Editor: SleepyMango123
Proofreader: Lore
Vernal City was well-known for its prosperous trade. At the same time, because the largest tributary of the Enki River, one of the two mother rivers of Aaron Landis, surrounded the city, it was also Aaron Landis’ most important food-producing area in the southwest.
The Vernal River brought about abundant river water and fertile soil to the city, coupled with the subtropical climate, it contributed to the city’s crops twice a year.
However, the existence of this big river also had its advantages and disadvantages. During the rainy season each year, the Vernal River would rise. If there were too much water, it would overwhelm the river embankment and overflow the farmland and cities, causing floods. The City of Vernal had suffered many floods in its history. Therefore, repairing and strengthening the embankment of the Vernal River was the top priority of the successive Vernal City consuls.
In the kingdom of Aaron Landis, there were two ways to rule a city.
One was family inheritance, from father to son, also known as blood inheritance. The current city lord had to report his heirs and get approval from the king.
The second way was under jurisdiction. When the city was directly under the jurisdiction of the royal city, there was no lord, so a governor sent by the royal palace was responsible for the management, and he was generally replaced every three years.
Vernal City was considered the second type.
After two days and two nights of travelling, King Camos finally arrived around the vicinity of the City of Vernal.
On the third day of arriving, near noon, King Camos rode his horse on the high mountain, and the whistling wind passed over his brown hair. He looked down at the huge city surrounded by river water, and something faint seemed to pass by through his golden-brown eyes. His thoughts turned deep.
A little fair hand stretched out, tugged at him, and woke him from his contemplation. He looked down at his little brother who was grabbing him and smiled.
“Brother King, I want to get down,” Garlan, who was held by Camos and was sitting in front, tilted his head and said to the young king.
“Okay.”
Camos said with a smile as he rolled over and dismounted, and patted the dark old animal on the neck. The black horse neighed low and turned his head, reflecting the sun, its dark fur flashed like silk in the sun, moving with a beautiful luster.
Stretching out his hand, Camos carried Garlan down.
Garlan took two steps forward. The wind that carried a jungle scent brushed across his cheeks, bringing an unfamiliar scent he couldn’t smell in the royal palace.
When standing on the top of the mountain and looking down, one could capture all of the huge city. He didn’t know what the city looked like before, but at this moment, one-fifth of the city was covered by yellow-brown sewage. The muddy water crisscrossed the city and surrounded the collapsed buildings.
Outside the city, the vast expanse of farmland that was supposed to be an aquamarine-coloured square, was swallowed by muddy water. Occasionally a part of it was exposed to the surface of the water. There was no greenery in the mud field, only an ugly yellowish brown could be seen.
Garlan could tell that, most likely, there were no crops this season in the first half of the year in Vernal City.
While Garlan was still looking down at the flood-stricken city, King Camos, who had been pondering for a long time, spoke, “Garlan, get ready. We’ll go down and take a look.”
“Okay, Brother King.”
After arriving near the City of Vernal, King Camos did not directly bring the five hundred cavalry into the city, but deliberately went around a big bend. They found shelter in the dense forest next to the city and camped there.
Then, he sent dozens of soldiers under disguise to separately investigate the situation in the city. Garlan could see from King Camos’ face that the news he inquired about was probably not very good. Although Brother King was still smiling at him, he could feel the raging anger surrounding him during the past two days.
“What are you thinking?” Seeing King Camos, who was busy changing his clothes after returning to the camp, Ziemuer frowned and asked.
“Going out to have a stroll,” Camos answered as a matter of fact.
He had taken off his dark brown leather armor and replaced it with ordinary riding clothes. Moreover, the slightly loose-looking riding outfit with the long-sleeved trousers could hide the strong muscle marks on his arms and legs, making him look like an ordinary tall man.
He thought for a while and said, “Call Heimos here as well.”
Prince Heimos, who was arranged by Camos to stay in a cavalry squad, soon came over. He had inconspicuous clothing thrown towards him and was ordered to change into it.
After finishing packing, Camos took the two princes and a dozen cavalry, disguised as ordinary nobles passing by the city and set off. Of course, he didn’t ride the dark horse, Tuck. The King of Horses was so conspicuous that he had no choice but to randomly find an ordinary horse to use.
Garlan sat in front of King Camos, and the horses ran under him. The huge city on the horizon slowly appeared in front of him as they approached.
