The journey from Fields Holy City to Pudalla is long, with more than a dozen cities of varying sizes in between. Apart from these cities, there are almost no villages or settlements between them.
Because they live in the wilderness and have no high walls to protect them, they will be robbed by bandits and attacked by suddenly appearing monsters once the winter tide comes.
Living outside the city is very dangerous.
However, there are still some poor people who cannot settle in the city and can only live in exile. These people are called "savages".
They live in the unprotected wilderness, relying on hunting or planting for a living. They often cannot fill their stomachs and are all skinny.
Their short lives may end in hunger, disease, or the hands of bandits and monsters. Only a very lucky few can escape those dangers and survive a few more years in the harsh environment.
When Murray followed the Golden Lion Mercenary Group to the Holy City of Fields to receive the goods, he passed by this area. A dozen wild men used to live here. They opened up several small fields here and planted some vegetables and food.
Now, when they came here again, this small savage settlement had been destroyed.
"It should have been robbed by a gang of robbers. Looking at these knife marks and footprints, it should be a small gang of robbers."
The mercenaries checked the ruined settlement for a while and came back to report to the leader, "Most of the things have been taken away, and only some rotten vegetable leaves are left in the fields."
"Have those bandits gone mad due to poverty?"
"Hahahahaha! Those little bandit gangs aren't just crazy because they're poor. They're not much different from savages!"
Regular mercenary groups have always looked down on those small bandit groups that robbed wild people - they are basically all wild people, and they became bandits when they were a little braver. At least bandits are better than ordinary wild people.
In the barren wasteland, humans, like other animals, are prey that can be hunted. Compared with those vigilant animals, wild men are the easiest to hunt.
So, there was not even a single body in this destroyed settlement, they were taken away as prey.
"Pack up and rest here tonight. Keep your eyes open and don't let those wild dogs get close to the goods."
Wild dogs also refer to those robbers.
Since it was not a medium-sized or large bandit group, the leader of the mercenary group didn't care much and directly ordered his men to rest here tonight.
The rest of the people also got used to it. They dismantled the broken sheds built by the savages and used them as firewood. Some people even went to the fields to look for some undamaged vegetables and brought them back to make soup.
Since they won't eat them anyway, the vegetables in the field will only end up benefiting the surrounding wild animals.
Merry followed them and ate meat for several days, but she couldn't digest it well and had a stomachache for a day. She was quiet all the time, curled up in the cage without making a sound, and silently endured the pain. After all, this pain was nothing compared to the pain of her mother using magic to infuse the fairy life.
During the break yesterday, Murri, who was guarding her, handed her the barbecue as usual. Seeing that she didn't take it, he was a little puzzled. After thinking about it, he helped her tear the barbecue into small pieces and handed it to her.
Mary, who was suffering and unable to eat, had no choice but to say to him, "I can't eat, you eat it."
Then he ate it in silence.
Since yesterday, Mary hadn't eaten anything. She could feel hungry, but the pain was too much to eat. It was time to rest and eat again. Mary held her stomach, thinking that today would probably be barbecue again.
If it continues like this, she might die.
Murri went to get food as usual. The others had already seen how big his appetite was, but they couldn't help but be amazed when they saw him constantly putting barbecue on the plate.
After taking the barbecue, Murri saw someone stewing soup nearby. He paused for a moment and took a bowl over.
"I want a bowl of soup."
When the person making the soup heard the voice, his hands trembled. He turned around and saw his tall figure. The corners of his mouth twitched again. Without saying anything, he scooped him a large bowl of soup.
After Murri left with the soup and meat, the man stirred the soup in his hand and muttered to the man, "No wonder Murri doesn't like to talk. His voice doesn't suit him at all."
"Click." Mary heard the cage door open, opened her eyes, and a bowl of hot soup was placed in front of her.
Small pieces of meat, green leaves, and white roots were mixed together in the hot soup.
She put aside the thoughts about death in her mind, struggled to get up and drank the bowl of soup.
As expected, the little bit of meat left at the bottom of the bowl was eaten by Murray. After just a few days of getting along, Mary discovered that he would not waste any food.
This is a world where survival is difficult. People's lives are much more difficult than in her original world, and food is hard to come by.
During the break, the mercenary members came over to see her as usual.
"Muri, how did you take care of the goods? Look at her face. Is there plaster or something? It's so dirty that you can't even see her face clearly!"
"Yeah, why don't you wipe her face, how can this be seen!"
The two men who came made the same complaints as yesterday.
Ever since Meili deliberately rubbed her face with black ash and made herself dirty, fewer and fewer men came to see her. Muri, who was in charge of guarding her, was cold and indifferent to everyone, including her.
He wasn't protecting her out of pity or anything, he was just watching over her to prevent the goods from getting damaged.
The leader also came to take a look. Unlike the other mercenaries whose minds were full of women's bodies, he looked at her with an evaluation and consideration, a look that was looking at valuable goods.
"When we get close to Pudala, remember to change her clothes and wipe her face, so that she won't be embarrassed and have to pay for it."
At night, Mary couldn't sleep because of her stomachache.
She heard the crackling of a campfire in the camp, the breathing of Muri leaning against the cage, the snoring of a nearby mercenary sleeping, and... the sound of footsteps approaching slowly.
Someone is coming towards the truck carrying the goods.
