A fantastical journey across the heavens, beginning with the Witcher.

Old Cole was the village chief of White Moon Bay, under the jurisdiction of the Horse-Horse Territory. Nominally, he was a registered member of the Kingdom of Redania and should have enjoyed the privilege of tax exemption on cultivated land, plus an annual subsidy of thirty-five crowns, which sounded like a respectable job.

But he knew very well that the position of village chief was nothing more than a nominal one.

Not only did they not receive any of the benefits they were entitled to, they were also caught in the middle between the villagers and the lord, finding themselves in a dilemma.

Roland wa Griff, the lord of the packhorse territory, initially wanted to find an obedient local ruffian to take the position so that he could exploit the villagers at will.

But the villagers, who had been exploited for years, were unusually determined this time and refused to budge.

They may be illiterate and unable to understand the convoluted legal texts with their prefixes and suffixes, but they are well-versed in the wisdom of survival and only want a "leader" who can stand up for everyone and protect their own little piece of land.

The previous village chief was appointed by the lord and was a typical "mangy dog." He never worked in the fields, and his only skill was wagging his tail and licking the lord's toes, making Roland feel completely comfortable.

With the flattery and encouragement of this "mangy dog," Baiyue Bay became a live animal on the chopping block.

Today, that fat, stupid lord is hungry, so he cuts off a piece of meat; tomorrow, the lord wants to hold a banquet to show off, so he cuts off another piece of meat; the day after tomorrow, the lord celebrates his birthday and puts on a grand show, so he inevitably cuts off another piece of meat...

Despite possessing fertile farmland and abundant river resources, the village, which should have been prosperous and well-off, has been exploited and turned into a crippled donkey.

It wasn't until the mangy dog ​​got drunk and went to harass the village widows in the middle of the night, and was kidnapped by bandits who entered the village, that everyone had a chance to catch their breath.

Old Cole was elected by all the villagers and successfully took office, overturning many of the unspoken rules set by the previous village chief and leaving the villagers a way to survive.

Old Cole's daily life was simple: he ate breakfast when the rooster crowed twice, and after sunrise, he would lead the young men on a patrol of the village to make sure there were no wolves or monsters lurking in the fields and vegetable gardens before tending to his own land.

This morning, as usual, he led a group of young men out from the village entrance. If nothing unexpected happens, the young men will bring back the good news that "everyone is safe and sound" in half an hour.

But... something unexpected happened.

Gavin, the village carpenter, a normally steady young man, was now running away in a panic, as if a dozen man-eating wolves were chasing him.

"Village chief... Village chief! Something... Something's happened!"

"Take your time."

Old Cole tapped his pipe against the tree stump beneath him.

Gavin, clutching his knees, was bent over, gasping for breath, his chest heaving. It took him a long time to recover before he stammered out the horrific scene he had witnessed: "I...I was at the village entrance...on the road over there, and I saw...a group of ghouls!"

"Don't panic, what's wrong with the ghoul?"

"Dead people...so many dead people!"

"Can you make out who died? Villagers from the neighborhood, caravan members, or bandits?"

Old Cole wasn't impatient with the young man's incoherent ramblings. He knew perfectly well how much of an impact a group of monsters devouring corpses could have on a young man; the sight would be enough to terrify any ordinary person.

After being gently comforted for a few moments, Gavin steadied himself, swallowed hard to moisten his dry throat, and continued, "I...I didn't see clearly, I only saw a lot of monsters crawling on the corpses, covered in blood, it was terrifying!"

"Find the rest of you first."

"Okay, I'll go now."

A few minutes later, the able-bodied men who had gone out to patrol the farmland gradually gathered at the village entrance. They all looked puzzled, whispering to each other from time to time, guessing what had happened. Even the air was filled with a sense of unease.

Old Cole slowly stood up: "A group of ghouls and many corpses have been found at the north entrance of the village. You all go back to the village now and tell the women and children that they are not allowed to step out of the village today, and all farm work should be stopped. They should all stay at home obediently."

During the busy farming season, every day is precious. Every extra day of delay could mean a smaller harvest. Issuing such an order requires immense courage.

Fortunately, Old Cole was the village chief elected by the villagers themselves, and he had a very high reputation. Although everyone was reluctant to part with him, they did not utter a single complaint. They obediently nodded in agreement and turned around to quickly return to the village.

For an entire day, the villagers of Baiyue Bay kept their doors and windows tightly shut, staying at home and afraid to go out.

In the afternoon, a group of strong young men, led by Old Cole, marched menacingly toward the north entrance of the village, armed with pitchforks and sickles.

Gavin whispered, "Village chief, we don't even have a decent piece of leather armor. Isn't it a bit too hasty to go and kill monsters?"

"What monsters are we killing?" Old Cole glanced at the young carpenter. "While they've all eaten their fill, let's go see who's dead."

"I heard that a group of fierce bandits has recently appeared in the area, and the lord's manor has been attacked several times. I heard that the lord has already sent people to Bull Fortress for help. Maybe those dead people were bandits?"

A young man who usually loved to gossip couldn't help but speak up and share his guess.

"Yeah, wasn't that mangy dog ​​kidnapped by bandits before?"

Old Cole gave a silent, faint smile.

What bandit? How could he not know how that mangy dog ​​died?

However, the faint smile didn't last long before it froze completely.

The scene at the north intersection of the village was even more tragic than Xiao Jiawen described.

The corpses had been gnawed beyond recognition by the ghouls, and the ground was littered with severed limbs, blood, and entrails. The stench of blood mixed with the putrid smell was pungent and nauseating.