When he looked down from the mountain, he already felt that the disaster was terrible. Upon looking closer, it became even more shocking.
The elevated road in the middle was half-covered by shallow water and had become a muddy road. Running horses stomped heavily over the murky muddy water, splashing the water out.
Most of the farmland on both sides of the land lower than the road was completely submerged by yellow-brown sewage. It could be clearly seen that the large tracts of crops that were about to mature were in the muddy water, and almost all of them had been soaked.
King Camos, who was the lead, took the reins and slowed down. Garlan turned his head and looked around, only to see some poorly-dressed peasants and serfs1 standing sparsely in the flooded farmland.
Most of their faces were withered and extremely old, with wrinkles on their foreheads.
They stood barefoot in the mud, staring at the soaked crops in a daze. There were also some old women squatting in muddy water with unclothed children, picking out the crops that were not too badly damaged, one by one and putting them into bamboo baskets filled with mud.
These serfs, who had lost most of their produce which they worked hard for half a year for, did not show grief on their faces. Their expressions were sluggish, there was no light in their eyes, but a kind of numbness, accepting their fate. But it was this expression of insensibility and no hope for life that made one feel things more keenly.
Approaching the entrance, Garlan raised his head and looked at the huge gate. Soldiers guarded the gates of the city closely, and they had to check those entering and leaving. There were two places that seemed to be refugee shelters set up near the gate of the city. From a distance, one could see a large earthen pot cooking porridge.
Garlan turned to look at King Camos behind him. Camos seemed to have also seen it, nodded slightly, but soon frowned again.
Because the so-called food relief point seemed strange. It stood to reason that there was a place where food was distributed free of charge. The refugees who had been affected by the disaster should flock to it. However, in the place where the porridge was served, there were only a few very old people asking for food.
Camos turned his head and whispered a few words to a guard behind him. The guard dismounted and went to the asylum to investigate the situation. The others dismounted at the gate of the city and looked around while waiting.
Garlan thought for a while, ran to the porridge spot on the left, leaned over, and looked into the large earthen pot.
The soldier serving porridge was bored as he stood and wanted to drive people away. He looked at the adorable child as he approached the steaming porridge pot, looked inside, sniffed hard, and looked up innocently at him.
“Is this delicious?”
The soldier chuckled.
“Little guy, doesn’t it smell good?”
He saw the child’s cuteness, so he ridiculed him with a few words.
“Go back and find the adults in your family for food. This is not something you can eat.”
As he said that, he stretched out his hand, trying to squeeze the little child’s face.
But before the soldier’s hand could reach him, a hand stretched out from behind to grab the child, tugged and pulled, and dragged the child backwards.
Heimos, who chased after Garlan, pushed the young boy behind him, blocking the soldier’s sight. Then, he smiled and apologised to the soldier, grabbed Garlan and walked back.
“Heimos.”
“What?”
“The pot is just filled with water. There isn’t any porridge at all.”
Garlan remembered the so-called porridge he had just seen. The bottom was clearly visible. There were some wild vegetables floating on the surface of the water, and there was almost no grain in sight.
“…Really?” the boy replied. His hand holding Garlan hadn’t loosened and had been holding the other’s hand tightly.
He continued, “Next time, whatever you want to do, tell me and I’ll do it for you.”
Not noticing Heimos was still gripping his hand firmly, Garlan still looked left and right. Suddenly, his pupils shrank sharply.
He saw the edge of the city wall, near the river, where there were mountains of corpses, many of which were soaked in the water. The corpses that were soaked in the water gave off a rancid smell, attracting countless flies and bugs crawling on the carrion2.
Moreover, from time to time, soldiers brought new corpses and threw them over there.
…No way.
Doing so will definitely cause a plague. This river is the water source of the city. After drinking the river water, the people in Vernal City who have survived the flood will probably die.
After going back, he must tell Brother King about this.
…
Everyone slowly walked around the City of Vernal. The rich and powerful areas in the city were fine, with only a trace of the remaining flood, but many houses in ordinary residential areas and slum areas collapsed. It seemed that it had not been rebuilt. It was full of ruined and broken wood, scattered around the ground in a mess. Occasionally, there were even a few uncontained corpses seen under the collapsed houses.
They wandered for a long time, not leaving the city until evening time. Afterwards, they hurried back deep into the forest, where their camp was.
