Then, it was night.
In the underground world where it is impossible to distinguish between day and night, the veterans make judgments based on the light emitted by an inedible fungus called the "diurnal mushroom."
Yellow light represents night, and blue light represents day.
This is a very valuable fungus. If you ignore the fact that it is inedible and has a foul smell, perhaps Naluga would like it.
But when she thought about resting around these mushrooms tonight... she felt a little nauseous...
After all, this is indeed a bit disgusting. And then again, Mr. Lucas? What are you preparing to eat...
The elves who were filling their stomachs with dry food were dumbfounded.
Naluga, who came closer, was also stunned.
Because what the veterans, including Lucas, dug out from the ground were cockroaches, earthworms, and smelly mushrooms.
Seeing these energetic creatures, Lucas and others just said happily that they would have food to eat tonight and would not have to consume their already scarce dry food.
Looking at the foul-smelling mushrooms and the lively cockroaches and earthworms, not only Narujia's face turned green, but even the elves' faces turned green.
They would never eat this stuff! Even if it's roasted - wait...
Do you really want to eat it?!
I watched the veterans skillfully string together small insects with their daggers, then mix in mushrooms, then pick up the dry mycelium around them and light them on fire, then put a dried mushroom that they found from somewhere and used as fuel, and finally put their daggers on the fire, excitedly turning the "piece of meat" on it...
Naruga and the elves looked at each other.
In the end, I didn’t have the courage to touch this weird “food”.
They finally understood that what Lucas said was not an exaggeration at all.
The life of the Bayerjans underground was far more miserable than they had imagined...
What is even more admirable is that they can still find joy in such a difficult environment and face the demons and cruel environment with an optimistic attitude.
This taught Naruja a lot. Although she felt that she might never use the knowledge of [how to eat cockroaches] in her life, she felt that she had indeed learned a lot.
This will be the "nutrients" she absorbs when she "grows up" again. She will work hard to become the person she wants to be, and finally gain a place in his eyes.
“Eating cockroaches is so scary…”
But even so.
It also couldn't stop the brown-haired girl with deer horns from subconsciously uttering the words of fear in her sleep.
…
On the other side, underground Constantinople, the once magnificent city known as the Queen of Cities.
The surviving citizens are bringing food to the corrupted patients in the distant quarantine zone.
From time to time, you can hear the roar of demons and the shouts of fighting soldiers coming from the other side of the distant wall.
The residents were no longer surprised. After collecting the body of a person who had committed suicide to avoid the spread of corruption, the body collector knelt on the ground, closed the eyes of the deceased who had lost his ability to decay, and prayed for him:
"According to the prophecy, our children will enjoy the sunshine on the ground under the guidance of the Purple Princess... Please leave with peace of mind. We will help you shoulder your responsibilities."
This is a unique custom that the Byzantine Empire has developed over thousands of years. They would put the bodies of the dead into underground pits for burial. Anyway, after sinking into the ground, there are no shortage of various holes around Constantinople.
Generally speaking, the people of the Byzantine Empire refused to use the bodies of their fellow citizens.
But in such special circumstances, many people still made a will saying that after they died, if their bodies were still intact, they must be buried in the mushroom garden.
Only in this way could the dying mushroom gardens of Constantinople continue to produce food. Only in this way could their death continue to provide assistance to the living.
But even so, the fall of Constantinople was already visible to the naked eye - although the demons seemed to be about to be destroyed, humans would always be destroyed faster than demons.
This has become the consensus of the vast majority of the depressed nobles in the Purple Palace of Constantinople.
Among them, the nobles known as "clean freaks" are the most typical representatives.
The Mysophobia Guy is a clerk and warrior of the Purple Palace. Normally, he is responsible for recording all the knowledge and culture of the current Bayerjans Empire, confirming the remains and lives of every fallen warrior, and in the most dangerous moments he has to hold a dagger and face the devil.
He was called a "mysophobe" because he had to have a handkerchief to wipe his face, even if it meant he had no pants.
Today, the mysophobic man once again tore off the cloth on his pants, and the nobleman who had just returned from the battlefield exhaustedly wailed, saying, "That is a rare piece of cloth in the whole of Constantinople! How could you tear it off like this?"
"This kind of cloth made from mushrooms is very rare! You're wasting such good pants, why don't you give them to me?!"
Although the nobles spoke righteously, they knew very well that the mysophobia guy was qualified.
After all, the Mysophobia Guy is a ruthless person who can fight the devil head-on, remember the name of every sacrificed legionnaire in his mind after the battle, and even record the names of the victims in one night.
