pdf-ebookys #407 - July 22
#407 - July 22
"What's the date today?"
The peasant soldiers and guards retreated like a tide. Catherine stood on the wall, wiping the blood off her glasses with a handkerchief, and asked softly.
Around her, crimson blood-sucking vines lay prostrate on the corpses, greedily sucking blood.
"July 22nd."
Catherine's senior partner and business secretary, Elindor, bowed.
"Four more days?" Catherine looked down at her hand. She saw double images of her hand, and even strange spiral patterns appeared, crawling like small snakes.
After days of using magic at high intensity, and being exposed to divine magic from time to time, her mind was beginning to have problems.
She felt as if she had returned to those wandering days, when she would be considered the source of the plague whenever anyone got sick.
The vagrants dared not disobey her, let alone attack her. It wasn't respect, but fear.
"I feel like something's wrong," Catherine's voice had a lot of hissing sounds.
"Why do you say that?" Elindor handed over a hot towel.
"Today's offensive ended exceptionally quickly." Catherine wiped the sweat from her face with the hot towel. "Yesterday, the offensive stopped for another day, and today it was just a probing attack."
"Perhaps they're tired," Elindor took the towel from Catherine's hand, covering his arm, keeping half a step away. "Or maybe they don't have enough supplies. This happens often."
Unlike before, he specifically wore flesh-colored leather gloves this time, and even when he took back the towel, he subconsciously grabbed the side that hadn't wiped her face.
He didn't know before, but now that he knew, he had to pay more attention.
Otherwise, if he accidentally contracted witch disease, it would be deadly.
Elindor, serving Catherine, still maintained a cautious posture, but Catherine could see that this caution was too different from the caution of the past.
Just because she was a witch?
The few blood-sucking vines lying on the corpses swayed, writhing on the ground like red snakes, as if choosing someone to devour.
Catherine closed her eyes forcefully. The blood-sucking vine, which was aiming at Elindor's back like a cobra, softly lay on the ground.
She didn't know if Elindor noticed, but a drop of cold sweat ran down his forehead.
"I always feel like something's wrong." Catherine took two steps back and sat under the temporary grass shed on the wall. "Do you have any ideas?"
"Are they going to retreat? I heard that Valentine is doing a good job."
"Impossible. The main force of Alman's church army hasn't been lost, and Prince Condé is still above them. They will never run away in disgrace."
After sitting in the chair and thinking for a long time, Catherine put on her glasses again: "Call Mitene, take those wizards, go around the city gates more, and catch all the spies in the city."
"Yes, Governor." Elindor took a few steps back facing Catherine before quickly walking down the city wall.
Sitting under the grass shed, Catherine watched Elindor leave, then leaned back on the deck chair and closed her eyes to rest.
She could feel strange gazes sweeping over her body, and Catherine could even feel the fear and suspicion in them.
The grass shed prevented direct sunlight, which was much better than other places in the sun. The only disadvantage was that it took up space.
Originally, Catherine didn't want to be treated differently, but the citizens and soldiers were afraid that she would go berserk if she was affected by the hot weather.
So even if she didn't agree, the grass shed was still built.
This shed was like a concrete manifestation of the attitude of the entire Rapid Stream City towards her.
She didn't think she would go berserk, but the people of Rapid Stream City thought she would go berserk, it was just a matter of time.
The entire Rapid Stream City was guessing, guessing how many strange plant seeds were stored in the Megdi Chamber of Commerce's warehouse.
Guessing what kind of fire hell Rapid Stream City would instantly turn into once Catherine went berserk.
But why? She hadn't shown any signs of going berserk for decades. Just because she was a witch, all her past achievements had to be erased?
She had heard more than once, "So, Lord Catherine is a witch, what a pity," "How wonderful it would be if Catherine wasn't a witch?"
If she wasn't a witch, Rapid Stream City would have been conquered more than a week ago.
The citizens of Rapid Stream City were afraid of the church army outside the city attacking, and they were also afraid that Catherine would go berserk and destroy the city.
They dared not and could not express any opinions, they could only pretend to be blind to the witch, burying their heads in the sand like ostriches.
In this spiritual world shaped by the church, the witch was a kind of original sin.
