Chapter 408 Live Well (4k)

"…So there aren't enough people entering the city!"

"What do you mean the number of people entering the city is not enough? Are you satisfied only if there are more massacres?" Carl grabbed Pettier's collar with red eyes and shouted.

Several Kush Black Knights rushed forward, grabbed Carl's arms and pulled him away.

Pettier, whose face was covered in sweat, panted and said breathlessly: “I mean, with the number of troops outside the city, more troops should have entered.

They currently only have an incomplete command company, a few hundred infantry knights and thousands of guards, which is obviously unreasonable.

If I were Arman, I would let the understrength Command Company stand guard outside and lead the full-strength Command Company into the city myself. How could I let the company captain Elad come to reap the spoils?
Besides, they had tens of thousands of guards, and Rapid City was so big that they should have deployed more troops so that they could capture the city gate faster.

Why did they only attack the city at the South Gate and the West Gate?

They have more than 30,000 people, why did they only send such a small number of troops? Where are the others? Why don't they enter the city?"

In fact, in the city at this time, there were only guards and infantry knights who were conscientiously taking down the castle towers one by one and seizing the city gates.

So far, only the South Gate and the West Gate have been captured, and the battle line has now advanced to the East Gate. Only the North Gate where Catherine retreated is still in their hands.

Instead, dozens of Imperial Knights in the Imperial Company led more than 200 Extraordinary Knights to slaughter and loot from house to house, loading the spoils in sacks more than one meter tall.

This broken city has been around for so long, and the knights looted it quickly, but they still only occupied half of the city. Even Carl felt something was wrong.

"Are you saying there's a problem with the church army in the city?" Carl's eyes lit up. "Can we drive them out of the city?"

"I mean there's something wrong with the defenders outside the city!" After catching his breath, Pettier's face flushed with a sickly red. "There is an imperial company in the city. We have suffered so many casualties. How can we fight back?"

"What do you mean?" Carl asked unhappily.

"If I'm not mistaken, the defenders outside the city should be just a few ordinary guards and the remaining farmers!" Pettier rubbed his hands excitedly, "Send a few Kush Black Knights to test the north gate. There must be a reason why they don't enter the city."

"Okay." Carl immediately called out a team of trustworthy Kush Black Knights, "They will be back in half an hour at the latest."

"Where is Lady Catherine? I need to report to her."

"The president was injured in a sudden attack by demon hunters at the East City Gate and is being bandaged in the tower." Carl pointed to the red brick tower in front of him, "I'm not sure which room she is in, you have to ask."

Before his racing heart could fully recover, Pettier pushed aside several guards in front of him and rushed into the blockhouse.

He hurried up the stairs to the second floor, two or three steps at a time, and under the guidance of the maid, he trotted into the meeting room.

The originally exquisite wool carpet was now filled with crying old, weak, women and children. Some wounded soldiers were applying medicine on their wounds, their foreheads covered with beads of sweat due to the pain.

These people were the core and most loyal members of the Magdi Chamber of Commerce, as well as the elderly, the weak, women and children from nearby neighborhoods. It was estimated that there were more than a thousand people inside and outside the blockhouse.

Carefully walking through the gaps between the scattered hands and feet and the wounded, Pettier arrived at the terrace outside the meeting room.

On the terrace outside the meeting room, Catherine took off her armor, put on her usual long dress, held the railing, and looked into the distance.

Flames and black smoke rose alternately, and knights galloped on their horses through the wide streets, hacking down the fleeing civilians.

Workshops, shops, restaurants, warehouses, those floats carefully preserved by various guilds of commerce, those piles of account books and books, all trembled under the swords and flames.

On the streets, the city guards and wizards were still defending with barricades, and most of the mercenaries had either surrendered or disappeared.

Catherine, who was stabbed by the witcher, stood on the terrace. Due to the poison, a piece of flesh on her arm was gouged out.

Catherine watched the city that she and her people had built brick by brick, collapsing bit by bit under the swords of the galloping knights.

"Rule Catherine, do you remember that you asked me yesterday why the offensive of the church army weakened?" Pettier walked behind Catherine and said directly without waiting for her to ask, "I know why!"

"Why?" Catherine didn't turn around, her voice was as tired as an old man.

Pettier excitedly told Catherine about his discovery, and then said, "If that's the case, I suspect the Savior Army has arrived. With the big fish of Saint Sun, Alman will give up Rapids City."

