Knight with Wand

The group trudged through the wilderness, and their speed was much slower than expected. There was only one pair of boots taken off the mercenaries, and no matter who wore them, the other two had to walk barefoot.

However, even though they had been extremely careful, Azerien was stabbed in the sole of his foot by a sharp object hidden in the grass shortly after they set out on the road, and the only boot had to be given to the injured man to wear.

Relying on Leon's hunting experience, the group caught rabbits, poached birds, and forked fish on the road, eating whatever they could. They even had a bite of wild wolves that attacked them without knowing what was good for them, but when they were unlucky, they often had to rely on wild fruits and plant roots to fill their stomachs.

Because there was no map, they could only roughly identify the direction, and they often became more and more confused in the wild, resulting in the loss of direction. After several days, they finally found a country road, and the road was relatively easier to walk.

This was the first trace of human habitation they encountered since they escaped from the vicinity of the mercenary camp.

When Leon knew that Azerien could speak Uriah, he wanted to find a village as soon as possible to exchange the silver coins for survival resources. It was not pleasant to walk barefoot in the wilderness for a long time, and the cold wind in the middle of the night was unbearable when they were sleeping in the open.

Everyone quickened their pace, and when they finally saw the small village with scattered huts at the end of their vision, they all felt a little excited.

However, the three did not go straight to the village, but went into the woods beside.

According to the plan discussed before, Azerien, who could speak Uriah, put on chain mail, sword, and shield, and was fully equipped. He was allowed to go to the village alone with coins to inquire about the situation. If everything went well, Leon and Lohak, who did not speak the language, would not have to go there to cause trouble.

Azerien, who looked fair, should be able to disguise himself as a knight's squire easily. After all, he was the son of a noble in the Holy Land City, and his conversation and behavior were more than enough to scare the farmers in the countryside.

Leon and Lohak climbed a hill on a nearby high ground and observed the situation from a high position.

As his companions gradually disappeared under the shelter of the houses in the village, Leon found something strange. It was broad daylight, but he could not see any trace of villagers' activities from a high place. This discovery made him puzzled.

Just as Leon was still trying to find local villagers, Azerien, who had entered the village, ran out again not long after, and waved at the entrance of the village to where Leon and Lohak were, gesturing for the two to come over.

The two people hiding on the hill looked at each other. Although they were confused, they still got out of the woods and rushed to their companions.

"What's going on?" Leon asked when he ran to the entrance of the village.

"There are no living people here. The village is in a mess and there are several corpses. The villagers have run away long ago." Azerien answered while returning the sword to Lohak.

"Has this village been robbed?" Leon finally noticed that the entrance to the village was indeed full of horse hoof prints, and several low wooden fences were knocked down.

"I don't know, but we shouldn't stay here too long." Azerian said worriedly: "The bodies of the villagers look a bit old. If there are still surviving villagers who escape, they may ask the local lord to send troops back to suppress the bandits. While there is no one here, let's quickly find something useful and leave immediately."

Leon sighed in his heart about the medieval chaos where bandits were rampant. The few of them didn't waste any time and immediately entered the village to collect supplies.

The wooden doors of the cottages were all open, and some had even been violently knocked down, which made it convenient for the three people to search. They kept their distance and moved separately from the cottages.

Although every cottage had been looted by robbers, it was obvious that the bandits would not take away all the garbage. Leon searched several houses in a row and soon found the shoes he had been thinking about by the bed in one of them.

Even if it was just a pair of shabby shoes with a hemp sole and rotten leather ties, it was better than continuing to torture the soles of his feet.

Wearing these ill-fitting fur shoes, Leon's efficiency in looting increased greatly as his steps became easier.

He rummaged through the boxes and cabinets in the already destroyed room with his hands and feet. Although he didn't find anything valuable, he soon found some dusty rough linen coats and tattered pants.

The frayed edges and rough and hard texture were very uncomfortable to wear, which was why even the robbers looked down on this kind of garbage, but it was better to have clothes to wear than nothing, and it was not a problem to block the wind.

He used the rags he picked up to make a bag, and collected the coarse bread he found sporadically and some grains that fell on the ground in a pottery bowl. Leon couldn't help complaining in his heart that these robbers were really scraping the ground three feet, leaving nothing useful except some grain residues left in some broken clay jars.

He carried the only harvest in his rag bag and walked into a wooden house. He first smelled an unbearable stench. He followed the smell and looked into the inner room. He was immediately shocked by the scene in front of him.

The first thing that caught his eye was a female corpse that had already shown signs of decay. She was naked and died miserably. Just by looking at the posture of the corpse, one could imagine what kind of inhuman abuse and atrocities she had suffered before her death. What made Leon even more furious was that the dead woman did not look old. To put it bluntly.

What a bunch of damn beasts.

Turning his eyes away in silence, Leon suddenly realized that there was more than one corpse.

Not far away, there was a headless male corpse that had also been stripped of his clothes. He was in a kneeling position with his hands tied behind his back. The body was full of scars caused by swords and knives before his death.

From the head and face that rolled to the ground, the man was older. He might be the father of the female corpse.

