Garrett: âAaaahhhh!â
âRelease your mental power! Perceive everything around you! Youâre a Nature Priest, arenât you? Canât even sense a dirt pit! Even Annie Via can defeat you!â
Garrett: t_t
I'm a fake Nature Priest... a fake... Besides, who keeps their environmental perception on all day? Itâs exhausting!
âA Mageâs mental power is just like your eyes and earsâpart of you! Do you close your eyes when you listen? Do you block your ears when you smell?â
Garrett: â...â
But when I want to hear clearly, I do close my eyes! Donât they say blind people have the best hearing?
Also, using mental power to observe the outside world isn't like vision or hearing, which have been trained for parallel processing since childhood! My brain canât handle it! Resonating with nature requires entering a meditative stateâitâs so hard...
âCast spells! Cast spells! When you perform surgery, canât you cut and heal at the same time? Why canât you do it while running? Imagine youâre carrying a wounded person, stopping the bleeding while runningââ
Garrett: âAaaahhhh! Bang!â
Oh no, I just slipped while casting a Grease Spell during the run!
âGarrett... seriously, shouldnât you solidify a Feather-Fall Spell? How many times have you fallen today?â
Garrett and Aurora were training desperately. Not hoping to become super warriors, but at least, in times of disadvantage, when separated from the main force, or being chased, they need to escape and not be a burden.
Bernard was also training desperately. Under Old Morganâs guidance, he finally broke through to a Level 9 Warrior and was currently adapting to his strength. Every day, he got beaten up terribly by Old Morgan...
Even Old Morgan was training. He didnât dare train desperately, as his long-deformed spine had been corrected by surgery, and his muscles and fascia needed to be adjusted bit by bit to adapt to the current state.
And he continued to replenish nutrients, making up for the loss of blood and qi during years of hard training, adjusting his state to prepare for another advancement:
Eat!
Eat!
Eat, eat, eat!
Devouring!
Using the excuse of having Old Morgan protect Aurora, Garrett forced a bunch of magical beast meat on him. Recently, the Mage Tower had opened its supplies, letting them eat whatever they wantedâ
Even if they got fat, it didnât matter, they could afford it!
Anyway, Garrett had collected various levels of magical beast meat under the guise of experiments from the council and the temple, piling up an entire warehouse in the basement of the Mage Tower; even if they finished it, the Silver Dragon lady's leftovers were enough for everyone!
Garrett and the others had about two months left. However, time was running out for the noblemen of Nederlandâ
The King of Brolin sent his top general, Duke Toledo, leading twenty thousand royal troops in a grand advance.
Among these twenty thousand strong soldiers, more than half had followed the churchâs army to land in Kent Kingdom years ago, with exceptional combat strength and firm hatred for heretics. Once they set out, they captured cities consecutively, pushing the front line to central Nederland.
Alongside the royal troops were the Black Knights led by Grand Inquisitor Gravira and a group of divine spellcasters temporarily given by the church, scattered among the royal troops to provide healing and divine support.
The oppressed nobles of Nederland united once again.
âWe canât endure any longer.â
âIf we keep enduring, weâll either be caught and hanged one by one, or everyone will don sackcloth and walk to the Radiant Holy City for a pilgrimage of penanceâIâd rather die than reach that point!â
âEarl of Delft was beheaded! General Godfrey was also beheaded! They went to announce the kingâs decree, but it was a setup, arrest, and execution!â
âEven if we miraculously survive, what awaits us? Execution of the whole family? Exile? Stripping of noble titles? Whatever it is, what used to belong to us can never be ours againââ
âFight!â
âFight!â
In the end, all the nobles uniformly turned to the Duke of Nederland, bowed their heads, and pounded their chests with their right fists.
âHonorable Duke, please lead usâas the people of Nederland have been led under the glory of the Tulip family for centuriesââ
The Duke of Nederland took a deep breath. He gripped the hilt of his sword, stood tall, and raised his long sword high towards the sky:
âThe people of Nederland will never submit to greedy tyranny! Weâd rather die free than live in humiliation! Those who call us beggars, let them see the power beggars possess!â
âLong live the beggars!â
âLong live the beggars!â
The roaring chants from the duke's hall spread to every corner of the castle and beyond, echoing through Nederland:
âLong live the beggars!â
The Duke of Nederland, along with all nobles and wealthy merchants, sold their assets to organize an army. Half were private soldiers, and the other half were mercenariesâ
In the vast northern wasteland, many barbarian tribes couldnât even fill their stomachs. With shiny gold coins, golden grains, and white flour transported in heaps, they could recruit as many as they wanted!
