Industrial Revolution of the Mage Lords

Chapter 420 Refugee Settlement

An evil orc who was roaring and wielding a rusty iron axe and charging towards the human refugees was suddenly pierced through the shoulder by a frost blade that fell from the sky, and was nailed to death on the spot in an instant.

The old man who was huddled beside the camel-skin tent, hugging his child and waiting to die with his eyes closed, opened his eyes tremblingly and found a strange young man in black robes falling from mid-air.

"Waterlander?"

"Wastelander...are you...are you the wizard?" the old man asked in a trembling voice.

The Eye of Illusion shook his head subconsciously, and then he felt that it was correct, and nodded quickly, "Have you ever seen a wizard cast a spell?"

He did not have the patience to wait for the other party's answer. After asking the question, he walked away on his own and rushed towards the dense forest where the fighting was most intense.

"This isn't a demonic orc tribe at all..." The astrologer had just finished dealing with two demonic orc warriors when he looked around and realized something was amiss. "This was a settlement for refugees from the wasteland, but it seems most of them have migrated away, leaving only a few elderly people and frail children."

It is obvious that these two types of people are the first to be abandoned in the wilderness when faced with famine or danger.

The necromancer Michel, who was brought to the ground early by two high-level spellcasters, had just finished chanting the spell. In front of the terrified eyes of the surviving refugees, he pulled up four or five bloody evil orc zombies from the ground.

"Ms. Astrologer, let's go help Mr. Eye of Illusion!"

The astrologer put away the crystal ball and said slowly, "Don't worry about him. After casting Transfiguration, until his magic power is exhausted and he can break the transformation, I guess the remaining demonic beasts in this refugee camp won't be enough for him to fill his teeth..."

The huge airship that flew over the camp scared most of the invading evil orcs and made them flee in panic. Only a few dozen guys whose minds were completely seized by greed and hunger were left. They were still lingering and searching in the refugee camp without any awareness until they were quickly wiped out by the three people who got off the airship.

……

When the airship slowly and completely landed in the refugee camp, the three-man vanguard group who were responsible for clearing out the remaining evil orcs had just finished fighting.

"The evil orc army without spell-casting priests is as vulnerable as a group of rats and can only flee everywhere..." The Eye of Illusion released the werewolf transformation. Although he said disdainfully about these barbarian enemies, his pale face proved that he had consumed a lot of magic power.

The surviving refugees in the camp came out from their hiding places in twos and threes and gathered at the open space where the airship landed. Led by the old man that the Eye of Illusion had just seen, they knelt on the ground and prayed for something.

"Don't the people of the wasteland believe in gods?" The Eye of Illusion frowned and asked, "Could it be possible that missionaries from the Church of Light could actually reach here?"

The leading elder raised his head and replied sincerely, "Master Wizard... We believe in the God of Earth and Harvest. The evil orcs and the wastelanders all believe in this ancient deity who protects the icy plains."

Duncan nodded in understanding and quietly explained to his student, "Simple primitive beliefs. Before the Glorious Cult grew and prospered, the southern border also had many primitive beliefs in gods, some symbolized by mountains, rivers, lakes, and seas, others represented by symbols of harvest or fertility."

Michelle suddenly realized, then muttered somewhat dissatisfiedly, "It was the spellcaster who saved you, but you turned around and thanked the nonexistent God of Harvest. Really..."

The old man was stunned for a moment, then mumbled, "It's been a long time since a wizard has come here... I can't help but feel that he was sent by the gods to save us..."

Duncan looked around and saw that there were less than fifty people left in the camp. Indeed, there were only white-haired old men and thin, deformed children. "Where did the rest of the camp go?" the astrologer asked softly, looking at the group of old, weak, and disabled people with a look of pity on his face.

The old man waved his hand and smiled, "We went south... I heard that in the warmer south, there's a territory established by a human lord who unconditionally accepts and rescues refugees from the wasteland, providing them with food and shelter... Although we can't be sure of the truth, we decided to try our luck. It's better than staying here and being abducted or killed by the evil orcs... There's not much prey left around here."

Duncan subconsciously exchanged a glance with his two students. He had never expected that the influence of Spark City would reach the depths of the wasteland thousands of miles away.

"When did the others leave?"

"They set off right at the beginning of spring, as soon as the snow melted..." The old man paused and smiled wryly, "Luckily, most of them have left. The old, weak, and sick among us who are left can barely fill our stomachs with the wild fruits and cassava roots nearby."

But sooner or later they will lose their lives due to hunger and the coming of another extremely cold winter... They will just live for three more seasons, which is very similar to those insects in the wilderness that only live for one year.

Duncan sighed and instructed the astrologer, "Record the geographical coordinates and star chart location of this refugee settlement. Report this to Starfire City when you contact them tonight... Even if we can't reach them and pick them up, at least we can provide advance support for these refugees who have traveled thousands of miles to seek refuge here."

They had no other choice.

However, the elderly and weak refugees who were left behind did not seem to care at all. They just kept thanking them for their help and warmly begged them to stay here and rest for a night.

The airship consumes a lot of energy for takeoff and landing, and Duncan was planning to rest here for a night, so he asked Black and White to count the remaining supplies of the exploration team and set up a temporary overnight camp next to the airship.

There was still some time before sunset. The refugees who had just experienced a life-and-death crisis seemed to have forgotten the fear they had faced the evil orcs the moment before. They walked out of the camp and went to the dense forest, repeating the daily routine of collecting wild fruits and digging cassava roots. The old man in the lead arranged for several half-grown children with yellow faces and muscles to bring a lot of firewood for overnight heating and some blackened animal skins that could not be recognized from their original appearance from the camp, and earnestly delivered them to the exploration team's airship.

"Who is the oldest person in the camp?" Duncan raised his hand and called over a thin child and asked.

"That's...that's Grandpa Gabe, the one who spoke to you earlier."

Duncan nodded, took out a piece of dried wheat cake from his pocket and stuffed it into the thin child's hand, and ordered: "Go and ask him to come over..."

……

Elder Gabe sat cross-legged by the campfire, holding a can of mushroom soup the exploration team had brought him. He sipped it as he reminisced, "Master Wizard, although I've never heard of the Kingdom of Eternal Night, when I was young... I spent some time in a settlement further north. There was a large tribe of refugees who had lived there for a long time. It was in the mountains... The elders said that on the top of the snow-capped mountain, there was a beacon tower, guarded by the refugee tribe for generations, so they never migrated away."

Beacon tower? Duncan's heart skipped a beat when he heard that. He quickly asked, "What beacon tower? Have you seen one? How long has it been there?"

Gabe shook his head and said awkwardly, "How could an average person easily climb such a high and steep mountain? I've certainly never seen it before, but I was a child when I lived there, and the beacon tower must have been built at least a hundred years ago."

The Eye of Illusion wondered, "Will the evil orcs not attack there?"

Gabe let out a long sigh and said cautiously, "In that refugee tribe... there are wizards like you."

(End of this chapter)