Astartes of the Bear School

Chapter 1184 1166. Arrival

"This conclusion is not entirely true, is it?"

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.

"Let me tell you, 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!"

As if 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, and 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 interrupted calmly, "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 elven arrows. I can only wish you this, gentlemen and ladies."

——

The barge re-weighed anchor and slowed.

The captain, who was 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 palm gently stroking the hair on the back of the flannel ball squatting on the railing.

He didn't say anything, but Sakia seemed to want to express her desire 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 demon hunter's delicate profile under the hood, only revealing the corners of his mouth and chin.

"Has this world always been so complicated?"

Lan En did not respond to Sakia's question first, but turned his head to look at her strangely.

"Look at the tone of your speech, as if you have seen this world for the first time?"

"No!" Sakia immediately denied instinctively, but then seemed to think that this categorical denial was too suspicious, so she forced herself to calm down and make up for it.

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

"I just haven't understood something as profound as racial issues in such depth, you know? I used to just swing my sword without thinking, but now I'm reading books and debating with people."

The demon hunter chuckled.

"Unfortunately, the book you read has been carefully "modified" by the author, and it simply and mindlessly attributes the reason why Nilfgaard has no racial issues to their so-called "unity under the sun."

"But today, you are in a scene that has been attacked by the Scoia'tael, and both sides have left casualties, so the complex but real situation comes to you."

Sakia sighed, regained her calm and melancholy, and scratched her dark golden hair in distress and distraction.

"I originally thought that racial peace could be achieved with only a slight concession from the strong race, that is, humans. But what about now?"

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

"The non-human race has indeed suffered unfair treatment, but what if they in turn implicate innocent people? Many humans do not oppress them."

"And humans also have their own problems. The Nilfgaard Empire in the south is ready to move. How can we tolerate instability in the rear at this time?"

Sachia talked to herself, but she had 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 his hands on his chest, looking at her with his head tilted.

Even with a hooded cloak, she could feel the other person's interest.

She was a little angry.

"Look at how relaxed you are." She said sarcastically, "It seems that you should have profound insights, just like when you taught me what a 'trustworthy book' is yesterday?"

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

"Huh?"

Sakia frowned in confusion.

"First of all, you want to change the status quo by doing things. What surprised me is that you didn't even think of giving up after the setback."

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

The demon hunter raised his hand from his cloak and counted his fingers one by one.

"You really look like a big man who can do big things now, Sakia."

"But the 'big man' now just thinks you are teasing her." The dark golden hair fell between her neck, and Sakia frowned in dissatisfaction.

"Or" under the dark golden hair, blue pupils looked at the other party, "Do you actually have any opinion on this matter?"

Inexplicably, although Sachia had not even seen the real face and body of the person in front of her through the magic cloak, and had not even told each other their names.

But she always felt that when facing this complex racial issue, this person did not seem to be as clueless as she was.

Lan En did not speak any more afterwards, but just looked at the bow with the flannel ball.

The terrain on both sides of the Pontar River gradually rose, and the plains turned into mountains. The soil turned into rock.

The Pontar River Valley, located between the Kesztra Mountains and the Mahakam Mountains, is a long and narrow area. Even a barge would take a whole day to pass through it.

But fortunately, the gathering place established by Duke Shiward was outside the river valley.

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