480: Chapter 461 The Motivation of Greed

The East Border was a remote region within Lake territory, and Aida's hometown was a remote city within that remote region.

Aida was nineteen years old this year and was a recruit in the newly formed Eleventh Legion of Lake.

Besides this public profession, he had a secret identity—a spy planted within the Laike Legion by the Resistance Army, whose primary mission was to scout Lake's specific plans for suppressing the Resistance Army.

Domit was wary of the Soldiers from the East Border; not only did he organize them into a separate unit, but he also positioned an Artillery Battalion in the distance to monitor and deter them.

Consequently, Aida's mission progress was extremely slow, or to put it bluntly, nonexistent.

However, Aida was not anxious; he had no intention of risking his life to steal Lake's intelligence, even though the Resistance Army Commander's tone and wording when seeing him off had been sincere and heavy, as if the Resistance Army would perish if he failed to obtain the information.

But one night, he had clearly seen the Commander hiding from everyone, secretly selling the grain that their comrades had risked their lives to seize to merchants.

A villain.

That was how Aida evaluated the Commander.

In the Commander's mouth, Lake was the most despicable kingdom on the Saul Continent, and the people of Lake were the filthiest and most brutal humans on the Saul Continent, who committed every kind of evil, seizing the Farmers' stored grain and insulting the Farmers' wives.

Aida was a Farmer from a village deep in the mountains, and news was very restricted; before joining the Resistance Army, he hadn't even heard of Lake.

Since his comrades all spoke of Lake this way, he naturally chose to believe them, his heart filled with fear of Lake.

However, could the words of a villain be trusted?

The answer was obviously no, and Aida began to doubt the Commander's description of Lake.

He didn't know what Lake was really like for the time being; after joining the Eleventh Legion, he was sent to the border and had no chance to learn more, but all the promises on the recruitment notice in front of the assembly hall had been fulfilled.

After arriving at the border camp, he ate three meals a day, with meat at every meal—meat from two different animals, delicious and nutritious; in just one month, his weight had increased by ten catties.

Analyzing his actual contact with both sides, the Commander's words were clearly slander; Lake was a very good kingdom.

Aida couldn't help but feel confused; if that was the case, why did everyone still form a Resistance Army to oppose Lake? Wasn't it good to have meat to eat?

No, that wasn't it.

Aida remembered that in the six months since he joined the Resistance Army under the village chief's encouragement, he had never attacked a Laike Legion; every time they saw one from afar, they would quickly run away.

So, it wasn't Lake that the Commander wanted to resist?

Strange, the legions of the Shinuo Kingdom were all dead, and only Lake was active on the territory; if not Lake, who was the Commander resisting?

If they never ambushed the Laike Legion, whose hands did they seize the grain from?

Aida's head throbbed from thinking, yet he still had no clue, so he shook his head to set the matter aside and focus on his work.

He performed excellently during recruit training, and the Legion Commander personally appointed him as a squad leader, leading seven Soldiers on night patrol duties—the position of Legion Commander for the Eleventh Legion was currently vacant, temporarily held concurrently by the Ninth Legion Commander.

After making three rounds within the camp, he met the relief team, then removed his armor and quietly slipped out of the fence with the Soldiers of his squad.

Don't misunderstand; they didn't intend to desert, they just climbed to a slope not far outside the camp to sit for a while.

Their behavior violated military regulations and would normally be punished, but the role of the new legion was originally meant to be cannon fodder, and the Ninth Legion Commander felt that rectifying military discipline was a pure waste of energy, as long as no deserters appeared.

The eight of them lined up side by side, sitting cross-legged on the grass at the top of the slope. After watching the moon for a while, a Soldier spoke to Aida.

"After the exercise ended, the Legion Commander called you to his tent. What did he say?"

"The Legion Commander... asked me where my hometown was, and then we chatted about daily life."

"Just that?"

"What else?"

The Soldiers, who were looking forward to hearing some secrets, were very disappointed; their leaning heads retreated to their original positions, and their tilted bodies sat up straight.

Aida burst out laughing.

Actually, the two of them had discussed more than that. In his capacity as a Farmer, he had asked the Ninth Legion Commander why there were so many Resistance Army members near his hometown and who they were actually fighting.

Aida couldn't help but recall that day.

Sitting behind the desk, the Ninth Legion Commander tapped his right index finger on the table for a long time, a look of contempt appearing on his face. "Heh, the Resistance Army? They're worthy? Marshal Zhang Mu calls them—Roving Bandits."

Aida didn't know the meaning of 'Roving Bandits' and wanted to ask, but the Ninth Legion Commander seemed to have urgent business and stood up to leave immediately.

The two never met again after that, and Aida's confusion about 'Roving Bandits' remained unresolved to this day.

He scratched his head and muttered, "What exactly does 'Roving Bandits' mean?"

His voice wasn't very quiet, and the Soldier next to him heard, asking curiously, "Roving Bandits?"

"Ah?" Aida woke up from his musing and considered letting them help him guess, saying, "The Ninth Legion Commander told me. I don't know what it means."

In the eyes of low-level Soldiers, the Legion Commander was a figure standing at the top of a mountain; even a fart would have deep meaning, and as long as they could figure it out, they would surely grow.

Although they didn't know what kind of growth it would be, it wasn't a bad thing anyway, and since they were bored now, they might as well guess.

Everyone began to discuss enthusiastically.

