Wearing black silk for a foreign woman

"...Can you at least let me go to the bathroom?" Fran wanted to cry but had no tears.

"No! You'll run away!"

--------

In another part of the forest, the team led by Jiyang IX found an open space and stopped to prepare to spend the night.

"My sincere warriors! This is our last food reserve! After this meal, our food reserve will be all gone!" Before the meal, Jiyang IX gave a short speech to everyone. "After this! We will solve our food problem here!"

"For hundreds of years! Countless predecessors have embarked on the trial of finding the Holy Grail! They ate and drank during the journey! All using their superb martial arts! Obtained from nature! From the hands of the enemy! Just like us now!"

"Starting tomorrow! We will follow in the footsteps of the Holy Grail Knights! Let us! Enjoy this last meal together!"

After a speech that was either meant to inspire or demoralize, the knights and their followers began to eat the last meal they had brought with them. From tomorrow on, food supplies would have to be solved on the spot.

This is nothing for the knights, but many knights have already noticed some abnormal situations.

"Hey, did you notice something wrong?" A knight asked his colleague while eating his last piece of jerky and black bread.

"What's wrong?" the person being asked said while chewing. "There are many things wrong, such as those refugees. Where did they go?"

Chapter 411 Where Did the People Go?

For the knights of Batoran, having no supplies is not an unacceptable problem, especially when going out on adventures. Some knights will even deliberately not carry enough supplies when they set out.

This seemingly suicidal behavior comes from the unique culture of suffering of the Batoran Knights. In Batoran, not only those who embark on the Road of Trial will pursue the Holy Grail. All Batoran Knights are eager for the Holy Grail and the recognition of the Lady of the Lake, even if they have not embarked on the Road of Trial.

There is a precedent for this. In the history of Batoran, there was a case where a knight who did not set foot on the road of trial but stayed at home was recognized by the Lady of the Lake and had the opportunity to drink from the Holy Grail. After that, many knights would strictly demand themselves in their daily lives, even if they did not set foot on the road of trial, and even increase their strength by themselves.

For example, even though there was plenty of food, they would dig up grass roots in their backyard every day to eat. Some of their behaviors were self-abuse, such as conducting an hour of shooting management every day.

Although nominally, the only knight seeking the Holy Grail was Guillon IX, almost all the knights who left their hometowns and followed them to the island of Ivojin also had the dream of being recognized by the Lady of the Lake and drinking from the Holy Grail. Now that they had no food, it was just what they wanted. Without food, they could start the trial.

Almost all the knights who completed the Holy Grail Trial did not carry a lot of supplies when they set out. They ate, drank, defecated and urinated wherever they went. They requisitioned from local residents, robbed from thieves and bandits, hunted, fished and dug grass roots. The harder they worked, the more likely they were to be seen as devout by the Lady of the Lake.

Guided by this line of thinking, many knights and servants felt that the trial would officially begin only after their stored food had been eaten.

Then some people have noticed something is wrong.

"Those untouchables who can't pay taxes, can't swing swords, and don't have the courage to face the enemy have been driven away for a while." A knight's squire ate the last of his food and shared his discovery with his colleagues. "Although those untouchables are useless once they can't farm, they should still struggle to survive, although it's often useless."

"But we have been approaching the forest for a few days. Have you spotted the untouchables?"

"No." The words of the knight's attendant made his colleagues who were eating together look thoughtful. "What you said makes sense. In order to survive as long as possible, those untouchables should be able to do something, even if they are useless, such as repairing some simple wooden fences, building a few camps, etc. But we haven't found such a place in these days."

"Not only is there no camp, there isn't even a single body to be seen." Another attendant replied. "This is indeed unusual. Even if it was swallowed up by the dangerous forest, there should be at least a few bodies left, right?"

"Of course they were eaten by the beastmen!" A tall and strong servant said nonchalantly. "Aren't there beastmen on this broken island? We have cleared out quite a few during this period of time, so there must be some left. Those incompetent lowlifes who can't even lift a sword must have been eaten by the beastmen!"