King Camos frowned. It was not the first time he had visited Vernal City. Therefore, he was displeased when he saw that the lively and bustling city in the past turned into its present-day silence.
He knew that things such as natural disasters could not be predicted nor resisted by humans, and he could not use natural disasters to blame the officials of Vernal City.
But…
But what if this was not completely due to natural disasters?
When the City of Vernal was hit by the disaster, he immediately allocated a large number of supplies for disaster relief.
If the officials were efficient, the city would not be what it was now after more than a month.
With the return of King Camos and the others, the soldiers who went out to inquire during the day also returned one after another and reported what they had heard to Camos.
“It is said that several refugees died of diarrhea after eating the porridge. After that, only a few refugees went to eat there.”
“It is true that a large quantity of food was delivered into the City of Vernal. However, in the past month or so, only some food had been distributed to the city residents, and the amount was not large. It is estimated that more than half of the food allocated should still be left.”
“It’s the same with medicine. I’ve heard that they just gave out some herbal medicines just for appearance’s sake.”
“Those fishermen by the river said that since the second half of last year, the embankment of the Vernal River has rarely been maintained.”
Upon hearing this, King Camos, who had been sitting quietly, smiled.
“Those guys continue to say that the food and medicine consumption of Vernal City is extremely high and large amounts of relief supplies need to be allocated.”
The understated and indifferent tone gave people a great sense of oppression for some reason.
At this moment, everyone stood in place, their heads down and silent.
King Camos continued, “Since last year, the consul of this city has been asking me for money and food to repair the river embankment—”
He said each word slowly, with the last few words forced out of gritted teeth.
“King Camos!”
A hurried shout came from outside, and the curtain lifted. The priest of Shamash quickly walked in with a somber face.
“Please come out and have a look.”
Standing by the entrance, he held the curtain of the tent open and said to Camos while the faint sound of weeping came from behind him.
Camos walked out quickly. Everyone in the camp also followed out, and Garlan was no exception.
As soon as he went out, he saw twenty or thirty people kneeling on the ground. Among them were several women, holding two children, sobbing in low voices, with an expression of uncertainty on their faces.
“What’s the matter?” King Camos glanced at the people kneeling on the ground and asked.
Ziemuer replied, “I brought a few people to investigate the thievery happening around here, but it was strange and many people couldn’t explain it clearly. I also checked out the terrain around here. There weren’t any places suitable for thieves’ dens.”
“On the way back, we happened to encounter this group of people being attacked by thieves… Those thieves were very strange. They actually had a lot of weapons and horses. It seemed like they came out as thieves to rob for money, but they targeted and attacked these refugees who had lost their property in the flood.”
“I think their main purpose is to kidnap the women and children in the crowd.”
The surrounding air cooled a bit and settled down, as if an invisible aura radiated from King Camos who was silently listening to Ziemuer’s words.
The King of Aaron Landis stood in the dark night. The light of the burning torch next to him was reflected in his golden brown eyes, making his eyes shine as if fire were burning at this moment.
The cavalry on the side lowered their heads in silence, and the kneeling people bowed their heads deeper to the ground. No one dared to take a single breath. Even the ignorant children stopped crying as if they were afraid of something.
The frightening Lion King just stood there. His terrifying manner was enough to make them unable to breathe.
Ziemuer continued speaking with a gloomy expression, “King Camos, I suspect that the so-called large band of thieves reported to us were disguised as soldiers.”
“Under the instigation of someone, they took advantage of the floods that caused many people to suffer. When it was difficult to count the dead and missing people, the army disguised themselves as thieves to abduct the surviving citizens, especially women and children, for human trafficking…”
As soon as he said this, he was suddenly interrupted.
Only a loud bang was heard. King Camos had heavily punched the big tree beside him.
“Those people…damn it!”
When he said the last two words, his voice was terribly low.
The golden-brown eyes that looked like flames were burning in it, had the look of a beast being angered.
Natural disasters may be terrible, but what was more terrible than that were man-made disasters!
“The whole City of Vernal, from top to bottom, should be thoroughly cleaned again.”
The young king gave the appalling command in a calm tone.
Camos thought that it was probably because he had been at the border, fighting with other countries in the past few years, instead of killing people within the country; some assholes thought his temper had faded.
It was time to let those men see blood again. Let them know the preciousness of life—and remember the fear of the ‘Lion King’.
“Saddle up.”
