Chapter 435, Section 434: Conflict
"Sirius, Sirius!"
Sirius's eyelids drooped, his gaze unfocused as he stared at the cracks in the ground.
It wasn't until Vella reached out and gently shook his shoulder that the beautiful elf snapped back to reality.
“Sorry, Vera…” Cirrian rubbed his ear, “I was a little distracted.”
“It was my fault for making the arrangements.” Vera’s voice was apologetic. “You’ve been casting spells all day and should have rested properly. Leave the night watch to me.”
The two spoke in hushed tones, afraid of disturbing the sleeping sisters, Fei Ling and Fei Yin, in the back.
Sirius didn't try to be brave; he walked to the haystack in the corner and lay down.
Vera's squad is currently stationed in the ruins of a small town north of Golden Valley City.
The town had been reduced to ashes during the demons' previous raids, and the house where they were resting was the best-preserved building in the town—it was missing only half a wall and could still barely keep out the wind and rain.
Previously, after following the convoy transporting Puji into the ravaged West, their first stop was Wimbledon.
The demon raiding forces' southward advance finally stopped in front of this fortress, thus saving the towns behind it from destruction.
Vera and his companions witnessed firsthand the devastation of the fortress, saw the walls that had been repaired with rubble, timber, and mud, saw wounded soldiers staggering through the streets, and the newly erected mass grave for three thousand people outside the city…
The adventurers, including Vera, were deeply shocked by the horrific scene at Wimbledon. It was a battle completely different from any other adventure—a battle that was far more bloody and brutal!
Before arriving in Golden Valley City, Vera and his companions had mentally prepared themselves for an even more horrific scene.
After all, Wimbledon is located in the rear, near the south, and many demon raiding forces would not venture deep into this area, which is one of the important reasons why the fortress was able to hold out.
In terms of the strength of its defenses and the size of its garrison, Wimbledon could only barely rank among the top five in the West.
But precisely because it was located relatively far to the rear, it became the only one of the five fortresses to survive.
Of course, it's now the number one stronghold in the West.
In contrast, Golden Valley City is located in the heart of the demon-infested area, and as a city, its defenses are nowhere near those of Wimbledon.
It's a miracle that this city was able to hold out until the very end without being breached.
It seems that this city must have been preserved at the cost of mountains of corpses and seas of blood.
However, once they got there, they found that it was not like that at all!
It's not that there are no traces of war here. The numerous slash marks and scorch marks on the city walls, and the rubble and bloodstains that have not been completely cleared from the streets, all indicate that this place has indeed experienced several fierce battles.
But compared to the appalling devastation at Wimbledon, the condition at King's Valley was unbelievably good!
Although the city walls were damaged, the main structure was still relatively intact. The proportion of wounded soldiers was unusually low, and they did not show any deep-seated fatigue in their conversations. What was even more puzzling was that they did not see any large-scale cemeteries outside the city where corpses were buried.
It's as if they're saying they repelled the demons quite easily, which is incomprehensible.
There is another point that is equally difficult to understand.
When the four arrived in Golden Valley City, they almost thought they had returned to Mushroom Capital.
The streets were filled with Puji Masters; this was the first time they had ever seen such a high proportion of Puji Masters gathered outside of Mushroom Capital.
Moreover, Vera's team originally planned to assist in clearing out the remaining demons in the surrounding area, but upon arrival they discovered that the scattered demons in the vicinity had already been wiped out by the official and unofficial Puji Masters in the city.
However, another urgent task is in dire need of manpower—purifying the dead plague.
In the surrounding towns and villages that have fallen, there are piles of the remains of many victims.
As temperatures rise, these long-exposed corpses have begun to breed a plague, polluting the land and water sources.
Professionals like Sirian, who excel at purification spells, are exactly what we need right now.
That's why they came to this destroyed town and spent two whole days completely purifying the area.
After another full day of trekking, the four of them finally returned to Jingu City, covered in dust.
After completing the mission report at the city lord's mansion, Fei Ling came out with a new commission letter: "The next location is a city in the south, three days away from here. Two priests are already there performing purification, but the workload... seems a bit too much, so we need to go and help as well."
Vera glanced at Sirion and suggested, "Let's rest for a day before we go."
“Perfect timing, I was just about to take a shower too. The smell there was awful, it was all sticky to my skin.” Fei Ling said, sniffing as she tugged at her sleeve, and Fei Yin quickly nodded in agreement.
“But before that, it would be best to get dinner sorted out first,” Vera reminded them. “If you miss this time, there won’t be any left to eat.”
Nowadays, Golden Valley City provides two meals of mushroom stew every day, which can be received for free by both temporary refugees and adventurers who come to provide assistance.
It's not that Vera and her group didn't want to try something different, it's just that there aren't many other supplies to choose from in the city right now besides mushrooms.
Since we're going to eat mushrooms anyway, the free ones are naturally the better choice.
The food was distributed in the city square.
When Vera and his group arrived, a number of people were already sitting on the edge of the square, drinking the luminous soup from wooden bowls.
Just as Vera was about to go and collect the stew, a wooden bowl suddenly flew over spinning and landed with a clatter at his feet, splashing soup onto his leg nails and leaving several fluorescent marks.
"Ah...sorry, sorry." The speaker was a Puji Master wearing city defense uniforms. One of them was still in the position of raising his leg, obviously he was the one who kicked the wooden bowl away.
Vera glanced down at her leg armor, then waved it off dismissively: "It's fine, it was dirty anyway."
He certainly wouldn't argue with someone over such a trivial matter.
Just as the two were about to leave, Fei Ling called out to them, "Hey, shouldn't you apologize to her too?"
She pointed to a woman in tattered clothes sitting between the two groups of people. The woman kept her head down, and the wooden bowl that had been kicked away originally belonged to her.
"Her? She won't care," the city guard said, lightly poking the woman's calf with the tip of his boot. "Don't you think so?"
"It's...it's my fault for not holding it properly..." The woman's voice was barely audible, and her head drooped even lower.
The city garrison shrugged and turned to leave.
"Stop!" Fei Ling's voice was filled with anger.
"Tsk!" The soldier turned around impatiently. "She admitted her mistake herself. Aren't you being a bit too nosy, adventurer?"
People who were dining nearby stopped what they were doing, and many of the people dressed as city guards cast unfriendly glances at Vera and her companions.
(End of this chapter)
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