Knight and Wand

Chapter 50: Deer Head Banner

The big pot was steaming in front of the door, and the rich aroma of meat wafting from it made everyone's appetite whet.

Radishes, onions, and several kinds of vegetables that Leon had never seen before, plus extremely luxurious horse meat.

Since these valuable mounts were already dead, the survivors would naturally make the best use of their bodies.

Olivia and a few other women rolled up their sleeves, scooped up the meat and vegetable soup in the pot with a large spoon, and distributed bowls of it to the hungry people.

Looking at the blonde girl whose face was covered in sweat, Leon couldn't do anything and could only help her deliver lunch to other injured people.

A total of fourteen war horses were killed by the griffins, and they are now piled in the yard of a nearby village, waiting to be divided and preserved.

Leon made a simple estimate and found that there would be about five tons of meat after removing the bones.

All of them are pickled, smoked and stored, enough for thirty or forty people to eat every day for half a year without interruption.

However, processing the horse meat is a rather large task and it certainly cannot be finished in a short time, so people have to hurry up and continue working on it in the afternoon.

Seeing that the work was almost done, Leon brought a hearty horse meat meal to Lohak, who was guarding the prisoners. Finally, he brought two servings to Azerien's room and ate while chatting.

I don’t know if it’s because I’ve become accustomed to the food of this world, or if Olivia and the village women are good at cooking, but the stewed horse meat tastes much better than I imagined.

Of course, the taste was fine, but when Leon thought about the value of the warhorse in the bowl, he felt that he was not eating meat but gold with every bite.

Just as Leon was about to take a break while chewing on the dry bread that tasted like steamed buns and drinking the broth in the ceramic bowl, he heard a commotion outside the house and the faint scream of a frightened woman.

There are enemies?!

Leon quickly stood up, put down the pottery bowl, held the hilt of the sword and walked out of the room quickly.

As soon as he went out, he saw Olivia running towards him with a strange expression.

Although the girl's eyes were anxious, there was no sign of shock.

"Leon! Come outside, I need your help!"

"What happened? Are there any Kantadars who escaped?" Leon asked puzzledly.

"No, it's that big... uh, griffin? The big griffin is flying back!"

Leon was a little surprised when he heard this.

“It’s coming back again?”

Olivia grabbed him and ran towards the cottage.
"The griffin just landed in the yard where the horse carcasses were stored. The aunt and sisters who were pickling the meat there were frightened by it. Come with me to take a look."

The two men went around to the backyard of the village house where the horse carcasses were piled. Before they went in, they saw the upper body of a griffin with its wings folded through the low wall. It was indeed that big creature.

However, the griffin was crouching with its head down, and its head could not be seen. From the courtyard came the sound of crunching flesh and blood being torn.

"No one was hurt?" Leon asked worriedly.

"No, everyone just ran out out of fear." Olivia replied.

When he quickly ran into the yard and saw that it was indeed his old friend, Leon breathed a sigh of relief.

The griffin was lying on a horse carcass, tearing the horse meat and feasting on it.

"Although we said we'd meet again, you came back too soon, my dear."

Looking at the griffin eating meat with big mouthfuls, Leon did not dare to approach directly. Instead, he clapped his hands from a distance, trying to attract the griffin's attention.

No matter how friendly the other party is, who knows whether the griffin will protect its food while eating.

Some domesticated cats and dogs have to be trained so as not to bare their teeth at their owners, let alone a large wild beast.

The other party is just a friend, not your pet.

But Leon soon realized that he was worrying too much.

Hearing the voice of his friend, the griffin raised its head elegantly and swallowed a large piece of horse meat in its mouth. Then it threw away the food in front of it and came to Leon with rumbling footsteps.

Seeing the huge beast approaching, Olivia couldn't help but take a few steps back instinctively, feeling the chill on her back.

To those who are not familiar with it, such a huge beast can still be terrifying even if it does not show any hostile movements.

The griffin lowered its eagle head, opened its bloody beak, and let out a short cry.

Its eagle eyes blinked, and as it chirped, it slightly spread its huge wings, and its feathers fluttered.

"What's wrong?" Leon looked at the big guy in front of him in confusion.

I could barely sense that the griffin seemed to be expressing something.

