When the Saint comes, she does not collect food

"Eek! Ugh!"

"Harby down, down, down!"

"Aminoas!"

Between puddles and dirt roads, a shrill cry, like that of an ape, echoed for a long time.

In the gray evening sky, this cry seemed so eerie, even more so than when Horn was doing his shamanistic dances.

Horn stood up on his stirrups, looking in that direction.

A shadow with beast ears and a long tail was hanging from a long pole, swinging back and forth between puddles and dark ditches.

These shadows were too familiar with the swamp. Their daily movements relied on these long poles to jump back and forth between solid ground and marsh.

They knew where to stick their long poles and where to land their thick footpads.

Because they had an extra tail compared to humans, they had better balance. Those long poles were like their third arm.

"What's going on?" The elders began to shout in panic.

Jeshka climbed onto the carriage: "Everyone stay close to the carriage. Black Hats and Guards to the shore, raise your spears diagonally, and aim at those beastmen."

"Me too?"

"Same for you."

After all, Das was a legion commander for the first time, so he still had to learn from Jeshka.

Horn drew his long sword, while Carrie rode her horse beside him, gently swinging a long-handled war hammer in her hand, which actually produced a heavy whooshing sound.

"Woo-hoo—"

One-legged giants were jumping, bushes and shrubs were constantly shaking, and strange cries and laughter filled the long road.

Suddenly, the bushes shook unnaturally. The leaves flowed like water, and a beastman emerged, using a long pole to jump into the crowd.

Amidst screams, she wrapped her sturdy arm around the neck of a child soldier, and holding the long pole in one hand, jumped away from another puddle.

Even though it was just a fleeting glance, Horn still saw her appearance clearly: the common Norn square face, black hair, and thick nose.

The difference was that she had a pair of brown-gray pointed ears on her head, and her slender tail kept shaking as she jumped.

Horn couldn't tell what animal the beastman was.

He turned his head and continued to look at the puddles. Shadows flickered between the leaves, like ghostly figures.

The red sun between the gray clouds and green mountains seemed a bit eerie.

The villagers huddled together, shivering, which made the beastmen's howls even more smug and eerie.

It was simply a provocation.

So, they really looked down on me. If I don't show some strength, do you think I'm the Holy Grandson for nothing?

Horn's face suddenly became solemn. He took a deep breath and widened his eyes: "Lana!!!"

A bolt of lightning instantly cut through the air, striking a jumping beastman. The beastman let out a miserable "Ah~" scream and fell into the water with a splash.

The cries of the entire field stagnated for half a second, but this still couldn't stop the beastmen's determination to attack.

In a blink of an eye, they pole-vaulted between the puddles, rushing towards the convoy once again.

"Lana, help me! Electricity, come!" Horn pointed the Cloud-in-Snow in his hand diagonally at the beastmen, and another seven or eight bolts of lightning shattered the darkness.

The sound of falling into the water was endless.

For those soldiers wearing armor, they might have a considerable defense against Lana's lightning, but for these unarmored beastmen, that was another matter.

Seeing their companions injured, they became even more angry.

So, they let out even more miserable cries than before, launched a desperate charge with their backs to Horn, and disappeared into the sunset.

Horn didn't even react.

Leaves fell, the water surface returned to calm, as if it was an illusion, and nothing had happened.

"Your Majesty, I've asked around. Four of our villagers were captured by those beastmen," Jeshka jogged to Horn's side. "Two Black Hats, one ordinary villager, and one child soldier, all male."

"All male?"

"Yes," Das added from the side, "Whenever they catch a female, they just throw her into the puddle and don't take her away."

"I understand. Those beastmen must want to beat them until they kneel, wanting them to become Starry Furies," someone in the village shouted loudly.

Looking at the beastmen who came and left suddenly, Horn began to understand what happened to those lost members of the Homer Mercenary Group.

They just do this twice a day, taking away three to five people each time. You can't fight them, and you can't chase them.

It really is a headache.

Fortunately, Horn still has electricity, oh no, Lana, at least their arrogance won't be so rampant.

"What about those beastmen who fell into the water? Most of them are still alive."

Lana walked over, panting: "I was afraid of electrocuting the people they were holding, so I reduced the voltage."

After Horn's tutoring, Lana was gradually able to understand the concepts of current and voltage.

But she still couldn't master multiplication and division within twenty.

After thinking for a moment, Horn said to Madelaine: "Find a few people. Forget about the ones who are stuck. If you can,捞them up and hang them up, surround and strike reinforcements."