Even so, the fragments of flags and standard weapons scattered around the corpses clearly proved that the dead were not bandits, but regular troops from Bullburg!

The usually composed old Cole could no longer maintain his composure and managed to utter, "Damn it, send someone to inform the lord that the reinforcements he summoned... are gone."

……

It takes time for the news to get back to Beefburg.

Li De stripped the relatively intact plate armor parts from the soldiers' corpses, sprinkled a potion to attract ghouls, hid the wagon full of spoils in a dense forest, carefully erased the wheel tracks, cut the reins and released the horses pulling the wagon, and finally found a secluded place near the forest to set up camp and observe what would happen.

Unsurprisingly, the lord was dumbfounded when he received the news from the villagers.

The Humper Territory is located southwest of Oxburgh, near a tributary of the Pontal River. The land is fertile and rich in aquatic products, nourishing countless people. Successive lords have suffered from banditry, but it has always been easily quelled.

Thinking back to when he took over the territory, everything was thriving and prosperous. Wherever the lord went, everyone welcomed him with food and drink.

The people are so wealthy that they can collect huge amounts of taxes by simply making up a pretext.

Now, bandits are rampant. They first attacked his castle, looted the treasury and granary, and then killed his captain of the guard.

They finally managed to get reinforcements from Niubao, and yesterday they were dreaming of pacifying the bandits. Today they learned that all the reinforcements were dead, and their bodies had been completely devoured by ghouls.

How did a perfectly good situation suddenly turn into a situation of being besieged on all sides?

Of course, these flowery words were all imagined by Li De in private.

The real lord, Roland, was so enraged upon hearing the news that his eyes turned bloodshot, and he smashed the wine glass in his hand to the ground, splashing wine everywhere.

"That damned rotten bandit, I curse him, really..."

The messenger was uttered a string of vulgarities that even the illiterate villagers, who were used to hearing coarse language, couldn't help but grimac and instinctively take a step back.

After venting his anger, Roland plopped back into his chair and sadly summoned the butler.

"Send another messenger to Niubao to tell them that the reinforcements were ambushed and killed by thirty bandits on the way, and half of the soldiers we sent to meet them were also lost. Now the villagers are being harassed so they can't do spring planting. Tell them to send more reinforcements immediately, otherwise they'll only be able to pay half of the autumn tax!"

The butler stood respectfully to the side, bowing deeply. After hesitating for a moment, he cautiously offered his advice.

"My lord, why don't you write a formal letter requesting assistance? A verbal message might not be serious enough, and the Bullburgs might not take it seriously."

Roland glanced at him sideways, his eyes full of impatience.

"A request for help? What do you know! Once they send troops and find the number of bandits doesn't match, I'll be the one who suffers the consequences! Just send a message; if anything goes wrong, just say the messenger was a bit slow and misremembered the numbers—it has nothing to do with me!"

The steward nodded knowingly, then went outside and found the messenger, instructing him, "The lord has ordered us to go to Niubao again for reinforcements. Tell them that our reinforcements were ambushed and killed by fifty bandits on the way, and all the soldiers we sent to meet them have been wiped out! Now the villagers can't even leave their homes. Tell them to send reinforcements immediately, otherwise they'll only be able to pay one-third of the autumn tax!"

Upon hearing this, the messenger's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. He hadn't expected the situation to deteriorate to this extent. He quickly mounted his horse and rode out of the manor, not daring to linger for even a moment.

Firstly, they feared delaying the lord's orders and being punished upon their return; secondly, they feared being robbed and killed by bandits.

That's why it took him almost half the usual time to get to Niubao.

The horse was already panting heavily, covered in sweat, with white bubbly mucus sticking to its nostrils and mouth, and the area around the saddle was covered in white salt stains.

The guards at the entrance to Niubao Bridge, who had been leaning against a stone pillar at the bridgehead, lost in thought, suddenly heard a rapid and shrill shout: "The packhorse lord is calling for help! The packhorse lord is calling for help! Open the gate!"

The guards immediately snapped out of their daze, raised their spears, and blocked the approaching figure. Looking up, they saw a horse so exhausted it was almost collapsing on the ground, with the messenger on its back dressed in disheveled clothes, his face covered in dust and sweat.

He collapsed to the ground as soon as he dismounted, looking as if he had just fought his way out of a massive army.

The guards at the gate didn't dare delay and quickly said, "Quick! Go and call Captain Sal!"

Before long, the sound of rapid hoofbeats came, and Sal, dressed in standard officer's plate armor, rode his steed galloping towards them.

"What happened?"

Sarr dismounted and walked a few steps to the messenger, asking in a stern tone.

The messenger struggled to his feet, bowed to Sal, and repeated what he had just said.

Sal immediately retorted angrily, "Nonsense! We sent a whole squad of fully armored guards to provide support. What bandits would dare to intercept and kill them?"

"It's true!"

"What did your lord say? How many bandits are there? Is there any official letter?"

The messenger was taken aback. He suddenly remembered that the steward had not given him any letter, but only asked him to deliver a message. He was too anxious at the time and only remembered half of it. He was also on edge the whole way, and the information he could not remember clearly had been completely wiped away by the cold sweat.

When asked the question, my mind went completely blank.

"It seems...it seems to be around sixty or seventy?"

Sal's eyes twitched. Normally, he would have slapped the messenger across the face and accused him of lying about military intelligence.

But now news of Nilfgaard crossing the Amel Mountains and attacking Sintra has spread throughout the northern kingdoms, and he is somewhat unsure whether it is Li Deqian's, a small group of Nilfgaardian spies, or the defeated Sintra army.

He could only wave to signal the messenger to follow.

"I'll take you to see the mayor."