"The people of Miasma are not living well, and their magic obstacles are not only poisonous insects and evil insects, but also rooted in the hearts of the people. Especially at the border, murder and overselling goods are not uncommon, and the people here scoff at the royal law. Although they are peaceful people, they are equal to barbarians, and they are stubborn and difficult to educate. —— "Moonwalker: North Chapter"

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After leaving the hot spring village, the group did not go to Pingshan County due to the direction. Their goal was to go to Xinjing, so they had to go as far south as possible, but after entering Zhangzhou, it was not as easy as they thought to leave.

Although the national highway is easy to walk, some of the roads are not completely safe. The long, straight road always had cases of disappearances in some deserted places, and before leaving the last of the more stable towns, the innkeeper, who had collected a large sum of money as an intermediary for supplies, made a look of great concern and carefully warned the group to be very careful when walking.

It seemed to him that even well-trained samurai who went out armed were not safe in such a place.

In Crescent Island, where there is no adventurer culture and travelers are relatively scarce, the innkeeper is a rare reminder of the inns of his hometown of Rigal, where the inns are always a mixed bag, because adventurers are made up of all kinds of people. All kinds of information will be spread through their boasting, talking and discussing, and even inadvertently confiding in drunkenness, so there is also a saying that "innkeepers are the best tipsters".

Of course, if you are a serious registered adventurer, it is far more efficient to obtain standardized information from the guild that has been collated than some gossip. But for ordinary people, the innkeeper does have the impression that he knows a lot of secrets.

This kind of homotope existence in Crescent Island is generally a teahouse, and the tea-drinking culture here is very popular. Even if commoners, foot merchants, and wandering monks could not afford to stay in hotels, they often stayed in ruined temples and would often go to the teahouse to drink a bowl of coarse tea or beg for vegetarian food and fresh water.

It is only beyond the reach of power, such as the border, that there is a chaotic and intensive exchange of information like Rigal.

The contempt for the Rigalese "Nanban" also has something to do with all this, because this kind of confusion that the Rigalese are accustomed to is disgusting and unacceptable to those who are accustomed to etiquette and restraint.

This thousand-year-old country has carved so many things into its bones – saying hello when we first meet, telling us when we go out, and thanking you before eating. They regarded discipline and order as the most important things, and the relationship between the upper and lower classes was far more stringent than on Rigal's side. On the bright side, the society does look more stable and orderly. But this kind of stability is based on the premise that everyone follows the rules, does not offside or even thinks about it.

The most knowledgeable class of scholars were shackled, and they could only serve as the "brains" of Crescent Continent, and they could never use their hands.

And the warrior class has repeatedly strengthened its loyalty to the Lord over the course of thousands of years, so that they are not "a force loyal to their master", but "an army of many individuals loyal to their master".

This may seem like a play on words, but the difference between the two is that each individual has a slightly different standard of loyalty.

They are faithful to the Lord in their own way, prioritizing how to be faithful to themselves as "individuals" rather than as a collective.

Everyone followed the rules and stayed where they were supposed to be, and the level of civility, prosperity and stability of the society was enough to shock the Rigal barbarians who saw it for the first time.

And it is completely unexpected, and the punishment for "offside" is also extremely severe.

Society as a whole has an extremely hostile attitude towards offsides.

Peasants who give up farming are punished, and once they become deserters, it is almost impossible to live a peaceful life.

Samurai are noble, but once they lose their serving master and become a ronin, they are a presence that even civilians can spurn - even if they usually don't dare to do so in person.

Under the pressure, there will be dissatisfaction, and the backlog of dissatisfaction will manifest itself to a certain extent.

And the areas on the border of Zhangzhou, which are regarded by the mainstream as gathering places for the people and barbarians, are places where such dissatisfied people will gather in large numbers.

A young farmer who wants to become a businessman but eventually becomes a runaway farmer, a ronin who has achieved good results in martial arts tournaments in the past but has not been able to find a master to serve for a long time. Like Rigal's equally chaotic region, it is full of people with all kinds of pasts and stories, and Henry and his party chose such a place impartially - precisely in the spirit of Ye Hidden in the Forest.

What is the best place to hide a secret.

It's not a place where no one can find it, because there is no such place at all. The best place to hide a secret is a place with a lot of secrets.

Throw plenty of dirt and some will be sure to stick.

Although this kind of mixed place will inevitably attract attention as long as they come into contact with people with the composition of their team, because of the confusion of information and the information coming out of this kind of place is extremely low in the credibility of the mainstream society of Japanese, it can become a cover for the whereabouts of the group to a certain extent.

It was impossible to completely hide their whereabouts from the rebels, who were presumably still searching for information, as they had learned after the attack. Since it is not possible to completely erase the information, the best way to do it is to release false information other than to choose areas that are difficult for them to use as much as possible.

