After being forced to step down, the once-annoying nun eloped with me.

It seemed that the clan chief had taken good care of them. Therefore, Yang Hao first lowered his head:

"Thank you for your previous help. I am... please consider us to be from outside the Roman Empire. My name is Yang Hao, a woodcutter. She is Teresa, a nun who has converted to the light."

"bright...?"

Disgust flashed across the Ling Clan Chief's face. Yang Hao quickly explained that [Light] and [God of Light] were completely different things. This eased the Ling Clan Chief's expression somewhat.

The Ling clan chief then invited them to sit in a large animal-skin tent that resembled a longhouse in the village. She then went straight to the point, stating that although she had initially pursued them with malicious intent for several days, now that the misunderstanding had been cleared up and she had treated Yang Hao and his companion with hospitality, she hoped the matter could be considered closed.

Yang Hao and Theresa exchanged a strange look. "Chieftain, there was no misunderstanding between us. On the contrary, we should thank you for saving our lives. Rather, may I ask what misunderstanding the Ling Clan has with Earl Kagard?"

"This is not a misunderstanding. This is looting! This is hatred!"

The Listening Clan Chieftain became agitated once more. The antlers on her head flashed a dangerous red light—but quickly, the red light turned into a safe green. She took a deep breath, and after forcing herself to calm down in some unknown way, she began to explain the "misunderstanding" between the Listening Clan and the Earldom of Kagard.

This was not a so-called "misunderstanding" at all, but a blatant robbery and massacre. According to Naruja, the humans on the barren plain of Kagard had gone mad for some reason, shouting "God of Light above" as they rushed into the monster forest like madmen.

At first, the Ling people thought that something bad had happened to their neighbors. The chief was out hunting and storing food, so the dozen or so girls and children who stayed in the village prepared a small amount of meat for these "guests" and prepared to receive them with the traditional courtesy of the Ling tribe.

result--

They were arrested.

The crazed humans seized any member of the Listening Tribe they encountered. Those who resisted were dragged away with their limbs hooked by hooked spears, crying out in pain. The survivors huddled in the trees, trembling, and could only hear them chanting something like, "Offer yourself as a sacrifice to the gods at the festival in exchange for a bountiful harvest."

At this point, the Ling clan chief could no longer suppress his anger.

“We have lived in this forest for generations. We have never been to the plains, nor have we harmed any human groups. We have even helped those who are lost and then used golems to send them out of the forest!”

We did nothing! Why should they treat my children and my family like this? They were just trying to treat our guests who had come from afar with the same courtesy we would show them! They had no hostility whatsoever!

The Ling tribe—it seems that when they are emotionally agitated, their antlers shimmer with a wondrous light.

But it's not just a warning; it's more like an organ that helps the Ling people regain their peace.

After another flash of light turning from red to green, Naruja calmed down once again.

She apologized to Yang Hao and Theresa—for her emotional outburst towards innocent people. But then, Theresa raised a question:

"...We are human beings too. Why...don't you take your anger out on us?"

“You are not from Kargard, nor do you have the stench of the surrounding humans. You have nothing to do with the abduction of my family. You should not be my enemies, but guests. So why should I resent you?”

Naruja, on the other hand, was confused by this, tilting her head and looking with her purple eyes at Theresa, who was ashamed of what she had done for her people.

Yang Hao watched their interaction and remained silent for a long time.

He considered his and Theresa's luggage. Even if the Ling tribe kept most of their luggage for them, they certainly wouldn't be able to reach the border of the Elven Kingdom with their current food reserves.

Moreover, he felt he had to repay the Listeners for saving his life. And... Khagad?

The Kargard massacre, the "smog incident" caused by the illegal testing of weapons of mass destruction in a residential area, and the cover-up of the elves...

The name Qagad still stung Yang Hao's mind during the trial a year ago. He felt a surge of anger and resentment welling up from the bottom of his heart—among those who framed him were Qagads.

...

...

This is not just about revenge.

This should also be a way of repaying the kindness of the Ling clan in saving my life.

Perhaps it's also to obtain enough resources to travel to the Elf Kingdom.

Although he had completely lost any sense of belonging to the Roman Empire and had long since severed all ties with it, Yang Hao still remembered every single unjust charge against him.

He didn't want to be a saint, nor did he want to be a great man. Since there are excuses in the world to silence victims, then this time, it's time to silence the "victims" of the Roman Empire.

Thinking of this, Yang Hao smiled, a sense of vengeful pleasure rising within him. He slowly raised his hand, and after the attention of the Ling Clan Chief and Theresa was focused on him, he said:

"Chief Naruja...I am willing to help you rescue your people."