Catherine turned around suddenly, her eyes shining frighteningly: "You mean, the citizens can escape from the north gate."

Pettier looked over the railing at the wailing Rapids City and said in a deep voice, “Yes, there are peasant soldiers at the north gate. Let’s let the Kush Black Riders open the way and break the camp. Our people can withdraw, flee in different places, and hide in the forest.

I strongly recommend that you go north of the Lacey River, where the Saint Cousin Army has a stronghold, and our people can spread out and join up with other rebels in Hotham County."

"Our people? Only our people?"

Pettier smiled bitterly: "If we move quickly, we can evacuate the civilians in this nearby block. You have to know that the knights move too fast and we don't have time to take the civilians away.

They are still indulging in looting, and if they find that the citizens are trying to escape, they will do everything they can to intercept us...

So I think taking away two blocks is the best solution at the moment... Your Majesty?"

Looking at Catherine who was distracted in front of him, Pettier blinked his eyes, walked closer and called out again: "Your Majesty?"

Behind this tower, there are still thousands of guild clerks and craftsmen, and all the elderly, the weak, women and children in their families are gathered here.

Not far away, a few hundred meters away, dozens of guards were fiercely fighting with the city militia for a small stronghold.

At most they didn't have much time to escape.

Standing on the terrace of the tower, Catherine walked to the center of the terrace and asked the people in the room without thinking: "Everyone, I am a witch, are you afraid of me?"

The betrayal of a small group of wealthy businessmen and ordinary citizens is not the betrayal of the entire Rapid City.

Although these Juano civilians and craftsmen still did not dare to get too close to her, they were still willing to follow Catherine.

Everyone looked at each other for a while, and then someone said loudly: "Don't be afraid, you gave me my life, so I will give it back to you."

Catherine didn't answer, but just smiled softly, then took off the glasses Juanno gave her and wiped them in her hands.

The wind blew through her sleeves, making them flap, as if urging something.

Witches are monsters. Getting close to them will lead to all kinds of misfortunes. She has tasted this before.

Twenty years ago, she should have died on the roadside and become an unknown corpse.

But she was rescued by the trash-talking middle-aged monk who said, "You can die, but I gave you the food you owe me. How about you pay me back before you die?"

Although she was only ten years old at the time, Catherine didn't like owing anyone anything, so she followed him.

I didn't expect that I would owe it until now, and the food rations have not been paid back to this day.

Catherine rubbed the crack on the crystal glasses vigorously with a handkerchief, but it wouldn't go away.

"Your Majesty?" Pettier asked tentatively, "What should we do next? Should we go out of the city and join up with the Salvation Army? Or should we go find the rebels in Hotham County?"

Without answering Pettier's question, Catherine carefully put her glasses back on and remained silent for four or five seconds before abruptly starting an unrelated topic.

"I once asked the teacher why he took in orphans like us? He even couldn't get enough food to eat sometimes."

"He said his dream was too big and he couldn't do it himself."

"But what one Juano can't do, ten Blago monks can do, and what ten Blago monks can't do, a hundred Juano followers can do." "And so on, one spreads the word to ten, ten spreads the word to a hundred, and when there are a million or ten million, they will be able to do it."

Catherine looked at the distant Rapids City where people were fleeing and fires were everywhere. The sound was so distant that it seemed to come from the sky.

“So he took over the bankrupt Brago Abbey, and so there was the Juanoite Little Pond, there was the Juanoite Rapids, there was the Juanoite Cold Spring.”

"I used to be confused as to why the teacher would rather be hanged than stay out of the spotlight. At least with him around, Kasha County will not be divided."

"I now understand that one person really can't do everything..."

“When you have done everything you should do, there is only one thing left for you to do.”

Everyone present felt something was wrong. They looked at each other but didn't know what to say.

The gloomy light shone on Catherine's face. She squinted her eyes and looked at the sky covered with dark clouds.

Karl, who rushed in from outside, stretched out his hand and waved it in front of Catherine, his face stiff: “President, what are you talking about?”

Mitternich, who was standing next to him, grabbed his wrist, pulled him back a step, and looked at Catherine with a complicated expression.

"Rapids City was not built by me, but by the civilians of Rapids City."

"One witch Catherine cannot build a Rapids City, but ten thousand Rapids citizens can build a Rapids City, or even ten Rapids Cities."

