Chapter 825 Tragedy and the Maiden <TOC> Chapter 827 Shannon
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Translator: SumTLMan
As they flew about forty to fifty miles southeast, they spotted a cluster of bonfires revealed on the edge of a lake.
Wild horses neighed, men jeered, and women wept.
The Gondola hid amongst the dark clouds. Drew, observing the crowd below, had a flicker of uncertainty in his eyes.
“Lord, it seems we were manipulated by the pregnant woman earlier,” Drew remarked, watching the men below indulging in food and wine, as well as the group of men, women, and children caged on the side, he muttered.
Like the pregnant woman before them, those caged were barely covered in animal skin. Some were even naked, shivering in the piercing chill of early spring.
“Are you just realizing this now?” Angel replied indifferently.
“That pregnant woman deliberately pointed us in this direction to lure us into this group of people,” Drew spat out, “These people are clearly no good. If we were ordinary people, her action would be akin to pushing us into a fire pit. I didn’t expect her to be so ruthless! What a waste of the fur coat you gave her!”
“Do you think, after we landed in front of her in the Gondola, she would mistake us for ordinary people?” Angel didn’t seem too bothered, “Moreover, from her perspective, she didn’t lie. She didn’t want to answer our questions, and we were searching for human habitation. The location she pointed out was accurate, these people do count as human settlement.”
“However, she harbored malicious intentions and wanted to use us against this group.”
“Hmph! Lord Pat, don’t you feel angry?” Drew huffed.
“Do you want to fly back and teach her a lesson?” Instead of responding to whether he was angry or not, Angel asked, “If you want to turn back and teach her a lesson, I won’t stop you.”
Images of the shivering pregnant woman by the fire filled Drew’s mind. Even when they descended, she had been protectively clutching her belly. The idea of teaching a lesson to a clearly disadvantaged pregnant woman seemed a bit too harsh for him.
Seeing Drew’s hesitation, Angel continued, “What if she was a completely wicked person, like Naya’s evil twin sister in the story of the Beauty Naya. Would you teach her a lesson then?”
Drew hesitated even more, after a long while, he finally said, “I don’t know… Lord, what would you do?”
“From a power standpoint, there’s a vast disparity between her and I. I can choose to do as I wish. But you are different. You are on the same level as her now. If she wants to harm you, she might actually succeed.”
“If she is as evil as you say, Lord, and truly wants to kill me, I would kill her.” Drew hesitated for a long time, his eyes finally filled with determination.
Angel offered a slight smile, refraining from evaluating Drew’s response.
Suddenly, a commotion erupted from below. Drew looked down to see a man compulsively touching his crotch, standing before an iron cage. With a violent tug, he tried to pull out a woman who was imprisoned within.
His obscene gesture gave away his vile intentions.
The woman shook her head in protest, crying, and struggling. However, the man’s sinister grin only widened, seemingly finding her resistance an aphrodisiac to his senses.
In this moment, a young boy of about four or five years rushed forward, positioning himself in front of the woman. With his scar-ridden feet, he persistently kicked at the man, his voice filled with rage, “Let go! Don’t touch my mother!”
Enraged, the man flung the child aside, but the boy got up again and again, determined to protect his mother. The man, blinded by lust, drew a machete from his waist, aimed at the boy’s neck, and struck down with ferocity.
“No!” The woman screamed, her wails echoing.
Those locked in surrounding cages watched, their eyes filled with empathy and sorrow.
The men lounging by the bonfire jeered and laughed, utterly indifferent to the horrific act their comrade was committing.
As the boy’s head was about to be severed, everyone locked in the cages closed their eyes. After a moment, they still heard the boy’s voice, but the man’s heavy breathing had ceased.
Someone cautiously opened their eyes.
The scene that unfolded was entirely different from their grim predictions. The boy’s head was intact, but the man with the machete now had a gash on his neck.
The man tried to turn his head, but his head slowly slid off his neck in the next second. The last thing he saw was his headless neck, spurting blood like a fountain. The world fell silent, his consciousness plunging into darkness.
When the headless body collapsed, it revealed a figure standing behind it. A youthful figure, adorned with a large black turban, his skin a tanned bronze. He held a peculiar long knife, its streamlined blade stained with fresh blood.
The savior of the boy was none other than Drew, who had leaped off the flying boat.
Drew appeared somewhat astonished by the sharpness of the weapon in his hands. However, this surprise didn’t last long, as the men who had been feasting and drinking by the bonfire now began to gather around him.
A sense of unease settled in Drew’s heart as he watched the crowd encircle him. Still, the fleeting glimmer of cold light from his weapon brought him a measure of calm.
Conflict was imminent.
