Chapter 53: The Strange Ore
Chapter 53: The Strange Ore
With two consecutive waves of Fishmen warriors annihilated, the 'backbone' of this small Fiendfin Fishmen tribe had been broken.
After a brief rest, Captain Velen began to command the final battle.
This time, no matter how Matteo tried to lure them, the remaining Fiendfin Fishmen no longer left their camp to pursue him. Instead, they seemed to have a subtle fear of Matteo, who was alone.
"What do we do now?"
"Let's charge straight in! The remaining Fishmen seem to be mostly old, weak, or injured."
"No, we'll flank them from the riverbank and encircle the Fishmen camp from there!"
"Alright! Let's quickly flank them and drive them from the shallows deep into the forest."
"Yes! Then we'll pick them off one by one."
". . ."
Rain's previous battle had completely boosted the morale of the Night Watch.
As the group discussed, everyone chimed in, and before long, the plan was fleshed out without much input from Captain Velen.
However, Velen didn't mind at all; instead, he smiled and nodded frequently.
He hadn't seen such an enthusiastic squad in a long time.
As the captain, Velen was also amazed that all of this was triggered by a young boy with fuzz still on his upper lip! To have such strength at such a young age was extraordinary!
After strategizing, the elite Night Watchmen, under Velen's command, quickly sprang into action.
Rain led the way, swinging a two-handed greatsword that created a constant piercing-air sound as they swiftly cut straight along the riverbank.
Following closely behind Rain were ten Night Watchmen armed with bows and arrows.
They trailed Rain, continuously drawing and firing their bows, driving the Fishmen deeper into the forest.
The Fishmen still in the camp were mostly elderly, weak, or injured. From the moment Rain appeared, the entire camp fell into chaos. Only a few dared to resist, while most fled in panic.
Any Fishman who paused for a moment risked death by the sharp arrows of the Night Watchmen.
Thus, this battle faced little resistance and was akin to a whirlwind sweeping away the remnants.
After the initial chaos, the Fishmen who fled into the forest soon realized their predicament.
Aside from the predators lurking in the Nightsong Forest, the Fishmen would likely become prey to other beasts.
So, these scattered Fishmen had no choice but to return from the forest to the river, only to face another volley of arrows.
The elite Night Watchmen picked off the Fishmen one by one.
The Fishmen who managed to reach the river were few and far between.
With that, this small Fiendfin Fishmen tribe was effectively neutralized.
Even if a few Fishmen escaped, it was of little concern. Without the tribe and their gathering place, the lone Fishmen would likely become prey to other predators soon enough.
In the depths of the Nightsong Forest, the roles of hunter and hunted could reverse far quicker than imagined!
[Skill Enhancement: Giant Bear Sword Technique, Experience Points +49]
[Battle Experience: Night Watch Profession, Experience Points +15]
Due to the low intensity of this battle, akin to a gentle autumn breeze scattering leaves, Rain's experience points gained were relatively low.
As Rain reviewed the system notifications, the Night Watchmen didn't pause to rest but swiftly scoured for spoils of war.
While the Fishmen's weapons were crude, valuable items could sometimes be found.
There were instances where someone discovered a fist-sized mithril ore on a slain Fishman, instantly making them wealthy.
Thus, after thoroughly defeating the Fishmen, the Night Watchmen began searching for spoils of war.
"Rain, don't just stand there, come on!" Captain Velen waved and called out to Rain.
To be honest, Rain wasn't particularly impressed by the Fishmen's inferior weapons and equipment.
Instead, Rain believed that this was his first time participating in a Night Watch Squad's battle, and maintaining appropriate restraint over the spoils of war would be more beneficial for his integration into the squad.
Seeing Rain's expression, Velen immediately guessed what was going on and burst into laughter, "Haha, Rain, do you think everyone gets to keep all the spoils of war for themselves?"
"That would be chaos!"
Rain's eyebrows furrowed, wondering if there was something more to it. "Well, Captain Velen, isn't that the case?"
"Of course not, the distribution of spoils of war is done according to the regulations. Otherwise, if someone gets injured and can't collect the spoils of war, wouldn't that be a huge loss?"
"Fairly distributing the spoils of war is a tradition of the Night Watch, and after a long period of practice, this tradition has gradually improved and formed specific regulations." Velen briefly explained the Night Watch's rules for distributing spoils of war to Rain.
".
Rain nodded repeatedly, he hadn't expected that even the distribution of spoils of war had such intricacies.
For example, in the Night Watch's rules, 30% of the spoils of war are handed over to the Empire, and the remaining 70% are distributed to individuals.
Within this remaining 70%, there are rewards for those who performed exceptionally in battle, different proportions of spoils of war distribution based on combat roles, post-battle evaluation of the enemy's weapons and equipment, and even the amount of compensation a Night Watch member should receive if they lost an arm in battle, all have detailed regulations.
But no matter how it was calculated, Rain had made significant contributions in this battle, and could almost directly distribute half of the total spoils of war.
After a while, Rain realized that almost half of the spoils of war was his!
This made Rain feel a little embarrassed, so he quickened his pace and began searching the Fishmen's camp.
The corpses on the valley side had already been searched thoroughly, and now the main focus was the Fishmen's camp.
Rain swiftly entered a stilt house and found only numerous clay pots and dried fish, filling the entire house with a strong fishy smell.
This made him frown.
Perhaps, this fishy smell was a rare fragrance for the Fishmen, but for humans, it was still a bit hard to bear.
Rain casually searched around and found nothing of value.
So, he quickly left and moved on to the next stilt house.
"Hmm! This stilt house seems much larger."
Rain immediately noticed the difference upon entering, as the stilt houses were conical in shape, making them slightly larger in area, but from the outside, it was hard to tell.
However, as soon as someone stepped inside, the arrangement of items within this stilt house was noticeably different, with an old wooden box in the corner, which was quite unexpected.
Rain's eyes lit up, and he walked over to the wooden box, using his greatsword to pry it open. Inside, he found a small amount of gold and silver coins, a green agate, three or four pieces of magnetite ore, and a dog-head gold?
Rain was overjoyed and immediately picked up the dog-head gold, but upon holding it, he felt that the weight was off, it was clearly too light!
Taking a closer look, he realized it was just a high-quality piece of chalcopyrite.
This made Rain feel a bit disappointed.
Due to the surface of the wooden box starting to rot and being overly heavy, it wasn't convenient to carry, so Rain collected the gold and silver coins one by one, and also placed the green agate and other items into a large cloth bag.
"Hmm! What's this?"
Rain suddenly discovered that beneath the slightly larger magnetite ore in the half-empty wooden box, there was a fist-sized, high-quality piece of meteorite ore.
(End of Chapter)
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