Following the road out of Pelican Town, you can see three people standing on the roadside in the distance.

One of them is Cream. He is different from when we met three days ago. He is wearing a more sophisticated leather armor suit. He even has a turban on his forehead. If you look closely, you can see that there is a piece of bread inside the turban. The iron piece is used as a forehead protector. However, the two daggers on the waist remain unchanged, and the scabbards feel very thick.

Ai Luo could tell at a glance that the other two people were not from the same group as Ji Lian.

The equipment they wear is not only compared with the two members of their own family, but even compared with Cream, it is obviously much better. They are fully armed with chainmail and covered with a layer of cowhide armor. They wear helmets on their heads and waists. The shoulder bag is full of various potions, just like an experienced adventurer!

However, judging from the carefully carved but meaningless patterns on the equipment, as well as the spotless and clean armor that can reflect the face of a person, he must be a city dweller who has been educated in adventure and knows how to make preparations, but does not have much experience. .

“The weather is nice today, it’s a good day for hiking!”

Ai Luo was the first to say hello. He quickened his pace and walked towards the three of them, especially the two tightly wrapped people. He saluted gracefully and said -

"The president of the Mermaid Song Guild, Aero Garcia, is at your service wholeheartedly. These are my two guild members, the warrior Brad. and the necromancer Coco."

The taller city man among the two looked Ai Luo up and down, and glanced at Cream impatiently: "Forget about this soldier, he looks pretty good. Why didn't you tell me that there are others? Will the little mage participate in this mission?"

Coco was stunned, and the hand holding the broken branch couldn't help but tremble.

Ji Lian laughed along and said: "A small place and a small guild really don't have many talents, so we can only make do with it."

The slightly short city man frowned and said: "I'll make do? Don't you know that women shouldn't do these vulgar jobs? Women should be refined and cultivated, and should stay at home peacefully and contentedly. Instead of joining any guilds , what risk are you taking? I can’t even imagine what it’s like for women to fight. If our country becomes a country that requires women to go to war, what will other countries think of us? How will we think of ourselves?”

Ji Lian continued to smile apologetically, but soon turned around and glared at Ai Luo fiercely, with a look of dissatisfaction that needless to say.

Ai Luo also smiled, but before he could speak, Coco behind him couldn't help but said: "What's wrong with girls? Girls can also fight! Girls can also do many things that you men can do!"

"Coco! Go behind."

Ai Luo immediately scolded his Necromancer, stepped forward and said with a smile: "I'm sorry, our small country guild is not very polite. But please believe in our professional standards. We will definitely complete this task successfully. of!"

The two city dwellers looked at each other and frowned, obviously still a little dissatisfied, but there was no good solution at the moment.

Since they agreed, the group of people adjusted their equipment and started walking towards the Eversleeping Mountains. The Mermaid Song Guild walked in front, and the three of them walked behind.

But even though they were far away, Ai Luo could still vaguely hear the mutterings of the two city dwellers.

"How can girls do as well as men? Girls should play with dolls at home. When they grow up, they just need to find a good family to marry. What kind of job will they do? I think we were cheated this time."

"Forget it, just calm down. This kind of border town has no culture and doesn't know how to treat ladies. It actually thinks that women can do the same things that men can do? I think this is the case with this guild. Let's investigate early.

Go back when you’re done.”

Ai Luo heard it very clearly. He turned his head and saw Coco holding a small branch next to him with a stubborn but unable to show off expression. He couldn't help but smile slightly and reached out to hold her hand.

"Brother President... do you... also think that I... can't do anything? But... I can obviously do it... Xiaobai and I can definitely show our combat power!"

"Yes, I believe it."

Ai Luo held her hand and walked all the way, the smile on his face showing his sincerity——

"Girls are no worse than boys. Let's show those city people this time how awesome our cocoa is!"

"Um!"

With Ai Luo's persuasion, the frustration on Coco's face finally relaxed.

————

The Everlasting Mountains are located northeast of Pelican Town. Although you can see them from a distance, it still takes a while to actually walk up.

A corner of this mountain is connected to the Shining Forest, but it is a little farther than the Shining Forest.

During this period of time in Pelican Town, Ai Luo also took advantage of the time when there was no mission to visit various places, not only to contact the residents of the town, but also to collect information about the Everlasting Mountains.

This mountain was an active volcano a long time ago, but it has not erupted for thousands of years and should have become an extinct volcano.

On the other side of the Evermian Mountains is an area called the "Land of the Abyss". There is no country in the Land of the Abyss, and there are no rich products. The mountains are barren, and animals and plants are very rare. From a distance, there is only a bare land.

