Imperial Crown

Thank you very much for the second 10,000 reward from Qidian Daddy [Book Friend 20170610093211508]! (I really want to add more chapters for you, but each chapter is 6-7,000 words, I really can't do it, sorry! Brother!!)

…

At dusk, the southeastern border of Savery County.

As far as the eye can see, there are dark crowds everywhere. They are in tattered clothes, most of them are half-naked, and move slowly, like zombies.

Only when they see the long convoy will they reveal a light in their eyes, a mixture of greed, desire and fear.

They are refugees, refugees transformed from serfs.

The arrival of the locust plague destroyed their harvest this year. After eating up the already small amount of food, they could not pay the rent and had to embark on a journey of fleeing famine.

It was because the refugees blocked the road that Denise had to change her route to the north, but she didn't expect that even here, she couldn't get rid of the tide of refugees.

"Madam, we have to leave quickly." Mansene rode to Denise: "If we still can't get rid of them by night..."

"I know." Denise nodded gently: "Give the order immediately, throw away the extra things, take only food, and let's go light and get rid of them."

Mansene was stunned, and looked at Denise with eyes full of surprise.

"What's wrong?" Denise asked.

"No, nothing." Mansene retracted her gaze, turned her horse's head and shouted loudly: "Everyone get ready, except for the first 5, all vehicles unhitch the horses and abandon the vehicles!"

Mansene was surprised that Denise, who seemed to be high and mighty and seemed to be out of touch with the world, would make such a decisive decision, thinking the same thing as her, and making her prepared speech aborted.

Denise was more or less aware of Mansene's thoughts, but didn't care too much.

Her eyes passed over the convoy and fell on the refugees, who were men and women, old and young, and whose dirty and ragged clothes and faces reminded her of her childhood.

With the help of her personal maid Angie, she sat back in the carriage and reported to Raven that she was safe. Denise sighed as she looked at the refugees following the caravan not far away.

"Madam, it's really strange." Angie saw that Denise was in a bad mood and took the initiative to bring up the topic: "Why are these refugees all heading northwest? It's a bit too stupid."

Under the locust plague, no lord would accept refugees, and this place is the northwest of Nord Province. Going west, apart from the bloody highlands, there is an endless coastal wasteland.

It's called the coast, but the wasteland is hundreds of miles wide. Although the Monn River will flow into the sea along there, it won't take long for the river water to turn into seawater flowing back.

Their fate is basically doomed.

"You are a child of a well-off family, it's normal that you don't understand these things." Denise held Angie's hand: "They are not stupid, but they have no choice."

Most serfs have never left the village in their lives, and going to the town where the lord is is an incredible journey.

They knew nothing about the outside world and could only migrate to places where the locust plague had not yet affected them.

Denise let down the curtain and sighed softly.

She admitted that she sympathized with these refugees. The hard life in her early years did not wear out the softness in her heart, but she could not share her food with them.

Human nature cannot be tested. She must be responsible for her own people.

If you want to blame, blame the refugees for being born in this era where the nobles own everything.

"Angie, give me the bag."

Taking the bag from Angel, Denise pulled out a scroll from it and wanted to familiarize herself with the magic she mastered.

Suddenly, with a click, the carriage stopped in place.

Supporting Angel who almost fell, Denise lifted the curtain: "What's going on!?"

"Madam, please go back to the carriage!" Mansene shouted loudly: "Everyone prepare for battle. Once someone approaches the convoy, kill them without mercy!"

Under the dim sky, a dark light like smoldering charcoal was revealed in the clouds. Not far ahead, there was another group of refugees.

They were not the same group as those behind them.

Because there were almost no old or weak members among them, everyone's expression and eyes were extremely ferocious, holding pitchforks, sticks, hoes and other farm tools in their hands, some of which were stained with black and red blood.

They could no longer be called refugees, but a group of mobs forced to rise up by the locust plague.

Vesdon rode to the front of the team, drew his long sword, and shouted loudly: "We are just passing by. If you don't want to die, make way!"

Nowadays, Vesdon no longer needs prosthetics to decorate himself. On his left shoulder is a ferocious shield flashing with blood, and combined with the fighting spirit rising from his long sword, he is majestic.

The mob shrank a little. At this time, a big man wearing ill-fitting plate armor walked out of the crowd. His face was covered in a helmet, and he said in a muffled voice:

"You can go."

"But we also want to survive, you have to leave something behind."

This equipment is not something that civilians can have. They obviously killed the lord who ruled them.

Weisdong snorted and winked at his attendant.

The attendant stepped forward, took out a purse and threw it into the palm of the mob leader.

