Chapter 1,585 An unexpected reunion of old friends
When I left Granny Natalie's tailor shop, it was just noon. Because Mia's lunch had been prepared before leaving, Shade didn't have to rush back.
He still had a lot of things to do here, but considering that he was not particularly familiar with the entire area, Shade returned to the Green Lake Hotel to have lunch, then got on the carriage and planned to go to the Michaela Blast Furnace City in the south.
one look.
Although the two cities are located in different countries, due to the special nature of the times, it is actually quite easy to cross the border. After getting on the carriage, Shade chatted about the local customs with the coachman wearing a straw hat to block the sun, and then started from
He learned there that generally speaking, no inspection is required when traveling between the two places.
It's just that after it was determined that negotiations between the two countries would be held in the Green Lake area some time ago, outposts were established in the border area for inspection. But it is not difficult for locals to avoid it. This is a plain area, with Delrayon and Ca
There are no barbed wire fences or separation walls between Senrik and Senrik, and only the main roads have checkpoints. And if you are not afraid of trouble, you can even go back and forth by taking a boat across Green Lake.
After leaving the city limits, the carriage drove on the country roads. Because of the frequent communication between the two cities, the country roads were also well maintained, almost the same as those outside Tobesk.
Shade knew that the two cities were very close, but he didn't expect them to be so close. In fact, less than five minutes after leaving the city limits of Green Lake City, he could actually see the distant horizon of the south from the carriage window.
There are only tall chimneys spewing black smoke into the sky. Thousands of buildings are piled on the horizon. Just looking at the distant view of the city, you can feel the prosperity there.
"Sir, you see the air in Green Lake City is so bad, but we don't have that many steam plants here. Can you guess the reason?"
On the bumpy carriage, the driver also noticed Shade looking into the distance, so he asked him in a casual tone.
Shade said firmly:
"The industry in Green Lake City is not developed, so the pollution from Michaela Blast Furnace City has affected Green Lake City?"
"Yes, the south wind blows all year round in the Green Lake area, and the black smoke from the chimneys of the glass-making factories in the City of Glass will eventually come to us. So although there are not many factories in Green Lake City, like the City of Glass, there are always
It’s all foggy. I heard that Tobesk City is also foggy all year round. I don’t know if it’s the same as here.”
The coachman's voice came from the wind, and Shade continued to squint his eyes and look at the city in the distance in the south:
"Don't the locals have any objections to this? I heard people say that living in such fog is easy to cause lung disease."
"Of course there are opinions, and many people even want the City of Glass to compensate us for the cost of air pollution. Newspapers have talked about this matter many times, so even a coachman like me can say a few words. But this kind of thing is difficult to solve.
Who can tell clearly? There are valuable trade routes in the Pantanal that are worthy of negotiation by the kingdom, but what do we have here?"
The coachman said, Shade nodded, and just as he was about to say something else, the coachman reminded him again:
"Sir, I can only take you to the border checkpoint for a while, and then you have to get on the carriage on the other side to enter the city."
"Kingdom checkpoint, won't you be allowed to cross the border?"
"Of course not, but across the border is the territory of Mikaela Blast Furnace City. How can the local coachmen allow us northerners to make money on their land?"
The coachman said with a smile, swinging the reins to make the running horses go faster.
The so-called border checkpoint is run by the Delrayon Army. It is similar to the "Red Water Camp" that Shade saw on Sikal Mountain. The military camp is established near the border. Passengers passing through the checkpoint need to have their carry-on luggage checked.
, and register the reason for crossing the border.
If it is a carriage carrying goods, you will have to wait for a long time, but for pedestrians like Shade who don't even have luggage, they can just queue up and register.
The coachman took Shade to the entrance of the checkpoint and told him many ways to deal with the soldiers' difficulties. When Shade paid the fare, he also gave him an extra shilling. The coachman took off his hat and expressed his gratitude to Shade.
Shade planned to spend the whole afternoon in the City of Glass, and even thought about buying a few pieces of glass art to take home to his friends. So he did not observe the camp carefully, but went straight into the camp because it had rained a few days ago.
Went to the mud camp post and quickly found the place to queue up for registration.
Most of the people lining up here waiting to cross the border are nearby villagers, old women carrying baskets, peasant women with children, businessmen carrying backpacks, and even young travelers traveling together. Fortunately, although there are many people queuing up,
There were a lot of people, but the registration speed was very fast, so Xia De didn't have to worry about wasting too much time.
