Cornflower Witch

Chapter 271 The Dirty Swallowtail Banner
Tuomu Town

Terrified screams echoed through the once quiet town.

"Lord Fletcher, Lord Fletcher has been murdered!" The maid opened the bedroom door and was horrified to find the town's lord, Baron Fletcher, appointed by the Kingdom of Antioch, dead in his bed, his head severed from his body, the bed stained red with blood.

At this time, the guards in the town were also in chaos, because they found that their captain had drowned in the well and were leaderless.

The town was small, and the commotion quickly spread to the streets. Just as the Antian soldiers were in disarray, someone in the crowd suddenly shouted, "Jobs! Prince Jobs's restoration army has arrived!"

On one side of Tuomu Town, a group of people wearing simple armor walked and shouted as they carried weapons.

"People of Regas!"

Are you still going to endure this like cowards?

“Those Antioch wolves steal our food, defile our wives and daughters, and insult everything about us.”

"Are you going to kneel at their feet forever, begging for mercy?!"

"As lowly as a mouse, or as mighty as a lion!" These are the words of 'Knight King' Regard.

Soon, people on the street responded.

A bald man with a round, plump build and broad arms rushed out of the house, an iron pot hanging from his chest and an axe in his hand, and joined the group.

"Of course it's 'fierce as a lion'!"

Inspired and encouraged by the emotions, more and more people joined along the way. Those Regas men who did not take action were also looked at with ridicule by those around them, which made them unable to bear the feeling and they also caught up with the group.

As the ranks gradually expanded, the chaotic Antian soldiers in the town finally realized that something was wrong. Several squad leaders gathered together, began to reorganize the ranks, and summoned the soldiers to prepare for battle.

"These Regasians actually want to resist?" The captain, clad in full armor and wielding a shield and longsword, looked at the Regasian armed personnel approaching from afar.

"They really think that shouting a few slogans can make them knights and take on a hundred men single-handedly? That's laughable."

The two sides quickly clashed. Some Antiy soldiers occupied high ground and fired with crossbows, while some hunters hid in corners and kept firing arrows back, preventing the crossbowmen from fully blocking their attack.

At the street corners below, Antige's soldiers formed a shield wall to hold off Regas's armed forces, which outnumbered them several times over.

A Regas warrior with the 'Tier 1 Blood Law' wielding a great axe charged out from the crowd, cleaving through shields with a single blow and tearing an opening for the advancing team.

However, among the soldiers stationed in Antioch were warriors with the Phase Rank. They quickly took their positions, their swords gleaming coldly, and swiftly slashed down the Regas in front of them, filling the gap and then pushing back the front line.

The Regas soldiers were thrown into disarray. The Hundred-Eyed Cult members hiding in the shadows made their move. They used their eye techniques from a distance to distract the soldiers, causing them to momentarily lose focus and stop reacting, thus killing them.

The tide of battle turned again, with the front lines gradually shifting towards the Antirians.

"Watch out, there are enemies lurking in the shadows!" Captain Antiy finally noticed something was wrong and shouted, causing the entire team to regroup.

A faint silver light appeared on the armor and sides as several captains of the 'Second Tier Castle' formed a small curtain to prevent the cultists in the shadows from interfering.

The battle once again reached a stalemate.

……

Hiltiya led the Hundred-Eyed Cult's group eastward until evening, when they arrived outside the town of Tomu.

Thick smoke billowed from the distant town, and cries of agony filled the air. The streets were littered with corpses, both those of Regas and those of Antioch soldiers.

"What's going on?" The group at the head of the group asked in confusion, and then they rushed into the town.

The Regas militants who had attacked the town's strongholds earlier had long been killed or wounded, their bodies piled up in the streets. But the Anti people were not faring much better. Many soldiers had also been beheaded or impaled and hung in the town square. The few remaining Anti soldiers were covered in blood and looked ferocious, searching house to house like madmen. They killed any Regas adult men they found.

At this moment, the two sides in the town have reached a point of no return, with no room for reconciliation.

"Make them stop." Hilti rode into the town and frowned when she saw the bloodstains all over the ground.

"Yes." The Hundred-Eyed Cult members obeyed, and they dispersed into various parts of the street to take control of the remaining Antiochian soldiers.

