“Go. Set off immediately.” Liu Feng said. As long as they took care of the escaping horse thieves, then West Sun City would be rid of the problem of horse thieves. This battle was basically just West Sun City showing off its military strength to warn the other horse thieves to not provoke it. As for the other cities that might get attacked by horse thieves? Liu Feng didn’t care at all.
“I’m going too!” Tess yelled, raising her hand and following.
Liu Feng turned his head to look at her. “You should stay here with them. It’s safer that way.”
“No!” Tess glanced at the beastkins and pouted in discontent. She had risked her life to try to warn them, but they didn’t even give her a response. “You saved me, you are a good guy. I want to follow you.” As a simple-minded person, Tess basically just went along with her gut feelings.
But that wasn’t the only thing. Liu Feng had said that he would give beastkins the freedom to do what they want, and that was something that Tess yearned for. That was also the reason she had snuck out of her tribe- her sister kept restricting what she could do in her tribe, and she hated that. Basically, she was a girl who was currently in her rebellious phase and ran away from home.
“No. It’s too dangerous,” Liu Feng said. He took a few steps and stopped again. He turned his head around to look at Tess, who was following him. “It really is dangerous. I won’t be able to take care of you.”
“No need. I’m very strong, the horse thieves can’t beat me,” Tess said, clenching her fist and raising her arm.
The corner of Liu Feng’s mouth twitched. Did you already forget what happened a few moments ago?
“Wait a minute,” Tess said. She knew that Liu Feng didn’t believe her. She picked up a knife from a dead horse thief, went next to a tree that was about as thick as a thigh, and started chopping.
Liu Feng sighed. What is she trying to do? Prove her strength?
“Move.” Liu Feng took his blade out and chopped the tree in 4 swings.
“This is good. As long as I have this, the horse thieves won’t be able to beat me at all.” Tess picked up the tree, put it on her soldier, and walked toward the direction at would take them out of the wood. “I’ll prove it to you!”
“Using a tree as a weapon?” Liu Feng finally realized how strong Tess was- she was able to easily carry a 3-meter-long tree that still had all of its branches and leaves.
At the edge of the woods, they could clearly see more than a hundred horse thieves running toward them.
“Hey! Watch this!” Tess laughed, charging at the horse thieves.
Liu Feng suddenly felt pity for the horse thieves- being hit by the tree would disable them if it didn’t kill them.
“Stop them all!” Liu Feng shouted, drawing his blade and charging at the horse thieves.
Mina also went in, and the War Wolves followed in groups of two. They were greatly outnumbered, and the only way for them to intimidate the horse thieves was through fighting.
Tess was the first to get close to the horse thieves. She smashed the horse thieves with the tree while mumbling, “You bastards didn’t even give me wheat porridge to eat after making me work. Making me work without giving me food? I’m going to smash you to death.”
What does it feel like to be hit by a tree? Well, it was like being a fly and getting hit by a fly swatter. Everyone Tess went left wailing horse thieves on the ground.
“Left side, right side…”
Liu Feng nimbly swung his blade, taking one horse thief’s life after another. These horse thieves were just ordinary people and were much weaker than knights, so he could easily deal with 10 of them by himself.
As for Mina… well, there was no need to mention her. She killed every horse thief that she passed by.
“Those that surrender are spared! Lie down on the ground with both hands on your head!” Liu Feng shouted.
“Those that surrender are spared! Lie down on the ground with both hands on your head!” Mina and the War Wolves repeated. The horse thieves quickly did so, as they were scared that performing the actions even a second later would cause them to be killed.
The cavalrymen that had been chasing the horse thieves also arrived on scene as they brought in dozens more horse thieves. They drove the horse thieves together, scaring them into staying still.
“Lord, all the horse thieves are here,” the cavalrymen reported. “Instructor Niu Da is still in the city dealing with the surviving horse thieves.”
“Very good. Tie up all these horse thieves and bring them to the ship to be locked up,” Liu Feng said, nodding his head.
The horse thieves were all going to be sent to dig in the coal mines. Winter was coming, and the demand for coal would be huge- relying solely on the power of the previously recruited miners would not make up for the demand. The horse thieves were good free labor.
“It’s finally over,” Mina said, shaking the blood off of her knives. She had the highest kill count out of the group.
“This is just the end of one phrase. We have yet to achieve our real purpose,” Liu Feng said, sheathing his sword and walking towards North Wind City. His goal was to lure people into West Sun City, and whether or not he could succeed would depend on his next step.
“Hey! What’s your name?” Tess asked. “I’m Tess, a cow beastkin.”
“I’m Liu Feng, a noble- an ordinary noble,” Liu Feng said, raising his hand and smiling lightly.
“Liu Feng? What a strange name!” Tess said, scratching her head. “Can I also get paid if I work for you?”
“Of course! You’ll get paid as long as you are willing to work,” Liu Feng said, nodding.
“I’m very strong. What kind of work am I supposed to do?”¹ Tess asked.
“That will have to wait until we get back to West Sun City. Then you can choose for yourself.”
“Huh? I can choose?” Tess asked, surprised.
“Of course. Everyone can choose,” Liu Feng said, smiling and nodding his head.
¹ In the raws, Tess asked for what kind of work she can do, but it didn’t make sense with the next part, so I changed it.