It was impossible to imagine the despair and pain he felt when he was forced to watch his daughter being subjected to beastly acts before his death.

Leon couldn't bear it any longer, he stepped back and closed the door.

The human tragedy that happened in this room constantly awakened the miserable memories of the original owner of this body.

Nothing is more infuriating and painful than experiencing a similar situation in person.

After searching another room, Lohak came over and saw that Leon only opened the door and took a look before leaving the wooden house. He couldn't help asking: "What's wrong? Is there anything inside?"

Leon sighed and shook his head: ". There's no need to search this room. There shouldn't be anything valuable left inside."

Lohak walked forward puzzled, opened the door and took a look inside, then he withdrew with an expression even uglier than Leon. This upright young man took a deep breath and calmed his violently fluctuating mood.

Even though he had a deep hatred for the Kantadars, he still suffered a great psychological shock after witnessing the same tragedy of ordinary civilians in the enemy country.

"Let's go." Leon patted his shoulder.

It took a long time for the three of them to basically turn over this small village from beginning to end, and they still got a lot of gains. First of all, they collected enough food for the three of them to eat for a while. Secondly, Leon and Azerien, who had no clothes, also found worn-out straw shoes and linen clothes to cover their bodies, and finally got rid of their wild appearance.

In addition, they found two rusty pitchforks from the corner of a farmhouse. Now, Leon can finally throw away the rough wooden spear that has been repeatedly sharpened.

After carrying the packed bags, the three of them did not delay. Before it got dark, they quickened their pace and set out on the road of escape again.

That night, they cooked a large earthenware bowl of porridge mixed with beans and ate coarse bread for a full meal. However, even though they had a rare chance to eat normal food, the three of them were not happy at all.

Anyone with a conscience who witnessed the atrocities in the village would find it difficult to let go in a short time, not to mention that the shocking scenes in the village repeatedly reminded the three of their own tragic experiences.

No one spoke that night, and they continued their journey after dawn. With shoes and food reserves, Leon and others were able to travel much faster.

At noon, Leon suddenly felt some faint ground tremors. He was a little dazed for a while, and soon remembered the skills taught by the original owner's father, so he quickly bent down and lay on the ground with his ears close to the ground.

It was not an illusion. The vibration caused by a large number of horse hooves trampling on the ground indicated that a team with many riders was approaching.

"Hide quickly, there is a horse team coming from behind!" Leon hurriedly called his companions.

Without any suspicion, Lohak and Azerien followed Leon and ran to the nearby woods, running as far away from the road as possible.

The crowd did not dare to look back. They hid themselves in the woods, turned over and lay down on a slope, and then calmed down, not daring to breathe.

It was not until the rumbling of the horses' hooves gradually faded away that the three of them relaxed their nervousness and poked their heads out.

"Who are those people? Are they the bandits' horses?" Lohak immediately thought of the small village that had been robbed yesterday.

Leon did not comment: "Who knows, maybe it's the local lord's army."

"Should we continue along that road?" Azerien frowned, he was worried about running into that group of people again.

Leon fell into thinking, feeling that he had miscalculated. He thought it would be safer to go north, but he didn't expect to run into the army after all.

From the rhythmic and orderly sound of the horses' hooves of the team, it can be heard that it is undoubtedly a group of well-trained cavalry.

He was not sure whether this cavalry was the vanguard of a certain army, and whether there would be a large army following the march in the rear. If the speculation was true, then they could not turn back at this moment.

After telling his guess to his companions, they briefly discussed and decided to continue moving forward in the woods in this direction. They knew nothing about foreign roads and actually had no more choices.

"Everyone be careful to pay attention to the movement on the road at any time. If you find something wrong, run into the depths of the forest together."

Several people sped up their pace in the woods along the roadside in silence.

Not long after they walked, another rumbling sound of horse hooves passed by the road in an orderly manner. Everyone hurriedly hid in the woods again, and Leon felt more pressured.

Before dark, they bypassed the front road and walked deeper into the dense forest. They found a rocky pit far away from the road, and then they dared to make a fire and camp.

At night, Leon lay on the ground and tossed and turned and couldn't fall asleep. Going north was his suggestion, but now there were many risks ahead, which made him feel a little annoyed.

Will there be an army camped at the end of the road?

If they run into the Kantadar army head-on, can they escape?

Or, can they pretend to be locals and try to get away with it by pretending to be locals with the few words of Uriah taught by Azerien?

As he was thinking about it, he frowned. Leon suddenly thought of the village yesterday and felt the contradiction.

If there is such a large-scale local army frequently mobilized around the village, how could there be bandits who are so bold as to plunder the local villages?

Aren't those bandits afraid of running into the lord's army and having their heads taken away by the military lord as military merit?

Unless -

Recalling the horrific scene of the Kantadar army and brutal mercenaries burning, killing and looting in the Holy Land City when Rolandar fell.

Leon had the cruel answer in his heart.

An ancient saying that was once very distant to him jumped into his mind.

Bandits pass by like combs, and soldiers pass by like combs.

The one who harmed the village might be the Kantadar army.