Chapter 19 (1/2)

Translator: Nyoi_Bo_Studio  Editor: Nyoi_Bo_Studio

From Pyroxene Town to Dragon-roar Town, it was about ten days’ travel by foot. Adventurers, if riding horses, also needed around this much time. This was because the distance between every village where one could stay was equal to almost a one-day travel on foot. Unless one was not afraid to die near this dangerous barren mountain range or were indifferent to the strength of one’s horse and covered two days’ distance in one day, no one would travel any faster.

However, Sui Xiong and Gerrard were not in a hurry. Joining a group of dealers, they walked toward Dragon-roar Town as if they were roaming.

The evil dragon, known as the Arctic Tyrant, had wreaked havoc in the mountains near Dragon-roar Town for more than 50 years and seemed to be in no rush to move.

They had no need to worry; the key to fighting the evil dragon was the body of Sui Xiong, i.e., Oscar, His Majesty “vanity mask”. Now, Sui Xiong secluded himself in an underground cave near the Pyroxene Town, adjusting his body structure to better adapt to land-based actions. It was a lot of work to change his entire huge body, and it could not be completed so quickly. So even if they arrived in Dragon-roar Town early, they could only stay temporarily in the town to gather some information. It was impossible for Gerrard alone to challenge the evil dragon.

“Brother White, did you live in the mountains before? Was life in the mountains hard?” In a caravan with them, a boy around 12 years old curiously asked Gerrard about everything, which annoyed Gerrard a lot.

“… Life in the mountains was simple and boring. I have nothing more to say.”

“But…”

In order to facilitate the operation, Gerrard chose to go with the group of dealers, which was composed of caravans, so when danger came they could guard and help each other; when the danger was tremendous, it was easy to find scapegoats.

This large group was composed of seven or eight caravans, which all chose to follow the strongest caravan among them.

This caravan was called “Lucky Gold Coin”, with its president being a semi-pygmy called Soth. As a half-breed of pygmy and human, he was slightly shorter than average men. He had slightly reddish and rather tough skin, big eyes with night vision, a slender and agile body, and one or two heaven-sent spells made his experience as an adventurer run very smoothly. This was how he had saved a good fortune.Now that he was old, he no longer assumed the role of an adventurer, but formed a caravan and became a businessman.

Uncle Soth’s caravan was only comprised of his old acquaintances. What was interesting was that although this caravan was primarily doing business with humans, there was not even a single member in the caravan who was purely human; the boss was a semi-pygmy, the bodyguards were half-orcs, two business partners were a half-elf and a dwarf, and even employees were of different races or half-breeds. For example, the one who liked to talk with Gerrard, young mage Palin, who was an accountant, was a purebred dwarf.

In this world, there were many races of intelligent life. There were many whose body types were similar to those of humans. Pygmies, dwarves, elves, and orcs were relatively common.

Pygmies and dwarves were not tall; they were about 2/3 as tall as humans. However, no one would confuse the two because the pygmy was an agile and intellectual race, while the dwarf was a race of physical strength. The former was skinny and thin, with red skin, big eyes and long hands and feet. The latter was stout, with small eyes and bushy beards, and they spoke with a voice as loud as ordinary people’s shouting.

In general, pygmies and half-breed dwarves often chose to be mages or relied on innate abilities to become entertainers, or bards, or businessmen… Of course, they were often part-time pickpockets. The dwarves? Aside from fighters, they rarely engaged themselves in other occupations. There might also have been some dwarves working as miners, blacksmiths, winemakers, or chefs, but they must first be good fighters, with almost no exceptions.

The elves were a race that were about as tall as humans, but they were more slender. They were characterized by possessing a sophisticated spell, and natural affinity, so they were almost innately capable of casting magic. However, they couldn’t adapt themselves to living in an unnatural environment. If they could not live in a natural environment, they would gradually become weak and ill, and eventually, die.

For this reason, the elves, one of the most powerful races in this world, took the forests and wilderness as their own kingdom. In the course of mankind’s several great expansions, two races with an equally brilliant history and strong armed forces fought several times; elves and humans. Elves had conquered several races including dwarves and pygmies, while humans had chased off races such as orcs and murlocs. They bitterly fought to an extent comparable to Mars hitting the earth. But in the end, neither side could deal with the other side, so they had to compromise and seek coexistence and common development.

It had been almost five hundred years since the most recent major expansion. Except for those legendary long-lived strong men, those who participated in the war had long since been dead, and their hatred had gradually faded. Now the relationship between the elves and humans could be regarded as relatively good; the elves envied the versatile potential and vitality of the humans, while the humans envied the serene mind and genius of the elves. As things went on like this, there had been many children of mixed races, commonly known as half-elves.

As for the orcs, they were an unlucky and poor group. They had many origins, but they were continuously expelled because mankind had defeated them during the war. They lived together and finally formed a somewhat messy race. The orcs’ ancestors also had a good history of civilization, but the war with humans interrupted their civilizational process, drove them off from the land where their ancestors lived, and interrupted the passing of their civilization. They gradually became a symbol of barbarism and backwardness.

Sadly, most orcs had forgotten the honor of their own civilization and chose to accept the civilization of the human beings or elves. In today’s world, the traditional occupations of orcs, such as “wild warrior”, “fury warrior”, “experienced swordsman”, and “soul shaman”, had been fewer and fewer. Most qualified orcs chose to be soldiers, knight-errants, alchemists or priests.

Perhaps it was because the occupations were developed by human beings and elves that they were more powerful than the ancient occupations that the orcs inherited.

The half-orcs in the caravans came from a tribe called “Barbarian Stone”. The leader, Arhan, was a holy warrior. He was the kind of clergyman who had been baptized in a holy temple, inherited the heritage of the temple, and tended to use force rather than magic. The god that he worshipped was somewhat special; worshiped as “Steel Lion”, a god of desolation who had an orc origin that tended to be evil. But it achieved semi-independence from the orcs with a few subordinates and became a kind-hearted god.