CHAPTER 57: CHAPTER 21: SOMEONE WANTS TO INVADE THE BASE!

The deep mountain wilderness.

A rundown mountain village, resembling an early Gaul barbarian tribe before the common era.

After Aetius suppressed the Bagada people’s rebellion, many rebels fled to areas near Belgian Gaul. Wherever there were deep mountain woods, that’s where they would go. They were a group of bankrupt slaves banding together to survive. In the future, with no place to go, they would seek refuge with the Franks, the Western Goths, the Germanic barbarians, and other forces, eventually strengthening these barbarian powers significantly and supplementing them with a large labor force.

Even in the barren mountain wilderness, these exiles managed to forcibly clear some land in the valleys to cultivate a bit of grain and vegetables.

Someone had already hurried back to inform the others.

Duncan led his horse forward, seeing many women and children coming to help transport supplies. Their faces were sallow, but they were elated to see the food being brought back.

"There are still many women and children, the roots of this refugee group haven’t rotten yet."

If the mountain village were solely composed of young and strong men, then their roots might have already gone bad.

Then, a heavy blow was required!

A severe suppression.

Strictly speaking, they were refugees who escaped here three years ago. The rebels were only a small part; most were homeless vagabonds. The imperial army has always been ruthless internally and doesn’t hesitate to massacre its own townships.

The population of this village is around six or seven hundred. Any more, and it couldn’t sustain these people.

The exiles are a highly dispersed group. Over the past few decades, they have been mainly composed of those who lost their land but refused to become slaves or serfs. Every time they rebel, they involve some farmers, serfs, and herders. When they fail, they flee to the mountains and forests to hide, and after a while, when their strength recovers, they emerge again.

Thus, they are vast in number but scattered.

The empire is continuously seeing bankruptcies, and the lower social strata are completely squeezed dry. If any remain with the spirit of resistance, some will flee to join them.

"Lord Duncan."

Kvito led the horse and had others take care of it, leading the group to the largest wooden house.

Here, there is no substantial leader.

Because they are three groups of refugees gathering together, ultimately choosing to settle in this area. (Aetius had massacred large-scale rebels; only small groups of rebels could possibly escape.)

From a god’s-eye view.

Inside the whole mountain village, there were no red enemy marks; most were blue marks. Some of the exile rebels turned from green marks to blue, but there were still some that remained green.

They must have submitted.

If Duncan hadn’t intervened in this battle, the exile rebels would likely have been completely routed.

"Still okay."

Within Duncan’s field of vision, many were labeled as ’Exile Mountain People.’

The sky gradually darkened.

Someone brought food, and Triss, the Crow Queen, smelled it and motioned that it was fine.

In the team, there was one druid and two witches. If someone wanted to poison them, the ancestor might have to intervene. Besides, under Duncan’s god’s-eye view, there were no enemy unit marks to be seen.

Eating.

The exiles slaughtered a sheep, had the cook roast it, and then brought it over. The mountain people even kneeled to present it to Duncan.

They first offered the fattiest hind leg to Duncan, then presented the foreleg to Triss, the Crow Queen.

The rescued female slave in the team stood up to serve, pouring water and wine, slicing the lamb. Triss’s appetite was not big, so she came over naturally to Duncan’s side, helping him slice the meat and placing it in a clay plate before Anya, the witch, stood up.

Anya had just gotten up, so she could only sit back down sullenly, watching Duncan devour his meal at the head table.

She glanced at Triss, the Crow Queen, with a mysterious gaze.

Severus greedily drank wine and devoured meat, glanced at Triss, then at Anya, the witch, before lowering his head to continue his ravenous eating, as he was wounded and thus focused on eating without asking too much.

It all seemed normal at first.

Until Duncan had devoured an entire sheep and several birds, Anya, the witch, couldn’t help but widen her eyes in surprise. The mountain people serving outside the hall exclaimed, with many running over to sneak a peek. Some spoke in the Barbarian Race language, likely referring to a warrior, hero, and some ancient stories about specific characters.

Initially, the mountain people didn’t believe Duncan single-handedly defeated the enemy army.

But when they saw Duncan consume food meant for about a dozen people, the mountain people believed; after all, legendary warriors in the Barbarian Race myths could eat like this, such as Beowulf.

Kvito now instinctively bowed respectfully when seeing Duncan.

"Finally had a satisfying meal."

Now, Duncan’s life bar had increased by about twice the original amount, roughly equal to twice that of an average person, close to the barbarian berserker encountered at first.

With food and drink satiated.

It’s naturally time for a good rest.

Duncan also needed to consider how to proceed next, as chaos was about to descend.

Night deepened.

Duncan was contemplating his next moves in the room. Out of caution, he was resting under the god’s-eye view, while his human form pretended to sleep on the bed.

They were staying inside the largest wooden house in the village, where the mountain people brought the finest sheepskins to make beds and blankets.

In the projected scene.