Holy Light, Great River

Ergons Tevalin really didn't want to bring him along, having already seen his stats. This guy was a total weakling.

His Level wasn't high, his Strength wasn't strong, he wasn't even as good as those new recruits because he lacked the abilities for Item Management and Captive Management.

The only thing he had going for him was his mouth. His base Charisma wasn't high, yet he surprisingly had a Trade skill of eight and a Persuasion skill of seven.

Someone like him could participate in battle? Was he going to provide verbal services?

But this Priest actually had his attendant carry a leather-covered large chest, proudly patting it.

"Don't worry, I have the Holy Light as my weapon. It won't be easy for anyone to get close to me."

This piqued Ergons' interest.

Ever since he'd transmigrated, he'd been listening to Old Adam tell him that this world had the Holy Light.

This world had monsters, mermen, sirens, evil wizards, and supposedly even monstrous beasts and demi-humans. Especially outside the Duchy where the Holy Light couldn't reach, monsters ran rampant, and whether people could live to see the next day was uncertain.

But all he saw was a dilapidated village with villagers who refused to bathe even once a year, leaving excrement everywhere and dumping dirty water out of their windows.

If Ergons hadn't used his "Divine Favor" authority to force them to bathe, clean up the excrement into the fields, and compact the road surface, this village would still have had that natural trap:

The muddy ground, which would cause soldiers in heavy armor to sink deep, endure the stench of fermenting excrement, and be attacked by villagers throwing stones. Note: The heavier the armor, the deeper they sank.

ㄟ(▔,▔)ㄏ

The survival environment here was extremely harsh. A common cold could be fatal, and resources were extremely scarce. Peasants used wooden hoes and forks for farming.

A peasant who had a sickle was an absolute hot commodity during harvest season. Long-handled sickles were communal property in the village, only brought out like treasures during collective harvesting.

It was precisely in such a broken place that even a suit of chainmail was something only nobles could afford. Cleanliness was dignity!

It was like a medieval place, truly dark, and the people were incredibly suffering.

The noble class lived in an era where iron and steam intertwined, with even some mechanical clocks appearing. They wore velvet and silk, used porcelain, and drank honey, condensed milk, and cheese...

As for the commoners, they lived in the Stone Age. If a household's man had two sets of clothes, one of them might be an heirloom with patches sewn onto patches.

If they went out to sell goods now, they had to carry a pocketful of large stones because those things were more reliable, and the effect of smashing someone was far better than a wooden club in hand.

In a place like this, constantly being told about the Holy Light, and that priests wielded the Holy Light, it was no wonder he was curious.

Perhaps his curious gaze was too obvious. Priest Ramses Bolton tightened his grip on the leather case and said, "The Holy Light can only be shown to enemies. It's best not to use it lightly."

Fine, let's count Priest Bolton as one! Oh, and his attendant.

A total of 15 people, after eating a meal that couldn't be called breakfast or lunch, set off towards the assembly point by the Giovanni River – Tewain Village.

The Giovanni River also had a history. As the mother river that nourished the North Province of the Duchy, named after the first Pope, the Giovanni River had nurtured the residents on both banks. However, the river had changed its course several times throughout history, claiming the lives of over a hundred thousand people cumulatively.

"The most recent change was 30 years ago. This great river, which should have flowed from the interior to the peninsula and into the sea, changed its course by over 140 miles.

The estuary was nearly 300 miles away from the original estuary. Therefore, the area where we are located became a desert. The place where your Tervain Village was originally located was by the great river.

Isn't there a small dry ditch outside your manor? The one that only has water up to your knees during the flood season. That is the original riverbed of the Giovanni River."

Priest Ramses Bolton truly lived up to his reputation as a smooth talker. He knew everything, and under his description, everything was so vivid.

They advanced eastward, taking a different path away from Tevalinburg. In just one afternoon, they could see shimmering lights in the distance.

The river must have been incredibly wide, as the sunlight reflecting off it seemed to form a mirage with no discernible image.

If someone hadn't told him it was a great river before, Ergons would have easily mistaken it for the sea.

As someone from the new era who had traveled north and south in his previous life, Ergons Tevalin believed nothing could truly shock him.

His original thought was, "No matter how wide this river is, can it be wider than the Yangtze River? Wider than the Yellow River? Just based on the description, how big can this Duchy be?"

However, as they advanced along a path three miles parallel to the river, Ergons was astonished to find that his map's visible range couldn't even see the opposite riverbank?

He had to zoom out on the map to see just how wide this river, which should have been called a lake, truly was.

In just two days of travel, the terrain they experienced had changed dramatically.

The original mountainous and hilly areas with sparse vegetation were left far behind. Their horses no longer traveled through tundra but through shallow grass that reached their fetlocks.

Even in autumn, trees swayed their canopies in the wind on every mountain. The abundance of vegetation meant they no longer had to worry about their horses losing weight.

From then on, they didn't need to allocate two-thirds of their dry rations to the horses. It was only when the five packhorses following behind the team had "insufficient" feed that Ergons felt relieved.

"It seems the elders were right. Uncle Adam said this much food should be enough for us to reach Tewain Village. I guess I was worrying too much."

"Of course. My father served two lords in battle, and this is the third generation with you, young master. These things won't go wrong," Adamson replied happily, as if he had been praised.

Tewain Village was located on a mudflat where the great river made a turn. The originally dilapidated and desolate small village had only a dozen households. Now, the number of soldiers in and around the village far exceeded the village's original total population.

These proud and fierce soldiers did not excessively harass the lives of the commoners. After all, their arrival was already the most severe form of disturbance.

All rations were confiscated. The villagers of Tewain Village had to wait for the quartermaster to distribute their next meal, under the guise of centralized management to prevent enemy poisoning.

In reality, they would eat worse. Old wheat from who knows where became their only food, while the wheat, corn, and black beans plundered from here went into the lords' horse troughs.

The cooked sweet corn was soft and glutinous, yet it fed the livestock. Old Hoyd, the villager, had no chance to give his youngest granddaughter her favorite this year.

He had hidden his daughter-in-law and granddaughter in the cellar. Even if he shared his allocated rations with the two of them, it was better than letting them face potential risks.

To the outside world, he claimed his daughter-in-law and son had argued, and she had taken their granddaughter back to her parents' home.

Alfonso's house at the east end of the village caught fire last night. Old Alfonso and his wife, along with their daughter, all perished in the fire.

But all that remained at the scene were the bodies of the old couple, their necks severed.

In this marshy area with extremely high humidity, a fire seemed strange, and even stranger was that everyone, looking at the dilapidated house that was only half burned before extinguishing, claimed it had been destroyed by fire.

When they saw the two bodies with their necks cut, they all said it was a family of three who had burned to death!

This was the current situation.

Old Hoyd and his son, Young Hoyd, were assigned to clear the road, but they couldn't shake a sense of unease.

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