Baron Paragus said, "I must thank you for your concern, but we can protect ourselves. The warriors I brought you here are the warriors we carefully selected from the town. They will work with me to protect the townspeople."
"It seems like you are very resistant to cooperating with us." Xiao Chen walked to the sofa in the reception room, sat down, and looked at Baron Paragus.
Baron Paragus walked to the sofa opposite Xiao Chen, sat down slowly, and said, "There are many things that are better to do by yourself if you can avoid bothering others. A hungry wolf hunting for food must be careful of tigers and leopards. Not to mention hiring someone to fight the imperialists? Everything has a price to pay. I've lived for sixty-five years and I know this too well."
Xiao Chen's eyes moved around the room, and he found another old "Chinese painting" on the opposite wall. This painting was larger than the paintings in the corridor, occupying one-sixth of the wall, allowing Xiao Chen to see more details. There were rocks, pine trees, pavilions, and figures. Even the figures were dressed in Chinese style, and were obviously created according to the ancient Chinese paintings of that world. This made Xiao Chen more certain of his guess. But before asking about this, he needed to talk to the baron about the "help" he provided.
"You know, three of the four villages I visited before coming here made the same choice as you. Do you want to know what their endings are now?" Xiao Chen's gaze was very oppressive. He looked at Baron Paragus while speaking, making him need to exert a lot of effort to look him in the eye.
"You should be familiar with these towns, but you may not know what they have experienced in the past few days. The town of Cavesong is managed by Baron Cassias. The baron does not manage his territory in the town like you do, but I met his eldest son, Elwe. The young man flatly refused my help and insisted that our description of the plague was a lie. The next afternoon, their town was attacked by a small group of imperial soldiers. Elwe, like your son, is a low-level peak knight. Together with his several servants, they killed more than a dozen imperial soldiers at the cost of only three soldiers being injured.
But the next day, black spots appeared on the bodies of seven or eight people who participated in the battle, including Knight Elwei, and they began to fall ill. When I went to inspect the day before yesterday, Elwei had already fallen on the bed and couldn't get up. The disease was also spreading in the village. According to my observation, at least thirty or forty people have begun to fall ill. "
After Xiao Chen finished talking about the situation in Cavesong Town, Baron Paragus and Avadia exchanged glances. They both saw the worry in each other's eyes. Xiao Chen continued, "Emersay Town, which is relatively close to Cavesong Town, is the fief of Baron Emilio, the elder brother-in-law of Baron Cassias. Similarly, they also rejected my proposal. They were lucky at the beginning, and no imperial people attacked their town, but later the plague broke out from them. After the plague broke out in Cavesong Town, some people fled to Emmersay Town, and these people who fled also brought the plague with them. The outbreak in Emmersay Town was one day later than in Cavesong Town. After Baron Emilio and his family learned of the news, they fled overnight. But I, who had been secretly observing them, blocked them. By the way, the direction they fled was exactly your Goyo Town."
Baron Paragus was startled when he heard this and asked, "This must have happened two days ago. We didn't see anyone coming from Emersy Town. You must have stopped them, right?"
"Of course, I warned them when I first came into contact with them that even if they were unwilling to accept our help, we would definitely use various means to prevent the spread of the plague. Unfortunately, when I stopped them, they still didn't listen to my advice and attacked me instead. Now Baron Emilio and his family have disappeared from this world." Xiao Chen said.
"There are also the more remote villages of Fransani and Gaviria." Xiao Chen continued.
"I know these two villages. They are made up of escaped slaves, refugees and fugitives. They are very remote and don't produce anything valuable. I didn't expect you to be interested in such remote places." Baron Paragus said.
"The Tower of China will be responsible for every village and town in the territory we control." Xiao Chen said seriously, "No matter where these people come from or what their identities are, as long as they need our protection, we will protect them. We will give all villages a chance to actively provide help, and it depends on whether you will seize the opportunity. This time, the two villages made completely opposite choices."
"The territory you control? When did this become the territory you control?" Avadia whispered.
Xiao Chen did not argue with him and continued, "Francani Village rejected me. This was a sad mistake. Like the town of Kavison, they were attacked by the Imperials. However, their luck was worse. They ran into an Imperial team led by two Dou Qi warriors. Although two people in their village had reached the low level, they were no match for the Imperial Knights. When I went to check the situation again, I found that the village had been massacred by the Empire.
The Gaviria village was weaker than the Fransani village, so a vote was held, and in the end most of them agreed to let me help them defend the village. A day later, I encountered the group that massacred the Fransani village, and it took me two minutes to kill these imperials. "
"What will you do with the three remaining villages?" asked Baron Grapas.
"Gaviria Village has agreed to be under our jurisdiction. We will naturally send personnel to establish a village-level government. By then, they will find that our investment in them will be much higher than the taxes they have to pay. Slowly, they will move from a small, self-sufficient village at a low level to a better life. As for the towns of Cavesong and Emerse, we don't have the time and energy to treat the sick. We can only leave them alone for a few days. Once we are sure that the imperials who entered our territory have been cleared, we will send mages to treat them."
"I heard that this plague kills people quickly? If a few days pass, I'm afraid these two towns will be..." said Baron Grapas.
Xiao Chen said: "There is no way. Our manpower is limited. It is impossible to prioritize manpower in the village that opposes us. This can only be said to be the fate chosen by oneself. I wonder, what will you two choose?" (To be continued)