In the dim light of night, Zong Ge was leading his people back to their camp.
“Lord Zong Ge, Lord Tripleblade, you’ve returned.” A person garrisoning the camp welcomed them at once.
“Ha, they’ve finally returned!”
“Today was also a hard day.”
“What I really want to do now is drink some hot water.”
“No time to chat, I still have some potion in my tent I should apply to my wounds.”
Everyone began to disperse through the camp gate, everyone had rumbling stomachs and completely exhausted, some of them even had new injuries.
But Zong Ge and Tripleblade did not rest, rather they went into a big tent first.
This tent was originally Zong Ge’s swelling, however because of the increase of wounded people and the fact that tending to oneself was inconvenient, Zong Ge allowed the wounded and their caretakers to stay here of his own accord.
Opening the tent flap, Zong Ge began to examine the wounded.
The large tent had an area of about fifty to sixty square meters, candles were used to dimly illuminate its interior.
There were many wounded, each of them was lying on a straw bed.
Hearing movement, the sober wounded people opened their eyes and looked at Zong Ge with reverence.
“It’s Lord Zong Ge!” One of them struggled to sit.
Another had been groaning, their eyes had only opened a sliver, the pain was already unbearable for them.
In addition, some were unconscious and had high fevers.
“No need to get up.” Zong Ge stopped them without delay.
“How is your situation?” He questioned the nearest wounded; his face was wooden.
“Give me two days and I will be able to join your Lordship’s investigation group again!” The wounded person shouted.
Zong Ge laughed and patted his shoulder, his mouth was full of praise, but his heart knew that this person’s leg wound needed at least a week.
“You?” Zong Ge looked down at another wounded person.
The wounded person was an old dwarf, a jumbled white beard encompassed his face.
The old dwarf laughed: “I am almost dead, Lord Zong Ge. My dying wish is that I want a cup of beer. If I can have a cup before death, I will die with no regrets.”
Zong Ge was silent.
Tripleblade mocked: “Old bastard, do you want to drink again? Your injuries won’t kill you.”
The old dwarf looked miserable: “I fear I cannot live without alcohol. If there is no beer, rum is fine too.”
Zong Ge was forced to say: “I have a way.”
The old dwarf's eyes immediately brightened: “Many thanks your Lordship, as long as you have alcohol, you can end my old life!”
After the inspection, Zong Ge walked into the innermost part of the tent.
The wounded person here had a serious injury, his entire body was inflamed and his wounds no longer oozed blood, but pus. This individual stunk.
The wounded person did not react to Zong Ge’s arrival.
He was not unconscious, to be more precise, he was in a coma.
If he stopped breathing, no one would be surprised
Tripleblade’s gaze darkened. He knew this person well, he had fought, drunk, and trekked with this person for ten years.
Everyone knew that he did not have much hope.
Zong Ge stroked his forehead, it was boiling.
He checked the wound on his back, it was in a frightening situation.
Zong Ge warmed a dagger on a fire and used it to open the wound’s rotting flesh. Afterwards he used a wet clean cloth to tentatively clean the wound. The water was boiling but soon cooled down.
Finally, Zong Ge actually leaned over and used his mouth to suck up the wound’s seeping pus and watery blood.
After treating him, Zong Ge sprinkled a potion on the wound.
The comatose man did not respond, his breathing seemed to weaken again.
During this, Tripleblade had been standing in place, watching Zong Ge actions.
This was not the first time Zong Ge had done this.
Three days ago, because of where this person was standing, he had unintentionally protected Zong Ge from a poisonous attack. He had fallen into a coma after returning to camp that evening. The potions Zi Di had were not effective.
Ever since that day, his situation grew worse, and his hopes of survival grew increasingly uncertain.
When Zong Ge did this the first night, it caused Tripleblade to stop him, and shocked the others.
He did this every day.
Tripleblade no longer stopped him.
When the surrounding people saw Zong Ge do this, their shock gradually changed into reverence, love, and respect.
After finishing everything, Zong Ge and Tripleblade left the big tent
In the camp there were many bonfires, with people circled around them, eating their dinner and chatting with each other.
From time to time, there would be a peal of laughter.
At this time, they had adequate food and water and their tense nerves were also relaxing.
After Zong Ge arrived, the mercenaries shifted their buttocks and made space for the two.
Zong Ge and Tripleblade sat close to each other.
The flames reflected on Zong Ge’s shoulder-long yellow hair and bits of warmth passed through chinks in his steel armor, seeping into his body.
Zong Ge pulled out his steel dagger and softly cut some roasted meat.
After blowing once, he ate the meat slice.
He silently ate as he listened to the people around him conversing.
“Did you know? When I thought that bronze level magic was about to pounce me and bite my head off, I nearly pissed myself. Just when I thought I was really dead, a big white hammer smashed down, brushed past my scalp, and pounded into the bronze level magic beast, my face was covered with blood and brains! I swear I will never forget this for the rest of my life.”
“Ha ha ha.” The surrounding people guffawed.
