Witch Troupe and the Undead

“This chaos is abnormal…” Rhine realized almost immediately that the speed at which the chaos was spreading was abnormal. However, if the chaos was not stopped, it would be a great obstacle to their original purpose. After all, with people everywhere, even if they rode their horses at full speed, they would not be able to go fast.

Furthermore, crowds shorten the team's reaction time. If there are assassins or similar characters hiding in the crowd, getting to the mine will be difficult, let alone saving their lives. Thus, Rhine now faces two choices.

First, regardless of the Warren family's mess, leave the city under the cover of night and return the next day when things have settled down. The cost would be that Cabel City would suffer considerable damage, and the Warren family, who were originally loyal to the emperor, would face changes. For the emperor, this would mean a major problem with his backyard and purse.

Secondly, they could take a risk and disperse their forces, only bringing elite troops to the mine to stop the conspiracy. However, the problem is that they don't know what the other side's conspiracy is or what their true purpose is. Therefore, there is a high probability that even if they arrive, it will be too late. Instead, they might lose Cabel and also the hope of lifting the Emperor's curse.

Another issue is whether Roach and his group are willing to get involved in this mess and the matter of lifting the curse. It's quite obvious that Livia holds an ambiguous attitude, and she seems somewhat unwilling but also feels obligated to participate.

“There’s something strange in the mine.” Livia looked at the mine entrance in the distance and sensed some strange magic surging below. Although it made her a little curious, she was still reluctant to get involved. In fact, she was even thinking about going home now.

The journey has been full of unexpected events, leaving the little witch feeling somewhat weary and exhausted. This same attitude can also be seen in the others. However, due to Sir Rhine's enthusiasm along the way, and because she herself is not very good at refusing requests, she has managed to persevere until now.

However, although she didn't quite understand social etiquette, she was well aware that she seemed to have gotten involved in some serious incident, and that leaving the group to go home alone could lead to injury or even death of her companions.

"Disperse these people, and..." As Rhine was instructing the Warren family knights and guards, he saw Livia take out a bottle of water and some blue gem dust.

The cane was waved overhead in an arc, and the gem dust traced a rainbow-colored bridge in the air. Then, a blue flame quietly burned on the clear water. As the witch threw in the incense needed for the ritual, the smoke from the incense mixed with the gem dust, creating an incredibly complex pattern.

"Rain~" The witch's wand tugged gently, and the clouds in the night sky lowered, large raindrops pounding into the fire, sending up a cloud of steam and smoke. Then, a torrential downpour ensued, and almost instantly, the still-spreading fire was extinguished. Drenched in the cold rain, coupled with the disappearance of the fire and the cold blade of the knight before them, the chaos that had just begun came to an abrupt end.

"Watch out, the enemy has a magic crossbow!" Before the words were even finished, a magic bullet grazed Roach's cheek and struck the side of the carriage.

"Holy crap!" This was the first time Roach had encountered a weapon he designed on the battlefield. "Duck, take cover!" He quickly grabbed the little witch around the waist and threw her into the carriage, while the black horse timely blocked the possible trajectory of the bullets.

"Leslie!"

"I can't see the target!"

"Don't you have night vision?!"

"But I don't know which one fired!"

"Damn it!" Roach realized that no matter how much he made this magic crossbow resemble a gun, it was still not a firearm. Simply put, when it was fired, it would not explode with flames or make a sound, so the location of the shooter could not be determined by the muzzle flash or the sound of the gun.

"Leave it to me~" Seemingly sensing the troubles of the chosen one, Lulua volunteered to step forward, wrapped the animal skin around her wrist, and instantly disappeared into the darkness. Only Roach, who was blessed by the goddess, could see that her ability was somewhat similar to Old Ma's.

The latter uses shadows to enter and exit the Shadow Realm or the Dream Realm, while she simply uses the concept of "darkness" itself to blur the boundaries of time and space. Just as it is difficult for a person to judge physical distance in the dark, this kind of darkness in the mystical sense also blurs the spatial distance between two things.

