When the Saint comes, she does not collect food

#378 - July Fire Flow

The moon cast the city wall into a slanting shadow, like a crouching black panther.

With four guards following behind and in front, Catherine leaned on the wall with her left hand, ascending the steps along the city wall, one step at a time.

Walking on the quiet steps, she would occasionally look into the city.

Under the night wind, Rapid Falls City was eerily quiet, as if everything had been overlaid with a light blue filter, the iron rooster weather vane on the church spire turning east and then west.

But if you looked closely, the soldiers sleeping in the streets, the blocked river, and the pervasive smell of blood were all too different from the past.

The blue-gray stone bricks were covered with arrow marks and knife cuts, not to mention the bloodstains that had solidified into black.

Her fingers brushed against the rough wall, and she felt a knife-like, painful friction on her fingertips.

It was like when she was abandoned by her mother in the forest as a child, the feeling of thorns scratching her body as she wandered around helplessly.

If it weren't for her teacher, she probably would have died in the forest at the hands of wolves, beggars, and robbers.

Walking up the steps to the top of the city wall, the night wind, carrying the pungent smell of smoke, blew on her face.

Under the accustomed gaze of the watchmen, Catherine walked to a crenel and looked towards the harbor.

Whenever she suffered from insomnia, she would come to the city wall to stroll around, looking at the streets and the large and small markets and workshops outside the city at night.

But today was different from the past.

Under the vast night sky, the once-bustling markets and workshops outside the city had been reduced to ruins in the flames of war, and the original harbor had been almost razed to the ground.

After this period of siege warfare, the bunkers originally built outside the city had been basically torn down, the shops and workshops had been burned to the ground, and even the built tunnels had been flooded or directly collapsed by the knights.

The prosperity that was once like cooking oil over a raging fire had all fallen under the swords of the church.

"Hiss!"

Catherine, who was feeling the night wind, suddenly withdrew her hand, a drop of bright red blood seeping from the pad of her full index finger.

Although she was already thirty-one years old this year, Catherine's hands were still well maintained.

But today, these white hands were stained with blood and scars.

After all, most of the time in the past, these hands were writing at a desk, and rarely held a sword.

When Catherine was a child in the Brago Monastery, she also learned swordsmanship from Juan Nuo.

But as time went on, she almost forgot how to hold a sword.

She lowered her head and looked at the calluses on her knuckles from holding a pen.

Fifteen years, fifteen years have passed since she inherited the Megdi Chamber of Commerce.

In those fifteen years, under her manipulation, Rapid Falls City had transformed from a free city waiting to be rebuilt into the second most prosperous city in the Qianhe Valley.

Catherine first used Juan Nuo's connections and her own background to act as a front for various manors, cooperating with the Secret Party to smuggle goods.

Then, using this network of relationships, she established a dye guild, controlling the entire process of dye raw materials, production, and sales alone, basically monopolizing most of the Qianhe Valley's dye industry.

Naturally, she had a seat on the Rapid Falls City Council, and in the city council, she dismissed public opinion and developed the current port area.

The port area and its excellent duty-free policies, security, and services successfully became a major source of wealth for Rapid Falls City.

Land prices soared, and Catherine's voice naturally rose with them.

After that, she promoted the "Stock Law" through the City Council.

Using the funds accumulated in the early stage, as well as the investment of the Secret Party, the Megdi Bank was established five years ago by the Megdi Chamber of Commerce.

Through loans, investments, mortgages, and other means, Catherine bought a large number of workshops and stocks of various large and small chambers of commerce.

Through the "Stock Law" and the establishment of sub-chambers of commerce, she repeatedly cross-held shares and forced workshops and chambers of commerce to forcibly participate in shares and be participated in shares.

Gradually, most of the industries in Rapid Falls City belonged to her Chamber of Commerce or sub-Chambers of Commerce.

Due to her Elven identity and the status of Rapid Falls City as an Azk Alliance city, Megdi controlled more than ten times its own value in capital.

Although on the surface, she was just a small Chamber of Commerce dealing in dyes.

As a member of the Rapid Falls City Council and the headquarters of the Megdi Chamber of Commerce, Rapid Falls City had gathered and absorbed a large number of people and funds in fifteen years, and had become the second most prosperous city in the Qianhe Valley.

At its most prosperous, even a Rapid Falls City councilor proudly declared that "selling the port area would be enough to buy Feiliu Fort."

