Knight and Wand

Chapter 210 Anger

Seeing the griffin flying towards his own tower fort first, Ivan turned around and called out loudly to several familiar soldiers on the city wall.

".Norris! Where is Norris?"

"Sir, Sergeant Norris has been killed in the battle," a soldier replied.

".Where's Tim?"

"Lord Tim was pulled off the city wall by a monster, and his body has not been found yet."

"." The sadness in his heart and the injuries on his body made Ivan cough repeatedly. He then asked about the whereabouts of several other soldiers, but they were either killed or missing, and the only one left was seriously injured and unable to take care of himself, and it was unclear whether he could survive.

Looking around, apart from the seventy or so family soldiers who were still standing on the city wall, Ivan could hardly see any familiar faces among the two or three hundred surviving town conscripts.

Now, with more than half of the town guards dead or wounded, he couldn't find a soldier to take charge of the army and the aftermath on his behalf.

As for the refugee leader's subordinates, whose number still numbered no less than a thousand, there was no need to mention them. Looking at the spears, axes and swords in these people's hands, Ivan felt uneasy.

In this short period of time, he had prevented several clashes that almost broke out between the refugees and their own guards because the refugees stripped the armor off the bodies of the soldiers.

Feeling dizzy and helpless, Ivan had to consider temporarily promoting a few family soldiers to the rank of sergeant to command the scene.

"Sir Ivan, let's work together."

Hearing the voice, Ivan turned around and looked at the refugee leader walking towards him.

"what do you mean?"

The knight frowned as he looked at this guy who had threatened to lead refugees to attack the city if food was not released not long ago.

"Of course, I mean to recruit us refugees." Ron shook his head at the young man. "Are you afraid that I might do something bad? Don't be silly. We are all on the same boat now. We are short of food, and you are short of manpower. Besides, the refugees have entered the city now, and there are so many people holding weapons. If I really want to cause trouble, unless the lord riding the griffin intervenes, your soldiers will not be able to stop me."

Ivan stared at him straight in the eyes: "Are you threatening me?"

Ron gave the young man a wry smile and pointed towards the city.

"It's not a threat, it's just good advice. You have to understand that in addition to the nearly 1,000 people behind me, there are at least 2,000 disaster victims who have fled into the city.

These refugees are not the army. If I were not forced to survive, I would not be able to restrain them at all. If the victims riot and loot, how will you deal with it?

The city of Shatai has suffered so many casualties, can it still bear such a disaster? Even if you can ask the griffin knight to help you, he will not stay for too long, what if he leaves?
While I am still able to control the thousands of people behind me, you might as well incorporate us into the Shatai people. I will help you organize the city guards and restore order in the city. Your Excellency Ivan, these people are not bandits, but civilians from all over the place. We don't ask for much, just a way to survive."

活路
Faced with the sudden request from the refugee leader, Ivan fell into deep thought.
Major matters like this should normally be handled by his father, followed by the steward and eldest brother. His mother, who has a weak personality, has always had little influence in the family, and he, who was not well-received in the past, has never had the experience of deciding major matters.

His family had always treated him as a mere warrior, ordering him around.

But now his father is missing, and his eldest brother is leading his troops to follow the king's army to the royal territory. He is the only one left in Shatai City at the moment.

"I'll think about it and give you an answer, but you have to control your men and at least return the guards' armor that they stole to prove that you won't do anything wrong again." Ivan said carefully.

He did not ask the other party to return the weapons that had been distributed previously, as that was too unrealistic.

Ron looked back at his troops, thought for a while, and nodded, "I can return most of the armor to you, but I will keep a dozen sets to arm my confidants. In addition, you must provide enough food in exchange, which is also a reward for our risking our lives to defend the city. I promise to gather the troops and control their hands and feet."

It's not that he didn't want to show more sincerity to the young knight, but if he rashly ordered the refugees who had snatched armor to take off their "trophies", it would undoubtedly greatly reduce his prestige in their eyes, and it would be more difficult for him to control the team afterwards.

However, if the trusted subordinates were given an armed advantage, internal deterrence was maintained, and at the same time enough life-saving food was exchanged with them, this would be more acceptable to the refugees than unilateral concessions.

".Okay, I hope you keep your promise, otherwise." Ivan paused. As the weaker party at the moment, he could not come up with a deterrent "otherwise" except to fight to the death with the other party.

