wandering fairy

"For a team like yours, if they want to spend the night here, they need at least 5 gold coins!" said the young sorcerer who was less than [-] years old, wearing a rose-red primary magic robe and a magic hat with a star and moon pattern on his head. That high-spirited, high-spirited demeanor is not at all like an ordinary junior mage.

While talking, he shook his head and let the tall pointed magic hat on his forehead dangle. At the same time, he deliberately waved the small magic wand in his hand to show his unique status as a mage, and then said: "It's not peaceful here. There are often jackal activities. If jackals come to harass at night, I, as the plenipotentiary agent of Baron Khalil, have the right to ask you to participate in the defense or pursuit. This is what our Principality of Hereford issued to deal with these robbers Decree! You should know this."

Pregg pretended to be listening carefully, and in his heart he had already scolded the hairless boy dozens of times: "You brat! If it wasn't for the sake of you being the baron's nephew, it would be up to you two You have a bad background in advanced arcane art, I have already hired someone to fix you! You even dangled a broken stick in front of me, do you think I don’t know that this is a magic wand with magic bullets? I sold it better than you You’ve used a lot of them! Hmph! Want to blackmail me with a wolf man? No way! Fortunately, I got some information from Tiwedes first, or I’ll really be blinded by you.”

With a smile all over his face, he folded his hands very respectfully and said, "Then our caravan will spend the night outside the city today."

The young mage's face froze, what's going on?This guy is not intimidated?Why do you still have the meaning of contradicting yourself?He frowned and said unhappily: "It's hard for us to guarantee your safety if you're outside!"

Praeg quickly interrupted: "My lord, I am a devout believer. I believe in the goddess of fortune, Timora. I firmly believe that no matter when and where, the goddess will never leave to protect me and my team. You know, God is worthy of our trust."

The young mage was a little annoyed, but could find no words to refute.He said loudly angrily: "But if you spend the night outside the city, we still have to bear the responsibility of protecting you, and because you are outside the city, we need to add extra manpower, so you have to pay a protection fee of 7 gold coins. A decree from the king!"

Praeg pretended to be shocked, and scolded this guy again in his heart.The Principality of Hereford issued a decree stating that the lords in the castle are obliged to assist merchants or allies outside the castle against robbers, but it did not mention whether there is a need for fees. Of course, basically all lords will add fees of.But it was the first time that Praeger had encountered such a non-existent threat to extort money like today.But then again, who knew that the "kind assistance" of those lords in the past must be true?

Plague knew that he would not be able to fight against this kind of "quasi-nobility", and it was inevitable to be slaughtered, so he said seriously: "A small team like ours can only do some small business, and business is not easy these days. , we don’t have enough spare money to bring with us. Let’s do it like this. Let’s prepay the protection fee of 3 gold coins. If the gnolls attack tonight and your soldiers help us drive them away, we will go back tomorrow Pay 4 gold coins." After speaking, he stared straight at the young mage.

The mage stared at Praeg too, annoyed.

I didn't move for a long time.

The atmosphere was a little tense.

"Is this how the protection fee is paid?" The young mage suppressed his anger and turned to ask the two soldiers beside him, "Have you seen this kind of payment before?" His tone became more and more severe.

The two soldiers immediately stood upright and replied in unison: "No! Your Excellency Grandmaster Grimm, we have never heard of this payment method!"

The mage nodded, seemed very satisfied with the words "Your Excellency, Master", turned around and said to Plague, "So if you leave the city, please pay 7 gold coins first!" He turned to him with a ferocious smile on his face The soldier next to him ordered: "Go, tell the soldiers guarding the gate my decision." After speaking, he looked at Plague with a stiff expression with a relaxed expression.

The soldier ran away, and Plague froze for a long time before finally giving in. He had seen many unreasonable nobles, and he knew when he should give in.Obviously, today's mage is sure of himself.

Immediately, a flattering smile appeared on his face, and he said to the young mage, "I think it's safer to live in the city, and you don't have to worry about us in the middle of the night." He took out a few gold coins , counted 5 very seriously, and slowly handed them to this young young mage named Grimm.

The mage and his guards left contentedly, and Praeg sighed, suddenly realizing that his life was so boring.Take a look at who you deal with every day - unreasonable robbers and nobles, powerful mages and rich men, difficult customers and competitors, um, and your unsatisfactory subordinates!