But Theresa and I need to travel to the Elf Kingdom to start a new life. Once I rescue your people, I'll ask you to exchange some of your food for them.

how is it? "

Theresa hesitated, her eyes filled with worry as she looked at Yang Hao. Finally, whether she saw the burning fire in his eyes or remembered the wrongful conviction Yang Hao had suffered years ago, she sighed, moved closer to him, and firmly grasped his raised wrist. She said:

"...My foolish man has said so, and I agree. Chief Naruja, please believe me, he also has a blood feud with Kagad."

After a long silence, the Ling clan chief looked into Yang Hao's eyes and nodded.

"...I can see it. Your eyes are not lying; the raging flames are even more eager than I am to burn that plain to the ground. I promise you that if you can help me bring my children and loved ones back, I will have them prepare everything you need—provided that the Listening Clan can do it."

"That would be perfect—"

Yang Hao smiled, but before he could say the word "了", he was still smiling.

Accompanied by the muffled wailing of horns echoing from afar, the Ling clan chief's expression changed drastically.

Yang Hao and Teresa heard the familiar yet frenzied call of the Pope—

"By the God of Light—!! Sacrifice these heretics and restore my rich and fertile land!!"

Chapter 18: Believers, Interrogation, Preparation, Atrocities Suffered Against the Queen

"By the God of Light—!! Sacrifice these heretics and restore my rich and fertile land!!"

When the frenzied and scantily clad believers, brandishing the banner of light, stormed into the "heretic village" they had previously discovered, they were not met with a girl who looked like fish on a chopping board, but with an enemy whose horns flashed with a piercing red light, commanding a stone giant who stood ready behind a makeshift mud fortification.

Fueled by the narcotics distributed by the church and their faith, these believers considered the enormous giant to be nothing more than a scarecrow in the farmland. While chanting the name of their god, they greedily fixed their gaze upon the monster's village in the name of God.

Once these demons are captured, the opportunity to please the God of Light and demonstrate their piety will be secured. They can even punish the offerings before they are presented to the gods, letting them know that humans, not these barbarians, are the masters of this land!

What's more, these demon antlers are incredibly valuable—it's said that the bishops of St. Peter's Basilica in the diocese are willing to pay thousands of gold coins for these demon antlers! If I could obtain their antlers, I would never have to toil on barren land again, and I could live a happy and fulfilling life in the capital or the city of my diocese!

Driven by intense desire, combined with the hallucinations brought on by narcotics and faith, these cultist bandits ignored the monster's warnings and launched a chaotic charge.

There were probably nearly a hundred of them, and in the nearly hundred-strong column, there wasn't even a single soldier wearing armor. They looked more like starving refugees who had appeared out of nowhere than poachers.

It's understandable that the Ling people at the time might have mistaken these guys for victims in need of help, rather than vile enemies!

Yang Hao and Teresa shook their heads repeatedly from a high point in the village. Just then, Yang Hao noticed that countless spears and arrows made of mud were protruding from the simple mud fortifications.

These things trembled in the soil like crossbow bolts ready to be fired. Before Yang Hao could figure out the connection between those clay guns and arrows and the pale-faced, antler-glowing Ling tribe women around him, he heard a whooshing sound as they cut through the air, along with those mournful howls.

Looking up, they saw that many people had been shot into the air by the homemade guns and arrows, and were instantly ripped to pieces in the waist. Some were even skewered like candied hawthorns and nailed to old trees, groaning in pain, but they probably wouldn't die anytime soon.

The remaining fanatics' morale plummeted, but they still charged towards the village, chanting the slogans of the God of Light.

"Hallucinations—I knew it! The Church of the God of Light is practically overflowing with those addictive drugs harvested from the Demon Forest. I was so stupid back then, I thought they were for treating the wounded!" Theresa, standing nearby, couldn't help but exclaim in extreme resentment. "And they used these things on ordinary people—no...no, no, no...I fucking figured it out, that 'divine gift,' that 'physical pleasure after atonement'...the priests of the God of Light are all fucking bastards!"

“We all know about this. The biggest problem now is to survive this attack. There are nearly a hundred of them, and only a dozen or so have died so far. But they are about to rush to the fortifications and engage the Golems in hand-to-hand combat. Forget about gathering another batch of homemade guns and arrows, we will be in trouble too.”

Yang Hao comforted Theresa for a few moments, then suddenly jumped down from the top of the tent and shouted to the Listening Clan women before the [Word of Power] wore off:

"Don't condense into muskets and arrows! Quickly build barbed wire in the earthen wall and at the gaps on both sides! Hurry! As long as they can't cross the earthen wall, they're doomed!"

The Ling women looked at each other, clearly not understanding what Yang Hao was talking about.

But soon, with Yang Hao's explanation, they understood that it was an obstacle formed by a large number of tough, barbed threads intertwined together.

