Witch Troupe and the Undead

"Gurgle~" The girl's stomach rumbled loudly, and her gaze involuntarily turned toward the table, where the stew that Alessina had just made was placed.

"Ouch~ That's some strength~" Roach rubbed his bruised wrist and looked at the unfamiliar short-haired girl. "Who... are you?"

"Night...Night...Night Clan, God, God's Favor." The girl stammered. "What is the Night Clan? Aren't they elves?" At this moment, a knight finally realized.

"..." The girl ignored the other's doubts and just stared at Roach and Livia, her expression slightly confused and shocked. However, after confirming that she had no hostility, Livia loosened the air shackles and let the girl kneel on the ground.

"Ah, the Night Clan?" The old horse lying in the stable was slightly taken aback, then conveyed the relevant information to Livia, "Isn't that an extinct race?"

"Extinction?" Livia tilted her head.

"It is said that the Night Clan is a race blessed by the night, warlike, cruel, and bloodthirsty. They operate in the darkness and are the best assassins and killers. Although they are not particularly strong, they have an excellent pain tolerance. For some reason, they are also called the 'Night Demon Clan' or 'Night Demons.' It is said that they hunt their targets in the dark, but most people do not know how they decide what their targets are." Old Ma knew a little about this race.

"However, I later heard that they seemed to have gotten into some trouble, and the entire tribe disappeared. We usually think they were completely wiped out, so how come there's still one here?"

“A race that has received the blessing of the night…” Livia also looked at Roach, especially his forehead, the place where the goddess of the night had kissed him, and the goddess of the night’s divine power permeated his body to bind his soul together.

"Night Clan? Never heard of them. Why would those wild elves be heading for her?"

“Maybe…” Aaron scratched his head, “Those elves didn’t know anything about the Night Clan. They just heard that there was an elf in the dungeon, possibly a high elf, so they attacked. When they found the girl, they realized she wasn’t an elf, so they retreated.”

"They've really suffered a huge loss. But who leaked this information? How did they get into the city? And why were their locations pinpointed so precisely?" As the Empire's intelligence chief, Rhine began questioning them one by one as soon as he finished listening. "Therefore, there must be someone within our ranks colluding with the Mad Elves!"

"How could that be!" The Mad Elf is notorious for being ruthless and heartless; who would collude with this group?

"Well, to be precise, someone used the Mad Elf to deliberately leak some information to them, and their target was probably not this girl, but rather..."

"You forced us to this place?" Aaron had barely finished speaking when he saw everyone's expression change. This girl was just bait, the Mad Elf was just a tool; the real purpose was to get Rhine to gather everyone here and strengthen their defenses.

This naturally weakened the defenses of other parts of the city. In addition, the clearing of the ruins and the search of the manor also required manpower, so the remaining manpower was also highly dispersed.

"Their target isn't us!" Almost instantly, everyone realized this. The mastermind's target wasn't this group from the Empire, nor Rhine, nor Roach's group; they were merely a front. The real purpose was to use them to divert defenses and weaken the city's available manpower.

“But what’s the point?” a Warren knight said. “It’s all meaningless. Even if we weaken our manpower, it will be very difficult to break into the city from the outside, and… due to the structure of the mountain city, even if you break through the outer city or have inside help, it will be very difficult to advance to this position step by step.”

“No need, their target is the mine,” Roach said. “When we entered the city, I was curious, aren’t you afraid of it collapsing if you build the city on top of a mine? Later I thought you must have set up some kind of supporting magical artifacts or structures, but whatever the structure, it’s not a natural structure, and the mine hasn’t been backfilled, which means…”

"They don't need to attack the city; they just need to go into the mine and blow up the pillars."

"Impossible, the mine is..." A Warren knight had just shouted out when he froze. Yes, the mine was usually the city's biggest source of income, so it was heavily guarded, and they had to be on guard against miners' riots. The mine shafts were also the focus of defense. But tonight was different!

First, the patrol force was largely dispersed to search operations. Town guards were tasked with controlling all intersections to prevent dense crowds, block the possibility of the frenzied elves escaping, and reduce the possibility of a second attack.

Then the Warren knights are all here protecting the old Earl, so... who's in charge of the mine now?

"No, we didn't withdraw all our people. The mine's defenses are strong enough to keep out any intruders." After all, with the terrain of a mine, if the enemy's goal is to go deep inside, then defending it is very simple. Just block the entrance, or if that doesn't work, you can blow up the outer perimeter of the tunnel.

