Medieval: Kingdom Come: Deliverance

After Goodwin voiced his doubts, everyone looked at him in surprise, seemingly unable to believe that Trotsky could be so ignorant.

"I'm from out of town, I just arrived here an hour ago..."

Faced with the unfriendly gazes of the crowd, Goodwin couldn't take it anymore and had to explain himself to avoid being seen as an ignorant country bumpkin pastor.

"This relates to the two companions you're looking for, Father," said the bard George. "As far as we know, apart from the old Earl who isn't on campaign, many people in the castle have gone out with their vassals. Perhaps the two you're looking for are among them. After all, we all know they're the old Earl's lackeys; they not only ransomed his son but also delivered messages to two knights in the fiefdom, and many people saw it."

"In that case, why don't I go inside the castle and ask first?" Goodwin shrugged and countered, "Based on your description of the battlefield, many people have been captured, but not the two young men I described, are they?"

"Go to the castle? I don't think you can get in."

Michael, one of the two bards, said, "We even made a special trip to Troski, only to find that an even larger army has arrived there. Now the castle is surrounded by soldiers, and the checks are very strict; we can't get in at all."

"What? An even larger army has arrived?"

"Damn it, does von Polgao think our taxes aren't heavy enough already?"

"The arrival of foreign troops will inevitably incur additional operational costs, which will be disastrous for us."

"That's not necessarily true. There's also Lord Peter; he will certainly not let these people succeed."

"Even Lord Peter couldn't possibly defeat two large armies in succession, could he?"

......

The crowd buzzed with discussion, and Goodwin roughly understood: Baron Red Griffin was the rebel force opposing Earl von Polgau, and they seemed quite formidable. But his enemies were equally powerful.

"Where is that battlefield?"

Goodwin knew that with his status, it would be difficult to get close to the castle gates, so he might as well go to the battlefield first and look for some clues.

George said, "It's a bit of a distance from here, near the Nebakov Mill. Go east from the tavern until you reach a large crossroads, then head down into the forest from the chapel. A lot of corpses are still there."

"I hope they die cleanly and without pain." Goodwin made the sign of the cross, whispered a prayer, and said, "I must go now. Thank you for the information, and may the Lord bless you!"

"May the Lord bless you, Father."

The tavern owner and the bard bid farewell to Goodwin.

Goodwin rode his old horse, Bibiana, all the way to the ambush site. Based on his battlefield experience, he marveled at how well the rebels chose their ambush location.

"They must have gone deeper into the forest, using the fallen tree as cover."

"There are even abandoned carriages. They must have been used to block the road and prevent the army from retreating. How clever."

"I need to keep my eyes wide open and stay alert."

"They were attacked by a hail of arrows, oh God, it was a terrible sight. May God protect their souls."

"The person who orchestrated all of this must be a true warrior."

Goodwin continued onward, seeing corpses lying on the ground along the way. He kept checking to see if his two companions were among them, while whispering prayers for the dead.

"Hey old man, what are you doing here? Or are you looking for trouble?"

A group of bandits dressed in white robes with black raven patterns were looting the corpses. Seeing Goodwin approach, they drew their weapons and demanded an explanation. If the old man hadn't been a priest, they would have already started hacking him to pieces.

"As you can see, I am a priest. What are you doing here?"

Goodwin had no choice but to dismount and question the men who were covered in blood.

"Don't you dare meddle in other people's business. We, the Raven Army, do what we want. See these people on the ground? We killed them all. Do you want to end up like them?"

A gang leader dressed in black and white raven-print clothes arrogantly questioned him. They dared not kill the priest, but they dared to insult him.

"You killed them all? I heard it was the Red Griffins who did it. Are you Red Griffins' men?" Goodwin asked in surprise, then looked at the emblems on these people's bodies and confirmed that they were ravens, not griffins.

"We...cough cough...are allies of the Red Griffins, yes, we are allies of the Red Griffins!"

The bandit grew increasingly confident, as if being an ally of the Red Griffin was some great achievement, and shouted, "Stop changing the subject! What are you doing here?"

"Don't be so loud, I'm not deaf. And I mean no harm," Goodwin explained. "I'm just here to see two friends who I heard are fighting alongside von Polgar."

"Hahaha, they're definitely doomed!"

The crow bandits gathered around and burst into laughter.

"Impossible, my two friends have always been very strong." Goodwin didn't believe that Hans and Henry could have died here.

"Are you blind, old man! Look around you properly. No one can survive such a brutal massacre."

The bandits continued their taunts, and the surrounding corpses were quite convincing.

"Fine, I don't want to argue with you. Since you haven't met my friend, I'll keep looking for him myself." Goodwin waved his hand to indicate that he didn't want to cause trouble.

"That's good. We'll keep to ourselves. You can go find your people, but don't even think about touching a single thread of the equipment on the corpse. That was promised to us by Boss Jessica."

The crow bandits didn't forget to warn Goodwin.

"I have no interest in what's on the corpses." Goodwin continued on his horse, seeing the corpses along the way, a testament to the ferocity of the battle.

However, the number of corpses seemed incorrect. Although there were more here than in other places, there were only a few dozen, far fewer than the more than three hundred the bard had mentioned.

Just then, he saw a group of people gathered near the mill, digging a large pit.

Michael, Jessica's second-in-command, saw Goodwin and immediately berated him, "Why are you so slow? Didn't I tell you to loot the bodies thoroughly and move them over for burial as soon as possible?"

"I'm sorry, I'm not one of yours. I'm Goodwin, a priest."

Goodwin realized the other party had misunderstood and quickly explained.

Michael observed carefully and realized they weren't on his side. He and Jessica had recruited a large number of unscrupulous bandits from out of town, using them merely as cannon fodder. They promised them the right to freely divide the spoils of war, and didn't bother to recognize their faces, simply issuing each of them a black and white raven cloak to indicate they were one of their own.

"Are you a priest?" Michael looked him up and down, questioning, "What priest carries a two-handed sword?"

"I understand what you mean. Deomnibus est dubitandum (full of doubts)," Goodwin said, even reciting a passage of Latin to prove himself. "Let me put it this way: now you need to know who I am, so I will be who I am, whether I am a priest, a warrior... or a tireless lover. After all, God helps those who help themselves, right?"

This long passage completely baffled the uncultured Michael. The person in front of him could speak Latin and such a tongue-twisting language.

"Hmm...you know how to preach...maybe you really are a priest." Michael was 80% convinced.

"I'd like to ask what happened here?" Goodwin pressed on, seeing that the other person believed him.

"What do you think? Of course, a battle broke out."

Michael proudly declared, "We clashed with the lord's forces, and the strongest of us won—that's the Nebakov Raven Army! Now I'm ordered to clean up the mess and bury these corpses."

"But I heard that Baron Red Griffin is also involved in the war. Could my information be wrong?" Goodwin asked, somewhat puzzled.

"If you hadn't brought this up, we could still be friends, Father."

Michael shrugged helplessly. They had indeed won the battle, but no one could deny the Red Griffin's role in it. Michael even felt that his ragtag group was completely unworthy to stand alongside the Griffin Guard.