The young knight had no choice but to say: "Otherwise, I will ask the upright Griffin Knight to come to arbitrate and uphold justice for the city of Shatai."

"Ha, rest assured, Sir Ivan, we are just a bunch of rabble, and we dare not go against that powerful knight. Now let's take this as the first step to put aside our past grudges."

Ron smiled, showing weakness in his words, leaving enough face for the other party.

Ivan forced himself to stay awake and ordered the guard leader and militiamen to push carts of food. He felt relieved when he saw Ron return to the refugee group and returned the stolen armor as promised.

I am alone and weak, and I have to clean up a huge mess in the city. There is really no better way to deal with it.
Flying over the devastated city of Shatai, Leon looked down at the vague outlines of corpses lying on the streets below.

The number of exposed corpses was not large, but the doors and windows of the houses that were destroyed by the zombies because they were not strong enough indicated that the number of civilians killed indoors might be far more than estimated.

Riding the Death Claw across the arch bridge of the river in the city and landing in the city area where the lord's lonely castle was located, Leon looked at the outer wall of the tower in front of him that looked like a small castle.

Looking at the tightly closed gate in front, Leon was puzzled.

He remembered that the refugee leader named Ron on the city wall had said that Baron Shatai might have escaped, so why was the gate of the lonely castle still closed from the inside?

After thinking about it, although the outer wall was useless to the griffin, Leon did not fly in rashly. After all, it was someone else's home. He decided to wait for Knight Ivan to take him in.

Letting the Deathclaw lie down and wait, he glanced sideways and noticed a long ladder lying against the outer wall.

Did someone climb in from outside using a ladder to try to take refuge?

After a while, Ivan, enduring the pain, finally entrusted the matter to the newly promoted sergeant, and arrived late on horseback, escorted by several soldiers.

Ivan was also stunned when he saw his door closed from afar.

Then he thought that his father might still be holding out in the lonely castle, he felt somewhat relieved. He thought that the other side might be afraid of fighting and did not face the battlefield directly, but in the end, he did not abandon the town and flee alone as the refugee leader had speculated.

Looking down, he found that his warhorse was frightened and dared not approach the griffin lying under the outer wall. He had to call on the soldiers to help him dismount and walk.

"Please wait a moment, sir. I will take you to rest." Ivan said to the griffin knight sitting on the giant beast, and came to the gate and shouted to the guards to open it.

Unfortunately, after shouting for a long time, no one in the yard came out to respond.

"Well, I'll go in and open the door."

Looking at his embarrassed expression, Lion patted his Death Claw and flew into the courtyard of the Tower Castle.

Leon jumped off the saddle with Olivia, kicked open the small door next to the gate on the wall, went in, shook the lifting switch wrapped with an iron chain, and helped the people outside raise the portcullis.

After locking the switch, Leon asked Deathclaw to wait in the open space, and followed Ivan who came in to lead the way and continued walking towards the tower.

"I want to rest in your room on the top floor. My griffin can stay on the top of the tower. Also, my companions and I need hot water for a bath." Leon made one request after another.

"No problem, sir. I'll arrange for the servants to prepare it for you as soon as possible. Do you need someone to help you clean your armor?" Ivan said happily. "Thank you very much." Leon nodded.

Before she even got close to the tower, Olivia sniffed and frowned slightly.

When everyone walked to the half-open tower door, everyone, like her, smelled the blood rushing into their noses.

Ivan was shocked, shook off the guard's support, and hurried over to push open the door.

What caught my eye were the corpses scattered all over the front porch.

Seeing such a bloody scene in his home, Ivan could feel panic.

But when he looked closely, he found that the bodies torn apart by the zombies did not include those of his family members, but rather townspeople dressed in civilian clothes.

"Father! Are you there?!" Ivan immediately shouted loudly into the dark fortress. He drew his weapon just in case and quickened the pace of everyone.

Stepping through the blood and gore created by the undead monsters, Olivia and Leon followed behind cautiously.

As we stepped into the gloomy lord's hall, the smell of blood became stronger. With the dim light coming through the windows on the stone wall, the hall seemed to be in chaos as it had been smashed and thrown into chaos.

Leon raised his hand and used a little magic power to light the candle holder that had not yet collapsed. The light illuminated the messy corpse on the floor.

