Wearing black silk for a foreign woman

"Who's that man in the black robe?" Then, Linde looked at the middle-aged man with a buzz cut who was resting his eyes.

"That's Lord Cardo," Ranna introduced. "He's the only one among the twenty horsemen who's not a knight."

"You did." Linde nodded. Ranna did say that. "Who is he?"

"He appears to be the guide of Guillon IX, a priest serving the Lady of the Lake."

"What?" Lind was stunned. "There are other clergymen of the Lady of the Lake who are not women?"

"I don't know about that, sir." Ran Na apologized.

Lind looked at the middle-aged man named Cardo with a confused look on his face. Lind knew that the clergy of the Lady of the Lake were all women, but this man named Cardo had a beard and was obviously not a manly woman.

In addition, the other party's black robe reminded Lind of two people, one of whom was Zekesi Enzo, the original culprit who caused a series of chaos on Iwojin Island.

The magician who used the rare shadow magic was also dressed in a black robe, similar to the man named Cardo.

Although there are some doubts, now is not the time to investigate. Linde and his team took the risk to sneak in here for a purpose.

"Is the food on the ship over there?" Lind pointed in the direction of the distant port where several ships were anchored.

"Yes, sir, most of the food is still on the ship and has not been unloaded." Ran Na replied respectfully.

As it was approaching winter, even if the land was reclaimed, it would be impossible to grow anything right away, so the food needed for the first year was all brought from Batoran.

Then, Jiyang IX did not take the grain off the transport ship, but kept it on the ship and distributed it to the serfs on a daily basis.

And these grain ships are the target of Lind and his team.

Chapter 374: The Attraction of the Countess

When the number of people living on a piece of land exceeds a certain number and the output of the land cannot support the entire population, in order to survive, the population will migrate, move to other places, and look for other lands. This is a very normal thing.

Several countries around the Holy Empire basically came from this. Batoran originated from the pioneering knights of the Holy Empire.

It is normal for the excess population to move to other places when the land cannot support the population. However, it depends on the time. No matter where you are, opening up new territory is almost pure investment with no gains in the early stage. Therefore, at this time before winter, no one will come to immigrate unless there are special circumstances.

Of course, nothing is absolute. It is not impossible to open up new territories in winter, but the supplies needed at the beginning, especially food, must be prepared. At least all the food for the first year must be prepared.

Apparently, Guiyang IX's immigration team brought enough supplies to support a thousand people through the first winter.

Under Ranna's guidance, Linde and his party disguised themselves as local serfs and headed towards the docked ship. In fact, Ranna didn't need to lead the way, after all, Linde had been here before.

"Sir, do you know this place?" Soon, Ranna discovered that Linde knew the way to the dock, and asked curiously.

"Yes, I landed in Velo more than half a year ago." Lind explained.

"What?" Ran Na was stunned.

"Didn't I tell you? I'm an exiled prisoner from the Holy Empire." Lind explained with a smile, and when he said exile, he showed his white and neat teeth.

Ranna was obviously shocked by Lind's frankness, and then asked in surprise: "Exile?"

"Suspected of murdering the master." Linde said nonchalantly. "Framed."

Ranna was stunned by Lind's glorious past. Wasn't it a bit arbitrary to recognize a prisoner as the lord?

"Aren't you... a baron?" Ranna mustered up the courage to ask tentatively. After all, before coming here, Linde introduced himself as a baron vassal of the local lord.

"Yeah, I didn't lie to you either." Linde said with a smile. "If you don't believe me, you can shout loudly now."

"...No, I believe you." Ran Na hesitated for a moment and chose to believe.

"Thank you." Lind nodded and continued walking forward.

Linde was not worried that Ranna would suddenly betray him. He believed that if he doubted someone, he should not employ him. Moreover, more importantly, her sister was still counting on him for treatment.

Led by Ranna and Lind, the group headed for the port of Vicro. Ships could not dock at any coast, as they had to consider factors such as water depth and reefs. Both Vicro and Dundalk had natural harbors, which was why the two colonies of the Holy Empire were built in these two places.

To some extent, Lind was lucky. King Jiyang IX chose to land and build a camp in Vickro instead of in Dundalk. If he had landed in Dundalk, the two sides might have fought right away.

The city of Vekro is still in ruins, with traces of destruction by the Beastmen still clearly visible. Many immigrants from Batoran have built simple dwellings on the ruins, giving it a wasteland feel.

The serfs looked numb, which reminded Lind of the serfs when New Dundalk was first established. As he walked, Lind was also observing these serfs, thinking about how to settle them.

That's right, before the opponent was eliminated, Lind started thinking about how to plunder the enemy's population.

Soon, everyone arrived near the port. Four sailing ships were anchored on the coastline close to the shore.

"We're here." Ranna pointed at the four ships. "That's our target."