Mountains made of rocks. Although there have been people who wanted to explore it, but every time the people who went to explore it either disappeared, or they said it was easy to get lost inside and there was really nothing there.

This is where the name Changmian comes from.

It is precisely for this reason that the Changmian Mountains have become the border of the Blue Bay Empire in the northwest region. However, since there are no other countries on the other side of this border, there is no need to garrison troops here.

Once upon a time, the Evermian Mountains seemed to have produced some iron ore, and Pelican Town and several surrounding small towns were established for this reason. However, as time went by, the iron ore was gradually exhausted.

The prosperity of the city has also gradually declined. Even Pelican Town, the largest of the surrounding small towns, has shrunk from a large city with a few thousand people to a small town with only four to five hundred people living now, and the young people in the town have also

It is gradually moving to big cities. If this shrinkage does not change, it is likely to continue in the future.

In the end, these small towns will gradually disappear as if they have completed their historical mission.

Ai Luo held a crutch in his hand and walked slowly up the rugged mountain road.

He looked at this mountain range that had prospered hundreds of years ago, and imagined that countless people had come and gone along these mountain roads in those years, and he couldn't help but feel a little sad.

Looking back again, I can see Pelican Town in the distance, and I can't help but sigh that the thing that can destroy a town most in the world is definitely not war, but the economy.

"What place do you two want to inspect? Do you want to go to the abyss? If you are free, I can take you two to see the scenery of the Evermian Mountains. It is absolutely unique!"

Arrow asked knowingly.

The tall city man waved his hand. He took out a blueprint from his arms, looked at it, then compared it with the surrounding terrain and said, "Go up to the top of the mountain first. There should be an abandoned mine nearby."

Ai Luo smiled and nodded: "Okay!"

Continuing up the winding mountain road, Airo thought he had reached the top when he climbed to the top of a mountain, but he didn't expect that there was a higher mountain behind, and he felt like he had no bottom at all.

Fortunately, the entrance and exit of the mine have not been completely buried due to the passage of time. When the sun was almost setting, a huge entrance to the mine finally appeared in front of everyone's eyes.

Brad carried the hammer, weighed his wooden shield, and prepared to go in.

But before he could take a step forward, Ji Lian stretched out his hand to stop him.

This arrogant young man lay down at the entrance of the mine and looked inside, then lit a torch and threw it inside.

The torch rolled inside a few times, revealing that there was a downhill road in the mine. However, after about fifty or sixty meters, it got stuck at a corner and could no longer see inside.

"Just rest here."

Cream clapped her hands, turned around and said——

"Mines that have been unoccupied for many years are easily occupied by some monsters. It is too dangerous to explore at night. Let's take a rest overnight and explore energetically tomorrow morning."

Although Ji Lian's clothes were not as good as those of the two city dwellers, Ai Luo could see that these two city dwellers quite listened to Ai Luo's words.

Now that they had decided, everyone found a sheltered place to camp in the mine outside, set up tents, set up a bonfire, and prepared dinner.

This process was quite busy, but I didn’t talk much.

Except for a group of people from the Mermaid Song Guild, there was almost no communication between everyone.

As the guild leader entrusted this time, Ai Luo looked at the fire, confirmed that the omnivorous porridge inside was cooked, raised his head and called everyone over for dinner.

Under the starry sky, the entire mine was as clear as if it were covered with a layer of white gauze. If you encounter a bard in such good weather, I'm afraid he will start playing.

Ai Luo filled a bowl of omnivorous porridge and handed it to two city residents. The two people were a little unhappy when they first saw it, but after taking a bite, they all raised their eyebrows.

“Dinner was good.”

The tall city man took another sip, scooped up a small piece of corn with a spoon and stuffed it into his mouth——

"This is a plus point for your guild. President, were you a kitchen apprentice before?"

Ai Luo happily served a bowl to Brad and Coco: "Where are you? I learned it by myself. As the saying goes, you have to eat a good dinner to be energetic the next day. Coco, let your little one

White Watch has no effect on your magic power, right?"

Coco took the bowl, couldn't wait to take a sip, licked her lips and responded: "No."

As he spoke, he waved the broken branch and recited a spell. The undead soldiers held rusty swords like the most loyal knights and stood guard outside the camp, alert to any monsters that might invade the camp.

It was probably the first time for the two city dwellers to see the Necromancer. They couldn't help but glance at the skeleton, and then looked at Coco. The contempt in their eyes finally faded a little.

After eating, the two city dwellers sat next to each other, picked up the drawings in their hands and began to communicate. Ai Luo ignored them and asked everyone to put away the dishes and then continued to teach his family members to read and write.