At this moment, the surviving members of the Hundred-Eyed Cult in the town ran out in surprise and knelt before the magic contractor. "My lord, you have finally come." After his explanation, Siltia and the rest of the group finally understood why all this had happened.

“Kachis has located the sect’s stronghold; we must return quickly to provide support,” a senior member advised.

"If the cult leader has issued such an order, then the situation must be extremely dire."

At this moment, Hilti dismounted and stood in front of the street full of blood and corpses, her heart heavy.

Reading descriptions of horrific scenes in history books is completely different from experiencing and witnessing them firsthand; an indescribable sorrow welled up in her heart.

She instructed the team members to properly resettle the town's residents and left some personnel to temporarily take over the chaotic town.

As Hilti was about to leave, someone handed her a special box. Inside the box was a small scepter, a document of investiture, and the seal of the mayor of Tōmū Town.

"What is this?" Hiltiya asked, somewhat puzzled.

“This is something Prince Jobs prepared, and it also symbolizes the clarion call for counterattack and independence,” a believer explained to Hiltiah.

Looking at these things, Hilti shook her head. She could understand the Regas people's desire to restore their kingdom, but she also knew that this feeling and thought had been used by others.

The time for restoring the kingdom is far from being reached, and all they are doing is buying time for the cult leader in the valley.

If they truly wanted Jobs or the Legacy of Regas to achieve their goals, they would need to do more than just incite these civilians to step forward. They would need to lead a massive army to defeat Antioch's forces. At that point, everything would fall into place naturally, instead of causing so many innocent people to bleed and die as it is today.

After putting the items back, Hiltiya prepared to mount her horse and leave.

"My lord, my lord." A staggering figure, his face covered in blood, ran out of the town's street, waving a tattered Regas flag.

The blood-stained swallowtail banner was embroidered with a crudely made blue fir tree, the stitches of which were crooked, making it look somewhat comical.

Yet this very thing, held in the other's hand as if it were a treasure, was dragged along by the bloodstains and floated slowly in the wind.

"grown ups."

He came to Hiltiah and knelt down, his black eyes looking at the girl who was surrounded by people and sitting on her horse.

"You must have come to save us."

"This is the pride of our Tuomu Town. We, we, defeated those Anti people. We are all Regas people, tough as iron and fierce as lions." As he said this, warm liquid streamed down his face, wetting and staining the blood and dust.

A mixture of clarity and filth filled those eyes, which were full of pleading, as if they were yearning for a little praise and approval after finally fulfilling their parents' demands through countless hardships.

“I…” I am not from the Regas royal family, nor am I a noble who can represent them. Hilti couldn’t bring herself to say that.

She knew that the people here had shed too much blood and sacrificed too much for that vague and elusive goal. This was almost the only wish of the survivors to live on, hoping that their efforts and pride could be recognized and seen.

But can this prayer really be answered?

Regardless of whether Jobs had the potential to become a wise ruler, these members of the Hundred-Eyed Cult were by no means genuinely helping the Regas people restore their kingdom. They were merely using these innocent people to achieve their own desires and goals, without considering the probability of success after launching an attack and resistance, or how many people would die in the war.

No one cared about their lives or deaths. The Antirians didn't care, the Legas royal family didn't care, and the Hundred-Eyed Cult didn't care even more. Only they took the inspiring slogans seriously and shed their blood and sacrificed countless lives for those illusory slogans.

What foolish people they are, being so easily instigated, plundered, and deceived, leading them towards swords and spears.

However, looking at the figure kneeling on the ground, and at his eyes that still awaited praise, Hilti couldn't bring herself to say anything to expose or rebuke him.

The girl closed her eyes slightly and answered slowly, her voice slightly distorted.

“I saw it. You all did a great job. You are the pride of Regas, the lions of the mountains, evergreen and indestructible like the fir trees.”

Upon hearing these words, the staggering figure laughed, and he slowly collapsed with satisfaction, the swallowtail flag he was holding falling into the mud and being covered by filth.

after a long time
A fair and flawless hand picked up the bloodstained and dirty swallowtail flag from the mud and blew the dust off it.

(End of this chapter)