Such a legend was once widely circulated in Langsande County:

On the flat Tbe Plain, if you look into the distance, on a clear day, you can see the tip of the Black Pottery Town's bell tower from the top of Black Mountain.

Later, it was verified by the El Scholars that these words first appeared eighty years ago and were used by a Falan poet to describe the Golden Plains and Changge City.

Then, the territory of the Thousand River Valley was marked new and dark with a few more strokes.

In principle, the relative height of Black Mountain is only about 40 meters, and the terrain of Langsande County slopes from north to south, so this is purely a rumor.

Nidesar had heard this rumor long ago, but unfortunately, he was unable to verify it this morning.

Near Black Mountain, there is a thick forest hunting ground, where vegetation steams at night, the air is humid, but the temperature drops sharply in the morning.

When they rose from their morning prayers to march, they actually saw summer morning fog.

The light, gauzy mist shrouded the endless wheat fields, and as soon as the sun shone upon it, the mist would dissolve into the sunlight like an invisible dream.

In the gray-white mist, a large army was marching along the country dirt roads; because there were as many as ten thousand of them, they had to split into two roads to advance.

Unfortunately, within this dreamlike and beautiful scene, there was mixed the smell of smoke and corpses, and the screams of women and the cries of children were faint as thin mist.

For the marching Ibe Knights and other professional military personnel, setting up supply stations along the way and instructing them to prepare supplies before the army arrived was impossible.

The knights' professional integrity would not allow them to engage in such high-complexity operations.

So the only method they adopted was to take grain on the spot, which in action means—plunder!

"Open the door!"

Inside the house, the light was dim, and the air was filled with the scent of earth and old wood.

A family of three Public Register Farmers sat at the table, holding wooden spoons of rice cereal in shock and numbness.

A middle-aged Kush farmer hesitated for a moment, slowly walked to the door, and his hands trembling, unlocked the latch.

The door was pushed open violently, knocking the middle-aged farmer to the ground, and the Night Guards rushed in aggressively, armor gleaming coldly in the dim light.

Without a word, they quickly dispersed, beginning to search for valuables inside the house.

The farmer's wife hugged her daughter, standing uneasily by the door, not daring to cry out or resist, she could only silently weep as she watched her once shabby yet clean home become a mess.

These bandit-like Night Guards rudely rummaged through the furniture, kicked open sacks, searching anywhere there might be hidden valuables.

"What do you want?" The middle-aged farmer stood trembling, "I have nothing valuable here."

The soldiers ignored the father's pleas, still rummaging around, turning over coarse pottery and wicker baskets into a mess.

One of the soldiers found a small wooden box hidden under the fireplace, yanked it out forcefully, and kicked open the lid.

Inside were dull yellow copper coins adorned with a few shiny Dinars, and a tall Armored Soldier reached into the box and grabbed a handful.

"Is this all?" he sneered, "I know you unclean ones must have more hidden! Hand it over!"

The father shook his head in desperation, "No, this is all our savings, we truly have nothing left."

The Armored Soldier sneered, about to speak, when he caught a glimpse of a hint of white showing under the floorboard; he reached out, indeed revealing a plank.

"Wait, that's..."

Ignoring the frantically pacing middle-aged farmer, the soldier called out, "Someone, lend a hand."

Several Guards stepped forward, grabbing the sack head and with combined effort, dragged out several large sacks of grain.

The Armored Soldier directly cut a slit in the sack with his dagger, and pure white rice poured out like water.

It was as if all the blood from the middle-aged farmer flowed out through this void.

"Still say you have nothing?" The Armored Soldier scooped up a handful of grain and threw it at the middle-aged farmer's face.

The middle-aged farmer's face changed color, turning pale and flushed, he looked back at his starving, emaciated daughter and wife, gritting his teeth, he lunged onto the sacks of grain.

"Want to die?" A nearby Guard, startled by the lunging middle-aged farmer, had already drawn his sword, but after realizing it, became furious.

He returned the sword to its sheath and slapped the middle-aged farmer across the face with his backhand.

The middle-aged farmer's face swelled on one side from the hit, yet he still clung desperately and hopelessly onto the sacks: "Please, at least leave us food to eat and seeds to plant."

"If you don't give it up, don't blame us!" A Guard grabbed the middle-aged farmer by the collar, trying to pull him away.

But the farmer shrank his neck in fright, yet refused to move, veins popping in his fingers and arms as he clung tenaciously to the sacks of grain.

