The city of Hesmaka to the west of the kingdom, as the westernmost city, is linked to the westernmost barren lands on the continent. In that barren land there were countless wild beasts, and they killed each other for food.

And in the harsh environment, these beasts also undergo mutations. They have larger bodies, more power, and even more intelligent minds than ordinary beasts. They are able to think simply, which makes them more bloodthirsty and ferocious, and they will do whatever it takes to survive.

Autumn of every year is the harvest season of human beings, but it is also the most barren time of the barren land, when the barren land has ended nearly a year of fighting, the beasts left behind are the most ferocious individuals in the community, and the fighting between the communities can no longer satisfy them, then they will make a joint decision to go out of the wasteland to hunt humans.

The hunt continues until the end of autumn, when winter comes, when the beasts return to the wasteland to recuperate. In the spring of the new year, when new life is born, they will bite each other again, forming a kind of cycle.

Only the most ferocious beasts survive in the Wastelands, and almost every beast that reaches adulthood is scarred.

And the attack of the herd every autumn is also known as the beast tide.

In the 126th year of the kingdom, this year's beast tide is bigger than any previous year, and the beasts in the beast tide are also more ferocious than any previous year.

Even if the kingdom had the foresight to send additional troops at Hiskama, a defensive battle against the beast tide would have been extremely difficult.

On the cold wind on the city wall, the sound of soldiers is chaotic.

Soldiers in kingdom armor stood at the head of the city with spears and shields in hand, fending off wild beasts that climbed the walls.

The archer drew his bow and aimed at the giant eagle flying in the sky, cold sweat on his forehead.

It was impossible to distinguish whether it was the blood of a man or a beast that flowed on the walls, and some of them had dried up, and a reddish-brown layer was attached to the stone slabs of the walls.

"Ah!!" a scream rang out, and a soldier was grabbed by a giant ape who had jumped onto the wall, and dropped it into the herd of beasts below, where he was overwhelmed by the tide of wild beasts, and soon he was never to be seen again.

"Kill it!!" the soldiers who followed rushed at the ape, spears and shields.

The sharp spear pierced the body of the giant ape, and the unstoppable black-red blood flowed down the spear and into the soldier's hands.

"Si!" the giant ape opened its fanged mouth and roared angrily, but eventually it had no strength to resist and fell from the wall.

Similar scenes were happening everywhere on the walls, with people and wild beasts dying all the time.

Finally, after this kind of fighting had lasted for a long time, there was a roar from the herd, and the herd retreated, leaving behind corpses.

On the walls of the city of Hiskama, the soldiers stood in pools of blood, gasping and trembling with their spears as they watched the herd leave. Until they were no longer to be seen, the exhausted soldier did not even have the strength to congratulate himself that he had survived, and collapsed on the ground.

This is not the whole herd, everyone understands that it is just a small wave of beast attacks, but just this is already a little difficult for them to support.

"When. ”

A sword was stabbed to the ground, and a burly man in heavy armor sat gasping for breath by the blood-soaked wall.

"My lord, when will autumn end, I can't hold it anymore. Beside the man, a soldier sat leaning back, with unwiped blood on his face, and asked weakly in a whisper.

In the distance, there was a blood-colored remnant sun, the city was in tatters, and scattered people were tidying up the battlefield.

You can see this almost every day here.

"Can't back down. The man, whom the soldier called an adult, lowered his eyes and said in a deep voice, even as his chest rose heavily.

"With those field battles, they become more ferocious as soon as you back down. ”

"Kingdom support will soon come, autumn will soon pass, and we must hold this place, this is our oath to the Kingdom. ”

With that, the man held his long sword, closed his eyes and rested.

"Huh. The soldier smiled bitterly and tilted his neck: "Oath." ”

It's really helpless.

······

Recently, a lot of merchants came to Hesmaka, and they brought food, water, clothes, and cotton cloth, and they sold these goods to the army, and the army almost always bought them, because of the remoteness of the place, and the kingdom's supplies to the army were very limited.

However, in addition to the army, there were other people in the vicinity of Hesmaka who were starving and cold, and they were the original inhabitants of the neighborhood. The arrival of the herd made their already modest life even more difficult, and they could not buy anything from the merchants.

The reason is also simple, the merchants are for profit, and the goods they bring here from distant places are very expensive, whether it is food or water and clothing.

The sound of the wheels of the carriage running over the road sounded on the road, and the inhabitants of the vicinity of Hesmaka had become accustomed to such a sound by this time, probably which merchant had come.

At first, they drove the carriage and looked at the houses on both sides, this was a small village, they had been driving for a month, and Mann said that this was already the jurisdiction of Hesmarca City, and that they should be able to reach the front line in a day or two.

"Chu, I'm resting here today. Mann poked his head out of the carriage.

He could always hear the roar of wild beasts at night these days, which made him a little afraid to live in the wild, and living with a group would make people feel more secure.

"Hmm. Chu nodded, stopped the carriage, jumped out of it, and tied the reins of the horses to a fence by the side of the road.

Mann jumped out of the carriage and yawned against the side of the cart's cargo box.

He looked around the village and considered whether he should find a place to eat. As for lodging, they will stay in a carriage at night, after all, to watch the goods.

At this time, Mann saw an earthless figure walking towards the carriage. When the figure approached, he could see each other clearly through the sunlight that had not yet completely set.

It was a little girl, much younger than him, probably four or five years old.

In some cold late autumn she was wearing only a thin cloth coat, and she looked very thin, as if she had been hungry for days.

"That. The little girl looked timid, clutching something tightly in her hand, and stood in front of Mann and whispered.

"Are you here to sell food?"

"Hmmm······" Mann frowned slightly, and replied.

He was sharp and vaguely guessed what the girl was going to say.

She's probably here to buy food, and she shouldn't be able to afford it.

Truth be told, he's a businessman and doesn't like to be confronted with anything like that.

"Excuse me, how much money can be sold to me?"

The girl saw Mann frowning and pursing her mouth, her eyes slightly moist, she might have guessed the result, but she still whispered as she could.

"A little bit is fine. ”

Mann leaned back on the carriage with his hands folded, glanced at the girl's clenched hands, and sighed.

"A copper coin, take it and leave, don't be seen by others. ”

He is sensitive to money, this is undeniable, just by looking at his hand, he can already guess how much money the girl has in her hand.

Mann turned, found a large potato in the wagon's cargo box, and tossed it to the girl.

The girl was a little overwhelmed and caught the sweet potato, no matter what kind of merchant it was these days, the cheapest food cost six copper coins, and her family couldn't afford it at all.

The girl took the sweet potato in her hand and stayed for a moment, while Mann took the money from her hand as if he were robbing it, and then violently pushed her aside, saying as if he had rejected her.

"Let's go. ”

He couldn't let others see him sell his goods to the girl for a copper coin, otherwise everyone would come to buy it, and he wouldn't have died at a loss.

The girl stood on the side of the road in a daze, and after a while, she whimpered, holding back her tears, and bowed deeply to Mann.

"Thank you, thank you. ”

Mann didn't say anything more to the girl until she thanked her and left, rubbing his brow and looking at the village.

It seems that today we can only eat dry food, and this village does not look like there is any food.

On the other side, when he returned from tying up the horse, he happened to see Mann selling potatoes to the girl.

"Mann, when we stocked it, it was four copper coins a ······"

"Ahhh

"She's going to starve to death if she doesn't eat like that, what can I do. ”