Imperial Crown.

Chapter 282 The Cruel Return

Many thanks to Qidian Daddy [Book Friend 20170610093211508] for the second reward of 10000! (I really want to add more chapters for you, but each chapter is 6-7000 words, I really can't do it, sorry! Brother!!)
……

Dusk, southeast border of Saveryshire.

Everywhere you look, there are huge crowds of people. They are dressed in tattered clothes, most of them are half-naked, and they move slowly, like zombies.

Only when they saw the long convoy would a light appear in their eyes, a mixture of greed, desire and fear.

They are refugees, refugees transformed from serfs.

The arrival of the locust plague destroyed their harvest this year. After eating up the already limited food, they were unable to pay the rent and had to embark on a journey of fleeing famine.

It was because the refugees blocked the road that Denise had to change her route to the north. However, she did not expect that even after arriving here, she would not be able to escape the wave of refugees.

"Madam, we have to leave quickly." Mantheni rode to Denise's side: "If we can't get rid of them by night..."

"I know." Denise nodded slightly. "Give the order immediately to throw away the extra things and only take the food. We should travel light and get rid of them."

Mantheni was stunned, and looked at Denise with eyes full of surprise.

"What's wrong?" Denise asked.

"No, nothing." Mantheni retracted her gaze, turned her horse's head and shouted loudly: "Everyone, get ready. Except for the first five vehicles, all vehicles will unhitch their horses and abandon the vehicles!"

What surprised Mantheni was that Denise, who in her eyes always seemed aloof and out of touch with the world, would actually make such a decisive decision and think the same as hers, which made her prepared speech aborted.

Denise was more or less aware of Mantheni's thoughts, but she didn't pay too much attention to it.

Her eyes passed over the convoy and fell on the refugees, among whom were men and women, old and young. Their dirty, ragged clothes and faces reminded her of her childhood.

With the help of her personal maid Angel, Denise returned to the carriage and reported her safety to Raven. She looked at the refugees following the convoy not far away and sighed softly.

"Ma'am, this is really strange." Angie saw that Denise was in a bad mood and took the initiative to bring up the topic: "Why are all these refugees heading northwest? That's a bit too stupid."

During the locust plague, no lord would accept refugees, and this place was in the northwest of the Nord Province. Going further west, apart from the Bloody Highlands, there was nothing but an endless coastal wasteland.

Although it is called the seaside, the wasteland is hundreds of miles wide. Although the Mon River flows into the sea along there, it won't be long before the river water turns into sea water that flows back.

Their fate is basically doomed.

"You are a child from a well-off family. It's normal that you don't understand these things." Denise held Angie's hand and said, "They are not stupid, but they have no choice."

Most serfs had never left the village in their entire lives, and going to the town where the lord lived was an extremely long journey.

They knew nothing about the external environment and could only rely on instinct to migrate to places that had not yet been affected by the locust plague.

Denise let out a soft sigh as she lowered the curtain.

She admitted that she sympathized with the refugees and that the hard life she experienced in her early years had not worn away the softness in her heart, but she could not share her food with them.

Human nature cannot be tested, and she must be responsible for her own people.

If anyone is to blame, it's that the refugees were born in an era when the nobles own everything.

"Angie, give me the bag."

Taking the bag from Angel, Denise pulled out a scroll, wanting to familiarize herself with the magic she had mastered.

Suddenly, there was a click and the carriage stopped abruptly.

Supporting Angie who almost fell, Denise lifted the curtain and asked, "What's going on!?"

"Madam, please get back to the carriage!" Mansini shouted, "Everyone, prepare for battle. If anyone approaches the convoy, kill them without mercy!"

Under the dim sky, a dark light like smoldering charcoal could be seen through the clouds, and not far ahead was another group of refugees.

They are not the same group as the ones behind.

Because there were almost no old or weak people among their members, everyone's expression and eyes were extremely ferocious, and they held pitchforks, sticks, hoes and other farm tools in their hands, some of which were stained with black and red blood.

These people can no longer be called refugees, but rather a group of mobs who were forced to revolt by the locust plague.

Weisdon rode to the front of the team, drew his sword, and shouted: "We are just passing by. If you don't want to die, make way for us!"

Today, Visdon no longer needs prosthetic limbs to embellish himself. On his left shoulder is a ferocious shield flashing with blood, which, combined with the fighting spirit rising from his sword, makes him look awe-inspiring.

The mob shrank back a little. At this moment, a big man wearing ill-fitting plate armor walked out from the crowd. His face was covered by a helmet. He said in a muffled voice:

"You can go."

"But we have to survive too, so you have to leave something behind."

This equipment is not something that ordinary people can possess. They obviously killed the lord who ruled them.