The people at the border will put on an old acquaintance for 5 copper plates, and they will be close to you. Even if there were some servants sent by the noble lords who wanted to inquire about the news after they left, the servant who looked like a fat sheep at first glance came, and every tael of silver he could get a completely different kind of information from a different population "seen with his own eyes".

Of course, all of this is premised on limited contact with other people. All they need is to pass through and stay for a short time. If it becomes a long-term stay, not to mention the possible chasers, the local hooligans are enough to cause a headache.

After all, the prejudice of mainstream society against this kind of place is not all contempt for those who deviate from society.

As the carriage walked through a suburb with signs of human habitation, the group saw a scene that was not common even in the so-called "Nanban" world of Rigal.

It was evident that the civilians, men, women, and children who had been intercepted and killed were abandoned in the potholes on the side of the road, and judging from the hands tied behind their backs and the indiscriminate slashes on the back of their necks and shoulders, it was clear that they had obeyed the rogues and handed over their belongings, but they were still unable to save their lives.

Even more tragic than this is that their encounter does not end after death, and two short men are groping in the pit when the group comes. One of them tried to dig through the tattered clothes to find some more belongings, but when he failed, he took off the dead man's shoes and compared them to see if he could wear them.

The other rubbed up and down the dead woman's body, not caring about the dirt and blood.

They were startled by the sound of the carriage as they approached, and the two men turned around and tried to hide like frightened rats, then looked at their carriage and the women who accompanied them, their eyes full of greed.

It was still summer at this time, and although Zhangzhou was located in a more northerly area, the temperature was actually very hot due to the fact that the overall latitude of Crescent Island was lower than that of mainland Rigal.

The breath of the corpses was not very strong, most likely it had just ended before they arrived. And what these two men are doing is a serious "ghoul" in the context of human language.

Most of them followed behind the rogues, and when the rogues were done killing people and stealing goods, they would come over to see if they could pick up some leftovers.

Like scavengers in nature, these short, thin and incapable of killing people on their own have become "ghouls" who specialize in picking up the corpses of robbers after slaughter.

They are not like the rogue robbers who stare at the gold and silver treasures and want to make a fortune. Groping around in the stench of corpses like this for a long time, just to dig out a mouthful of dry food that still had residual warmth on the corpse, or to take off a piece of clothing that was still wearable.

Guarantee a minimum subsistence or the needs of men and women that would not normally be possible in a lifetime.

The samurai revered the beasts, so they even took the right way to deal with some of the famous bandits. Just like a man who fights a bear or a wolf, he will always be famous. But for this "ghoul" who is as despicable as a rat, they have nothing but spurning and hatred.

"Raise the bow—" Narumi gave the order without hesitation.

The two men, still unsure of what had happened, stood in the grave, tense like a cat and a mouse, not daring to flee. Then the sound of loose strings sounded, and they themselves fell as corpses.

The delicate bow and heavy arrow pierced through the heart effortlessly, and the moment the two fell, the black and white eagle tail feathers were stained with blood and dirty.

The arrows of this samurai's bow were even more valuable than the lives of the two men—but the samurai who shot the arrows had only disgust on their faces, and even if they could recover them, they didn't want to go down into the pit.

When a beast is killed, the head and the bow that shot it or the sword used to slash it are named, which is an honor.

But killing a rat is no honor.

No one said anything about the merciless slaughter of the samurai, not even the soft-hearted Miss Doctor or the group of Rigal, who came from a different background and education.

No matter what these two people have experienced, it is true that the overly strict social system cannot be completely disagreed, but the complete loss of the bottom line as a human being is beyond the scope of sympathy.

"Go find those rogues, although it is not a good thing to make trouble, but it is a killer for the defenseless who have already submitted. Narumi said this and looked at the young master, who nodded in agreement.

"Sir, Miss Yiren, please. The samurai made such a request to Lulu, who was born as a hunter and a hunter, who had combat skills but were not good at tracking. The carnage had taken place a few hours earlier, and the traces were still fresh, but not easily visible to the uninitiated.

"Good clothes, but just linen. The woman still had a sachet hanging from her, but it was cut so it wasn't taken away. It seems to be a merchant family, and the big family goes out on a trip together. After the two "ghouls" were shot, Mira and the rest of the men got out of the carriage and took a brief look.

"If only we could have arrived a little earlier. Yajiro said.

"After all, why do unarmed civilians choose such a dangerous route? Ah Yong, on the other hand, was indignant, and the samurai next to him also echoed: "The men of this family are also too cowardly, and they can't muster up the courage to resist even if they surrender directly." ”

Opinions and voices abounded one after another, as Henry and Lulu examined the flattened weeds, broken branches, and bloodstained footprints to sort through information on the number of people and directions, while Aya bowed to the pit with her hands folded.

"I'm sorry, I'll be buried later. ”

"Six people, one of them was lame. ”

"There is no means of transportation, and it should not be far to rely on the strength of the feet and carry the belongings. The sage turned his head, and Narumi glanced at Yajiro and gave the order.

"Untie the leash and put on the saddle!"