Negotiations on the merchant ship are ongoing, but changes are quietly occurring in another part of Laemia.
In the mountains more than ten miles west of Laemia, on a road paved with sand-colored stone slabs in the sand, a square building made of alabaster like a temple is located.
One of hundreds of tax collection stations in Lahmia.
A small window was opened between the alabaster stones, which was now illuminated red by the torch. Behind the window, a soldier holding a longbow was observing the situation outside. He was wearing an old and yellowed original uniform.
It should be white linen armor, and the longbow on his hand looks flabby because it has not been maintained for a long time.
The small white sand window in front of him was originally used to prevent wind and sand and heat insulation, but now it has become the only fortification that can be relied on during the confrontation. The archer Heru looked at the appearance outside worriedly, and clenched his hands no longer.
No matter how powerful the long bow was, a trace of fear flashed in his eyes, and the fingers on the quiver trembled, as if they would lose power at any time.
The people confronting them outside the gate were the Philanthropists from the surrounding villages. They were holding sickles, pitchforks, axes and other things in their hands. There were at least fifty or sixty of them. The only regular troops the tax station could rely on were the gatekeepers.
There were four spearmen wearing the same old linen armor and three archers including him.
What worries Hulu even more is that outside, six or seven sword-wielding servants were asked to tie up a Philanthropist, and the secretary who was holding a whip and a sickle sword to confront the anti-citizens was a graduate of the Lahmian National Secretary School.
The clerk kept whipping the young Felamin, whose skin was the color of earth, with his riding crop, making the crowd more angry and seemed ready to take action at any time.
He did not think that this small tax collection station could survive the wrath of so many mobs if a conflict did break out.
"It is your family's honor that your sister can serve the distinguished adults. The blood of your family is not as good as a fingernail of those distinguished lords." The secretary whipped the bound man named Keblis.
Felamin's face was instantly bruised, and then he looked at the Felamins who were approaching to take action, and shouted:
"And you, this year's tax must not be less. The great kings are fighting against the evil spirits across the sea and fighting bloody battles for the entire Nehekhara. If the soldiers on the front line are hungry because of your small tax,
You are the traitors of Nehekhara!"
"Tens of thousands of warriors fighting for Asaf are in the city. If you think that being anti-people will end the matter, I will accompany you for my life! Asaf will protect my soul, and you!
There will never be another chance to be reborn!"
Keblis, who was beaten with blood on his head, raised his head with difficulty and looked directly at the clerk, "Emperor Settra once issued a decree that if poor peasants are unable to pay taxes, two-thirds of the taxes will be exempted.
If you still can’t pay, the tax will be waived.”
The scribe lowered his head slightly and looked directly at Keblis. This man knew the decrees of Emperor Settra and was literate, unlike other untouchables who didn't even know a single word.
However, his sister was taken away by the Night Lords in the city. She was just a scholar who could read and write, so he couldn't make him pay more. Moreover, he knew how much those adults were eager for the blood of a beautiful virgin, and he didn't want to get into trouble.
.
"That is a decree issued by Emperor Settra for the sake of self-cultivation. Now that we have entered war, those evil spirits have covered the city of Lahmia with blood. Naturally, this kind of decree will be abolished."
"You moths who have been favored by the god Asaf but have no sense of gratitude. On the land of Lamia, you are inherently indebted to the goddess's kindness, her water, her soil, and her care, so
, you dedicate everything you have as a matter of course.”
"Asshole, you are the damn worm." Keblis shouted, but the clerk kicked him down and stepped on his chest.
"I am a secretary who has been blessed by the gods and graduated from the National Secretarial School. The gods have given me the wealth to have flexible limbs and soft palms. They have also given me blessing clothes. Even the courtiers must salute me when they see me.
Who do you think you are!"
The clerk sneered at Keblis. He didn't know how many clay tablets he had to scrape off before he was admitted to the National Secretariat School. He wore a gold-rimmed white robe that only clerks were qualified to wear, and gained the distinguished status of being able to go out without having to walk.
, he dared to talk back like this after reading two books, and any good impression he had on the identity of a literate person in Keblis was completely lost.
Just as he was about to order the head of this gibbering young man to be beheaded, suddenly a camel-pulled redwood board truck stopped not far from the tax station. The clerk looked at the blue and white red boards around the camel truck.
, yellow lines, and the complexion becomes cloudy and uncertain. This kind of lines is usually unique to the wealthy people nearby. Could it be said that it is not just the Philanthropists who want to rebel?
A man on crutches came out of the camel cart. He was an old man with a big white beard and wrinkled brown skin. He was wearing a white robe with complicated light-color embroidery and a white turban made of fine linen.
There was a portrait of a rich man, and the clerk recognized it. It was none other than Adio, a large landowner from the village of Abillon not far away.
