Chapter 130: The True Crumbs of Prophecy
"Coach Frederick! It's you! Why are you here?"
This was Klose's voice, which seemed a little surprised.
The lord looked at the burning wooden building and came to Klose and Frederick.
Frederick had taken off his helmet and looked to be in his fifties, but he still looked very strong and his eyes were bright.
The two people from Mettenheim had already started chatting about family matters. Klose knew Frederick and he could even take the initiative to introduce him to the lord.
"Sir, Mr. Frederick is a member of the Mettenheim Death Squad and a respected coach. I also received his guidance when I was in the service."
Klose seemed to respect the veteran, but Leon felt that Frederick seemed a little hesitant.
"Fredry, how come you are under Forcher's command?"
Friedrich is somewhat well-known in Mettenheim .
He is a professional soldier, a veteran who has served in the Mettenheim regular army for half his life, and is also one of the coaches of the Mettenheim swordsmen.
As a member of the Death Squad, he holds a high position in the military.
Unlike Klose and his friends who became mercenaries to make a living, Freddy came to the continent of Pendor with a mission.
A year ago, he and his legion leader were sent as envoys to Pendor on a trade mission, as his hometown of Mettenheim (formerly the Island of Aysenburg) fell into famine and was once again invaded by the Barclay Empire.
But I don't know if all the people of Mettenheim have the negative attribute of "easy to fall into the sea". Anyway, like Frederick and Klose, he also suffered a shipwreck in the continent of Pendor.
However, he did not encounter pirates in Firdsvain, but encountered a storm off the coast of the southern Bacchus Empire.
The delegation originally planned to land at the Imperial Port of the Bacchus Empire, but just one day before arriving at the port, the fleet deviated from its course due to a hurricane, and then their ship was broken into pieces in the rough waves.
After drifting on the sea for a whole day, pushed by the wind and waves, Frederick finally landed with a few Mettenheim soldiers in the bay near Malasburg in the Bacchus Empire.
They had lost most of their equipment, all their belongings, their supplies, and were completely exhausted.
This would have been tragic enough, but to make matters worse, this team, which was already in a desperate situation, was attacked by Snake Cultists just after landing - the place where they landed happened to be near the lair of a group of Snake Cultists.
Frederick's delegation was dispersed by a sudden attack by a large group of Snake Worshipers. Fortunately, he was a martial arts expert and fought and fled all the way, killing all the Snake Worshipers who were chasing him, and barely escaped.
He didn't know where his other comrades had fled to.
Or, perhaps, he was the only one who survived.
His troops were wiped out, his ship destroyed by a hurricane, and he was left penniless, without even his armor - which he had thrown away after the hurricane.
He has no way out.
The only thing left is the sword in his hand and a wealth of fighting skills.
He turned into a greedy mercenary, accepting any mission - for an old swordsman who was forced into a desperate situation, nothing else mattered anymore, he had to make money, he had to complete the mission entrusted to him by his motherland!
From Bacchus to Sarleon, he had been traveling around the prosperous cities of this continent, taking on high-value missions in a greedy manner, some of which were even shady jobs that violated his own moral principles.
Because Frederick never forgot his mission - he was a soldier, his hometown was in the midst of war and famine, and he had to bring back food for his motherland!
But half a year later, when it came to the harvest season in October, he was almost in despair.
Because he is not a noble.
It is not difficult for a skilled swordsman to make a living as a mercenary in the continent of Pendor.
But no matter how greedy Frederick was, it was difficult for him to save enough money to purchase food in a short period of time. As a commoner, it was impossible for him to ask the nobles to sell large amounts of food to him.
Until half a year ago, he met Foucher.
When he met Forcher, Frederick was drinking in a tavern in Lion Lake City to drown his sorrows.
By then, Forcher already had a large number of people around him.
There were pirates, thugs, and some other soldiers, more than three hundred people.
Foucher only talked to him for a few words, probably only heard his name, and then hired Frederick, and promised to provide him with a large amount of food in the next harvest season in half a year.
After learning that Forcher was the illegitimate son of the Grand Duke of Lion Lake City, Frederick felt that he seemed to see hope.
In order to complete the mission, Frederick became Forcher's bodyguard and followed the gangster boss to many places.
Lion Lake City, Mist Cage City, Cliff Bay, Falling Envoy Bay, Stern Crow City... Forcher took him to visit many big cities, and walked through all the big cities in the north, all the way to Longsong Port in the Stern Crow Kingdom.
In Frederick's memory, whenever Forcher arrived in a city, the first place he would go to was the tavern in that city...
But most of the time Forcher comes off as disappointed—he seems to be looking for someone or something, but finds almost nothing.
In Changge Port, Frederick saw that Forcher was extremely disappointed and depressed, and also saw that this illegitimate son finally turned from normal to cruel.
Frederick said that Forcher spent several days searching the entire Longsong Harbor inside and out, but in the end he found nothing. Afterwards, he kept cursing, "Where's the treasure chest? Why is there no treasure chest?"
After this, the illegitimate child's temper became worse and worse, and his attitude towards people became worse and worse.
