At the end of May, farmers begin to harvest the oats planted in the spring.

When the cloudless sky was blue and the temperature rose, the scythe-carrying farmers put on their short clothes and walked down the road in twos and threes, going out in the morning, and at noon they could be seen carrying oats back to the village.

These crops, which can be harvested after three months, are usually not for human consumption, but are basically used as food rations for livestock as long as they are old. In the past, the villagers used to use the oats as a tax credit for their lords after harvesting, but now the farmers are happy that they are all bought directly by Roddy at a slightly higher price.

Because Luo Di has already ordered dozens of military horses from several other villages, and these fodder are only exported to domestic sales.

Thanks to Luo Di, not only did he exchange his armor, but he also bought a large number of salt, cloth, pig iron and a series of things that could be traded with the villagers that could be circulated in the village, which barely supported his newly formed "team".

He paid out of his own pocket to improve the food of the soldiers, especially by increasing the supply of milk, meat, and eggs, and the cost of daily meals increased nearly tenfold compared to before—a move that the farmers were so puzzled by that they even called it "extravagant", but Roddy ignored this and still demanded that the scouts enforce it.

These changes began in early May, and from the beginning of the new "training plan" until the beginning of June, the scouts were immersed in this brutal "devil's training" all day long.

Ten laps around the village are warm-ups, thirty laps are physical training, the weapons used in face-to-face training are no longer wooden swords, but real swords wrapped in cloth; in addition to one-on-one confrontations, there are various coordination tactics and even hand-to-hand combat; the poundage of the short bow is getting bigger and bigger, and the target is getting farther and farther.

Not only that, but every evening, they would also take a course called "Combat Quality Training," and the instructor would naturally be Luo Di -- the content he taught, including all the combat awareness, tactical sign language, night contact codes, tactical intentions, and so on, were assessed every day, and every scout who failed the test was punished for running ten laps of the village.

At first, the scouts suffered from coma, fainting, cramps, and other symptoms of intense training, but after a month, they were fully accustomed to the almost perverted training. Each scout's complexion had been tanned considerably, and each of them had improved in strength, stamina, and combat - and at the same time, the entire team had gradually condensed into a truly "order-and-do" atmosphere.

Everything was going according to Roddy's plan, and nothing happened about it... What made him strange was that Francis didn't seem to suspect him at all, and there was never a "stranger" in Nolan Village to ask about the orcs.

Although he felt strange in his heart, he didn't have too much energy to go to Hollier City to spy on the earl, but from the occasional message, he knew that the other party was always holding back, so he was relieved - anyway, no matter how bold that guy was, he wouldn't dare to rush into the "Rosicrucise" monastery to kill people, and Roddy was much more relieved about Sally's situation for now.

By the beginning of June, the horses ordered by Roddy had basically been shipped to Nolan Village, and at the same time, the newly ordered bow-making materials had been collected, and Roddy had already begun to prepare to start making his own suitable short bows... But at this moment, an accident happened that caused the scouts of Nolan Village to stop their training......

June 3, Kerry Village.

Like Nolan Village, this small village on the border of the kingdom has a similar quiet atmosphere on this summer day, with the farmers busy in the fields, occasionally pointing to the distance and talking about something, the children at the entrance of the village playing, and the little girl's braids being pulled by the little boy hiding behind him, and then laughing and chasing.

Just after noon, the scouts belonging to the village of Cree were sitting in the shade of the trees at the head of the village, their uniforms with the coat of arms of the Rusifron family draped crookedly. Because of the hot temperature, they didn't bother to fasten their buttons, and some even threw their leather boots aside, lying barefoot on the haystack under the shade of the trees, covering their eyes with their arms covered, in a comfortable posture.

This is the norm of scouts, and the word "mixed rice" is perfect for them.

The captain named Hank took two sips of water bladders, leaned against the earthen wall, put his hand on the pergola and looked into the distance, and asked, "Hill, they haven't come back yet?"

"On a sunny day, I guess I'm suffering from heat stroke, right?"

The team member replied casually that a lazy atmosphere was the norm for this team. For them, what they can do in this life is basically to spend their days on such days - backward life and poor book knowledge, and even most of them have not seen what the real city is like, this situation makes them basically not have much imagination about the future.

"Hey, Captain Hank, I've heard that there's been a lot of movement in Nolan Village lately. ”

"Nolan Village? I don't know what the captain over there is crazy, I heard that he ordered a lot of horses, and he had to ask for a good breed of military horses. I haven't heard of a new order from the old duke, maybe it's been spread randomly. ”

"A few days ago, I saw a lot of old guys coming back with oats happily, saying that Nolan Village was buying, and the money in exchange was more than the tax deduction, and I didn't know if it was true or not. ”

"Heh, looks like you've bought a lot of horses? hey. Do you have to feed it with oats, is it really a lot of money and no place to spend it? Could it be that Lord Kirk wants to go to war, and he secretly engages in these things, can the old duke not know?"

