every day, a steady stream of young ratmen were sent to this camp.

Rat War is indeed treating these guys as consumables.

The flags are waving, a new round of war is about to begin. The noisy camp is briefly quiet. Many ratmen do not understand what is happening and are confused. Soon they will be pushed onto the battlefield in this confusion, the new guys who have arrived here.

The war did not bring about no changes. There were also many ratmen. At the moment the flag was waved, a trace of fear appeared on their faces. It was a fear that was hard to shake off, but beyond the fear, they seemed calmer, especially when compared with those confused companions around them.

If these guys can survive a few more extremely brutal wars, they will probably become veteran ratmen warriors in the Eastern Expeditionary Force.

(End of this chapter)