Chapter 282 A Large Reward in the Name of the Cat

As for the problem of insufficient manpower, Hastur could only ask Caius to recruit a group of people to help.

As for whether Caius would let the members of the Yellow Monk come to work, Hastur let him do it, and just needed to get the job done.

Three days later, Hastur received a reply from Sharon, in which she mentioned that she was safe now and was gathering members of the Temperance Faction in a city not far from Bethlin City, as well as what she had experienced during this period, and finally mentioned that she missed Azshara very much.

The people recruited by Caius had arrived, a total of 20 people, six of whom were members of the Yellow Monk. Caius did not hide anything about this.

With the manpower, Hastur contacted Mayor Ron and stated that starting from the next quarter, his territory would be completely autonomous, and the recruited people would be sent to learn how to manage the internal affairs of the territory.

After temporarily solving these trivial matters, Hastur had the leisure time to think about how to digest the Corrupted Baron potion.

During the time in Backlund, he tried to speed up the digestion of the potion through a corrupt and luxurious life, but the effect was average and not very good.

But at that time, he needed to pay attention to his reputation in Backlund. Now that he had come to his own territory and solved some troublesome things, he should speed up the absorption of the potion.

Corruption, mostly refers to the corruption and degeneration in thought and life, which is a negative example of being proactive and enterprising.

For example, greed for pleasure, degeneration and ignoring business.

But in essence, it is more like a class privilege. Only those with power can use the word corruption. If it is an ordinary poor person, it can only be lazy and unenterprising.

Only those who control certain social resources and status will have the label of corruption.

Corrupting and ruining existing things can also be extended to order and other aspects.

Eroding the existing stable order should also be a way to play the role of a corrupt baron.

The process of corruption does not necessarily have to happen to oneself, but can also lead others to degenerate and become completely corrupt.

For example, a cat that was originally lively and active can be guided step by step into a lazy and corrupt creature.

Hastur carefully summarized the key points of the role, and consciously glanced at Azshara who was already lying on the ground, hugging a dried fish to rest.

Even though it had closed its eyes to rest, it would lick the dried fish happily every once in a while.

Azshara no longer needed his guidance, and it had gradually fallen.

Hasta sighed about this, and felt that his master was still too good to it, and he needed to find something for it to do.

"Meow?!"

Feeling the chill of the inexplicable gaze, Azshara shuddered and woke up, looking around, and met Hasta's gaze. It meowed again, then came to Hasta's feet and lay quietly.

"Tsk, you haven't learned anything else, but you are quite skilled in pretending to be pitiful."

Hasta chuckled and shook his head, and then came up with a good idea.

The next day, Caius sent a group of people to various villages and towns in the territory to post bounty notices.

The content of the notice is as follows: The new lord, Earl Campbell, has a kitten from Backlund at home. The kitten is very much loved by the Earl. Recently, due to the unfamiliar climate, he is depressed and has a poor appetite. The Earl is worried about this and has posted a notice to offer a reward of 1,000 gold pounds for a solution.

At this time, Azshara had just finished eating three dried fish and was lying on the windowsill in the sun. She closed her eyes comfortably and made a happy and comfortable meow.

This bounty notice quickly spread throughout Hastur's territory. 1,000 gold pounds is an astronomical figure that many people dare not even think about. As long as they can get the bounty, they will have no worries about food and clothing for the rest of their lives.

Many people signed up enthusiastically, and some people sighed in their hearts that human life is not as valuable as a cat. If there is a next life, they would choose to be a cat to avoid suffering in the world again.

There were also some who sneered at this, making disdainful sneers and spitting on the new lord's extravagance and waste. How many people can be fed with 1,000 gold pounds, but it is spent on a cat!

People in nearby territories also heard the news and rushed over to join in the fun. In a few days, it spread to most of Southwell County.

The Grand Duke of Southwell was in his luxurious villa, listening to his men reporting to him the latest situation of Earl Hasta Campbell.

"A reward of 1,000 gold pounds for a cat is really rich."

The Grand Duke of Southwell smiled contemptuously. His wealth was far greater than Hasta's, but his money came in easily but was difficult to go out. This 1,000 was enough to buy a dozen high-quality girls.

"Send a few people to join in the fun, and keep an eye on his every move."

"Yes, I'll arrange it right away."

After the people left, the Grand Duke of Southwell put away the contempt on his face and turned solemn.

