The Lord Demon King is Unfathomable!

Chapter 1558 445: Sword Saint's Resolve_3

The time had reached dusk, and the sunset stained the Rushing River red.

The Hell Dwarves downstream still didn't dare emerge from the river, shivering as they awaited the humans upstream to settle their conflict.

By the Demon God...

This group truly is ruthless when it comes to killing their own; at Shattered Rock Peak, Catastrophe Castle often changes lords, but... wouldn't battling outside the castle to determine the victor suffice?

Why do they need to resort to such cruelty?

This is not the first time a leader has been changed, nor will it be the last.

Honestly speaking, humans are still better than the dwarves' nemesis, the Ratmen, in terms of limits, but the Ratmen are too ugly, hence dwarves rarely feel empathy for them.

Amidst everyone's breath-holding anticipation, a rider galloped from the horizon.

The messenger dismounted and retrieved a document sent by carrier pigeon to a nearby outpost from Sparrow Wood Castle.

The leading Chiliarch, upon seeing the Holy Maiden's insignia, immediately stepped aside and stood with the soldiers, waiting for the messenger to read the Oracle.

"...According to Ryan Kingdom's law, rebels should be executed by hanging! However, Her Holy Daughter says, my Lord is gracious and pardoned your death sentence, so thank Him for His mercy!"

The rebels, their knees weakening, were moved to tears, knelt to show gratitude, and were thankful for escaping death.

At least, they had passed this hurdle.

Looking at the thankful bandits, the messenger paused, then raised his voice to continue.

"Nevertheless, death is spared, but living punishment is unavoidable! Your hands are stained with the blood of your kind; letting you go without consequence cannot comfort the wandering souls on this land! You must work in the fields, or chop wood in the forest, or rebuild the houses you destroyed on the ruins... until He says you can return."

No one opposed.

On this land littered with hungry corpses, sparing the captives' lives was already an unbelievable mercy. As for becoming the victors' spoils, that was nothing uncommon.

If there were ports, they would usually be branded and shipped off on the Empire's merchant ships to be sold in the New Continent's plantations.

When there were no ports, they were mostly sent to the lord's mines, and a few lucky ones would be restored to peasants, returning to the life before the war.

All the rebels were grateful for surviving, and regarding the messenger's words about labor reform, seeking leniency, completing reform to get lands, they did not listen attentively.

After all, everyone sitting here had heard enough of the lords' sweet talk, and rebelled only because they couldn't survive.

Not believing the lords' words, they hadn't believed anything Kelan said either; they followed Ah Ka simply to have enough to eat.

However, although they didn't listen closely, Gunter, observing from afar, listened very carefully.

In fact, upon hearing the latter part, his steadfast face displayed an expression of incredulity.

He was a mercenary who roamed across these lands, and in his youth, he often fought wars for the lords, sending the captives to work on farms after declaring victory was nothing surprising.

Farmers couldn't afford ransom, ransom merchants would only look for citizens or mercenaries who could pay.

Yet, labor for "reform and rehabilitation," he had never heard of before, and giving land to captives was unheard of.

At least on this land, Holy Maiden Carian was the first to do such a thing.

She drove them to labor not for enslavement, but for letting them repay past wrongs for the freedom of tomorrow.

This incredulity lingering in his heart exceeded the surprise of the Chaos Chosen's constant arrival, surpassing the shock of his own diminishing strength.

"...Perhaps she really was sent by Saint Sis."

At least in his memory, there was no lord more merciful than Her Holy Daughter.

Maybe the Empire wouldn't be pleased, the Church Court wouldn't acknowledge, but since she was the most suitable for here, he seemed to have no reason to interfere with people's choice...

As the messenger finished reading the Holy Maiden's Oracle, darkness finally enveloped the sky.

Gunter returned alone to the inn, finding everyone gawking at him as if they had seen the Saint Sis himself.

He wasn't surprised at their astonishment; it wasn't his first time facing such a situation.

He calmly returned to his seat, casually placing his Great Sword aside, then lifted a jug to pour himself a glass of red wine, looking at the petrified Old Hank with a smile he thought was natural, yet wasn't.

"Don't stare at me, everyone, keep drinking... haha." He chuckled dryly, was the first to drink up.

Everyone drank heavily that day.

Although it wasn't the Sword Saint's intention, he merely wanted to treat everyone to some drinks, but others couldn't guess his mind.

Apart from Julian, who couldn't drink due to low tolerance, and the players attempting to trigger hidden tasks by choice, no one dared to stop.

This gulf between mortals and demigods was destined only to be bridged by time.

And this was one of the reasons he initially wanted to hide his identity...

...

A day passed.

The next morning, a thousand-man team arrived on the outskirts of Wheat Field Village, took over five thousand captives from the local garrison, and completed the captives' identity registration during breakfast.

Since this task had been repeated countless times, the accompanying personnel handling household registration were quite adept at processing.