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Lydia then stopped with a feeling of wanting more.
Lin En shook his head helplessly. He found that the more dangerous the work was, the more excited the half-ling girl became.
Before, he was thinking about whether he should comfort Lydia to calm her emotions so that she would not be too nervous when performing the mission, but now it seems that there is no need for this.
After flying for twenty minutes, Lin En suddenly turned his head and looked over there. In the distance, a city was already visible.
……
In the imperial border city, Badas Territory, in a stable filled with hay and manure.
Old Marn was waving the shovel in his hand with great effort to clean up the smelly horse manure.
This was not an easy task, because there were about a thousand war horses in the Badas territory, but the rather harsh and greedy Earl was only willing to hire twenty grooms, which meant that each person had to take care of more than fifty war horses...
If this job didn't pay him two silver coins a month, Old Maan would have quit it long ago.
However, two silver coins were not the actual reward, because the steward of Badas could always withhold at least fifty copper coins for various reasons.
Thinking of this, Old Maan felt very distressed and couldn't help cursing in his heart.
If it were half a year ago, it would not be so bad. Even if his wages were deducted, the remaining money would be enough for him to buy black bread and live on. But now it is different. Due to the approaching war, the price of food has risen a lot. One silver and fifty coppers are only enough for twenty days.
Old Maan cursed in his heart while shoveling the horse manure on the ground with all his might, each time harder and harder, as if he was shoveling on someone's head. But when he saw the rather wealthy steward walking towards him, he put on a smiling face again, nodded and bowed as he walked forward to report on the current situation of the more than 50 war horses under his jurisdiction.
The steward who was passing by for inspection obviously had no intention of staying in this smelly stable for long. After confirming that there were no sick horses and no staff were slacking off, he left the area directly.
When the wealthy steward walked away, old Marn took advantage of everyone's inattention, spat into the haystack, and continued to curse in his heart.
The other grooms who were cleaning the stables also stopped what they were doing. After shoveling horse manure for more than an hour, their hands were already so sore that they could not move anymore.
The resting grooms soon gathered together. One of them looked around and saw that no guards were coming, so he spoke in a low voice.
"Have you heard? Last night, Gader tried to sneak out from the south wall, but was discovered by the patrolling guards..."
"Garde? Is he the boy who likes drawing and math?" Old Marn was stunned for a moment. He naturally knew this boy.
Although Garde did some sneaky things all day long, he was not a bad person. He just wanted to make a living and would occasionally help them with the math.
The other grooms were also talking about it. Everyone knew that the bishop had strictly ordered that no one was allowed to go out now, and the consequences of being caught by the guards could be imagined.
"So how is he now?" Old Maan asked curiously and with a hint of worry.
"What else can we do? I heard that the bishop was very angry and had Gard burned to death at the stake that night!" The groom lowered his voice and spoke fearfully.
Everyone present fell into a dead silence until the groom named Dali said in shock, "But... he... why did he sneak out of the city?"
"What else can I do? Of course I can go to..." The groom suddenly shut his mouth here, not daring to continue.
Old Maan and others have already understood that Gader is taking such a big risk to leave the city, and there can only be one purpose, which is to go to the City of Kerosene!
In fact, Gader is not the first person to do this. Several smuggling incidents have occurred in Badas Territory over this period of time.
Many brave people who couldn't survive fled to the City of Kerosene, the kingdom of wizards.
At first, Old Man didn't understand why anyone would want to go to the territories controlled by the evil minions, but recently he had heard many rumors of unknown origin.
Some people say that wizards are not as scary as the church claims, they have nothing to do with evil spirits, and they are not messengers of doomsday.
Some people also said that after the wizards occupied the cities of the empire, not only did they not kill people indiscriminately, but they also distributed food to the local people, repaired houses, and built a large number of workshops. Each worker could get at least six silver coins in compensation, which was three times his current salary!
Tracy, who was originally hungry all day long in Badas territory, smuggled into the Kerosene City, where she not only ate delicious white bread but also had her own house.
