It can be seen that the dragon-toothed dog seems to have troubled the village for a long time. When the hunters carried the body of the dragon-toothed dog back to the village, the village was as joyful as a harvest festival, and the villagers even sent the hunters Welcome as heroes.
Even Tang Rui and Jem, who were strangers to the villagers, were invited to enjoy a steaming meal by the campfire.
The food in the village is very simple, just ordinary rye cakes. The hunters are working together to disembowel the dragon tooth fangs, cut them into palm-sized pieces, hand them over to the village women, put them on the bonfire for barbecue, and distribute them to the villagers for enjoyment. .
They didn't even waste the bones. They threw them into a large ceramic pot, boiled on high heat and skimmed off the froth, then sprinkled in a lot of wild vegetable leaves that Jem couldn't name, and turned it to a low heat to simmer slowly. It didn't take long for it to be delicious The broth is done.
Although the soup will be more flavorful if it is boiled for a while, the villagers obviously don't have this patience, and they all urge to boil the pot quickly.
Perhaps it was because of the heavy snow that closed the mountains, the villagers seemed to have not enjoyed such rich oil and water for a long time. When Tang Rui and Jim had only had a sip or two of the soup, they had already dropped their wooden bowls with the wheat biscuits Some gluttonous children had the audacity to go to the village woman and beg for another bowl of broth.
"You believe in the God of Harvest, right?" When Jem entered the village, he found a statue like a totem pole at the entrance of the village. If there are more than one hundred people, and all of them faithfully believe in the God of Harvest, the Wheatear Garden (the Church of the God of Harvest) will erect this statue at the entrance of the opposite village.
This thing is a relatively common symbol of honor. At the same time, when the gods perform miracles, the god statues will also share a little power, which will have a little effect on the villagers. Other gods have similar things, if compared to the Church of the God of Games, it is probably equivalent to the resurrection stone.
Jem asked the middle-aged hunter sitting next to him strangely: "I heard that the God of Harvest performed miracles this year. Villages of faith like yours that are recognized by the Wheat Garden should have a good harvest. Why? You seem to be living a tight life?"
"Because the state religion of the Valla Empire is the Chongbai Church, in addition to the Wheatshoe Garden, our village also has to pay the Chongbai Church's tithe, plus the need for the 'One Year War' between the Chongbai Church and the Glory Temple. Hoarding military rations, so this year Chongbai Church’s taxes are relatively heavy. After paying the taxes to those tax officials, we naturally have nothing left...” At this point, the middle-aged hunter suddenly came back to his senses, and found that he almost lost his heart. The complaints from the two churches were spoken out, and they couldn't help but break out in a cold sweat, and said casually: "Hey, you are a child, why ask such a thing!"
"Just curious." Jem responded, and then asked, "They have bullied you so much, why don't you even dare to say a word of complaint?"
"Don't talk nonsense if you don't understand!" The middle-aged hunter shook his head helplessly, leaning into Jem's ear and confessing: "The gentlemen in the city say that God and the church are one, and insulting the church is blasphemy! If you are caught, you will be hanged on the city wall!"
Jem frowned: "So you are cowardly, and you can only live in such a bitter way?"
"You kid, why do you speak so badly? What do you mean by idly living? When there is no war, life in our village is quite good." The middle-aged hunter was naturally unhappy when Jem told him: "Only when there is war. Additional taxes will be collected... Do you know what war is? It will kill people, and of course you have to eat and drink enough before sending those soldiers to die."
"Humph… "
Jem snorted softly, but didn't answer.
How can he not understand war? You must know that he and Tang Rui lost their families and went into exile because of the "One Year War" mentioned earlier. If they hadn't been taken in by the Church of the God of Games, they might still be picking up garbage outside Viktor City to eat!
"Jem, don't you want to eat it? This cake is quite delicious." Tang Rui, who was not involved in the discussion, bit into the hard rye cake, but was not interested in the barbecue that their villagers coveted. .
After all, the most popular food in the nameless town is barbecue. Although the heavy oil and salt are very tasty, they are almost tired of eating it after a long time. This is why the gray fjord fish soup, which the frogmen have no seasoning, has become popular among players recently. the main reason.
Jem tasted a piece of rye cake, and thought it tasted just like the cookies his mother used to bake him at home, except that it was as hard as a rock.
Thinking of his parents who were engulfed by the flames of war with his cozy hut, Jem felt a little pain in his heart that he thought he had healed.
If I could have known the existence of the God of Games earlier, and believed in that god with them earlier, my parents would not have died...
