Chapter 120: Soldiers in High Spirits
Four desert bandits galloped on their horses and soon appeared at the top of the sand dunes.
Holding the desert horses in their legs, they looked ahead, cold sweat instantly dripping down their temples. The hand holding the reins slowly lifted the hilt of the knife on their waist, but without any impulse. They swallowed saliva and rode their horses quietly on the top of the dunes.
Out of the dunes below, within a range of nearly 100 meters, hundreds of archers had lined up.
Arrows and crossbows had also aimed at them now.
Although they had not drawn their bows and pulled the trigger, these fierce men who fought over the battlefield knew that if they showed any hostility or pulled out their machetes to charge, in less than a second a shower of arrows would cover the top of the dunes where the four of them were, completely turning them into real hedgehogs with arrows or crossbows .
The indifferent eyes of the hundreds of archers were fixed on the four of them.
The slightest movement would make a shower of arrows.
Even turned around to escape they wouldn’t, nor would they dare run away.
The speed of four-legged desert horses was indeed fast, but they were nowhere near as fast as a shower of arrows that could fly through the air.
Moreover, there still had a mission.
”Don’t be impulse,” the chief desert bandit spoke slowly.
And his hand, quite slowly, loosened from the hilt of the knife at his waist, and re-tighting the reins, he tapped the horse belly lightly to give it two steps forward, and he said: ”This is the fief of Lord Kant, strange troops from the Kingdom of Virginia and Swadia, tell me your intentions.”
His words seemed to have worked.
The longbows and crossbows that were aimed at them initialy were all lowered, and also showed their goodwill.
This was a slight relief to the four desert bandits.
It seemed really not the enemies.
And among the hundred people, two of them looked at each other and seemed to be the leaders. They came out at the same time, put down their weapons completely and spoke in unison.
”We are 50 crossbowmen from the Kingdom of Swadia, came to following Kant’s honor.”
”We are 50 archers from the Kingdom of Virginia, came to following Kant’s honor.”
These words officially identified them.
The four elite desert bandits completely relaxed, shaking their reins and walking down the dunes, a smile and a nod to them: ”We are here to greet you, our new friends from Swadia and Virginia. Welcome to the Land of Miracles!”
If not enemies, then friends.
Both sides put away their weapons. After all, they knew the Sarrandan people well enough.
Soon, the elite desert bandit took them back to the sentry oasis.
The Swadian light infantry, who was standing guard at the city gate, smiled at them and, without hesitation, directly asked the gate to be opened and let in all these archers.
Both are the same arms of the Kingdom of Swadia, a look could tell true or false.
”Welcome.”
Fhartis also came outside the street to greet them.
Looking at these energetic archers, he nodded with satisfaction: ”Your arrival, so that our defense system can finally come into use.” Shruggling slightly, he pointed with a smile at the rampart attics and arrow towers: ”Without you archers and crossbowmen, our fortifications would be useless.”
”Glad we could help,” the crossbowmen replied humbly.
The atmosphere became very harmonious.
The crossbowmen from the Kingdom of Virginia and Swadia had also heard of the tales of Fhartis.
This former wandering knight was one of the few n.o.bles on the continent.
Many lords wanted to enlist this knight with n.o.ble blood who had honed himself while wandering, but for reasons of ideological Fhartis did not accept the t.i.tle and instead came to the Land of Miracles to serve Lord Kant.
And for all of us, this was the highest honor.
The banquet continued.
More chairs and tables were moved out, and the sounds of welcoming new friends rang out.
The leader of the caravan from Reyvadin, Jocelyn, was also entrusted by Manide to help greet the newly arrived Virginia archers, and they chatted with each other which made the atmosphere more lively and cheerful.
There was no such thing as a tense, war-ready atmosphere.
In fact, that was a misunderstanding.
”Dang dang dang.”
There was a knock on Kant’s door .
”Lord Kant, I hope it didn’t disturb your rest.”
Manide stood outside the door, heard a voice from inside and whispered: ”The banquet is about to begin, and just now 50 archers from the Kingdom of Swadia and 50 crossbowmen from the Kingdom of Swadia came here to follow you.”
Inside of the room, Kant opened his eyes in a daze.
There was no candles lit in the room, so it was relatively dark.
Through the narrow opening of the window, he saw a blaze of stars and a seemingly frozen darkness.
”Oh, I fell asleep?”
Kant’s sleepy eyes burst open and his mind was suddenly awake.
Only then did he realize that his mind had risen to the sky at the time, and after opening the perspective of G.o.d to build the building, he actually fell asleep on the bed groggy and only woke up when Manide came knocking at the door.
”Lord Kant?” Outside the door, Manide tapped twice more.
