plumnovel #185 - Blood God and Moon God
#185 - Blood God and Moon God
“I heard the human army is coming, and those barbarians immediately gathered two hundred warriors, trying to compete with our Savior Army.
They ambushed us in the bushes, jumping out and charging towards us. I calmly protected everyone, shouting, 'If you want to kill, kill me!'
But guess what?
First, the Holy Rifleman blew a gust of holy wind, throwing them into chaos. Then, Princess Lana led the cavalry to scatter their formation, and Lord Victor charged, defeating them in five minutes.”
Harryba sat on a bench, assuming a pose that said, 'Don't underestimate my intelligence network,' cheerfully boasting to the surrounding beastmen.
Around him, hundreds of beastman barbarians were stripped of their clothes, their hands tied behind their backs, huddled together in dejection.
Four or five cuirassier cavalrymen with feathered iron helmets stood beside them, responsible for escorting and monitoring them.
Many beastmen had bruises and swelling, indicating that quite a few untamed ones had already been disciplined.
“Oh, Your Excellency.” Seeing Horn, Harryba immediately approached him. “I've brought all the prisoners.”
“Good, thank you for your hard work.” Horn walked past Harryba without stopping, asking Rudylo, who had dismounted, “What's the situation?”
“The scouts can already see the broken bridge. We came back to drag a few carriages, in case they try to sneak an attack at night.” Rudylo stood up straight.
Horn shook his head. “The road here is too narrow for carriages to pass. Set up camp early. The progress is good, don't let it be for nothing.”
“Yes, Your Excellency.”
After giving Rudylo detailed instructions, Horn let them return. Turning his head, he saw the beastman barbarians looking at him with fear and impotent rage.
The beast ears on their heads drooped, like a kitten's airplane ears, but paired with their rugged faces, it was quite incongruous, yet also kind of ugly-cute.
When you are weak enough, even anger seems amusing to the strong.
But when Horn saw the fearful expressions of the other Gadar beastmen around him, he suddenly woke up.
For these Gadar beastmen, these southern barbarians were still ferocious beings.
“Let them go to the Holy Trinity Education Team, to help the priests. Otherwise, they're having too much fun, there's no educational significance.” Looking at these roughly dressed beastmen, Horn suddenly chuckled. “In the dead of winter, if they've been checked for weapons, put some clothes on them before taking them away.”
Selecting three or five of the more honest ones, Horn called for the Hand of the Gadar King, who understood the southern barbarian language, to act as a translator.
“Come, sit down, I have something to ask you.” Horn said with a smile to the barbarian in front of him.
The selected beastman, who was originally docile, now looked rebellious, spitting in Horn's direction: “I won't tell you anything, kill me!”
“Good!” Horn immediately decided. The Holy Rifleman immediately stepped forward, aimed at her head, and pulled the winding key.
Like the sound of a watermelon exploding, the beastman's face was directly blown away by the buckshot, and shattered bones and blood splashed over the heads and faces of the other beastmen behind her.
With half of her head shattered, she fell straight to the ground, splashing a cloud of dust, her body still twitching.
“I've never seen such a request in my life.”
The smell of blood instantly filled the small area. Horn wiped the blood from his shoes with a handkerchief, and beckoned his finger: “Okay, next.”
This time, the beastman who came up was much more honest, standing meekly in front of Horn.
If they don't see blood, they really can't tell who's in charge.
“What's the name of the god you believe in?”
“It was originally the Moon God. After the Blood God devoured the Moon God, now it's the Blood God.”
“Why do you call Him the Blood God?”
“Because He needs to perform a blood sacrifice every seven days. When the Moon God was around, a live human sacrifice was needed. The Blood God is merciful, only a live sheep sacrifice is needed.”
“So you steal sheep and attack the beastmen here every so often for the blood sacrifice?”
“It's both for the blood sacrifice and for revenge. These damn Northern Puppets, they betrayed us. They are the barbarians, we are the descendants of the true El Empire…”
Horn had heard this rhetoric too many times from the Northern Ze beastmen. He was not interested in the epic history of these thousands of people, and quickly stopped the beastman from speaking.
“What does the Blood God look like?”
“I don't know.”
“What about the Moon God?”
“We are not allowed to look directly at the gods, but if we fail to make sacrifices, the divine messengers will attack our villages.”
So these evil gods like the Blood God and Moon God can actually control those hairy monsters?
Horn noted this information, and then asked: “How many of those hairy monsters are there?”
“I don't know.” Perhaps seeing the impatient look on Horn's face, the beastman quickly added, “More than the warriors we sent out before, and they are incredibly strong.”
So that's at least two hundred, incredibly strong hairy monsters. Can that hair withstand the clockwork rifle or Lana's lightning?
“How do they attack you? By boat?” Horn continued to ask.
“No, no, no, whoever doesn't hand in the sacrifice, those hairy beast divine messengers will come out of the lake and launch divine punishment on us.”
“You mean, they usually stay on Autumn Dusk Island, and only when you don't pay tribute will they swim ashore and launch attacks?”
“Yes.”
Horn exchanged a glance with Paslik. How did these hairy monsters seem to have intelligence?
“How do you all deliver the sacrifices?”
“Put them on a small boat, row to Autumn Dusk Island, and then send the sacrifices to the altar. We can take the opportunity to pick up some ironware from the island, as long as we leave before dark.”
“How about this.” Horn stood up and walked in front of her. “Does your Blood God have a symbol? Draw it for me to see.”
Unlocking the ropes on her hands, although Horn was close at hand, the clockwork rifle against her back prevented her from making any rash movements.
She honestly drew a geometric pattern composed of large and small rectangles on the ground, and then drew a spiral object on top of it.
Horn carefully observed the symbol, and only felt that this thing looked a bit like a pile of poop on an open book.
He then turned his gaze to Paslik. Paslik frowned, as if struggling to recall and think about something?
Horn swallowed and waited expectantly beside Paslik.
“Pas, did Grandpa Chrispa discover anything?”
“Ah, I remember.” Paslik heavily slapped his thigh with his fist. “This pattern looks like a pile of shit on a book, hahaha, it made Grandpa laugh.”
Amidst Paslik's unrestrained laughter, Horn numbly and disappointedly sat back in his chair.
But just as his butt touched the chair, he thought of something again and immediately stood up: “Draw the symbol of that Moon God, let me take a look.”
Hearing the translator finish speaking, the beastman was obviously stunned for a moment. She pondered for a long time before hesitantly drawing a pattern on the ground.
“It's been too long, I can't remember it very clearly.”
The pattern on the ground was a cross in a circle, with two long and short horizontal lines added to each end of the cross, so that it was symmetrical up, down, left, and right.
Anyway, Horn had never seen this pattern before, but when he saw Paslik's expression move, he immediately stepped forward and whispered: “Pas, Grandpa Chrispa, did you see anything? Don't tell me you think this is a chrysanthemum or something.”
Ignoring Horn's words, Paslik pointed to the pattern on the ground, his expression both solemn and puzzled: “This pattern… how does it look so much like the symbol of the Weighing Scale Hermit Order?”