"Yeah." Lind nodded. "Which one has the food stored?"

"Those two, sir." Ranna pointed to two of the ships.

"The food is all on the boat. Isn't that guy afraid that the food will get damp and moldy?" Linde said with some confusion.

"You're worried that the serfs will steal food." Ranna replied with a complicated expression. "This is an isolated island. There is no other way to leave here except by boat. Now it's almost winter. If the serfs want to survive, they can only stay here and listen to the orders of the knights. They have to do whatever they are told. It's impossible for them to even steal food."

"That makes sense." Lind nodded. "This guy is pretty ruthless."

"But it doesn't matter. Aiwozhen Island is not the deserted island you imagined. I am here, and we are here." Lind raised his thumb and pointed at himself. "All the farmers here can get the protection of my lord, and they don't have to pay tithes anymore."

"Excuse me, what is the name of the lord here?" Ran Na realized that she had never asked what the lord here was called for such a long time.

"Illufa Gaines." Linde said loudly. "She is a very kind countess~"

"Countess..." Ranna's eyes lit up. In Batoran, due to the binding of the identities of lords and knights, there were almost no female lords. When Ranna heard that the lord here was a woman, her eyes lit up.

If the lord here is a woman, then my dream of becoming a knight is not completely impossible, right?

Thinking of this, Ranna looked at Lind with more eagerness. In addition to getting her sister treated, Ranna had another motivation to work hard.

Lind felt the fighting spirit that suddenly ignited in Jana. Was the Countess so attractive?

Well, there was indeed one, Linde had to admit. And just now, Linde directly changed Ilufa's title from Countess to Countess.

The group walked straight towards one of the grain ships. Seeing this, the soldiers guarding the port immediately stood up and lazily blocked the road.

"You guys! You are not allowed to get close to here! If you don't want to die, get away from me immediately!" One of the men who looked like a team leader drew his sword and shouted at Lind and his group.

"Sir." Lind exchanged glances with the others, then took the initiative to step forward and pleaded with them, "We are from the village in the east. The beastmen destroyed our camp. We managed to escape back with great difficulty. Now we are tired and hungry. We want to eat something."

"Escaped?" The team leader was stunned for a moment, then frowned and continued to shout with disgust: "That won't work! It's not time to distribute food yet! Without a life... Ugh!"

Before he could finish his words, Lind suddenly pulled out a dagger from his sleeve and stabbed it into the leader's neck.

Chapter 375 Pegasus in the Sky

The little leader had never expected that the serf in front of him would suddenly stab him with a knife, and directly stabbed him in the throat, killing him instantly.

His throat was pierced and the little leader couldn't even shout. He could only cover the wound on his neck with his hands in a futile attempt to stop the gushing blood, but it was completely useless.

At the end of his life, the little leader could only see a mocking smile on the face of the serf in front of him, who was covered in mud and whose appearance could not be seen clearly.

Lind's move was the signal to take action. Before the little leader fell and the other soldiers reacted to what was happening, the rabbits disguised as refugees rushed out one after another. Their movements were extremely agile, and they cleanly and neatly dealt with the defenders here before the enemy could react, without even a cry for help.

In the blink of an eye, all five soldiers here fell to the ground, all died at the hands of the rabbits.

"So amazing..." Ran Na was also stunned by the scene. If she hadn't seen it with her own eyes, she would never have believed that those cute rabbits were so neat and tidy.

"It's just basic skills." Pulling out the dagger stuck in the body, Judy wiped the blood off the dagger on the ground. "Members of the Killer Rabbit Tribe must be able to kill a wolf with their bare hands before the age of six."

"Ah?" Lin De was also stunned. Is this true?

"Hurry up and get on the boat. We have to drive the boat away before others react." Ran Na urged, and then took the lead to board one of the grain ships.

"Such an important place, but there are only six people guarding it." Standing on the deck, Lind looked at the corpses on the shore.

"Because this place is not far from the center of the city, if there are serfs who dare to rob food, the knights in the city will come to support them very quickly." Ranna said while checking the situation of the ship. "And ordinary serfs don't have the courage to attack the knights unless they really can't survive."

"I think their current situation is such that they can no longer survive." Linde sighed as he looked at the serfs in the distance.

Linde and his team acted very efficiently and without making any noise, they wiped out all the defenders here. However, there were serfs moving around not far away, and some of them had already noticed something unusual and started looking over here.

Then an important question occurred to Lind.

"Can you drive a boat?" Linde turned and looked at Ranna.

"I can, but I can't do it alone. I need help." Ranna replied. "Stop looking around! Sailors! Hurry up and move! We have to get this lady moving before the enemy can react!"

"Ma'am?" Lind looked at Ranna in surprise.

"That's what I heard the captains say."

"Can you sail a boat?"

“I learned it secretly.”

"Do you know a bar girl named Efit?"