"The word 'Roving' probably means things running around like a stream, right?"

"Idiot, how can a stream run around? It flows from the source to the downstream; it can't flow back." This Soldier seemed to have a slightly deeper cultural foundation.

"So 'Roving Bandits' means things that run from one end to the other?"

"I don't think that's right. If you shake a wooden basin, the water inside will flow randomly; it might refer to things running around everywhere!"

"Roving Bandits... Roving, Bandits, Bandits... I'm more curious about what exactly is running around everywhere."

Aida knew that 'Bandits' referred to people, since he had asked about the Resistance Army at the time.

So, did 'Roving Bandits' mean people moving around the land?

If so, wouldn't the Farmers fleeing to other villages also be Roving Bandits?

But the Resistance Army had nothing to do with fleeing Farmers, so that couldn't be right?

While he was thinking to himself, the Soldiers, unable to reach a conclusion, shifted the topic to the Eleventh Legion's purpose for coming to the border.

"To guard the border line, of course. What else? It's not like we're here for a tour."

"We're guarding it?" A Soldier spread his hands. "I don't mean to belittle ourselves, but... do you really think we can withstand the enemy?"

"Our only weapons are spears made of wood, which can't even pierce through hard wooden boards. Do we really expect to pierce through armor?"

"Even if they gave us iron spears, we wouldn't be a match for the Professional lords."

"Hey, I heard that Lake's First-Tier Legion has a new weapon that can kill Professional lords!"

"The First-Tier Legion? I want to go there. I want to kill Professionals too!"

"It's very difficult."

"How difficult?"

"How should I know? I'm just guessing."

"Hehe, among us few, I'll definitely be the first to enter the First-Tier Legion!"

"When that time comes, I'll generously let you see the new weapon."

"Get lost, I'll be first!" A companion gave him a shove and said with a grin.

"It's clearly me!"

"Me!"

They knew very well that they likely had no hope of becoming Soldiers in the First-Tier Legion in this lifetime, yet they still joined in happily. A group of young men in their twenties laughed and played under the bright moonlight, imagining a beautiful future.

Aida was the only onlooker.

After an hour, he stood up. "An officer from the Ninth Legion came today to remind us to watch out for enemy attacks. We can't stay here too long; we have to go back."

The eight of them brushed off the grass clippings from their uniforms, straightened their collars, and formed a long line according to Aida's command, preparing to return to the camp.

"Attention! About—" The light in front of Aida's eyes suddenly brightened.

What was going on?

He noticed the Soldiers looking up at the sky together, their expressions confused as if they had seen something miraculous. He turned around and looked as well.

Under the night sky, one "sun" after another was taking flight at an angle.

Forgive Aida's meager vocabulary; the only word in his mind that could correspond to the spherical firelight high in the sky was "sun."

Fireballs were similar, but fireballs weren't that big or that bright.

Aida watched as the suns flying in an arc grew larger and larger. He didn't understand the concept of perspective, but he could tell the suns were approaching him.

"What is this?" A faint unease stirred in his heart, a trace of panic emerging from the intense brilliance, as if a longsword were held against his neck, the cold sensation piercing through his skin and into his mind.

"They look like fireballs. Is a Mage Lord casting magic?" a Soldier guessed.

"Huh, look, the fireballs are falling toward the cam—"

"Boom—Boom—Boom—"

The firelight fell into the camp, bursting into even larger flares of light and fire. A thunderous roar of smoke and dust into the sky was accompanied by screams. Countless Soldiers crashed through the fence to flee for their lives. The artillery fire ignited the tents, and the camp was instantly engulfed in blazing flames.

The explosion of the shells caused the ground to shake. Aida was not far from the camp; he barely steadied himself after the shaking stopped, only then seeing the tragic scene before him clearly.

His brain seemed to stop functioning, and he remained dazed for several minutes before snapping out of it, his mouth agape: "Enemy attack!"

Aida remembered; these were the shells the instructor had talked about. He subconsciously wanted to rush over to save people, but just as he lifted his foot, he found the ground trembling again.

No "suns" were falling from the night sky. Where was it coming from?

The Soldiers also reacted, looking left and right. The night was thick, and they were all ordinary people; even after looking for a long time, they couldn't see the source.

The tremors showed no sign of subsiding; instead, they became increasingly violent. A Soldier furrowed his brows: "This feeling is a bit like..."

"Like what?"

"Like horses running."

Horses?

Aida remembered that the Laike Legion didn't have Cavalry units; the transportation they used was a strange kind of running iron box that was very quiet when it ran and wouldn't cause the ground to vibrate.

Since it wasn't Lake, then it must be...

Aida turned abruptly, looking toward the border line.

The night was thick, and he strained his eyes, but he couldn't see the distant scene clearly. After a short while, the somewhat muffled sound of horse hooves trampling the grass came, followed by the crisp sound of iron plates clashing against each other.

The next second, several cavalrymen riding horses side by side suddenly rushed out of the darkness, the moonlight falling on their armor and reflecting a cold light.

Then more appeared.

Aida instinctively took a step back, turned his head to glance at the chaotic camp, and then turned his gaze back to the front.

The Soldiers of the Laike Legion did not wear armor, not even the Second-Tier Legion or the Reserves. Who this Cavalry unit belonged to required no explanation.

Aida's chest slowly deflated, and upon reaching a certain limit, it suddenly surged, followed by a shrill cry: "Enemy attack!"