In early February 1361 in the valley calendar, Evening Star Town, Arabel Liberation Army Camp, Headquarters.

Ms. Millman-Raul was standing on a high hillside.

From here, using the binoculars of the mages of Waterdeep, you can see the city of Arabell in the distance.

Once the pearl of Cormier's north, her city is now overrun by a horde of black, dirty green orcs, whose torches illuminate the silhouette of Arabel, as vast as a sky full of stars.

Lady Raul had recalled countless times the day Arabel fell: the endless tide of green engulfing her city, and the chaotic drumbeat of the desolate and noisy one-eyed orcs would have been expelled from any military band, but the orcs didn't care, they were like a contagion of the earth, and like a chaotic tide of destruction, drowning their army.

The souls of the orc ancestors of the orc Great Khan Tujin carry unstoppable power, nothing can stop them, she has tried all her strength, all her wisdom, but she still can't stop the power of the orcs.

Orc armies raged like a tidal wave in Arabel, crushing the last of humanity's resistance, bloodthirsty orc fangs roaring to destroy everything, giants and monster armies overwhelmed Lady Raul's last guards, and orc legions reveled in the ruins of ancient cities.

She saw with her own eyes that the inn of the Holy Land, which her god had left behind in the turbulent years, was stormed and looted by ecstatic orcs, and then set the inn on fire and reduced to ruins the sacred place where the lucky lady Tymorrah had lived for so long.

Now, she's back, with her army.

Retracting her gaze, Ms. Raul looked at her army, the army she had high hopes for.

Hundreds of tents were scattered around Evening Star - except for the 3,000 in her own department and a handful of supporters of other nobles, anyone was forced to admit that it was a patchwork army, with Bedaiwu barbarians from the Northlands, adventurers from Sword Bay, primitive tribesmen from the South, and even necromantic mages and warrior monks from the East.

There are Asmos who are descended from celestial creatures and mortals, there are Tieflin wild seeds (no pejorative) left by the hellish devils in the mortal world, there are elemental descendants born from the influence of the four elemental planes, and there are also evil sorcerers who have the Celestial Sect Master behind them and the Demon Sect Master, who can go back and forth from the two places of the hell abyss.

She didn't know how much strength her army could use, she only knew that she only had one chance.

The orc tribe of the Great Khan Tujin is just one of many orc tribes, nothing more.

Thinking in vain about the number of enemies, she turned back to the camp.

In the tent, in addition to her lieutenant and several generals, Samir the Sorcerer and Aaron, Viscount of Salian, were already waiting.

There are several plans on the table, which hide the battle plan that turns the passive into the active.

According to the oracles of Lady Fortune Tymorrah and the Lord of the Dawn, Loshanda, the power of the gods must be invoked if they want to suppress the ancestral spirits of Tukin and prevent the ghostly killing machines from sweeping their armies like wheat harvests.

Only the gods can fight against the gods, this is some kind of unspoken rule in the kingdom,

As a result, the religious adventurers, led by Aaron, came up with several plans that were very close.

As the god of the Silver Holy Mother Suren, Aaron has obtained an oracle from Suren, he has three moon gems on his body, Aaron's plan is that he will not participate in the frontal battle, but form a team of adventurers, try to bypass the defense line of the orcs, enter the outskirts of Arabel City, located in the forest of the Silver Holy Mother Temple, through the moon gem to activate the divine power transmission device hidden inside the temple, activate Suren's divine power blessing, and use Suren's divine power to fight against the divine power of the orc god king Geush.

This plan is simple to say, but it is not easy to do, although the Temple of Suren is located on the outskirts of Arabel City, there are not so many orc sentry and patrols, and the danger of carrying out this task alone in the form of only a few people is still very high.

Similarly, Samir's plan is to carry the token of the goddess of luck Tymorrah into the interior of Arabel City, the harpist alliance member who had sabotaged the conspiracy of the Lord of the Nine Prisons in the turbulent year knew a secret passage to the interior of Arabel City, and he also planned to take a few men to sneak into the city to activate Tymorrah's divine powers.

Exactly like the Church of the Trinity of Justice, the Church of the Lord of the Dawn, the Church of Mother Earth, and even the Church of Nature of the Verdant Druids have all made the same plan, and they all plan to activate the power of their gods to fight against the ancestral soul of the terrible orc god king Guush.

Ms. Raul knew in her heart that this could be one of the few critical missions that could take the initiative in her own hands and have a decisive impact on the war, and she and her cronies knew that if they could not solve Tukin's ancestral soul, there would be no chance of victory in the war.