“Two of us sent the bone hammer to that guy named Mu Ban. Boss Zong Ge indeed has strength; he can hold and swing that hammer with one hand.”
“At least ten magic beasts died under the bone hammer today!”
“Indeed, this crocodile head hammer tail boa’s bones are hard, I heard that the old scholar’s constant grinding as he dissected it, I can say that this crocodile head hammer tail boa’s head is as thick as its tail.”
“Saying that, it is a true pity that its meat is very chewy. We suffered a loss when Boss Zong Ge sent them the crocodile head hammer tail boa.”
“Huh, did you dare eat it at the time? Did you dare to bet your life that it wasn’t poisonous?”
“Returning to the main topic, how is the progress of Lord Zhen Jin’s group?” Someone asked.
This time, the wounded that stayed at camp shared their information.
“Lord Zhen Jin led his group back when evening came.”
“So early again.”
“It seems our win is determined, ha ha ha ha.”
“There is nothing extraordinary about templar knights.”
“Hey, you're speaking loudly. Do templar knights even care about you?”
“He he he, I adore Boss Zong Ge the most. Boss Zong Ge saved my life, from now on, whatever the boss wants me to do, I will do it!”
“Hey, you didn’t say that earlier, you only shouted that when the boss sat down. You bootlicker!”
Everyone roared with laughter.
“Humph, this is my team.” Zong Ge had remained silent as he ate his meat, he was gazing into the fire as if looking for his future in the flames.
“Continuing like this……is good.” Tripleblade sat next to Zong Ge and looked at the spectacle of everyone uniting.
“In just a few days, his Lordship has carved his authority in their hearts. By following his Lordship, I will surely reach a height I cannot attain alone.” Tripleblade was also full of hope.
At this moment, the gate guard came to report to them.
After getting Zong Ge’s permission, the gate guard brought a youngster.
“Are you called Bai Ya?” Zong Ge looked at the youngster and spoke first.
Bai Ya was somewhat overwhelmed with favor: “I did not expect that Lord Zong Ge would remember this humble one’s name.”
Tripleblade spoke: “What have you come for?”
Bai Ya fished out a map and lifted it above his head, he then said with a tone full of arrogance: “This map is a record of the camp’s surroundings, all of the terrain within three thousand meters as well as the scattered beast groups are in it.”
“This was just bestowed by Emperor Sheng Ming during Lord templar knight Zhen Jin’s evening prayers. All information related to the camp’s surroundings was imparted into Lord Zhen Jin’s mind.”
“Lord Zhen Jin promptly drew out two maps from memory, then he dispatched me to gift your Lordship Zong Ge one map.”
“What? Why are you guys staring at me?”
The prior raucousness and guffawing vanished without a trace, the only thing that remained was the jumping flames and the sound of burning firewood.
“That is, that is really good news.” Zong Ge serenely said as he broke the silence.
Tripleblade was roused by those words, he stood up at once and took the map Bai Ya was offering.
Soon after, Tripleblade impatiently sat down, opened the map, and showed it to Zong Ge.
Everyone present gazed at the map, the only sound in the peaceful environment was the spinning of the map.
The map’s distinct lines and rigorous structure now exhibited themselves in front of Zong Ge and the others.
Zong Ge and Tripleblade had another spell of silence.
After a long time, Tripleblade hoarsely said: “It seems this map is real. In the regions we scouted, there are no differences between this map and ours, in fact this map is more accurate and detailed.”
“Of course it’s real!” Bai Ya raised his tone, “We have also compared this to our map, our investigation gains over the past few days completely match with it. It’s a miracle! Of course, there are many of you who don’t believe in Emperor Sheng Ming. If you still don’t believe it, you can continue to investigate and validate.”
Another absolute silence.
“No need.” Zong Ge faintly said, his hand caressed the map, “Saying this is a miracle is exaggerating it somewhat. But it really is a god’s power. Because one can scout out the terrain, however every scattered beast group is on it, with their scale, quantity, and even life rank all meticulously detailed. Although we can accomplish this, it is hard to imagine how much time and energy it would cost.”
“As expected of Lord Zong Ge.” Bai Ya praised, “When Lord Zhen Jin dispatched me, he said that Lord Zong Ge has intelligence, he can definitely verify this map’s authenticity.”
Zong Ge: ……
Bai Ya continued: “Lord Zhen Jin is still anxious about your Lordship’s casualties, considering your Lordship has risked too much investigating to the best of his abilities. Lord Zhen Jin said that when we purge the beast groups, the magic beast groups that have silver level magic beasts are our responsibility to clean up.
The surroundings were silent again.
Notes
Alleged disillusioned believer, mister MC, uses god who did jack shit during his tribulations as his excuse for whatever insane shenanigans he accomplishes with the bloodcore. Since no one can “prove” god didn’t do it for him, no one can really dispute his results unless they too can talk to said god. Of course the question that typically pops up is why didn’t this god do things earlier, to which the bog standard option is that he works in mysterious ways.