Angel sat atop the airship, silently observing the scene below. Perhaps due to his frequent confrontations with terrifying sea beasts in the past, Drew had a remarkably accurate instinct for danger. Combined with his agility and superior physical abilities, he was able to hold his ground against the onslaught of over a dozen men.
Moreover, the weapon he held was a katana borrowed from Angel. Although not a high-ranking item, it was still considered a divine weapon among ordinary humans.
Initially, Drew was somewhat hesitant. The man he had killed earlier had provoked his anger by mistreating a child. However, he didn’t harbor the same murderous intent towards the rest of the crowd. But when he realized that his reluctance was causing him harm, he stopped holding back.
The ensuing fight was one-sided. Although the physical abilities of the men were respectable, Drew was clearly superior. With the katana in hand, he was able to end a life with a single stroke.
After all the men except those in the cage had been killed, Drew stood amidst the bodies, taking a few deep breaths before slowly turning to approach the cage.
He reached out and gently touched the child’s hair, saying, “It’s over.”
However, before the child could respond, the woman from earlier pulled him into her arms, eyeing Drew warily.
Drew looked around to find that everyone else in the cages was watching him with caution and suspicion. He sighed helplessly, a sense of melancholy filling his heart.
At this moment, Angel descended from the airship.
“Who are they, and who are you?” Angel asked, pointing first at the bodies on the ground and then at the people in the cages.
No one responded. Finally, the child whom Drew had saved earlier shouted, “They are the bad guys, and we are the good guys!”
The child’s mother quickly covered his mouth, preventing him from speaking further.
Seeing this, Drew’s eyes grew cold. He drew the katana once more, striking the ground with a sharp metallic clang that echoed in everyone’s ears. “I saved you,” he said, “If you don’t appreciate it and won’t even answer a question, then perhaps you don’t deserve to live in this world.”
Facing Drew’s threat, in the cage at the very center, a solemn-faced young girl took the initiative to speak: “Gentlemen, they are soldiers from the Sea Wave Dynasty, and we are ordinary villagers.”
“Soldiers? Villagers?” Drew looked over, he had initially assumed this group to be slave traders or perhaps bandits, but they were soldiers?
“Yes, after the Sea Wave Dynasty occupied the Black Crow Province, they began to clear out the nearby villagers. Dozens of villages have already been slaughtered, and we are those who were captured.”
Slaughtered? Drew immediately thought of the burning village he had seen earlier, could it have been the doing of these soldiers?
“Why would they capture you?” Drew asked with confusion.
“Presumably to sell us off for money.” The girl lowered her head.
“Is that so?” The one who spoke was Angel. He looked at the girl, “Are you truly just a villager?”
Upon hearing Angel’s voice, the girl’s expression changed.
Drew also looked over with doubt. The tone of Lord Pat’s voice was not like this before. This strange tone, like a whispering murmur, was nearly identical to the way the girl spoke.
“Are you a Goldfinch noble?!” The girl exclaimed.
“And aren’t you the same?” Angel raised an eyebrow.
What Angel was using was the most popular tone of the Goldfinch nobles, soft and lingering, the sound melodious. It was pleasant when spoken by a woman, but when a man spoke it… Angel personally felt it was a bit effeminate.
Perhaps acknowledging Angel’s identity as a Goldfinch noble, the girl’s attitude became slightly more amiable. With her change of attitude, the vigilance of the others around them also relaxed somewhat.
“Indeed, these individuals are the villagers in the vicinity, as well as my subjects. I am the daughter of Viscount Rylin, and this Sumer territory previously belonged to our family.”
“You just mentioned that Sea Wave has occupied the entire Black Crow Province? The war between Sea Wave and Goldfinch, did Sea Wave win?” Angel inquired.
Rylin scrutinized Angel closely before responding, “In this current phase of the war, Sea Wave has indeed triumphed. The Black Crow Province, Moon Dew Province, and several coastal provinces have all fallen under Sea Wave’s control.”
A knot of worry formed in Angel’s chest as he spoke of the coastal provinces. The province of Elegant Plum, where Grud Town was located, was also a coastal province.
Furthermore, Elegant Plum Province was not too far from the front line. The Pat Manor had made significant contributions to the supply of resources for the front line back in the day.
With this in mind, Angel hurriedly inquired, “Is Elegant Plum Province still intact?”
Rylin pondered for a moment, “If I recall correctly, the Monne family is stationed in Elegant Plum Province, and there are no signs of defeat at the moment. However, predicting the future is a tricky business.”
Hearing that Elegant Plum Province was currently unscathed, Angel felt a slight sense of relief. However, war is unpredictable, and Rylin didn’t know when she was captured. It was possible that something had happened in Elegant Plum Province after she was taken.
With this in mind, Angel asked, “Are you familiar with the route from Black Crow Province to Elegant Plum Province?”
Chapter 825 Tragedy and the Maiden <TOC> Chapter 827 Shannon