The Wind of Revival (Part One)

Ionia has remained virtually unchanged throughout history; it is a very isolated place where people prefer to follow the natural order in all their actions. ∙∙·▫▫ᵒᴼᵒ▫ₒₒ▫ᵒᴼᵒ▫ₒₒ▫ᵒᴼᵒ ᵒᴼᵒ▫ₒₒ▫ᵒᴼᵒ▫ₒₒ▫ᵒᴼᵒ▫▫·∙∙

Nevertheless, there has been commercial activity here for a long time, even before the formation of the Shurima caravans, but it has always been just large carts carrying goods and bartering, without any significant development.

South Village and North Village are two of the larger villages in Ionia. South Village is rich in grain, while North Village is known for its exquisite craftsmanship.

Caravans frequently traveled between the two places to exchange goods, but some unforeseen events occurred this year.

"It's been raining heavily for three days straight, what are we going to do!"

"Let's not go to Father's place, or we'll all die on the way!"

"But if we don't go, the people of Beixiang will starve to death. They've had no harvest for years, and bandits are causing trouble."

"Then we have to wait until the rain stops before we can set off."

This is a conversation between a father and son. The father is the captain of a caravan, and the son helps out with odd jobs.

Because of the series of natural and man-made disasters, all the caravans stayed indoors, which had little impact on the southern villages, but the northern villages were starving.

This caravan was different from others. The captain was a warm-hearted man. Despite being usually thrifty, he would help even if it meant losing money, because he couldn't bear to see the people of Beixiang suffer from hunger and hardship.

And so, as soon as the rain subsided, the captain called the caravan to set off, carrying ten cartloads of grain.

Because the roads were muddy, the caravan moved very slowly. Halfway there, a heavy rain started again, accompanied by howling winds, lightning, and thunder, making it a very frightening scene.

But that's not the scariest part.

Several bandits were hiding in the heavy rain. They specialized in attacking lone pedestrians, and recently, with fewer pedestrians around, they began robbing caravans.

The captain knew this, which is why he chose to travel in this weather. Little did he know that the caravan's every move was being watched by the bandits.

These bandits were actually from the northern countryside. They turned to banditry out of hunger and attacked merchants and travelers passing through the area.

Actually, it can't be entirely their fault. The northern countryside has suffered from drought for years, making food extremely precious.

Merchant caravans that usually come to do business take advantage of the situation, raising the price of grain and exchanging it for several times more handicrafts than usual.

It's fine once or twice, but over time, where will the people of Beixiang come from to produce so many handicrafts?

Without handicrafts, they couldn't exchange them for food. Eventually, the people became so hungry that they decided to take revenge on these merchants.

Of course, they didn't rob just anyone. The bandit leader established a rule: they wouldn't attack the caravan when it entered, but would assess the situation when it left.

If they act with a conscience, let them go; if they try to extort money from us, then kill and rob us!

The bandit leader was a woman who lived in the village like any other villager, but when she picked up a sword, she became a completely different person.

When the caravan arrived in Beixiang, the weather cleared up. Seeing so much grain, the villagers of Beixiang brought out the goods they had accumulated recently to exchange for it.

In fact, since the bandits appeared, there have been far fewer caravans here, and people would not give up this opportunity even if it meant going bankrupt.

However, due to previous transactions, people don't have much left to offer. Given the current grain prices, they're lucky if they can even get a truckload in return.

To everyone's surprise, the caravan did not raise prices but exchanged them fairly in the usual way, even at a slightly lower price. In this way, the people of Beixiang exchanged various tools for five cartloads of grain.

After seeing this, the bandit leader knew that the caravan was not taking advantage of their plight, so he did not order an ambush.

But soon the devastating news arrived: the caravan members had been killed, and the murderers were none other than the same group of bandits!

The chief was furious and went to confront his men. He learned that they did not want to give up the other five cartloads of grain, which would allow them to survive until the harvest season.

With things having come to this, the leader had no choice but to order the grain to be taken back and to secretly destroy the evidence, just as she had done before, thus deceiving the Shepherd of the North Spring Temple who came to investigate.

Later, fearing exposure, she disbanded the gang, and everyone returned to normal life.

Thus, Beixiang barely managed to survive until harvest time thanks to the grain they had robbed, and thanks to abundant rainfall, they had a bumper harvest, giving them ample time to make handicrafts.

The incident involving the Nanxiang caravan was gradually forgotten, and trade between the two places slowly resumed. However, this period of prosperity was short-lived, as bandits reappeared on the trade route between the two regions.

This gang of robbers was basically the same group as before, except that the former leader wasn't involved; she preferred to be an ordinary woman.

This time, they weren't short of food; they had simply tasted the benefits and no longer wanted to rely on time-consuming and laborious handicrafts to make a living.

That's just how some things are; no matter what your original intention was, once you break the taboo, things will change, especially if you go unpunished.

The woman deeply regretted her decision; if she hadn't formed the bandit gang, none of this would have happened.

There is less and less contact between the two places now. If the northern township suffers another drought, then they will definitely not be able to exchange for grain.

After much deliberation, the woman decided to turn herself in; only by revealing the truth could Beixiang be saved.

Led by the woman, the Shepherd of the North Spring Temple captured all the former bandits without exception.

According to local tradition, those who indiscriminately kill innocent people will be expelled from human habitation and left to fend for themselves.

In that era, the territory of Ionia was demarcated by the gods, which meant that leaving the areas inhabited by humans would result in attacks from various wild beasts and even Magic Beast, especially the pursuit of Kindred, the Kindred of God of Death.

The woman was spared exile because of her meritorious act of exposing the crimes, and she bid farewell to the bandits amidst their resentful gazes.

This incident shocked the southern township and the surrounding villages. They never expected that the bandits were from the northern township, but the fact that the murderers had been punished put their minds at ease.

Although the woman was spared exile, she was still shunned by the people, even the people of Beixiang, despite having helped Beixiang through its most difficult period.

"This is all his own doing."

The woman did not feel the injustice, and in the end she still left Beixiang and embarked on a path of self-exile.

Arriving in the wonders of nature, she discovered that the outside world was not as terrible as she had heard; everything was so beautiful, and the flowers were exceptionally vibrant.

In fact, one often sees people who have left their hometowns to cultivate themselves, comprehending the ways of nature in various places, and some can even befriend wild animals.

Why do the gods confine humanity to small villages? If everyone could seek ways to survive outside, wouldn't we no longer have to worry about drought?

The woman didn't understand; she knew that even if she went back and told people what she thought, no one would believe her.

Years later, the woman met a handsome young man during her travels. The two were similar in personality and shared similar interests, and soon fell in love.