Every adult male barbarian started at least as a Level 1 Warrior; with a bit of training, they could quickly rise to Levels 2, 3, and 4; and when enraged, they could rival human knights without a doubt!
Half a month later, the main rebel force led by the Duke of Nederland faced off against the kingdomâs main force. In one battle, the kingdomâs troops suffered heavy casualties.
âLooks promising.â
âMages can join the battle now.â
âNo, letâs wait and see... The first battle utilized the terrain and was a surprise attack; the kingdomâs main force wasnât defeated.â
Mages closely monitoring the situation had mixed opinions. Before they could reach a consensus, a second battle broke out in central Nederland, near the eastern region:
This time, Duke William of Orange, the Duke of Nederlandâs brother who led a petition to the royal capital, led ten thousand troops and was nearly annihilated, with William of Orange barely escaping with his life.
Losing a large portion of the main force, the Duke of Nederland had to flee abroad, striving to organize more mercenaries for another attempt.
âAre you idiots?!â In the dark forest, Baron Perry Hayes, the Merchant Baron, slapped a tree stump, spitting on the faces of several earls and viscounts:
âCharging at the royal cavalry on the plains? With our limited troops and training, you expect to withstand the royal phalanx with divine support? Donât you know our strengths? How many of us have undergone rigorous knight training?â
âThen what do you suggest?â
The Duke of Nederland, also splattered with spit, didnât mind and didnât even wipe it off, directly asked. Baron Hayes looked at him like he was an idiot:
âGive up the plains! Maneuver around them! In the mountains and forests, I donât believe they can ride their horses up mountains! And on the sea, release all the fishing boats and stab them from behind!â
âCavalry can charge on plains, but not in rivers! Dig channels! Build dikes! With Nederlandâs low terrain, a slight dig can block their paths with river water!â
âWhat about our fields?â
âWith this yearâs harvest, do you still count on the fields? If we donât drive them out, weâll have nothing!â
Under Baron Hayesâ planning and agitation, the people of Nederland organized multiple guerrilla groups to fight the kingdomâs troops on various fronts. Farmers in the northern and eastern mountains picked up hoes and retreated into the mountains, forming the âForest Beggarsâ unit;
Fishermen in the western and southern coastal areas used their fishing boats as warships, weaving dense nets to intercept the Brolin Kingdomâs ships at sea. They blocked warships and merchant ships alike...
Losses?
Of course, there were losses, and significant ones. However, Nederlandâs advantage lay in its numerous small boats and fishing boats, filling the waters.
Using a small boat to take out a big ship, if they werenât afraid to die, just the nuisance alone could drive the enemy crazy!
Moreover, there were a large number of explosives provided at fair prices by the councilâwaterproof explosive packs processed with magic, piling up on a small boat, pushing forward with the wind and waterâBoom!!!
âItâs time.â
Snowflake-like messages flooded the council. After evaluation and deliberation, the review committee finally decided:
âDeploy our people!âSend mages to join the land resistance squads; send our warships to mix with Nederlandâs ships to target and intercept Brolin warships!â
âAlso, open coastal shipyards for them to quickly repair ships; open designated areas to allow Nederland refugees, especially women and children, to seek asylum in Kent Kingdom!â
At the command, Garrett and Aurora packed their belongings and headed to their respective battlefields.
âMaster, please take care of Aurora.â Before leaving, Garrett clung to Old Morgan, repeatedly reminding him:
âNo matter what, make sure he sticks with the team! Donât fall into traps! If he tries something foolish, even if you have to knock him out and tie him up, bring him back!âRight, should we have Appa go with you? Itâll be easier to escape if anything happens?â
âEnough already!â
Aurora pushed him back impatiently. Appa? With his huge size and wide horns, he was too conspicuous!
At that point, escaping might not even be an option; theyâd be targeted
for sure!
âThink about yourself!âDonât assume youâre safe in the rear! If they find out where you are, believe me, theyâll dispatch an elite force, all over Level 15, to cross the sea and kill you?â
Cirilla grumbled unhappily.
Level 15?
Whatâs Level 15? If a Level 15 team of five peopleâno, even ten people came, she could take them all down alone!
She could ensure Garrett stays safely on her back without a scratch!
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