Under the gloomy and hot sky, Catherine turned around and faced all the companions and guys from the Magdi Chamber of Commerce.

They have been following me since ten years ago, and have never wavered even after they knew my identity as a witch.

After ten years of training, their abilities are already sufficient to build a new Magdi Chamber of Commerce on their own.

Catherine finally understood the teacher's feelings that night.

I have done everything I could, and this is the last thing left - to pass on the torch.

"President, what exactly do you want to do?" Carl asked anxiously, probably sensing something.

Without answering, Catherine just nodded to Mitternich for the last time. After getting the response, she closed her eyes with peace of mind.

"President!"

"Your Excellency!"

The people on the terrace screamed.

The hot wind blew her long hair. Amidst the horrified gazes of everyone, she opened her arms, took a step back, tilted her body, and fell straight back from the edge of the roof.

Several Kush Black Knights rushed forward, squeezed to the edge of the roof, and tried to grab Catherine.

But just as they stuck their heads out from the edge of the roof, a fierce and harsh friction sound was heard, and strong winds and black shadows suddenly rushed towards their faces.

They screamed subconsciously and fell backwards, their backs hitting the ground heavily.

"Hiss!" Covering their painful backs, the black knights arched their bodies, raised their heads with grim expressions, wanting to see what it was.

That is?

In the city of Jiliu, filled with cries of killing and crying, there was an eerie silence in front of the North City Gate for a moment.

People looked up, staring blankly at Catherine who was held up seven or eight meters in the air by vines.

This time, all the blood-sucking vines did not avoid their mistress, but attached themselves to Catherine's wrists and ankles along the armor.

In everyone's sight, the blood-sucking vine with scarred leaves wrapped around Catherine's body like a water snake, and its sharp thorns pierced her skin.

These finger-thick blood-sucking vines suddenly shrank for a moment, but the next second, they seemed to have expanded to the thickness of an arm in the blink of an eye.

Mitternich could see clearly that Catherine's wrists, face, and calves were covered with scars left by the crawling vampire vines, and the witch's blood was dripping through the thorns into the vampire vines.

Horrible blue veins bulged out on Catherine's face and arms, and when she opened her eyes again, her pupils were completely black.

This is a sign that the witch is on the verge of losing control.

At this moment, the witch's magic power will reach an unprecedented peak.

Everyone seemed to be able to hear the vampire vines cheering and roaring.

Almost at the same time, the soles under my feet were shaking, and the gloomy sky seemed to shake along with it.

"boom--"

Screams of fear preceded the rise of long black shadows into the sky. They broke the floor tiles, pulled down the houses, and meandered endlessly toward the sky.

Bricks and flying rocks bounced around on the ground, leaves scraped across the ground, and countless vines as thick as arms rose up one after another.

The knights who were originally charging towards the civilians were swept up with their horses before they even had time to dismount, thrown high into the sky, and then fell to the ground.

There were sounds of heavy objects falling and blood splattering everywhere.

The civilians who fled or hid either screamed and lay on the ground, or jumped into wells or even rivers in panic.

Not until everything settled and a shadow loomed over their heads did they dare to raise their heads tremblingly and crawl out from under the trees or ditches.

But they did not run away immediately, but stared blankly at everything strange before them.

"Then, what is that?"

Amid the smoke and dust raised by the collapse of buildings and floor tiles, and the neighing of horses and the wailing of knights, a shadowy wall suddenly appeared before my eyes.

It was a wall made up of dense purple-red vines, which stood like guards on all the important roads leading to the north gate.

The vines danced wildly, enveloping an entire block near the north gate, forming a semicircular safe area.

Some brave civilians poked the vines with sticks, but before they could touch them, the wall of hideous vines gently opened a hole.

The civilians mustered up the courage to walk over without suffering any harm. The branches and leaves of the blood-sucking vines brushed across their backs, as if urging them to move forward.

The refugees who had fled into the cave with their backs bent raised their heads, forgetting to run away, and just looked at Catherine who was lifted up by the vines to seven or eight meters in the air.

Catherine, who sits on the float every year and throws coins at them, smiling like a little girl.

"Go, run! Escape as much as you can..."

Catherine's whispering voice reached everyone's ears, but was eventually swallowed up by the entangled vampire vines.

"Live, live well, live!"

(End of this chapter)