Astartes of the Bear School

Chapter 1184 1166. Arrival

 “This conclusion is not entirely true, right?”

Lann said with his arms crossed behind Sakia, and the bald knight turned around and frowned at him.

"Your Excellency, most non-human races also condemn the activities of the Scoia'tael and do not want to have anything to do with them. Most of them just want to maintain a stable life, and have paid a serious price for this."

"There was a half-elf as the mayor of a town not far from Vizima. He often called for peaceful coexistence and cooperation between the two races. He eventually died in an assassin's assassination."

"And the assassin who shot that arrow was undoubtedly one of his harmless neighbors. A halfling or a dwarf." The bald knight sneered.

"If you ask me, none of them are loyal. Don't mention the loyalty of the inhuman races to me again! They are all our enemies, but some of them are better at pretending!"

Seemingly out of concern for the warriors on the barge who had been chartered by Duke Seeward, the bald knight turned around and spoke seriously to the frowning Sakia and Lan behind her.

He spread his hands, trying to increase his credibility with his movements.

"Dwarves and halflings have been living with us in human society for centuries, and in a way it's almost harmonious. But look at it now!"

"The elves just made a choice, and then they all picked up their weapons with a roar and ran into the forest!"

"If you ask me, it was stupid to ignore the free elves and tree elves in order to maintain social stability! They should not be allowed to retain the mountains and forests!"

"'Drive humans back into the sea'! Listen! If they want war, give them war! Let's see who survives to the end!"

Sakia's lips murmured a few times, as if she wanted to say something, but then she sighed. Anyway, the words she said in the end were definitely not what she wanted to say at the beginning.

"It would be unwise to pursue elves in forests and valleys, your lord."

Sakia said.

"And I wouldn't recommend hunting down dwarves and halflings in these places with elves assisting them."

The bald knight nodded in agreement: "This is to the point."

"You are all excellent mercenaries and warriors, obviously very experienced. Chasing them through the bushes and trees is pointless and ineffective."

"The best way is to cut off their supply lines and isolate them. Arrest the inhuman races who help the Scoia'tael so that they lose the basis for fighting guerrilla warfare. What is this called? Yes! Draw money from the bottom of the cauldron! We must arrest them in cities and villages. "

"The question is." Lan En calmly interjected, "How do you judge who is the inhuman race who helps the Scoia'tael?"

"Then arrest them all! No one will be left behind!"

"Ha!" Lan En's calm laughter was almost seamlessly followed by the bald knight's response, as if he had already known that the other party would say this.

"I understand, I seem to have heard this argument somewhere. Pinch the scruff of every non-human race and throw them into quarries and mines, including innocent people, including the old, weak, women and children, right? "

"This sounds similar to Bloody Falga's policy. It's just that Falga targets those who oppose her, regardless of human or non-human race. At this point, you seem to be better than her. But in justice Sexually, she is better than you."

The bald knight angrily slammed the leather gloves he was holding on his hands.

"Okay, don't think I didn't hear that you were mocking me. But what else can you do?"

"You are a soldier. You should be paying attention to the recent war atmosphere, right? The armistice agreement between Nilfgaard and us is as fragile as an eggshell! Is it possible that when the Southern Empire comes again, our rear will still have to face such a situation? Rampant Scoia'tael?"

"And it goes without saying that you should know that as the war progresses, both we and Nilfgaard will become weaker and weaker. When those 'loyal neighbors' you talk about see our weakness, there will be How many join the Scoia'tael?"

"The Nilfgaardians are just pointing at them to bleed our backs!"

Suddenly there was a burst of cheers outside the house, and the wooden door of the sentry box was knocked.

The sergeant who boarded the boat to ask for someone stuck his head in and looked around before continuing: "The waterway has barely been cleared, and it should be enough for the barge to pass through. Do you want them to sail the boat, sir?"

The bald knight sighed and waved his hands.

"They are the manpower that the Duke is urgently looking for. We can't waste them here cleaning up the river. Let them go and we will do the rest slowly."

Finally, Sachia and Lan En turned around and walked out of the house. The bald knight in the blue coat said coldly.

"I hope you will arrive smoothly and not be killed by the insidious elf arrows. I can only wish you this, gentlemen and ladies."

—

The barge re-weighed anchor and slowed.

The captain, who had been casually holding the dried fish in his mouth, was now looking attentively at the wreckage of wooden boats that occasionally protruded from the water around him.

