Serious Witch's Travel Book

"Are you a holy believer? That's a pity, but it's okay, the great Nistalisa has taken a fancy to you."

The tip of the tongue is wrapped around the neck again. The dragon's tongue is not as smooth as a human's. In other words, those small tumors are very obvious after being enlarged. The finger-sized nubs created additional pressure, making Marianne feel as if she was being held by a large, smooth, rough hand.

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In this way, the three thousand characters were eaten by the sages dipped in garlic.

(Though, perhaps some wind-eroded remnants washed up on the beach at high tide, along with a giant conch shell.)

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"It tastes good... From now on, you are my thing."

Instead of eating the nun, the red dragon spit her out on the ground.

Marian, who was dizzy from the malicious squeeze, got up in a trance, and when the wind blew, she felt a damp coolness all over her body.

"Maybe you'd be a good mother, but not the best... If the great great Nista Lisa can't find her, she'll consider you..."

"Oops, my tail..."

The dragon stood up, and her tail swept over those blind-eyed guys holding scraps of copper, and forcibly opened a separation zone between the surrounding humans and orcs who hadn't receded.

Marian was finally able to see her surroundings—the orcs began to retreat outside the fortress, but they did not leave. They were still watching the situation here. If the giant beast that came suddenly left like this, I am afraid that the Franks A new round of attack will be organized immediately.

The dragon stood up on all fours, and the holy guards who were blocked by her huge body immediately ran towards Marian.

Standing there with her hands folded, her face weak and helpless, the head nun who was soaked all over her body was particularly eye-catching here. The holy guards wrapped her in a large cloak and prepared to take her to a safe place .

Marianne paid more attention to the wings that began to flutter slightly.

No, you can't just let her go.

She mustered up a burst of courage from nowhere, and shouted loudly to the red dragon who was about to raise its forefoot: "Please—please help us—!"

The red dragon, who was about to leave, stopped flapping its wings. She squinted at the woman on the ground, and her front paws slowly fell back to the ground.

"As a deal, I will help you kill three hundred orcs." With her head slightly lowered, she raised the limit of her charity.

"me……"

This tone was like a transaction in a pleasure fair in the city, which made Marianne gnash her teeth for a while, but she considered that since she had already suffered grievances, she should get enough compensation in exchange for—

"Please keep your promise!"

The dragon raised its head.

It started heading north—in the direction the orcs had come from.

"Tulus, shrink your army and prepare to fight back—"

In a hurry, Marianne gave orders to the nearest centurion.

Under the successive orders, the living imperials began to shrink further inside the fortress. The orcs understood the meaning of the heralds. This was originally a good opportunity to pursue them, but what came towards them was a terrifying beast. Yes, a huge monster like a moving castle.

Should he charge forward and then go to the Hall of Valor to meet his ancestors, or should he retreat strategically?

Everyone knows that.

So, despite having the advantage, the orcs still began to take the initiative to retreat outside Pinecandle Castle.However, the terrifying red dragon did not let them go. She followed the panicked orc team and spit flames towards some small groups that refused to leave immediately or gathered together.

The dragon's flame is not a mortal fire, but a magical fire made of magic essence. It does not fully conform to the characteristics of a mortal fire, and the temperature is not so amazing, but it can still give the things that are spewed by the flame causing immense pain.

The orcs crowded at the gate of the city became the most conspicuous targets, so the red dragon sprayed its warm breath on them at the first time—the orcs who were blown by the dragon's breath screamed and endured the severe pain. Pain, the natural resistance to magic in their bodies gave them a last chance to struggle, but as stronger forces crushed them, the magic with the characteristic of "flame" violently penetrated their bodies , the life was stripped off at the same moment, leaving only a pile of corpses showing the dissimilation of magic essence due to the transformation of nature.

The red dragon attacked the orcs as if they were having fun, and she calculated the approximate data group by group until the promised number of [-] was reached.

When the transaction was completed, she spread her wings and left the almost half-destroyed imperial barracks in the engulfing flame storm.

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Try to avoid bad content from appearing.

But... still feeling anxious.Oops, if I get killed again, I feel that I have broken my trust with the readers...

