When the Saint comes, she does not collect food

#258 - The irises in my hometown are blooming

In a manor on the outskirts of Mayot Town, although it was already late at night, the log cabin was still brightly lit.

“Seven! Seven! Seven!”

“Aiya, how did it come up as five!”

“Get out if you’re eliminated, don’t block the way.”

Huddled at the doorway, Laurent's face was gloomy as he wrapped himself in the woolen blanket his mother had sewn for him to ward off the cold.

Leaning his head against the door frame, he could clearly hear the sound of his father, a leather craftsman, shaking the dice.

The stench of smelly socks, alcohol, and rancid oil, with the smell of vomit as the main ingredient, countless odors seeped out from the cracks in the door, swirling around Laurent's nose.

These 800 mercenaries had been stationed in Mayot Town for more than three months, specially left by the Edict Company to guard the exit of the Black Bone Swamp.

Initially, Prince Condé left them there only for early warning and interception, to prevent this group of short hairs from escaping again.

At first, these mercenaries were alright, just occasional petty theft and not paying for meals.

But later, especially after some rumors and gossip about Grand Duke Mériadec spread, the situation gradually began to change.

They started setting up private casinos outside the town, luring townsfolk to gamble, then lending money at high interest rates, and subsequently forcing people to sell their sons, daughters, houses, and fields.

Under the threat of swords and knives, the entire Mayot Town had to abandon other orders and provide them with 300 helmets free of charge.

The mercenary leader, Cléante, even used casinos and high-interest loans to turn more than a dozen young girls from Mayot Town into prostitutes, forcing them to work to pay off their debts.

Damn Cléante, when are you guys leaving!

Saviors of the Gully, when are you finally coming!

The door of the wooden house was opened, and a wave of hot, foul air rushed out.

A drunken hillbilly mercenary kicked Laurent to make sure he wasn't dead: “Hey, what are you spacing out for!”

Shivering as he stood up, Laurent lowered his head: “Do you need something?”

“What’s with that tone!” The hillbilly slapped Laurent, sending him staggering back two steps, “Lord Cléante’s crotch is itchy, go call two girls over from the Birdcage.”

At this moment, Laurent's father also poked his head out of the wooden house: “Laurent! Are you itching for a beating again? Didn’t you hear him?”

“Got it.”

Laurent's fingers dug into the cracks in the wooden floor, he clenched his teeth, trying to hide his anger in his trembling voice.

“Useless.” Laurent's father retracted his head and picked up the dice again.

Walking in the dim starlight, Laurent stumbled forward.

He had been doing well as a tailor's apprentice in Jeanne d'Arc, but this old bastard barged into his teacher's house and smashed it up, forcing them to return the tuition fee and bring Laurent back home.

If he had known this would happen, he should have gone to the Black Bone Swamp with the Salvation Army!

Laurent walked desperately in the wilderness, the bushes rustling, as if coyotes were passing through.

Walking in resentment and sorrow towards the vicinity of the “Birdcage,” his originally mechanical steps suddenly paused for half a second.

For some reason, he smelled a pungent bloody smell, seemingly far away, yet also close at hand.

Was it coyotes?

No, such a strong bloody smell must be from a large beast.

Although he didn't know what had happened, Laurent knew that this was the time to run.

He took a few more steps forward, as if he hadn't noticed anything, then suddenly turned a corner and ran straight into the grove.

After all, outside was all open ground, if he encountered a large beast, there would be nowhere to run.

“Stop!”

“Son of a mountain goat!”

Laurent had barely taken two steps when his ankle was suddenly grabbed, and another sturdy man with a foxy odor tackled him from behind, pinning him to the ground.

“Gah, let me go, let me ough ough ough——”

A rag was stuffed into his mouth, Laurent kicked and punched weakly, he was flipped over, and only then did he see the man in front of him clearly.

Both of them were wearing simple linen and animal skin clothes, and a pair of furry gray animal ears grew on both sides of their heads.

Beastmen!

Laurent struggled even harder, there were quite a few Beastmen bandits in Thousand River Valley, Jeanne d'Arc originally didn't have any.

However, since the church took over Jeanne d'Arc, they had been entangled with the Royal Knights and the distant relatives of Duke D'Annet, and had no time to maintain law and order, which led to the appearance of many Beastmen bandits near the originally stable Jeanne d'Arc.