The mob leader weighed it first, then opened the bag and saw dozens of silver and copper coins inside: "Good stuff."

"But it's too late."

He said, and threw the purse on the ground.

"We don't want money, we want food!"

Wesdon's expression became serious: "We don't have any extra food for you."

"What a coincidence. I don't think you will hand over the food obediently." After saying that, the mob leader shouted loudly: "Go!"

A clattering sound was heard, and rows of mobs stood up in the bushes and trees, and then attacked together!

Denise's guards didn't have time to form a formation, so it was a melee at the beginning.

Denise's guards totaled 50 people, all wearing iron helmets and chain mail, and holding weapons forged from fine steel.

The mobs only wore thin clothes, had few pairs of shoes, and had only farm tools in their hands.

But their number was more than 10 times that of the guards, and they swarmed up like wild beasts, howling!

A guard swung his sword forward and killed the mob that rushed up. Before he could wipe the warm blood off his face, another person rushed up.

Almost subconsciously, the guard swung his sword again, but when he saw the mob in front of him, he hesitated.

It was just a child, who looked about 13 or 14 years old. He had a childish face and held a kitchen knife in his hand.

But during this hesitation, the child roared like a beast, jumped up with the momentum, held the kitchen knife with both hands, and stabbed the guard's throat fiercely.

Clang——

The kitchen knife was originally of poor quality, and it broke with a clang after bringing a streak of fire on the armor in vain, but the guard was also overwhelmed by the power of the child and fell to the ground with his head raised.

More mobs swarmed up, and the guard could never stand up again.

At the front of the team, the dark red bloody fighting spirit burned on the sword of Weisdong, almost blending into the environment. Every time he swung the sword, he could take a life, but these mobs seemed to be endless.

Hoes, pitchforks, sticks, and flails kept hitting him. If it weren't for his strong armor and the constant turning of his horse, he would have been injured.

Even so, the constant thumping made him more and more irritated.

The mobs had their own way of dealing with the knight. They didn't try to get close to Visdon, but just harassed him from a distance with long weapons, not letting him leave, obviously wanting to exhaust his strength.

Visdon gradually came to his senses. He put away his sword, stretched out his hand and grabbed a hoe that was chiseled, and pulled it back hard. The mob holding the hoe was pulled up and howled and knocked down several companions.

With a flip of his wrist and holding the hoe, Visdon swung it violently, breaking the two shovels and a pitchfork that attacked from the side, and gained some space for himself.

At this moment, someone in the crowd shouted, "There is no armor on his horse's hoof, poke the horse's hoof--"

Wesdon looked closely and locked onto the guy hiding in the crowd.

Without hesitation, Wesdon aimed at the man and threw the hoe.

Whoosh

The man noticed Wesdon's action and was about to run away, but as soon as he turned around, the hoe with a sound of breaking through the air hit his back.

The heavy iron head smashed his back with a click, and the flesh and blood exploded with the bones. The clothes were torn, and the iron head wrapped around it spun and pierced into him, and thick blood came out of his chest.

On the iron head, there was still a heart that was beating vigorously.

With a puff, the man fell to the ground, causing the already fragile heart blood vessels to burst under the impact, and blood rushed out like a spring.

This horrible scene immediately frightened the surrounding mobs. The thirst for food made them retreat not far away, but they didn't want to get close to Wesdon, the god of death.

In the melee, only Mansene was like a fish in water.

Dark fighting spirit rose from her body, almost blending into the environment. She quietly emerged from the shadows and cut the throat of a refugee.

Then she wiped her hand on her thigh, and the flying knife whizzed out, nailing a refugee who wanted to approach Denise's carriage to the frame.

When she came to the side of the carriage, Mansene opened the curtain, and immediately turned aside with a startled look.

A chaotic light bullet passed by her face and landed on the shoulder of a mob, silently opening a transparent hole as big as a bowl.

The mob was unaware at first, and when blood spurted out, he fell to the ground with a howl.

This is exactly Denise's magic.

Mansene swallowed her saliva: "Madam, there are too many mobs, and they are obviously starving and fearless. If we delay, I'm afraid that the refugees behind us will catch up..."

"I know." Denise said: "You came at the right time. Immediately order everyone to abandon the car, change horses, and break through with all their strength!"

Mansene nodded vigorously, and then shouted to convey Denise's order.

Wesdon heard this and asked his soldiers to repeat it loudly.

This group of mobs are not killers. Their target is food. Since they have decided to give up, there is no reason for both sides to continue fighting.

But Weisdon still thought too sweetly. The mobs have already killed red eyes. How can they stop so easily?