However, less than two minutes after he started queuing, he caught a very familiar figure at the edge of his field of vision. Shade was stunned for a moment:
"You read that right?"
【Is your friend.】
The stranger's face showed joy. He took the initiative to leave the team, waved his hand and shouted at the figure in the distance:
"Captain Rades!"
The middle-aged officer who was checking the handover status of the night patrol with his men turned around and was stunned when he saw Shade waving, but he immediately recognized Shade, who was disguised with witch eyeshadow:
"Hammy...Mr. Watson?!"
He said in surprise, and then walked over quickly with a smile, and held Shade's hand tightly. "Captain Eight Guns" Rades, on this ordinary early spring afternoon, once again
In a distant foreign land, I unexpectedly met Shade.
Relying on the border checkpoint and military camp, there are hotels and taverns in the "Crossroads Village" outside the camp, and it is very lively. The two friends met in this strange land, so they temporarily left the camp and came to the country tavern.
After pushing the door and entering the tavern, people automatically moved inward after seeing Captain Rades's attire. After sitting down, Shade asked:
"Captain Rades, I really didn't expect to meet you here. Is this the first time we have met since you left Tobesk with the 'Gold Star Medal' in January? Oh, you are not stationed in the Pantanal area.
, serve as camp commander?”
Shade asked curiously, quite happy to meet friends in a foreign country.
A fat woman wearing an apron and a headscarf walked through the noisy crowd and brought them beer in wooden glasses. Probably because of Captain Rades' uniform, she was quite polite to the two of them.
"Thank you, just leave it here. Oh, Mr. Watson, both Delrayon and Kasenlik are gathering troops towards the border now. We, the troops deployed in advance, need to rotate and let the elite troops enter the camp, so I will
Got transferred here."
Speaking of this matter, Captain Rades was still quite sad:
"I have been a battalion commander in the Pantanal for two months. Two weeks ago, I was transferred to Green Lake to be in charge of border registration. Although I have more things to manage, I have more people under my command.
There were more, but I became the deputy battalion commander of the camp."
"The negotiation between the two countries is a big deal. It may allow you to make great achievements like you did at Sikal Mountain, and then go further."
Shade comforted him.
"In my opinion, it's still possible in the explosive Pantanal, here..."
The captain sighed.
"Be careful what you say."
Shade reminded, the captain looked around cautiously, nodded, picked up the wine glass and took a sip:
"But there are advantages here. It's too humid over the Everglades, and there are so many bugs in the camp that it's scary. I've never seen so many bugs in my life. Although the air quality in the Green Lake area is not good, at least the camp is very safe.
It’s clean, and there’s a tavern next to the camp. In the swamp, if you want to have a drink, you have to say hello to the quartermaster in advance.”
There were quite a few guests in the tavern. The captain looked around again, then lowered his voice slightly:
"In my opinion, this negotiation is definitely not simple. I also have connections in the military, and many people believe that at least a small-scale contact war is necessary for the negotiation to be fruitful. However, it is unlikely that we will start a fight here, and the high probability is still
Pantanal.”
This reminded Shade again of the conversation he had with Lesia about negotiations and war:
"If we can avoid fighting, it's better to be peaceful."
"Yeah, I don't want to fight either, but it's hard to say what the big guys above are thinking. What we care about is our military pay and lives, while what they care about may be 'greater interests'."
The captain shook his head. He was not eager for war or pessimistic about the world, but based on experience, he felt that a fight was more likely.
Of course, while reminiscing about old times, Shade also did not forget to talk about his purpose of coming to the Green Lake area. Captain Rades vaguely knew that Shade was not an ordinary person, so he did not ask how Shade came here.
"I was entrusted by someone to come to the local area to investigate an ancient family. It was the Edwards family that once existed on the central island of Green Lake."
"I know this."
The captain pointed in the direction of Green Lake outside the window:
"After I was transferred, my superiors said a lot of things to note. One of them is that you are not allowed to board the central island of Green Lake under any circumstances. This sounds strange, because it is obviously a good water port, and it is
Recognized territory of Delarian."
Thinking of the horrific things that appeared in the Battle of Sikal Mountain, the captain withdrew his gaze from the window and cautiously asked his friend across the table:
"So, that island..."
"I haven't investigated yet, but it's certainly not safe."
Captain Rades nodded slowly:
"I understand when you put it like that. It seems that this world is more dangerous than I thought. Oh, were you queuing up to cross the border just now? I will give you a special pass in a while. You don't have to queue up for inspection in the future, just show the pass."