"Governor, the message to the Salvation Army has finally been sent out." Carl's voice sounded amidst the clanging of armor.
"I just hope they don't learn from the Allied Forces of Small Pond City." Catherine opened her eyes, her eyes full of exhaustion. "Rather arrive slower, don't make any more mistakes."
"If you can't arrive by July 22nd, don't talk big." Carl looked at the scorching sun above his head and sat down on the bench next to Catherine, feeling dull. "Didn't you say they would arrive today? It's noon, where are they?"
Catherine, with her greasy hair tied on her head, hadn't washed her hair for almost seven days, so she could only endure it for now: "Arriving too early would only be a forced march, which would only repeat the mistakes of Small Pond City. Rapid Stream City can't withstand the blow of the annihilation of the second reinforcement army."
After saying this, the grass shed fell silent again, with only the increasingly jubilant cicada chirping singing loudly.
"Can you still hold on?" Carl asked inexplicably.
Catherine looked at Carl's face, but didn't mention that she saw two pairs of eyes.
"Hold on for another five or six days. If I really want to go berserk, I will commit suicide or jump down the city in advance."
"Your Excellency, how can you say such a thing?" Carl was startled by Catherine's words.
Catherine gave a self-deprecating smile, got up from the deck chair, and walked to the city wall. The church army still showed no signs of activity.
Up to now, there hasn't been a second wave of attacks since the retreat. If there were no mistakes, today's offensive should end here.
"When do you think they will arrive specifically?"
"I estimate they left on July 12th, and it will take 13 days to arrive, which is July 25th."
Looking at the cloudless clear sky above her head, Catherine murmured to herself, not knowing who she was talking to: "Three more days..."
As long as she could get through these three days, the last three days...
But what about after these three days? Her identity as a witch had been exposed. Could she still manage the entire Chamber of Commerce like before?
Could the City Council still accept her? Would the Megdi Chamber of Commerce still be obedient?
"Forget it, you go back first." Catherine turned around, her pale face becoming paler in the sunlight. "Go back to the South Gate and be more vigilant, after all, it's the second main attack direction."
"Okay... the South Gate?" Carl was stunned for a second before leaving. "Isn't Hesperon guarding the South Gate?"
"Hesperon? He's guarding the West Gate." Catherine was also stunned. "Didn't Pettier say that at the meeting yesterday?"
"But you gave me a warrant..."
"I didn't write you a warrant..." Before Carl could finish speaking, Catherine's face suddenly changed, and she interrupted Carl urgently: "Who gave you the warrant?"
"You didn't give me the warrant, but... Holy Father above! Rial?" Carl exclaimed halfway through his words. "How could he?"
"Are you sure Rial gave it to you?"
"Yes, he, he also said it was your autograph warrant." Carl's brain was like a ball of paste at this moment. Rial was the least likely person to betray.
If he wanted to betray, he should have betrayed when the Megdi Chamber of Commerce had three fingers cut off by the church and the Temple Knights.
If Catherine hadn't arrived in time at that time, this loyal believer of the Huanno faction would have died from blood loss.
No matter who betrayed, he couldn't betray!
While Carl was still confused, Catherine's hair seemed to stand on end. A strange warrant, transferring the general of the second main attack direction away...
"Carl, Carl!" Catherine's stern shout pulled Carl back to reality.
"Rial, Rial is a traitor..."
"That's not important, we'll talk about it later."
Catherine hammered Carl's chest forcefully, and the blood-sucking vines around Catherine seemed to scream: "You're not guarding the South Gate, and Hesperon is not guarding the South Gate, so who is guarding the South Gate now?"
Carl seemed to grab a life-saving straw: "There are three gatekeepers in charge of the winch and the city gate, he can't be so fast..."
"Dong—Dong—" Continuous and rapid bells rang, and the source of the bells was the South Gate not far away.
After these five bell rings, the entire city seemed to quiet down.
Carl's words slowly stopped, and the whole person stood in place as if frozen.
On this hot day, Catherine felt her hands and feet were cold, and cold sweat broke out all over her body.
Of course, she knew what this rapid bell sound meant. This was the signal she personally set, and the specific meaning was very simple—the city gate, was broken.