章節 17: Chapter 16 Night Raid
"Enar, you take this spear to the Fischer family."
In the blacksmith shop, Old Ramon instructed his apprentice to deliver a spear that had just been forged to the Fischers in South City.
The Fischer family and the blacksmith shop had cooperated well over the past two years, with all forging needs being taken care of by Old Ramon's establishment.
Ramon's son, Hugh, a middle-aged man standing nearly one meter ninety with a body of robust muscle, paused and, after a moment of silence, said,
"Father, have you forgotten? Enar actually left us a few days ago. He said he was going to work in the factories in Fein City."
Old Ramon's brows furrowed deeply; his oldest apprentice, Enar, had been with him for over a dozen years, and he hadn't yet grown accustomed to his absence.
"That place they call a factory is just preposterous, bringing together people from all different places to work—won't that just be chaos?"
Hugh remained non-committal, the so-called factory indeed being a novel concept, said to have originated from the Empire.
But everyone felt that the factory model wouldn't last, because for thousands of years no one had done such a thing; the traditional family-based system would surely continue eternally.
Suddenly, Old Ramon caught sight of the plump town chief hurrying down the street with a dozen servants in tow.
What was that greedy and corrupt fellow up to, strutting through the town with so many attendants?
Old Ramon viscerally loathed the thought; the town chief had exploited every powerless household in town, and they had been no exception.
Ever since the blacksmith shop's relationship with the Fischer family grew closer, the town chief no longer troubled them, acting as if he had never taken money from the blacksmith shop.
The town chief made his way to the jungle outside of Nasir Town, his servants looking nervously at the natives emerging from the dense underbrush, especially wary and fearful of the burly middle-aged priest.
The middle-aged priest waved him over, and without hesitation, the town chief followed, anger spreading across his face.
In a low voice, he said, "I've already provided the children for this year, and you promised you wouldn't do anything more. So why are you calling for me now?"
The annual sacrifice had been a pressing burden for years, and though the town chief knew it was to protect Nasir, he also understood that the ignorant townsfolk would never comprehend his actions.
The middle-aged priest's eyes were cold, his words cutting like a blade.
"Have you forgotten the promise you broke two years ago?"
The town chief shuddered; indeed, the two children of the Fischer family were still brazenly alive in Nasir, and the older girl, Irene, had even come of age.
Furthermore, the Blood Cult's old priest who had come to perform the ceremony back then had disappeared.
The lives and souls of the siblings had been the very subject of their agreement.
The town chief had been anxious about this matter until recently, when he finally felt at ease, assuming the jungle natives, embroiled in their internal strife, would no longer dwell on the past.
The middle-aged priest, his face marred by scars, said, "Blood can only be avenged with blood. We people of the East Coast have always been principled in our actions."
"I'll give you a chance to make amends. Remove the patrol from the town tomorrow night."
The town chief's pupils shrank instantly, and he asked with a tremor, "What exactly are you planning to do?"
The middle-aged priest assured him with an icy tone, as if speaking of slaughtering livestock, "Our revenge is aimed only at the Fischer family."
The town chief still questioned, "Are you truly certain that it was the Fischers who killed the old priest?"
The middle-aged priest nodded once, answering with detached coldness, "Without a doubt, for it is the answer given by the Blood Lord himself, and you should know that not long after that night, the girl of the Fischer family became an Extraordinary Exponent."
The town chief bowed his head, hesitating for a long time before responding.
Many towns and villages around the East Coast had been pillaged by the jungle natives, but Nasir had not been targeted for over a decade, and those above thought it was due to the town chief's excellent governance.
Only he knew of the filthy deal behind it all, aware that more and more of his vulnerabilities were held in the natives' hands, leaving him powerless to refuse.
"Alright, I agree to your terms," said the town chief, like air escaping from a deflated balloon, sighing repeatedly.
"The negotiation was successful."
The middle-aged priest spoke with a chilling voice, deeply disgusted by the town chief who betrayed his own people, wishing he could spit on the fat fool's face and pull out every despicable bone in his body.
Thankfully, he's not my kin.
Suddenly, the town chief spoke again, in a manner that was exceedingly serious, "When you plunder the town, could you share some of the spoils with me?"
---
In the courtyard of the Fischer family, Lucius nodded at ten well-armed guards; they had become quite adept at their basic cooperative maneuvers.