"Please, just one sack of grain, just leave some food for us to live on..." The farmer hoarse and desperate, pleaded.

"You brought this on yourself!" The Armored Soldier impatiently drew his sword, stabbing it into the farmer's back.

"No—" the woman screamed.

The sword plunged directly into the farmer's back, his body jerked violently, blood bubbling from his mouth, staining more than half the sack of rice in an instant.

"No, no, no—"

The sunken-cheeked farmer's wife seemed to go mad, her screams constantly echoing within the room.

She abandoned her crying little daughter, and threw herself against the armored soldier.

The armored soldier didn't budge an inch; instead, she was almost knocked back onto the ground.

"I'll strangle you, I'll strangle you!" Her fingers, resembling chicken claws, pressed against the armored soldier's neck as the farmer's wife used all her strength to strangle him.

The armored soldier immediately stuck out his tongue, tilted his head, and rolled his eyes.

The surrounding guards burst into laughter, going along with it.

After having their fun, the armored soldier lost interest in entangling with this ugly farmer's wife, raised his hand, and pierced a sword through her heart, out her back.

As the corpse fell, landing crossed over each other, a splash of blood erupted, its scent overpowering the stale smell of the wood.

"What about the other one?" The armored soldier looked around, at the terrified peasant girl who had wet herself by the wall. "Do you want to play?"

"Forget it, it stinks."

"She's an unclean one; she might have some dirty disease."

"Just kill her, if not, she'll starve to death anyway, we're doing a good deed."

A bearded guard drew his armed sword and started walking towards the little girl step by step: "Don't be afraid, it's just a moment..."

"Get lost!" The guard walking towards the little girl was kicked in the waist, rolling on the spot.

Getting up and lifting his head, just as he was about to curse, he saw the hem of a silk robe fluttering.

"Good morning, Count Domenico, sir." The night guard instantly became as meek as a lamb, his combative posture smoothly transformed into a hat-tipping bow.

The whole room reeked with the scent of blood, causing Domenico to wrinkle his nose: "What happened?"

"This family refused to pay grain and even tried to attack us, so we fought back." The armored soldier pushed through the crowd, saying with a skin-deep smile.

"Did this girl attack you too?"

The few individuals present looked at each other in silence.

"Take the grain and get out." Domenico could figure out what had transpired without much thought, but in the end, they were the dogs of the Falan Clan and the Leia Clan.

It's not wise for the lord's hired hands to beat the lord's dogs after all.

Taking the little girl by the hand, leading her outside, not letting her see the two corpses.

But outside the house, there were still corpses everywhere, both the neighbors' and the uncles'.

Domenico covered the little girl's eyes as her shoulders shuddered up and down; she seemed to cry but not a single tear fell, not a single sound was uttered.

These were all Domenico's kin, after all, he was also a Kush person, how did it come to this point?

Holding the peasant girl onto the horse, Domenico rode swiftly, as if to vent all the frustration and helplessness within his heart.

But he hadn't ridden far when their destination appeared before them.

The forest on the edge of Black Mountain, at this moment most of the mist had dissipated.

The mist like gauze, in the rising morning sun appeared as a golden-red silk scarf.

In the fresh breeze, butterflies danced with the scent of flowers and the stench of blood.

Stuffing his canteen and dry food into the little girl's hands, Domenico pushed her back: "Go now, into the forest, don't come out until the war is over."

"When will the war end?" The girl, like a mute, took two steps towards the forest when she finally turned around and spoke for the first time, "Tomorrow? Or the day after?"

Opening his mouth, his words stuck in his throat, unable to utter anything.

Just as he licked his lips, unsure of what to say, he suddenly heard a series of popping sounds like beans cracking.

"Bang bang bang—bang bang!"

"Ah—"

The deep blare of the summoning horn followed.

Domenico's face changed drastically, and he sprang up, dashing towards his horse.

He dared not delay the task bestowed upon him by the grandmother.

But after running a few steps, he sensed something was wrong, as though something was pulling at him; he looked down, and it was still the little girl.

She clutched Domenico's coattail, having just been dragged seven or eight meters, staring into Domenico's eyes, she persistently asked:

"When will the war end?"

Domenico fell silent, crouching down, looking into those eyes brimming with tears, he grabbed some mud smearing it on the little girl's face:

"Head north, keep heading north, and when you see a flag of black and red, the war will be over."

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