Clatter, clatter…
Haa, haa, haa...
Riding her horse, Ayesha took a few deep breaths and looked up at the blue sky. The massive fireball radiated a heat that left everyone sweating profusely.
"Miss Ayesha, should we take a rest?" Nancy wiped the sweat from his face. The weather was simply too hot.
"Let's rest in the woods up ahead." Ayesha nodded, glancing back at the dozens of carriages behind her, all fully loaded with saltpeter.
"Alright." Nancy breathed a sigh of relief and hurriedly shouted to Obi, "Head to the woods up ahead to rest!"
"Got it!" Obi nodded and immediately directed the caravan into the shade of the trees.
"We are running low on water," Nancy whispered to Obi, glancing back at the cow-horned girl who was currently taking a drink.
"I'll send some men to look for a water source," Obi replied softly. If he spoke too loudly and Ayesha heard, she definitely wouldn't want to drink any more water to save it for the rest.
"This damn weather, why is it so hot?" Nancy said helplessly. As soon as they had mined enough saltpeter, they immediately led the team toward Sedona City. Who would have thought that someone would actually die along the way—literally baked to death by the sun?
"Nancy, let's rest during the day," Ayesha said, wiping sweat from her forehead. It was noon, the time when the sun was at its most scorching.
"Ah?" Nancy was stunned.
"We will travel by night and rest by day," Ayesha said seriously. This was the solution she had come up with.
"That's brilliant!" Nancy's eyes lit up. The nights were cool, perfect for traveling, while the sweltering days were perfect for resting.
"We are still seven or eight days away from Sedona City. We can't keep traveling during the day, or we'll be roasted to death." Ayesha turned to look at the beastkin transporting the goods; many of them were already dizzy and lethargic.
"Then that's what we'll do. I'll go arrange for everyone to rest." Nancy hurriedly went off to organize the camp.
"I wonder if the Master misses me." Ayesha sat on a rock, resting her chin on one hand. She missed the delicious food in the castle.
This time, Ayesha was representing Bella to discuss certain matters with Lucas. If Bella hadn't been tied up with other tasks, she would have come to see Lucas herself.
Clatter, clatter, clatter…
The sound of galloping hooves rang out as a squad of beastkin knights returning from their water search arrived. One of them shouted, "Lord Obi, we found human nobles fighting bandits up ahead!"
"What's the situation?" Obi frowned.
"There's a small watering hole up ahead. Two groups of people are slaughtering each other; it seems they are fighting over the water source," the beastkin knight reported.
"Let's go. Take me to see." Obi mounted his horse, waved his hand, and led a squad of beastkin knights charging forward.
...
"Kill! Kill all these nobles and rob them blind!"
"Hahahaha... I didn't expect anyone else to come here for water."
"This is the fifth batch in half a month. Kill them all, and we'll have the coins to go to Sedona City for a good meal!"
"..."
Over twenty bandits shouted playfully, their longswords already stained with blood as they glared at the five or six people in front of them.
From the bandits' perspective, this group consisted of noble knights. The knights were clad in iron armor, guarding an old nobleman.
"Damned bandits! The Divine Lord will cast down His punishment upon you!" An old man wearing black robes shouted in a panic.
"Divine Lord? What the hell is that?" One bandit asked, puzzled.
"Who cares?" The bandit leader said dismissively.
"Boss, the style of these knights' armor doesn't look like the ones from around here," A bandit whispered.
"Oh? They're foreigners?" The bandit leader's eyes lit up, and he quickly shouted, "Kill everyone!"
"Yes!" The bandits roared in response.
"I am Bishop Parkin of the Yadian Kingdom! You will spark a war!" The old man—Bishop Parkin—screamed.
In order to compete for the position of Archbishop, he had traveled to the Siacan Kingdom to preach. He never expected the journey to be so perilous. Between the blood-sucking nobles and the ruthless bandits along the way, more than half of his escorting knights had died. Without achieving any results, he didn't even have the face to return home. But was he really going to die here now?
The Yadian Kingdom was a nation founded on religion. The faith they followed was the Luminous Creed, and the current Queen was the previous generation's Holy Maiden of the Luminous Creed. The status of the Archbishop was akin to a Prime Minister, assisting the Queen in governing the kingdom—a grand noble below only one person but above ten thousand.
After the schism in the previous generation, the severely weakened Luminous Creed had finally managed to recover. However, the Yadian Kingdom had no more room for expansion, so they set their sights on the surrounding kingdoms. Bishop Parkin was the one assigned to the Siacan Kingdom.
He couldn't go to the inland regions of the Siacan Kingdom because the King of Siacan despised the Luminous Creed. He could only settle for the next best thing and specifically choose remote, desolate areas to preach.
And that choice brought him straight into trouble. Bandits loved hiding in remote areas. His missionary journey could be described as agonizing and arduous, and now it seemed it would cost him his life.
If he managed to survive this, he decided he wouldn't care about losing face anymore; he would immediately return to the Yadian Kingdom. He'd much rather go face those stubborn little dwarves than deal with this nightmare.
"What's a Bishop?" A bandit asked in surprise.
"Don't mind him! Since he's a noble from another country, that's even better. Just kill him directly!" The bandit leader sneered.
"The Divine Lord will punish you!" Bishop Parkin screamed in terror.
"Punish us? Hahahaha... Our swords are about to punish you right now!" The bandit laughed maniacally.
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200 power stones.
Top 100. All time.