volume 2 - Chapter 134 (1/2)

TL: I’m still recovering from the coughing virus. This is pretty much unedited so there are probably lots of mistakes. I’ll edit the recent chapters in a few days time.

TL: I’m also writing some codes to prepare for auto linkage currently.

Chapter 134 – Romaine’s second plan (2)

Brendel looked at the natives in Trentheim with furrowed brows. Lives had no value here. There were black markets behind dest.i.tute places like this, and the price of getting a goat was equivalent to the price of getting a slave boy. In some cases, a slave girl was even lower than that of livestock. The settings in the game was now applied in the real world.

Anyone who possessed enough power or authority would be able to trample on these citizens. Bandits raped and murdered people. Lords did the same deed. The only difference was where it was done; either it was done outside the city, or it was done within the city.

n.o.bles could afford to pay these evil lords a little money to perform wicked deeds, and the latter even encouraged them to do so, simply because gold coins were much cuter than people who needed money.

Brendel wondered if he should explain to Amandina in advance before she found out on her own.

But Amandina thought that Brendel was displeased with her, and though she still felt frustrated over the mercenaries, she lowered her head and replied: “…… I apologize, my lord! I should not have said that.”

Brendel waved his hand: “Miss Amandina, you’re mistaken. I’m not holding it against you at all.”

Amandina looked up, as if to confirm whether Brendel was telling the truth. She quickly lowered her head again and did not say anything else.

“We still need to head south a little more to reach our land.” Brendel continued as he looked to the south.

“Further south?” Amandina was completely stunned as she jerked her head back up: “If we leave Trentheim it would be wilderness—“

“Have you heard of a Pioneer Knight?”

“What—“

She blurted the word in spite of herself. She knew the term well. Young n.o.bles or knights who had no land to inherit, would receive the authority from the Holy Cathedral of Flames to develop new land for the kingdom. They would bring along a few of their squires and head to the wilderness and develop new cities.

These stories sounded like children’s bedtime stories. She did not expect the legends to happen directly to her. She panicked for a moment. Even though it sounded like a great adventure, it was incredibly dangerous. No one in Aouine had tried to develop new lands for over a century, and for a moment she thought Brendel was a madman.

But she quickly calmed down. When she compared the days in Bruglas where she was hounded for her father’s debt to Brendel’s journey, she saw a glimmer of hope.

[…… So what if it’s dangerous?]

She took a long look at Brendel. A Pioneer Knight. The t.i.tle sounded like the cla.s.sic heroes from the past who were full of eager to progress. Even though it was dangerous, there was an air of romance about it. No matter how she looked at him, be it bravery, wits and morals, he fulfilled her ideal standards completely.

He was even quite attractive when he dressed up as a n.o.ble.

[It’s a pity. He already has someone else.]

Amandina blinked rapidly as she found her heart beating a little faster, before she looked at Romaine beside her. After her actions of running in the dangerous battlefield twice, she was lectured by him for a long time and was currently kept in check.

Romaine was looking at something with interest and called out to him: “Hey Brendel, look over there—“

She seemed to have a magnetic pull to her; Brendel and the others looked over to where she pointed.

There were many travelers on the street that were not natives—

Because of Brendel’s action a month ago, the news of the Divine Artifact Resonance in Randner had circulated to various bars and inns in the kingdom. The bards were carrying this news further north, and adventurers who wanted to try their luck started appearing. Mercenaries, merchants and bounty hunters were other groups were like hyenas which had smelled the scent of blood, rus.h.i.+ng and gathering around the region.

n.o.bles who concerned themselves with Aouine’s brewing storm sent out their eyes and ears. Even the a.s.sociation of Stars and Moon, as well as the Black Tower sent out their scouts. Within half a month, the population of Princess Gryhpine’s territory actually doubled. If Trentheim was not under the threat of Madara’s army, the cities’ lords would have been delighted at receiving more taxes.

[The situation is becoming complicated.]

Brendel’s eyes swept across them. It was clear that he did not fit in with these adventurers because of his attire, and the adventurers did not fit in with the local natives. This scene looked as though an artist deliberately painted the social differences.