Iron Harvest: When Farming Becomes Conquest-Chapter 294 - 30: Tacit Understanding

This war won’t end in the short term.

Divine Mysterious took the lead, seemingly with significant victories.

But even before the Conqueror, these two countries had fought dozens and hundreds of wars, well aware of each other’s tactics and tricks.

At that time, Divine Mysterious didn’t flatten Cangyue, and now it’s unlikely they can do it either.

Furthermore, there’s the variable of the Witch Forest. The Witch Forest is the largest secret society of this era; though the witches are crippled, they’re not dead.

Roman had no opinion on this.

Fight as they may!

Fight to the death!

It’s best if they both perish together!

He could seize the opportunity to farm and train his troops.

The only thing worth noting is that as both sides went to full-scale war, Cangyue experienced flooding, just like what Origin City went through.

The originally stalemated battle situation immediately became extremely chaotic.

Neither side had an easy time.

For Cangyue, food production decreased.

For Divine Mysterious, they couldn’t continue attacking fully, and even logistics became a challenge.

For Roman, due to the war and flood, the assisting witch might be delayed on the way for a long time.

"Oh, by the way, it’s not just Cangyue, on my way here, I saw the Black Iron Land was also flooding, heavy rains everywhere." said the Beast Witch.

This witch often wore a wolf-head hood. Roman had seen her true face, a rather attractive young witch, with a painted face and wild eyes.

Roman tapped his head, it seemed that his family wasn’t the only one affected.

A year full of incidents!

War, floods, plagues, famine... Will this land ever get better?

Truly difficult times!

He sighed and waved, "No need to tell the bad news, what’s the second piece of good news?"

The wolf-head witch continued, "Our seriously injured sisters can move now, do you want to meet them?"

The witches were previously hunted miserably.

All the factions that were once friendly with them have turned hostile.

Many witches who managed to escape the Holy City died from lack of rest and healing.

Though Lusa had healing abilities, her power was limited.

What is serious injury?

Gut-wrenching, excessive bleeding, missing limbs, being pierced by arrows, overuse of spells...

Loss of basic mobility.

Ultimately, the witches decided that those who could move would carry those who couldn’t as they fled.

The outcome was self-evident.

They could feel the person on their back gradually losing breath and heartbeat, their body turning cold...

Many chose to end themselves so as not to burden their companions.

The so-called dead-end... was a true reflection of their past experiences.

When these witches reached the River Valley, only five seriously injured witches remained.

Roman was somewhat curious about these witches, so he met with them.

These five witches were Vita with Instant Teleportation, Fulina with Screech, Kela with Flight, Martina with Super Strength, and Ilse with Explosion.

Vita could teleport instantly, making her an excellent assassin, but when she appeared behind an elite high-tier Knight, no matter how fast her Talent Spells were, they couldn’t match a Knight’s sword. Surviving was a stroke of luck.

Fulina could emit a sharp sound, akin to a wide-range sonic wave, however, she overused her spell and nearly exhausted her brain, her voice completely gone, uncertain if it could recover.

Kela’s Talent Spell could make her fly, but she wasn’t a bird, limited in carrying capacity, prolonged flight impossible. She encountered a Shattered Archer and got her body pierced directly.

Martina arrived badly injured; she was responsible for rear-guard action, killing all pursuers, but bled excessively herself.

Ilse had it particularly rough, using explosion spells at close range, losing an entire arm in the process.

When Roman saw them, his first thought was uncommonly not about what work to assign them.

"Thank you for willing to take us in," Vita, with Instant Teleportation, bowed deeply.

"As long as the witches are willing to serve me," Roman said.

"We’ve heard the details from Shasta, feel free to command us," Vita had not interacted with Roman; they were placed in a hospital upon arrival and were only now out. These lines were learned from other witches.

"You’re still seriously injured, let’s talk about it after you’ve recovered," the bunch in front of him were bedraggled birds, he had no interest in pouring hot water on them.

Vita felt relieved at his words. Despite having stayed here for some time and knowing this place was different, some things must be seen to be believed. This young Lord was truly understanding towards them.

They pledged allegiance to him.

And he understood them as well.

Those two words are easy to say, but hard to achieve, especially having a Noble empathize with others, let alone empathizing with a witch.

Shasta found them a suitable backer.

But it was too late.

If they arrived earlier, their companions wouldn’t have perished so miserably and helplessly.

