Elric Blinkon quickly rallied and reorganized the surviving Blinkon warriors, leading them swiftly into Harroway Town without even having time to clear the corpses and equipment of their kin scattered across the ground.
Many warriors were now burned, and the thick smoke had significantly affected their health, urgently requiring treatment from a Maester. The nearest castle was the Lute Family's stone fort in Harroway Town.
However, Viscount Lute had already ordered the castle sealed. When the Brecken Family's troops arrived outside the stone fort, they were met with the Lute Family's drawn arrows.
"Lord Lute, I am Elric Blinkon, the nephew of Earl Blinken. I ask that you allow the castle's Maester to treat these injured soldiers or provide us with some medicine. My Blinken Family will be eternally grateful!"
Although Viscount Lute was advanced in years, he was still hale and hearty. He was an old knight who had experienced the bloody battles of Maegor's era. It was precisely because he steadfastly followed the Targaryen Royal Family then and rendered great service that the Lute Family earned the fief of Harroway Town.
The Lute Family was a staunch royalist. Naturally, he would not give any quarter to families who had wantonly started wars.
"Sir Elric, you should seek help elsewhere! King Jaehaerys has long since issued a royal decree that any lord who unilaterally starts a war is deemed a traitor. I am not attacking you out of consideration for both our families being Riverlands lords."
"Please leave my territory as soon as possible, otherwise, though my Lute Family is small, we will certainly show you what we are capable of!"
After speaking, he had the guards fire a wall of arrows in front of the stone fort, clearly stating his stance.
Elric, left with no choice, led his army into Harroway Town to seek help from the town's church monks. Besides Maesters serving in major castles, the church monks in larger towns also knew some medical arts.
After Elric retreated, Viscount Lute's eldest grandson asked his grandfather, puzzled,
"Grandfather, the Blinken Family is a top noble family of the Riverlands. Is it really wise to offend them like this?"
"Hmph, they are nothing but a group of pitiful scapegoats!"
Viscount Lute evidently had a clear understanding of the current situation.
"Decades of peace have probably made them forget the terror of the True Dragon. Since these fools have mistaken the Royal Family's benevolence for weakness, they should just wait to be made an example of!"
"The Blinken Family?! It's uncertain if they'll even exist after this turmoil, so why would I care about their attitude? Harroway, remember never to try and provoke the wrath of the True Dragon."
Due to the transcendent status of the Seven Gods Church, even in times of war, no one dared to make trouble for church monks. After all, the corpses on the battlefield still needed to be collected and buried by the Silent Sisters of the church, and the wounded also needed the monks' aid.
At this time, the monks and Silent Sisters in Harroway Town had actually already prepared to go to the battlefield. After all, it was currently a long summer, and if bodies were not dealt with promptly, it could easily lead to epidemics, potentially causing a great disaster.
Given the current medical conditions, there was nothing that could be done in the face of an epidemic. Westeros, with its tens of thousands of years of history, had not seen significant population growth because each time winter arrived, besides cold and hunger, it was also accompanied by epidemics like the Shivering Sickness.
This often caused the population, which had just managed to flourish, to plummet back to a population low point. This cycle, coupled with previous multi-nation conflicts, meant the total population of the Seven Kingdoms seemed to have remained largely unchanged.
Since the Aegon Conqueror's War, the unified monarchy and longer summers had caused the total population of Westeros to multiply several times over. Especially during the several decades of King Jaehaerys's reign, the population of various territories had reached new historical peaks.
The church in Harroway Town was quite large, with over ten monks serving there. However, the medical skills and medicines of the church monks were limited; all they could do was provide simple bandaging for the wounded.
Fortunately, the weather was not hot at the moment, otherwise, burns would be extremely prone to infection. In this era of extremely backward medical conditions, wound infection basically meant one's life was at risk.
However, soldiers with severe burns still developed high fevers, clearly a sign of infection already setting in.
Just as the bandaging work for the wounded had concluded, Earl Reyes and Earl Blinken's armies also arrived in Harroway Town.
Seeing the tragic state of his family's army, Earl Blinken's eyes instantly turned bloodshot,
"Damn weasels, damn stinking crows! My Blinken Family will make you pay, blood for blood, blood for blood~"
He immediately took four or five hundred family warriors who were not seriously injured, along with over a hundred elites from his side, and quickly pursued in the direction Marquis Frey and his forces had retreated.
Earl Reyes and Earl of Peake also quickly spurred their horses to follow. If Marquis Frey and his forces had just gone through a major battle, it was a good opportunity to eliminate them.
However, Marquis Frey and his forces had already left an hour ago, having retreated dozens of kilometers away. Moreover, the road from here to Starry Sept was complicated, so how could they catch up in such a short time?
Therefore, for speed, they decisively abandoned their baggage train, gathered the two hundred knights from several families, and rode in pursuit.
But their every move was under Dona's surveillance, and even so, it was almost dark, and they still hadn't found any trace of Marquis Frey and his forces.
After ambushing for an entire day on the other side of the river and riding for a whole afternoon, they were exhausted. So, they found a small village and decided to rest for the night.
This village was not large, with only a few dozen households. It belonged to the Lute Family. Although the Lute Family seemed insignificant now, being just a Baron family with only a dozen small villages as their territory,
during the reign of the Storm Kings in the Riverlands, Lady Jenny Lute had resisted the rule of the Durrandon Family and briefly became the Queen of the Trident River.
Earl Blinken tossed a silver moon to the village chief, saying in a condescending tone,
"I know there's nothing good in your poor, remote place, so take this and get more wine and meat. If those soldiers aren't fed, I can't guarantee we won't do anything out of line, can I?"
How dared the old village chief refute? He respectfully picked up the silver moon that Blinkon had thrown on the ground and went to arrange dinner for them.
In an unmanned corner, the old village chief sternly instructed his young grandson,
"Go quickly and tell every household to have their women and children hide in the cave. Also, tell them to bring their valuables from home, and don't light torches on the way. Make sure not to alarm these devils."
It is said that the Riverlands have good geographical conditions, making them suitable for farming and raising livestock. However, most of the produce from these farming households had already been handed over to the lord, leaving each family with just enough food to get by.
Moreover, they had endless tasks assigned by their lord throughout the year, and even in this peaceful and prosperous era, they merely had enough to eat and drink, just enough to satisfy their basic needs.
This group of several hundred people devoured almost all of their surplus in one meal.
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