As soon as King Camos’ words fell, the cavalry on the scene turned to their horses within a second, ready to go.
The steed underneath them snorted and huffed, their hooves scratching the ground.
Waiting for their king to give an order, they would rush into the City of Vernal, and without a care, wash away the blood of the greedy people who had angered their King.
“Wait a minute, King Camos.”
Ziemuer stopped Camos.
“Now is not the right time.”
He said, “After following the thieves, I have found the places where the abducted people are held, and I can rescue them at any time.”
He shook his head.
“However, I couldn’t find the children who were taken away. I didn’t find any of them. I suspect that they moved those children to another place with some ulterior motives.”
“It’s very simple for us to deal with those guys in the city, but I’m worried that in order to protect themselves, they’d frantically annihilate the criminal evidence—secretly killing all the children. If this is the case…”
Ziemuer couldn’t finish his sentence as someone cried out and interrupted him.
A man knelt on the ground, desperately crying and kowtowing to Ziemuer.
“Please! Please! Save my daughter! She is so young. She’s only five years old ah—”
As soon as the man cried, others who were holding back also cried and pleaded.
“And my child—he was abducted yesterday.”
“My son must be alive, he must be alive. Please help me rescue him!”
There were even children who rushed over and hugged Ziemuer’s legs while crying, begging him to save their brother.
Ziemuer pursed his lips, resisting the discomfort of being soiled by the dirty children, and didn’t push them away but turned his head to look at King Camos.
“In such a short period of time, it may be difficult for us to find those children who have been taken away.” He frowned tightly and continued, “However, over time, I’m worried about what will happen next, especially once our traces are exposed. Those people will destroy the evidence of crime first, and those children will likely be…”
For a while, apart from the cries of people who knelt on the ground and kept kowtowing, the night was very quiet.
All the cavalry were silent, including King Camos who was already riding on his horse. He was deep in thought, as if planning something.
Within the cries, there seemed to be a long sigh.
Then, a child’s clear, soft voice sounded in the dark night.
“If you’re asking for a child, then there is one here.”
Under the blazing fire, the pale golden hair of the little prince who spoke, flickered bright and soft in the dark as if there was a light halo over his head.
“Let them abduct me, and we’ll know where the children are.”
Editor: SleepyMango123
Proofreader: Lore
Vernal City was well-known for its prosperous trade. At the same time, because the largest tributary of the Enki River, one of the two mother rivers of Aaron Landis, surrounded the city, it was also Aaron Landis’ most important food-producing area in the southwest.
The Vernal River brought about abundant river water and fertile soil to the city, coupled with the subtropical climate, it contributed to the city’s crops twice a year.
However, the existence of this big river also had its advantages and disadvantages. During the rainy season each year, the Vernal River would rise. If there were too much water, it would overwhelm the river embankment and overflow the farmland and cities, causing floods. The City of Vernal had suffered many floods in its history. Therefore, repairing and strengthening the embankment of the Vernal River was the top priority of the successive Vernal City consuls.
In the kingdom of Aaron Landis, there were two ways to rule a city.
One was family inheritance, from father to son, also known as blood inheritance. The current city lord had to report his heirs and get approval from the king.
The second way was under jurisdiction. When the city was directly under the jurisdiction of the royal city, there was no lord, so a governor sent by the royal palace was responsible for the management, and he was generally replaced every three years.
Vernal City was considered the second type.
After two days and two nights of travelling, King Camos finally arrived around the vicinity of the City of Vernal.
On the third day of arriving, near noon, King Camos rode his horse on the high mountain, and the whistling wind passed over his brown hair. He looked down at the huge city surrounded by river water, and something faint seemed to pass by through his golden-brown eyes. His thoughts turned deep.
A little fair hand stretched out, tugged at him, and woke him from his contemplation. He looked down at his little brother who was grabbing him and smiled.
“Brother King, I want to get down,” Garlan, who was held by Camos and was sitting in front, tilted his head and said to the young king.
“Okay.”
Camos said with a smile as he rolled over and dismounted, and patted the dark old animal on the neck. The black horse neighed low and turned his head, reflecting the sun, its dark fur flashed like silk in the sun, moving with a beautiful luster.
Stretching out his hand, Camos carried Garlan down.
Garlan took two steps forward. The wind that carried a jungle scent brushed across his cheeks, bringing an unfamiliar scent he couldn’t smell in the royal palace.