Old Man once even heard passing merchants in the tavern talk about some more mysterious things, such as wizards being able to make a large iron ship sail on the sea, airships taller than buildings float in the sky, and trains that are very tall and large enough to carry thousands of people, and even making bread with magic.
It is said that the stuff tastes like clouds and is not comparable to white bread at all.
Old Maan really couldn't understand what it felt like to eat clouds. It must be a rare delicacy.
However, he has not heard similar news recently. The cardinal stationed in Badas expelled all the caravans and arrested many traveling merchants who spread the news. He believed that these people were bewitched by evil spirits.
"Do you think the Kerosene City is as good as the rumors say?" A groom named Dali suddenly spoke up, and he was obviously interested.
These words quickly attracted a round of laughter. "You believe this? Didn't the Bishop say that? Those were all lies made up by the devil to lure us into hell. Those fools who went to the City of Fire Oil must have died long ago..."
"If there really is such a place, it must be the Lord's heaven, right?" said another groom with longing.
Old Man nodded in agreement. It was recorded in the Bible that the devil usually used lies as temptation to deceive people into giving up their souls.
Even though he thought so, the dreamlike scene of the legendary kerosene city still echoed in Old Marn's mind. After all, it was too beautiful.
"Wait...what is that? In the sky, look up in the sky!"
A cry of surprise suddenly sounded in old Mad's ears, pulling him out of his fantasy. He hurriedly looked up at the sky and saw that a huge eagle was flying down towards the city.
When it got closer, Old Mad could see clearly that it was not an eagle, but a silver "steel behemoth".
It is incredibly large and its shape is so beautiful that you can't forget it once you see it.
"This must be the wizards' war machine..." a groom shouted in horror. Although he didn't know what this thing was, he had heard about it from the priests of the church.
The wizard brought many powerful war machines from the abyss, one of which could fly high in the sky and deliver hellfire to the ground.
This strange fire cannot be extinguished even by water. Anyone who is contaminated by it will have his body burned to ashes and his soul dragged into hell.
Fortunately, at this moment, a series of flickering divine lights suddenly shot out from the city, and old Marn immediately realized that it must be the Cardinal who took action!
Suddenly a glimmer of hope arose in everyone's hearts, but the fighter plane flying in the sky was incredibly agile. It kept turning its fuselage, nimbly dodging every attack from the magic, and even lowered its altitude again as if in a provocation, flying straight towards this side.
"Run!" "Get out of the way, it's flying towards us!" Dozens of grooms gathered here suddenly became chaotic. They hurriedly ran into the stable. Although it was not very strong, it could provide some shelter.
But old Mad was not so lucky. He was knocked to the ground by a panicked companion. He rolled several times like a gourd. When he finally got up, he saw the "silver beast" swooping down at him at a very fast speed.
Old Mad's expression was close to despair, especially when he saw the wide-open bottom cabin, the bottom cabin suddenly opened, and a group of "bombs" the size of a human head were thrown out.
One of the 'bombs' is falling towards this side.
A huge fighter plane whizzed past his head, and the sound of it breaking through the air almost broke his eardrums. Old Mad didn't care at this moment, because as he was staring in horror, the "bomb" suddenly exploded!
Old Mad had no time to dodge and could only close his eyes in despair, curled up on the ground, waiting for death to come.
However, after a full half minute, there was no pain in the body.
Old Mad opened his eyes blankly. There was no explosion or fire in front of him, only countless white pages scattered down and a small package...
Before he could figure out what was happening, hundreds of leaflets had landed inside the stable, some fell outside and on the roof, and others were scattered on the open space and covered him.
Old Mad picked up the thin piece of paper covering his body with a slight tremor, and was immediately attracted by the very conspicuous black and white photo on the paper.
It was a photo of the interior of the Kerosene City, with neatly arranged beautiful houses, wide and clean roads, busy streets, workshops with chimneys constantly emitting smoke, and a huge airship flying through the sky...
Old Mad had a limited level of education and could recognize only a few words, but anyone could understand the pictures.