"Excuse me sir, who is that?"

The fact that Rana learned everything secretly reminded Lind of Efit. That girl always said that she heard it from the guests in the tavern. Of course, Lind always suspected that Efit actually learned it from the evil god.

So, Ranna couldn't be the same as Efit, an undercover agent sent by some evil god?

If so, which evil god would it be? The blood god? The strange god? The plague god? Or some other god?

But now is not the time to delve into this issue. We still need Ran Na to drive the boat.

It was the first time for the beastmen to board the ship, and they all felt very curious. Whether they were rabbits or werewolves, they all ran around on the shaking deck like curious babies. But soon, Ranna acted like the captain, loudly ordering the beastmen to get to work quickly.

All the beastmen were stunned at first, and then they stared at Ranna with ill intentions. Who are you? How dare you speak to us in such a commanding tone!? Except the Son of God! No one can command them!

"Do as she says." Then the Son of God gave orders, asking the beastmen to do as Ranna said.

Soon, under Ranna's command, the beastmen began to prepare to sail the boat. Since it was the first time for the beastmen to board a boat, they needed Ranna to teach them step by step what to do.

Raising the sail, hoisting the anchor, adjusting the cables, all the work required Rana to teach step by step, which took a lot of time.

Linde has been observing the enemy's movements. The serfs have already discovered the abnormality here. Some of them ran over to touch the corpse, while others turned around and ran into the city, probably to report the situation. It won't be long before the defenders in the city come over.

"Fenrir! Take a few wolves with you! Go and cut off the anchors and cables of the other ships!" Lind ordered decisively.

"Yes, sir!" Fenrir accepted the order and called two wolf beastmen. They ran swiftly to the other three ships, cut the cables, and then activated the hot melt runes on the iron claws to cut the thick anchor chains.

"Well done!" After finishing all this, Fenrir and the other three werewolves also ran over. Lind praised them and then turned to ask Ranna: "How long will it take before we can set sail!?"

"It will be there soon!" Ranna shouted.

After a series of operations, the captain, who relied on the secretly learned sailing skills, commanded a group of beastmen who were sailing for the first time and successfully sailed the ship away from the port.

"Success! We succeeded!" Ran Na said in disbelief as she steered the boat.

"No! Not yet!" Lind stood by the railing, looking at the city of Vickro. A team of cavalry was rushing into the city, led by the remaining Holy Grail Knight.

The leading Holy Grail Knight saw that the ship had already set sail, and swung the reins vigorously, urging the horse under his crotch to speed up further. He broke away from the troops behind and rushed forward alone.

"The ship has left the port. Even the Holy Grail Knight can't catch up with us at sea." Ranna said.

"No! He can catch up!" Lind said sternly. "Sail the boat away from the shore as far as possible!"

At Lind's urging, Ranna steered the boat as far away from the shore as possible. The speed of the Holy Grail Knight on the shore was getting faster and faster, and his whole body seemed to turn into a beam of light, rushing towards the sea.

All the serfs along the way were too late to dodge and were hit with blood and flesh flying everywhere, but the speed of the Holy Grail Knight did not slow down at all and rushed over at an astonishing speed.

"Hiss~!" Following a horse's neighing sound that seemed to be able to break through the sky, the Holy Grail Knight's mount leaped up from the shore and flew towards the boat.

The horse was very fast, but the distance was still a little short. In mid-air, the Holy Grail Knight stood up, jumped on the horse's back, and jumped onto the deck.

Chapter 376 Sacred Duel

With the efforts of the captain who learned secretly and a group of beastman sailors who learned on the spot, the grain ship docked at the port started up, slowly left the port and headed towards the sea.

The defenders on the shore had already noticed the abnormality in the port's location and immediately rushed towards the port as fast as they could, but unfortunately, they were still a little too slow as the ship had already set sail.

The Knights of Batoran were indeed very powerful on land, and the reputation of the Knights of Batoran had spread to almost every inch of the human world. But no matter how powerful they were, the Knights of Batoran were only powerful on land. Once they reached the sea, even the powerful knights could not rush over on the sea.

At least that's what Ranna thought.

But Lind did not let his guard down just because the ship started moving, but kept urging the ship to move faster. Not for any special reason, but simply because Lind knew that at this distance, the Holy Grail Knight would definitely catch up.

Then, in front of everyone, the Holy Grail Knight performed an aerial acrobatics.

The Holy Grail Knight's elven hybrid horse rushed towards the departing ship at an astonishing speed, and at the last moment, it jumped high. As the distance was still a little short, the Holy Grail Knight stepped on his mount in mid-air and leaped onto the ship again.

The horse, which served as a stepping stone, fell directly into the water and immediately swam back to the shore, while the Holy Grail Knight slowly straightened his back under the gaze of everyone.

An invisible sense of oppression enveloped the hearts of everyone present.