Adio coughed twice, almost ignoring the handymen with knives, walked to Keblis, and said slowly: "Keblis, don't cause trouble anymore, you still think it's a waste for the village."
Don’t you have enough trouble? Take them all back."
With that said, he pulled Keblis away.
Due to some relatives, the Keblis family has been renting their family's land for generations. The Keblis family has rented the fifty acres of land on the east side of the Adio property for more than 120 years.
He is not willing to break this stable relationship that has spanned many generations because of this kind of thing. The ancestors of Keblis are all honest and capable people, and Keblis is not bad. He has been doing farm work since he was a child.
He had to work carefully. If he found a new tenant, he might not be able to do well. Moreover, if something happened in the village, if he didn't step up, there would be no one to step up.
When the handymen saw Adio's actions, they didn't know what to do for a moment. Forget about ordinary Philanthropists. It's hard to tell whether there are any such big landowners in the city, especially if they have been admitted to the clerkship.
It would be difficult to deal with the children of the school.
Even the clerk who was about to kill people at the beginning did not say anything to stop him, but just looked at Adio coldly. However, the problem was not with the bureaucratic servants, but with Kebli who was kneeling on the ground and was about to be taken away by him.
S.
"If I don't go back, I will ask for justice." Looking at Adio, the fire in Keblis's heart was ignited. He was still a little afraid of dying, but he didn't care about his own life anymore, and injustice happened.
In his own case, not only could he not get justice, but he also had to sell favors to the landlord to save his life. If the whole of Nehekhara is like this, then what is the point of working steadily? Sooner or later, all Nehekhara will
The people of Kara will be swallowed up by the darkness behind the dynasty.
Keblis glanced at the servants ferociously and made up his mind. Then he tripped over a collision and knocked down the servant in blue shorts who wanted to hold him down. After a roll, he hit a sharp stone.
He went up and broke the chains on his hands with all his strength, but such a powerful impact caused the chains on his hands to be deeply embedded in the flesh of Keblis's arms. Despite this, he still endured the pain and fell down again.
He pulled out his sword.
He got close and pointed the tip of his knife at the clerk, "Give us tax exemption immediately and let my sister go, otherwise our heads will fall on the ground."
The clerk was not afraid of the sharp knife in front of him at all, and said angrily to the soldiers in the tax station: "I've had enough, these untouchables! Shoot arrows! Shoot arrows!"
Seeing that the arrows shot down several untouchables, and most of the remaining untouchables ran away, the thin tongue in the secretary's mouth was about to weave a new round of vicious words against the untouchables, which the people of Fera have never said in the past thousand years.
No matter what the climate is, maybe during the First and Second Dynasties of ancient times, they could gather together to form a wall, but now, most of them are just a mob.
At this moment, the clerk felt a chill in his throat. The sharp knife that he was not afraid of stabbed into his neck and cut his carotid artery. In front of him was a pair of blood-red eyes of hatred.
His blood sprinkled onto the surrounding sand like rain, spraying out for several meters.
But the killings caused by Keblis were not over yet. Another knife was slashed on the arm of a busboy, causing the busboys to retreat into the house in fear and put on a defensive posture. Only then did the crazy Philamin's attack come to an end.
Stopped before the arrow penetrated the chest.
"Master Clerk! Oh no! Gods, please spare them! Keblis! What have you done! Get out of here!"
Adio spoke incoherently, and after a while, it turned into a curse. He hurriedly knelt in front of the secretary's body and begged for forgiveness from the soldiers who fired arrows, but the longbowmen were as nervous as if they couldn't hear them at all.
They used the broken bow in their hands to point at everyone who dared to stand in front of them.
Of course it's not that they can't hear it, but who knows how long the arm that pulls the bow can hold on. We must scare these mobs away before they collapse! Otherwise they will be the ones who die.
Keblis fell to the ground slumped because of the penetrating wound on his chest. The burning pain of the wound was intertwined with the pain of being unable to breathe. In a daze, he felt that time had become longer. The landlord Adio was groveling in front of him.
Seeing the fallen villagers around him, especially several of the faces he had grown up with, something ignited the fire in his heart.
Hatred, anger, all the emotions are intertwined. He wants to kill. Corrupt officials deserve to die, soldiers who care about human lives deserve to die, handymen who work for tigers deserve to die, and big landowners who usually only collect rent but turn out to be so weak deserve to die! Everyone,
All deserve to die!
In the sky, the green light of the evil moon shone on his body, bringing a faint blood color, and the air began to become hot.
"Death, you...kill...the beast..." Some meaningless shouts began to appear in his mouth, like the babble of a person before death, but gradually, these words became clearer.
"Blood sacrifice to the blood god...skull sacrifice to the skull seat..."
Then, Keblis's voice became passionate.
"Blood sacrifice to the blood god! Skull sacrifice to the skull throne!"