"So many people, and they were all eaten in such a short time?"

"What? Is this weird?" The strong servant rolled his eyes. "If you ask me, the people in the Empire are just rubbish! The city has been built for so long, but the surrounding beastmen have not been cleared out yet, and now even the city has been captured by the beastmen! They are people without chivalry!"

The servants completely ignored the fact that in Batoran, there were still a large number of beastmen hiding in the vast undeveloped forests, and they would harass villages and cities from time to time.

The knights were chatting and discussing the whereabouts of the untouchables who were driven away, but most of them were not having a serious discussion. Instead, they were casually "analyzing" the whereabouts of the untouchables with a mocking and contemptuous attitude.

Eaten by beastmen, this was the conclusion drawn by most of the knights and squires, without considering the contradiction at all.

After all, many of the retainers were from minor noble families, and some were even from peasant families, so they did not consider it that far. When the lords of Batoran were short of infantry, they would sometimes open up quotas for peasants and recruit them as retainers. Although this would put the peasants in a large debt, as long as they paid off their debts before they died and made military achievements, retainers would have the possibility of escaping from civilian status, so every recruitment was full.

The squires were not aware of any further problems, but the knights were different.

"Sir, we have conducted reconnaissance and there are still no refugees nearby." A knight reported to King Jiyang IX.

"Well, what else?" Ji Yang IX asked casually while eating the last piece of jerky.

"Although we didn't find the refugees, we found some traces." The knight continued to report. "Based on the traces left at the scene, we inferred that the refugees must have been attacked by the beastmen here."

"Very good." Jiyang IX nodded with satisfaction. "Have you found out where those beastmen went?"

Jiyang IX drove away all the serfs he brought with him and left them to fend for themselves in the forest. In addition to the lack of food, there was another important reason. Jiyang IX hoped to use the refugees as bait to lure out the beastmen hiding in the forest.

In the eyes of Jiyang IX, the beastmen on Aiwozhen Island are somewhat different from those in other places. Not only do they look different, but they also use strategies and are obviously much smarter than the beastmen in other places. Combining the findings of the two Holy Grail Knights, Jiyang IX made a bold inference that the beastmen here were born from the combination of humans and beastmen.

What a blasphemy this is, the unscrupulous combination of humans and beastmen will actually give birth to new beastmen.

The enemy was not an ordinary beastman, and would use despicable tactics. The fact that the ship was taken away was the best proof. In this case, Jiyang IX also used a strategy to use the refugees to lure out the beastman's tracks and find the beastman's lair.

The messenger of the goddess of the lake, the task given by the fairy of the lake is to defeat the king of beasts here. To defeat the king of beasts, the first step is to find the king of beasts first.

"We have found the direction in which the beastmen moved through the traces they left behind."

"Very good." Ji Yang IX said with satisfaction. "Thank you for your hard work. Go and have a rest first. You will lead the way tomorrow to defeat the Beast King!"

"As ordered!"

"I didn't expect to find the trace of the beastmen so quickly. I believe we will complete the mission of the Lady of the Lake soon." Ji Yang IX was full of confidence.

Cardo ate his dinner quietly, not knowing what he was thinking about.

Chapter 412: Hunger Tactics

Jiyang IX drove out all the civilians not only because of insufficient food, but also because he wanted to use the civilians as bait to lure out the beastmen hiding in the forest.

The beastmen here not only look different, but are also much more cunning, Ji Yang IX thought so, but the cunning beastmen are still beastmen, and it is impossible to eliminate the beastmen's hostility to order. Therefore, when they see a large number of unarmed humans wandering aimlessly in the forest, they will definitely show their sharp fangs.

Using the refugees as bait, he would lure out the beastmen hiding in the forest, and then find the beast king here and defeat him. This was Jiyang IX's plan, and it was done in one go.

