Knight and Wand

Chapter 104 Commitment
A rural area between Ronca and Selva.

Several armored riders on war horses, accompanied by six lord's guards and ten Longka archers, stood on the commanding heights of the hillside, waiting quietly.

This was naturally Leon's group, even Olivia was among them.

Next to them, the guards and archers were watching over the prisoners whose hands and feet were shackled behind the hillside.

Not long after, at the appointed time of noon, everyone saw a simple horse-drawn carriage driving down the hillside.

When the carriage came closer and slowly stopped at the foot of the hill, Leon could see their appearance clearly.

In addition to the coachman, there were four people on the carriage wrapped in large traveling cloaks. The middle-aged man with a goatee who jumped off the cart first was holding the arm of a woman with sad eyes. As for the other two, perhaps they were the accompanying guards, they carried a heavy wooden box from the carriage.

The goateed man said a few words to the guards who were accompanying him, then walked up the hillside alone and came to Leon.

He took off his hood, knelt on one knee respectfully in front of the knights, crossed his hands and saluted humbly, and spoke in an unfamiliar Feru language: "Dear noble knights, we have brought the full ransom. Can you let me see my master?"

Leon waved to the guard beside him.

Hawke and the others immediately pushed Mamer, who was limping from behind the ramp, over.

Although his hair was disheveled and his face had not been cleaned for a long time and was covered with dust and dirt, the middle-aged man could still recognize the owner's appearance.

Seeing that Lord Mamer was weak and tired but at least his life was safe, the goateed man finally relaxed his tense nerves.

".Gods above, thank you for your mercy, Lord Orland. The ransom is in the box below. You can send someone to count the amount." The man with a goatee withdrew his gaze from his master and remained kneeling on the ground without getting up.

Nodding, Leon told everyone to keep an eye on the captives and the contact person, then called Corvis and Olivia, and asked the two guards to carry the empty boxes and scales, and walked down the hill together.

When the other three people approached the carriage, the two who looked like guards were obviously a little nervous, and they protected the woman behind them.

Leon ignored them for the time being and asked Corvis to take the guards to pry open the wooden box on the ground.

The young wizard next to him used to work as an experimental assistant, handling various mineral materials. He fully understands how to identify the material reactions of precious metal components such as gold. He is truly versatile.

This saves the trouble of finding a goldsmith to help verify the coins.

Watching Corvis and the guards skillfully counting the ransom with a scale and pouring the orange Kantadar gold coins into the cash box prepared in advance, Leon took this opportunity to look up at the woman with an uneasy expression.

"Are you Mamer's family?" Leon suddenly asked.

The woman hesitated for a moment, but finally nodded.

Leon looked at her, wondering who this woman was to Mamer. Although he was a little confused, he was not interested in asking.

After the numbers were counted, everyone carried the money boxes full of gold coins back to the team on the hillside.

Leon looked at Mamer who was supported by the goateed man, and had no intention of making things difficult for her. He threw the key to the handcuffs over to her.

"You can go now. Mamer, remember never to appear in front of me again."

The man with a goatee caught the key thrown to him, his expression relieved. He swiftly unlocked the shackles, took up his arm to support his master, turned around and was about to leave.

At this time, Lohak, who was standing beside the team, looked at Mam'er's back and finally couldn't help but say, "Wait a minute!"

The goateed man who was supporting his master trembled with fear, as if he had a premonition that he and his group would be left in this foreign country forever.

But when Mamer turned around, his tired face was calm.

"You, I remember your name was Lord Lohak?" Mamuel recalled the other party's name and asked, "Anything else?"

Leon and others also looked at Lohak.

"Is that woman below your wife or sister?" Lohak asked, pointing at the woman at the bottom of the slope with anger in his eyes.

Hearing this, Mamer turned around and looked over.

He looked carefully and noticed that his wife, whom he had not seen for almost two years, had also ventured here with the butler, and he couldn't help but feel a sense of warmth.

"That's my wife," Mamer nodded.

"It turns out that even bastards like you have families that love you so much."

Lohak gritted his teeth and asked again: "Do you love her as much as she loves you?"

"Well, of course." Mamer nodded calmly.

Luohak’s face twisted and twitched slightly, as if he was suppressing the anger in his heart. After a long while, he pursed his lips and said angrily: “Have you ever thought that I could kill her in front of you today?