Weisdong snorted and winked at his attendant.

The attendant stepped forward, took out a purse and threw it into the palm of the mob leader.

The leader of the mob weighed the bag first, then opened it and saw dozens of silver and copper coins inside: "What a good thing."

"But it's too late."

As he said this, he threw the purse on the ground.

"We don't want money, we want food!"

Weisdong's expression became serious: "We don't have any extra food for you."

"What a coincidence! I don't think you will hand over the food obediently." After saying that, the mob leader shouted loudly: "Go!"

There was a clattering sound, and rows of mobs stood up in the grass and bushes, and then launched an attack together!

The incident happened in a hurry and Denise's guards didn't have time to form a formation, so it was a melee at the beginning.

Daenerys's guard numbered fifty men, all wearing iron helmets, chain mail, and holding weapons of fine steel.

The mob wore only thin clothes, had few pairs of shoes, and had only farm tools in their hands.

But their number was more than 10 times that of the guards, and they swarmed forward, howling like wild beasts!

A guard swung his sword forward and killed the rioters who rushed up to him. Before he could wipe the warm blood off his face, another person rushed up to him.

Almost subconsciously, the guard swung his sword again, but when he saw the mob in front of him, he hesitated.

It was just a little kid, who looked to be about 13 or 4 years old. He had a childish look on his face and was holding a kitchen knife in his hand.

But during this moment of hesitation, the child roared like a wild beast, took advantage of the momentum to leap up, grasped the kitchen knife with both hands, and stabbed the guard's throat fiercely.

Shine——

The kitchen knife was of poor quality to begin with, and it broke in vain, creating a streak of fire on the armor. However, the guard was also overwhelmed by the power burst out by the child and fell to the ground with his head raised.

More rioters swarmed over him, and the guard never got back to his feet.

At the front of the team, the dark red bloody fighting spirit was burning on Visdon's sword, almost blending into the environment. Every time he swung the sword, he could take a life, but these mobs swarmed around him as if they could never be killed.

Hoes, pitchforks, sticks, and flails kept hitting him. If it weren't for his strong armor and Visdon's constant turning of his horse, he would have been injured internally.

Even so, the constant thumping sound made him even more irritated.

The mob had their own way of dealing with the Knight. They did not try to approach Vesdon, but only harassed him from a distance with long weapons, preventing him from leaving, obviously wanting to exhaust his strength.

Visdon gradually came to his senses. He put away his sword, reached out and grabbed a hoe that was chiseled out, and pulled it back with force. The mob holding the hoe was pulled up into the air, howling and knocking down several of his companions.

With a flip of his wrist and a firm grip of the hoe, Visdon swung it violently, knocking aside two shovels and a pitchfork that were attacking him from the side, thus buying himself some space to move.

At this moment, someone in the crowd shouted: "There is no armor on his horse's hooves, poke the horse's hooves--"

Visdon looked closely and locked onto the guy hiding in the crowd.

Without hesitation, Visdon aimed at the man and threw the hoe out.

嗖

The man noticed Visdon's movement and was about to run away, but as soon as he turned around, the hoe with a sound of breaking through the air hit his back.

The heavy iron head smashed his back with a click, and the flesh and blood exploded along with the bones. His clothes were torn apart, and the iron head wrapped around him spun and pierced into his body, with thick blood oozing out of his chest.

On the iron head, there is a beating heart.

With a puff, the man fell to the ground, causing his already fragile heart blood vessels to rupture due to the impact, and blood gushed out like a fountain.

This horrifying scene immediately frightened the surrounding mobs. Their thirst for food made them retreat, but they also did not want to get close to the killing god, Vesdon.

In the melee, only Mantheni was like a fish in water.

A dark aura was rising around her, almost blending into the environment. She quietly emerged from the shadows and slit the throat of a refugee.

Then he wiped his hand across his thigh, and a flying knife whizzed out, nailing a refugee who wanted to approach Denise's carriage to the frame.

When she came to the carriage, Mantheni lifted the curtain, then immediately turned aside with a startled look on her face.

A chaos-colored light bullet passed by her face and landed on the shoulder of a rioter, silently creating a transparent hole as big as a bowl.

The mob was unaware of anything at first, but when the blood spurted out, they fell to the ground howling.

That’s Denise’s magic.

Mansene swallowed her saliva and said, "Madam, there are too many rioters, and they are obviously starving and fearless. If we delay any longer, and wait for the refugees behind us to catch up, I'm afraid..."

"I know." Denise said, "You've come at the right time. Give the order immediately. Everyone abandon the car, switch horses, and break out with all their might!"

Mantheni nodded vigorously, then began to shout and convey Denise's orders.

When Visdon heard this, he asked his soldiers to repeat it loudly.