However, compared to Old Ma, this ability can only be used in a certain degree of darkness. In other words, she can only move quickly between points of light. Even at night, starlight, moonlight, the reflection of torches on metal, etc., will prevent her from connecting her path into a complete path that can instantly cross long distances of darkness.

In other words, Old Ma can make quick contact jumps from his shadow, while Lulua can only launch surprise attacks from the darkness, disappearing into one patch of darkness and then jumping out from another connected patch of darkness to attack enemies in the light.

"The enemy has veterans from the South, be careful when shooting and aiming." Upon discovering that Roach and his men had decisively taken cover behind shields and various other cover, the soldier wearing a yellow cloak showed a somewhat troubled expression.

Wasn't it said that these Warren family knights disdained the magic crossbow weapons that were becoming popular in the south? How come after firing only one wind-attribute silenced arrow, the opponent so accurately realized the weapon's weakness and hid?

Armor-piercing crossbow bolts can easily penetrate most shields and cover, but in this environment and lighting conditions, it is difficult to see the target clearly. Especially after Roach reminded everyone to extinguish their torches, while Roach's team could see in the dark thanks to the blessing of the Goddess of Night, the advantages of both sides were completely reversed.

"Click!" Roach screwed a long hexagonal metal tube onto the hand cannon, then pulled out the folding stock and hung the stand underneath, turning a large-caliber hand cannon into a sniper rifle with a six-round magazine.

Due to issues like gas leakage, recoil, and ammunition length specifications, modifications to gunpowder weapons are usually only used as a last resort. However, this magic rifle is different; it does not rely on gas and therefore does not care about the length of the ammunition or the amount of gunpowder loaded.

In other words, pistols, rifles, machine guns, and even anti-materiel rifles can be switched seamlessly. Of course, due to the limitations of this charging method and the fact that no exclusive energy material for the dynamic element has been found yet, the latter two can only be powered by Roach's rune disk or by the little witch Livia.

"Night, become eyes~" Livia set up the [Void·Darkness] ritual array, and the six cat's eye stones quickly turned to ashes. At the same time, a black mist surged into the eyes of everyone around, and the concealment brought by the night was instantly gone, creating a group night vision effect.

However, this kind of night vision is different from the kind of night vision goggles or low-light vision that Roach understands. In this night vision state, the dark area becomes a bright light area, while the part illuminated by the firelight becomes a state of being covered by black fog.

Because the essence is to make the concept of "darkness" exist in the form of vision, rather than actually creating the vision of darkness, you will not be able to see the naturally mutually exclusive light.

In such situations, this becomes extremely useful because if one side simply ensures that they are standing in the "bright area," it means that in the eyes of the enemy, they are hidden in completely invisible darkness. Conversely, civilians will instinctively seek out the location of light, thus becoming invisible, while those exposed to the "light" can easily identify who the attackers are.

"Young Miss, please help me!" Leslie shouted after assembling the magic-powered light machine gun. Livia sighed, stretched out her small hand and placed it on the side of the machine gun, instantly filling the snowflake-patterned energy storage system.

"Buzz~" Leslie aimed at the yellow-robed soldiers who were quickly crouching and running away in the "light," pulled the trigger, and after a brief buzzing sound, "rat-a-tat-tat-tat!" five metal magic bullets were fired in small fan-shaped patterns.

The miners' shacks and the makeshift roadblocks blocking the road were smashed into flying wood chips, and the flying fragments even tore a small piece of flesh off the face of the soldier holding the "Loli Magic Crossbow".

"Damn it..." The archer rolled to dodge another round of short bursts. How could these guys be so accurate? And what the hell is that a magic crossbow? It's the Roach Livia magic crossbow, isn't it!

What happened to the rule against continuous fire? What happened to the rule that it could only fire two rounds at most?! What happened to the rule that you had to crank the handle for half a minute to fire a round, and that even with the spring and clockwork mechanism, it would only be semi-automatic at most?! What the hell is this?!

