Chapter 61: Swearing to the Holy Light
Fanxing used coercion and inducement to demand three hundred militiamen from several small lords including the Porcupine Knight.
They didn't do it willingly, but they had no choice.
Otherwise, these ten holy warriors would go crazy and hack them all to death, and then leave calmly.
Don't talk to Fanxing about mercy and rules. The Black Knights are the least rule-abiding when necessary. Otherwise, how could the Ryan Empire conquer such a large territory relying only on those holy warriors who are like ascetics and saints.
The Porcupine Knight was heartbroken to send away eighty people. Although Fanxing gave a lot of money, the operation of the territory could not rely on cash alone. The most important thing was population. A lot of people had died in the war, and now dozens of young and strong people had been sent away. The Porcupine Knight was worried about next year's farming.
Just treat these people as dead. After all, they are going to fight against that terrifying lich. Perhaps they can only serve as cannon fodder to consume the lich's magic power.
Due to a special preference of the God of Creation, in most cases on this continent, individual power is greater than the power of the group.
What is widely circulated are heroic epics, not stories of people uniting to achieve victory.
Therefore, in many high-end wars, the role of soldiers is minimal. In most cases, they can only serve as the atmosphere group or as the foreshadowing before the strong explode.
In the last war against the Lich, the fate of the militias from various territories well proved this statement.
But the Ryan Empire is a little different.
Thanks to the tradition left by the founding emperor, they put the interests of mankind in a very high position, almost equal to their beliefs. However, the population of the Ryan Empire is hundreds of millions, and it is impossible to rely on a few strong people to protect so many mortals.
How to enable ordinary humans to play a role is a question that generations of Ryan people have been thinking about.
Different cultural traditions will create different social civilizations. While others are desperately thinking about how to upgrade individuals, the Ryan Empire has developed a method that allows civilians to threaten the strong.
Fanxing rode a celestial warhorse and stood in front of this group of pale and skinny militiamen.
They really gave them to people. Although they were all young, the lords chose the weakest ones, and some even used serfs to make up the numbers.
Fanxing didn't mind, because in his opinion, even well-trained militiamen were not much different from hungry serfs.
The aura of vitality spread out, making these suffering people feel rare comfort.
Fanxing rode on a celestial warhorse, circling slowly outside the crowd, saying as he walked: "You should already know that this time I bought you from the various lords in order to deal with that lich, the terrifying undead that you encountered before and were completely defeated by him."
Thinking of that desperate scene, many people felt their legs go weak. If it weren't for the blessing of the vitality aura, they would have knelt down long ago.
"Very good, it seems I don't need to waste my time explaining to you how scary the undead are. But what do you have to be afraid of? In your life experience, what difference does it make whether you die earlier or later? With heavy labor, long-term hunger, and repeated pain every day, you are not much different from livestock.
"You have never lived as a real human being. Your life is meaningless. For this continent, you can't even cultivate as much land as a cow."
Fanxing's words seemed to carry some kind of strange magic. It was neither a beating nor a curse. Just a few light words filled them with anger, as they had long been numb.
But they just kept their mouths shut and lowered their heads, not daring to look at the stars with those angry eyes.
"Keep your anger, my compatriots. Humans should not live like this. Today, I give you the opportunity to become human again. As long as you can survive the war, you can become a citizen of the Lion Empire. I promise in the name of Holy Light that you will have your own land, your own house, and your own life."
Hearing this, everyone couldn't help but raise their heads and look at the holy warrior bathed in holy light.
If other nobles said they would give them land and houses, they would definitely not believe it.
But the paladin just swore by the Holy Light! The easiest way to tell if a black knight is lying is to ask him: "Do you dare to swear by the Holy Light?!"
Of course, doing so would most likely allow the Black Knight to use the Holy Slash directly.
And Fanxing just swore clearly to the Holy Light, which means that this is very likely to be true!
Seeing the glowing eyes of these suffering people, Fanxing finally smiled. His goal had been achieved. As long as they had hope in their hearts, they could provide him with support.
And the stars did not lie. The paladin swore to the Holy Light that he would not tell the slightest falsehood, otherwise divine punishment would come immediately.
If they can really survive the upcoming war, the stars will definitely bring them back to the Ryan Empire and give them the promised land.
Fanxing spoke again: "Now, everyone follow me into the city. You must eat first and then have a good rest."
A thin young man stood up in the crowd and said excitedly, "Rest? Master Paladin, shouldn't we start training? If we go to the battlefield like this, won't it be a burden?"
Fanxing looked at the young man in surprise. Although the emotions of this group of people had been affected by him, someone actually dared to express opposition to him. This courage was not easy to come by.
Fanxing asked, "Young man, what's your name?"
"Geronimo."
The boy read out a name that was very difficult to pronounce, which did not sound like a common human name.
There is no mistake in the poem, post, content, and read the book on 6, 9, and bar!
Fanxing recalled and said in surprise: "The name during the reign of the Demon Dragon... Are you a remnant of the former civilization?"
Before the establishment of the Ryan Empire, the continent was ruled by a brutal dragon. It was eventually the founding emperor of the Ryan Empire who killed the dragon, expelled all dragons, and liberated all races.
The dragon's corpse was also made into the Ryan Empire's national treasure.
Since the social and cultural environment during the reign of the Demon Dragon was completely different from the nine kingdoms today, the period of the Demon Dragon's rule is occasionally referred to as the pre-civilization.
Although the lives of humans in that era were miserable, there were still a small number of human branches that missed the era when dragons were respected and maintained many cultures of that era, such as the worship and sacrifice of dragons, dragon language and dragon writing, etc.
The pronunciation of this young man's name has a slight intonation of dragon language, and a learned paladin like Fanxing can tell the difference at once.
Perhaps because it was the victorious country, the Ryan Empire adopted an inclusive attitude towards the remnants of these former civilizations. After all, the dragons had been driven away, and they were all fellow human beings who would be assimilated sooner or later.
Over the past thousand years, the number of these dragon survivors has indeed been decreasing. I didn't expect to meet one here.
However, when Fanxing carefully inquired about Geronimo's origins, she found that the child knew nothing about the dragon clan. Apart from leaving him this name, his parents did not teach him any knowledge related to dragons.
As for Geronimo's question, Fanxing explained: "The first words I learned were to praise the Holy Light. I started to receive strict training at the age of seven, and it has been twenty years now before I can be considered an official Holy Knight. You want to be reborn in just a few days, that is impossible. But don't worry, I won't let you be cannon fodder. Listen to my orders, and I will let you play your due value on the battlefield."
Fanxing affectionately carried Geronimo to his mount, and led the young man and a group of serfs who had just gained hope towards the Alchemy City.
At this moment, a thick cloud passed by in the distance, and the shadow it cast made the stars raise their heads.
The weather has not been very good these past few days. There are always thick dark clouds, which makes Fanxing feel a bad premonition.
It is precisely because of this bad premonition that Fanxing keeps reminding himself that he must be more cautious and more thoroughly prepared.
But today's harvest should be enough, and these three hundred people will become his strongest trump card.
(End of this chapter)