Jem glanced at the villagers again, and once again deeply felt the greatness of the God of Games. You must know that before, he always took the adjective prefixes that were touted in the system when referring to the God of Games as a joke.
Although it may not be comparable to the God of Harvest in terms of mass production, the God of Games also gives players who believe in him a rich life, and unlike these believers of the God of Harvest, they can only watch the fruits of their labor Being taken away by others, the God of Games also gave believers the power to resist. Various dungeons and activities seem to teach players that no matter how tortuous the road to victory is, they have the right to fight for themselves!
In this world, there is no such thing as "differences do not conspire", but Jem also knows that the villagers in the village with the totem of the God of Harvest at the entrance of the village are almost impossible to change their beliefs, so he did not persuade these villagers to convert to the God of Games idea.
Get ready to say goodbye after this meal. At most, I will catch some animals and give them to these villagers as a reward.
Just when Jem was thinking this, suddenly a panicked figure ran over from not far away. Because he was so panicked, the other party even accidentally knocked over a brazier, and the bang when the brazier fell to the ground shocked everyone His attention was subconsciously directed there.
"Nort, aren't you in charge of guarding the entrance of the village?" The old man who looked like the village head came out and asked the panicked visitor.
"No, no, it's not good!" The villager was trembling all over, his beetle-like black eyes were filled with unconcealable horror: "The barren mountain bandits are coming!"
As if the mute switch was pressed, the villagers who were still very noisy suddenly became quiet. The whole scene was only the crackling of firewood burning, and the silence was very strange.
"How far are they from the village?" After being dazed for a moment, the old man asked seriously.
"No, no, it's not far away!" The villager was almost frightened into tears, and said heart-piercingly, "It's almost there!"
The news was like stabbing a hornet's nest. The villagers were so frightened that they ran around immediately, trying to hide or escape from the village before the bandits arrived.
"Don't panic, don't panic!" The old man tried his best to maintain order: "As long as we hand over the food, the barren mountain bandits will not kill people casually!"
But it was obviously useless, and the villagers were still in a panic.
At this time, there was only a loud bang, and the whole ground seemed to tremble.
Everyone was startled by the sound, and looked blankly at the place where the sound came from. There were two teenagers with indifferent faces sitting there.
One of them was a slightly shorter brown-haired boy in a white robe, holding a metal cross like a war hammer in his hand. At this time, the end of the cross made a pit the size of a casserole pot on the ground. The source of the loud noise should be That's it.
"Thank you for your hospitality." Another blue-haired boy who was slightly taller also stood up, stretched out his tongue to lick off the cake crumbs on his lips, and drew out the long sword behind his back.
"As a thank you, leave those thieves to us." Jem looked at the foolish looks of those villagers, smiled slightly, and walked towards the entrance of the village with Tang Rui.
"Wait a minute! The Barren Mountain Bandit is not an ordinary bandit!" The middle-aged hunter who was chatting with them before hurriedly stopped him.
"It's all right, we're not ordinary kids," Jem replied, emphasizing the word kids.
"Yes, yes, let me declare in advance that we are very strong."
Tang Rui also grinned, as if to show that he was strong, he stretched out his arm and made a "swelling muscle" movement, but the arm that was as thin as a hemp rod did not give people the slightest hint of strength. Feel…
The faces of the other villagers were not very good-looking, but it was too late to stop them at this time, because the barren mountain bandits had already rushed to the entrance of the village.
It wasn't until this time that Jem saw the whole picture of the so-called barren mountain bandits.
To put it simply, they are thieves wearing rags and riding chocobos, but they are different from the yellow and emaciated villagers. These thieves obviously eat well and are quite strong. Their weapons are all long sabers that are easy to swing on birds.
This aggressive appearance is similar to the cavalry on the earth. The infantry has been completely overwhelmed by the opponent just by their aura. When facing them, the psychological pressure is very high, and the chocobo has a strong breakthrough ability. Strictly speaking It is even stronger than the cavalry of the same weight in ancient times on the earth.
But for Tang Rui and Jem, there was no sign of fear at all.
The reason is simple.
"Why is it only level 5? It's too good." Tang Rui raised his long sword: "I can hit these guys with a hammer!"
"Their birds have level 8." Jem, who was a cleric, set the tone for the battle later: "Hit their bird's head first."
So it was obvious that the battle hadn't started yet, and those barren mountain thieves galloping looked at the two teenagers standing in front of them, apart from being contemptuous and funny, they felt a faint pain in the ass for some reason...