This temporarily cleared waterway is really not spacious, barely enough for a barge of his size to pass through.

Sachia and Lan En were still standing on the bow, looking at the wreckage falling behind from both sides of the bow.

On the wreckage protruding out of the water, there are occasionally remains of human or non-human limbs and blood stains.

The flesh and blood also attracted fish and shrimps of all sizes in the river.

“Tragic and complicated”

Sakia held her hand on the railing, frowning and murmuring.

She was not shocked by the battle debris on the river in front of her. She was used to seeing these things. What really shocked her was the seemingly ordinary conversation just now.

Lan En stood quietly by the railing, his palms gently tracing the hair on Velvet Ball's back as he squatted on the railing.

He didn't speak, but Sakia seemed to want to express her desire to talk to him because she had discussed books with him before and participated in the conversation together.

The female warrior with a red and white cotton rope headband on her head turned her head and looked at the witcher's delicate side face with only the corners of his mouth and chin exposed under the hood.

"Is this world always so complicated?"

Lan En did not respond to Saskia's question first, but instead turned to look at her strangely.

"Look at the tone of your voice, as if you are seeing this world for the first time?"

"No!" Sakia immediately instinctively denied it, but then seemed to think that this categorical denial was too suspicious, so he calmed down to find some explanation.

In Lan En's opinion, her behavior was quite strange and awkward.

"I just, I just haven't understood something as profound as racial issues so deeply, you know, right? I used to just wield a sword without using my brain, but now I'm reading books and debating with people."

The witcher chuckled softly.

"Unfortunately, the book you are reading has been carefully 'edited' by the author. It simply and brainlessly attributes the lack of racial problems in Nilfgaard to their so-called 'unity under the flag of the Sun'."

"But today, you put yourself in the shoes of a site that was attacked by the Scoia'tael and both sides left casualties, so the complex but real situation comes to mind."

Sakia sighed and regained her calmness and melancholy. She scratched her dark golden hair in distress and ecstasy.

"I thought that racial peace could only be achieved with slight concessions from the stronger races, that is, humans. But what about now?"

"What if the non-human race is not satisfied after receiving concessions? Can humans continue to make concessions? What if the hatred cannot be suppressed?"

"Inhuman races have indeed suffered unfair treatment, but what if they in turn implicate innocent people? Many humans did not oppress them."

"Humanity also has its own problems. The Nilfgaard Empire in the south is about to move. How can we tolerate instability in the rear at this time?"

Sakia was talking to herself, but as she spoke, she got a headache and sighed.

But when she was covering her head in distress, she turned around and saw the person next to her leaning against the railing with her arms folded, tilting her head to look at her.

Even though he was wearing a hood and cloak, he could still feel the other person's interesting mood.

She suddenly got a little angry.

"Look at how you are so at ease." She said in a strange tone, "It seems like you have the same profound insights as when you taught me what a 'credible book' was yesterday, right?"

"It's hard to say what I think." Lan En shook his head, "But I think you are very powerful."

"Um?"

Sakia frowned in confusion.

"First of all, you want to change the status quo by doing something. What surprises me is that you have no idea of ​​giving up after experiencing setbacks."

"Secondly, you realize and acknowledge the complexity of real-life problems. You even start to use your brain to try to understand and solve this complexity."

The witcher raised his hands from his cloak and counted his fingers one by one.

"You really look like a big shot now, Saskia."

"But the 'big shot' now only thinks you are teasing her." Sakia frowned dissatisfied as her long dark blond hair fell between her neck.

"Or..." Under the dark blond hair, blue pupils looked at the other party, "Do you really have an opinion on this matter?"

Inexplicably, although Saskia has not even seen the real face and body of the person in front of him through the magic cloak, he has not even told each other his name.

But she always felt that when faced with this complex racial issue, this person didn't seem as clueless as she was.

Lan En didn't say anything afterward, and just looked in the direction of the bow of the ship with Flannel Ball.

The terrain on both sides of the Pontar River gradually rises, and the plains turn into mountains. The soil turns into rock.

The Pontal Valley, between the Kestri Mountains and the Mahakam Mountains, is a long and narrow area that even a barge would take a whole day to cross.

But fortunately, the meeting place established by Duke Seeward was outside the river valley.

More than an hour later than expected dinner time, the barge arrived smoothly.

(End of chapter)