As Brian said, once it snows in Border Town, it will not stop.
Overnight, the town has been wrapped in a layer of white gauze. In the early morning, the snow weakened, and occasionally a few scattered snowflakes fell in the sky, but the sky was still gray. Thinking that the sun will not be seen for several months, Roland felt a little incredible.
This is simply unreasonable, he thought, although it is strange to find common sense in a world where witches have magical powers, but how do evil beasts affect celestial phenomena? It's a pity that he doesn't have a weather satellite to tell himself the specific distribution of cloud maps in the world now.
On the way to the western city wall, Carter couldn't help sighing: "The town has been deserted a lot, but a group of guys evacuated with the nobles."
"That's fine, at least they won't hold back," Roland said whitely, "I've already arranged for Barov to conduct a census this winter."
"what is that?"
"It's going to go door-to-door to do statistics, how many people are left behind, what are the names of each household, what occupations they are engaged in, and then register them," Roland explained, "In this way, whether it is wartime deployment of human resources, Whether it is to issue pensions after the war, it can be implemented quickly and effectively.”
"Uh... Human resources?" Carter blinked, then smiled, "Your Highness, you're really not the same as before."
"Oh?"
"In the past, although you would say things I didn't understand and do some inexplicable things, but in the end, it was something that was not in line with your status as a prince. Now..." Carter paused for a moment, as if thinking about the words, "No matter what. Whether it's those weird training rules you made, or the new test stuff you brought from the alchemy workshop, the results are surprisingly effective. Maybe this is what my grandfather said, the extraordinary is extraordinary because you can always see ordinary people Neglect. I have a feeling that maybe you really can be the next king."
"...Really," Roland suddenly felt a warm feeling in his heart. Is there anything more fulfilling than being recognized by his subordinates after struggling? For a moment he felt his hands and feet full of strength, and the gray sky was not so tiresome.
Walking up the city wall, the militia team was clearing the snow on the aisle, and when the prince appeared, everyone bowed and saluted.
They should be taught the military salute, Roland thought, "How was it last night?"
"No trace of the evil beast was found," answered him with Iron Axe, "His Royal Highness, according to past experience, after the first snow, we still have a relatively stable period. During this period, the number of evil beasts has not increased. There are many, and the alienated ones are mostly weak animals.”
Roland nodded, "Then continue to be vigilant."
The area behind the city wall has been transformed into a barracks. When the warning horn is not sounded, most people will rest in the camp to save energy. A rotation system is implemented for vigilance. Considering the low temperature in winter, each team only needs to conduct a two-hour patrol and guard for a new round.
These measures are all determined by Roland one by one. He had asked Brian and learned that Longsong Fortress had no plan to defend against the evil beasts. The most unlucky recruits are sent to monitor the movements of the beasts and stay on the city walls for a whole day. Therefore, slacking off and running away from time to time occur. In one winter, as many as 20 or 30 people were hanged for negligence or violating military orders.
As for the discovery of the traces of the evil beast, it was even more messed up, neither dividing the defense section nor assigning responsibility to the person. Thinking of the level of warfare in this era, Roland also understood. Extremely particular about personal bravery, emphasizing honor and capture, and even knights will charge themselves with blood, so don't ask too much.
After patrolling along the city wall, everything seemed to be going well so far, but Roland found that he had overlooked a problem.
That's the guide barricade.
These obstacles are still clearly leading the evil beast to the middle of the city wall, but if what Brian said is correct, two to three months of snow will always fill in all the obstacles. At that time, any point on the 600-meter defense line could become the path of the evil beast.
It is impossible to send someone down to clean up the snow. A few agile wolf-type demon beasts are enough to cause heavy losses to the team.
Maybe still have to rely on the power of witches.
Like having Nightingale sneak out of town with Anna, light a fire to melt the snow, and sneak back in—just like she smuggled Nana from Pine's house.
Just then, the observation post on the left side of the city wall called out.
"Look ahead!"
Roland and Carter looked at the location he pointed, and a small black shadow climbed out of the snow and slowly moved towards the city wall.
"Your Highness, do you want to..." The hunter in charge of the defense turned his head and asked.
"According to the previous drill, you should judge for yourself whether to sound the horn," Roland said, "and you are more experienced than me at this point."
He hesitated for a while, and finally just pulled the crossbow string and continued to observe while standing beside the city wall.
Roland nodded with satisfaction. As of now, the order on the city wall is still well maintained. I just don't know if they can quickly organize a defense according to the steps of the drill when a large number of evil beasts attack Border Town.
The shadow gradually entered, and when it was about fifty meters away from the city wall, Roland could already see the appearance of the evil beast.
Probably a fox variant
Its fur was gray-black, its eyes were red, and it came to the wall with white breath.
"It looks like this guy hasn't been eroded for a long time, and it's not a big threat," Iron Axe said while aiming his bow.
"You said that they were all infected by the breath of hell and were driven westward here?"
"It's not just westward," Carter said, leaning over. "When the gates of hell open in the wild, places that are not blocked by the Extremis Mountains will be attacked by evil beasts, especially the big gap in the north. The Extremis Mountains that stretch to this point are like It is generally cut off, the gap is more than ten miles long, and it is also the main direction of the evil beast's attack."
This manic monster lingered under the city wall for a moment, raised its head, grinned and let out a low growl at the crowd on the wall, just as it was about to jump, the iron axe let go of its bowstring, and a sharp arrow accurately penetrated its neck neck and pin it firmly to the ground.
Roland noticed that the blood flowing from it was black.
Why is it also eroded by the power of demons, the witch can save her consciousness after awakening, but the beast will become frantic, and the body will mutate at the same time? If there is a chance in the future, I must go to the back of the Extremis Mountains and take a look, he thought. In the prince's memory, it was a forbidden place where humans could not step, and it was the place where the gates of hell opened. However, since no one has been there, these rumors, which are mostly inferred from ancient books, cannot be verified at all, and their credibility is doubtful.