"No, no, no, you don't understand!" Rhine felt a chill run down his spine, a sense of crisis he had never felt in his hundreds of years of professional career enveloping him. "The fact that they were able to send in the Berserker Elves means that the people they sent were of high rank. To the guards of the mine, they didn't know they were intruders. No, they weren't intruders at all!"

"But what is the purpose of doing this!?"

"What else could it be!? All the people loyal to the Earl, or rather, all the people the Earl and I trust, are here!" Rhine finally understood. The other party's target was not them; they were just bait. The goal was to eliminate all of the Earl's confidants. And the person who could do such a thing, had the ability to do such a thing, and had the motive to do such a thing was already obvious.

"No, the Earl's sons are all..." Some are dead, some are seriously injured, and they are currently lying in the next room with the old Earl, waiting for treatment.

"Those are his legitimate offspring!" Rhine roared. Heaven knows how many illegitimate children these nobles have, and they themselves may not even know they are illegitimate. In other words... if an illegitimate child climbs to a certain position and has designs on it.

"Have many of your outlying villages been attacked recently?" Roach chimed in. Although he wasn't a politician, he was a history student, and there was nothing new under the sun. He could already guess what was going on.

Yes, yes.

"So, you'll send someone to handle it, right?"

"Of course," otherwise what value would a desolate city with its trade routes cut off have?

"Are you still able to contact those people you sent out?"

"This……"

“Some of you have been dispersed, and if the other side was able to orchestrate all of this, it means they have considerable connections and accomplices among you. Therefore, those who went out are highly likely to be their subordinates or confidants, or a significant portion of them.”

In the ancient history of Chinese warfare, this tactic was commonplace. Soldiers would be sent out to gather firewood under the pretext of going out of the city, and then disguised as reinforcements to enter the city, giving the attackers the illusion that the enemy was receiving continuous reinforcements.

Alternatively, in the same way, a portion of the troops could be ambushed outside the city, and then attacked at night.

Now it's just a matter of sending out troops loyal to him to get out of the Earl's direct sight and command. Moreover, Roach can guarantee that the bandits and the "wolf people" he encountered are also part of this. After all, bandit suppression doesn't require heavy weapons and knights, but it does require the destruction of wolf strongholds.

"The superhuman lured us out under the guise of the werewolf clan. Those who were with him went infiltrated, while those who weren't were killed..." Rhine understood. "So, the reason we were attacked is quite obvious."

“We came with a troop of knights and infantry. He doesn’t know our purpose. Once we enter the city and report what we’ve seen and heard along the way, the count will become wary. The reason they won’t kill us all is because we’ve been severely damaged and only have this many men left. The priority of reporting into the city will be different, and the count will misjudge that the trouble outside the city is targeting our troop, not him.”

"Intricately linked, how meticulous!" Rhine said through gritted teeth.

"Immediately strengthen the tunnel's defenses. Also, we need to go down the mountain to the tunnel right now!" Because that's the safest place; right now, this is the most dangerous place.

Chapter 181 Your mother (goddess) sold you to me

"Bang! Bang! Bang!" The door of "Old Vic's General Store" was violently pounded on. "Who are you? It's so late..." Old Vic opened the door a crack and saw several impatient soldiers standing at the door. They were wearing yellow robes and light chainmail underneath.

"You old dog, don't you want your ears anymore?" the soldier growled impatiently, then held up a crudely made badge at the door. "Give us all our stuff."

"Yes, yes, yes," Old Vic examined the badge carefully and confirmed that it was exactly the same as the mark on a batch of goods that someone had previously deposited with him.

The mine is located on the right side of the outer city, surrounded by a cluster of shacks. Some of these shacks are miners' residences, while others are simply tool sheds, and some are even shops. Although it looks like a slum, it is actually completely different from a real slum, since gem miners earn more than ordinary miners.

Because mining gems, especially magical gems, is a skilled job, the "miners" who do this work are completely different from slaves who are simply responsible for moving rubble and tools.

That's why there are service facilities like grocery stores and laundromats in this area, and naturally, the service of storing items is one of them. So, when someone stored a batch of goods here a few days ago, Old Vic didn't realize that anything was wrong.

“Your things are downstairs. This place is complicated, so don’t go the wrong way.” Old Vic moved forward through the mountains of shelves and clutter, and came to a trapdoor at the back. He fumbled for his key, unlocked the door, and then climbed down the ladder.

Below was a storage room partitioned off from an abandoned mine shaft. The goods the soldiers wanted were in the corner. "Let me see... Ah, found it, these are the boxes."