The mysophobia guy had the right to trample on his pants - and the mysophobia guy also knew that his friend was just joking, so he just wiped the sweat off his face with a cloth and turned around and sneered:
"Then Poltergeist, you should learn from me and write down these lists one by one! But then again, then who is it? Where is the Shorty?"
"Him? He's dead. In the battle this morning, he was covering the retreat of the new recruits with some veterans. As a result, the veterans were injured and he is dead."
"Oh. Audiril... Okay, I'll make a note of it. I'll announce him tonight - but then again... How many nobles are left in this class?"
"The mysophobic guy, me, the young master who's picking mushrooms, and the one on the city wall... there are probably only four of us."
"I remember that there were at least a dozen nobles alive during my parents' time. How come there are only four left in our generation?"
"Maybe it's because the demons are attacking us more and more frequently. And don't just look at the 'current survival rate'. Aren't most of the old guys dead now?"
The noble known as the poltergeist shrugged her shoulders, wiped the purple blood off the dagger with her sleeve, then walked behind the mysophobia guy and looked at the name on the thick notebook.
Audiler was their mutual friend, a young nobleman who died on the way covering the retreat of new recruits.
This is a common occurrence among the existing nobles of the Bayerjans Empire - except for the great nobles and aristocratic elders who must stay in the Purple Palace to lead the last of their people in fighting the demons, almost all new nobles will always use this trick on the battlefield.
If you are lucky, you might die with your friends one day. If you are unlucky, you might have to use a spoon to dig out the huge stones thrown by the devil and stuck to the wall, put them in a lunch box as a souvenir, and then secretly bury them in the mushroom garden.
The nobles were accustomed to this, and would even make bets on who would collect whose body next before going to the battlefield.
In the words of the elders, they appear to be very optimistic.
But even so, after working hard for thousands of years for a prophecy, even the aristocracy would inevitably feel extremely tired.
After a while, the Mysophobia Man recorded the last name of the person who died of decay today in the notebook, and the Poltergeist handed over a portion of dried cockroaches.
As nobles, they were entitled to three-quarter food rations in peacetime and could enjoy meat such as cockroaches.
Ordinary civilians only have half or even one-third of that, and in most cases they can only eat mushy nutritious food, but there is nothing they can do about it.
After all, the entire Bayerzans needs to allocate resources to the army. Otherwise, the soldiers will starve to death, and the remaining people will sooner or later become a hotbed or food for the devil.
Although demons eat their own kind, demons will also eat humans to fill their stomachs.
Then again, we who dissect demons as if they were raw materials are actually monsters in their eyes, right
They treat us as chickens, ducks, fish and pigs, so why don't we treat them as moving magic materials
The mysophobic man was thinking about some philosophical question. After biting a roasted and crispy cockroach into his mouth and chewing it, he heard the poltergeist beside him ask blankly:
"How long do we have to wait until the prophecy comes true?"
"What did you say?"
"It's the final Purple Princess. Some time ago I heard that the pillar of light in the prophecy seemed to have appeared... But who knows when the Purple Princess will come? The prophecy only said that after the pillar of light appears, Bayerzas will restore his country and return to the ground, but it didn't say when exactly."
"I don't know either. Let's wait."
Everyone in Constantinople regarded that prophecy as their last spiritual support. Everyone...
They hoped that their descendants could return to the surface again, they hoped that the Bayer Zans Empire could bask in the sunshine again, and they hoped that one day they could see with their own eyes what the scenery on the surface was like, and what kind of paradise on earth the land protected by their ancestors and themselves was.
With such expectations, they have been gritting their teeth and persevering from thousands of years to the present.
But even so, people will eventually feel tired.
After thousands of years without any results, with their companions becoming fewer and fewer and their own people becoming worse and worse, even the most resilient nobles will eventually doubt the truthfulness of the prophecy.
Unlike the lower-class commoners, the commoners still have to do labor and need to save their energy as much as possible - but the nobles have time to rest.
They are educated and knowledgeable, and know that it is necessary to deceive subordinates with white lies in special circumstances. They are also aware that they and the entire Bayerzas Empire may be victims of this white lie.
So, Poltergeist feels lost.
Today she lost another friend. What about next year? The day after tomorrow
Everyone always dies like this without getting a result. Although the demons are already on the verge of collapse, isn't the Bayerjans Empire also on the verge of final collapse
The building was about to collapse. The prophecy that supported it had only given a small sign, a hint of something.