The two Beastmen held down Laurent's limbs, and in his constant struggles, they carried him on their shoulders and ran towards the “Birdcage” in small steps.

Carried on their shoulders, Laurent stopped struggling, instead of wasting his strength, he observed his surroundings, looking for an opportunity to escape.

To his surprise, these two Beastmen robbers actually carried him into the Birdcage.

As far as the eye could see, the dead and wounded were all guards of the Birdcage, and the ground was lined with the corpses of guards.

To Laurent's surprise, the women in the Birdcage had not suffered any abuse, they were sitting on the side wearing coats, and there were even dedicated priests comforting them.

Inside this Birdcage, there were dedicated soldiers maintaining order and silently leaning against the walls to rest, they were wearing shiny silver breastplates, and uniform black and red coats.

Were these bandits?

Before Laurent could figure it out, he actually saw a familiar figure among the patrolling black-clothed soldiers.

Jourdan, the street vendor who sold cloth, he was wearing a black coat, and looked much more energetic and stronger than before.

“Ough ough ough——” Laurent instantly understood, this was the Salvation Army, the Salvation Army had attacked.

Laurent's constant struggles attracted the attention of Jourdan, who was a squad leader, he walked forward curiously, and then shouted in surprise: “Laurent? Is that you, Laurent?”

After the rag in his mouth was removed, Laurent blurted out the first sentence: “I know where Cléante is!”

Cléante poured buttered mead into his mouth, drunkenly threw the dice onto the table, and looked smugly at the wails of the gamblers.

Even if he was drunk, he could still perfectly control the dice.

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“Skill, this is the skill of the God of Gamblers of Seven Elm Town, do your dice have such skill?”

Amidst the laughter, Cléante gathered all the chips on the table to his chest.

After running around outside for so long, Cléante had finally lived a relatively comfortable life for a while.

Since Prince Condé and Barney Foss had formed a verbal alliance, he had pleaded with the royal agent to whom Cléante owed money, extending Cléante's repayment time.

This undoubtedly gave him more time to maneuver, but after all, this was just an extension, and Cléante still had to repay the debt.

Mayot Town was not rich, but if he knew how to make money, it could fill a large chunk of interest.

At first, he just wanted to use a small casino to slowly plot, after all, he had to take Grand Duke Mériadec's face into consideration.

But recently he had heard some rumors that Grand Duke Mériadec had actually launched an uprising under the banner of anti-church corruption.

Good, good, good, this young man, so you're playing like this?

Cléante almost fainted with laughter, and that day he increased his efforts and opened the “Birdcage” along the way.

Thinking of this, he kicked over Laurent's father, who was sorting out his meager chips: “Hey, where's your son? Did he run away?”

Holding on to the chair to get up, Laurent's father knelt on the ground, timidly and flatteringly said: “He doesn't have the guts, maybe he was eaten by coyotes, if you're in a hurry, I'll go find him for you.”

“Alright, alright.” Waving his hand, Cléante yawned, “I'm going to take a piss, you guys play by yourselves, don't mind me.”

Walking out of the wooden house, his face was brushed by the somewhat cold spring breeze, and his alcohol cleared up a bit.

“Iris, iris, iri-iris and flowers.”

“The irises of my hometown have bloomed, my little boy has grown into a big fatty…”

Going around to the back of the wooden house, humming a vulgar tune from his hometown, he happily unbuttoned his pants and opened the floodgates.

The chirping of birds spread in his ears, and the camp was filled with the whimpering of dogs, everything in the night seemed so quiet.

So quiet.

Cléante's humming suddenly stopped, and years of battlefield experience made his hair stand on end.

His whole body stopped moving for a moment, he forced the remaining one-third of his urine back, hurriedly pulled up his pants, and ran to the front of the house while holding on to the wall.

“Hey, everyone come out, quickly go check the sentry post——”

“Lord Cléante, what did you say?”

“I said——”

“Swish——”

Cléante first felt something fly past the side of his head, and it wasn't until the thing flew past that he belatedly shrank his neck.

A warm liquid flowed down his cheek, and a tingling pain came from one side of his head.

He subconsciously reached out to touch his right ear, but touched nothing, his ear had disappeared at some point.

Without even having time to mourn for his lost ear, Cléante turned around and ran back.

“Enemy attack! Quick, blow the horn, blow the horn!”