Old Vic placed the candle on the shelf beside him and checked the markings on the box. He was completely unaware that the two soldiers behind him exchanged glances. One of them held the scabbard at his waist and slowly drew the sword out with his thumb against the blade, avoiding any friction between the blade and the scabbard. There was only a slight rubbing sound between the leather and the blade.

"Ah, let me see..." Old Vic had just picked up the crowbar beside him, preparing to open the cargo box, when he felt a chill on his chest. A section of a sword blade protruded from his chest. "Pfft!" Blood splattered on the wall in a scarlet arc, and then the old man was roughly torn off the sword.

The soldiers lifted the boxes of goods to the ground, then slapped over the candles. Soon, the basement would be engulfed in flames, burning all the evidence, bodies, and traces to ashes.

"Ha~" The two guards stationed at the mine entrance yawned, standing in a corner and watching the dark night outside. Their position was just right so that they wouldn't be illuminated by the brazier, thus avoiding being ambushed. However, this job was extremely boring because no one would come to the mine in the middle of the night.

"So sleepy..." There should have been a shift change, but some of the guards had been transferred to deal with the fire in the main city. There were only two guards and a few guards on duty in the mine. After all, the mine work was done in three shifts. The miners did not go back to rest at night, but instead took turns to continue.

Because of the high value of gemstone mines, the working areas are guarded to prevent these miners from stealing. After all, a single high-grade magic gemstone, even in its raw form, is enough to earn them several months' salary. This is based on the fact that gemstone miners' salaries are much higher than those of similar jobs due to the technical requirements.

Even if it's not a complete piece, a bottle of gem dust made from high-quality red garnet gem fragments produced by Kabel is worth more than 200 silver coins per ounce. These miners only need to find a way to hide some of the fragments to make a fortune.

To avoid such incidents, guards were assigned to all work sites. Miners even wore only a loincloth while working, with only the foreman wearing a single piece of clothing, just like the workers in the spice trade before the spice shipping route was established.

"Ding! Ding!" The rhythmic knocking sounds alternated continuously in the work area. The miners, holding picks, first had to chisel off the large rocks with magical patterns on their surfaces, and then transport them down the scaffolding from the two-story-high work surface using carts or baskets, to the center of the work site.

Here, they would use small hammers to gently tap along the cracks in the rocks until the surface rock gradually crumbled and fell away, revealing the hard gemstone ore inside. This ore would then be thrown into mine carts and transported to the upper levels of the mine.

After the mine pits that had been emptied of gemstones were reinforced and isolated, they became processing areas. Here, the raw gemstones were cleaned, ground, and cut, eventually turning into rectangular or oval pieces of high-quality fiery red garnet.

The fragments that are ground off will be washed to separate the small pieces from the rocks and soil. These fragments will be used to make necessary magical materials such as gem ink and gem dust. Of course, this step will not be carried out in the mine.

Ultimately, these gems would be sorted and further processed by jewelers and craftsmen dispatched by the count, according to their size, quality, and type, under the mutual supervision of the guards. The higher-quality pieces would be handed over to the count's jewelers to be processed into expensive jewelry, used to fill the family treasury or adorn themselves, as well as for gifts and tributes.

The mid-quality pieces would be sent to the Earl's jewelry businesses and sold to other nobles or wealthy merchants. A portion of the lower-quality pieces would be used to directly manufacture magical items, while another portion would be acquired by other merchant guilds.

As for inferior products and gem fragments, they were packed into small bags and bought by merchants and purchasing personnel serving the Alchemy Guild or Arcane Societies, and then processed into finished magical materials to be sold in alchemy shops.

Of course, this refers to legitimate and legal transactions. With such a large source of wealth, there must also be illegitimate and illegal transactions. For example, individual traders and solitary alchemists may trade with miners and even guards at the mine entrance for gem materials that are much cheaper than those on the market.

Even at night, the work area and the fishbone-shaped mine tunnels connecting the work areas are still very busy. Truckloads of raw ore and rocks are delivered, and then they are turned into truckloads of useless gravel piled up in a corner. After accumulating enough, these gravel will be transformed into new rocks through a specific ritual.

After all, these rubble stones themselves contain a small amount of magic. After being processed by alchemical arrays and secret rituals, they will be pressed into square or rectangular stones. These stones, when pieced together, can become pillars and walls underground to reinforce the mine and prevent the entire city above from collapsing.

Similarly, these stones are also inexpensive materials for building various buildings in the city of Cabel. They are sturdy, warm, and easy to process, essentially a magical version of volcanic cement—only the rocks here can be used in this way. Other cities without magical gem mines can only honestly use sandstone or wood, or even calcined mud bricks, to solve the problem.