This group of mobs are not killers, their target is food. Since their side has decided to give up, there is no reason for both sides to continue fighting.

But Visdon was thinking too much. The mobs had already gone crazy with killing, so how could it be so easy to stop them?

At this moment, a low buzzing sound was heard, causing the originally chaotic battlefield to pause for a moment.

Everyone is familiar with this sound, it is the sound of locust wings vibrating!
Vesdon swallowed and looked back, only to see a black wall pressing towards him on the skyline.

The Swarm - a real Swarm!!
The refugees began to scream and run for their lives. Even though Visdon killed several rioters who rushed in front of his horse, it was still difficult to move against the current.

"Madam, please get on the horse!" At the same time, Mantheni had already extended her hand to Denise.

"Take Angie with you." Denise said. "But..."

"No buts!"

Just as Mantheni was about to knock Denise unconscious and take her away, Denise suddenly pulled out a sharp enchanted dagger from her waist.

This was originally her weapon of self-defense. After the battle with Anderson, it was taken by Raven and later returned to her by Raven.

Grabbing the hem of her skirt, Denise cut off the troublesome skirt with a hissing sound and threw it on the ground, revealing her plump and strong thighs wrapped in flesh-colored stockings. She then cut the rope that tied the warhorse pulling the cart, stepped on the shaft, pressed the horse's back with one hand and rode on.

This whole process was so smooth and flowing that Mantheni was almost stunned.

Because Denise sat with her legs astride the saddle - this was very different from the sideways riding style of noble women.

"My horsepower is not as good as yours. Take Angie with you and lead the way."

Mansene came back to her senses: "Yes, ma'am!"

As a second-level shadow knight, Mantheni drove her horse recklessly, pushing away everything that blocked her way. The scene was somewhat bloody.

And Denise followed closely behind her.

An anxious Visdon only saw Manson and Angie: "Manson! Where's my mother?"

The next moment, the facts told him the answer.

The sun, which was about to set, illuminated Denise's face with a faint glow.

Her figure rose and fell with the pace of the horse, her black hair fluttered in the wind, and a layer of greasy sweat beads appeared on her forehead. Even though her clothes and face were splashed with blood from the horse's hooves, her eyes remained firm.

"Wesdon, go!" Denise shouted loudly and passed by Wesdon.

Visdon came to his senses, turned his horse's head and followed, with a hint of surprise on his face.

For the first time, he discovered that his mother was not only decisive in business.

The war horses sped away, gradually moving away from the locust swarm. There were only 50 guards left out of the original 27.

They are lucky, not everyone can escape the pursuit of locusts.

The speed at which locusts fly is always faster than running on two legs.

They are not picky about food. Many of them live on trees and in the grass beside the road, crowded together, and use their mouthparts to cut everything they can eat.

Wherever it passed, the green grass turned into debris and disappeared; the once lush trees lost their leaves, branches, and bark, leaving only bare, stone-like trunks.

Click, click. Click, click.

The sound of locusts gnawing at things was everywhere.

The 13-year-old boy who killed a guard was listening to this sound.

Not far from him, there were many corpses lying. Some of them were guards, some were refugees killed by the guards, and some were killed by locusts.

But the young man seemed not to see anything. He was sitting in a carriage, surrounded by locusts. He would only wave his hands to drive them away when they crawled onto his face.

It’s not that he didn’t feel any pain, but his head was dizzy at the moment because he had just drunk two bottles of red wine.

It tastes sweet and delicious.

He was holding a piece of dry and hard baguette in his hand, biting and swallowing it hard.

If there had been so much bread, perhaps his parents, his grandparents, and his sister would not have died.

No, maybe his sister was not dead yet, because the boy remembered that his sister exchanged her body for two pieces of gray bread, and then left with a man who looked like a businessman.

Grey bread is delicious, but not as good as white bread.

The boy nibbled on the bread bite by bite, and when it was gone, he took out another one - his pockets were firmly pressed under his body so that the locusts would not get into them.

He looked at his legs, which were covered with locusts and blood was flowing, but he didn't feel anything. Only when the insects gnawed at the grayish-white things would his legs twitch a few times.

The boy knew he was going to die, but he didn't care.

After death, maybe I can be reunited with my family.

Even if you die, you must eat more, eat more, the more the better!
Eat hard and eat with big mouthfuls.

Gradually, he began to be unable to eat, his body became colder and weaker, and he was no longer able to drive away the locusts on his face.

There was a bloody taste in my mouth.

Suddenly, with a "poof" sound, he felt his body lighten. It turned out that his belly was bitten by locusts, and the bread that was just roughly chewed and pressed into moist dough fell out.

The boy used up his last bit of strength to try to put the bread back into his stomach.

