Chapter 201: Act 134 – Romaine’s Second Plan (Part 2)
“Ken spoke to me?” he asked.
As for Antinna’s question—Brendel glanced at the local people, looking like refugees, and felt unsurprised. Here, even life itself was something fragile and valueless. Antinna probably never thought that in certain places, you could exchange the price of a sheep for a boy, and if it was a girl, the price would be even lower.
With a little power or strength, one could trample on the existence of others. Robbers and lords were killing people; the difference was that one was outside the city, and the other was inside. Even if you killed someone in the street, all you needed to do was pay a small sum to the local lord to settle it—and in a darker sense, perhaps he might even want you to kill a few more.
For some lords, real gold coins were much more lovable than those who needed to be fed at a cost.
Antinna was slightly taken aback.
She thought that Brendel was dissatisfied with her earlier behavior. Although feeling a bit wronged, she lowered her head and replied, “…I’m sorry! My lord, I was too willful.”
Brendel shrugged: “You’ve misunderstood; I’ve never blamed you, Miss Antinna.”
The noble lady raised her head to look at him as if confirming the truth of his words. But then she lowered her head again, falling silent.
“Our territory is further South,” Brendel replied.
“South?”
Antinna was truly stunned: “Leaving Toniger would mean entering the wilderness.”
“Have you heard of the Pioneer Knights, Antinna?” Brendel asked.
“Ah—”
The noble lady could not help but exclaim; of course she knew about them. Those young nobles without territorial inheritance, knights who received the right to expand the kingdom from the Temple of Fire, venturing into the wilderness with a few followers to carve out new lands, sounded like something out of the fairy tales from her childhood. But she never thought such legends would happen to her. She felt a moment of panic; after all, expanding territory in the wilderness sounded beautiful, but in reality, it was an extremely dangerous task. Such thankless endeavors had not been pursued in Erluin for one or two hundred years, which made this moment sound even more like a tale of wonder.
However, she quickly calmed down; what was danger compared to living in Brendel’s old, dilapidated residence in Bruglas, leading a life much like these people, seeing no light ahead? At least there was a glimmer of hope. Thinking this, she involuntarily looked at Brendel again—Pioneer Knights, this title in Erluin sounded like those classical heroes, filled with a spirit of adventure. Although dangerous, it was romantic, and moreover, in every aspect, this lord met her standards perfectly.
It’s a pity he already has someone he loves.
Antinna lowered her eyelashes, feeling a bit moved.
She glanced at Romaine next to her; this business lady, having been thoroughly educated by Brendel after two encounters in a dangerous battlefield, was currently behaving rather well. However, her attention was now clearly drawn to another direction, and she cheerfully said to a young man nearby, “Brendel, look over there—”
This young lady seemed to have a natural ability to attract others’ attention, causing Antinna and Brendel to turn in unison to look where she pointed.
The street was filled with many incoming travelers, just like them—
In fact, ever since Brendel caused the shocking artifact reaction last month, rumors had spread in bars and inns everywhere that Count Rendener had an artifact. Bards carrying this news headed north, and adventurous souls flooded in. Mercenaries, explorers, not to mention the bounty hunters who came running at the scent of opportunity, appeared like hyenas or sharks drawn by blood, already packing their gear and gathering here.
Even the Star and Moon Council and Black Tower Wizards had sent scouts. Although the nobles were enthusiastic about the impending storm in Erluin, they had all sent their own spies, causing Rendener to suddenly become a focal point of chaos ahead of Graf (the territory of the regent princess).
In just half a month, the transient population in this area had at least doubled. This was still considering the ever-looming threat of war in Toniger; otherwise, this would definitely be an adventurer’s paradise. If it were a more peaceful time, the local lord would undoubtedly be overjoyed.
However, the situation had become slightly more complex.
Brendel’s gaze swept over these people—just as his noble identity was distinct from them. These adventurers were also at odds with the local people; they stood in the middle of the street as if three entirely different worlds coexisted.
That feeling was like three different types of people painted in completely different styles on the same canvas, distinct in motion and stillness.
Adventurers and locals were indifferent to one another; locals were unwilling to provoke these lawless individuals—at least for the vast majority of them. However, the group Romaine pointed out was an exception.
