Work Prophet

The great battle with the Alliance Army had just ended, but another war was quietly unfolding.

It was a war between the followers of the Double Rest Sect and the Death God.

Before the battle had even begun, Li Yu had the Truth Bureau organize carpenters in the territories of the religious order to produce five hundred stretchers, afterward, through repeated distillation, they obtained a batch of high-concentration alcohol.

However, the quantity was not very large, as alcohol was hard to come by, especially after Solomon reached the fertile corner, the trade routes in the western territories and Golden Valley had essentially been cut off.

Brewing their own would have taken time and indeed wasted food, so in the end, they distilled less than three hundred barrels of alcohol, which was not enough.

But fortunately, the "Holy Water" from the Double Rest Sect was already in mass production, and this was Li Yu's greatest reliance.

...

Arnott was a mercenary who had been active around the Red Plain. It was said his ancestors had some noble blood, but his family had long since fallen into decay, leaving only two younger sisters and a younger brother besides him.

One of his sisters worked as a maid for a baron, which helped slightly with family expenses. The remaining sister and brother were too young, thus the responsibility of earning money fell on Arnott.

He heard that the Wing Tribe was preparing to attack the western territories and was recruiting hands, which seemed to many a sure-fire way to make a profit.

For this campaign, Solomon and his Wing Clan Warriors had almost fully mobilized, bringing along two dragons, and also planning to gather an additional hundred thousand allies for a ground assault.

Moreover, since the ruling family of Figrola in the western territories had already surrendered in advance, the battle was seen as a guaranteed victory, and likely an easy one at that.

Therefore, Arnott was somewhat tempted and, after considering it for a night, he decided to join the army of the baron served by his sister.

This was also a tradition on Bratis Continent, as maintaining a professional military force was excessively costly.

Most nobles resorted to training a small portion of guards and providing certain military training to the peasants in their realms.

Once a conflict arose, they could rapidly form an army composed of a few elite troops and a large number of militiamen, plus wealthy families would also recruit some mercenaries or hire soldiers.

This time, Solomon's order came urgently and required many men, so most nobles had no choice but to spend extra money to recruit people.

With his status as a mercenary and his sister's assistance, Arnott easily secured a position. Before departing, he signed a contract with the baron, promising him payment of two gold lions regardless of winning or losing at the end of the conflict.

Moreover, this was just the basic hiring fee. In the war, they also had the chance to acquire spoils of war; according to the contract, most of the high-value loot like jewelry would belong to the baron, but there were some spoils they could keep for themselves.

For example, the armor and weapons of the enemies they killed, and an old mercenary also told Arnott not to take the restrictions in the contract too seriously. If he found something valuable and no one else noticed, he should just pocket it.

The nobles couldn't possibly search them one by one.

Previously, many mercenaries had made a fortune by participating in wars, with some no longer needing to worry about their financial situation for the rest of their lives, a thought that made Arnott's blood boil with excitement.

However, upon arriving in the western territories, things were not as ideal as Arnott had imagined.

While the army encountered as little resistance as they had anticipated, there were quite a few scattered attacks.

The nobles and lords didn't want their own guards to get injured, so they put these mercenaries and militia on the outer edges of the group.

Especially these hired men were thrown to the very outskirts of the group. If there was an attack, they would be the first to have bad luck.

And if they were to set up camp, their campsite was also on the very outside. Arnott still remembered that on his first night, he couldn't sleep at all. With just a slight rustle of the wind and grass, he would immediately open his eyes and grab his weapon.

When it came to tough nuts to crack, they were always the first ones in, but when it was time to loot, they could only stay outside the city, responsible for keeping watch.

Until Rock Snow City, Arnott had only picked up a cotton armor that wasn't worth much. An old mercenary who came with him did slightly better. While out on patrol, he casually took two chickens from a nearby village, along with some spare change.

Arnott was just about to express his envy when he saw the bloodstains on the old mercenary's cuff, and he paused, but the latter seemed indifferent.

"That man tried to stab me with a pitchfork from behind while I was catching the chickens. I chopped off his head, but his wife was alright. Let's eat chicken together tonight."

Arnott fell silent for a moment. He had actually encountered quite a few of these incidents along the way. It wasn't just these mercenaries, but also the militia and even the guards from the great families. Many had poor military discipline, and pillaging was quite normal.

This is war. Civilians always suffer the most. Of course, the nobles of the losing side didn't fare much better, like Frederickson of Songshi Castle, whose entire family was burned to death by a giant dragon's flames.

Having seen much, Arnott gradually became numb. He no longer hoped to make a fortune from this war; he just wanted it to end soon and to receive the promised reward from the baron.

And the final battle came swiftly.

Honestly, Arnott was somewhat impressed by the resistance army, especially by the lady named Ireya, who despite such a disparity in strength, still refused to surrender and held out until the very last moment.

Unfortunately, this was all about to end soon.

Indeed, it ended very quickly.

Arnott didn't even fully understand what happened. Not long into the battle, his thigh was pierced by a long spear soldier, although the spear soldier was quickly killed by a dwarf who smashed his head.

But Arnott's thigh had already been pierced, and he only felt a severe pain, almost unable to move his legs, which was very fatal on the battlefield.

Arnott wanted to withdraw, but he saw from afar the war supervisors watching like hawks. Then he saw a streak of blood appear not far away.

The people who had stood there a moment ago were gone in the blink of an eye, leaving a pile of corpses on the ground.

Before he could understand what it was, he was hit by an arrow in the chest, and then he was hit by several more arrows and fell to the ground.

Luckily, he had worn an old chainmail beneath his cotton armor. This family heirloom chainmail saved his life. When Arnott opened his eyes again, he found the war had already ended.

Only, they had become the losing side. Arnott could not figure out how they had lost.

How could that be? The disparity in their forces was so great, they had the help of the Wing Tribe, and it was said that the morale on the other side was very low. It seemed impossible that they should lose.

But now, Arnott couldn't concern himself with that anymore. His thigh was still bleeding, and although the old chainmail had saved his life, saving him from a fatal injury, an arrow had still pierced his left rib.