Five shots in a round, with a maximum interval of one second. The crisp sonic booms were like the footsteps of Death. It was the first time in his life that he realized Death's mother wore high heels.

I even saw a vision of Death, draped in a black robe, wearing high heels and white stockings, and only 1.5 meters tall. Wait! The Death in front of me moved! That's not Death!? And it's not wearing high heels?

Her fair, bare feet bounced high off a cart carrying gravel, the black cloak-turned-robe flapping wildly in the night air. The next second, her round, small knees slammed into his face like warhammers, sending her sprawling backward.

The moment the back of his head hit the ground, the petite Night Clan girl added a little more force. With the combined effect of weight, speed, and muscle explosiveness, the unfortunate man's nose and the back of his head simultaneously emitted a sound of bones cracking.

White brain matter mixed with blood splattered across the gravel ground. Lulua looked at the blood and brain matter on the ground with some dissatisfaction, and sighed. Her training was still far from sufficient.

"Whoosh!" A sharp screech swept past overhead, catching a few broken strands of black hair. She quickly waved her hand in the distance, signaling that these were her own people and not to fire.

"Figus is dead. The enemy also has magic crossbows, and they're rapid-fire..." The messenger ran quickly across the street, preparing to inform the friendly forces guarding the mine that this information was crucial.

However, he was nowhere near as fast as Lulua, who could leap between the "darkness." A sudden, sharp pain shot through his calf, as if he had hit a thin iron rod. He flew forward and crashed heavily to the ground.

“The second one~” Luluya grabbed the unlucky guy’s head and twisted it hard. He would never have a stiff neck again. She was a master of orthopedics.

"Who goes there!?" The two soldiers guarding the entrance to the mine drew their longswords and rushed straight at Lulua, throwing their torches into the darkness. This forced Lulua, who was planning to launch a surprise attack under the cover of darkness, to reveal herself prematurely.

These two soldiers had clearly mastered a kind of "extraordinary physique." If they mastered another, they could be considered becoming knights' squires. The blades in their hands were far faster and more deadly than the messenger she had dealt with before, but it was of no use.

The sword sliced ​​through a night breeze, and a small, jade-like foot rolled forward on the blade, landing with a punch on the back of the soldier's head with a sound like a hammer striking a wooden fish.

Luluya flicked her hand with "Dragon Smash," one of the Night Clan's extraordinary combat techniques. It was said that one could smash a dragon's head open with bare hands. Of course, that referred to legendary Night Clan warriors. With her hands... she could only smash open the back of this helmetless guy's head.

A layer of silvery radiance floated over her limbs, as if she were wearing silver-forged arm and leg armor. This was a unique supernatural power of the Night Clan, which no one had been able to use for a very long time.

She had only heard about this in the tribe's ancient stories. Even now, the most powerful high priests and warrior chiefs can only make a faint silver glow appear under their skin. This is also the reason why the Night Clan has declined and is even on the verge of extinction.

Now, this power pulses continuously from her heart throughout her body as she fights and moves.

"I am the light in the darkness, I am the shadow under the moonlight..."

Lulua chanted ancient prayers in a low voice, like a moon in the dark night rushing towards her next target. Her legs wrapped around the soldier's neck like scissors, and with the force of her charge and the twisting motion of her waist, she threw him to the ground. With a twist of her thighs, the world lost another patient with cervical spondylosis forever.

The young Night Clan warriors swiftly attacked lone enemies in the darkness, while those grouped together were kept down by Leslie and Roach's magic guns. The two sides were completely different in terms of the density and sustainability of their firepower.

If you show your face, you'll be taken away by Roach's large-caliber rifle; if you don't show your face, your cover will be destroyed and you'll be taken away by Leslie's machine gun; if you do nothing, Lulua will find you and take you away; if you charge or retreat, you'll be caught up and taken away by Rhine's knights, making you feel incredibly frustrated.

With this advantage, the team quickly reached the entrance of the mine. At this moment, Livia deactivated the effect of "Eye of the Night," and darkness once again overwhelmed the light, while the previously invisible black mist transformed back into the warm light of torches and lanterns.