As for whether he could defeat the Beast King, Jiyang IX had never considered the possibility of failure. In Batoran, Jiyang IX also followed his father to fight against some powerful beastmen, some of whom called themselves the Beast King. Although they were much stronger than ordinary beastmen, they were nothing compared to his father, who was a Holy Grail Knight.

There are two Holy Grail Knights around him now, so the Beast King is nothing to worry about.

Full of confidence, Guiyang IX took a rest early after enjoying his last meal, ready to set out on the journey tomorrow. In the young knight's mind, he was not far from the Holy Grail.

That night, Jiyang IX even dreamed that he completed the trial, killed the Beast King, and then personally took the Holy Grail shining with holy light from the hands of the Lady of the Lake and drank it in one gulp. When he woke up the next morning, Jiyang IX thought he had become a Holy Grail Knight.

The next morning, the knights ate the remaining food from the previous night as breakfast. They actually ate all the food they brought from Batoran, leaving nothing behind.

Then, Jiyang IX ordered the knight in charge of reconnaissance to lead the way to the traces of beastmen's movement that he had detected.

Under the leadership of the knights, Jiyang IX's team began to march in a certain direction. Until the afternoon, Jiyang IX's team really arrived at a tribe of beastmen.

But there is no beastman here.

"What's going on!? Why isn't there a single beastman here!?" Standing in the center of the open space of the tribe, Ji Yang IX shouted in surprise.

"Maybe they migrated. Beastmen have the habit of migrating, just like wild beasts." said Fred, the elder brother of the Holy Grail Knights.

Following the traces left by the beastmen, Ji Yang IX's team did find a beastman tribe, but they came back empty-handed, as there was not a single beastman here.

"No, the beasts here just left not long ago." George, the younger brother of the Holy Grail Knight, walked out of a tent. "There is no dust accumulated on the things inside, so they have been used recently. And the ashes in the several campfires here are still fresh, so they must have left not long ago."

"Damn it, are we a step too late?" Jiyang IX clenched his fists in annoyance. "These beastmen are lucky!"

"Can you find any traces of their movement? Which direction did they go?" Jiyang IX asked his knights who were good at tracking.

"I will go find it right away." The knight stroked his chest and went to look for the traces left by the beastmen.

Jiyang IX did not think much about his empty-handedness, and just thought it was a coincidence. Then, Jiyang IX ordered the entire army to search the place to see if there was anything valuable left.

Soon, the results of the search were reported, because there was not much to search. There was nothing except tents and some heavy things that were inconvenient to carry.

"Strange, very strange." Fred frowned after listening to the report. "According to my experience, when the beastmen migrate, they will leave a lot of things in the original place. The pollution caused will take a long time to be repaired by nature, but this place is too clean."

"It's really strange that there's not even a piece of Chaos Magic Rock." His younger brother George agreed.

"You two mean that there is no corruption of Chaos here?" Ji Yang IX frowned.

"Although it's a little hard to believe... yes." Fred nodded.

"Since there is no corruption... let's stay here tonight." Jiyang IX looked up at the sky. "Let's go get some food."

As it was getting late, Jiyang IX ordered his men to find food, but something unexpected happened. Until the sun set, Jiyang IX's men did not bring back any prey.

"What's wrong with you! Why didn't you catch anything? Were you sleepwalking through your training?" Looking at a group of subordinates who returned empty-handed, Ji Yang IX was extremely angry.

"I'm very sorry!" The leading knight knelt on one knee in front of King Guillon IX. "We searched for prey in the surrounding forests, but there was no animal in the nearby forests, not even a hare."

"The surrounding fruit trees are also empty. All the fruits have been picked." added another knight.

Not only are there no animals, but even the fruits on the trees have been picked! ?

Jiyang IX opened his mouth in surprise.

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"Your Highness, Miss Ranna, we followed your orders and cleaned up the traces we left behind. We also left false traces and led the enemy to a tribe of beastmen." In the main tent, Fenrir reported the situation to Lind and Ranna. "That tribe of beastmen also followed the orders of the Son of God and moved away, and took away as much food as possible."

