Riding on a horse, the sheriff looked proudly at the convoy of nearly a hundred people in front of him. They were driving carriages and riding war horses, heading deep into the wilderness.
"Hey, Sheriff."
Just as the man was about to turn around to count the number of people, an old man rode up to him not far away. Seeing the old man, the sheriff couldn't help but laugh.
"Old man, I didn't expect you to come here too?"
"Of course, this is what the lord has repeatedly instructed me to do. How can I not come?"
Hearing what the sheriff said, the old man smiled and patted the "pioneer badge" on his chest.
"To be honest, when I heard that the poisonous fog over the canyon in the north had dissipated, I even thought I was hallucinating... I mean, are we really going to open up a new territory?"
"Of course, that's why we're here."
In response to the old man's question, the sheriff nodded vigorously, then he reached out, took out a pipe from his arms and put it to his mouth.
"We haven't expanded our territory for many years. If it weren't for this accident, I'm afraid we wouldn't have enough space in a few years."
"yes……"
Facing the sheriff's complaint, the old man also sighed. The Western Continent is vast, but many places are dry wilderness, without rivers or lakes. Such places are simply not suitable for people to live in, let alone grow crops. Even if they are used for grazing, the livestock will starve to death or die of thirst.
After so many years, most of the resource-rich areas have been firmly controlled by the nobles and merchants of the Fire Nation. Ordinary people like them can only hope to find "undeveloped land" if they want to change their fate overnight.
It was not known whether it was luck or misfortune, but a few days ago, patrol soldiers discovered that the chaotic poisonous fog surrounding the northern canyon began to dissipate. It was precisely because of this news that their lord gritted his teeth and assembled a team to go to the northern canyon to check the situation. If it had really been transformed into an "undeveloped land", then they would occupy it immediately!
Most of the team this time were soldiers from the territory, and some were professionals. They were responsible for occupying advantageous positions in the undeveloped land, clearing out the remaining monsters there, and figuring out what kind of resources the undeveloped land had - although the land of chaos was suffocating, when the chaos receded, the wealth and treasures they left for humans were also mouth-watering.
Plants with magical powers, springs that can make people immortal, spiritual crystals with powerful strength... all of these may appear in the "undeveloped land". As long as they can obtain these, they can ascend to heaven in one step, and have endless wealth and high status, money, wealth, women, land, manors. Everything they can think of can be obtained!
Then, we just need to climb over this hill and we will be there...
“Da da…da da…”
At this moment, the sheriff saw a cavalryman not far in front of him galloping towards him at high speed. Seeing this scene, the sheriff's face changed slightly. If the cavalryman was as expected, he should be the scout he sent to the front to observe the situation... Could it be that something happened?
“My lord!!”
At this moment, the scout also rode a horse and came quickly to the sheriff. He hurriedly saluted and then spoke.
“The situation is not good!”
"What's wrong?"
"I've found the Unexplored Lands... but they look a little strange, and... I saw the banner of the Iron Shield family!"
"Those damn thieves!"
Hearing the scout's report, the sheriff's face darkened. Although this undeveloped land was the closest to his lord's territory, no one stipulated that only neighboring families were qualified to develop it. On the contrary, every development of undeveloped land was accompanied by bloody battles and disputes. After all, if your enemies occupied the territory near you, it would definitely not be a good thing.
Not to mention, the Iron Shield family and their lord are mortal enemies!
"Hurry, everyone follow up!!"
The sheriff no longer hesitated. He quickly grabbed the flag beside him and raised it high. Then he whipped his horse whip vigorously and galloped forward quickly. As the sheriff left, the other soldiers hurriedly followed him and rushed forward.
"Damn...that dirty flag!!"
As the sheriff rode his horse over the hillside, he immediately saw another cavalry not far away. The cavalry captain, holding high a red flag with an iron shield pattern, rode his horse forward. The other side seemed to have noticed the presence of the sheriff. The cavalry captain turned his head and looked over here, then sped up again.
"asshole!!"
Seeing this, the sheriff waved his whip and rushed down hastily. At the same time, he raised the flag in his hand with a blue background and a sword painted on it - this was the family emblem of the lord he was loyal to!
We must get to the undeveloped land before those damn bastards!!
The Fire Nation does not have any hard and fast rules for the development of undeveloped lands, but for such contenders, whoever sets foot on the undeveloped land first will obviously show who is better, and can also severely hit the opponent's morale. This has nothing to do with interests, it is entirely about the family's face and honor!
The cavalry of the Iron Shield Family and the Sharp Sword Family advanced almost in unison. Although there was no discussion at all, it was obvious that they had already determined that whoever set foot on that land first would be the winner!
But... why is this "undeveloped land" purple?
The closer he got to the "undeveloped land", the more strange the sheriff felt. He had seen that the land was completely different from what he had imagined. If he remembered correctly, this land was always covered by chaotic poisonous fog, and there were bottomless quagmires and swamps everywhere. But now... why did the ground seem to be covered with purple things everywhere? What on earth was that?
Could it be that this is the "specialty" of this undeveloped land?
This question flashed through the mind of the sheriff, but he did not have time to think about it. Because at the moment, he and the other cavalry captain were almost on the same pace, leaving the others behind. It can be said that now it was a battle between him and the other person. As long as he could set foot on this land earlier than him, then... he would win... ! !
"hiss--!!"
But what the sheriff didn't expect was that just when he was about to step on the purple land, the warhorse under the sheriff's feet suddenly neighed and stopped abruptly. The sheriff riding on the horse had never expected such a thing to happen, and was thrown out and fell heavily to the ground.
“Woo!”
"ah!"
Along with the screams, the sheriff felt as if his body was thrown onto an iron plate, burning with pain. However, when he turned around, he was surprised to find that not far from him, the cavalry captain was also screaming with a bitter look on his face... What was going on?
"Damn horse!"
The sheriff complained, gasped, stood up, limped to his horse, and tried to pull it forward. But this time his horse refused to move forward. Instead, it shook its head and backed away desperately, as if there was some terrible threat ahead. And the next moment, the horse broke free from the sheriff and ran away!
What the hell is going on?
Looking at the warhorse running away, the sheriff was stunned for a moment, not knowing what to say. At this moment, he felt as if someone gently touched his shoulder.
"Why, I don't have anything to say to you!"
The sheriff did not turn his head. He could tell with his toes that the bastard cavalry captain must be trying to laugh at him, and he obviously would not give him this opportunity!
“…”
But the man behind him didn't seem to care at all about the sheriff's tone, and patted him on the shoulder again.
This time, the sheriff finally couldn't bear it anymore. He suddenly drew the sword from his waist, turned around and started cursing.
"You want to fucking fight..."
However, before the sheriff could finish his words, he just stood there in a daze.
What he saw behind him was not the cavalry captain he had imagined, but a monster that was two men tall and covered with sharp thorns, like a giant snake. It waved its two front paws, and its pair of blood-red eyes stared coldly at the human in front of it.
“…”
At this moment, the sheriff felt that his brain was completely blank.