Our family is in decline

Alvin still wants to save face, and getting this means he has a good reputation.

But when the baron heard this, he shook his head. He was still too young. Either he should not do this kind of thing, or he should never do it.

"No~ We are not in a hurry to go there now. We should go to the surrounding towns to spread the news. The first is to announce in a high profile that we are invited. The second is to find a few people disguised as Lord Hamlet to ask for help, trying to exaggerate the terror of the enemy. , the person who spreads the news to kill the barbarians and cultists is Lord Hamlet.

At the same time, it showed our tendency to rescue people. Unfortunately, by the time we rushed there, the town of Hamlet had been destroyed by cultists and barbarians and turned into a sea of ​​fire, with no one alive. "

The baron suddenly paused when he said this, with a determined expression on his face, "Give me thirty fine knights tonight, and I will destroy those cultists for your lord, and then take off the head of the barbarian."

Alvin understood what this meant and what the "cultists" and "barbarians" the baron meant.

There will definitely be a price to pay for this battle, but Alvin is young and energetic, and his courage is not bad at all.

"I'll go with you and attack with the whole army!"

"But my lord..."

"Needless to say, don't we, members of the Bastia family, even dare to kill people?"

Alvin is domineering, and Count Bastia is known as the tiger of the empire when he guards the mountains, so as his son, he cannot be a dog.

The Baron had no objections. Being able to push the matter to this point was already his limit.

Alvin's mind was still relatively flexible, so he raised his hand and clicked on the map.

"What about the city of Ovendo? This is the only place in Hamlet's territory that is slightly better today."

The Baron was already prepared for Alvin's questions.

"We are doing this to lure out those ambitious people and those who are loyal to the lord. Other towns will most likely not send troops when they hear this. Even if they are really ambitious, they won't be able to raise many people, but it's hard to tell in this place. Yes, a city defense army of a thousand people can still be assembled.

What's more, as the only place here that can be called a city, the ambition of the consul is probably not small. It will be difficult for us to take action by then, so I suggest that we ignore this place for now and spread the news in several towns around Hamlet. Even if it spreads, the situation has stabilized. "

After deciding on the general course of the next action, the stationed team soon broke out of camp and ran towards a nearby town.

With all the cavalry, no infantry or heavy carriages to drag them down, and with the map open, Alvin and the others could be said to move as fast as the wind.

Placing such a cavalry in Hamlet can indeed be said to be a dimensionality reduction strike.

The division of settlements in the empire is very simple. Those with less than 1,000 people are villages, those with more than 1,000 people are towns, and 10,000 people are naturally cities.

But in fact, this rule only applies to prosperous areas like the Imperial Capital or Totnes, and does not apply to declining areas like Hamlet.

Most of the villages have less than a hundred people. The reason is simple. The surrounding area can support so many people. These villages are scattered in the territory, and the resources are limited and they are unable to develop even if they want to.

Only those located in key places, such as transportation thoroughfares, will develop into towns, but such towns generally have no more than a thousand people. For the same reason, the surrounding environment cannot support them.

If you want to expand to more than a thousand people, you must have resource points, such as mining, forestry, fishery and other pillar industries to feed so many people.

To develop into a city requires more conditions and a little luck.

The city of Ovendo developed from a riverside river terminal into a city by eating the dividends of Hamlet's destruction.

But now what Alvin and the others have come to is just a very ordinary town. The population marked on the map is only more than 300 people. Looking at the past, they were basically simple longhouses. Brick and stone buildings were rare and concentrated in the center of the town. , similar to the structure of most towns.

Most of the people here are farmers. The only industry in the town is agriculture. Even some daily necessities cannot be produced. They need to wait until the caravan comes to exchange.

As for the force, there are only some peace officers and hunters, and even mercenaries will not come to such a place without oil and water.

Unless there's a monster nearby, they might pool their money together to go on a mission to the mercenary guild in the city. It's hard to say who will come.