“Yellow hooded robes, green tree insignia, one of Baron Lewis’s men,” Rhine said, flipping over the corpse on the ground. “Or perhaps he was deliberately impersonating the Baron’s men.”

"This baron is..."

"A group of guys who claim to be nobles of the old empire are hiding in the mountains of the northeast. The leader is Baron Lewis, who claims to be loyal to the true and legitimate master of the empire. As for what forces are supporting him, he doesn't know. Anyway, he has never been able to wipe them out."

"However, he generally doesn't have major conflicts with us. To be precise, apart from robbing caravans and occasionally burning villages, he doesn't have large-scale conflicts with the Empire." As for robbery, burning villages, and occasional looting, those are minor issues.

"They've already entered the mine..." A knight came out of the guardhouse. He inspected the guardhouse and found the bodies of several unfortunate guards inside. Judging from the bodies, they had been ambushed and killed.

"It seems our mine manager... has a rather impressive side business." Rhine toyed with the oak badge in his hand with a somber expression. After all, even though the other side was a large group of bandits, they still needed people to sell stolen goods, purchase weapons and raw materials, especially in this magical world, where various magical and extraordinary materials were indispensable.

Obviously, this bandit baron couldn't openly enter the city to purchase these things, and the villages probably didn't have many of these high-level supplies either. Therefore, smuggling or colluding with the mine manager to secretly share the profits was the best and only solution.

Moreover, judging from today's situation, this is not the first time such a thing has been done. It is estimated that the guards at the city gate also have some kind of... interest in it. Otherwise, it would be difficult to transport people, weapons and equipment of this scale in, and it would also be difficult to transport the extraordinary materials in the smuggled mines out openly.

"We need to get into the mine quickly and stop them. There should still be time. Although we've taken away a lot of manpower, there are still quite a few overseers and armed guards inside the mine. Given the unique terrain of the mine, if we hold out, it won't be easy to break through, at least not in a short time."

"I'm afraid they won't even need to break through," Roach quipped. He was worried they might just need to suppress people in certain areas and then blow up the load-bearing system—that would be hilarious.

“Master Roch, you’re right, but…” Rhine glanced at the wreckage of the Loli Crossbow on the ground, unsure whether to say it or not. “If you didn’t invent all those weird things and bypass the Empire and those nobles to do business, that would be perfect. Is it because my Imperial Family can’t afford it? You can just say how much you want for your new inventions. Look at this… the rebels are using the good stuff first.”

Well, that's not surprising. It's always been like this throughout history and across the world. Barbarians and rebels are often the ones who get new equipment faster. Why? Because if they're not willing to invest money in equipment, they're practically selling their heads!

Chapter 183 The Consequences of Signing a Contract Without Reading the Terms

Inside the mine, Roach and Livia had no intention of rushing in, but Lulua seemed eager to go in. However, Livia stopped her. This girl was clearly entrusted by some lonely old god, and it would be difficult to explain if she died after rushing in.

Of course, Rhine didn't intend to let Roach and the others go in. Instead, he put on his armor and led his knights and soldiers in. After all, he was a dwarf and had an innate affinity for mine terrain.

“I think we should get away from this place,” Alessina said after observing the mine. He suggested that everyone retreat. Roach also collected the modified magic crossbows to see where they came from. Could they have come from the military factory of the previous sponsor?

“Magic… is stirring…” A faint red starlight reflected in Livia’s eyes. “Hmm, there’s the smell of fire, a pure elemental aura, without any other magic mixed in.” Old Ma nodded as well, then pulled the cart back a little further. Now, only Roach and his group, along with a few patrol guards, remained on the main street of the miners’ shantytown to maintain order.

"Roach, do you really think the cause of this accident was the illegitimate children fighting for position?"

"It's hard to say, this kind of coup d'état..." Roach could only say it was hard to say, because all sorts of strange things could happen.

For example, how did an illegitimate child obtain so many resources, and who is funding him? There is also a very serious question: does his funder know about this?