...

Roman didn’t let them participate in work for now but tests of abilities were necessary—to see to what extent they could perform.

Coincidentally, his Conquest Knights were also present, so he arranged an exercise.

The results surprised him quite a bit.

Even without armor, these disabled individuals, not entirely healed, could still take down the Conquest Knights except for Jet and Dick—meaning Aaron and Green, let alone Kao.

They truly were fierce characters who walked out from a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood.

If the Conquest Knights were strong in basic statistics, witches were strong in skill statistics, with many tricks to play.

The most standard tactic for witches is to create distance, raise a hand to cast Spiritual Shock to distract, then follow with Energy Impact to disrupt balance, and finish with a strike.

Without armor, there aren’t many Mid-level Knights or low-level knights who can withstand this combo.

High Order Knights have exceptionally keen senses, battle intuition nearing foreknowledge; they can resist Spiritual Shock through willpower, making killing a Middle Rank witch like chopping vegetables, even able to hold their own against Seat Witches like Margaret.

However, Aaron and Green were not yet at that level.

Thus, Roman was increasingly anticipating the scene of the Spellcaster Legion.

Every spell has its range; for spells like Spiritual Shock, it is effective within twenty meters at most, with its power diminishing the farther it goes.

But it can be released repeatedly.

Without mentioning hundreds or thousands of spellcasters, even ten of them casting Spiritual Shock together would create a level of will confrontation that ordinary High Order Knights, even those equipped with Amber, couldn’t withstand a mass attack like that without losing focus momentarily.

"I ask if you can do it?" Roman looked at Green on the grass.

Green’s face was flushed red, and he couldn’t budge the formidable force of the strange-power woman no matter how hard he tried.

Martina, who had lost a lot of blood, still looked a bit pale, but she was quite robust, her Talent Spell was strength, rather akin to Nathan’s natural divine power.

According to Roman, she should have become an excellent female Conquest Knight, but due to the Prophet’s influence, she became a witch, and from then on, lived a life both fortunate and unfortunate.

Fortunate because she was an orphan adopted by the Witch Forest; without the Prophet and Witch Forest, she might have starved to death on the roadside long ago.

Unfortunate because she became a witch, despised by the world.

"I can’t... Would you want to try?" Green gritted his teeth, the person ahead seemed to be a monster, and their strength was at least Fifth Rank Knight.

Roman rolled his eyes, his mind drew him not to participate directly.

Even if he participated, would Martina dare to win... Well, the concern was Martina would dare to win.

These witches were thoughtless, it’s not proper.

"You’re only in your twenties, with a lot of room for growth," Martina said; she was forty-five, having lived longer, her strength had increased.

Green had no choice but to give up; without armor and weaponry, he suspected this witch could swat him dead with a slap.

Next up was Aaron.

Green flexed his wrists, egging Roman, "I think you should really give it a try."

"In your dreams."

He nudged Roman’s arm, "Give me a hint, do you have Second Rank Knight’s strength now? Or Third Rank Knight?"

Roman replied indifferently, "Haven’t tried."

He wasn’t the martial arts type, or rather, the martial type isn’t suited as a ruler, just like a pirate; what good is it to be good at fighting.

With five thousand troops under my command, you want to duel me?

At most he would occasionally draw the Riptide Great Bow.

It’s undeniable that he could draw that large bow with increasing amplitude, from the slightest arc at first to now a clearly visible curve.

He wasn’t into fighting, slacked for two years, and was slack in training. How could he clearly know what Rank he was in?

Anyway, it’s not Second but Third Rank, or stuck in between.

Although his body was in the growth stage, normally speaking, working isn’t training, a First Rank Knight doing labor for two years would mean stagnation, not expecting further advancement.

During the same time, others were weightlifting and running, while he was working with face to the soil and back to the sky, what chance did he have to prevail over others?

Yet, Roman’s situation was different, his physical fitness was improving steadily.

Each recruitment brought incremental enhancement.

After the last five-hundred recruitments, the increase was more apparent.

Jet and Dick could both tell that strong Samurai could sense a person’s true strength intuitively.

But no one ever asked, since their physical fitness was also improving, especially Green and Aaron, rapidly upgrading, never pausing, nearing Fourth Rank Knight in just over two years. The truth of the matter seemed a bit terrifying, better left unsaid to maintain tacit understanding.