But Ms. Raul also understands that by making such a decision, she is putting these adventurers who are close to her, who have come for the justice of the kingdom and the restoration of Arabel, to risk their lives.

This has become a black comedy: as a lord, she can't take risks herself, otherwise the Liberation Army will fall apart, and those who plan to take risks are really good and valuable, and who are willing to sacrifice their lives for the peace and justice of the kingdom.

They are dying for their territory, and those who remain are opportunists.

Ms. Raul has seen too many times in her life such a reverse elimination—the warriors who truly yearn for peace and justice sacrifice their lives for the kingdom and fight for their ideals, while the opportunists and selfish people enjoy their sacrifices and laugh at the ugly posture of the warriors.

It was very painful for her.

What's even more painful is that she has to let these excellent young people take risks.

If she was alone, it didn't matter if she was a lord or not, but behind her were tens of thousands of refugees from Arabel, who were displaced, the civilians she had sworn to protect, as well as her dead guards, her friends, and her army, and the frustration and resentment of the soldiers who had lost their homes and loved ones, and their anger could only be quelled by piling up orc heads.

"I'll ask you one last time, Aaron and Samir, have you really thought about it?" Ms. Raul felt like a knife cut her heart.

"Of course." "Hey, hey, hey~ Do we have any other choice? My lady? ”

"Understood, may Tymorrah bless you...... I'm tired, so let's go down. Ms. Raul waved her hand and motioned for Aaron and Samir to go.

Seeing the two of them leave, Ms. Raul's adopted daughter, Christine walked in with a thick stack of books: "Mother? How to solve this problem? ”

"It's a difficult question, and my mother won't." Madame Raul didn't even look at the questions left by the court mentor on the scroll, and her smile was covered with a thick fog: "Daughter, the war is about to begin, and I will have you sent back to Susar." ”

"Mother? No! I'm going to be with you! Christine was surprised at first, then shook her head stubbornly.

"I'm not asking for your opinion, I'm just informing you!" Miss Raul said coldly, and then the two heavily armored soldiers pushed Christine out.

I could die fighting here, but Christine, my daughter, I want you to live your whole life.

It's a mother's ...... Aspiration!

…………

Coming out of the wartime command post, Aaron and Samir looked at each other, relatively silent.

Each of them carried a roll of parchment with proof of permission to act, stamped with the ordination of Ms. Raul.

"Hey, don't be so serious." Samir pretended to hold his head in his hands lightly and said with a smile: "Isn't it just to call for divine power?" It's not like you haven't done it. ”

"Huh." Aaron smiled, but how to look at it felt a little unnatural: "That's right, there's nothing terrible, it's just a big deal." ”

Aaron was confident when he submitted his plan, but after he actually got the permission to take the precepts, his mood became a little low.

Not far from here, the city of Tivanton, also fell, where his parents died in battle.

"Don't do that, Aaron." Samir sighed lightly, and he shook his head repeatedly: "Do you know how I went around in hell and the abyss and returned to the mortal world? ”

"It was my strong desire to live, I wanted to live, I wanted to live more than ever, and this strong will drove me to successfully get out of Avernath, to the bottomless abyss, and then to leave the bottomless abyss."

"Humans, we always need a goal to be truly alive." Samir smiled lazily.

"Target, I have, I've always wanted fiefdoms, I've always wanted to recast the glory of Salian, I ......" Aaron said seriously.

"Haha, you know, that's not what I'm talking about." Samir shook his head.

Aaron was silent for a few seconds, then nodded slowly, he understood what Samir meant.

The two did not continue to talk, for the fluctuations in the air alerted them, and a long, clear figure stood in front of an octogenarian woman who was setting up a stall on the edge of the town street.

"Sell goat's milk, fresh goat's milk! Only 2 coppers in a cup! "It was getting late, and the old woman, dressed in the coarsest linen dress, with a checkered headscarf on her head, and greasy sleeves on her arms, was selling goat's milk, and she looked a little anxious as the light grew darker and darker.

A figure in slim clothes stood in front of the stall, he looked half-dead, his body was emaciated, his cheeks were deep, his face was like a skeleton, and he was sipping a glass of goat's milk in his hand.

Aaron and Samir glanced at each other, and quietly went up to ask the price: "Grandma, what are you selling here?" ”

"Goat's milk, fresh goat's milk." The old woman's eyes lit up when she saw someone coming up to ask for the price, and she could see that they were two young people in gorgeous clothes, and their faces were much darker.

How can such a person buy cheap goat's milk to drink?

"Is it still hot?" Aaron didn't have a fight, he looked at the old woman's wrinkled face under the turban, the sagging cheeks, the deep wrinkles and cloudy eyes, and the few strands of almost white hair exposed under the turban, and knew that the other party should be very old.