Even taking those Selva villagers whose families were destroyed to ravage your beloved family in revenge?

When you, the Kantardar bastards, commit atrocities against innocent people, don't you fear that the same fate may befall you one day?!"

Mamer raised his eyebrows. This was indeed the first time he had heard such naive moral questioning in his life.

He couldn't help but be silent for a moment, then shook his head: "After falling into your hands, I have never been interested in making excuses like a softie.

But I still want to remind you, Lord Lohak.

First of all, the so-called atrocities that occurred in your village were either done by those lowly mercenaries or by the retainers of someone else.

Fortunately, the blonde girl next to me knocked me down. I have never taken any life in your territory. Well, that's not quite right. When I attacked, I did kill two annoying guard dogs. "

"You haven't killed any Selva villagers?" Leon asked from the side. It was the first time he confirmed this from the other party himself.

Mamuel turned to look at Leon: "Believe it or not, it's up to you, it's true, although I'm not a good person, but I've practiced martial arts for decades and I always like to challenge strong people. Unless the Lord orders me to do so, I have no interest in taking the initiative to draw my sword and slaughter those weak people.

However, I am not a role model of knighthood. After all, if I had not been injured and bedridden, I might have taken up the butcher knife at the order of Lord Dawson.

After all, Lord Duosen would not allow the villagers to live and expose the whereabouts of the team, and I would not oppose Lord Fengjun's order. "

Mammur turned to look at Lohak and continued, “But your question is really strange, are you afraid that your family will suffer such a fate?
If I did not follow the monarch's orders to plunder the enemy's villages, but went back to be an honest manor owner and farm the land, I wouldn't have to worry about this fate befalling me?

You don't think that only evil Kantardars like me are born villains, and only the Kantardar bastards you mentioned will massacre innocent people, right?

As for the killing that took place in that small village, did you, the Feru people, do little in the territory of Kantadar? You are asking this question with a righteous attitude, as if only we, the people of Kantadar, are committing atrocities. "

Mamer looked at the naive boy with a frown on his face, as if he saw himself reading knight stories when he was a child, and he unconsciously said more: "You haven't been to the battlefield yet, right?

When your feudal lord orders you to burn down the enemy's villages and wheat fields, massacre the enemy's subjects, and cut off the enemy's supplies, are you prepared to throw these just questions of mine to your monarch?

"After your soldiers have fought bloody battles, they want to vent their anger, plunder, and massacre the city. How do you stop them? Sing them a song, hold hands and dance with them? When you have to kill the innocent men, women, old and young, women and children in your eyes, how are you going to answer your questions to me?"

Lohak was speechless for a moment. He was already tongue-tied and couldn't find the words to refute: "No, I won't do that."

"Okay, I will be like you, disobey the orders of the feudal lord, betray the wishes of my soldiers, and become a great saint of the Sun Worship Cult.

In this case, do my wife and I have to wait until today for you to kill us?
I see, boy, that you have lost family members to the hands of us Kantadars.

This is strange. If you want revenge, you just pick up the sword and kill them. Tooth for tooth, blood for blood, this principle is eternal. "

Mamer's dry and cracked mouth smacked for a moment, and finally looked at the innocent boy: "As for your question, well, perhaps it is precisely because we don't want to endure those atrocities that we choose to be the first to commit atrocities. This is my answer."

Seeing Lohak with a frown on his face and his right hand tightly holding the halberd, Leon interrupted him with a shout: "After following this perverse logic and committing numerous crimes, who is holding your fate now?"

Lohak listened to his companion's voice and couldn't help but look at him.

Although the boy's expression was still confused, his brows relaxed a little.

Leon raised his hand and said to Mamuel and his party, "Stop talking nonsense. Even if you haven't killed any villagers in Selva, you probably have the blood of innocent people on your body.

Although I won't hurt your wife, if I anger Lohak, I won't stop him from killing you. If you want to live, get out of here with this bullshit."

He didn't even bother to refute the other party.

It sounds fantastic, and perhaps it is indeed the law of the jungle that most people in this world and this dark age believe in.

But Leon disdained to associate with this seemingly strong but actually weak logic.

how?

Is it because he is a person who wields violence?

If you don't kill innocent people, you can't win? You can't lead your soldiers? You can't protect your family? You can't gain power?