He glanced back at the guys hiding in the distance. They were so afraid of the nobles and officials that they were still far away. They all hid behind the carriage and tents and looked here.Seeing that timid look, Plague just felt that his face was completely thrown away by this group of trash!

As soon as I thought of this, I suddenly felt an unknown fire, thinking that I really want to take these guys to see the big scene. If this continues, the caravan will always be struggling on the edge of existence and extinction, and I will never become a real rich man. people!

"Tamora bless." He put his hands on his chest, muttering prayers to himself.

Yes, in this world, only Goddess Timora is his only support.

The cool night wind blew over the small tent of the caravan, making a whistling sound.

Preeg finished his prayers to the goddess Timora and emerged from his little tent.

Around the several bonfires lit by the caravan, the men under his command were gathered. They got some bad wine from the soldiers in the town, and played cards and made noise while drinking drunk.A few drunk guys fell asleep on the spot.

The cool wind was blowing on Plague's face, which made him feel a little sad: "Maybe I should be like them, finding something to anesthetize myself every day? At least I don't have to think about so many troublesome things." .” He looked up at the stars in the sky, and suddenly felt a lot of emotion in his heart.Yes, life is much better now than when I worked as a mercenary, but why do I always feel bound by something?Maybe in this world, except for those big nobles, rich people, and high-level mages who can freely choose their own lives, other people, including myself and my fellows, and even the little mage who has to be greedy for money, are all pawns of fate Different interests are bound by each other, but it is difficult to break free.

He was thinking wildly when he suddenly saw three people coming out of the baron's "little castle" on the opposite side. The people on both sides seemed to be guards, and the one in the middle seemed to be wearing a robe, but he couldn't see clearly under the dim light of the town.

"It can't be that mage is coming again!" Praeg panicked: "Isn't 5 gold coins enough? He still wants to knock me off? No, I have to find a place to hide."

He carefully hid behind a carriage, and quietly peeped through the gap.

Several people approached.

"It's not that mage." Plague breathed a sigh of relief, calming down in his heart.

The man in the middle didn't wear a magic hat. He only had short hair. He was tall, with broad shoulders and a thick chest. He had a strong and slender figure like a warrior. He was more than a head taller than the two guards around him.It's not comparable to that thin junior mage.But that person was also wearing a dark blue knee-length robe representing the identity of the caster. Simple green symbols were embroidered on the sleeves and hem of the robe. And these thick lines also emit a beautiful emerald green fluorescence, which is particularly eye-catching in the night.

The few of them got closer, and the face of the man in the middle was clearly revealed under the light of the flickering bonfire.

He has short black hair and a handsome face. He looks less than 30 years old, but his demeanor is quite mature. He seems to be a very stable person, which makes people feel at ease involuntarily.His eyes are a kind of translucent blue-green, like a crystal clear tropical ocean, hiding infinite vitality; what is especially memorable is that there is a crystal blue flame in the depths of the eyeballs, which seems to have a kind of kind light , and there seems to be a trace of majesty, which is very unusual.

On his feet, he wore high-quality black animal leather shoes.

When Plague saw the shoes, his heart suddenly lit up. This person might be a rich owner!The kind of warm and breathable shoes he wore were not available in this backcountry and could only be bought at a modest price in a moderate city.

When the three of them walked near the caravan station, the man in the middle suddenly looked into the caravan, as if he was interested in the goods here, and then they walked straight towards Plague.Plague immediately got out from behind the carriage and went up to meet him.He didn't want some drunk guys screwing over a potential deal.

Praeg opened his arms and greeted the three of them very generously, with a professional smile on his face: "Dear guest, what do you want to see? This is my caravan. If you like something , Just tell us. The goods here are all high-quality and cheap!” He turned and pointed to a wooden box and said, “This is the cheapest parchment on the market now, but don’t think it’s of poor quality. Spell scrolls made from this paper are as durable as any other paper. Its only downside is that it cannot withstand strong tearing, but who would tear their own scrolls? When you are going to fight in the field, you will definitely need some magic spells The scrolls are for emergencies, as your high-ranking position is definitely cheaper and safer to make scrolls yourself than to buy scrolls of unknown origin. And now you just have such an opportunity."