"I also used my magic to drive away the wild animals around." Fran changed back into the nun's uniform of the Divine Emperor Church. After washing, she hung the uniform of the Earth Mother Goddess outside to dry. The beastmen with a keen sense of smell could still smell the smell of fox urine on it.

"Very good." Ran Na nodded with satisfaction. "Keep doing this, so that the enemy will be deprived of food and their fighting power will be constantly depleted."

The first step of Ranna's plan, to put it simply, was to take advantage of the fact that the enemy was in the dark while we were in the dark, and constantly use false traces to lead the enemy to run around in the forest, while at the same time trying to prevent the enemy from getting enough supplies and constantly consuming their combat effectiveness.

"How long should we let the enemy starve before we can launch a general attack?" Lind asked Ranna.

"Let me think... two weeks should be enough, right?" Ran Na thought for a moment and said.

Lind nodded. Two weeks is fine. He is not in a hurry anyway.

"Your Highness, the Son of God!" At this time, Feisi, who was in charge of guarding the camp, ran in and reported to Lind: "There is news from the Sami tribe!"

"Did they respond? What did they say?"

"They said they wanted revenge!"

Chapter 413 Cultural Deer

They want revenge! ?

When these words were spoken, Linde and Ranna in the tent were both surprised.

"Revenge!? What revenge!?" Lind asked first, his tone full of confusion.

"I'm not sure either, Your Highness, the Son of God. This is what the beastman who came to deliver the letter said." Faith answered honestly.

"There's a letter!?" Linde was stunned again. He had dealt with many beastman tribes around him, but this was the first time that a beastman tribe sent him a letter.

Because the Beastmen's society is too primitive, only one or two out of every dozens of human civilians can be literate, and the entire Beastmen tribe is often illiterate. Up to now, the number of literate Beastmen Lind has met is still in single digits. With such a low literacy rate, it is almost impossible to pass on documents.

Communication with most of the Beastmen tribes was still done through messengers, but the Sami tribe sent a letter! ?

Asking Faith to bring the letter, Faith took out the parchment scroll stuffed in her chest and handed it to Lind.

He took the parchment scroll and spread it out, and then Linde saw a piece of calligraphy.

"Good handwriting." Lin De praised subconsciously.

"Ah?" Faith and Rana beside her were stunned for a moment.

The handwriting on the parchment was neat and orderly, and it was obvious that the writer had some cultural knowledge. First look at the signature at the end: Lu Ge, the devout shaman of the Earth Mother, the chief of the Sami tribe.

Is this deer still a cultural deer! ?

And where did he learn such good handwriting?!

With a little surprise and a lot of doubts, Lin De began to read Lu Ge's letter. The more he read, the more uncertain the expression on his face became, turning blue and white.

Faith stood quietly in front, not leaving, waiting for the Son of God to speak, while Ranna was eager to try and wanted to come over to take a look.

"Hmm?" Linde quickly noticed Ranna's eagerness to try, and took the initiative to move the document over so that Ranna could look at it together.

So, under the envious and jealous eyes of Faith, Ranna and Lin Dehe looked at the same parchment scroll.

"This Lu Ge..." After reading the document, Lin De put it down and clenched his fists in anger. "How abominable!"

"Yes, it's abominable." Ranna agreed, and then asked, "My lord, what does it say?"

"...You can't read?" Linde looked at Ranna sharply.

"I can't read." Ran Na shook her head with a serious look on her face.

"You've never learned it secretly?"

"That...really not." Ran Na said somewhat embarrassedly. "At that time, I was just a village girl."

According to her, Ranna's martial arts and knowledge of commanding operations were all stolen from her when she worked for the knights in Batoran. She learned how to kill enemies and make combat plans, but she couldn't read.

This won't do, my dear female knight. People like you will be tricked into signing a confession and then burned to death.

"That won't do, Miss Ranna. As a general, you can't be illiterate." Lin De taught him earnestly. "I don't expect you to be well-educated, but at least you should be able to read and understand the monarch's orders!"