The town of Luoxia is a small mountain town located in the territory of the kingdom of Orrut - no, now, on official documents, its name is 351 of the Sith Empire Occupation Zone. Of course, this makes no difference to these inhabitants of the mountains, who have lived in the valley for generations and have not reacted much to changes in the outside world. For the townspeople, the only connection they had to with the kingdom of Orrut was to pay a certain amount of taxes every year to the large cities outside the valley, which were patrolled by armour-clad and imposing-looking soldiers. Of course, for the simple inhabitants of the town, their existence is actually meaningless. There were no beasts of prey in the valley, and there were no bandits and bandits, they all lived here in their time, and they never encountered any trouble.

And just recently, the townspeople suddenly discovered that the patrolling soldiers had changed a group of people they had never known, and a fellow dressed in strange clothes had come and walked into the house of the venerable old mayor, and discussed things with him for a long time. Then the old mayor gathered all the townspeople with a hint of confusion and helplessness, and told them that they were now subjects of the Sith Empire.

This change of time made the residents of these long-isolated towns a little unresponsive, but they quickly accepted the change calmly. After all, these newcomers did not threaten their children to become soldiers like the previous ones, nor did they ask them to hand over more food and property. Some of the requirements were even waived, so the residents did not react much. In fact, for them, even the kingdom of Orrut is really too far away. What they value most is this valley and this town. It's not the kingdom of Orrut, although they were once the people of the kingdom, but frankly, these don't mean much to the inhabitants of the town.

But even so, everyone still has some hunches that the peaceful life in their town may not be there.

And now, that hunch seems to have become a reality.

For this morning, when the sun had just risen, the townspeople saw three men enter their homes.

They are not like those occasional travelers, but more like those noble young masters who often come out to visit the city and enjoy the mountains and rivers. The townspeople remember very well that a long time ago, the nobles who lived in the city also liked to come out in groups and go out in the woods to hunt wild deer or something. Occasionally, they were able to take advantage of the opportunity to make a little money, but that hasn't happened since the territory had changed owners. Moreover, although the three people in front of them were dressed as nobles, there was no one in front of and behind them, so they couldn't help but look a little down.

But although it was a little eccentric, the kind townspeople received them.

"Hello, guests from afar. ”

The old mayor frowned, and smiled a friendly smile at the young man in front of him.

"Welcome to our town, is there anything I can do to help you?"

"Hello, Mayor Mare. ”

Facing the old man in front of him, You Lian owed gracefully.

"As you can see, we are some ......... Those who have come from afar, I will tell you frankly that in fact we were originally merchants of Palys, who came to your country to do business. But as you can see, there was a fierce war outside a few days ago, and my two ......... and I said," Yulian looked at the two girls who had lowered their heads and stood beside him, grabbing the corners of his clothes uneasily, sighed helplessly, and gently stroked their hair. "We were threatened by the flames of war, and in that brutal war, our men and relatives were already dead, and we managed to escape from the battlefield. Now, we're homeless. ”

"It's a sad thing. ”

Sensing the painful expression of the young man in front of him, and then looking at the girl who was pulling the corner of his clothes and wrapping her cloak in the cloak, her face was lowered, and the faint sobbing sound made the old mayor quite sympathetic. Although they have not personally experienced the war, at the moment, this young man, with two girls in the world, is still an older old man can't help but feel a little emotional.

"So, what do you want to .........?"

"That's right, Mayor Town. ”

With this, Yulian raised his head and stretched out his right hand.

"In fact, we're tired of running away, especially these two girls, as I think you can see, so young and thin that they can't afford to travel long distances. I'd love to take them back to our hometown, but right now, it's an impossible task for us. So, I would like to make a request to you that you will allow us to live in this town and take a break. We need a place to live, and we hope you will sympathize with our presumptuous request. ”

"But ..............."

Hearing Yulian's request, the old man frowned, after listening to Yulian's words, he also thought that the young man was pitiful, however, he still had some doubts.

"Why don't you go to the outside city, we're just a small town here, and we don't have a hotel, so if you're looking for a place to stay, you might be looking for a hotel. ”

"I'll tell you, Mr. Mayor. ”

Hearing the old mayor's inquiry, Yulian had to show a wry smile.

"Frankly speaking, we don't have much money on us anymore, and now we can't live in the big city hotels. I'm afraid to tell you that we haven't had such thoughts before, but the innkeepers are all ill-intentioned when they see our money. They even wanted to take the two lovely kids around me and sell them! Luckily, we reacted quickly and escaped early, but because of this, we had lost a lot of money and didn't want to go to the city anymore. ”

"Holy grace is above!"

Hearing this, the old mayor also sighed, although he had never left his town for most of his life, but his age had made him understand a lot of things, he looked at the two girls hiding behind Yu Lian with pity, and sighed. He naturally knew what those hateful guys wanted to do when they captured these girls, and this kind of thing the old mayor had heard a lot about in the taverns in the city when he was young.