The indigo stone used to build the palace was also produced here. The green agate-colored rock layers and soil traces that can be seen in the mine tunnels are the raw materials for indigo stone.

These rock formations can yield high-quality aquamarine and green agate, as well as a small amount of malachite. Anyway, Roach couldn't understand why these things would grow together—maybe it's magic.

The remaining fragments and rubble, after being calcined at high temperatures and undergoing fusion and alchemical reactions, become those beautiful sky-blue wall tiles. Unfortunately, this material is a standard royal item, and locals are no longer allowed to manufacture or process it privately.

With the creaking of the mine cart, two miners pushed out a cart full of crushed stone. This crushed stone was produced from excavating the mine tunnels and could not even be used to make the kind of supporting bricks. It could only be pushed out along the track and dumped in a corner of the mine. Over time, a small hill was formed there.

"Wait, stop!" The guard gestured for the miner to stop, then carefully inspected the man's body and the rubble in the minecart. He shone a crystal that could detect magical reactions on the minecart a few times, and only after confirming that there were no smuggled items would he let him pass.

Of course, the precision of this detection is not high. If the other party really hides a few inferior fragments in the ditch, it will be completely undetectable. On the other hand, this level of smuggling is also a kind of conventional "extra bonus" for miners.

Moreover, in order to prevent the guards from being indifferent to these "customary" smuggled items, the miners would regularly offer tributes to the guards, and these two miners were the kind of people who did not offer tributes on a regular basis.

This prompted the guards to thoroughly inspect their mine carts and loincloths. After all, this was a service industry, and they had to be fair to those who paid—how could they prove the money paid by those who didn't pay was worthwhile if they didn't whip these guys who hadn't paid?

Just as the guard bent down to inspect, one of the miners swiftly pulled a knife from the bottom of the minecart and slit his throat. The other guard, startled, brandished his sword and rushed toward the alarm bell hanging on the wall, but a crossbow bolt from behind pierced his throat.

"Click!" The soldier in the yellow robe loaded a new bolt into the Roche Livia crossbow in his hand, then vigorously cranked the handle to recharge it.

The people of the empire and various countries fully utilized their initiative in developing this new weapon. For example, regarding the issue of energy storage, they solved Roach's problem of long-term energy storage with a very simple solution—they installed a coil spring on the crank handle. When the handle was cranked, it not only charged the magic bullet but also the mainspring and the coil spring.

Then, when not in use, the latch is moved to disengage the crank from the mechanical device. The mechanical device, consisting of only a spring, gears, and coil springs, keeps the inner disc rotating, maintaining a minimum level of power.

This greatly increases the weapon's practicality on the battlefield. Soldiers can fire one or two shots first, then take out their melee weapons to fight. When the time is almost up, the third and fourth shots will automatically recharge, and they can take them out and continue firing.

At the same time, it greatly increases the aiming time, allowing them to aim more thoroughly. However, this also means that there are more mechanical parts, making it unsuitable for large-scale deployment at present and significantly increasing costs. It is only suitable for use in special operations.

Besides this mechanical solution, it is said that after the Kingdom of Rada spent a lot of money to acquire a prototype, they developed an even stranger solution: they improved their magic spear-sword weapon that used elven technology.

Although they didn't quite understand the principle of "dynamic elements," it didn't stop them from copying it. After all, slashing is also a circular motion. So, they figured out a way to convert part of the energy of this slashing motion into the energy to launch magic bullets. As a result, they created a melee weapon that could launch up to two magic bullets.

It can be charged simply by slashing and swinging, and then used to deliver an unexpected close-range shot to your enemy at a crucial moment. Due to the shooting distance, this weapon uses standard shotgun ammunition.

Moreover, the ammunition itself is the most expensive among all the current Loli Crossbow subspecies, made of exploding crystals, capable of creating a 10-15 cm dent in a 5 mm thick plate breastplate.

"Hurry up, dispose of the body." Two miners helped carry the guard's body into the guardhouse, and then more soldiers came in from outside the mine.

"Those people seem to have realized what's happening..." After all, a procession of torches was frantically converging on the mine from the city, and the lookouts outside were trying to delay or mislead them. "Speed ​​up!"

They casually dumped the gravel at the entrance, then stuffed boxes into the minecart. These boxes contained weapons—yes, cheap and easy-to-use, perfect for miners with no extraordinary combat abilities, the Loli Crossbow.

Meanwhile, Roach looked at the Night Clan girl in front of him, who was showing off her roasted and stewed meat, and asked, "Have you not eaten for days?"