It might sound a little strange, but it's not particularly uncommon for subordinates to go off on their own.

"The matter of the 'favored ones' has been resolved." Lulua approached with a smile, seemingly eager to receive a reward. Livia glanced at her, then reached out and vigorously ruffled her messy black short hair. The girl's eyes narrowed slightly, as if she were enjoying it.

“If Sir Rhine dies here, can we just turn back the way we came?” Vivi asked a very constructive question. “I think so too. Or we could summon the cabin and head south at our own pace, treating it as a normal trip?” Leslie suggested as well.

"It's not that good. It's obvious that things are starting to get chaotic within the empire." There's a sense of the prelude to a chaotic era. Of course, this isn't surprising. Although this world doesn't exclude women from inheriting the throne, empresses or queens are inherently less likely to gain support than men.

Not to mention Princess Freya's ingenious actions, which certainly stabilized the empire's finances and the power of the lower and middle classes, but also meant offending the upper and middle classes, including the bureaucratic group. The foundation for her to maintain this rule was, on the one hand, cooperation and information sharing from the lower classes, and on the other hand, the military force she had built up by the old emperor.

"Therefore, there are many opponents, whether they are openly opposed, behind the scenes, or even within her own faction."

After all, if you are just an ordinary foreman or worker, you will definitely support the octagon system, but if you are a scab, you will definitely be an opponent of the system. And this kind of subdivision and messy factions exist in any political faction.

"So, Princess Freya's succession to the throne won't be smooth sailing?"

“Yes, it won’t go smoothly, and a civil war or a purge is inevitable,” Roach shrugged.

Either a civil war ensued, and the nobles and officials, driven to the brink, decisively supported a prince's descendant and raised the banner of rebellion. Of course, there were two possible outcomes: one was that the emperor and Freya had enough military power, so this kind of rebellion was roughly equivalent to Li Chengqian's rebellion—he was detained before he could even leave the Eastern Palace.

The second possibility is that due to various coincidences, including but not limited to the emperor's army being suddenly struck by a meteorite on the battlefield, the military strength is depleted. In that case, it doesn't matter whether you win or lose in the end.

If they won, it would be the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty; if they lost, it would be the restoration of the Han Dynasty under Emperor Guangwu. In any case, for ordinary people, and even for people like Roach and Livia, it was all a chaotic era, and there was no difference between them.

"The best outcome would be a major purge, with some nobles being reshuffled, some bureaucrats being purged, and those who supported the princess's ascension to the throne expanding their power." After all, the Octagon system has a major loophole or blind spot: the nobles who act as "referees" will not participate, and the civil servants who are purely executors will also not participate.

"Isn't this just the British system...? Putting aside the bizarre form of the octagon, isn't this just like Britain? You can change the members of parliament and bureaucrats however you want, but the civil servants below will just do their jobs in an orderly manner."

Of course, due to the bizarre nature of the situation, the civil servants below are at least much more honest than those in Great Britain, but... their bureaucratic style is probably exactly the same. After all, making a mistake really means going to the cage to fight, and not making a mistake and doing things well are two different things.

Of course, Roach didn't care about this. After all, the British system had been working well for hundreds of years and had even supported a British empire at one point. A political system is like software; as long as one of you or the system works, it's fine.

As for being physically "able to run," Roach was quite calm about it. The only problem was that if the chaos really started, they would have no choice but to hide in the living forest, and even that wouldn't be safe.

"Sigh~" Although Livia didn't understand these political terms, she realized with her amazing intuition that the consequences were probably not good. For example, it would be difficult to purchase supplies, the area around her home would be less peaceful, and there would probably be a bunch of ambitious people harassing her for their own interests or some other purpose.

"There's nothing we can do about this, is there?" Leslie sighed. "We can't just let the young lady curse that princess, can we?" Freya's thing is still able to move for now.

But if it were her two older brothers instead—now there's only one left—then she wouldn't be able to run at all. Nobody thinks that if a fool who can't even handle a coup gets into that position, the empire won't immediately enter an era of warring factions.