"Well, old duke. It's been a long time since I've been here, didn't Master Francis and Miss Sally come here in the first place, and if it hadn't happened to that incident, it would have been—"

"Orc attack? Could this kind of thing be fake? They say they have noses and eyes, but no one has seen real orcs, this kind of thing. ”

Captain Hank waved his hand and said loudly: "Okay, okay, we can't care about the real or fake, and now these old men don't want to see any mess, so." ”

"Captain, they seem to be back. ”

The guy who was looking into the distance interrupted Captain Hank's words, he sat up from the haystack, shook his clothes covered with grass clippings, stretched, and looked into the distance again, "Heh, aren't you just coming back a little late, isn't it because they're all learning how to line up in a line?

Because of the rising temperature, the figure on the distant horizon was a little unrecognizable due to the distorted air, but it would not be someone else who could come at this time, and the scouts didn't care, Captain Hank clapped his hands and motioned for everyone to get ready for the afternoon patrol, tightened the saber that had not been drawn for a long time, and when he brought his horse, his eyes looked into the distance again.

This time, he noticed something unusual.

"What's that?"

A scout on horseback suddenly asked.

No one answered their questions, for the dark shadows that appeared in the distance were not at all the team that Captain Hill had imagined, but a large group of strong men rushing across the grassy slopes in the dark—the undulating mounts that galloped didn't look like war horses at all, but. Wolf?

"No, it won't. This is. Wolves?"

"Wolf...... Wolf cavalry, orcs?"

The discussion came to an abrupt end, and the scouts couldn't quite accept what was happening in front of them, because the topic that had just been discussed and seemed so far away from them had become reality in an instant, and the contrast made their heads collectively stunned for a moment.

Just as they were hesitating, the team in the distance had already begun to sprint with all their might, and although the dozens of wolves that clearly appeared in the field of vision were not as tall as war horses, their erect hair, sharp teeth like knives, and orcs holding scimitars and huge clubs behind their backs all explained their true identities.

Wolf cavalry, the most feared mobile unit of the orcs.

"Run. Run, what are you doing?, retreat—"

Hank opened his mouth, and the words that were originally "ready to fight" were finally unspoken because of the timidity in his heart—there were only nine scouts around him, and the other party. There are thirty powerful orc warriors riding wolves! The consequences of rushing forward to fight can be understood on your knees!

This sentence made the scouts lose their morale at all... Or rather, they themselves never had much morale - when the wolf cavalry was still a kilometer away from the village, the scouts on horseback scattered in a hurry, and there was no sense of resistance at all.

"Enemy attack! Run! Run—"

Some scouts did not forget to warn the villagers loudly, but they also knew in their hearts that such warnings would not have much effect.

At the entrance of the village, there were two little girls with braids who finally caught up with the boy who pulled her braids, she was panting and saying something, but the boy replied with a grimace, the girl pouted and wanted to twist the other party's nose, the boy smiled and wanted to dodge... Then, their movements were interrupted by the sound of dull footsteps.

The two turned their heads curiously, and on the road that crossed the village, some guys appeared that they had never seen before. The soldiers with hideous faces on the back of the wolf swept away like a black wave, and in the billowing smoke, the weapons in their hands were waving mercilessly.

The little boy was stunned, as if he remembered something, and wanted to drag the girl behind him who was already scared stupid to run away, but as soon as he turned around, the blood-stained long knife had already torn through the air and slashed straight at him.

"Poof—"

The broken body flew out, blood splattered all over the ground, and the frightened screaming girl tried to escape, but was smashed directly on the chest by a wooden stick that then crossed the air - the small body was almost smashed out by the blow, and the twisted body rolled to the ground, and was soon crushed by the whistling wolf, and it was no longer visible.

The orc, riding the strongest wolf, slowly stopped in the square in the center of the village, but in his hand was the head of the steward of Kree Village.

Throwing the head on the ground, the orc stood by the low wall where the scouts had been not long ago, and the orc behind him was reporting what he had stolen.

Grains, dried meat, bread, oats...

"Take what you can take, take what you can't... Set fires, burn everything, and leave nothing alive. ”

The orc who led the team looked at the village where the wailing was fading, and whispered: "Xhosa will not live up to Lord Sarota's expectations, you must remember that the blood debt will be paid with blood!"