Can we really live to see that time if things continue like this? Can we really witness the truth of the prophecy, rather than a false white lie
The poltergeist was dazed and bit the dried cockroach into his mouth.
The mysophobic guy at the side just shrugged and said that in fact, the Grand Master also said that the fall of Constantinople was imminent, and soon everyone would not have to worry about whether the prophecy was true.
Because next, either the demons will capture Constantinople, or we will blow up their hive.
Either we blow up their hive first, and then they turn around and attack Constantinople.
"In the end, we all perish together. Why are we still brooding over this prophecy? Live in the present, Poltergeist."
At this point, he patted the Poltergeist on the shoulder and added:
"Perhaps the prophecy says that we will finally defeat the demonic disaster, and then we will develop underground and wait for the day when the Purple Princess will bring us back to the surface. Since a small part of the prophecy has come true, the rest should come true next."
"Then how can you guarantee that we can live till that day?"
"I don't know. So, eat first."
The Poltergeist was stunned for a moment, but soon realized that he was thinking about useless things.
She sighed, took off her helmet, and took another bite of the dried cockroach. While feeling the bitter taste and the rare meat flavor in her mouth, she turned her head to look inside the Purple Palace.
The Purple Palace is the only functioning facility in the Bayerjans Empire besides the drilled water wells, but even so, only a quarter of the palace's structure is still usable.
Part of the palace area is used as a memorial hall, which contains countless cultural relics, books, important knowledge, relics of great men, and art belonging to Bayerjans that were rescued after Bayerjans sank into the ground.
The other part of the palace area was a sanatorium for the seriously injured. The few seriously injured who survived and were not corrupted would be sent to the deepest part of the cleanest Purple Palace for treatment. The Poltergeist didn't know exactly how many people were alive. She only knew that the ground of the mushroom garden would always be turned over and filled after someone was sent to the deepest part.
There is also a part of the palace area, which is said to be the bedroom of Constantine XII and successive emperors.
The place was tightly sealed with dust, and was filled with ancient scrolls that recorded the names of victims from past dynasties.
If nothing unexpected happens, the notebook in the hands of the mysophobia guy will also be put in for storage.
The elders said that we must not forget any of the victims. If someone brings firewood to the victims in the snow and ice, we must not let them freeze to death at home. Even if it is too late when we find them, we should at least record their names for future generations to admire.
The elders also said that there would be countless nameless victims, because in many cases we simply cannot tell who is missing and who is truly dead.
Sometimes the living and the dead were so pale that they couldn't tell who was who. Sometimes they even had to dig out half-digested corpses from the stomachs of high-level demons to piece them together - they also had to pay their respects to these nameless dead. But maybe the dead could only receive the same respect.
The elders finally said that the Purple Princess would definitely come back. She would lead us to the ground, so that our descendants could grow up in the sun, instead of fantasizing about the color of the sun in the dark.
Poltergeist remembered it clearly. She had remembered it clearly since she was a little girl.
But, will Princess Purple really come
Living on the ground, which is like a paradise on earth, would the Purple Princess really be willing to come for ordinary people like us, fight alongside us, and take the responsibility of getting us back to the ground
I heard there are many horrible things on the surface. Severe winters, natural disasters, famine, plague...
I heard that those horrible things are scarier than demons, but the elders also said that no matter how scary those things are, it is better than letting us continue living underground.
Does Princess Purple really have the ability and willingness to support the Byerjans, who now know nothing about the surface, to re-adapt to the environment on the ground, overcome future difficulties, and finally rebuild their own country
The poltergeist lowered his head and reached out to grab the clothes of the germophobe. She was confused and uneasy, but all she could do now was to continue to lead the people to fight against the devil in the name of nobility.
The Mysophobe looked at the Poltergeist and just placed his hand on her shoulder.
Just as the two were silent, suddenly, there was a commotion outside the door.
The two looked and saw a panting legionnaire.
He panted with joy, and before the two could ask any questions, he tore out these words from his throat:
"Flag Officer! The flag officer of the Second Eagle Flag Battalion is back! He brought a lock of hair from the Purple Princess, our elf ally, and said that the elves are ready to support us - we can return to the ground under the leadership of the princess!"
The soldier coughed in pain.
The two nobles were stunned.
Finally, they all rushed out of the door at the same time and rushed out of the palace together with all the Bayerjans running in the corridor.
Chapter 8: The Purple Royal Family of the Bayerjans, the Final Battle with the Devil 8K - 1
December 30th.