Backlund sent someone to remind him that the young Earl Hasta Campbell was not simple, and told him not to capsize in the gutter, and even asked him to give up some of his interests at a critical moment.

He didn't care much at first, until Derby Augustus ran back to Backlund in disgrace after just a few days, and then he paid attention to the young earl.

Duke Nanwell thought for a while, sent someone to send the sisters to Hasta, and at the same time placed them there to monitor every move.

...

In the small town of Moira, the arrival of spring has brought the breath of revival of all things, and also made this usually quiet town begin to bustle.

The Grain Festival on February 15th is the most lively festival here every year.

On this day every year, residents in the town and farmers in nearby villages will gather together to start offering sacrifices for this year's harvest.

The harvest god they believe in is not the goddess of the earth, but the grain god with a long history, also known as the goddess of spring breathing.

It is said that this god was originally just an ordinary girl. Four or five hundred years ago, or even earlier, this girl changed the way of farming here, and finally used her life to bless all the crops nearby to have a bumper harvest every year.

As for the cause of the girl's death and the process of being canonized as a god, not many people know.

Only the priests who have been passed down from generation to generation can know the whole story of history. Some people say that the history of the town has been broken and the history is not complete. Even the priests responsible for holding the Grain Festival are not clear about what the original history was.

But there is one thing they are extremely sure of, that offering sacrifices to the goddess of spring breathing can really bring a good harvest to crops.

This is a real event that can be verified in history. The most recent one happened twenty years ago. At that time, South Wales encountered a rare drought. Many areas had poor crops and people were starving to death. Only in the area near their town, crops continued to grow tenaciously and finally produced abundant fruits, allowing them to safely survive this crisis.

As for why the coastal areas experienced a rare drought, no one knew.

It is only known that the survivors respected the goddess of spring breathing more and held sacrifices every year to pray for a good harvest.

Even if the new lord offered a reward of 1,000 gold pounds this time, the people here still prioritized holding the Grain Festival.

Out of interest and curiosity, Hasta came to the town one night in advance.

He lived in seclusion, and the residents here did not know that he was the new lord who offered a large reward.

Hasta spent three times more than usual to successfully book a room in the hotel.

During the day, the streets here have been decorated with various decorations, most of which are in the shape of crops.

For example, pumpkin lanterns, rice ears, corn stalks, various vegetables carved from stones, etc.

Many people were wearing green clothes with patterns of various crops embroidered on them. Some people even walked around with a basket of vegetables in their arms, and some even performed eating raw vegetables on the street.

The Grain Festival was held in the central square of the town, where the outer perimeter had been covered with red cloth. No one except relevant personnel was allowed to enter.

This was the statue of the goddess of spring breathing.

Hasta was most puzzled by this. If the goddess of spring breathing was so important here, why was there no statue of her on weekdays, but only started to carve it again before the festival?

And why was it destroyed immediately after the festival?

These were all what Hasta heard from people nearby. Some residents who had held the Grain Festival five or six times still did not know the true face of the goddess of spring breathing.

At night, Hasta hid his body, slipped into the central square, lifted the red cloth, and took a look.

Unfortunately, the limbs and body of this one-story-high goddess statue had been carved, and only the face and facial features had not been carved.

A faceless goddess statue.

In the mysterious world, it is normal not to know the specific appearance of the gods.

But Hasta felt that it was a bit strange, but he did not make it public, and left secretly and returned to his room.

Late at night, around two o'clock, there were more people holding torches on the street. They began to dance the sacrificial dance around the statue wrapped in red cloth.

The female priest in the lead was dressed in fancy clothes, with three rice ears on her head, a dried straw skirt around her waist, and a bunch of vegetables and fruits hanging around her neck.

When she led the dance, the various crops on her body also swayed, matching the rhythm, and it was a bit pleasing to the eye.

Like Hasta, there were many people who opened the window to enjoy the excitement. They came here from the neighboring villages and towns to join in the fun.

When the two-hour dance ended, the sky had gradually brightened, and it was only more than an hour before dawn.

The leading priest asked five pairs of couples wearing flower wedding dresses to enter the red cloth, and all the people outside began to dance again.

Their speed was much slower than at the beginning, and the red cloth vaguely revealed the status of five couples.

They were performing the ancient and primitive art of reproduction that had been passed down from generation to generation in front of the statue.