Anyway, when Alvin and his team of cavalry appeared, the townspeople who were farming outside ran back wildly, shouting at the same time.

"The horse bandits are coming!"

"Everyone, run away!"

"..."

When Alvin and the others approached, they discovered that the entrance to the town had been blocked by Juma, and at the same time, some men in ordinary clothes and panic-looking faces were behind them holding simple spears.

Their town has become very sensitive now because of the refugees and roaming bandits.

Alvin was sitting on a tall horse, his overlooking eyes showing undisguised disdain.

These people were a chaotic mess, and he was confident that he could defeat them with a single charge.

"We are not bandits, we are Bastia's army. We came here for a group of barbarians who massacred several villages..."

It was the Baron who shouted, and he probably saw that they regarded him as a horse bandit.

But those people became more determined when they heard the army's reaction. It was obvious that the army posed a greater threat to them than the bandits.

The Baron knew the reason, but he was also a little helpless. Just as he was about to speak, he was interrupted by Alvin beside him.

"Untouchable! I am a noble! Hurry up and let your mayor come out and speak." Alvin roared, after all, he did not have the patience of the Baron.

The townspeople were stunned for a moment when they heard the word "noble". The fierce confrontation was instantly shattered, and they all felt an inexplicable sense of humility.

Look, does it look like a dog?

The fear of nobles is almost engraved in their blood after thousands of years of domestication.

At this time, a middle-aged man with slightly smarter clothes stood up and claimed to be the mayor.

The baron also took control of the topic, preaching that those barbarians had massacred hundreds of people and were very cruel and dangerous, and they had been chased all the way here.

"Sir, we haven't seen any barbarians here, but out of gratitude we can help you share some food."

The mayor has seen it all before and knows that he can't send these soldiers away without some bloodshed.

However, when the Baron heard this, he refused, and instead acted upright and refused to accept it at all.

The mayor thought they were too few, so he had no choice but to raise the price.

Alvin was a little upset as the two kept fighting, but he also knew that this scene had to be played out, because they were a righteous team and could not accept benefits at will.

At least that's the case now...

The people who came to "ask for help" were quickly arranged and rushed forward. They were not wearing the standard armor. They were smeared with bloodstains from unknown sources and looked very embarrassed, making it look like they were rushing out from the battlefield. of.

"Help!"

And the acting must be done well. The first step is to turn over and dismount, pretending to be exhausted and falling to the ground.

As the director, the Baron dismounted and helped the man who fell to the ground.

"Who are you? What happened?"

"I am the guard of the Hamlet family. Now the town of Hamlet is under siege by cultists and barbarians and is about to be breached. The lord said that he is willing to do anything to rescue him. Whoever kills those barbarians and cultists will be the new lord. .”

"How many enemies are there?"

"Many, many, hurry up and save people, Hamlet can't hold it anymore..."

After saying this, the man "fainted" from exhaustion. The baron shook him hard several times and kept calling, but there was no response.

At this time, the baron turned his attention to the surroundings, looking at the townspeople who were confused and the mayor who was stunned and didn't know what to think.

Immediately increase efforts to encourage them.

"You also heard that we plan to go to Hamlet to save people, but I'm afraid there are many enemies. We need help. Which of you wants to go with us to save the lord?"

"Ah!" The mayor seemed to suddenly wake up, "This... this... is not good."

"That's your Hamlet's lord."

"Let's discuss...discuss." The mayor couldn't help but raise his hand to wipe the sweat from his forehead, and then turned around in a hurry and went back.

But when he stepped into the room, several people who had been waiting for a long time gathered around and asked.

"what's the situation?"

"What do those people do?"

"Did something happen?"

At this time, the expression on the mayor's face suddenly changed from the timid one before, and became calmer. Obviously, the scene just now was faked for them to see.

After briefly describing the situation in a few sentences, everyone couldn't help but exclaim when they heard that the barbarians and the cult were cooperating to besiege Hamlet.

"How can this be?"

"That's right, how could there be such a big move?"