It's just that the port area that the citizens of Rapid Falls City were proud of had now become a war-torn ruin.

Catherine stretched out her hand from behind the city wall, as if to touch the port that had become ruins in front of her.

But just as her fingers "touched" the spire of the clock tower, she retracted her hand as if she had been stung.

Every brick and tile here was slowly built by her and her Chamber of Commerce, she personally designed, personally built, and personally formulated the policies.

Although the Megdi Chamber of Commerce took the opportunity to monopolize the stone industry, Catherine believed that this was a reward she deserved.

From the broken clock tower spire upwards, the bright moon shone on Catherine's face.

"July 7th, is it already the Flower Festival?"

July 7th happened to be the day the port area was completed, and it was also the traditional Flower Festival in Qianhe Valley.

Every year on July 7th, the people of Rapid Falls City would pick a lot of flowers and put them on their heads and houses.

Various guilds would also fund the construction of float parades, every tavern in the port area would discount beer by 30%, and would also launch rare locust flower wine, as well as fencing, boating, boxing, and beauty contests and other entertainment programs.

The Flower Festival was sometimes even more lively than the Holy Advent Festival, after all, there wouldn't be so many people running to the streets on the night of the Holy Advent Festival.

Even Catherine herself would sit on the Megdi Chamber of Commerce's float to distribute money on this festival.

Yes, Catherine said distribute money, she really distributed money.

Unlike other chambers of commerce who distributed copper coins, Catherine distributed dinars, scattering two or three hundred gold pounds in one night.

Therefore, in the annual float competition, after the voting of the audience and citizens present, the Megdi Chamber of Commerce successfully defended the championship for three consecutive years.

In fact, it should have been defending the championship for four consecutive years, but in the first session, the Brago Monastery float led by Juan Nuo appeared, and Catherine's dinars were eclipsed by the biscuits alone.

"The old man has been fighting with biscuits all his life, and he hasn't gotten tired of eating them for so many years."

Catherine put the biscuit from the box into her mouth, pursed her lips for a while, and suddenly took off her glasses and scratched the corner of her eye with her little finger.

In the past, when she couldn't sleep, she would go to her teacher, Juan Nuo.

No matter how late it was, her teacher Juan Nuo would get up, give her small biscuits to eat, and tell her stories.

Sometimes he told fairy tales, but more often he told stories that she could only understand now.

Stories adapted from real events.

Catherine couldn't help but tap the biscuit box lightly: "How could you think of telling such dark things to such a small child at the time?"

But at that time, those terrifying stories could put Catherine to sleep.

The biscuit with brown sugar flavor slowly melted in her mouth, and she gently stroked the biscuit box.

Even though Catherine was a thirty-year-old woman who hadn't married yet, she still maintained the habit of eating small biscuits whenever she suffered from insomnia.

"Teacher, I miss you."

Just as Catherine closed her eyes and indulged in the memories of the past, she smelled a strange smell in her nose.

Was something burning?

"Boom—"

The next second, a violent flash of light rose behind Catherine.

Although she didn't turn around, her eyes couldn't help but widen, and a terrible thought rose in her mind.

The huge sound was wrapped in hot wind, blowing her sleeves forward with a rustling sound, and grass and wood chips flew out from above and around her.

The four guards stepped forward together, using their bodies to block the aftermath of the explosion.

But Catherine pushed away the guards in front of her, put her arms in front of her face to block the hot wind, and stared blankly in that direction.

In the direction of the Red Dragon Breath warehouse in the city, clusters of fireballs exploded continuously, and flames sprayed out in all directions like fountains.

Buildings were set on fire, and people screamed and ran out of the houses.

Screams and dog barks followed, and the whole city was lit up by the flames, as if it were daytime.

After watching for a full five seconds, Catherine screamed in a broken voice she had never used before: "Red Dragon Breath, it's Red Dragon Breath!"

Before Catherine's scream could fade away, a nightmare-like horn sound came.

The reason for saying this was because the horn sound was coming from outside the city.

Under the bright moonlight and fire, thousands of infantry and knights pushed siege towers and carried long ladders, rushing towards the city wall.

On the towers of the city wall, bright lights rose one by one, and the sound of warning the enemy's attack was almost covered by the violent explosion.

In the shouts of the infantry captains, Catherine fell into an ice cave, unable to say a word.