Lords of the Heavens

Chapter 171 Outside Kah City (Bonus Chapter 9 for Alliance Leader lanruoruo)

“George, I think we need to send someone to Vidor. We need to find out what’s going on at the front. Hathaway might need our help.”

At the dinner table on the morning of the seventeenth day of this month, Fila spoke with concern, as she tried to trigger the plot again.

"So, Mom, do you want to go to Vido Town? You can have Sherter escort you there; he's actually a very powerful mercenary." Li Wei was telling the truth. He had chopped enough firewood and stored enough meat in the past two days. During the day, he would patrol the city walls with the mercenaries and practice wooden sword attacks and defenses with them.

They didn't slack off either, maintaining their training and vigilance. Their sparring with Li Wei wasn't exactly giving him preferential treatment; cooperation and teamwork were all very important.

Moreover, Li Wei was not bad at all. Although he had never been exposed to this kind of close-combat equipment training before, his agility and spatial awareness made it easy for him to get started and he was able to fight back and forth with the two mercenaries.

In the words of the mercenary Shelter, Li Wei jumped like an energetic monkey with nowhere to release his energy!
“No, I won’t leave the protection of the city walls, George. I’m a little scared. I’m thinking of your father. Back in Kah City, I was almost scared out of my wits. You can protect me, right, George!”

"Mom, don't worry, I will protect you."

Li Wei hugged Fila. He felt that this shouldn't be the case. Even if she was a logistics staff member, she should have seen a lot by becoming a four-star chef. So what was she trying to do?

“George, I need you to go to Vidor town today and come back tomorrow. We need to go to the front to make contact with Hathaway. The two little mercenaries are at home. Just go and come back quickly.”

what?
Have you forgotten Hathaway's instructions?

Although Li Wei could not trust Hathaway, he believed that Hathaway shouldn't be that foolish.

Because everything needs to have an order.

She does want Kah City, but she can't lose the family camp before taking Kah City, or she'll be eliminated immediately.

The correct order should be: defend Victor Town, defeat the final boss, and compete with Ron for Kahe City.

So, even though the situation on the front lines was bizarre and perhaps too complicated for Hathaway to focus on replying, Hathaway would never, and could never, abandon the family camp.

If Hathaway and Ron manage to push all the way to Kahe City, they will at most reach the end of the game safely.

Li Wei lost the title of Rookie of the Year, but what can you lose?
Oh, I forgot, you're a free agent. If you want to gain some benefits, how can you expect to benefit without participating in the final battle?
“Mom, I don’t recommend doing that. Hathaway told us to guard the family camp before she left.”

“But George, Hathaway also said before she left that I would decide on the day-to-day affairs of the family camp!”

Fila stared at Li Wei, not giving an inch. Although it wasn't to the point of being a no-go, it was enough to trigger a side quest, or rather, a monthly main quest.

[Since Fila is the camp manager appointed by the head of the family, and since there are currently only two family members in the family camp, she is now issuing you a monthly main quest: scout the road between Vidor town and the family camp, and investigate the situation at the front lines to provide timely support to the head of the family, Hathaway.]

You need to complete this task within three days, but in case of special circumstances, you have the authority to adapt and are not subject to time constraints. Furthermore, orders may be disregarded when you are in the field!

[Since we are currently in the final battle storyline phase, venturing out of the city alone for reconnaissance is extremely dangerous. Your mission rewards will be increased to the highest level. Upon completion, you will receive 80 Family Contribution Points. During this period, you will also receive campaign points and additional Family Contribution Points for each enemy target you kill.]

Good guy!
He has been working like crazy for the past two weeks, and in addition to hunting a two-star sika deer, several one-star prey, and collecting various one-star mountain products, his family contribution has accumulated from zero to 213 points. So, can he reach 500 family contribution points by the end of the month?
"Okay, Mom, as you wish, I'll set off right now!"

"George, be careful on your journey. I've prepared food for you!" Fila was very happy. As a four-star chef, she was absolutely amazing when it came to making food. She made three-star quality venison jerky, white bread, and bacon sandwiches using two-star venison. It was all too amazing.

Anyway, we brought a big bag of food, so from a logistical point of view, this Fira is definitely the most qualified.

Li Wei accepts all comers. With a guaranteed strength of 20 points, he can carry 100 kilograms of supplies and run more than 100 miles in a day. That's how awesome he is!
Of course, the necessary equipment should not be forgotten.

The three-star war bow was put into the bow bag, along with three two-star sniper armor-piercing arrows, as they were all nearly 1.2 meters long.

Twenty ordinary steel awl arrows, fifty more portable hardwood arrows, and a short bow made by myself.

Two daggers, one bloodthirsty spear, and one melee iron spear.

One water bladder, and that's it.

After greeting the two mercenaries, Li Wei set off on the road to Victor Town with ease. This trade route, which he had painstakingly developed, now seemed to have become a mere decoration, and might even lead to the destruction of the family camp, which was quite poignant.

