Chapter 420: 396 Refugees without aid_2
Thinking of these, Reiger began to feel a strong distaste for the elites in the royal capital of Yalefu.
Although, he originally didn’t have much fondness for those nobles and royals to begin with.
"That, that..."
As Reiger fell silent and Gel also didn’t know what to say, Fannie spoke up weakly.
"They’re still crying, still kowtowing; I saw many people with their heads broken open, and very small children crying out in hunger. Can’t we... help them, please?"
Fannie’s words brought Reiger back to his senses smoothly.
"Miss..."
Gel intended to speak up and stop his young mistress from making her statement.
This was, after all, about a hundred or so people; the cost of aiding them would be considerable.
Indeed, such a cost wouldn’t be much for a larger noble family, but to satisfy the hunger of a hundred or so refugees would certainly require a substantial outlay.
For the young lady to ask her father for such an expense could be justified, but it seemed somewhat inappropriate to make such a request of a stranger who had saved her life.
Gel, therefore, intended to dissuade Fannie for this reason.
However, Reiger spoke up.
"Liz." He addressed Liz at the driver’s seat and asked, "How much food did we bring?"
Liz, who was flustered at the driver’s seat, unsure of what to do, suddenly felt as if she’d met her savior at the sound of Reiger’s voice.
"We have a lot left!" Liz continuously said, "Marilyn Miss... Miss Marilyn prepared enough food for my master and me to last several months, but it was meant for the journey, so it’s mostly easy-to-carry foods like jerky, dried fish, and flatbreads."
"Alright." Reiger nodded and said, "In that case, take out that food and distribute it to the refugees."
"Yes, master."
Liz was naturally willing and immediately jumped down from the driver’s seat to retrieve the food from the storage rack at the back of the carriage.
"I’ll help too!"
Seeing that Reiger was willing to aid the refugees, Gel also promptly left the carriage, as if he had been longing for this opportunity.
"Thank you, Magician Sir."
Fannie thanked Reiger profusely, her eyes shedding much of the fear they held previously.
Clearly, in the heart of this naïve young mistress, Reiger had now earned a good reputation.
Reiger shook his head and said, "No need to thank me, even if you hadn’t spoken up, I would have planned to assist these refugees."
Saying this, Reiger once more parted the curtains and looked outside.
He saw Liz and Gel distributing jerky, dried fish, and flatbreads taken from the storage rack of the carriage, bit by bit, to the refugees.
The refugees kowtowed in gratitude and devoured the food desperately, clearly having gone a long time without eating.
Liz also gave some milk products like cow’s milk and sheep’s milk to a few women holding babies, earning their profuse thanks.
The previous cries and pleas had finally quieted down substantially, which also made Reiger feel a bit better inside.
After aiding these refugees, Reiger and his party resumed their journey towards the nearest city.
However, Reiger’s luxurious carriage traveling on the main road seemed to attract unwanted attention, as it was successively targeted by several waves of bandit attacks and refugees begging for aid along the road.
The bandits, who were primarily targeting the luxury carriage driven by an extremely beautiful girl, with no guards or knights in sight, were thus emboldened to attack.
The refugees did not think too much of it; seeing the luxurious carriage, which didn’t have the protective entourage that usually accompanied the vehicles of other nobles and merchants, they swarmed closer, begging.
Reiger’s response to these people was very straightforward.
For bandits, he defeated them all, killing the more vicious leaders and capturing the rest. Instead of killing them outright, he took them prisoner, planning, as Gel suggested, to sell them in the nearest city as slaves to atone for their crimes.
As for the refugees, he consistently provided aid, letting Liz and Gel distribute food to them; sometimes they even handed out some of the bandits’ confiscated gear and cold-weather clothing.
Continuing this way, Reiger’s carriage became increasingly filled with equipment, horses, and captured bandits, while the supply of food and clothing steadily dwindled.
Before long, Liz came to Reiger with a troubled expression.
"Master, we’re running out of food."
This was to be expected.
Along the way, Reiger had provided for countless refugees, and the defeated bandits rarely carried much food with them. Over time, their supplies diminished.
"Shall we, shall we just leave it be?"
"Yes, Sir Reiger has been kind enough already."
Seeing this, Fannie and Gel both spoke up in turn.
But Reiger, looking at the refugees kneeling in droves outside, including the elderly and children, had a moment of deep contemplation.
"Wait here for a moment," Reiger said as he stood up.
"[Advanced Teleportation]."
The next instant, Reiger vanished from the spot.
This scared Gel and Fannie out of their wits.
"Disappeared...!?"
"What’s going on?"
Fannie cried out in alarm, and disbelief was written all over Gel’s eyes.
"Ah, this..."
Even Liz was taken aback, glancing left and right, as if trying to spot where Reiger might be.
...
At that time, Reiger was already using teleportation magic, arriving above a mountain range.
"This should be the place, right?"
Reiger took out a map and checked his current location.
He was searching for some places on the map that were marked with red circles.
The reason these places were marked was only one: danger.
"In the regions near the King’s direct territory, the capital, and inside some of the more prosperous lands of the kingdom, the King and some lords would send out knights to patrol. Sometimes, they would also employ mercenaries or hunters to periodically eliminate the monsters lurking in these prosperous areas, ensuring the safety of the main roads and passages."
"However, the more remote and border territories are, the more active monsters they have. In some places, these territories are directly inhabited by monsters, and it’s common to see them roaming."
"The Mepros territory is one such region."
"Here, not only are there many thieves and refugees, but also... many monsters."
The map Reiger held in his hands had more red-circled danger zones within the Mepros territory than the surrounding lands.
The place Reiger had come to was one of the danger spots marked on the map.
"Swoosh!"
After confirming his location, Reiger dove down, charging directly into the dangerous mountain range that most people would avoid at all costs.
"Roar!"
"Roar!"
Before long, a series of monster roars echoed through the mountains, followed by bursts of explosions, and then things went quiet again.
...
"Master!"
"Reiger!"
"Reiger, my lord!"
Meanwhile, next to the luxurious carriage, Liz and the others were shouting, ignoring the confused looks on the faces of the refugees.
"Where are you, Master?"
Liz seemed a bit anxious now, her eyes moistening as if she were a lovesick girl who had lost her lover, her pitiful appearance making the hungry refugees gape in astonishment.
But before long, they would be astounded in another way entirely.
"I’m right here."
With Reiger’s voice, everyone felt a sudden darkness in the sky, and a large shadow appeared on the ground.
They immediately looked up in the direction of the voice, gazing into the sky.
Upon looking, Liz, Fannie, Gel, and everyone else were dumbstruck.
Reiger descended from the sky, floating down gently from midair.
In his hand, he was carrying a giant monster pig.
"Boom!"
The monster pig was thrown forcefully to the ground by Reiger, causing the earth to tremble.
"I’ve brought back some food."
Reiger said casually, leaving everyone speechless for a long time.