"Hot, hot, sir, would you like some?" The old woman asked cautiously, for fear of offending the nobleman.

"How much?"

"2 copper coins a cup, my lord, you can taste a little first, no money." Reluctantly, the old woman scooped half a cup from the barrel and handed it to Aaron, signaling that the cup did not cost money.

Aaron was not polite, he took the wooden cup, drank it directly in the distressed eyes of the old woman, and smashed it: "How old are you this year?" Grandma. ”

"84 years old." The old woman took back the wooden cup and replied blankly.

84 years old?!

"At such an age, on such a cold day, why do you still come out to sell things?" Aaron's attitude became softer.

"Inside the ranch...... It's okay, just come out and sell a little ......"

"Where's your child?" Aaron said softly, his charisma working again.

The old woman's eyes immediately turned red, she hung her head, and whispered: "Children, they are all gone, my five children, none of them are gone, and they are all ...... by orcs." ”

"......" Aaron and Samir were silent, and after a few seconds, Samir asked, "How are you going to live now?" ”

"Thank you, Your Royal Highness, and thank you, Ms. Raul, they arranged for me to work on a ranch, but an old woman like me, who has no children, can't do any work, so the ranch asked me to sell goat's milk."

"Sell a bucket and give me a silver coin, and I'll live on this, and if I can't sell it all, I'll have to deduct my money."

"Can you sell it out, then?"

"Not necessarily, sometimes you can get some money if you can sell it out, sometimes you have to be scolded if you can't sell it back, there are so many troops in the town recently, I see if I can sell more and save more money." The old woman probably couldn't tell what the use of saving money was for herself, it seemed to be just her instinct, she was sometimes confused, sometimes she didn't want to think so much, she just looked at Aaron with hopeful eyes: "My lord, do you want to have some?" I can be cheaper, don't tell the ranch owner, I don't want to be scolded, in front of so many people......"

Aaron silently stared at the barrel in front of the old woman, and in the distance, the sun was slowly setting.

Such a deep pain, but can only be expressed so easily.

She couldn't do anything, just to live, she had exhausted all her courage, all her strength.

After too many sacrifices, mortals are still displaced and in precariousness.

He had laughed at Renard's indiscriminate kindness before, but he really encountered this kind of thing, but he couldn't be indifferent.

"How much is left, granny, I want it all." Aaron said softly.

"Huh? My lord, how much do you want to do this? The old woman's mouth opened wide in surprise: "My lord, this will go bad if you can't finish drinking." ”

"It's okay, I have a lot of followers." Aaron smiled brightly, he first took out two golden lion coins, and did not let the old woman find money, and wrapped up the few buckets of goat milk left by the old woman.

"Thank you, thank you so much, my lord, I am really ......" The old woman was about to cry gratefully: "Thank you so much, there is also a fierce-looking knight who startled me today, and also asked me why I sell goat's milk here, and after I told him, he also bought a whole bucket and left." ”

"There are still many good people in this world." Samir laughed.

After repeatedly asking the old woman whether the money was really in her hands and not being taken by the ranch owner, Aaron gave the money to the old woman, and he motioned for Samir to come and help carry the goat's milk, and turned around to leave.

However, just as Aaron was about to leave, the thin bald man who had been standing next to him tasting goat's milk spoke, he put the cup on the table, and said with a playful smile: "I didn't expect you to have such a kind heart, Lord Aaron Salian, this doesn't seem to match the intelligence." ”

Aaron and Samir just looked at him, they already sensed this guy, he was deliberately waiting for them, creating a chance encounter.

And Aaron also deliberately waited for him to take the initiative.

"It's an honor to introduce myself, I'm from a charred, rubble-covered wasteland, and I'm sorry I can't tell you my real name, but you can call me 'The Singer', that's my code name."

"I'm here to talk to you about a deal." The bald singer said gracefully, his amber eyes flashing with furious flames.

"What business?" Aaron carried three buckets of goat's milk and asked lightly, "Is there anything we can talk about between us?" ”

"Of course, we have a lot to talk about for our common good, but ...... I think we should change places, if you don't want to be rudely disturbed......" The bald singer bowed gracefully and gestured to the other side of the block with his eyes.

Moon-Anaheim, the Purple Dragon Knight, is approaching with a group of followers.

"You're an enemy of him, aren't you? His Excellency Aaron Salyan, and His Excellency Samir. The bald singer blinked: "It's an honor that I traded with him and was also an enemy." ”

"The enemy of my enemy is my friend!"

"That's the rules of the game we have there."

Updated, ask for a ticket duck~

(End of chapter)