Imperial Crown

The weather in the Bloody Highlands was as gloomy as ever.

The seriously injured soldiers did not camp by the lake like ordinary soldiers, but chose several houses for accommodation.

Now, outside a house, the soldiers of the Eagle Army gathered, most of them were from the First Battalion led by Mosingan, with trepidation in their eyes. When they saw Raven coming, they made way and saluted.

Raven nodded in return and walked through the crowd to the house.

As soon as he entered the house, he smelled a strong stench of rottenness, which was the smell of wounds festering.

The house was crowded with people, Eric, Simon, Link, and even Weisdong were there.

They gathered around the bed, chatting with Mosingan one by one, about what they had seen and heard in the Bloody Highlands in the past month, and the two tragic battles.

Talking, laughing, and joking, it was like an ordinary party, but when the eyes shifted, everyone had lingering sadness in their eyes.

Mosingan's face was sallow on the bed, and the bandage wrapped around his stomach was oozing yellow-brown pus. His face was covered with sweat, but his spirit was surprisingly bright.

Seeing Raven coming, Mosingan's eyes lit up and he shouted loudly:

"Baron!"

Although this voice was full of energy, it was like a hammer hitting a clay pot. It was loud, but it made people start to worry for no reason.

Everyone fell silent and silently stepped back a few steps to salute Raven.

Sitting next to Mosingan, looking at this soldier who had followed him from the beginning, seeing the wound on his stomach, Raven felt heavy in his heart.

This day is still coming.

The healing potion is not a panacea. It can't cure the wound infection. Mosingan's injury, he can't do anything.

Raven can say the words of ceremony, showmanship, and winning people's hearts for three days without repeating.

But at this moment facing Mosingan, he didn't want to say a word of this kind. It would be an insult to the soldier and also an insult to himself.

But maybe because he had told too many lies, he couldn't say anything when he was asked to speak from the bottom of his heart.

"You know your own body. I'm afraid I can't hold on for much longer." Facing death, Mosingan showed an open-minded smile: "Baron, before I die, I have one last thing to ask you."

"Tell me, no matter what, I will promise you." Raven stared into Mosingan's eyes.

Mosingan was silent for a moment, lowered his head and looked at the blood-soaked daylily pendant on his chest, and said in a hoarse voice: "Baron, please bury my body in the Rustwater Oasis."

"What?" Raven frowned and looked at Mosingan in surprise.

The others in the room were also stunned, not daring to believe what they heard.

Nord Province is located in the northwest border of the Keynes Empire. It has always had a tradition of ancestor worship and pays special attention to death.

Although it is not as good as "treating death as life", there has always been a custom of returning to the homeland for burial. No matter where you die, you must return to your hometown. This is the insistence of every Nord.

Only by being buried in your hometown can your soul return to the embrace of your ancestors.

"No!" Volaf was the first to step forward and objected, his words were excited: "If you bury me here, what will happen to your family? Your mother is still waiting for you at home. Do you want me to go back and tell her that her son didn't come back and was thrown out by us!?"

"Brother, don't worry, listen to me." Mosingan looked at Volaf with a smile, comforting this old friend: "Unlike other brothers, who died quickly and neatly, I have a big hole in my stomach. Once the bandage is untied, my intestines will flow out. Not only will I die ugly, but I will also stink."

"If I really go back like this, it will definitely scare my mother. It's better to let her not see it and not be annoyed. She still has a thought in her heart. When she thinks of me, she is in the best shape."

Volaf didn't want to accept this reason at all, but before he could say anything, Mosingan began to cough violently.

"Cough cough——"

Sweat beads fell on his forehead, blood on the bandage spread and overflowed, and Mosingan's face began to become more and more withered.

"My Lord Baron, I, Mosingan, spent the first half of my life in a muddle-headed state, only knowing how to farm. When bandits came, I would stay at home like a quail, not daring to make a sound. It was only after I followed you that I was able to eat a full meal and know what I should do..."

"Up to now, I have played with women and killed bandits. I am satisfied that a peasant can die as an extraordinary person! But I am sorry to my mother and to you, my Lord..."

Raven felt his heart tighten and his nose blocked, and he could hear Volaf's low sobs in his ears.

"So, my Lord..." Mosingan's bloodshot eyes looked at the roof, completely without spirit and focus: "Just bury me here... at the gate of the bloody highlands, I will continue to watch for you!"

His face began to turn pale at a visible speed, he inhaled less and less air, exhaled more and more, panting like a bellows, and his voice was as erratic as the wind:

"Volaf..."

Volaf rushed to the bedside and held Mosingan's hand that was grasping in a daze.

With a reassuring smile on his face, Mosingan's lips opened and closed gently: "My mother, I'll leave it to you..."

"Go... home... for me..."

Exhaling his last breath, Mosingan's hand slid down softly to the bedside.

The room fell into silence, with only Volaf's suppressed crying and everyone's sobbing.

Raven pursed his lips slightly, grabbed Mosingan's hand that was not yet cold, and began to hum softly.

It was not a prayer of the Church of Light, but a ballad circulating in the Nord Province.

"Buried in the other side, wanderer."

"Don't cry, don't be lost."

"Where the snow falls, is my hometown."

At first, only Raven was there, but gradually, the simple melody began to hum in everyone's mouth, resonating and vibrating, filling the room.

Bobby, who was guarding the door, heard the ballad and suddenly felt a chill on his face.

He looked up and saw snowflakes falling like goose feathers.

It was snowing.

What a heavy snow!

That afternoon, Volaf and several other officers dug a grave by the Rustwater Lake, buried Mosingam, who was dressed neatly like a knight, and erected a simple tombstone.

"Mosingam - a brave warrior, a filial son, and an excellent friend."

In one corner of the tombstone, the emblem of the Eagle Army was engraved.

The heavy snow soon covered Mosingam's grave, blending in with the surrounding environment, as if it had always been here, as it had been before, and would be so from now on.

The next morning, the snow stopped and the sky was clear as a mirror. Raven and his party left the Rustwater Oasis and set out on the journey back to the Eagle Territory.

With the experience of the march on the way here, although there were some unexpected incidents on the road this time, there was no additional loss of life.

Seven more days passed.

At noon on January 19, 1194 in the Guangming calendar, that is, the 47th day after the departure.

The outline of Eagle Town finally appeared in front of Raven.

…