After leading the city guards through their morning exercises, Botu wiped the sweat from his forehead with a towel.
The soldiers were all panting, each leaning back and sitting on the ground, picking up their parchment bags and pouring water down their throats.
“No big gulps of water! Take small sips!”
Botu waved the wooden sword in his hand and smacked each of these young men, “How many times have I said this! After strenuous training, drinking too much water for a short period of time will lead to abdominal pain and dizziness, all of you rest for a while before touching water!”
“Whoever lets me see that again, give me twenty laps around the city before saying anything.”
The soldiers, each with a bitter face, hurriedly put down their water bags.
They muttered in low voices, “The commander is so strict …… training us like a donkey.”
“That’s it, he should find a wife, his temper will be better.”
“Indeed, a man without a woman is a heavy fire.”
Botou cross-eyed: “Muttering what! This is training, and training is the battlefield! All shut the f*ck up!”
The soldiers were instantly silenced.
“Alright, here are the shooting exercises.”
Botou carried his hands behind his back, “In real combat, the enemy won’t give you a chance to catch your breath and adjust, learn to draw your bow and shoot arrows in a state of fatigue and weakness.”
“With the help of magic potions, as long as the arrow can pierce into the enemy, it can quickly paralyse them, which has already reduced the difficulty for you tremendously. You need to be thankful for the inventions and research of your predecessors, this will make you bleed less.”
“Mimicking real battlefield situations, this is effective practice.”
Complaints aside, the youngsters still quickly picked up their bows, aimed at the archery targets and started practising archery.
Although this commander was harsh and venomous, what he taught was useful, and he himself would participate in the training, never making it special. There were several encounters on patrol where it was his command and the usual training of the group that enabled him to subdue the thugs and transcendents in time.
Not only that, the commander had started as a junior soldier and worked his way up to captain, deputy commander, and then succeeded the old commander, and had been honoured by the YC Citizen’s Council for ten consecutive years now.
Saniro had also offered generous perks several times, wanting to poach him to take over as Commander, relieving the former Commander Yaris of his work. The treatment there was much higher, the equipment was excellent, and he was able to mobilise the Fishman Legion, a temptation that any soldier would find hard to resist.
Instead, he stayed in Salt City.
This loyalty and persistence also inspired the younger people to respect and admire him from the bottom of their hearts.
……
Botu was about to put them through infantry training when a tall man galloped up beside him.
“Botu.”
Seeing the other party, he immediately stood up, “Mr Mayor.”
The one who came was the mayor, Tong Hai.
Tong Hai was now over sixty years old, but still had a tough body, and his thick beard gave him an imposing appearance. However, those who were familiar with this mayor knew that he actually didn’t have much of a stance and was very cordial.
“I brought you a good thing.”
Tong Hai smiled as he removed the two large boxes on his horse’s back and placed them on the ground.
“Take a look.”
It was then that the scholarly clerk arrived on horseback, coming up for air and saying, “Mr Mayor, don’t go alone, but please wait for me. The lighthouse refurbishment in the harbour still needs an onsite visit, and the meeting with Prophet Shippo in the afternoon, there are two other resolutions on the council side ……”
“I know, I know, let’s talk about it later.”
Coppersea waved his hand and looked at Botu, “Open it up and take a look.”
Botu opened the lid of the box, revealing a pair of disassembled full body armour inside, the whole body was cast in brass, glittering with a delicate halo unique to metal.
“Ghost armour.”Botou was taken aback.
“Not bad.”Copper Sea grabbed the upper half of the armour and handed it to him, “Try it on.”
“This is too expensive.”
Botou knew very well that this pair of armour was equivalent to a set of houses in the old city of Yancheng. Moreover, due to the time-consuming production of the Ghost Armour, it could only be created by Dwarf Masters, and it was all customised by all parties looking for Dwarves.
“The commander of our city guards in Salt City has to have a good pair of armour worthy of him. This is not only your business, but also the decency of Salt City.”
Coppersea stroked his beard with pride.
Botou stroked the brass armour, his heart excited.
