Two days ago, in Thallerion, Xerxez traveled to the land of Wendlock, but he was surprised by how much Wendlock had changed. Many trees had been cut down and converted into farmlands by the Ossibian inhabitants. Nonetheless, they embraced the reality of verdant rice paddies on the plains and even terraced fields in the mountains—which hadn’t been there before.

Dragonflies playfully darted across the breezy plains, and the sunlight was gentle. However, the sweet laughter of children playing nearby suddenly ceased!

The thunderous hoofbeats of horses, like an approaching storm signaling thunder and lightning to farmers, caused the Ossibians’ faces to contort upon their arrival. The clanging of shields and swords made the farmers halt their planting, and they gripped their farming tools tightly.

Xerxez and his company stopped in a spacious area surrounded by green vegetables. A soldier blew a trumpet to summon all the farmers and residents, but the pigs wallowing in the mud squealed and shuddered.

The Ossibians approached like long-horned goats, the Ossibian farmers thinking that the Thallerions’ visit to Wendlock brought not peace, but a fear that Xerxez’s soldiers might attack them, as they had heard that the alliance offered by Thallerion to King Matar had failed.

Xerxez wasted no time and immediately issued an order to all the Ossibians.

“Listen, all you Ossibians,” he called out to everyone listening. “I did not approve of King Matar’s conditions for the alliance I offered. I regret—” Xerxez surveyed the farmers and took a bold breath. “Cease your farming in Wendlock. Return to Ossibian.”

Many raised axes like war weapons, brandishing them before Xerxez, their farming tools gnashing like fangs, yet it was merely a jesting threat in the eyes of the Thallerion soldiers.

“We won’t agree! We’ll stay here!!!” The farmers’ individual arguments were deafening. They were like smoked bees, thrown into chaos by Xerxez’s command. “We won’t leave!!! We’ve lived here for a long time!” The farmers’ shouts continued.

“Perhaps you deceived our king, that’s why he didn’t agree to your rotten alliance!!!” shouted a man, still covered in mud from the rice paddy, holding a scythe. “This land is ours, you deceivers!!!”

“You have the gall to call us deceivers, when it’s you who are seizing land!!” General Phalleon retorted, raising an eyebrow while one arm rested on his holstered pistol. “Pack up and leave!!!!” The people clamored as if their world was ending. The women’s wails grew louder as they mourned the land of Wendlock.

“We’ll die before you make us leave!!!” yelled another Ossibian, clutching an axe and with a bolo at his waist. His blood boiled at Phalleon’s command.

“Fool, what can your axe do against our guns?” Phalleon sneered. He even drew his small pistol. “I won’t hesitate to use this on you!” Phalleon threatened when he saw them about to resist.

“Calm down, Ossibians!” Catana shouted. “Don’t blame us. Ask your king, and you will know the answer.”

“Retreat if you don’t want violence!” Vethor told the farmers, who looked ready to charge the Thallerion soldiers. He leaned against an orange tree, slicing and eating a ripe fruit with his dagger.

“Beloved King of Thallerion, please don’t make us leave this land.” A woman carrying a child knelt at Xerxez’s feet, pleading. Xerxez’s guards immediately rebuked and removed the woman. But she struggled, and Xerxez’s shoes were soaked with tears. Xerxez’s emotions were stirred, and he made a decision:

“Listen, all you Ossibians: I will grant you the coming harvest for the sake of your children and your hard work, but beyond that, you will no longer enjoy the prosperity of Wendlock.” Xerxez sighed and mounted his horse.

While Xerxez was busy getting into position on his horse, he didn’t notice a man, seemingly possessed by a demon, suddenly go wild, grab a sharp farming fork, and charge to stab Xerxez.

Bang!!! — Phalleon’s gun fired with lightning speed, killing the man with a shot to the back. Sheep scattered, running away. The gunshot echoed across the rice paddies, and sparrows flew off.

“Phew!!!” General Phalleon spat at the man sprawled at the feet of Xerxez’s horse. “I told you not to act like a madman!!!”

“May Corvus curse you!!!!” a woman cried, restrained by Xerxez’s soldiers but struggling, wanting to go to the dead man. “Curse you!!!!!!” she shrieked. Phalleon merely laughed, thinking that the Ossibian folktales about the entity Corvus—the raven in the heavens—were just stories.

The atmosphere in Wendlock curdled after the woman uttered Corvus. An ominous, bruising darkness swallowed the sun, and the breeze, once gentle, became a violent, whipping gale, tearing at the vegetable plants. Livestock, sensing an unseen terror, stampeded in a cacophony of panicked bleats and hooves, surging desperately into the maw of the cavern.

Amidst the stunned silence of the villagers, the dead man’s body began to writhe. He convulsed with an unnatural intensity, his limbs jerking as if seized by an invisible hand. Then, defying all laws of nature, he ascended, rigid and suspended in mid-air.

“You still alive?”

As Phalleon frightened, he shoot him and fell on the ground. However, a low, guttural rumble clawed its way from his throat, culminating in a single, ragged croak: “Crow!” His eyes were milky white, utterly devoid of life, and his mouth distended grotesquely as a viscous, black raven, its feathers slick and glistening, forced its way out. The bird’s eyes burned with a furious, crimson light, locking onto Phalleon with chilling intent before it shrieked and tore into the darkened sky.

“Disgusting!” Phalleon cried, his gut twisting with nausea at the sight. The grotesque emergence of the raven from the deceased’s mouth was an absolute abomination. “Did he actually eat that raven?”

The Ossibians who had planned to revolt against the Thallerion soldiers became scared and retreated. The women cried, and even the children cowered in fear at the gunshot.

“You shouldn’t have shot that man; you saw what the gunshot did to the children,” Xerxez said.

“I merely did what was necessary for a rebel like him, so that others won’t follow his example,” Phalleon said, breathing a sigh of relief, and putting his gun back in its holster.

“Soldiers, help them leave until the border of Wendlock,” Xerxez commanded, taking a deep breath.

“I will personally oversee the soldiers who will escort the Ossibians out of Wendlock,” Captain Vethor said. He sheathed his dagger at his waist and approached the soldiers to assist the Ossibians in their departure.

“The rain is about to pour, everybody hurry, pack up your things and carry your animals and pets.” Catana commanded to all Ossibian farmers.

As Xerxez saw the incoming heavy rain, he returned to the Thallerion kingdom, as he expected, the councils greeted him and asked him if he had successfully expelled the Ossibian farmers.

Afterward, he excitedly went to his wife in the chamber, but Perlend was not there.

“Where is she?”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep