"Yes."
The young officer nodded, accepting the middle-aged officer's instruction, but at that moment, another officer offered a new suggestion:
"Sir, since the wilderness is so dangerous, why don't we speed up our journey? I'm a local from Aduolin Province, and I know a route that can bypass Weeping Willow Town, which will probably shorten our journey by about a day."
The middle-aged priest-officer fell into thought upon hearing this.
Three days is indeed a bit long. It wouldn't be so bad if there were no other shortcuts to choose from, but now that there's a new route, he has to weigh the two options.
He knelt on one knee and placed his right hand on the ground.
The five fingers immediately Alienation towards the plant roots, then plunged headfirst into the already compacted ground.
Listening to the various faint noises in the surrounding area, the middle-aged man tried to distinguish which belonged to the Blood Corpse and which belonged to harmless creatures like the Vine Sheep.
After a long silence, he stood up again, pointed to the map, and looked at the young officer who had raised a different opinion:
Tell me about your path.
Two days later, in the afternoon, five hundred Holy Crusaders appeared in the dense forest south of White Wax Town.
The middle-aged officer at the head rode his Hoofed Beast out of the forest, which had been cleared of logging to its very boundaries, and for a moment he thought he had returned to Fir City.
Before him stood a tall, ancient city wall with a heavy wooden gate in the center and paths leading into the forest on either side, stretching to the horizon.
If the city wall itself was already astonishing enough, then the layout outside the wall left the middle-aged officer speechless.
Outside the walls of White Wax Town, sandbags filled with soil were piled up to form several winding curves almost parallel to the walls. Sharp bushes that hindered the enemy's advance effectively reduced the battlefield area. On either side of the city gate, there were two watchtowers that were taller than the city walls.
There were watchtowers for observing enemy movements, fortifications to guide the enemy's advance, and finally, towering city walls...
Who designed this?
Thinking this, the middle-aged officer could no longer take his eyes off these fortifications, because at this moment, whether it was the thorny bushes, the sandbags and trenches, Supreme watchtowers and outside the city walls, everything was covered with a large amount of blood and all kinds of gruesome Blood Corpse.
Even on the ground where there were no Blood Corpse, there were specks of dark red, and the smell of half-rotten blood permeated the air. The officer knew that some things could not be faked— White Wax Town must have already fought several major battles with the Blood Corpse.
But has this town truly not fallen yet?
Just as he was wondering what was going on, a man dressed as a militiaman suddenly stood up at the watchtower's observation post.
His eyes were filled with awe for the Holy Crusaders, but his duty compelled him to utter the following words, causing his voice to tremble with extreme excitement:
"Who are you people?! Why have you come to White Wax Town? Did you encounter any Blood Corpse on the way?"
Seeing that even civilian-dressed militiamen dared to shout like that, a younger officer immediately rode forward on his Hoofed Beast and raised his whip at the militiamen:
"We are the Holy Crusaders sent from Fir City to provide support. And who are you?"
Although the commoner's voice trembled, his words enraged the crowd:
"I've never heard of that. I'll report it to His Excellency the Bishop."
"Alright, just say that Grand Knight Motley of the Holy Crusaders First Knights in Fir City, Aduolin Province, has led the First Knight Order to provide reinforcements."
The middle-aged officer scoffed dismissively. How much knowledge could a militiaman who had been temporarily conscripted like this have? It was normal that he had never heard of the Holy Crusaders, since most of these civilians would never leave their towns or villages in their entire lives, while the Holy Crusaders was only found in the capitals of various provinces.
But that's fine too. When this clueless fellow reports this news to Bishop Duolin, the other party might be so scared his legs will turn to jelly.
How composed could a bishop from a mere town possibly be when faced with the overwhelming power of the Holy Crusaders?
Unexpectedly, the militiaman fiddled with his lips for a while, scratched his head, and said embarrassedly:
"Sorry, I didn't remember. Could you say it again?"
The middle-aged officer's face immediately fell; its length was almost comparable to the Hoofed Beast beneath him.
His men tried to shout something, but he stopped them with a gesture.
At this moment, the middle-aged priest was clearly somewhat displeased, but considering the common people's level of literacy—they couldn't even understand the Holy Scripture —he gritted his teeth and said, word by word:
"Tell them that Grand Knight Commander Motley has led the Holy Crusaders to our aid, and ask the Bishop to let us into the city."
This time, the commoner nodded thoughtfully, then turned and grabbed a sturdy rope connecting the watchtower and the city wall, using the advantage of the watchtower being higher than the city wall to slide across directly.
Behind the city wall, fully armed players were already lying on the ground, laughing out loud.
It turns out that NPCs have such expressive faces when they're frustrated; they're practically indistinguishable from real people! It's so funny.
Although according to the plan, if everything goes smoothly, they won't have a chance to appear today, many players are already getting restless seeing the expressions on the faces of the Holy Crusaders outside.
Plenty of money, little work, and lots of fun—I definitely made the right choice coming to this extra job today!
And that militiaman wasn't a local at all; he was actually the exaggeratedly Bel Canto Help.
He hurried into the city gate and saw Duolin, Aoda, [ Zhongde ], and [ Gill's Cuisine ], all with calm expressions. The four of them were sitting around a wooden table, and apart from the lack of tea sets, nothing seemed amiss.
" The Holy Crusaders are here! Their leader calls himself the Grand Knight Commander, and his name is Motley. Boss, what do we do now?"
The people around the table exchanged glances, Duolin gave a relieved smile:
"Proceed according to your plan."
[ Zhongde ] and [ Gill's Cuisine ] nodded and said to their companion who had come to deliver the message:
"No rush, let's leave them to their own devices for a while. We'll go and deal with this Motley when it gets a little darker."
As the sun sank lower and visibility began to decrease, the Hoofed Beast beneath Motley snorted uneasily, as if sensing the terrifying monsters lurking in the dense forest.
The Grand Knight tugged at the reins, also feeling that the militiaman had taken too long.
But why is that?
It's illogical that a mere militiaman could suppress his own message, and that a bishop from Duolin would immediately come upon hearing it...
Finally, after visibility dropped a few more points, two figures appeared on the dimly lit city wall.
They stood at the very top of the gate and shouted to the Holy Crusaders below:
"I am Bishop Duolin of White Wax Town."
Another person said:
"I am Aoda, the tax collector of White Wax Town."
The two said in unison:
"According to the latest regulations, anyone wishing to enter the city must undergo security checks!"