If he wanted to get something, such as supplies or women, Forcher would simply send people to rob them, and would even often burn down villages or kill people for fun.
These dishonorable practices caused a large number of soldiers to leave the illegitimate son, but more thieves and thugs also joined Forcher's team.
As a soldier, Frederick naturally could not accept such behavior. He tried to persuade and threaten, but to no avail.
He also tried to rectify the discipline of the ragtag troops under Forcher's command, but all he got was scolding and contempt - Forcher himself had no self-control, so naturally those bandits and gangsters would follow suit. It was impossible to train an army that was rotten to the core.
Later, Forcher just used him as a bodyguard. The illegitimate son said more than once: "I didn't expect that coaching ability is useless. If I had known that you were useless, I wouldn't have spent so much money to hire you, and I wouldn't have to pay a lot of food..."
Frederick was certainly aggrieved, but he did not argue and just endured it.
He had a mission, and every time he heard about food, he would think of the famine in his hometown. Moreover, half a year was not a long time, and he just wanted to endure until then and leave with the food.
In fact, before meeting Forcher, Frederick knew that the behaviors of noble children like Pender were mostly the same, and Forcher's evil deeds were not something special.
The last big city that Forcher visited was Xiaolu City.
It was unknown what news Forcher had gotten from the tavern in Xiaolue, but he stopped running around after that. Instead, he brought his men back to Sarleon and sent out a number of pirates to search for some ruins.
Later, in Sarleon, Forcher met Sarah.
After just one meeting and learning Sarah's name, Forcher vowed to 'get her' - these were Forcher's exact words.
Maybe it was the power of love, but Frederick had never seen anyone fall in love with a woman so quickly.
Of course, Frederick also felt that it was normal for Forcher to fall in love at first sight with Sarah's appearance.
Perhaps it was only because Sarah was a noble that Forcher did not rob her directly as usual.
But what Forcher did was not much different from robbery - he first had Sarah invited to his home to perform singing and dancing for two days, and then he expressed his love to Sarah and said he wanted to marry her, without caring whether Sarah was willing or not.
After Sarah clearly refused, Forcher unilaterally declared Sarah his fiancée - and Sarah ran away.
Forcher was angry about this for a long time, and kept saying things like "We didn't have a fight, why did she run away?" and "I will always find her again in the tavern." His temper became more violent, and his behavior became more unbearable.
However, there was no follow-up to the forced marriage of the bard, because Forcher's father, Duke Alma, just happened to send this illegitimate son to the Mist City to participate in a competition at this time.
In the arena, Frederick was slightly injured while trying to save the ignorant Forcher and had to rest temporarily.
However, this illegitimate young master did not win the championship. He broke his ankle and, like Freddy, could only recuperate in Fieldsville.
They stayed in the Fog City for a short while.
However, even with injuries on his body, Forcher continued to struggle.
After he was barely able to move, Forcher took him to Guangxiao Bay and robbed a Buckley merchant - this was the only thing Frederick did willingly under Forcher.
Mettenheim is facing a second invasion from Barkley. Robbing Barkley is justified in the eyes of the people of Mettenheim, and Barkley's ocean-going merchant ships are not simply trading ships.
After seizing a musket, gunpowder and lead bullets from the Barkley people, Forcher began to call himself the son of prophecy. His temper became more and more strange. He killed people at will and robbed caravans or villagers.
Frederick clearly heard Forcher say, "Fortunately, this treasure chest does exist...but why can't I find it in Changge Port?"
He had no idea what the treasure chest that Forcher was talking about was. In fact, most of the time he had no idea what nonsense Forcher was talking about.
At this time, the war between the Kingdom of Sarleon and the Empire of Bacchus began.
Foucher was just an illegitimate child, and as a civilian he would naturally not participate in the war.
However, taking advantage of the relative emptiness of the villages during the war, he ordered his men to plunder many small villages - even some small villages in the jurisdiction of his father's Lion Lake City.
This is probably for the purpose of robbing money.
Of course, it might also be for the girls in the village...
Maybe it was for something else - Frederick had heard from Forcher that he wanted to 'create some refugees' in order to 'complete the mission'...
But Frederick didn't understand what kind of mission would require 'creating refugees'?
A mission issued by the Red Brotherhood?
It is also possible that he knew that Forcher was a patron of the Red Brotherhood.
The endless robbery, murder, rape and looting lasted for two or three months. Fortunately, Forcher always kept Frederick with him as a bodyguard, which prevented the old soldier from killing innocent people with his own hands.
But Forcher didn't seem satisfied. He kept muttering, "Why can't the soldiers be upgraded... Why can't I see any bandits bringing out refugees..."
Frederick didn't know what Forcher meant by soldier upgrades, but he understood that it probably meant improving combat effectiveness or something like that.
But without replacing their equipment or arranging training, how could a group of bandits possibly achieve any improvement?
Moreover, as a veteran who had served in the army for decades, Frederick knew very well that there were no bandits who would carry refugees around.
The bandits were only out to rob, and even if they wanted to take people away, they would only take the girls from the village, just like Forcher himself.
