Jia Xiu talked the Karaga City-state rangers pursuing Oren around once more.
These Vampires, who had never seen any proper magic, quickly believed the story Jia Xiu had made up.
Even if they did not believe it, they definitely could not say so.
They might have been young, but they still possessed basic judgment of the situation. Whether they truly believed it or not, it was best to act like they did for now.
As for the so-called rangers, they were probably military units somewhat akin to reconnaissance troops, and sometimes they were responsible for clearing out settlements of Wanderers in the wild. As the name suggested, Wanderers were Vampires who wandered the wilderness.
Because the city-state's runestone protection range could not accommodate so many people, the excess population had to be driven out. Usually, criminals were selected, but according to Oren, the criminals in some years might not actually have been criminals. If the number of people to be expelled fell short of the target, people might be deliberately arrested on trumped-up charges. Therefore, one had to be especially careful at the end of every year.
The choice to expel them rather than execute them outright was made out of consideration for the feelings of those still in the city. Being driven into the wilderness did not mean immediate death; it merely meant greater danger and a shorter lifespan. That was far easier to accept than direct execution, and it would not provoke overly severe resistance.
Besides, Wanderers could still offer up a little final value in the wilderness, such as clearing out wild beasts or slowing hostile city-states' attacks.
Yes, even with their living conditions already this terrible, their civil war had not ended. According to Oren, battles between city-states were quite frequent. All one could say was,