He had heard people say that after death, one can take nothing with him except the things in his body.

That's why he wanted to eat more and bring the food to his family.

The small body fell under the car because of the tilt.

Locusts covered him and the entire carriage.

Click, click, click…

……

After 4 days.

Xuefeng County, Tielu Territory, Tielu Town.

It has been 5 days since we got rid of the refugees.

Although they were a little embarrassed when they escaped, they still bought supplies in the noble territory along the way and changed into clothes that were not gorgeous but decent enough.

Despite the tired look on her face, Denise still looked radiant.

The city gate opened, and Judra rode out to greet them. She smiled and said, "Madam Denise, I heard that you were going to Ironforge this morning, and I have been waiting for you for a long time."

Denise calmly accepted Judra's kiss on the hand and pulled her hand away calmly: "Thank you for your concern, Baron."

In the eyes of the son, all men who approached his widowed mother were hooligans, not to mention that Judra was Angel's son - Visdon had not forgotten what happened to the Humphrey brothers.

So he rode forward and said, "Baron Judela, thank you for your kindness, but we are only a few hours away from Eagle Territory, so we will not disturb you."

"I'm sorry to bother you." Jude said with a smile, "In the past few years, thanks to the County Governor's Sky Eagle Platform, weapons and equipment have no worries about sales. The development of Ironforge Territory is getting better and better. I have always wanted to give back."

"Now that you have all returned to Xuefeng County from afar, if I cannot give you a warm welcome, wouldn't it seem like I have no conscience?"

At this point, he raised his voice so that Denise's guards could hear him. "Besides, it's already so late. You've been traveling for days and it's hard to travel at night. We're almost home now. If something unexpected happens, it would be totally not worth it."

"I have ordered people to prepare bread, roast meat, fine wine, and soft beds. Madam Denise, even if you don't consider my face, you should be considerate of the hard work of your subordinates."

After saying this, even Weisdon was a little shaken.

Along the way, in order to return to Eagle Territory as quickly as possible, they hardly ever stayed in any noble home. They just kept looking for places to camp, just to have a place to stay before dark, and basically did not get much effective rest.

"Mother, look..."

Denise groaned.

Judra is a baron after all, and he has been so humble and done so much, so we should give him some face.

Moreover, after days of running around, Denise felt a little tired and didn't want to see Raven looking haggard.

"Then, thank you Baron Judra for your kindness."

Judela also breathed a sigh of relief and turned her horse around first: "Please follow me."

Since it was going to be a good reception, a banquet was inevitable. Judra even pulled out his pregnant wife to chat with Denise.

Judging from the food and drinks prepared, a lot of thought has been put into them.

What was prepared for the guards were large pieces of smoked meat, which made your mouth ooze with oil, as well as whole chickens and ducks - there was no point in keeping them anyway.

The dishes in front of Denise were mainly delicious and appetizing crisp vegetables, which fully took into account the weak appetite of women after a busy day.

The only person missing from the restaurant was Mantheni.

She was very vigilant and went to the stable alone to look after the warhorse so that she could ride away immediately if any emergency occurred.

Judra didn't move closer to Denise, but sat with Weston.

Weisdon was not very interested in this "elder". His words went in one ear and out the other. He just buried his head in eating and sneered in his heart.

Your wife looks so much like my mother, do you really think I can't see that?

On Denise's side, the atmosphere was more harmonious. Lily was eloquent, good at reading people's expressions, and she came from a merchant family, so she and Denise had a lot in common.

"Madam Denise, can you tell me how you had such a keen foresight to start stockpiling food before the Death Hand Cult caused trouble?"

"It's not me, it's Raven." Denise smiled faintly: "If I really had such a keen eye, I should have made adequate preparations for this locust plague."

"Then..." Lily's eyes turned: "Then before, the story of the Mon'en City Car Rental Company being resurrected by you must be true, right?"

Denise nodded and said, "That is true, but it is not as exaggerated as coming back to life."

"Then can you tell me in detail?" Lily said with a hint of admiration in her eyes.

"This..." Denise hesitated for a moment. She was a little tired and really didn't want to talk about those troublesome things.

Seeing Denise hesitate, Lily immediately poured herself a glass of Angel's Tears: "Well, for this story, I'll toast to you first."

Lily was already pregnant, and her belly couldn't be concealed. Denise reached out to cover the rim of her cup: "How can you drink when you're pregnant?"

As she spoke, she picked up the wine glass that had not been touched for a long time and drank the Angel's Tears in it: "I appreciate your kindness. Since you want to hear it, it's not impossible to tell you."

At the same time, Judra, who was sitting next to Weston, saw this scene.

The corners of his mouth curved slightly, then disappeared immediately.

……

(End of this chapter)