But at this time, Frederick no longer tried to persuade him - he had long been unable to tolerate what Forcher had done. He felt that Forcher was definitely not the son of prophecy, and he just wanted to leave this madman who had no reputation at all.
But Forcher once again reassured him with the idea of food - harvest time was approaching and a large amount of wheat would soon be ripe.
Afterwards, Foucher, who could not find the so-called "refugees", seemed to have found the so-called ruins, but he found almost nothing in this ruins that he had spent so much effort on...
Finally, Foucher, who was so disappointed that he cursed loudly, led the team to the vicinity of the Jatu Grassland, saying that the Jatu people were just "experience packs" and he wanted to train a large army to unify Pendor...
Frederic didn't understand what experience packs were , and he didn't think Forcher had the ability to unify the continent, but they did encounter the Jatu people.
Then Forcher's ragtag army was severely punished by the Jatu people - a ragtag army of nearly two hundred people was easily defeated by a Jatu cavalry of less than a hundred people.
If Frederick had not stopped the pursuers with his sword, Forcher would have died at the hands of the Jatu people.
But when Forcher was scared out of his wits, he was still muttering something like "They don't even charge" or "How can they be so strong?"
From then on, having lost most of his manpower, Forcher finally stopped wandering around. He restrained his temper, and kept muttering "This is not right, it's different" all day long, and then said that he wanted to "farm and grow".
He did find the farm and got a large amount of food during the harvest season.
But the way he obtained food was inhumane - Forcher directly led his people to massacre the farm and occupied it.
But in any case, there are indeed hundreds of thousands of pounds of food that have just been harvested. If it can be transported back to Mettenheim, it will be enough for thousands of people to survive the difficult times.
Forcher also said that Frederick could easily transport the grain away, and he seemed to have finally begun to fulfill his promise.
In the next few days, Forcher seemed very quiet, and he was always studying how to make a musket - but the only people under him were gangsters and pirates, and these guys had little education, and Forcher himself didn't even know how steel was made.
But Frederick couldn't solve the problem of transporting grain... He didn't have enough carriages or ships, so he couldn't transport all the grain!
Just when he was at a loss, Li Ang brought people here.
Leon listened quietly to Frederick's story, with no expression on his face.
But in his heart, there were already waves of shock - this Forcher... He knew that there was a treasure chest in Changge Port, and he knew that there were musket bullets in Guangxiao Bay!
In the game, there is indeed a treasure chest in Longsong Harbor, which contains a Dragon's Tear, which is the easiest Dragon's Tear for players to obtain. However, this chest was probably found by Alaric of the Drunkard Group.
There is also a treasure chest in a boat in Guangxiao Bay, which contains a pack of musket bullets. This boat is obviously the one that Forcher robbed.
Whenever Forcher arrived in a city, he would go to the tavern first - it was obvious that he was looking for a partner in the game!
In the game, all NPC companions will appear in the tavern, and players will always go to the tavern first.
But Leon already knew that anyone could appear anywhere. There weren't that many companions in the tavern, but there were indeed a lot of gossips...
The recruited partners may quarrel due to their different personalities, which may cause some partners to leave the team.
But just two days after Forcher "recruited Sarah into the team", Sarah ran away because he forced her to get married, so he would say "Why would she leave if there was no quarrel?"
He wanted to force Sarah to marry him, but he was probably just trying, because it was impossible to do in the game, but many players had this idea...
As for the ruins of the Griffin Knights' base that Forcher had been looking for - that was a very famous ruins quest in the game, requiring players to find a large number of refugees and supplies to complete the task of "rebuilding the ruins". After completing the task, they would be able to obtain a hidden Knights' base.
In the game, it is a private territory like a safe house that will not be attacked.
But as long as you use your knees to think about it, you will know that there is no place in the real world that will not be attacked...
He looted the village, no doubt to prepare 'refugees' and other 'mission items' in order to complete the ruins mission, and probably also wanted to 'level up' at the same time.
In the game, as long as the troops gain enough experience, they can be upgraded, and their equipment will be changed directly after the upgrade; and the coaching skills can automatically allow the soldiers to gain experience.
But the reality is that even if you have coaching skills, you still have to arrange training. Soldiers can only be improved through training and comprehensive equipment replacement, and this is the case with the lord's troops.
He said that the Jatu were experience packs - which they really were in the game, since most of the enemies in the game would just charge forward mindlessly.
But the lord had fought against the Jatu people before, and he knew clearly that the Jatu people, who were good at riding and shooting and were fearless in fighting to the death, were not easy to deal with. They had strong tactical execution capabilities!
This Foucher is the...
Player!
Yes, only players have this kind of thinking logic, and only players know this and perform these incredible behaviors.
No wonder Duke Alma likes this illegitimate child. Perhaps Forcher is consciously maintaining his "favorability" with the "powerful lord" just like in the game.
Forcher's poor performance in the Fog City Arena might also be a result of a player's thinking - he probably thought he wouldn't get hurt in the arena at that time?
But how can reality be the same as in the game...
Moreover, Forcher might have made one mistake - he was probably a player, but so what?