When standing on the top of the mountain and looking down, one could capture all of the huge city. He didn’t know what the city looked like before, but at this moment, one-fifth of the city was covered by yellow-brown sewage. The muddy water crisscrossed the city and surrounded the collapsed buildings.
Outside the city, the vast expanse of farmland that was supposed to be an aquamarine-coloured square, was swallowed by muddy water. Occasionally a part of it was exposed to the surface of the water. There was no greenery in the mud field, only an ugly yellowish brown could be seen.
Garlan could tell that, most likely, there were no crops this season in the first half of the year in Vernal City.
While Garlan was still looking down at the flood-stricken city, King Camos, who had been pondering for a long time, spoke, “Garlan, get ready. We’ll go down and take a look.”
“Okay, Brother King.”
After arriving near the City of Vernal, King Camos did not directly bring the five hundred cavalry into the city, but deliberately went around a big bend. They found shelter in the dense forest next to the city and camped there.
Then, he sent dozens of soldiers under disguise to separately investigate the situation in the city. Garlan could see from King Camos’ face that the news he inquired about was probably not very good. Although Brother King was still smiling at him, he could feel the raging anger surrounding him during the past two days.
“What are you thinking?” Seeing King Camos, who was busy changing his clothes after returning to the camp, Ziemuer frowned and asked.
“Going out to have a stroll,” Camos answered as a matter of fact.
He had taken off his dark brown leather armor and replaced it with ordinary riding clothes. Moreover, the slightly loose-looking riding outfit with the long-sleeved trousers could hide the strong muscle marks on his arms and legs, making him look like an ordinary tall man.
He thought for a while and said, “Call Heimos here as well.”
Prince Heimos, who was arranged by Camos to stay in a cavalry squad, soon came over. He had inconspicuous clothing thrown towards him and was ordered to change into it.
After finishing packing, Camos took the two princes and a dozen cavalry, disguised as ordinary nobles passing by the city and set off. Of course, he didn’t ride the dark horse, Tuck. The King of Horses was so conspicuous that he had no choice but to randomly find an ordinary horse to use.
Garlan sat in front of King Camos, and the horses ran under him. The huge city on the horizon slowly appeared in front of him as they approached.
When he looked down from the mountain, he already felt that the disaster was terrible. Upon looking closer, it became even more shocking.
The elevated road in the middle was half-covered by shallow water and had become a muddy road. Running horses stomped heavily over the murky muddy water, splashing the water out.
Most of the farmland on both sides of the land lower than the road was completely submerged by yellow-brown sewage. It could be clearly seen that the large tracts of crops that were about to mature were in the muddy water, and almost all of them had been soaked.
King Camos, who was the lead, took the reins and slowed down. Garlan turned his head and looked around, only to see some poorly-dressed peasants and serfs1 standing sparsely in the flooded farmland.
Most of their faces were withered and extremely old, with wrinkles on their foreheads.
They stood barefoot in the mud, staring at the soaked crops in a daze. There were also some old women squatting in muddy water with unclothed children, picking out the crops that were not too badly damaged, one by one and putting them into bamboo baskets filled with mud.
These serfs, who had lost most of their produce which they worked hard for half a year for, did not show grief on their faces. Their expressions were sluggish, there was no light in their eyes, but a kind of numbness, accepting their fate. But it was this expression of insensibility and no hope for life that made one feel things more keenly.
Approaching the entrance, Garlan raised his head and looked at the huge gate. Soldiers guarded the gates of the city closely, and they had to check those entering and leaving. There were two places that seemed to be refugee shelters set up near the gate of the city. From a distance, one could see a large earthen pot cooking porridge.
Garlan turned to look at King Camos behind him. Camos seemed to have also seen it, nodded slightly, but soon frowned again.
Because the so-called food relief point seemed strange. It stood to reason that there was a place where food was distributed free of charge. The refugees who had been affected by the disaster should flock to it. However, in the place where the porridge was served, there were only a few very old people asking for food.
Camos turned his head and whispered a few words to a guard behind him. The guard dismounted and went to the asylum to investigate the situation. The others dismounted at the gate of the city and looked around while waiting.
Garlan thought for a while, ran to the porridge spot on the left, leaned over, and looked into the large earthen pot.
The soldier serving porridge was bored as he stood and wanted to drive people away. He looked at the adorable child as he approached the steaming porridge pot, looked inside, sniffed hard, and looked up innocently at him.