Unfortunately, Leon did not have the talent of a druid, so he could not understand the other party's body language and could only guess based on his intuition that this might mean some kind of warning signal.

As if realizing his friend's limited understanding, the griffin stopped.

It turned around and walked towards the half-eaten food, grabbed the bloody horse carcass with its sharp claws, flapped its wings, stirred up a strong wind, and flew up low.

The griffin did not fly away, but flew over the village at a low altitude and landed on the roof of the two-story townhouse next to it with a bang.

It put down the food, turned around, looked at Leon from a high place, and whistled, as if calling him over, then lay down and continued to enjoy the food. The sound of the giant flying by startled a panic commotion at the door of Olivia's house.

"I'll watch it, and you go and comfort the villagers." Leon turned and said to Olivia.

"Be careful." The girl warned with some concern.

Leon nodded.

He quickly ran out of the yard and chased to the two-story house where the griffin had landed. He climbed onto the roof with a little effort.

"What exactly do you want to tell me?" Leon walked carefully to the huge body of the big guy, held his leg armor, and took a breath.

He raised his eyes and looked around. The entire village rooftops were deserted, still exuding the bleak atmosphere after the disaster.

Looking into the distance again, Leon finally understood what the griffin wanted to remind him.
The women and children, frightened by the noise of the griffins flying over, fled back to Olivia's home.

The girl rushed back into the house and patiently explained to people that the giant beast was a friend, not an enemy.

But many survivors witnessed the giant beast slaughtering the Kantardar people yesterday.

The brutal and terrifying impression in people's memories made the girl's words of comfort have little effect, and people were worried that the man-eating monster, which was like the one in the story, would become vicious again.

"Fellow villagers, please believe my daughter. Griffins are indeed noble creatures. They are not ordinary beasts, and they will not eat humans."

Olivia looked over when she heard the sound and found that her father had walked out of the room at some point.

Brian spoke up to help his daughter comfort the frightened women and children in the house.

The old blacksmith's reputation was still very important in the villagers' hearts. With just a few words, he calmed down the frightened women who were half-believing and half-doubting.

"Why did you get out of bed again?"

Olivia stepped forward to support her old father who was a little unsteady on his feet.

"How can I sleep with such a big noise outside?" Old Brian said with a wry smile.

He then continued to ask: "Is there really a griffin outside?"

"Yes! It's the one I told you about before." The girl said, and suddenly realized: "Hmm? Father, you seem to know what a griffin is."

“I just know a little bit.”

The old blacksmith passed it over vaguely, and then said to his daughter: "Take me to have a look. Since the griffin has already established friendship with those young people, it will surely not harm anyone here."

As he was speaking, a young man, panting, staggered into the house.

"Olivia! Outside the village, village, village, village!"

"What's wrong? Hawke, speak slowly." Old Brian stepped forward with the support and asked the stuttering young man.

"..MILITARY MILITARY MILITARY!!"

Hawke panted and finally told what he saw: "It seems. It seems. It seems. It seems. It is the kingdom's army!"

Hearing this, the old blacksmith felt relieved: "Is it the lord's army?"

"No, no, no, no. No, it's not the Lord's rose flag. The flag has a deer on it. A deer head."

"Deer head?"

The old blacksmith asked, "Is it a green flag?"

"Yes!" Hawke nodded repeatedly.

Old Brian's eyelids twitched, and he was slightly surprised.

".Trosa?"

".Lord Trosa, it's right there!"

The brown-haired girl sat on the horse with red eyes. She turned her head and pointed at Selva at the bottom of the hill to the old man behind her.

"Don't worry, I will make those villains pay the price." The old man in armor gently raised his hand and stroked the girl's hair.

"General!"

A scout returned to the formation at full speed and reported the findings to the commander.

".No enemy was found, but there were a lot of abandoned bodies piled up outside the village, many of them were incomplete, estimated to be more than 30."

When Lina heard what the cavalryman said, her mouth suddenly drooped and she almost cried again.

"Are they the villagers who were killed?" Count Trosa asked the scout, suppressing his anger.

"Well, it doesn't seem so, General. I checked and they are all Kantardars."

"Ok?"

The old earl suddenly became confused.

(End of this chapter)