"Juan, Juan, I can't remember~" The girl replied while swallowing hard, her mouth still full of food.

Her eyes were a beautiful red, like fiery red gems, with dark brown, oval pupils, resembling a cat's eyes. Her messy black hair and the scars on her face gave her a wildness that was indeed different from that of ordinary elves, somewhat resembling Alessina.

"Then eat slowly, you'll die if you eat too much."

"Gah~" The girl choked. Livia glared at Roach, then handed her a bottle of water and patted her back. "Gulp~~~~ It's really, an accurate... prophecy!" The girl's eyes lit up. She said that eating too much would kill her, and she almost choked to death just now. The accuracy of the prophecy of the God-chosen One is even better than that of the High Priest!

"This isn't a prophecy... well... indeed, eating too fast and too much can kill you."

“I know,” the girl said, noticeably slowing down.

"What weapons do the Night Clan use again?"

"Daggers, short swords, fist blades, or claw blades, but at most they use their own limbs. They are all masters of hand-to-hand combat because the Night Clan does not favor blood. Contrary to what most people think, although they are cruel and warlike, killing is as common as eating and drinking, but they do not love bloodshed. Therefore, they prefer to kill their enemies in the way that causes the least amount of blood loss."

There's no need for Black Horse to explain why, because if the Night Clan is truly a race protected by the Goddess of Night, then it can be explained.

That lonely old goddess once said that she disliked simple killing. The night represents inclusiveness, mystery, and tranquility. The smell of blood and the roar of battle would destroy this tranquility. The aesthetic or execution method of the Church of the Night is to completely eliminate evil in the quiet night without leaving a trace.

The Night Clan is clearly a divinely favored race that specializes in this kind of work, so they would naturally choose the least disruptive fighting methods possible, such as hand-to-hand combat. The girl's stumbling comment was that if she hadn't been so hungry that she was about to faint, she could have taken down that big, dumb guy named Aaron in just one second.

So the tall and strong Rock Tower scholar could only give a wry smile and wave his hands repeatedly, indicating that he was just a scholar. Although he was strong and had some rudimentary combat skills (otherwise he would have been eaten by wild beasts in the wild), he was really not a warrior. The reason he ambushed her was because he was just like a wild beast at the time, so he decided to strike her from behind.

"Wow, she's got a hard head!" After hearing that Aaron hadn't used his fist but a candlestick, and that the candlestick had been knocked into a U-shape, Roach had a whole new understanding of how hard this girl's head was.

"Can you use a sword?" Roach pulled out the fragment of Nightfall. The short-haired girl in front of him pointed to herself, then pointed with difficulty to the sword, and then waved her hands frantically, indicating that she was not qualified to use this divinely bestowed weapon.

Moreover, she didn't seem to know how to use a sword, so in the end, Livia could only get her some leather to simply wrap around her hands and use as a gauntlet. At least, the leather that Livia took out was not ordinary; it came from Old Ma's trip to Hell. Although the magic on it had dissipated over time, the toughness of the material itself was still there, so catching a blade barehanded wouldn't be a problem.

"Speaking of which, didn't we forget to ask her name?"

“Lulu, Luluya,” the girl said shyly. Names are very important to the Night Clan. They are nameless to outsiders, and only close and trustworthy people can ask them their names. Of course, as one of the two chosen ones of the gods, asking her name is not offensive, but rather an honor, which means that she has been accepted.

"What a cute name..."

"Hehehe~" The girl chuckled. She was only wearing the clothes the little witch had given her, since the previous outfit wasn't suitable for movement, but she was still barefoot.

According to her, before receiving the "blessing" of a certain "ritual," the Night Tribe can only wear undyed clothes and cannot wear shoes. They must endure four major trials: cold, pain, hunger, and loneliness. Only then can they be recognized in the ritual and become the unshakable executors of the goddess's will.

As for how she came to be, it is said that she received divine revelation, but she got lost in the mountains and was eventually captured by Earl Warren's knights as an elven slave girl. After that, it's what Roach and the others know.

But after checking the timeline, one can understand what divine revelation is all about.

"That lonely old man really knows how to cause us trouble!" Roach gave Livia a look, and the little witch miraculously understood what he meant, nodding seriously with the bewilderment and distress of being entrusted with taking care of a child by a friend.

Chapter 182 Being hit by the weapons you sold is a necessary part of the arms dealer's business.

"Something's happened!" You knew something was wrong as soon as you got to the mining area, because the fire started by the grocery store had spread, and the miners on their days off were running around in the streets. Many people even took advantage of the chaos to spread to the lower city, and looting, killing and rape made the situation even more chaotic.