Ji Lian was watching the whole process with a smile on his face. He didn't know whether he was laughing at the Mermaid Song Guild for being a bunch of illiterate people. Or he was curious about this kind of guild.

Look at the time, it's almost ten o'clock.

The members yawned and returned to their tents to sleep. The two city dwellers also put away their drawings and started chatting about home affairs.

Ai Luo put away his paper and pen, looked at the two city dwellers, thought for a moment, and then wanted to walk over and talk.

"Hey, what's your profession? Warrior? Mage?"

Unfortunately, Ji Lian stood in front of Ai Luo "properly", holding a dog's tail grass in the corner of his mouth and said something contemptuously.

Ai Luo shrugged and said with a smile: "You have outsourced your work to us, do you still care about my ability? Let me guess how much money these two city dwellers paid in the beginning? Hmm...

One gold coin? Then, you gave us 5 silver coins."

William put his hands on his hips and looked happy. Just when Ai Luo thought he was going to take advantage of him, this guy suddenly came behind Ai Luo in a flash, leaned into his ear and whispered softly: "Two gold coins.

"

Cream's rapid movement really startled Ai Luo! He jumped forward, but this guy returned to his original position faster, as if he had never done anything, and continued to pose in that flowing posture.

s face.

"But you outsourcing guys are not that good. You have to break into the mine at night. If I don't watch, do you plan to spend the night there?"

Ai Luo had nothing to say about this. He looked back at the tent where Brad was sleeping and had no choice but to do so.

The guy sat down next to the bonfire again and stirred the fire with branches. He glanced at the city man sitting opposite, pulled Ai Luo and asked him to sit next to him, speaking in a voice that would not be heard by the other person.

Said: "Actually, I don't dislike girls working outside. We are all human beings. We all want to eat when we want to eat. Who stipulates that men can go out to make money, but women can't? You know that many times

In many jobs, women earn more!"

Ai Luo frowned and seemed a little resistant to this little gangster, but since he paid the money no matter what, he could only smile and said: "I didn't expect you to have such an idea?"

"Of course, not everyone in the city comes here with such fine clothes and fine food."

Ji Lian pointed to the city people over there and continued to smile -

"I'm not a young man like that. I know how to care about women. I always feel that I must protect my women and make them safe and sound, so that they can live comfortably without having to work."

"In the slum where I was born, both men and women had to struggle to survive. There was no concept that girls should just stay at home and wait for others to raise them. Besides, you can earn a lot of money as a kiln sister, and sometimes you can't.

It makes us men envious~~!”

I listened well at first, but then Ji Lian's words started to become frivolous.

Ai Luo frowned and began to consciously keep some distance from this guy. But Ji Lian continued to sit over unconsciously and said with a smile: "President, no, brother! A young man like you with oily hair and pink face should not be able to do this."

Have you experienced women? How about I take you to a big city next time? A handsome guy like you will be very popular with girls!"

Ai Luo stood up in a swish, still maintaining a polite smile on his face: "Thank you very much. It's not early now, so you should go to bed early."

With that said, Ai Luo walked towards his tent.

Cream's face was dark, and he couldn't help but snorted after seeing Ai Luo entering the tent: "Why are you pretending? Why are you pretending to be a rich young master who has never done anything before? I only support you because of your cleverness. Pretend!"

Fuck it."

Rubbing his feet, Cream also returned to his tent. After a while, Ai Luo poked his head out of the tent, and after confirming that Cream had not run out again, he breathed a sigh of relief.

"Huh... I thought I was wearing a gang."

Retracting the tent, Airl touched his hat to make sure it was still well covered.

Looking at the two city dwellers over there, he checked the time and he should still be able to go out and chat for a while.

But just when he was about to get out, the two city dwellers stood up from the campfire, as if they wanted to go back to the tent.

This made Airl a little disappointed and he could only shrink his head back.

"Almost all those who escaped from the mine went crazy and talked nonsense all day long. Do you think we are definitely well prepared this time?"

"Don't compare us with those miners and homeless people. Those people have never seen the world, and we are different. I'm more worried about the war on the border than this mine."

"Yes... the situation is not stable now. If a war really breaks out, even lunatics will be taken to the front line."

"Damn it, if all the troops hadn't been transferred, how could the investigation of this kind of mine be reduced to the point where we need to hire these unorganized adventurers?"

The words stopped abruptly, and Aiello leaned out of the tent again. The campfire was empty, except for the undead soldier who was waiting there dutifully, with a light blue light in his eyes watching the surroundings.
Chapter completed!