This is an excuse for the thugs to indulge themselves with a clear conscience.

Leon knew that each of the above points had real counterexamples in previous lives, both ancient and modern. Having examples meant that it could be done. If one could do it, he was a strong person, and that was enough. His young and confused companions could not see the right path, so he would lead them to walk on this road, without having to embark on the evil path of following the crowd, which the weak used to cover up their shame and justify their own indulgence.

Hearing Leon's scolding, the goateed man didn't dare to say anything. He just pulled his master, who seemed to be in high spirits, and turned around, pulling Mamer down the hillside as if running for his life.

Leon also set off for return with his team and ransom, no longer caring about the distant figures of Knight Kantadar and his entourage returning home.

Looking at Lohak riding on his horse and looking up at the sky in a depressed mood, Leon thought that maybe he should find some time to meet with Azerien and give his friend some advice.

Different from the precocious noble son, and also different from himself, an adult whose soul came from a foreign land.

Although Lohak is the tallest and strongest of the three, he is more like a child at heart than the other two.

After experiencing the tragedy of his relatives, the miserable situation in Selva, and various other experiences along the way, it is hard to say where the hatred in this young man's heart will gradually lead.

There is nothing wrong in seeking revenge for your family against those thugs.

But Leon didn't want his friend to turn into a new thug after swinging his sword and getting bloody.

Fortunately, Lohak is far from showing any signs of leaning in this direction.

Otherwise, this kid wouldn't have followed his innocent nature and questioned the other party today.

"Leon." Olivia suddenly urged her horse to come over.

"Hmm?" Leon turned around and replied.

"The guy just now said that our Orland army will also commit atrocities like what happened in Selva in Kantadar. Is this true?" the girl asked with a frown.

Hearing this, Leon sighed. He didn't want to lie to her, and he couldn't lie to her. The girl would know this reality sooner or later.

After pondering for a moment, he could only nod: "I'm afraid it is true."

For the feudal armies of this era, burning, killing and looting enemy villages, massacring cities and destroying land is not a matter of moral choice at all.

That's just a tactical option.

Morale, wealth, a blow to the enemy's war potential.

Many times, an army can benefit from this simple and direct release of bestiality.

Leon even hesitated whether he should tell the other party at this moment.
Perhaps it's not just in the enemy's territory. In the civil war that Orlando waged more than a decade ago, and in the war among the people in the north, they would not show any mercy when it comes to massacring villages and destroying towns.

Olivia couldn't help but feel worried in her green eyes when she heard his answer.

Leon sighed in his heart. Although the girl is no longer a child who has never seen blood, she had killed many Kantadar cavalrymen with her own hands during the Selva riot.

But treating evil thugs and treating innocent people are not the same concept for Olivia.

This girl grew up carefree as a villager in Selva. She always considered herself just a country girl. She was kind-hearted by nature and certainly could not treat ordinary people like grass like those noble lords. Naturally, she could not accept that her own country's army would actually do such beastly behavior that was abhorrent to both humans and gods.

In particular, the girl personally experienced the tragic situation in Selva, burial? The bodies of those who were tortured to death made the girl cry secretly for an unknown amount of time.

"Leon, you said that the Baron will go to the south to fight. Will Farolis' army also go to slaughter the villages and towns of the Southern Kingdom in the future?" Olivia couldn't help but tighten her grip on the reins.

“As long as it’s a war, there may be harm to civilians, but at least you can relax a little this time. Baron Elliver wants to conquer the southern territory, not destroy it.

Let me put it bluntly, the people on those lands are very precious assets to him, he will not allow the army to act recklessly, you can rest assured about this." Leon comforted the girl.

Then he smiled at Olivia and said, "You may not believe in the morality of the nobles, but you must believe in their greed."

Olivia smiled reluctantly, then looked at Leon again: "But if, as that Mamuel said, Leon, you are also ordered by Lord Elifer to massacre civilians in the future, what will you do then?"

"Then I will of course ask him to retract his order. In the original oath, he also swore that he would not let us fall into dishonor and injustice. If Lord Elliver breaks this promise, it can only mean that he is not worthy of my loyalty."

Leon said, putting away his smile and staring seriously into the girl's eyes.

“There’s never just one way to win, Olivia, and I promise you, it’s not me, it’s us.

Our swords will never be pointed at the innocent."

(End of this chapter)