Anyway, I can't see anything...it should be.

But um, if new readers see this, they still have to pay attention to a key word, "knotted wings"-that is, be mentally prepared or something, and what you may see in the end is a messy pot instead of a normal one... Cough .

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Tips.1: The canonization of St. George should have happened after this, but the dragon slaying was a long time ago... The time has been adjusted slightly.

Tips.2: The sun halo is the sun halo, don't be evil.

In addition, the length of the "sun halo" is about 150 cm-it is almost a German two-handed sword with limited craftsmanship. Rome rarely produced large pure metal weapons during this period (it is not sure whether it is due to craftsmanship or demand), However, in the setting of this article, Gaul fights against the well-organized two-handed swordsmen in order to fight against the orc skirmishers.

Emperor~country~zhi~flower——cough.

Chapter 26 021. Truce

The night raid of the orcs ended in dramatic fashion.

After leaving hundreds of charred corpses in the city, they withdrew from Pine Candle Castle, gathered the remnants outside the city, and then voluntarily evacuated out of the plain.

And the red dragon left cleanly after fulfilling its promise, as suddenly as she came, without even looking back at Marianne.

There were no cheers, no flowers, no smiles - in fact the battle, which lasted over an hour, was not victorious, and it wasn't even necessarily over.The orcs didn't leave, they just looked down on the distant hillside, and the dejected imperials began to clean up the mess: picking up the corpses, cleaning up the damaged fortifications, and restoring the defense of the fort as much as possible...even, let people Go find the inhabitants who have fled into the mountains.

Anyone with a discerning eye knows that this matter is not over yet.

Marian reached out and grabbed the dark green cloak wrapped around her body, she couldn't help shaking.

She returned to the fortress, and now she stayed in the commander's private room on the third floor, silent.

This is the highest floor of this small stone castle, and it is also the highest and most core place in the entire barracks except for the tower. Through the narrow stone window, she can see a messy battlefield outside. She pressed her forehead in pain, The tragic deaths of young people made her uneasy.

it's all my fault.

She was a little suffocated, but couldn't cry.

The whole thing was so stupid... Maybe working with the orcs was a complete mistake.

Pine Candle Castle is a barracks used to train recruits. There are not too high-ranking officers here. Before she came here, the supreme commander here was the centurion of the adult centurion.

She came here from the Monastery of Mount Santa in the Second Lugertown Province for Adria... Silver Oak Saracel Adria.

Now can be regarded as the lord of the expelled city of Volu, the governor of Belgica - she was arrested while trying to cross Upper Germany to ask for help from the elves in the pear wood habitat in southern Gaul. Glorious political intrigue, which, frankly, she resented being involved in.

But she accepted the entrustment of the Governor of Gaul, an errand she could not refuse.She was authorized to "handle expediently" Adelia's death sentence. The governor's instruction was very simple. Under the witness of the chief of the Franks, if Adelia refused to surrender, then these "red pockets" would be executed on random charges. The "cap" traitor, of course, cannot let anyone know the actual identity of the condemned prisoner.

Face matters always have to be dealt with...The regional governor has no right to deal with other governors in his own jurisdiction at will, so the guardian of the cedar forest must die in the hands of the "Red Hood" rebels, not their hands In the same way, the "Red Hood" must also be a rebellious party, not the so-called "pro-guard directly under the Governor of Beljika".

Anyway, the dignitaries understand this, and the rest of the citizens just need to fool around.In this frontier region, information is a precious "commodity". It must be mastered by the real big shots, and used in the right place to achieve the right effect...even if it has to be altered.

Marianne and Adelia are old, but besides her and Chief Clovis here, the special envoy from Gaul, Apollodoides, is also here. The contact person for the matter, with him here, Marianne can't do anything for personal gain.

The whole thing is very simple: under the witness of Marian, the witness of the church; Apollodoides, the witness of the governor of the region; In exchange for peace on the border of the empire, "I don't know what to do, and I don't want to give up the head of the elves in my hometown".

But then there was some drama. First, the prison van was delayed and failed to arrive on time, and then His Royal Highness Placidia suddenly sent a new herald, ordering to suspend Ms. Silver Oak's death sentence and instead place it in a secret prison.

