Blood tax

Chapter 10 Blood Tax

The stiff corpses were scattered all over the village, motionless.

"They have lost their vitality," Galadia leaned over and observed it carefully for a while, "I can't feel the surge of power and magic."

……

These monsters raised from the dead have completely lost their life.

The terrified villagers surveyed the horrific scene in the village in horror until the village chief beat the gong and called them out of their homes.

With dark circles under his eyes, Griffith took off his helmet and leaned against a corner to rest.

During the battle last night, he found that the goblins whose heads had been chopped off did not come back to life, and fell to the ground as they were.At dawn, he insisted that he chopped hundreds of heads with his own hands and piled them on a small car.

His forehead was hit by a stone during the battle, and although he was wearing armor, he was still smashed to death.Dry blood covered half of his face, and his right hand, right chest and shoulder were full of wounds. Although the double armor blocked the fatal attack, it still left him with numerous wounds and bruises.

"Don't move, I'll take a look!" Galadia checked around and confirmed that there were no new enemies. Then she came to the apprentice knight, helped him untie the damaged leather armor, and took off the mail to look carefully. Look at his wound, "I'll put some medicine on you, don't move."

The elf took out a green salve and applied it to Griffith's wound.The comfortable coolness came, and Griffith was about to praise him, but the wound immediately turned into a burning pain.

"Ah! It hurts, why is it so painful!?" Griffith grinned and asked, "Shouldn't the elves' elixir be as comfortable as eating pudding?"

"Who told you? He lied to you~ Your leather armor is about to shatter," Galadia's fingers slowly ran across the apprentice knight's wound, "You are really bruised and bruised... Obviously wearing two Layer armor, there are still so many bruises and wounds."

"Armor is not omnipotent. I heard that the magic shield can achieve comprehensive defense," Griffith felt the slender and cold hands wandering on his body, the whole person became agitated, and said a little embarrassedly, "Next, you will Are you going to search their lair?"

"Well, the number of goblins guarding the lair should be greatly reduced. And they are not mindless beasts. After being forced to fight such a bloody battle, when the survivors flee back to the lair with the news, many will flee the original one. Clan." Galadia looked at her strong and strong body, "The lines are good, it would be better if there were not so many wounds. Hurry up and put on your clothes."

"Look! Look!" The excited shouts of the militiamen suddenly sounded on the earth wall at the head of the village.

An armed procession came from a distant road.They consisted of dozens of civilians armed with spears and wooden shields, with a samurai in leather armor at the front of the line.

The village chief ran over as soon as he saw the team, held the hand of the leading warrior and said excitedly, "I've been waiting for you all."

"How is the situation in the village, where did the monsters go?" The samurai leading the team looked at the large bloodstains on the ground in the village and was quite surprised, "We were attacked by some goblins last night, and several people were injured. "

"I was driven away. Many people died in the village. Finally, thanks to these two!" The village chief brought the warrior to Griffith and Galadia. More than 200 goblin heads were piled up not far from the two of them, and the warriors and militiamen were horrified to see them.

"I'm the captain of the Izmir militia, a warrior of the Aiden family, are you a soldier of the Eastern Legion? Great!" The warrior looked at Griffith first, and nodded with satisfaction, "This is the elf? I really didn't expect to bother Your Excellency Ranger."

Galadia nodded slightly to the samurai, then patted Griffith on the shoulder and turned to the hut on the side: "I want to rest for a while, let me know when I leave."

……

A few hours later, Griffith and Galadia followed dozens of militiamen out of Manisa and headed toward the hills.Wulan, who was in a suspicious situation, was kept in the house by the villagers and looked after by the nuns.

Galadia has already grasped the location of the goblin's lair, but she can find it even without everyone.

A few goblins had escaped from the village during last night's battle, and intermittent bloodstains stretched from the village to the depths of the woods.After entering the forest, from time to time, one or two dead goblin bodies could be seen.Footsteps and blood were dense, and it looked like the creatures didn't scatter as they fled.