"What happened? Did you really join forces with the barbarians? Why do we have no news?"

From their words, one can tell that the mayor and these people are the believers of the Ascension Sect that developed here.

No one can resist the temptation of ascension, especially the mayor, who has entered middle age and whose physical functions have begun to decline significantly. After experiencing the vitality brought by the flesh and blood ritual, he fell directly into it, and also developed some other believer.

But some time ago, believers in a town were purged, and then I heard that many camps were also attacked, and even the transportation routes of the following sects were cut off by Lord Hamlet.

After repeated attacks, the sect suffered serious casualties. Since the attack, the orders given to these believers were to lurk, develop believers, and wait for the opportunity.

Only exceptionally outstanding believers can be called to that sect to gain the opportunity for ascension that everyone longs for.

They had not been ordered to attack Hamlet anyway.

"So I'm also very strange..." The mayor frowned. He couldn't figure out the way here.

In fact, it's normal. The current information is still blocked. After all, their level is still a small town, and they have no exposure to the overall picture of conflicts between regions.

It is even less possible to know what happened to people like Alvin during this period. There is no information and no such vision.

Not to mention that in order to lurk deeply, they have reduced the opportunities to communicate with the Ascension Sect since receiving the order. Now they are completely in the dark about the outside world. So how do they know what happened to Hamlet?

"What's weird about this? Lord Hamlet has killed so many of us. It wouldn't be surprising if the barbarians above come to cooperate with them to attack Hamlet."

"That's right, don't forget that there is another instruction given by the above, which is to kill the lord at all costs. If this is true, the above will not let go of this opportunity."

These two sentences quickly dismissed their other thoughts and were unanimously approved.

But new problems are before them.

"Then what should we do now? That group of people are going to Hamlet to save people."

"We can't let them go. I heard that person say that the battle is not over yet. If they go and push back the barbarians, they will probably save the town of Hamlet."

"Then the lord killed so many of us, no matter who beats Hamlet, we have to help him!"

This sentence can be regarded as giving everyone a reason. As long as they have participated in the flesh and blood ceremony, their brains are basically abnormal. In their opinion, nothing is more important than the sect, so naturally it is impossible to let them go.

The fact that these people are left behind shows that they have no talent, but they are also eager to get the opportunity to ascend, and now they are right in front of them.

"But these people are nobles. We cannot reveal our identities. We must find an identity."

"We are Hamlet people. Even if we kill them and something happens, the lord will take the blame."

"Well said! I will gather everyone now."

The mobility of these guys is not comparable to that of ordinary people, and they do whatever they say.

Alvin, who was waiting at the gate of the town, was a little impatient, and he probably guessed that these people didn't have the guts to go to Hamlet with them.

And just when he was about to leave to perform in the next town, the seemingly skinny mayor walked out along the central avenue. At the same time, people poured out from all the streets in the town, and they kept gathering. Behind the mayor.

These people wore ordinary clothes, had no armor, and did not even have better weapons. They only had kitchen knives, farm tools, and pitchforks in their hands...

The face is withered and the hands are cracked, which is the vicissitudes of life brought to them by working under the scorching sun, but at this time, the face is full of determination.

The Ascension Sect has been operating in this area for so many years, and no one knows how many cultists are hiding in that seemingly normal place.

But Alvin and the others didn't know the secret, and took it for granted that these people responded to the lord's call to save people.

This scene was unbearable in Alvin's heart. How could this ruined lord have such great appeal here? There are actually so many people loyal to him?

There was nothing visible on that face, but jealousy and awkwardness could not help but boil in his heart. All of this should belong to him!

I am Hamlet's lord! But you want to be loyal to a dead man?

In the past few days, because the plot has reached a critical point, many people have urged me to update it, and there are many new readers, so I still have to explain my update habits.

Normally, it is updated at 12 noon, with a standard of 4,000 words.

There will be additional updates, but the specifics will depend on my arrangements.

After all, I don’t work full time, so I can only code as much as possible.