“Is this delicious?”
The soldier chuckled.
“Little guy, doesn’t it smell good?”
He saw the child’s cuteness, so he ridiculed him with a few words.
“Go back and find the adults in your family for food. This is not something you can eat.”
As he said that, he stretched out his hand, trying to squeeze the little child’s face.
But before the soldier’s hand could reach him, a hand stretched out from behind to grab the child, tugged and pulled, and dragged the child backwards.
Heimos, who chased after Garlan, pushed the young boy behind him, blocking the soldier’s sight. Then, he smiled and apologised to the soldier, grabbed Garlan and walked back.
“Heimos.”
“What?”
“The pot is just filled with water. There isn’t any porridge at all.”
Garlan remembered the so-called porridge he had just seen. The bottom was clearly visible. There were some wild vegetables floating on the surface of the water, and there was almost no grain in sight.
“…Really?” the boy replied. His hand holding Garlan hadn’t loosened and had been holding the other’s hand tightly.
He continued, “Next time, whatever you want to do, tell me and I’ll do it for you.”
Not noticing Heimos was still gripping his hand firmly, Garlan still looked left and right. Suddenly, his pupils shrank sharply.
He saw the edge of the city wall, near the river, where there were mountains of corpses, many of which were soaked in the water. The corpses that were soaked in the water gave off a rancid smell, attracting countless flies and bugs crawling on the carrion2.
Moreover, from time to time, soldiers brought new corpses and threw them over there.
…No way.
Doing so will definitely cause a plague. This river is the water source of the city. After drinking the river water, the people in Vernal City who have survived the flood will probably die.
After going back, he must tell Brother King about this.
…
Everyone slowly walked around the City of Vernal. The rich and powerful areas in the city were fine, with only a trace of the remaining flood, but many houses in ordinary residential areas and slum areas collapsed. It seemed that it had not been rebuilt. It was full of ruined and broken wood, scattered around the ground in a mess. Occasionally, there were even a few uncontained corpses seen under the collapsed houses.
They wandered for a long time, not leaving the city until evening time. Afterwards, they hurried back deep into the forest, where their camp was.
King Camos frowned. It was not the first time he had visited Vernal City. Therefore, he was displeased when he saw that the lively and bustling city in the past turned into its present-day silence.
He knew that things such as natural disasters could not be predicted nor resisted by humans, and he could not use natural disasters to blame the officials of Vernal City.
But…
But what if this was not completely due to natural disasters?
When the City of Vernal was hit by the disaster, he immediately allocated a large number of supplies for disaster relief.
If the officials were efficient, the city would not be what it was now after more than a month.
With the return of King Camos and the others, the soldiers who went out to inquire during the day also returned one after another and reported what they had heard to Camos.
“It is said that several refugees died of diarrhea after eating the porridge. After that, only a few refugees went to eat there.”
“It is true that a large quantity of food was delivered into the City of Vernal. However, in the past month or so, only some food had been distributed to the city residents, and the amount was not large. It is estimated that more than half of the food allocated should still be left.”
“It’s the same with medicine. I’ve heard that they just gave out some herbal medicines just for appearance’s sake.”
“Those fishermen by the river said that since the second half of last year, the embankment of the Vernal River has rarely been maintained.”
Upon hearing this, King Camos, who had been sitting quietly, smiled.
“Those guys continue to say that the food and medicine consumption of Vernal City is extremely high and large amounts of relief supplies need to be allocated.”
The understated and indifferent tone gave people a great sense of oppression for some reason.
At this moment, everyone stood in place, their heads down and silent.
King Camos continued, “Since last year, the consul of this city has been asking me for money and food to repair the river embankment—”
He said each word slowly, with the last few words forced out of gritted teeth.
“King Camos!”
A hurried shout came from outside, and the curtain lifted. The priest of Shamash quickly walked in with a somber face.
“Please come out and have a look.”
Standing by the entrance, he held the curtain of the tent open and said to Camos while the faint sound of weeping came from behind him.
Camos walked out quickly. Everyone in the camp also followed out, and Garlan was no exception.
As soon as he went out, he saw twenty or thirty people kneeling on the ground. Among them were several women, holding two children, sobbing in low voices, with an expression of uncertainty on their faces.
“What’s the matter?” King Camos glanced at the people kneeling on the ground and asked.
