Work Prophet
Chapter 617 - 49 Fire Meteor

Chapter 617: Chapter 49 Fire Meteor

Jerome looked up at the two barbarians, "You are..."

"Red Beard," Red Beard answered, then pointed at the female barbarian beside him, "This is my sister, Iron Spear."

"Lover." Iron Spear corrected, "We are lovers, from the Mist Snake Tribe."

Jerome said impatiently, "I don’t care where you come from, whether you’re siblings or lovers, why are you deserters?"

"We’re not deserters, our tribe was plundered by those despicable imperial people, and we barely managed to escape, we’ve traveled day and night to come here for help, but you refuse to send troops to aid me and my people."

Red Beard said, "In that case, we do not want to stay here either."

"I’ve told you it’s not that I won’t help you, it’s just that we need a little more time to prepare. War is not an easy matter——there are many things to arrange in advance, but I can promise you, in the end, we will eliminate that Imperial Army."

"How long is ’in the end’?" Iron Spear said with a cold snort, "By that time, I fear our people will have long since starved to death."

Jerome looked at the female barbarian, sneered, and said, "Even if you two were to go back now, what could you do?"

"We may not be a match for those imperial people, but at least we can find some food for the remaining members of our tribe. I am the most skilled hunter in the Mist Snake Tribe, I have never returned empty-handed."

Jerome had reached the limit of his patience with these two barbarians who lacked any sense of the bigger picture and couldn’t be bothered to waste any more words on them. He waved his hand.

"If that’s the case then go ahead, but when the time comes to divide the land, your Mist Snake Tribe will just have to get less."

However, not long after Red Beard and Iron Spear had left, Jerome suddenly thought of something, called Aragon back, and asked.

"Those barbarians... have they been acting abnormally recently?"

"Abnormal?" Aragon was stunned for a moment, "They’ve indeed been quite restless lately, always clamoring for us to send troops quickly. But their den was raided by those imperial people, so their urgency seems reasonable, doesn’t it?"

Jerome nodded but his furrowed brows did not relax. He said to Aragon,

"Keep an eye on those barbarians, don’t let them get close to where we store our provisions. If you find anyone suspicious nearby, arrest them immediately."

"Do you think some of those barbarians might turn to the imperial people?" Aragon was somewhat incredulous, "Don’t they want to reclaim their ancestors’ land?"

"What good is land to a tribe that’s about to be wiped out?" Jerome said, "I’m worried that those despicable imperial people will use the lives of their tribesmen to threaten them."

"Then should we..." Aragon made a throat-cutting gesture.

Jerome shook his head, "This is Dragon Ridge Mountain Range, we still need them as guides. Just be careful, after all, it’s just speculation."

After instructing Aragon, Jerome stepped out of the tent, had someone bring him his Dwarf Warhorse, and made a round of inspection near the camp’s defenses to ensure there were no oversights. His slightly agitated heart then settled somewhat.

After dinner, Jerome had a couple of drinks of barley wine. By then, he was beginning to break a sweat and his limbs felt limber. Although he wanted to drink a third cup, reason told Jerome that it was time to stop.

So the Dwarf General reluctantly put down the wooden mug nearly as big as his face and, with the help of attendants, lay down on the fur blanket in the tent.

Thanks to the influence of alcohol, Jerome quickly fell asleep and even began to snore.

He did not know how long he had slept when he felt someone shaking his body in a groggy haze.

He also heard Aragon’s voice, "It’s bad, General, our granary is on fire!"

Jerome finally opened his eyes when he heard the last half of the sentence, sat up from the blanket, and asked his subordinates, "What did you just say caught fire?"

"Our granary!" Aragon said with urgency.

"Was it those savages who did it?" Jerome inquired.

"No, it wasn’t those savages. I had people watching them, making sure they couldn’t get close to the granary, but the granary still caught fire. It’s really strange."

Aragon paused, then added, "I asked the guards who were in charge of the forage, and some said they saw a Fire Meteor in the sky before the granary caught fire."

Jerome had heard of the infamous Fire Meteor and had even seen one streak across the Kingdom’s sky in his youth.

His treasured sword, Star Fire, was said to have been forged from a Fire Meteor.

But having lived nearly two hundred years, he had only seen that one Fire Meteor; to imagine a Fire Meteor landing squarely on a granary was too much of a coincidence.

Jerome’s intuition told him that things were not so simple, but he hadn’t had the time to ask Aragon more about that Fire Meteor.

Then he heard someone shouting outside the tent, "Watch out, the Fire Meteor is coming again!"

How could there be another one?!

Jerome was somewhat baffled; he hadn’t figured out what was going on with the first Fire Meteor, and now a second one had arrived.

This time, Jerome didn’t wait to be informed. He quickly grabbed a piece of clothing to drape over himself and strode out of the military tent.

He looked toward the direction where the flames erupted, and his expression turned ugly. If he remembered correctly, that place was also a granary.

Jerome, relying on cutting off supplies, had pushed two Imperial Army divisions into peril and also forced Marquis Kuren to his death. Of course, he also took the Army’s food security very seriously.

To prevent the burning of provisions, he had even spread the rations he carried to five different locations. Yet now, two of the granaries had already caught fire.

A foreboding feeling welled up in Jerome’s heart, and soon a third granary was ablaze.

Even if Jerome were slow to react, he now realized this wasn’t any Fire Meteor, but rather someone was deliberately setting fires.

However, when he called for the guards who were watching the granaries, those guards adamantly assured him that no suspicious individuals had approached there.

As they were talking, a fourth granary caught fire, and this time, someone managed to see the fleeting shadow in the sky, thanks to the blaze.

Was the threat coming from above?

Jerome summoned archers to defend the last granary while organizing people to extinguish the fire and salvage the food.

As they had just begun to get busy, a strange melody suddenly filled the air around them.

Then Jerome also saw sixteen Light Pillars suddenly appear out of thin air in the sky.

One of the Light Pillars, just by chance, landed right on top of his head.

It enveloped both him and his tent, and Jerome struggled to look up to see where the beam came from. However, his eyes were pierced by the sudden bright white light, making it difficult for him to keep them open.