”Yeah, I heard that,” Kant replied.
Fortunately, he had not taken off his clothes. He stood up, stretched, went to open the door and saw Manide with a wry smile: ”This is a mistake worth remembering. I actually fell asleep.”
”It is a result of fatigue.”
Manide bowed slightly, stepped half back and looked at Kant: ”Lord, the banquet will begin soon.”
”We are going.” Kant led the way.
Manide hurried to follow.
Candles were lit in the stairs of the ruling chamer, so there was plenty of light
Kant walked down the stairs quickly and came to the outside of the ruling chamber.
The torches were burning, releasing more light and the whole street was as bright as a day. Kant stepped out of the dim hall, his eyes even a little unable to adjust and he couldn’t help narrowing his eyes and stood there for a second or two.
But in the street just ahead, the soldiers, who had been bragging and laughing, burst into cheers.
”Good evening, praiseworthy Lord Kant!”
”Good health, my Lord!”
”Great Lord Kant, how excited to see you!”
They all looked at Kant enthusiastically with the most fervent reverence, and even when they looked at the king of their own country, they did not have such fanatical and reverent gazes, as if they were looking at the only faith and reliance of the world and the spirit.
This was the constant loyalty from the system.
There was also the legend of miracles that Kant circulated in caladia.
”h.e.l.lo.”
Kant nodded and reached out to respond.
With a smile on his face, he walked to his main seat and sat down: ”Sit down, all of you, and make this banquet lively.” And at the same time to Manide and Fhartis: ”And our new friends. I hope there is enough food.”
”Enough.” Manide nodded affirmatively.
In the kitchen, the new desert antelope had been dragged out and roasted. Although a hundred more people there, the number was definitely enough.
The desert antelope, which appeared at the end of each month, was a rich source of prey.
”Let’s start.”
Kant held out his hand to signal the banquet to begin.
Cheers immediately were emitted from the mouths of the soldiers, farmers, and peasant women.
The sound of wolfing down food also appeared. Roasted mutton and dried meat, sausage, bread, and other items on the long table in front of them were torn into pieces by the hungry men.
At the same time, the lid of the malt liquor was lifted.
A bowl per person.
Not much or even drunk, but limited each person one bowl of malt liquor, just to be on the safe side.
No one was allowed to drink more.
Even Kant led by example, downing his bowl and not continue to drink these paralyzing drinks and refraining from drinking anything too alcoholic, for safety’s sake.
Danger lingered on his side, and only fools would celebrate.
It was a lively banquet.
But it was also a yearning for a better life in the future.
Want to eat this delicious every day.
In addition to hard work, there was endless cruel fights.
Holding a piece of roasted and charred lamb in his knife, Kant dipped it in salt sprinkled with crushed spices. It tasted good after his mouth, and the feeling of the oil soaking in the salt and spices and melting in his mouth made him breathe out after swallowing.
It was a delicacy, and he loved it.
The banquet ended in excitement.
The peasant women cleaned up a mess of tables, chairs, and the floors.
He did not want his oasis to turn into the grubby look of the Stone Pa.s.s, which was unacceptable to him coming from a modern age, not to mention the poor sanitation would cause a plague.
The oasis was the only concentration of deserts.
If there was a plague, there would be no hiding in such a small place.
Hygiene, therefore, had always been a key issue for Kant.
Fatis continued to patrol the city wall before going to sleep.
Manide supervised the salting work.
And after the banquet, the leader of the caravan, Jocelyn, stood at the city gate.
Not far away was his nephew and his entourage of 12 sentries.
Three carriages took the lead in the return journey, returning the more than 500 Jackalan slaves that Kant had captured back to Reyvadin.
”It’s going well.”
Kant stood at the top of the ruling chamber, next to the 20 rangers of Ravenston.
Smiling slightly, he exhorted the rangers: ”I’ve got Virginia and Swadia archers to be stationed in the attic and arrow towers of the city wall, but your task is still arduous.”
”We will be vigilant,” the rangers answered firmly.
”Very good.” Kant nodded.
These rangers, after all, were tier 5.
Although it looked like it was only one level away from tier 4, actually they were worlds apart.
With these rangers stationed at the top of the ruling chamber, Kant slept soundly.
He walked down the stairs.
Kant returned to his room.
Looking at the dark night outside the window, he lay on his bed and thought: ”Tomorrow is the day of the caravan’s departure, this week can be sorted out all the trivial matters. Just wait quietly for the expeditionary army from the Graymane Kingdom to arrive.”
He frowned slightly.
There was a grim smile on Kant’s lips.
He still had the confidence to win and obtain the hegemony of the Nahrin desert