He had equipped each of the family guards with a spear and breastplate, long weapons offering inherent advantages over short-handled ones and more easily mastered.
Byrne adjusted his glasses and donned many layers of clothes before he dared to step from the house into the courtyard, even after seizing the Power of Consecution, his physique was barely on par with an ordinary person.
"Father, why are we recruiting new guards again this month?"
Ever since the jungle natives' unrest was confirmed a year ago, the Fischer family had reduced their number of guards down to five, improving their financial situation considerably.
But now Lucius had once again recruited five veterans, and the burden of paying their salaries had increased once more.
"It's because those jungle natives might appear again, so we must take precautions in advance."
Lucius replied calmly, but Byrne couldn't understand, because for two whole years, those jungle natives had only made one appearance in Nasir Town, and his father had easily dealt with them; moreover, that was all over a year ago.
"Father, do we really need to bear this extra expense?"
Lucius shook his head, his tone leaving no room for doubt, "Byrne, you just don't understand. There's no chance for regret if something goes wrong."
Byrne sighed, saying, "Then it will be a long wait again before we can purchase Class 2 Extraordinary Material."
Lucius looked silently at his own hands. Now, the 1st Rank Magic Potion had been fully assimilated.
As long as he got enough Extraordinary materials to reach the second stage of Spirituality, he could ask the Lord of the Lost for even stronger power.
By then, his foundational strength would be on par with that of the traditional Extraordinary Exponents at the high-level Beginning, unquestionably a very important goal.
The family's resources were never enough. The choice between short-term investment and long-term investment was always difficult.
He still asserted firmly, "Our Fischer family is far from strong enough. Caution and secrecy are the most important principles."
"Byrne, your problem is that you always look too far ahead, but often overlook the immediate crises."
"Alright, alright, stop. I understand."
Byrne didn't think of arguing with his father anymore, but instead returned to his room and took out a thick black-leather book from his bookcase.
Written on the black-leather book was information about the True Gods Church of the Ouden Continent.
The Five Great True Gods Churches, which are the Salvation Church, Sun Church, World Order Church, Tempest Church, and Silver Moon Church, have been inherited for thousands of years and are an undeniable powerful force on the Ouden Continent.
Byrne mumbled to himself, "Doctrine, scriptures, positions, if we really want to establish a religious group, there's so much we'll need to learn."
Both his father and Irene had lamented the lack of trustworthy and capable people in the Fischer family.
They had also thought about what to do if they had surplus blessings to deal with later on.
Byrne vaguely felt that maybe they could emulate the jungle natives' Blood Cult, establishing a secret religious group that worshipped the Lord of the Lost.
But how to ensure the loyalty of the faithful and how to avoid detection by the True Gods Church? What specific rules and regulations should be? He found the complexity headache-inducing just thinking about it.
Whether it was Irene or Lucius, reading would make them doze off, but the more Byrne read, the more energized he became, not wanting to sleep late into the night.
"I still have too few books. I've read many over several times. Sigh, and that ability that greatly improves my memory is, in some ways, an annoying curse."
Byrne had heard that the Emperor of the Empire had collected a vast number of books to establish a place called "library," exclusively for the empire's nobles and senior citizens to read, and he was determined to visit the empire in his lifetime to see it for himself.
Suddenly, he felt an idea arising from the depths of his heart.
As if his body had plunged into the depths of the ocean, an almost suffocating sense of oppression made Byrne instinctively stand up, unable to stop shivering all over!
It was a warning from the Lord of the Lost!
Some terrible danger was approaching!
---
Karl's consciousness, with a god-like perspective, overlooked the town, detecting dozens of people sneaking towards the Fischer family's direction.
Zooming in, he immediately noticed that these people disguised as merchants all had black facial markings, evidently jungle natives who worship the Mighty Bloody Demon!
So many jungle natives sneaking into the town at night was an incredible event, and Karl quickly realized that there were no signs of any patrol teams in the town.
Something was wrong. It seemed there was a traitor in Nasir Town who had meddled, and the person capable of relocating the town's patrol meant that the traitor's position must be quite high.
While thinking, Karl quickly sent a warning to the people of the Fischer family.
Lucius awoke from his sleep, his agile body shooting out of bed to quickly grab a white whistle from beside his pillow and blew it fiercely!
"Whoo!!!!"
The piercing whistle sliced the air, echoing through the streets!
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