"They're still organized," Griffith said grimly. "Did you notice? Even after being hit as badly as last night, they can still come together to escape."

"We eliminated their shamans in the battle last night," Galadia walked in the lead as a hunter, checking for any traps set by the goblins along the way, "in this case they are still It will move towards the nest in a group, indicating that there are other upper species there."

"A goblin warrior?" said the samurai leading the militia, "I heard the instructor say that this is a very strong goblin, be careful if you encounter it. But this is unreasonable, and it should not be with such combat power. Throw in last night's battle and keep the shaman behind the lair?"

"That's right..." Galadia tilted her head in confusion, "But it's even more strange that there won't be two shamans in a lair. Goblins don't pay much attention to treasures and lairs in fact. .”

Griffith thought for a while and said, "This shows from another aspect that the target of the goblins is you. Outside of the plan to besiege the village, it is not ruled out that you will go directly to the lair, so some forces are left behind. .”

The elf's eyes fluctuated for a while, and he remained silent.

After walking for a while, the militia captain remembered something and asked the two of them, "I heard that some adventurers have received missions before I set off. How are their conditions?"

Griffith briefly explained the situation of the adventure team.After what happened last night, Ulan was detained in the village, where she was cared for by a nun trainee.The remains of their companions have also been collected, waiting for the local stationed mage and official agencies to investigate.

After the militia captain heard it, he just sighed softly and had nothing to say.

The fighting on the Eastern Front lasted for five years.In the eastern provinces closest to the battlefield, citizens who refuse military service or corvée will lose their right to inherit and hold public office.If healthy young people of school age do not want to be conscripted into the meat grinder-like Eastern Front, they can only choose to flee their hometowns and become adventurers.

Relatively speaking, adventurers will accept tasks of different difficulty according to their strength, from slaughtering giant rats in sewers to driving away monsters that attack villages.

The difficulty of the task is actually difficult to assess.The official agency issuing the quest can only describe the power of the monster based on reports from villagers and merchants.It is also common for adventurer squads to suffer casualties in battle.

When the adventurers return to the town with their dead and wounded companions and intelligence, the officials will understand what they are facing, and accordingly send militias or apply for regular army support.

"Your world is really dangerous~" During the break, Galadia sat under a big tree and looked at the tired militiamen and said, "The novice of mankind has only received a few years of combat training and does not have sufficient knowledge. Start fighting with the equipment, and then you can't run fast when you encounter an opponent that is difficult to defeat."

"Yeah." Griffith nodded.

"That means there are a lot of you, otherwise you would be extinct long ago if you lined up to die," the elf girl gently rubbed her ankle, "I don't cherish my own life."

"If they don't become adventurers, most of them can only become farmers or auxiliary soldiers in the army," Griffith said, checking the equipment, "We have been fighting in the East for several years, this area is close to the front line. , is the main source of supplies and auxiliary troops. The local people rely on the output of the land to pay taxes and make a living very hard. Although adventurers are dangerous, the bounty they get can buy a lot of good things locally. "

"You know very well~ Have you considered becoming an adventurer?" Galadia leaned her head on her knees and looked at the apprentice knight beside her, hugging her slender legs.

"I am the second son of a feudal knight who owns a territory. Although I have no inheritance rights, I have also attended state schools and received systematic combat training." Griffith shook his head. "When I was 12 years old, the army recruited me to join the Free junior officer school, when I was 15 years old I was sent to the battlefield as a Shutoral, that is, a young guard."

"Well~" Galadia nodded, "I know that, if no one in the family generation serves the kingdom and the army, the entire family will be deprived of fiefs and titles. This is a tax that is not paid in the form of currency. What is it called in the human language?"

Griffith tilted his head back, leaned against the tree trunk, and said softly:

"Blood tax."

(End of this chapter)