Part Two: The Human World Chapter Five: The First Day of Saving People
The royal capital is basically located in the center of the empire's territory. You can see the coast by riding a fast horse in the east and north directions for about two months. The south and southwest are a federation composed of several smaller countries.
To the west is the wild highland where orcs are infested.
To be precise, it is not the boundary of the empire, because the wild highlands do not belong to any country. No human has ever dared to settle in the wild highlands. Since ancient times, it has been a place where various dangerous sub-humans have appeared, including werewolves in the jungle.
There are lizardmen on the edge of the Lizard Swamp, and there are various ogre tribes scattered throughout the wilderness. It is said that there are huge and ferocious strange beasts and giant eagles in the high mountains deep to the north.
After crossing the wild highlands and continuing westward, you will reach several other countries. Imperial caravans have always had trade relations with these countries. Although the merchants have to hire a large number of mercenaries, less than half of the teams have become orcs.
In the past ten years, the imperial army has launched a large-scale campaign against the orcs, basically wiping out all the orcs in the wild highlands. The trade between the empire and the West has gradually flourished, even on the edge of the wild highlands.
Some small towns were built.
Bracada is such a town. At first, it was just a few inns and hotels. With the development of trade, more and more people gathered and gradually developed into a town. Chris's caravan was located nearby.
The place where the ransom was paid after being looted by the big-eared monsters is also nearby.
Asa traveled non-stop from the royal capital day and night to reach Brakada in just twenty days. This was where he and Xiaoyi landed after escaping from the Lizard Swamp half a year ago.
This is a young and somewhat rash town. All the buildings were built hastily in recent years. Most of them were small temporary hotels at first, and then they were quickly expanded and then expanded again because of the good business. Even at the beginning, they were
Even if the city is planned to be built on a larger scale, no effort will be put into the decoration. The residents here are all down-to-earth businessmen and blood-licking heroes. Therefore, the whole city looks very crude and shoddy, without any cultural temperament and temperament.
Reserved. But no one seems to care about it. The endless flow of people and noisy streets show the unique vitality here.
This city is centered on three industries. One is naturally a hotel for people to stay, the other is a mercenary tavern for caravans to recruit bodyguards, and the third is a favorite place for mercenaries and businessmen - brothels. It is said that it is for convenience
To manage the city, the local magistrate ordered all the hotels, taverns and brothels in the city to be integrated and operated. As a result, these three pillar industries were integrated into one, and the same style and rough appearance hotels could be seen everywhere in the town, and even the interiors were beautiful.
It's the same hodgepodge of merchants, prostitutes, and mercenaries, and it can be regarded as the unique and only folk culture of this emerging place.
Asa went directly to the city hall. As soon as he saw the magistrate, he took out the appointment document given to him by the Duke. During the more than ten days of journey, he found that this was the most useful way of speaking. At the beginning, he
He also went to the inn to explain to the officials that he was the Duke's special envoy. At first, the officials just looked at him with suspicion. Only when he showed the documents, those guys immediately helped him prepare his horse and take it out.
Dinner and wine.
The magistrate is still the same Lord Borugan who rescued them. Magistrate Borugan is only about 20 years old. Being able to become a magistrate at this age shows that he is quite capable. He looks stupid at first glance.
He is a short man, with a huge head on top of his short body, which is very similar to the figure of a puppet played by children. His face is like a big pie, with the same large and rude facial features, and his black and big eyes are straight.
He cast his eyes unhesitatingly on all things worth noting, and there was no trace of dull stupidity. His hair was as uneven as wearing a bird's nest, as if no amount of combing could suppress it.
In line with his rude appearance, he jumps up and down quickly in everything he does, more like a waiter in a low-end hotel than an official. The style of himself and the city he manages are exactly the same.
There is no etiquette and rules but shows the vitality of efficiency.
Despite his stupid appearance, he still remembered that Asa was the one who drifted here with the Duke's daughter half a year ago. He was surprised after seeing the Duke's document and knowing Asa's purpose.
, asked: "Is she the princess who was injured last time?"
"No, it's her sister."
Mr. Borugan said oh, he was still sitting on the chair that was a bit too big for him with his feet dangling in the air, and his broom-like eyebrows were twisted in the middle. "Mr. Special Envoy, I'm afraid this matter will be a problem in our place."
I can't help you much." His voice was a bit like a mixture of duck and goose. It was obviously very unpleasant but it still had to raise its voice occasionally in important places. "It seems like thieves from all over the world are gathering here, just this week alone.
There have been three or four such things." He looked very angry, and his stubby hands clattered on the desk. "Because of the war in the south, the troops originally stationed here were stationed here two years ago.
They have all been transferred. The local escort has begun to recruit a large number of new soldiers, but it is still not enough to maintain local security. I have also reported to the court to request some troops to be transferred from the south. I suggest that you wait for reinforcements to arrive.