Once again, the antlers flashed with light. This time, no new arrows or earthen spears appeared around the earthen wall. Under the astonished gaze of Naruja, the chieftain of the Ling tribe, a large number of spiked earthen threads intertwined under the stimulation of magic, eventually sealing off the entire area surrounding the village.

One of the fastest-rushing believers crashed into the tough earthen line unexpectedly. His body was torn apart by the spikes, and he cried out as he waved his rusty scythe, trying to cut the tangled web of wires.

Unexpectedly, when he swung his weapon with force, it became entangled instead. His companion tried to pull him out, but ended up leaving half of his face, skin and flesh, on the net.

Seeing this, the believers were terrified, but an old man holding up the Holy Book of Light shouted, "Since we can no longer save our comrade's life, let's step over his corpse to avenge him!"

And so, before the unfortunate believer could even utter a cry for mercy, he was put on the net by his fellow countrymen. The believers used this only "bridge" as an important means of plundering heretics, but before the fastest climber even reached the top of the fortification, a stone thug crushed his head like a berry.

It was the golem of Naruja, the chieftain of the Listening Clan—under her control, the golem, like a nimble monkey, stood behind the fortifications, wantonly torturing the attacking believers.

She vented her pent-up frustration and anger on her enemies, slapping and smashing those bastards with her golem hands, even crushing them into a bloody pulp amidst their painful and prolonged screams.

With each person she killed, she would shout the names of her abducted tribesmen, tears streaming down her face as she worried about their safety. Meanwhile, her followers had already awoke from their fanatical faith and hallucinations caused by the brutal battle.

They trembled and screamed as they turned to run away, only to be caught one by one by the Golems, who then slammed them flat against tree trunks, causing blood and internal organs to gush out from the holes all over their bodies.

A few who had stayed behind and hadn't rushed forward were now the fastest runners. They were knocked to the ground by the [Stone Rain] that Golem threw at them, but they still struggled to crawl toward the edge of the forest.

With tears streaming down her face and her eyes filled with rage and murderous intent, Naruja stood on Golem's back. Just as she was about to have the eight-meter-tall giant beneath her concentrate all its weight on its right foot and crush these filthy bandits, Yang Hao's voice suddenly came through with an irrepressible excitement:

"Chieftain, don't kill them! They're still useful!"

The clan chief of the Ling clan was taken aback.

Looking back, he found himself holding a torture device made of clay.

The human man looked at the slaughtered followers of the God of Light, his eyes flashing with immense pleasure.

...........

After the war, all the members of the Ling Clan except for the clan chief were using their innate magic to deal with the corpses on the ground.

If the people of the Roman Empire were to dispose of the enemy's corpses, and instead of impaling them on stakes and wantonly humiliating them, simply leaving them to rot in the wilderness, that would already be considered showing respect to their adversaries.

Under Yang Hao's reforms, the Roman Empire's army finally had regulations for the unified disposal of corpses to prevent the spread of plague. However, in the Demon Forest, these demons considered this common sense, and even insisted on digging a separate grave for each person, covering it with soil, and scattering some grass on top.

Even the enemy's corpses were properly disposed of after the war—which made Theresa feel that the demons were much more civilized than the Roman Empire people.

"Sigh—it's true, we just want a peaceful life and to have a few more kids, why do we always have to face this kind of mess?"

After giving a simple diagnosis to several members of the Listening Clan who seemed to have exhausted their magic power in the battle, and then using a few divine spells to give them some mental comfort, Theresa stretched and muttered to herself.

She glanced back at the chieftain's tent, where Yang Hao and Chief Ling were interrogating prisoners.

Although she also wanted to watch from inside, she ultimately chose to respect her man's opinion due to Yang Hao's insistence—after all, he had said that watching would give her nightmares.

And that is indeed the case.

Inside the tent, the two fanatical believers, firmly held on the ground by the "earth wire net" that Yang Hao mentioned, were barely breathing.

Covered in blood, Yang Hao stared at the four eyeballs in his hand, lost in thought.

The clan chief of the Ling clan was extremely anxious.

"Yang Hao, I beg you to come with me now to save my children. Otherwise, they will be tortured and killed by these bandits who are worse than barbarians!"

"I know. But it's precisely at times like these that we need to stay calm."

Yang Hao casually stuffed the four eyeballs into the mouths of two prisoners in pairs, forcing them to bite off and eat their own eyeballs. These fanatics weren't particularly strong-willed, but to ensure their claims were true, Yang Hao chose to intensify the torture.

He had heard that the Church of Light punished apostates with "blinding" and "bone removal"—and now he used these two punishments on these followers of the Church of Light, taking the Holy Book of Light from their arms before they lost their sight and burning it to ashes in front of them.