Chapter Ninety-One: Rallying the Banner Once More

Amber had nearly been torn apart by the giant bees, and yet he was still brimming with excitement. "Lord Keen! Smoke—smoke can drive away the Ruruoto! My father, Uncle Bolint, and I lit several piles of firewood, and it worked wonderfully. Hurry and have the other villagers light fires in their hearths too, and use damp firewood to make more smoke!"

Seeing Amber's face smeared with soot, Jia Zhengjin was genuinely moved. He had only accepted this seemingly useless follower out of deference to Tina, but who could have guessed that at such a critical moment Amber would prove so invaluable?

"At once inform every villager: light damp firewood and make thick smoke!" Jia Zhengjin immediately turned and ordered Buddy.

"Yes!!"

Seeing hope, Buddy led all the town guards in a furious charge, cutting down the giant bees as they plunged from above, and shouting as they ran, "Lord Keen orders all villagers to light damp firewood immediately and make thick smoke!"

The town guards fought their way forward, shouting until their voices were hoarse.

The villagers who heard them swiftly obeyed. One after another, they fetched the damp firewood that had been left drying on their rooftops and carried it back inside to light in their hearths.

In an instant, thick smoke billowed over the entire city, acrid fumes rising slowly upward, pressing directly toward the black cloud of bees overhead.

As expected, the giant bees were blocked by the smoke. They still tried to press the attack, but the stinging fumes were unbearable, and so they all turned and withdrew.

The cloud of bees in the sky dispersed, and sunlight returned to the earth.

But while the aerial swarm had fled, more than a hundred giant bees still raged on the ground.

Jia Zhengjin commanded the exhausted town guards and kobold army into a final desperate battle. At last, after more than an hour, they slew every last giant bee remaining there.

Only when safety was confirmed did the villagers begin to emerge from their homes one by one.

The city was in a truly pitiful state. Walls, watchtowers, houses, and farmland alike all smoked with black soot, and the damage was extensive.

Three town guards had died in battle, and more than twenty had been seriously wounded. The kobold force had lost over one hundred and twenty heavily armored troops, while the others had also been injured to varying degrees.

If Amber had not timely informed them that smoke could drive away the giant bees, the city would likely already have fallen completely into ruin. Everyone living here would probably have been wiped out without a single survivor.

Though they had won, it was a victory bought at dreadful cost.

"Keen~~"

Tina emerged from the residential building and, with a worried expression, supported Jia Zhengjin, who was so exhausted he nearly collapsed.

He was in relatively better shape. Under the protection of Buddy, Wolf, the town guards, and the kobold army, he had tried to participate in the battle as little as possible. Even so, he had nearly reached his limit, let alone Buddy, Wolf, and the others, who had fought with all their might from beginning to end. At that moment they were all sprawled on the ground without any concern for appearance, gulping down great breaths of air.

When the villagers came out and saw Lord Keen and the other heroes in such a miserable state, then looked at the piles of giant bee corpses and the shattered state of the city, more than half of them could not hold back their tears and began to weep, grieving for their future.

"Help me up!" Seeing several hundred villagers howling in sorrow while the rest stood silent, their eyes full of grief, Jia Zhengjin looked at Tina and said.

Tina, with Perlin's help, immediately lifted him to his feet.

"Villagers!" Jia Zhengjin said, speaking with effort, "do not be sad. This little hardship cannot frighten us! If the Ruruoto appear nearby, then we will destroy them! If the city is ruined, then we will rebuild it! If any enemy dares come and destroy our peaceful lives, then we will crush it! Nothing can defeat us. We will build a steadfast home here!"

"But Lord Keen, how can we defeat the Ruruoto swarm? They are too powerful—we nearly lost our entire army!" a villager shouted.

"Every swarm has its weakness!" Jia Zhengjin answered loudly. "Just like the smoke from before—that is what the Ruruoto fear. Now that we know their weakness, what is there to be afraid of? I will personally lead men to find the Ruruoto that have settled nearby, drive them away with thick smoke, and destroy their nests!"

The villagers looked at one another. Their eyes, once bright, had dulled at the sight of the town guards and kobolds lying scattered all over the ground.

Jia Zhengjin knew that if he could not successfully drive off or annihilate the giant bee swarm this time, his prestige among these villagers would plummet, and it would be very difficult to win their trust again.

So he needed to work a miracle. He needed to rebuild the villagers' confidence.

Thinking of this, he had Tina and Perlin support him to the kobold nest, and with a large quantity of raw meat he hired the kobold artisans up to the maximum of five hundred. Then he ordered all the kobold craftsmen to immediately use the available materials to repair the buildings that had suffered catastrophic damage. At the same time, he ordered the kobold miners to begin work at once, ensuring there would be enough repair materials.

The dispirited villagers soon noticed the kobold craftsmen appearing in every corner of the city, each carrying a stone hammer and rapidly repairing the buildings.

Under the magic of their hammers, the previously battered and broken structures were immediately restored at a speed visible to the naked eye, finally returning to the brand-new appearance they had when first built.

Five hundred kobold craftsmen laboring at once made for an awe-inspiring sight. The villagers had been filled with despair, and many had already been preparing to leave and seek a new home elsewhere. But when a miracle occurred and the ruins were restored to a paradise in such a short time, their faces showed astonishment and delight.

"Long live Lord Keen!" someone shouted first; no one knew who.

"Long live Lord Keen!!!"

The villagers suddenly erupted in a rolling roar.

"Drive away the Ruruoto!"

"Destroy those bastards!"

All manner of voices began to rise. It was clear the villagers' morale had finally recovered somewhat.

"Everyone, go do what you need to do. Don't worry about anything!" Since the villagers had suffered no losses, Jia Zhengjin called out to them. "I will do my best to strengthen the city's defenses and ensure that nothing like this happens again! All town guards return to camp for rest at once; all kobolds go back to the nest to recover! As for the villagers, keep the smoke in your homes burning for now, and make sure the Ruruoto cannot return for the time being! Once we have rested and regained our strength, we will launch a counterattack against the Ruruoto and take back the land that belongs to us!!"

"Take back our land!! Take back our land!! Take back our land!!"

The villagers' spirits surged.

"Now, first let us hold a solemn cremation ceremony for the three brave town guards who gave their lives!" Jia Zhengjin sighed. "I will build a monument and inscribe the names of these heroes who sacrificed themselves for everyone, so they may be remembered forever by the world! The families of these brave men shall receive the highest honor and welfare, and I will personally pay each of their households a pension of five gold coins every month!"

Whoosh.

At this news, the villagers all cried out in shock.