This little episode did not affect Horn's march. Time passed slowly, the red sun set, and the group finally arrived at the campsite.

Here, there was a hill to rely on, so they could camp on the mountain.

Otherwise, if they camped on the long road, those beastmen would come again in the middle of the night, making strange noises, which would really disturb the journey.

It was getting cold, and there were seventeen or eighteen more patients with colds and fevers in the convoy.

The big carts were connected end to end to form a curved defense line, behind which were newly made canvas tents.

The most ⊥new⊥small⊥say⊥in⊥six⊥9⊥⊥book⊥⊥bar⊥⊥first⊥hair!

After eating, Horn asked people to fetch clean water so that the villagers could soak their feet and pick the blisters on their feet.

Returning to the tent, Horn yawned and rummaged through the books in the box, still reading the geographical gazetteers and political and legal articles he had moved from the church.

Beside him, Carrie was playing with a wind-up toy mouse, which Horn had made specifically to distract Carrie's attention.

Lana was sitting opposite him, honestly practicing writing and math exercises.

After only a few minutes, a noisy sound came from outside the tent.

"Who is it? What's going on?"

"Your Majesty, we've caught a beastman scout."

This beastman, who was pressed into the tent, was about thirty years old, with a face no different from a normal human, except that he had beast ears on his head, a long tail on his back, and footpads on his feet. It was still impossible to tell what animal the beastman was.

What was strange was that he was actually wearing a simple toga robe sewn from coarse linen, which was from the El Empire period.

It was simple, but there was nothing wrong with the shape.

"Let me go." The beastman shouted, "I demand the treatment due to an envoy of the kingdom."

His words were mixed with Norn, Leia, and even some ancient El.

Horn had to ask Carrie the meaning of the Norn words, and it took a lot of effort to understand what the beastman was saying.

Horn closed the book and silently stared at the beastman in front of him.

"I am Mudisaws, the envoy of the Beastman Kingdom of Hithien, and I am here on the order of King Amazon to agree to exchange prisoners."

"Envoy of the kingdom? What kingdom are you from?" Horn frowned. Where did a kingdom come from in this small basin?

He had never heard of beastmen establishing a country. Could it be that the Black Bone Swamp had silently unified the tribes, completed the integration, and formed a small kingdom?

Horn couldn't help but become serious.

"Say the name of my country, and you'll be shocked!" The beastman in the toga robe raised his head and said, "Our Kingdom of Hithien has a population of fifty-three. Our Kingdom of Hithien's allied countries also have the brother Kingdoms of Yala and Basha. The three kingdoms have a total population of two hundred and twenty and an army of fifteen divisions!

Today's attack was only a part. Our allied countries, allied countries, and axis countries have three kings' alliances and an army of fifty-five divisions in the nine-nation allied forces.

If you still have three points of sanity, I advise you to surrender as soon as possible and hand over the prisoners, otherwise don't blame us for being rude."

"Huh?" Horn stretched out his head, pricked up his ears, and almost thought he had misheard or misunderstood.

He turned to look at Carrie, but Carrie also nodded to him, confirming his thoughts.

Horn was completely unable to hold back.

How did you, a small village of three to fifty people, think about building a country?

His establishment of the Papal State was forced, out of helplessness, a deception to unite people's hearts, just like the descent of the Holy Father, a lie after all other methods had failed.

Beastmen, what are you doing, beastmen?

Here, Horn was speechless and didn't know how to answer. The old minister of this dynasty, Boussac, jumped out.

"Oh?" Boussac walked out slowly with his hands behind his back, "How many people are in your division?"

Mudisaws snorted coldly, stretched out a fist, and shook it.

"Ten?"

"One!"

"Ha!" Boussac snorted coldly, "Our Papal State has a population of two hundred and twenty and an army of four hundred and eleven companies, which is only about six or seven divisions.

Your total population is only two hundred, and each division has only one person. Don't you think it's ridiculous?

Enough is enough. The people led by one of our elders are worth one of your kingdoms."

"Two hundred and twenty, don't brag, two hundred and twenty... wait, wait, you have elders? Are you an empire?" The beastman envoy widened his eyes.

"Exactly." Boussac strode to Horn's side, "This is our Third El Empire, the Great Papal State, the Holy Father's true grandson, the Eye of God, the Holy Father's possessor, the inheritor of the El Empire, the true pope with ten thousand votes, His Majesty Horn!"