"
"No need, I can handle this matter myself." It's best if others don't get involved. Asa always remembered what Bishop Ronis said about keeping a low profile. He only came to notify the magistrate because it was necessary.
He would first collect the ransom from the magistrate.
Lord Borugan jumped down from his chair and said to Asa: "You'd better not act rashly. Those big-eared monsters suddenly became violent for some reason. In the past, they just stole some small money, and some even
Do something legitimate. But I don’t know what happened recently. It’s not just robbery. They will also use knives if they encounter resistance. People are often killed and injured. You are not familiar with the place. If something goes wrong again, I will not be responsible.
rise."
Asa said: "You don't have to worry about this. I just hope you can tell me about the recent situation."
"Well..." Mr. Polugan started to walk around, his broomstick eyebrows on his forehead almost stood up, as if he was thinking hard. After walking for a while, he suddenly ran to
He looked around at the door of the room and then closed the door and walked to Asa. His height only reached Asa's chest. He looked up at Asa. He probably felt very stressed and pointed to the chair. "Mr. Special Envoy
, you sit down first.”.
Asa sat down on the chair, but he jumped up and sat on the table, a little taller than Asa. He looked down with his eyes as big and bulging as those of a cow and said: "Mr. Special Envoy, I will tell you the truth."
He said, I felt like I fell in love with you as soon as I saw you. You are not as annoying as the other officials sent to the royal capital. One look at you and I can tell that you are from a commoner and you have made it through your own efforts. So I think you have a certain mindset.
To be more open-minded, I will quietly discuss something with you. I don’t dare to talk nonsense about this matter with others. I am the local magistrate here and the people’s nanny. I cannot make random guesses and spread rumors. But this matter is indeed true.
It's very weird." Lord Polugan's face approached Asa, and the big mouth and upward-facing pig nostrils on it were menacing. "You know, our laws do not stipulate whether big-eared monsters are citizens of the empire, so generally they are
They won't be polite to them. Even if they are petty thefts, as soon as they hear the news that they have done any big bad things, the army will immediately kill their village and leave no one behind. So those green-skinned guys can be considered safe.
They usually don’t dare to mess around. But now they suddenly become so rampant..."
"You mean someone is backing them up?"
"No, there is someone." Mr. Borugan's eyes widened even more, as if he wanted to fly out of his eye sockets and knock the person opposite him to the ground. His face came closer, and his voice was as loud as possible.
The voice of a duck has never been so low. "In the past two months, there have been strange rumors. I heard that a large city is being built deep in the wild highlands, and it is also a city of beasts and humans.
I heard that there were werewolves, lizards, ogres and other kinds of orcs gathered there, and the big-eared monsters also planned to join this alliance of orcs. They had decided not to survive in the corner of human society anymore, so there was no such thing at all.
They were scrupulous, so they suddenly became so bold and wanted to make a big profit before leaving. By the way, I also heard that it seemed that they transported all the stolen goods and money deep into the wasteland."
After finishing speaking, he finally retracted his head, but suddenly sighed again. "I know this news is ridiculous, and even I don't believe it. At first, this news was spread through the gossip, but now it has become a bit of a storm.
Oh...Hey, why do you look so ugly?"
Asa coughed and readjusted his facial expression, as if he said casually: "There shouldn't be such a thing..."
"Whether there should be or not, but once it is, think about the weight of the information. I have also written to report the rumors here, but they were not reflected at all. I went there personally and inspected them from above.
Those officials said, instead they yelled at me whether there was something wrong with my head. I don't have enough manpower here to send people to explore the depths of the wasteland. Now I can only tell you the news. You can take the princess back.
Later, we will discuss with the Duke to see if we can send troops over..."
Suddenly there was a rapid knock on the door, and someone outside shouted: "Lord Borugan, it's bad, another caravan has been robbed."
Lord Borugan jumped off the table and cursed a common curse word used by street gangsters. He opened the door and turned to Asa and said, "I'm sorry, Sir Envoy, please help yourself. I'll go take care of it and come back." Then he followed the people outside.
Ran.
Asa sat there in a daze. The battle of the orcs he had seen half a year ago was probably true. If the big-eared monsters really transported all the goods there, if that book was unfortunately included in
In it...he began to pray that Chris would like the book so much that he would stuff it into his underwear to protect it when he was hijacked.
No, it's just an inconspicuous book. No one would think it would be worth much. The big-eared monster would never deliberately snatch this book away during the robbery. Maybe this book is still there.
With the people from that caravan, all he had to do was redeem Chris and go find someone to get it. Thinking about it this way, Asa felt much more relaxed.
But just thinking about it would never solve the problem. Asa decided to follow the map left by the big-eared monsters and go to the place where the ransom was paid to negotiate with them to see what the situation was like.