No soldier could resist a fine piece of armour. Although the Ghost Armour would slow down the speed, as long as it was worn, even an ordinary person could have a defence comparable to that of a Transcendent.
“Good brother, hard work.”
Tong Hai patted Botu’s arm and said with a smile, “I’ll find you a drink when I have time.”
He straddled the horse with a stomp of his foot, “Clerk, where did you say you were going?”
The clerk looked back, “The lighthouse in the harbour.”
“Come on, to the lighthouse.”
He came and went in a hurry, riding towards the harbour.
The clerk behind him then hurried to follow.
Seeing this, the soldiers ran over in a swarm and surrounded the armour in the box and touched it.
“This is the ghost armour ah …… originally looks like this, actually lighter than ordinary iron armour.”
“Dwarf craftsmanship is awesome ah, there is also the Hammer Endless Master’s tattoo engraving on it, which was made by his own hands, and the commander’s name is engraved on the back, wow, signature customisation!”
“The commander’s face can be really big, if I also have a set of this armour it would be good …… I’m sure to sleep with it on every day.”
“Let me see, let me see.”
……
The soldiers were excitedly pointing around the armour, but Botu was not as happy as they were.
He looked at the valuable armour with unusually mixed emotions.
Sometimes Botu was a little confused.
Was he the commander of the Salt City City Guards, or was he the captain of the Empire’s First Scout Regiment?
These two identities were constantly intertwined.
As the captain of the scouts, he had gained a deeper understanding of the city’s terrifying underpinnings, increasingly recognising the terrifying greatness of the gods of this world, and worrying about the future of the empire.
But as Commander, he was also proud of this great city, proud of the lads who lived here, and honoured by the endless stream of creations and inventions.
In his first year here, 24 year old Botu was hesitant.
He had joined the city guards to figure out the entire city’s defence system.
In his third year, he was promoted to captain, and had almost figured out the routine, equipment, and combat capabilities of the city guards.
But that’s when the struggles began for Botu.
In the fifth year, he was promoted to Deputy Commander for solving a huge smuggling case of split earthworms and apprehending a group of criminal fishmen.
In the seventh year, when the old commander retired, he officially took over the city guards and captured the Red Devils, a famous group of thieves made up of a combination of man-eating crabs and fiery chickens, and successfully solved the kidnapping of the grandson of the city’s famous philanthropist, Saltbag.
As a result, Botou became famous and was known as the Sleuth of Salt City. The famous storyteller, Pava, even specifically approached him and asked about his past to facilitate the subsequent writing of the record.
Now it was already the tenth year of coming to Salt City.
It was also the tenth year of leaving the Empire’s homeland.
At the age of 34, Botu is becoming increasingly confused as to which is his true self.
……
The paddle sloop slowly docked, and the sailors, tied by ropes to the stone piles of the pier, began to drink and chat at the same time.
Botu covered his face with his hood and followed his memory all the way to the old Mai hut in the forest.
On this day he waited from the height of the sun until the night was dark.
Only two men came to join him.
One of them was the merchant Bo Nine Thousand, and the other was the scholar Bo Zhan.
Probably the others would not come again, he thought.
Botu said slowly, “Tell us about your intelligence.”
Bo Jiuqian was the first to speak, “The Elf Lake in the south has begun selling treasure chests to the public, which can be opened on the spot, but no one knows until the chest is opened if there is only a single pearl inside or if there is a lot of gold. This business is very hot, and it’s said to be the idea of Joti, the elf’s current leader, the Tree Demon.”
“Although the merchants felt that there was a fraud, there were still many people who went to take their chances, the ones who hit the big luck were the minority, and the elves made a lot of money ……”
Bo Jiuqian’s voice was getting lower and lower, suddenly he said, “Don’t do it, captain …… we’re all tired.”
Botou looked at Bo Jiuqian, “Is it your meaning? Or is it everyone’s idea?”
Bo Jiuqian avoided answering as he said, “Captain, it’s been ten years. If the Empire really hasn’t forgotten about us, it must have found this world already. But the truth is, in these ten years, apart from the fourteen of us, there has never been any other Bo people out there.”
