Chapter 302: Borrowing and Repaying
Prince Pearl Litanel left his seat and walked straight out of the conference room.
An elf with white hair but a slightly old face walked on the marble bridge of the tower and looked towards the east.
A huge shadow slowly rose up and covered the Elf Prince from behind.
No one except Serkostek was willing to stand with him.
All his comrades died seven thousand years ago.
The elf stared toward the east in a trance. The dense forest blocked his view and also blocked the sun's rays from shining on the world.
The heavy snow in Kislev could block the sun, but it could not block the faint light radiating from Lynch to the surroundings.
But the light and heat emitted by an individual is tiny. It cannot illuminate the entire grassland. An individual in the vast wilderness will only feel that he is surrounded by heaven and earth and is just an insignificant member among all living beings.
Lynch walked across the desolate grassland and witnessed the cremation of piles of corpses by the insignificant creatures. The platforms built by the Chaos Warriors collapsed in the flames, just like their builders.
Along with the heads lost in the flames was the pain of the people.
Human sorrow is not long-lasting, just like their lifespan. Compared with the truly long years, their joys, sorrows, anger and happiness are always as short as the gorgeous fireworks in the sky.
Temples were built one after another, and the borders of Kislev were filled with the sound of celebratory bells.
Only humans know what they are celebrating and why this bleak winter calls for celebration.
They were lucky that the sun purified the corruption in this country, and they could continue to live on normal land instead of struggling in the harsh environment and being distorted by the ubiquitous radiation like those mortals living in the corrupted land.
The taint brought by the Winds of Magic is nearly eternal, just like the immortal Realm of Chaos.
Without light, the Praag Fortress, which fell in the Chaos invasion, is still a cursed city, a terrifying living city that can only be occupied by praying to the Dark Gods.
The absence of corrosion does not mean that everything will be worry-free. The disaster begins after the war. Only soldiers died in that war, but famine, disease and cold winter favor every mortal equally.
Lynch could solve the famine at the same time. When he looted the ratmen clan, food was the last thing he needed as spoils of war.
Well! He didn't need anything but the screams of the rat-men.
For the cold-blooded species, finding ratmen is a very easy task. The long and bloody battle with the Plague Clan taught the cold-blooded species how to fight against the Skaven.
But that rotten clan was just an isolated case in the underground world, and it was Lynch’s first time dealing with the ratmen of the old world.
He only knew that the Hell Pit was in the north, but he didn't know its exact location.
Fortunately, he didn't need to visit the Hell Pit, at least not now. He should choose a normal ratman clan.
Even if the Corrupt Clan's stored food was given to Lynch, he would not accept it.
Just like the corrupt Plague Clan, this is a sick clan.
Almost every ratman in the Corrupted Clan is a deformed one. Lynch is not sure whether the grains piled in their granaries will cause normal humans to be deformed into beastmen on the spot after eating them.
Under the ground of the Kingdom of Kislev, there should be small clans supported by corrupt clans. Every big clan will support many small clans. Small clans led by warlords are excellent channels to consume the output of big clans.
In order to protect themselves and gain a higher status, small clans will do everything they can to find dimensional stones, steal food, and then exchange food and dimensional stones for biological weapons or special rat groups from large clans.
The four great clans are the controllers hidden behind the scenes. They only need to throw out some residues in exchange for endless dimensional stones, food, and slaves.
The number of warlord leaders who died in Lustria could already be counted in tens of thousands, and the Plague Clan always maintained nearly a thousand cannon fodder clans before being driven out of Lustria.
A corrupt clan that can stand on equal footing with the Plague Clan should have at least hundreds of puppet clans.
The vast territory of Kislev can only accommodate about a dozen clans, and most of the clans are in the Empire, the World's Edge Mountains, and the Dark Land.
Lynch couldn't clear the underground for the time being. He only needed to find out the clan that stole food from the border, and then bring some soldiers to transport the food to empty the rat clan's stored food.
The Lizardmen did not look for the Cosas that were everywhere because their discipline was too unreliable.
After discovering traces of the ratmen, he simply called upon hundreds of Winged Hussars who were rebuilding the village along the way.
In order to prevent the villages from losing their ability to defend themselves and the basis for maintaining order, Lynch only took half of the warriors with him when passing through a single village. He also borrowed the horses that the villagers had just tamed and the carriages that looked like they were about to break down.
Thanks to Boyer's previous announcement, the Kislevites who evacuated from Mirkavala to rebuild their homes did not resist the call of the "divine beasts" or "divine messengers" too much.
Lynch led a huge team of carriages and a group of confused soldiers, and drove into the depths of the grassland under the sight of everyone, some bright and some dark, heading in a certain direction with a purpose.
The lizard man rushed to the front of the carriage thoughtfully, his cruel eyes seemed to be staring into an invisible sight.
"Bad Tooth" Reese withdrew his gaze in panic, crouched down in the snow, and used the snow on his body and the tall grass to cover himself.
It had seen this strange-looking Norscan man before. This scaly human had fought with some Chaos humans before.
Because there were so many humans around, it didn't dare to look at it for long, but it remembered the glowing rod. The silver-gray scepter looked very precious.
No one wants to investigate why the Chaos creatures are fighting among themselves. Isn't internal fighting a natural thing?
But this strange-looking Norse guy did not die in the strange sunrise. He seemed to be looking for something.
After the human carriage went away, Reese sneaked around with the snow on his body and pushed aside the grass beside him.
A slightly narrow entrance to a cave appeared, so small that it looked like a rabbit hole.
Reese stuck his head into the tunnel, using his claws to dig up the soft soil left over when digging the hole, and drilled deeper.
After its feet completely entered the tunnel, it subconsciously flapped a few times, simply burying the entrance and leaving only a small ventilation hole.
The narrow entrance tunnel did not trap the nimble ratmen, but instead gave them an infinite sense of security.
The underground is the territory of the ratmen, the world above ground is too dangerous.
"Bad Tooth" drilled deeper and the tunnel became wider. It was easier to dig holes in the loose soil deep underground, but unlike the frozen soil above, the spacious tunnel deep inside made Reese feel nervous when he passed through it.
It kept praying to the Horned Rat, kept offering fear and obedience to the Horned Rat, praying that the malicious god would not joke with a trivial rat man.
Every day there are ratmen being crushed to death in collapsed tunnels. Their painful and suffocating appearances leave a deep impression on the ratmen who discover their bodies while digging holes.
Reese touched his stomach, and despite being horrified, he quite missed the taste of that unfortunate guy.
(End of this chapter)
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