This new order somehow caused Apollodorus to question it so violently that he almost murdered the citizen herald on the spot; but Clovis was even more violent, and he left Candlestick Castle immediately, Marianne Not knowing his whereabouts, she thought that the tribal chief just got angry and left. Before the follow-up happened, she was very annoyed for messing up His Highness Placidia's official duties for a while.

But... look now.

Marianne got up from the hide chair by the fire.

She hid behind the stone window, watching the scene on the street with anxiety.

Too many people died.

It was dawn when the orcs launched their attack, and the son of the great chief Hilderic who was keen on annexation wars did not learn the best way his father believed in (Note 1), but he only thoroughly studied the art of war.The time near dawn is the most sleepy time for ordinary people with normal work and rest. Although the recruits who were summoned in a hurry have tried their best to recover their spirits, it is still far from enough for them to face the orcs who have been prepared for a long time.

The fatigue that cannot be eliminated, the hungry stomach that can only be filled with simple food, and the cold wind in the late autumn of the northern country-these have become the lingering diseases of the recruits.

Marianne didn't know how many people died, and she was still waiting for the report, but from her observations during the battle, she was almost sure that these recruits were almost exchanging three lives for one life of the orc.

Now the streets are full of corpses. According to the traditional concept of the frontier, if the remains of the dead are not handled properly, they will attract evil ghosts and demons. Therefore, all the corpses of the imperials and orcs must be collected. Marian sees The orcs who died in the barracks were also dragged out of the alley by the soldiers. They displayed all the corpses on the main road leading to the northern camp gate. The dilapidated door was repaired, but it seemed that they had no way to restore its function in a short time. If there was another attack, they would probably only be able to block the door with enough obstacles.

The human and orc corpses were mixed and piled up together. Some brave folks pushed carts and were transferring these corpses to other places batch by batch.Marianne saw a nun downstairs discussing with the officer how to dispose of the war dead: According to the Islamic law, these corpses should be buried in order to "whole soul" (Note 2), but the officer could not spare enough manpower to deal with the dead. To carry out this work, he said that the two parties should be separated and cremated together-according to the pantheon belief of the old empire.

The deaths of these people are all kinds of strange. Those who were shot to death by arrows may be lucky. Many people can't even make up a complete corpse. The orcs were burned into a strange shape by the dragon's breath. The remains of the same embers, and the furs on their bodies were also burned into curly scorched skin. On the contrary, their weapons didn't look badly damaged, and they might still be usable.

The smell of blood on the ground drifted with the wind, accompanied by an unpleasant smell of burnt barbecue, which made Marianne, who was hiding in the room, feel sick.

She is a typical court swordsman—to laugh at herself, she is a guy who is proficient in personal martial arts but has little real experience in fighting—she has dealt with sporadic monsters a few times, but in such a tragic war, she still First experience.

During the battle, she could still avoid the uneasiness in her heart by dedicating her whole body to the most holy glory. Now that she calmed down, Marianne began to realize the cruelty of the so-called war.

Many, many people died; and if it wasn't for Adlia's warning, maybe the battle would have been even worse.

"Sir, may I take some of your time?"

The nun who served her in the room looked at Marianne, who nodded, and she went to open the door.

The one who came in was a disgraced young man. He was a clerk in charge of copywriting and had not worked here for long.

Marianne took a second look at him. He was wearing marching civilian clothes with tight limbs instead of formal official robes. Half of his body was covered with blood. It was obvious that he was at least implicated in the previous battle.

"I have brought statistics, Your Excellency."

He stuttered a little in the face of big shots, and usually he didn't have the opportunity to talk to the head nun up close on such a private occasion.

Marianne gestured for him to speak.

With four dismantled companies, plus a few craftsmen, entourages and officers who can fight, the number of imperial troops who can directly participate in the battle at Pine Candle Castle is about 2000 to 2000 to [-].

Originally civilians could also be mobilized, but there was no chance to mobilize them in a hurry, so only as many military personnel as possible joined the battle. As for the orcs, several officers on the scene estimated that there were more troops than the imperial army. There are about 500 to 3000 people. If there is a reserve team or reinforcements in the rear, it may be close to or exceed 5000 people.