At this moment, a low buzzing sound came, causing a momentary pause in the originally chaotic battlefield.

This sound is familiar to everyone. It is the sound of locust wings vibrating!

Wesdon swallowed his saliva and looked back. He saw a black wall pushing across the skyline.

The swarm of insects—the real swarm of insects!!

The refugees began to scream and run for their lives. Even though Visdon killed several of the mobs that rushed in front of his horse, it was still difficult to go against the flow.

"Madam, please get on the horse!" At the same time, Mantheni had already reached out to Denise.

"You take Angel and go." Denise said.

"But……"

"No buts!"

Just when Manseni was about to knock Denise unconscious and take her away, Denise suddenly pulled out a sharp enchanted dagger from her waist.

This was originally her protective weapon. After the battle with Anderson, Raven took it in his hand, and later, Raven gave it back to her.

Pulling the hem of her skirt, with a hiss, Denise cut off the obstructive skirt and threw it on the ground, revealing her plump and powerful thighs wrapped in flesh-colored stockings. Then she cut off the ropes of the horses pulling the cart, stepped on the shaft, He held the horse's back with one hand and rode on.

This set was so smooth that Manseni was almost stunned.

Because Denise is sitting astride the saddle with her legs - which is very different from the side-sitting riding of aristocratic women.

"My horsepower is not as good as yours, so take An Qi and open the way in front."

Manseni came back to her senses: "Yes, madam!"

As a second-level shadow knight, Manseni drove her horse to run rampant, pushing aside everything in the way. The scene was somewhat bloody.

And Denise followed closely behind her.

The anxious Weston only saw Manson and An Qi: "Manson! Where is my mother?"

The next moment, the facts told him the answer.

The sun, which was about to sink into the western mountains, illuminated Denise's face with its faint light.

Her figure undulated with the pace of the horse, her black hair fluttering in the wind, and a layer of oily sweat on her forehead. Even though her clothes and face were splashed with blood from the horse's hooves, her eyes remained firm.

"Vesdon, let's go!" Denise shouted loudly, passing by Vesdon.

Vesdon came to his senses, turned his horse's head and followed, with a hint of surprise on his face.

For the first time, he discovered that his mother was not only decisive in business.

The war horses flew quickly and gradually moved away from the locust swarm. There were only 27 of the original 50 guards left.

They are lucky, not everyone can escape the pursuit of locusts.

The speed of locust flying is always faster than running on two legs.

They are not picky about food, and many of them fall on the trees and grass beside the road. They are crowded together and use their mouthparts to cut everything that can be eaten.

Wherever it passed, the grass turned into debris and disappeared; the originally lush trees lost their leaves, twigs, and bark, leaving only bare, stone-like trunks.

Click, click, click.

There was the sound of locusts gnawing everywhere.

The 13-year-old boy who killed a guard was listening to this sound at the moment.

Not far from him, there were many corpses lying on the ground. Some of them were guards, some were refugees who were killed by the guards, and some were killed by locusts.

But the young man didn't seem to see it. He was sitting in a carriage surrounded by locusts. He would only wave away the locusts when they crawled on his face.

It's not that he doesn't feel the pain, it's just that his head is dizzy at the moment because he just drank two bottles of red wine.

It's sweet and delicious.

He was holding a piece of dry, hard baguette in his hand, biting and swallowing hard.

If there had been so much bread, maybe his parents, his grandparents, and his sister wouldn't have to die.

No, maybe his sister is not dead yet, because the boy remembered that his sister exchanged her body for two pieces of gray bread, and then left with a man who looked like a businessman.

Gray bread is delicious, but not as good as white bread.

The boy gnawed one bite at a time, and when the bread was gone, he took out another loaf - the pocket was firmly pressed under his body, so that the locusts would not get into it.

He looked at his legs, which were covered with locusts and dripping with blood, but he didn't feel anything at all. His legs would only twitch a few times when the bugs nibbled on something gray and white.

The boy knew he was going to die, but he didn't care.

After death, maybe you can be reunited with your family.

Even if you die, you must eat more, eat more, the more the better!

Eat hard and eat big.

Gradually, he couldn't eat anymore, his body became colder and weaker, and he could no longer drive away the locusts from his face.

There was a taste of blood in his mouth.

Suddenly, there was a pop, and he felt light. It turned out that his belly had been bitten by locusts, and the bread that had been roughly chewed and pressed into moist dough fell out.

The boy used his last strength to put the bread back into his stomach.

He heard people say that after death, nothing can be taken away except the things in the body.

That's why he wanted to eat more and bring this food to his family.