"Actually, if all else fails, we don't necessarily have to stay on the Empire's side. Does anyone want to travel to Alesia?" the fox girl suggested. After all, there's more than one country on this continent, isn't there?

“That makes sense. Dragon Island is also a good option.” Vivi added that if things really get chaotic in the Empire, they could choose to go to Dragon Island, since it is absolutely safe there.

"The Archipelago Alliance and Freeport are also good options. If you don't mind eating seaweed, the Sea Kingdom is also an option."

"..." Roach and Livia exchanged a glance, both showing expressions of "great concern." After all, just because Livia wasn't a picky eater didn't mean she liked eating seaweed and grilled fish without spices.

"Oh right, didn't Titania invite us to visit Fairy Village before? We can go there on the way." Fairy Village is on an island off the southeastern bay of the Rada Kingdom.

An island city inhabited by fairies, humans, and beastmen, its most distinctive feature is the prohibition of the use of force. The fairies protect the island with a unique ritual magic. No matter who you are or where you come from, you can live here, but you are not allowed to harm anyone.

So there you can see orcs and elves making friends, and humans and other races chatting happily. However, everyone assumes that such relationships are limited to the fairy realm. Outside the fairy realm, they will resort to violence.

"A land of amusement~" Fairy Village is also known as a land of amusement thanks to the whimsical ideas of fairies and the prohibition of violence. It has the most entertainment facilities and strange activities on the continent, and seems to be forever shrouded in a never-ending carnival. Of course, the only and biggest problem in living in Fairy Village is money.

Upon discovering that there were so many places in the world to go, Roach and the others instantly felt relaxed. As for the issue of entering and leaving the country, that was no problem for Livia and Roach. Putting aside everything else, once the mobile house was out there, most people wouldn't dare to stop it from moving.

“I think we shouldn’t get our hopes up too high. In my opinion, this is probably not just a political issue, but something on a higher level. Do you remember that church?” Black Horse suddenly said. “I was wondering where I’d seen that church’s design before.”

"Have you remembered now?"

“I remember now, that’s the church in Santia, the territory of the Earth Goddess, but that’s not the point. The point is that Santia doesn’t need a church.”

"Huh?" Roach was taken aback. What does it mean that you said the church belonged to the Earth Goddess one minute and then said she didn't need a church the next?

“What I mean is that the sacrifices and ceremonies of the Santia need to be carried out in the open air, either on a plain or on a mountaintop, and there must be no man-made buildings, especially stone buildings, within a radius of at least 500 feet, as that would be disrespectful to the goddess of the earth.”

“Santia does not forbid humans or other races from building structures, mining or excavating soil, etc. She is also the goddess of agriculture,” Livia added.

"Yes, this goddess is also the goddess of agriculture, so she requires the priests to ensure that the world is not completely covered by rocks and buildings, and that no religious buildings are built in a way that damages the land. Therefore, her shrine is often just a wooden statue on a roadside earthen platform."

"Oh~ those are the ones we saw on the road earlier?" The four statues, each holding a flower, a wheat stalk, a baby, and a scepter, represent the four aspects of the goddess and four specific divine realms.

For example, flowers represent the vitality of the earth nourishing all things and the face of healing and growth; ears of wheat represent the face of harvest; babies represent the face of reproduction; and scepters represent the face of mountains and wealth.

Unlike other churches, the worship of the Earth Goddess has no branches; everyone shares the same belief in these four aspects, making it the most widespread belief in the world. In fact, due to the inclusiveness of the Santia, many followers of other denominations also follow it as well.

Her shrines and altars were set up at crossroads or beside fields, and the offerings were usually wild fruits or newly harvested grains. So, along the way, you could often see groups of four statues of different craftsmanship and height standing by the roadside.

Occasionally, you can see farmers kneeling in front of the statue to pray. Basically, every farmer will believe in this god. The number of priests for the Earth Goddess is also the fewest among all churches, because there is really no need for the role of priests.