The fortifications in a small place like Pine Candle Castle are difficult to play a reasonable role. After humans were pushed down the city wall, street fighting and small-scale group fighting at the intersection near the city gate became the mainstream.The soldiers insisted on defending the towers, at least the well-equipped and well-trained archers were preserved, but the boulders thrown by the ogres outside the city had already made the two towers crumbling. If there is another battle, it may be difficult to continue to function.

In general... the corpses of the Imperials that have been found show that in the short conflict of less than two hours, 670 or three people died, and more than 600 to 700 people were injured in varying degrees. More than 800 corpses were left in the city, some of them may have been taken away by them, but many more were burnt by the dragon's breath, or were torn into pieces by the dragon's claws, it is impossible to draw a very accurate number ; The injured cannot be counted.

On the surface, the Imperials appear to have the upper hand.

But Marianne is very clear that the evil dragon promised to kill [-] orcs for her, that is to say, at least [-] orcs were killed by her, and it may even exceed this number by a lot, because those The Franks who blocked the gate of the city and wanted to retreat were all burned into charcoal blocks. In this group alone, the number would not be less than a hundred.

In other words... It is possible that the death rate between the Imperials and the Franks is close to the shocking two to one. According to Marianne's personal opinion, this loss ratio may have started to expand rapidly after the city wall was lost. If it happens again, it will be the same If there is an attack, the empire's losses will only be greater in the face of the dilapidated towers and the city walls that have been smashed down in several places.

After all, they are just some recruits who have served for less than a year, and many people have been here for two or three months... She... can't expect these young people to do better.

She looked up tiredly at the gray-faced clerk, and asked him, "Where's Lucius?"

"...Sir, he..." The young clerk opened his mouth, his face a little embarrassed.

"That's running away." Marianne didn't even bother to get angry.She asked again, "Where is Apollodotus?"

"The special envoy is not here for the time being..."

The clerk lowered his head directly.

"Understood." Marianne breathed a sigh of relief. "Fort Pine Candle is now on alert for battle, and access control is imposed on everyone. You go to notify the civilians and ask them to transfer some of the food to the barracks warehouse. We will settle the purchase fee after the alert is lifted. In addition, let all of them do a good job. Prepare for battle, and those who have been trained by the militia immediately enter the barracks to get weapons-as for mobilization...tell them that if Pine Candle Castle falls, the five nearby towns will fall, and they have nowhere to go. If anyone wants to escape...you take It is up to several people to weigh and deal with it.”

The clerk reminded in a low voice: "Some civilians escaped at night."

"I'll arrange for someone to find them and come back. How did Lucius get away?"

"Yes...in a carriage."

"You go and tell Tulus, let him arrange for the cavalry who came yesterday to find people along the road. Forget about Apollodoides, let him go if he wants to go, as for Lucius, don't let him appear Hang him in the market place before me, and you will take his place."

The clerk felt a chill on his neck, and quickly straightened his waist: "Yes!"

After he stepped back, Sister Numeria locked the door, stood beside Marianne, and asked her in a low voice, "Is this right?"

"I do not know."

Marianne looked up and saw the worried eyes of the retinue nun (Note 3) and the high dark brown ceiling.

She knew what Numeria meant, that forcing civilians to fight was somewhat in conflict with Catholic teachings.

But now she is not only standing in the position of head nun, she is also responsible for the governor of Gaul.

As the security maintenance center for the entire north-central part of Upper Germany, Pine Candleburg has three times as many civilians as the garrison. They provide part of the necessary supplies here and earn the necessary living expenses from the imperial treasury.Although there are no tribunes due to the garrison, there are actually a certain number of militias in the towns. Now that only relying on legion companies will definitely not be able to win, recruiting civilians has become a last resort.

Marianne was irritated by the stern order she had given herself, and the humiliation she had suffered a moment before had given her some crazy thoughts.

She took Numeria's hand and placed it on her full chest.

The retinue nun struggled lightly, but did not choose to break free.

"You are under a lot of pressure." Numelia blushed and relaxed her wrist resignedly.

She seemed to touch some faint bumps.