She got up and saw a few fingers stained with oil and blood lifting the curtain and clinging to the chrome railing.
She was startled and was about to remind Muri who was sleeping on the side, but when she looked up, she saw that there was no one on the side where Muri was leaning, and the fingers that were grabbing the railings rolled into the cage, spilling blood all over the floor.
Someone outside screamed in pain, waking up all the mercenaries in the camp.
"It was a surprise attack by a bandit group!"
“Get up, get up!”
"A surprise attack by a band of robbers!"
The awake mercenaries banged their shields and iron swords hard, and the entire camp woke up.
There were constant screams from outside the black cloth. Mary stared at the severed fingers in the cage and recalled the scene of her mother, Mrs. Peg, killing people and taking their hearts.
She covered her mouth to suppress the urge to vomit, kicked the fingers out of the cage, and with trembling hands lifted the black cloth to look outside.
It was a mess outside. All she could see was a bandit holding a knife and looking fierce in front of her. He was wearing ragged clothes and a torn leather armor, and had a shaved head. He didn't look like a mercenary at all. He was undoubtedly a bandit.
The robber was raising his knife to attack Murray.
The man, as tall as a hill, raised his hand to catch his knife and broke the blade as easily as breaking a branch. Then, he used his broad palm to press down the robber's head and slam it against a nearby tree.
Mary heard the sound of fruits being smashed.
She lowered the black cloth and covered her mouth more tightly.
The battle outside was over, and the camp was lit with torches again, becoming lively again. Someone was collecting the bodies, and the men handling the bodies were whispering and talking under a nearby tree.
"Muri killed him? He was too strong!"
"Yes, just now, the man's head and the tree were smashed together."
Afterwards someone came to check if the goods were intact.
She was also examined, and Murray, who sat back down, said, "It's all right."
No one dared to ask him to lift the curtain and take a look.
In the second half of the night, Meili also couldn't fall asleep. Her body had a keen sense of smell and could smell the strong smell of blood, which lingered in her nose long after she left the camp. Then she realized belatedly that the smell of blood came from Muri, and his cloak was stained with blood.
After the blood dried, it blended into his black and gray cloak like an ordinary stain.
The night attacks by bandit groups happened more than once. A few nights later, they encountered another bandit group, probably a small one. The battle ended soon.
This time, because the robbers didn't touch this side, Murray didn't do anything. He sat motionless outside the cage and slept. Meili hid behind him and heard him snoring softly, listening to the screams.
Halfway through the journey, Meili began to adapt to the hasty journey and the unpalatable food. If everything went smoothly, she would be sent to a noble mansion in Pudala in half a month and become a pet or other consumable item.
This seemed to be an outcome she could not resist.
On the sixteenth day of their journey, the Golden Lion Mercenaries encountered a magical beast.
It was a mad mountain of flesh that suddenly stood up from the woods and rushed towards the mercenaries. The mercenaries were completely unprepared, and two people were trampled into pulp by the monster on the spot, along with their horses.
"It's a monster! How could a monster appear at this damn time!" The leader's eyes were bloodshot, and he was crying out in his heart that he was unlucky. Normally, monsters would only cross the polar range and come to the vicinity of cities where people live during the winter tides.
They encountered an unexpected situation!
"Watch the cargo carefully. Anyone who dares to run will be killed!" The leader drew his sword and shouted, "Use bows and arrows! You idiots! Stop it quickly!"
More than a dozen people raised their bows and shot arrows, but they only slightly stopped the terrifying monster. Seeing that several more people had died, the leader could not bear it anymore and wanted to retreat. He turned around and shouted, "Muri, where is Muri? Why don't you come over to help?!"
In just a moment, he came up with a plan. Let Muri stop the monster, and they would take the goods and leave. If Muri was sacrificed, the rest of them would be able to survive.
Even a large mercenary group would suffer heavy losses if they encountered something like Warcraft. They are only a small or medium-sized mercenary group, and if they are not careful, they might lose their lives.
He only knew that Murri was good at killing bandits, but he didn't know if he could stop the monster. Now he could only pray that this young and gullible thug could stop the monster for a while longer.
Although it was a good idea, when he turned around, he didn't see Murri and thought he had run away, so the captain started cursing.
Only Mary knew that Muri had quietly entered the woods and sneaked up behind the monster when no one was paying attention.
Muri came behind the Warcraft and pulled out two white bone spurs from his waist with both hands. Those were his weapons.
Two bone spurs pierced into the monster's hard scales and accurately penetrated into the gaps. With the help of these two bone spurs, he quickly climbed onto the monster's shoulder, crossed his hands, and cut open its neck.
His movements were so fast that it was dizzying.
It took only the blink of an eye for the captain and others to see him suddenly appear behind the monster and discover that he had cut the monster's neck.
Some people were foolishly shooting arrows, which hit the monster's thick scales and bounced off.
The neck of the monster, which was also covered with scales, suddenly spurted out a line of blood under Muri's hands, and Muri jumped off the monster's shoulder in the blood rain. Half of his body was stained with the monster's blood, and a winding blood mark flowed down on his snow-white skull.
Shaking off his blood-stained cloak and putting his weapon back on his waist, Muri walked back to the cage-carrying vehicle under the astonished gaze of the captain and others, and sat back in his seat silently and steadily.