So, the old mayor looked at Yu Lian again, and his eyes were a little more friendly.

"It's not easy for you. ”

"We're tired. ”

Yulian also shook his head and sighed, and then he reached into his arms and took out dozens of gold coins.

"We don't intend to live with you in vain, Mr. Mayor, we just want you to rent us a room so that we can stay here in peace for a while. ”

Speaking of this, Yu Lian looked at the old mayor's face, and then added with a smile.

"Rest assured, we are not rebels, we are rebels, we are just small businessmen, and I am sure we will not cause you any trouble. ”

"Okay!"

Hearing this, the old mayor finally nodded, he took the few gold coins that Yulian handed over, and after thinking for a moment, he spoke.

"I agree with you living here, but I want you to understand that things are a little different now, in fact, we have been informed that we are now subjects of the Sith Empire. And the Imperials told me that if any stranger came to our homeland, we had to report it to them. So ........."

"I understand, rest assured, we won't get into any trouble. ”

Seeing that Yu Lian's expression did not change at all, the old mayor was relieved not to ask anymore, in fact, there were really a few vacant rooms in the town, and it was no problem to pack them out for these strange guests to live in. So, while arranging a room for Yulian and the others, he sent someone to the nearby garrison camp to report the incident to the newly appointed patrol leader there.

"It seems that it will be difficult for West to win this war. ”

Walking into the room, after seeing off the old mayor and closing the door, Yu Lian's face immediately became solemn. And the two girls also took off their cloaks at this moment and looked at Yulian in front of them with serious expressions.

"Right now, it's clear that these guys are planning to slowly encroach on the land they occupy by means of division and digestion. It is very difficult for them to use the most obvious means to eliminate the hostility and revolt of the inhabitants of the occupied territories in the shortest possible time. But now it seems that they are doing a good job. ”

"But it's such a waste of time, brother. ”

Messiah frowned.

"The lifespan of ordinary humans is only a few decades, I heard that the Sith Emperor is already over forty years old, and ordinary humans can only live more than a hundred years at most, and right now, just occupying Orrut has taken so much time. Then with the expansion of the Sith Empire, they will spend more and more time. It is true that, for the time being, the pacification policy of the Sith Empire is very effective, but they have an absolute weakness after all, and it is impossible for their army not to expand. ”

"Probably those four gifted knights, Dad. ”

However, unlike her sister, Seminya, who had been silent, suddenly replied at this moment.

"I suspect that these four gifted knights are likely to be like my sister and me, and if that were the case, they wouldn't need to replenish their troops. ”

"I think so too. ”

Hearing what the two sisters said, You Lian quickly nodded in agreement with their point of view. In fact, since crossing the Red Fortress and entering the territory of the Kingdom of Orrut, Yuren has been carefully observing this occupied territory. Naturally, he also discovered the problem of this, the people did not riot, and the absence of riots meant that they were not threatened, and the absence of threats meant that the occupiers did not squeeze profits from them, and that they did not rush to squeeze profits meant ............... It seems that the Sith Empire is playing a big game of chess.

And the two sisters' doubts are not unreasonable. After all, there is always a limit to the age of human beings, and even the great magisters and gifted knights can only live for a hundred years at most, and their great strength does not allow their bodies to escape the boundaries between life and death. The same is true of human emperors, indeed, from the current invasion and expansion of the Sith Empire, which is full of gunpowder, it can be seen that they have the intention of trying to conquer and unify the continent. But how long can this last? In the past, the Sith Empire had few people, and it was not surprising that it expanded outward in order to survive and gain more resources, especially after having four gifted knights.

However, time is limited.

If the Sith Empire expanded at this rate, it could definitely become one of the most powerful states on the continent before the emperor died.

But if you want to unify the whole continent? That would be a complete dream.

This is also why, in history, when every country tries to unify the continent, it will occupy it as quickly as possible, squeeze resources, and then expand and occupy again, and every ruler hopes to see his country become the ruler of the continent in his lifetime. If they die, will their successors inherit their ideals? This is too low, after all, human beings are greedy for comfort, and in the eyes of many, conquering and ruling entire continents is an unattainable thing. They are satisfied that they can rule one-third or one-half of the continent and become a hegemon. So even the craziest aggressor country, after it occupies a large area of land and changes its leader, will slow down and eventually stop.

After all, it's an almost impossible task.

But right now, the Sith Empire is slowly carrying out this impossible task.

"It's funny. ”

In the end, Yulian made this assessment. Soon, though, he waved his hand, apparently not taking this behavior of the Sith Empire to heart.