Some of them looked like civilians, some were dressed as servants of lords, and there were even two corpses of winged corpses.

Ivan looked around the hall, wondering if his father had escaped again? Was it actually these refugees who had climbed over the wall who closed the gate?
After all, he didn't see any corpses of the lord's guards along the way. Moreover, if only a few corpses invaded the fortress, the guards would not allow them to wreak havoc like this no matter how helpless they were.

But why didn’t his father take those servants who had served the family for many years with him when he ran away?

Rushing through the hall, several people pushed open every door, searching for possible surviving refugees and potential dangers.

It was not until I reached the upper floors that I saw the ornate door panels that looked like the lord's room.

Olivia listened to the nervous breathing in the room and reminded Ivan in simple Uriah vocabulary: "There are people inside, four."

Ivan tilted his head in doubt.

But recalling the bravery of this Valkyrie-like girl on the city wall, he also felt that the other party would never speak falsely.

The knight stepped forward and patted on the door of his father's bedroom. He shouted, "Open the door! I am the son of the Baron, Knight Ivan. It's safe outside. Come out quickly. Are the people hiding inside servants or townspeople? I forgive you for trespassing into the lord's mansion!"

Ivan's continuous knocking seemed to alarm the hider.

After a while, just when he was getting a little impatient with the intruder and was about to have the soldiers knock down the door.

Suddenly, I heard a familiar sobbing voice coming from behind the door.

".Ivan! Is that you? Is that really you? I'm so scared."

The young knight was stunned. He had never thought that he would hear his wife's voice at this moment.

But soon, I heard my mother's fragile voice from behind the door again: ".Evan?"

Then came the trembling voice of a child: "Father, mother and grandmother are very scared. They are afraid that you are a ghost in disguise, just like in the legends!"

My family has always been in the city! ?

Ivan took a deep breath, and thinking of the dead bodies he had just seen, a deep feeling of relief and fear surged in his heart.

"It's me! Mother, Nina, open the door. The zombies have been repelled. You can look out the window. We are saved!" The knight clarified loudly.

After a while, the sound of cabinets being moved was heard, and the women and children inside seemed to confirm that it was safe from the window. Only then was there the sound of bed frames being moved and tables and cabinets being overturned from behind the door.

The doorknob turned, and a young woman poked her eyes out. When she saw her husband's face, she burst into tears of joy.

Ivan opened the door and was hugged by his crying wife. He looked around the room.

He discovered that in addition to his wife, his frightened mother, and his children, even the father's mistress was there, huddled in the corner with her legs hugged, looking terrified and confused.

He didn't pay much attention to the woman. He was just relieved that his loved ones were safe and sound, but was stunned by his mother's question.

"Ivan, by the gods, I'm glad you're okay. What about your father? Is he okay?"

The young man felt a flame rising in his chest and extreme anger filled his heart.

The next day.

In the room on the top floor of the tower castle in Shatai City, Leon woke up from his sleep and finally relieved some of the fatigue caused by the exhaustion of magic power.

Recovering the magic energy in the body through eating, drinking, resting in nature, and meditation is not very efficient.

If he doesn't overdraw magic, it will take him at least five or six days to recover from normal magic depletion to full state. Apart from this, the only way to quickly replenish magic is to ask Corvis for temporary magic replenishment.

But unfortunately, his own knight on guard was still in Avalon trying to tame the Hippogriff, so he couldn't come with him this time.

Looking at the dim room, Leon turned his head to look at Olivia, who was sitting on the bedside with her sword in her hand, taking turns with him to guard each other while they rested.

"How long have I slept?"

"It's not long, it's just dawn. Are you hungry? How about I go find you something to eat?" Olivia replied with her head down.

"Dawn?" Leon was stunned.

"Well, the dark clouds in the sky have dispersed." The girl nodded.

Upon hearing this, Leon immediately got up, walked to the window and opened the shutter.

The summer sun shone in, and looking up at the sky from afar, the dark clouds that covered the earth had indeed disappeared from the area.

"Leon, do we still need to continue heading east? Those zombies seem to have come from the east. Could they be related to Rolandar where we are going?" Olivia walked behind Leon, looking a little worried.

".Don't worry, I'll ask Laura later. If it's too dangerous, she won't ask me to move on." Leon turned around and comforted the girl: "Let's find a local to investigate and find out what happened here."

(End of this chapter)