He stood up holding the blade in his hand, his chest hurt even more, but his anger allowed him to stand up, and his anger allowed him to breathe with the flame of hatred!
In a realm that seemed to have no time, the eyes of hatred and war were focused on Keblis, making the faint red on his body become more obvious. The longbowmen were horrified to find that among those reds, especially
There was obvious flame flowing in the arrow wound just now.
The Nehekhara's unique black eyes turned blood-like red, and the originally soft male voice began to become more rough, sounding more and more like the voice of a wild beast.
A little rust appeared on the blade of Keblis's hand, and then it became hot, burning his hand with the smell of barbecue, and then turned into a burnt smell, and the color of the entire knife became pitch black, exuding
Shockingly evil atmosphere.
When he saw the blood-red figure rushing towards him, and the big rocks mined in the mountains were smashed by the impact, the longbowman Heru couldn't help but regretted whether he had done something wrong tonight.
Just as blood was staining this desolate sandy soil, the negotiations on the ship were coming to an end.
"My intelligence said that you are unwilling to drink the blood of ordinary people. It seems that I wrongly blamed you."
After a long period of self-searching in his mind, Esky has almost mastered the information about this vampire champion warrior. To be honest, he is a little tired of this kind of vampire who is only willing to drink the blood of bandits, robbers, and executioners.
The morals are too high, and it is really difficult to deal with them.
This chapter is not over, please click on the next page to continue reading! "Stop talking nonsense, how do you plan to hand over Princess Isis, and I can try to satisfy you with all the conditions."
Eski yawned, "It's already very late today. We've been sailing for too long, and I'm already planning to take a rest."
Abrash didn't say anything more and signaled the soldiers to take Eski and others away. Footsteps came from the deck outside the ship. A Nehekhara was dressed gorgeously and had long white straight hair hanging on her shoulders.
The nobleman pushed open the door and entered.
Ablash asked in surprise, "Ankart?" His fingers pressed on the sword at his waist.
Eski was stunned for a while, "Is it you? You appeared so early?" Eski, who immediately realized that he had made a mistake, was glad that what he blurted out was rat language, patted his chest, and then held the hand
Staff.
"Nothing in Lahmia can be hidden from the midnight nobles. My bodyguard said that there will be a negotiation tonight." Ankart frowned and said to Ablash.
"Of course there are negotiations, but there is no result. I am already very tired and don't want to talk anymore today." Esky leaned on his chair and said with squinted eyes. At such a close distance, relying on his brain in a high-intensity search state, even though
The appearance and records were somewhat surprising, and he had already recognized the person in front of him as the future founder of the Von Carstein family.
Ankart naturally recognized the rat-man in front of him. After all, it was this rat-man who announced the massacre in front of countless people in front of the palace and wounded their monarch. However, he had no intention of avenging the monarch. He only wanted to
A little fear.
"I want to know, you haven't touched her maid." After taking a deep breath, Ankat glanced at the familiar vampire in the corner, Naema, and still asked this question.
"No, but I do want to touch her, but I still think about Neferata anyway." Esky glanced at Naema. This kind of oriental-style vampire actually suits his taste, and it is sterile.
There is no reproductive isolation between Skaven and other races, but there is a high probability of giving birth to monsters. Most of the time, those monsters will kill the mother. Therefore, despite maintaining his love for female rats and humanoid creatures at the same time, Eski
It's still hard to indulge yourself.
It doesn't matter if those women were beheaded, but if they died in this way, Eski couldn't get over his own feelings.
Therefore, creatures such as vampires are the best choice. It is impossible for him to learn from his compatriots and ride a Tyrell she-wolf.
"Please return the Queen's maid to us."
"I said, the negotiation is over."
"Then move to the place we prepared." After an obvious pause, Ancart said to Esky.
Eski thought for a moment, spoke a few words to his companions in rat language, and then followed Ankart out of the cabin.
When he got off the boat, he saw Alclin, Hecate, holding Naema and the little prince hostage, being taken aside by the attendants arranged by the vampire, but he was taken so far away that
Esky suspected that this was an ambush, but these worries became unnecessary after he turned into a small alley made of snow-white stones.
Ankat took him and quickly entered a white stone courtyard filled with the fragrance of lotus flowers, with lotus leaves and blue lotus flowers under the moonlight.
Several pale-skinned women wearing light clothes with almost only a layer of gauze on their bodies stood in a straight line in front of him. Their different features made Eski's eyes roll several times.
"These women are vampires?"
Eski's question needed no answer at all, and every feature of these women showed it.
"Which one do you want?" Ankat asked, but Eski didn't answer. He directly stepped forward and hugged the two tallest vampires.
"I like to fight on two fronts." He approached the ears of the two female vampires, "Be careful, girls, I am different from humans. You have to tolerate the barbs and hair."