"In fact, it is also good for us for the Sith Empire to do this. ”

"Of course, brother. ”

"Of course, Dad. ”

If other people hear Yu Lian's inexplicable and incoherent words, they will still have some doubts. Then the two sisters didn't have the slightest doubt about Yu Lian's words, they just looked at each other, and then showed a smile.

And just then, there was a knock on the door.

Yulian gestured to the two sisters, then he took a deep breath, and then, he stepped forward and opened the door, and outside the room, five soldiers in Sith Empire armor were standing there, staring at Yulian in front of him with vigilant and serious eyes.

"You're the outland who wants to live in town?"

"Yes. ”

Faced with the inquiries of the soldiers in front of him, Yulian lowered his head and replied in a low voice.

"Please rest assured, I'm just going to live here with my relatives for a while, and we won't make any trouble..............."

"We don't need to listen to your explanations. ”

Yuren was about to say something more, but the soldier interrupted him with an impatient wave of his hand.

"Our captain wants to see you, come with us immediately!"

"Your captain?"

Hearing this, Yu Lian's face changed slightly, and he looked into the room uneasily.

"But I still have ..............."

"They're coming too!

The soldier snorted coldly and whispered, as he reached out and pressed the hilt of the sword beside him, with a hint of dissatisfaction on his face.

"Now, immediately!"

"I see. ”

Facing the soldier in front of him, You Lian shrugged his shoulders helplessly.

"I'll obey orders. ”

Soon, Yuren and the sisters were taken out of town by Sith soldiers and into a patrol camp on the outskirts. There were quite a few soldiers training and patrolling here, and when they saw Yulian and the sisters, a look of curiosity appeared on their faces. After all, at the moment they are dressed as civilians (or rather, these three have never dressed as any soldiers and fighters). But when the soldiers led him to such a camp, did he commit something?

And when these soldiers were observing Yuren, Yuren was also observing these soldiers.

They are not young, they are highly trained veterans in terms of movement, however, these soldiers lack a kind of momentum of a killing field, and it is clear that they are nothing more than a reserve branch, not real warriors.

Where exactly is the main battle legion of the Sith Empire?

Yuren frowned, he crossed the red fortress and entered the territory of the Orrut Kingdom, but until now, he had not found the shadow of the main battle corps of the Empire. According to the intelligence, the main battle corps of the Wind Bringer Karan and the puppeteer Sidwi should be blocking the royal capital of Orrut, but now, he is so close to the royal capital, but he still does not see any shadow of the main battle corps at any roadstops and outposts, on the contrary, all he sees are those reserve soldiers and some veterans.

Where the hell did these guys go?

It was not difficult for Yuren to find them, and with his means, as long as he eliminated a few patrols in the territory of Orrut, it would be enough for the hidden main battle regiments to appear in front of him. But now, he has no way to do this, after all, Yulian came to the Kingdom of Orrut this time to "pick up people", not just to make a stir. If it really alarms the main battle corps, then it will be very troublesome to bring people back to the West Kingdom safely and soundly.

"Huh?"

Led by the soldiers, Yulian casually raised his head and glanced at the flagpole in the camp, and then he immediately stopped moving.

At this moment, on the flagpole, there are two flags flying high. One of them was the banner of the Sith Empire. The other banner was very strange - it was dark black on a base, bright red, and the edge of the flag was wrapped like blood, and above it, a golden scepter was in the center, and on either side of it, two hovering vipers stuck out their heads, and opened their mouths in a fierce eye, revealing a cold, frightening feeling.

And what surprised You Lian even more was that this flag was not a square flag, but a pennant!

"Attention. ”

Yulian immediately sank down and spoke. And the two girls were also calm at the moment, they held the umbrellas in their hands tightly and followed behind Yulian. Then, led by the soldiers, they came to a wooden house in the center of the camp, and then the soldiers opened the door and made a gesture of invitation to the three men.

Facing the soldier in front of him, Yulian took a deep breath, and then, he raised his head and walked into the wooden house.

As he walked into the cabin, Yulian quickly looked around, and he immediately noticed that a man in a gorgeous military uniform was sitting at his desk and watching him. It was clear that he was supposed to be the commander of the place -- but in a slight departure from Yuren's expectation, there was a hint of anxiety on the man's face, which did not seem to fit his identity and characteristics. Soon, however, Yuren discovers another object of note.

It was a strange girl, and at the moment she was wrapped in a pitch-black restraint leather coat, and even her hands were tightly bound behind her back. The wide, pitch-black leather goods obscured the girl's eyes, and the arm-thick belt bound the girl's body, and continued backwards, firmly fastened to the four long swords behind the girl.

And just as Yuren came in, the girl also turned her head and faced Yulian's direction. Although her eyes were completely covered, Yulian could still feel a cold, viper-like aura around her.

"Is that you?"

Then, the girl asked.

(To be continued)