However, after traveling south for twenty miles and turning into the mountains, Li Wei quickly left the road and entered the forest by the roadside, keeping a distance of only one or two hundred meters from the trade route.

Although this would slow his pace and increase his physical exertion, it would undoubtedly be safer and more concealed.

The journey was quite quiet; apart from some wild animals, there wasn't a single human in sight.

Even the No. 1 wooden cabin station he once built is now empty.

So what exactly is going on in Victoria Town?

Li Wei frowned slightly and continued to move forward, concealed in the mountains and forests.

When he arrived at the No. 2 log cabin station, he finally saw people there.

Penny was guarding this place with five mercenaries, and they looked rather bored from a distance. Meanwhile, cavalry from the town of Victor patrolled from Camp Two all the way to King's Road. So there was no need to go to Victor; there was no war there, and the mad Baron Mark hadn't led his army north this month.

No wonder it's so quiet!

But what exactly attracted Mad Baron Mark?
If this were a game, Li Wei felt he could call the GM; if this were history, he could say whether a time traveler had altered the storyline.

But now we must consider a more complex situation.

Because this is the real world.

The local natives here are also observant, thoughtful, and capable of making judgments based on the situation.

After thinking it over, Li Wei did not show himself. Instead, he headed south through the mountains and forests, intending to visit the city of Kah.

We're already here, aren't we?

Li Wei then calmly headed south, avoiding main roads and instead traversing through lush forests. He didn't need to look for directions, stopping to memorize and scout unfamiliar or previously unexplored places.

It all boils down to rote memorization. They won't stop until they've memorized the surrounding terrain and incorporated it into their own map collection.

Well, it's also to gain reconnaissance experience!

As a result, this journey took two whole days, and he successfully completed the entire irregular quadrilateral area stretching from Kahe City in the south to Vido Town in the northwest, from the Family Camp in the northeast to the Bandit Camp in the east.

Mountains, streams, valleys, forests—I wouldn't say I know the location of every single rock, but I'm pretty accurate in general. I know where the hills are, where the valleys are, where the terrain changes... and so on.

And successfully accumulated 400 reconnaissance experience points.

On the fourth day, which was the twenty-first day of the month, Li Wei finally saw Kah City in the distance.

At first glance, there was no difference. Outside the farm, farmers were harvesting golden wheat, and the barking of wild dogs could be faintly heard from more than ten miles away. It seemed that their numbers had increased again.

But there are two particularly significant changes.

One is that there are more crows in the sky now.

I remember when Li Wei came here six months ago, there were quite a few crows in the sky above Kahe City, but the total number was only five or six hundred. Now, good heavens, if there are fewer than three thousand, Li Wei will lose.

Moreover, Li Wei dared to swear that among this flock of crows that took flight like dark clouds, blotting out the sun, there was definitely more than one blood crow, possibly three or five.

Unfortunately, his Blood Raven Skull was activated and bound to a hunting pet, otherwise he could have confirmed whether the Black-Robed Witch was in Kahe City.

Even so, one can probably guess that these thousands of crows do occasionally land on the walls of Kah City.

It seemed that nothing in the city of Kah could stop the witch's return.

It's quite strange. In fact, Li Wei has always been very curious. According to the plot, the Mad Baron is the culprit who hanged the Great Witch Luna's husband, but Hathaway and Ron are so sure that the two sides will definitely unite. Even though they are siblings, it doesn't make sense, right?

Unless there's more to this story.

Oh, and there's an even bigger change: cavalry have started patrolling outside the city of Kah.

Along the King's Road and the roads leading to the various farms, there were cavalry patrols, totaling about twenty riders.

What's rather strange is that these cavalrymen don't travel in groups; they go about their patrols alone. Even though they're on patrol, Li Wei, watching from afar, gets the feeling that they're all ghosts—without thought, memory, or emotion, only knowing how to kill without mercy…

This made him think of the Fallen Guardian Knight with a three-star difficulty level. Could it be?

What the hell!

If the Mad Baron and the Great Witch join forces, does that mean they can mass-produce Fallen Knights?
Even if the number of guard knights is not enough, mass-producing fallen knight squires, fallen soldiers, and fallen foot knights should not be a problem!
No wonder there's been no activity; they've been staying home, farming and building up their forces like crazy.

Also, what are Hathaway and Ron doing?
It's absolutely impossible for them to just hide in the town of Vidor and wait for the enemy to come to them.

Li Wei's gaze swept across the surrounding mountains and forests. He was almost certain that Hathaway and Ron's groups were hiding there, grinding monsters on the plains outside Kah City!

However, with Blood Raven leading a flock of crows monitoring the sky during the day, they dared not make a move. Could it be that they would strike at night? Have they been saving up their ultimate move, grinding for battle points and family contributions these past few days?

Thinking of this, Li Wei couldn't help but feel a surge of excitement. Monster hunting—what an ancient yet familiar phrase!

Who doesn't enjoy grinding monsters?

(End of this chapter)