There is more than one "painting" like this on the paper. There are pictures of a train leaving the platform, slums being renovated, and workers working hard in a workshop. Everything is so lifelike.
Even the best painters in the empire could not create such an exquisite work - it was like printing reality on paper!
When the other grooms realized that the strange "silver beast" was not here to kill them, they all came out of the stables. Some of them were brave enough to pick up the flyers and examine them, exclaiming in surprise.
Dali, the bravest one, walked towards the package that was dropped with the flyer and opened it, revealing several square bread bricks.
From the appearance, it doesn't look like white noodles, let alone black noodles. It is very soft when you pinch it with your hands.
"Could this be magic bread?" Dali immediately thought of the rumors about those wizards.
Could it be that those rumors about the Kerosene City are true?
"Dali, you are the most literate among us, can you tell me what is written on it?" A groom handed over the flyer.
Dali reached out and took it. On the front page of the flyer, the title was written in bold letters. He naturally recognized those words and murmured them aloud in a trembling voice.
"The truth can't be killed!"
Chapter 487: This is the devil’s temptation and a questioning of the Lord!
"Damn it, these damn wizards, minions of the devil, they should be sent to hell!"
In Badas Territory, on top of the church, Cardinal Mod looked at the huge fighter plane that was flying over the city in a show of force, his heart filled with anger.
The priests and bishops in the church also had angry looks on their faces. It was like being slapped hard in the face, but there was nothing they could do.
Because this thing was so fast and incredibly agile, no magic they had mastered could bring it down from a distance of thousands of meters.
Seeing that the fighter plane had already flown out of the city, Mod had to suppress his anger and said in a deep voice, "Can you tell what it just threw?"
At the moment when Lydia dived down in the fighter plane, Maude thought the city was doomed, but to everyone's expectation, the other side did not seem to come to attack.
"It looks like paper?" a bishop said uncertainly.
Could it be that it is infected with some plague or curse?
At this moment, several servants ran in from outside in a panic, holding dozens of leaflets in their hands, and said in a trembling voice, "Your Excellency Cardinal, I think you may need to take a look at this!"
Maud couldn't help but frown, and a bad feeling arose in his heart. He immediately took a copy and started reading it.
The other bishops were no exception. After reading the above content, they couldn't help but feel a chill in their hearts.
The entire leaflet is divided into front and back sides.
The front side was for the poor to see, and it advertised the various changes in the City of Fire Oil in order to dispel the church's rumors that wizards were spreading doomsday.
The reverse side was specifically intended for the local nobles, wealthy businessmen, and clergy, detailing the results of several battles between the Magic Kingdom and the Empire.
"How is it possible? Lord Joshua and Lord Gustav were both captured by the wizard..."
"Two Saints died in battle, and several expeditionary armies were completely destroyed. It's all over, all over..."
The whole church suddenly exploded, and the priests and bishops present all had expressions of horror and disbelief on their faces.
In order to avoid panic, the church concealed the losses in several wars to a great extent, especially the information that Joshua and Gustav were captured and two saints died in battle. Now, these leaflets have revealed it!
Of course, just a few lines of text would not be enough to cause such a stir, but the author of the leaflet, Luo Er, was very thoughtful and included many photos.
A large number of captured clergymen who are undergoing transformation, a battlefield full of artillery craters, and the most critical close-up of Gustav, the commander of the God's Punishment Army!
The scene was so real, as if it were a portrayal of reality, that it shook the priests and bishops present.
"Enough, this is nothing but a scam carefully woven by those minions of the evil god!" Mod's loud voice continued to echo in the church, pulling the clergy back from their panic, but the wrist holding the flyer was shaking slightly.
As a cardinal, Maud naturally knew more than the other bishops and priests, so he knew very well that the above description was most likely true.
"Yes, it's ridiculous. It says here that divine arts is also a kind of magic? The great Lord is actually a wizard?" The tall and thin bishop sneered in agreement.
These words were quickly recognized by everyone. The clergy present came to their senses one after another, and felt more and more that these were lies made up by the wizards to try to shake their beliefs. Their vicious intentions were evident.