In Brendel’s sight, a small group of adventurers was distributing food to some skinny local children. This scene even gave him an illusion of time flowing backward, as if he had returned to the world of “Amber Sword,” where players with excessive sympathy did the same. However, he quickly shook his head to dispel this unrealistic fantasy; although most adventurers were profit-driven, some young people ventured out solely for their dreams.
Just like the four men and two women he was seeing before him.
“Truly young people,” Brendel couldn’t help but think. Adventure was not quite the romantic, sword-clashing life mentioned in bedtime stories, though it certainly wasn’t untrue that there were grim battles. However, the life of an adventurer was harsh and bloody; they had to frequently venture into dangerous areas, just like mercenaries, facing separation and death regularly, and compared to the risks, the rewards were pitiably low. While there were those who became wealthy overnight, the majority ultimately turned into piles of bones in some unremarkable location.
Because of this, most adventurers had to become practical and profit-driven. Only young people would act with impractical ideals. Brendel could even speculate that these young people might not have traveled for very long.
Or perhaps they were just rich merchants or nobles.
But he turned back to ask, “What are you looking at?”
Then he saw Romaine’s beautiful, deep-brown jewel-like eyes turning, as if a creative idea had sprung to life, and felt a bit alarmed, “What are you planning?” Brendel asked warily, as Romaine’s outlandish ideas had left him on edge more than once.
“Just this,” Romaine replied as if it were obvious.
“Romaine, we don’t have much food left,” Antinna said softly, as if understanding her idea instantaneously, “With so many of us and our horses, the consumption is considerable. If we buy that much food locally, we have to deal with the local lord. Have you forgotten what happened last time?”
The noble lady was referring to the incident not long ago when they passed through a small noble’s territory; Brendel had gone to procure food, and the lord had taken a fancy to Xi, sending private guards to capture her that night. Although more than thirty black-iron level private guards were somewhat overconfident before Brendel, and the final result was them being beaten into a shambles by the young people, the incident sent out a warning to everyone.
Although the kingdom had not yet collapsed, local lords had already become unrestrained.
Hearing Antinna say this, Brendel couldn’t help but look at the girl with a touch of appreciation. He thought to himself that the last time had fortunately been an insignificant little noble, but this time, they would be facing Baron Grudin. This guy, though inconsequential in Erluin’s history, had a father, Count Rendener, who was no ordinary person. If he brought people over today, tomorrow they would probably be in a chase by the count’s army.
He even doubted that the forces of the Grand Duke of Luun could come and go freely in Count Rendener’s territory; perhaps the royal princess had reached some kind of agreement with this lord. At the very least, a covert alliance would not be absent. Of course, he would eventually have to deal with these vampires one by one, but that would have to wait until he had developed enough strength to have substantial speaking power. Though it might not sound good, one had to admit that strength was still one of the most important rules in this world for now.
Unexpectedly, after Romaine heard Antinna’s words, she shook her head happily, saying mysteriously, “Brendel, Antinna, haven’t you noticed?”
“Noticed what?”
“The way to do business—”
“Huh?”
Brendel couldn’t help but touch the flat, jade-like forehead of the girl, wondering if she was running a fever. The younger sister among the wild elfin elementalist sisters widened her eyes in curiosity and asked, “In our hometown, there’s a saying, ‘Merchants do not walk with the poor’—Miss Romaine, does such a barren place really hold any business opportunities?”
“Tiya!” her sister Flore glared at her sternly.
The elfin girl, frightened, stuck out her tongue, swallowing the rest of her sentence.
However, Romaine didn’t care about the little girl’s rebuttal, replying with conviction, “But that’s what I’m saying! Aunt said, where there is exchange, there are merchants.”
“That might be true,” Antinna shook her head, knowing that Tiya was not wrong. This place was not only poor, but also backward and isolated, lacking any special products; among various territories, there wasn’t even a single road for carts to pass through. Commercial activities were just a very distant concept: “But here, there’s even a lack of necessary conditions for exchange…”
“Is that so? But isn’t that an exchange?” The business lady looked at the group of young adventurers, intrigued, and countered. (To be continued. To know what happens next, please visit the website for more chapters to support the author and read the official version!)