The small body fell under the car because of this tilt.

The locusts covered him and the whole carriage.

Click, click, click…

…

4 days later.

Xuefeng County, Tieliang collar, Tieliang town.

It has been 5 days since we got rid of the refugees.

Although they were a little embarrassed when escaping, they still bought supplies in the noble territory on the way and put on clothes that were not gorgeous but decent enough.

Despite the tired look on her face, Denise still looked radiant.

The city gate opened, and Judra rode out to greet you, smiling and saying, "Mrs. Denise, I heard you were arriving in Ironforge Town this morning, but I've been waiting for a long time."

After accepting Judra's hand kiss calmly, Denise calmly took out her palm and said, "My lord, Baron, I'm sorry for your trouble."

In the eyes of his son, all men who approached his widowed mother were hooligans, not to mention that Judra was Angel's son - Visdon had not forgotten what happened to the Humphrey brothers.

So he rode forward and said, "Baron Judela, thank you for your kindness, but we will not disturb you as we are only a few hours away from Eagle Territory."

"Of course I will disturb you." Judela smiled and said, "In the past few years, thanks to the Eagle Platform of the County Governor, weapons and equipment have no worries about sales, and the development of Iron Furnace Territory has been getting better and better. I have always wanted to give back."

"Now that you have returned to Snow Maple County from afar, if I can't give you a warm welcome, wouldn't it seem that I have no conscience?"

At this point, he raised his voice so that Denise's guards could hear his voice: "And it's so late, and you have been running around for days, and it's hard to walk at night. You are almost home. If something unexpected happens, it will be too worthless."

"I have ordered people to prepare bread, barbecue and wine, as well as soft beds. Madam Denise, even if you don't look at my face, you should be considerate of the hard work of your subordinates."

After saying this, even Weisdong was a little shaken.

Along the way, in order to return to the Eagle Territory as soon as possible, they hardly stayed in the homes of nobles. They always looked for places to camp, and it was good to have a place to stay before dark. Basically, they did not get too much effective rest.

"Mother, you see..."

Denise pondered.

Judra is a baron after all, and she has been so humble and done so much, so she still has to give him some face.

And after running around for days, Denise felt a little tired and did not want to see Raven with a haggard look.

"Then, thank you Baron Judra for your kindness."

Judra also breathed a sigh of relief and turned his horse's head first: "Please follow me."

Since it was a good reception, a banquet was inevitable. Judra also pulled out his pregnant wife to chat with Denise.

Judging from the food and drinks prepared, they also put a lot of thought into it.

For the guards, they prepared large pieces of bacon, which made their mouths full of oil, and whole chickens and ducks - there was no use raising them anyway.

The dishes in front of Denise were mainly delicious and appetizing crisp green vegetables, which fully took care of the weak appetite of women after running around.

The only person missing in the restaurant was Mansene.

She was very vigilant and went to the stable alone to look after the warhorse, so that she could ride away immediately if she encountered any emergency.

Judra did not get close to Denise, but sat with Visdon.

Visdon was not very interested in this "elder", and his words went in one ear and out the other. He just buried his head in eating and sneered in his heart.

Your wife is so much like my mother, do you really think I can't see it?

On Denise's side, the atmosphere was more harmonious. Lily was eloquent and good at observing people's expressions. She was also from a merchant family, so she had a lot in common with Denise.

"Mrs. Denise, can you tell me how you had such a good vision and started to stockpile food before the Death Hand Cult caused trouble?"

"It wasn't me, it was Raven." Denise smiled faintly: "If I really had such a good vision, I should have made sufficient preparations for this locust plague."

"Then..." Lily rolled her eyes: "Then before, the car rental company in Mon'en City was brought back to life by your hands. It must be true, right?"

Denise nodded and said: "There is such a thing, but it is not as exaggerated as resurrection."

"Then can you tell me in detail?" Lily's eyes were full of admiration.

"This..." Denise hesitated for a moment. She was a little tired and really didn't want to talk about those laborious things.

Seeing Denise's hesitation, Lily immediately poured herself a glass of Angel's Tears: "Then, for this story, I'll toast you first."

Lily was already pregnant, and her belly couldn't be concealed. Denise stretched out her hand to cover the mouth of her cup: "You are still pregnant, how can you drink?"

As she said, she picked up the wine glass that had not been touched for a long time and drank the Angel's Tears in it: "I appreciate this kindness. Since you want to hear it, it's not impossible to tell you."

At the same time, Judra, who was sitting next to Weston, saw this scene.

The corner of her mouth curled up a little, and then disappeared immediately.

...