Ch. 47 - Burden
"Ancient rivers once flowed before your eyes,
Towering mountains made you halt in awe;
No matter when you stopped upon this path,
You now rest in your golden homeland."
Beneath the crisp, mournful melody,
Within the deep, gentle singing voice,
Before the oak tree with its swaying golden branches, Tang Qi placed a freshly plucked leaf upon the newly erected tombstone.
An old man past seventy, his temples graying white yet his waist still ramrod straight, placed a sacred emblem against his chest and murmured:
"Gragas the Intoxicated, we beseech Your grace to release the deceased from death's shackles, to enter the heavenly realm of joy and wine, and through Your mercy to enjoy eternal happiness."
The silent dwarf poured a final cup of starberry wine before the tombstone.
This also signified that the prayers for the departed had come to an end.
"He was not a good man."
Father Lynn stated the truth.
"Nor was he a good father."
After a moment of silence, he finally looked toward the young woman standing before the tombstone, maintaining her unbroken silence.
In the end he chose to sigh:
"But at least he loved you deeply."
Catherine nodded gently. From her expression, one could not glimpse her inner thoughts.
Before outsiders, she always maintained this measured, courteous demeanor.
She took out a bulging purse:
"Thank you for your help, Father Lynn. This is a donation for the church—"
Father Lynn merely waved his hand:
"Child, I am not a qualified priest. I lack the ability to cast divine magic for him or cleanse the dark erosion.
Herbs cannot redeem his soul. What I've done now can only be counted as a helping hand after being powerless to save him.
Moreover, calling it a church donation...
When the monsters' iron hooves inevitably trample this small town, wealth will no longer matter."
Catherine didn't insist. As she withdrew the purse, she answered with a solemn bow:
"Then please pack your belongings immediately. When the time comes, we'll depart together and leave this place."
"No, child. I cannot go anywhere."
"Why?"
The old priest merely shook his head, looking toward the town beyond the courtyard—that town shrouded in fear—and answered:
"I've spent decades in this town, pouring out my youth and passion spreading the Lord's gospel.
It's because I truly hoped to bring joy and longevity to this land.
So I accepted the believers' devotion and donations, renovated that temple of fine wine, and did everything within my power to provide crude healing and faith to Starberry Town.
Then I cannot, in their moment of fear, leave this place and abandon them in pursuit of safety."
"But your staying here won't change anything."
Catherine clenched her fists, her voice trembling slightly.
"Everything here will be reduced to ashes under the orcs' plunder."
"Then let me die alongside them, leading them to the wine heaven."
"But—"
"Ahem, sorry, please allow me to interrupt."
Harboring various doubts, Tang Qi had no choice but to interject into their conversation.
"Why insist on staying here? Taking everyone in the town to leave together—wouldn't that make everyone happy?
Based on my observations, those giant tortoises' movement speed is actually quite slow.
If my deduction is correct, they'll arrive at the earliest by noon tomorrow.
Even if we need to prepare food and essential supplies for the journey and travel by ox cart, we'd still be faster than giant tortoises crawling.
The orcs are migrating from the southern part of the forest. As long as we head north into the forest, take a detour for a few days, then proceed to Longgold City, we should be able to avoid them—
There's enough time. You could completely take the townspeople and leave. There's no need to stay here waiting for death, right?"
Why instead adopt this air of heroic self-sacrifice?
Catherine and Father Lynn exchanged glances, then quickly sighed and explained:
"But all of this is premised on our ability to find our way through the forest."
Tang Qi couldn't help but click his tongue.
The [Truesight Eye Potion]'s effects had long since faded. At least right now, he had no way to see through the forest's fog again.
It was also impossible now to record a story in the journal and gamble on it granting another potion with equivalent effects—
The [Journal] required stories with a beginning and end, with proper dramatic structure.
Obviously, he'd at least need to escape and get away from the orcs, waiting until things settled down, before having any chance of receiving a reward.
And he couldn't guarantee that the reward received would definitely be what he wished for.
"Since entering the forest might lead to getting lost, and staying here means waiting to be plundered—either way it's death, so why not die later?"
Father Lynn shook his head and brought up the decision temporarily issued by Steward Huss, who had fled back to Starberry Town before Tang Qi returned:
"After the steward and the young lord retreated to the town, they quickly used some method of communication to notify Lord Merle, who was far away in Longgold City.
Lord Merle immediately reported this matter to Longgold City's council, requesting the city dispatch military support to prevent the orcs from discovering Starberry Town's location and causing territorial disaster."
Starberry Town was land under Longgold City's jurisdiction.
While paying taxes to Longgold City, it was also protected by the city's laws.
Dispatching military support when territory came under threat was explicitly stipulated in the law.
To take it a step further, even if Longgold City was unwilling to act—
Jointly keeping the orcs isolated beyond the southern Great Wall was the founding purpose of the [Lord's Alliance].
Now that orcs had appeared in Dawnmist Forest, it would have tremendous impact on the entire alliance.
Once they learned of this news, they would definitely monitor the orcs' movements in real time and launch a purge—
Of course, all of this was based on the premise that 'the message was actually transmitted.'
The priest continued:
"It's just that no one knows whether the orcs will discover the town, or when the military forces will arrive.
So Steward Huss issued orders for all able-bodied adults in the entire town to take up the farming tools and rakes at hand, ready to be conscripted into a temporary militia at any moment, to construct temporary defensive fortifications.
The remaining women and children were commanded to stay in the town, with everyone strictly forbidden from going outside."
"That's because I haven't told them yet—
Whether or not there's military support for the town, the orcs will definitely come."
Explosivewolf and the master-servant pair of Melade, in order to ensure their own safety, retreated to the village official's residence after returning to Starberry Town.
As a result, Tang Qi only saw a few mercenaries who had escaped with their lives guarding inside and outside the erected palisade.
Afterward, he first took Black Snake to the church. After receiving the verdict that nothing could save him, he finally buried him beneath the Golden Oak.
Throughout the journey, there was no time to report to the village—
Of course, he was also considering whether or not to report at all.
Now he stated with certainty:
"That chieftain's shoulder has a construct identical to the one on Melade's body. They can distinguish the correct path. Their target is this town."
Based on this reason, Tang Qi didn't even believe Longgold City would follow the law and send down a support force.
"But even if you told the nobles, what difference would it make?"
The priest who had spent his entire youth in this town clearly understood the land's lord better.
"Do you really expect that after hearing this news, they would magnanimously call on residents to pack their belongings and flee with them for refuge?
Of course not. They would only cast off these burdens.
They might even use these 'burdens' as shields for their escape."