“To the Empire, we’re just insignificant cannon fodder, Captain, and you know that better than any of us. Even our scout regiment is not part of the official army establishment.”
Hesitating for a moment, Bo Jiuqian said, “Captain, in the past, in the scout regiment, we all sold our lives with our heads on our waists, with very little pay and no security, relying entirely on a breath of air to hold us up. The Empire drafted soldiers, and refusal was punishable by death.”
“It’s not anything else, it’s that we believe in you.”
“Following you, we can live.”
“Each and every one of us remembers your great kindness, you have helped save our lives on many occasions. The brothers have nothing to say, if you are in need, everyone will come over to help you.”
“It’s just that the Empire …… is already too far away from us.”
Bo Jiuqian smiled bitterly, “According to the laws of the empire, if we lose contact with the regiment for half a year, we have already been recognised as defectors, going back is already impossible. The regiment gave us the wrong map, but the head of the regiment will never admit it, you know this better than we do. In the end, it will only be us, the junior soldiers, who will be held accountable.”
“In this world, for the first time, everyone can stop being forced to go to war, and be able to support themselves by hard work without worrying about monsters storming into their homes and eating them one day.”
Boto’s lips pursed.
“Captain, you should know that the Yao Clan today is not actually a race of the same bloodline. Rather, many clans have merged together because of their belief in the Yao God, forming a community with faith as the hub. The large group shared their knowledge and skills and acquired wealth through various methods to form such a peculiar people.”
“We have not betrayed the Empire because we do not forget that we came from the Empire, its excellent military training system, its glass craftsmanship accumulated over the years, its altar building taught to us, and its songs that have been passed down far and wide.”
Glass Nine Thousand said with a solemn face, “Captain, let me just ask. Do you really think that the secrets of the Bo people are secrets in the eyes of the gods and apostles?”
“God Yao sees everything and is just being tolerant and merciful to us, just like when facing the believers of other old gods in the past.”
The frown on Botou’s brow deepened.
“It is time for a change. Captain.”
“We are not soldiers today, but outcasts. To the Empire, we are nothing more than an insignificant blunder, a string of numbers on a battle report.”
“And here the war was over before it even began, the Empire lost.”
“We are still the inhabitants of the Empire, let us be here, and continue the Empire in another way.”
“Captain.”
Bo Jiu Chien paused, “Enough already, you’ve given your all, the war is over, there’s no need to continue.”
After listening to his words, Botou raised his head and said coldly, “I can’t care if you want to give up your imperial identity. But I am still the captain of the fifteenth team of the First Imperial Scout Regiment.”
He drew the iron sword on his waist and chopped the grill on the campfire with a single blow, “If you guys reveal imperial secrets, you will be dealt with under military law!”
Bo Jiuqian and Bo Zhan did not speak.
They picked up their travelling bags and looked back at the man still sitting by the campfire. Finally they walked off into the night.
Only Botou was left to stare into the flames.
……
Lu Yao looked down at the lonely Botu.
Your loyalty and persistence the gods appreciate.
It is just that the taste of infernalism is not pleasant.
Not long after, the simulator showed.
[Bo Jiuqian passed on glass making to Yan Cheng]
[Yao City built the first altar to worship the Yao God]
[Because of the building of the altar, Yao City’s faith received a small boost.]
The faith in the upper right corner keeps increasing.
+50
+12
+72
……
Lu Yao counted, the altar establishment brought in a total of around 17,000 points of faith, almost half of Salt City’s population.
In the following time, Salt City, Saniro and even Tree Crown City all built altars.
The Bo Clan built altars in each city, bringing a total of 40,000 points of faith income to Lu Yao.
This round of growth allowed the faith reserves to surpass the 230,000 mark.
Lu Yao was satisfied.
The wait was worth it.
And at this moment, a prompt surfaced on the game interface.
-Great God, there is a believer who has performed a feat that far surpasses his peers, is there a need to transform him into a hero?
[Yes] [No].
A shimmering light emanated from Botou’s body.
Lu Yao said in his heart.
The gods have decided that you will be this hero.