Ziemuer replied, “I brought a few people to investigate the thievery happening around here, but it was strange and many people couldn’t explain it clearly. I also checked out the terrain around here. There weren’t any places suitable for thieves’ dens.”
“On the way back, we happened to encounter this group of people being attacked by thieves… Those thieves were very strange. They actually had a lot of weapons and horses. It seemed like they came out as thieves to rob for money, but they targeted and attacked these refugees who had lost their property in the flood.”
“I think their main purpose is to kidnap the women and children in the crowd.”
The surrounding air cooled a bit and settled down, as if an invisible aura radiated from King Camos who was silently listening to Ziemuer’s words.
The King of Aaron Landis stood in the dark night. The light of the burning torch next to him was reflected in his golden brown eyes, making his eyes shine as if fire were burning at this moment.
The cavalry on the side lowered their heads in silence, and the kneeling people bowed their heads deeper to the ground. No one dared to take a single breath. Even the ignorant children stopped crying as if they were afraid of something.
The frightening Lion King just stood there. His terrifying manner was enough to make them unable to breathe.
Ziemuer continued speaking with a gloomy expression, “King Camos, I suspect that the so-called large band of thieves reported to us were disguised as soldiers.”
“Under the instigation of someone, they took advantage of the floods that caused many people to suffer. When it was difficult to count the dead and missing people, the army disguised themselves as thieves to abduct the surviving citizens, especially women and children, for human trafficking…”
As soon as he said this, he was suddenly interrupted.
Only a loud bang was heard. King Camos had heavily punched the big tree beside him.
“Those people…damn it!”
When he said the last two words, his voice was terribly low.
The golden-brown eyes that looked like flames were burning in it, had the look of a beast being angered.
Natural disasters may be terrible, but what was more terrible than that were man-made disasters!
“The whole City of Vernal, from top to bottom, should be thoroughly cleaned again.”
The young king gave the appalling command in a calm tone.
Camos thought that it was probably because he had been at the border, fighting with other countries in the past few years, instead of killing people within the country; some assholes thought his temper had faded.
It was time to let those men see blood again. Let them know the preciousness of life—and remember the fear of the ‘Lion King’.
“Saddle up.”
As soon as King Camos’ words fell, the cavalry on the scene turned to their horses within a second, ready to go.
The steed underneath them snorted and huffed, their hooves scratching the ground.
Waiting for their king to give an order, they would rush into the City of Vernal, and without a care, wash away the blood of the greedy people who had angered their King.
“Wait a minute, King Camos.”
Ziemuer stopped Camos.
“Now is not the right time.”
He said, “After following the thieves, I have found the places where the abducted people are held, and I can rescue them at any time.”
He shook his head.
“However, I couldn’t find the children who were taken away. I didn’t find any of them. I suspect that they moved those children to another place with some ulterior motives.”
“It’s very simple for us to deal with those guys in the city, but I’m worried that in order to protect themselves, they’d frantically annihilate the criminal evidence—secretly killing all the children. If this is the case…”
Ziemuer couldn’t finish his sentence as someone cried out and interrupted him.
A man knelt on the ground, desperately crying and kowtowing to Ziemuer.
“Please! Please! Save my daughter! She is so young. She’s only five years old ah—”
As soon as the man cried, others who were holding back also cried and pleaded.
“And my child—he was abducted yesterday.”
“My son must be alive, he must be alive. Please help me rescue him!”
There were even children who rushed over and hugged Ziemuer’s legs while crying, begging him to save their brother.
Ziemuer pursed his lips, resisting the discomfort of being soiled by the dirty children, and didn’t push them away but turned his head to look at King Camos.
“In such a short period of time, it may be difficult for us to find those children who have been taken away.” He frowned tightly and continued, “However, over time, I’m worried about what will happen next, especially once our traces are exposed. Those people will destroy the evidence of crime first, and those children will likely be…”
For a while, apart from the cries of people who knelt on the ground and kept kowtowing, the night was very quiet.
All the cavalry were silent, including King Camos who was already riding on his horse. He was deep in thought, as if planning something.
Within the cries, there seemed to be a long sigh.
Then, a child’s clear, soft voice sounded in the dark night.
“If you’re asking for a child, then there is one here.”
Under the blazing fire, the pale golden hair of the little prince who spoke, flickered bright and soft in the dark as if there was a light halo over his head.
“Let them abduct me, and we’ll know where the children are.”