He guessed that the tall spellcaster in front of him might be the druid named "Donghezi" mentioned by Tiwedes, although he really wanted to use the honorary title exclusive to druids to get close, but this kind of The fringe occupations have long been lost in the history of human civilization on this continent.Plague himself hadn't read many books, and he was even less interested in history. Naturally, he couldn't know the history of druids.After holding back for a while, I had to use the most common phrase "Dear Guest" to address.

However, the information Tiwedes provided helped him a lot. At least he knew that the druid in the dark blue robe had relatively high-level spells, and that he might soon participate in a battle to wipe out the gnolls.And most druids like to work alone, they prefer to make the necessary magic items by themselves, instead of spending a lot of manpower, material resources and money to make a bunch of expensive and strange magic equipment to wear on the body.

The younger-looking druid smiled and replied in a very standard common language: "Oh, I just took a look. But can you open the box on that car and let me see what's inside?" He raised his hand and pointed to a large wooden box nailed to the side of a cart and said.

Plague's heart tightened. The wooden box happened to contain the statue of the Goddess of Pleasure that was obtained from the thief in Dika Loma City. At that time, that fellow Kokuta said that it was blessed with divine magic, and he was just a low-level Warrior, how can you see this thing.Moreover, these magical arts are generally relatively low-level things, far less valuable than the silver statue itself.

But druids know magic!Moreover, their abilities and spellcasting methods are somewhat similar to those of priests.

In the process of dealing with priests, Praeg learned that in the past, many priests despised druids, because druids did not believe in a certain god as firmly as priests, and their power came from nature rather than gods. .Although in some sporadic legends, most druids will choose to believe in a certain god, but even if they don't believe in any god, they can still get some priest-like abilities.For some narrow-minded priests, this is a complete insult to their faith. It is completely incomprehensible for a guy who is not firm or even does not believe in God to have similar abilities to himself!For this reason, some priests even gathered to persecute the druids in their jurisdiction.Fortunately, the current Druids have withdrawn from the stage of history, and they can only linger in a barbaric place beyond the reach of civilization, and the hostility of gods and priests towards them has also become indifferent.Otherwise, Praeg, who is a staunch believer in Lady Luck, might not be willing to deal with him yet!

Now, why does this druid have no reaction to the magic potion, parchment, spell ingredients, etc. next to him, but he has to look at this box as soon as he comes over?Could it be that he sensed the magic on the statue of the Goddess of Pleasure?But what would a guy who had to deal with wild animals and bushes want this for?

He muttered in his heart, but he quickly replied: "Yes, I'll have someone open it for you to see right away."

He yelled at some fellows, and opened the big wooden box with a hammer.

The druid seemed very anxious, and immediately stepped forward and quickly dug out a box from the box.

It was the locket containing the statue of Harzel, the goddess of pleasure!

Just as Praeg was about to speak, the young druid had already grabbed the small lock on the wooden box and pulled it a little harder.

With a "click", the small lock was easily torn off.

When Praeg saw it, he immediately frowned.His locks, hasps, and screws are all made of black iron, and the wooden box is made of birch wood as hard as copper and iron, which is quite strong.Preeg specially used it to store some valuables at zero time.It takes a lot of strength to tear off the entire lock, and fighters below level 7 can't do this at all!And this druid, a young spellcaster, did it like pulling a few pieces of parchment. This person is really not simple. Could it be that he also worked part-time as a warrior or other warrior profession?

The goddess of pleasure with two long and wide palms and exquisite shape is lying in the box in a charming posture. Under the moonlight, it is covered with a soft silver light from head to toe.However, the Druid had no interest in the beautiful scenery. Instead, he closed his eyes and lightly pressed his right hand on the statue, as if he was concentrating on sensing something.

Praeg was half excited and half nervous. Seeing the anxious look of the druid just now, he seemed to be very concerned about this statue. Will he buy it?If you buy it, should you raise the price a little bit?But will he be as unreasonable as the mage in front of him?However, I heard that whether it is a mage or a priest, as long as they have learned the third-level spells, they can be self-sufficient, and generally they will not be as greedy as that little mage.But it's not certain, a druid is not a priest after all, if he hangs around with wild beasts all day long, how can he get money?

He was thinking secretly, but the druid said in a serious tone: "I want this thing! How much is it?"

Praeg smiled and said casually, "25 gold coins."

The two middle-aged soldiers beside the druid were stunned.

25 gold coins!It is enough for a farmer to spend for three or four years!

The unshaven soldier on the left immediately whispered in Druid's ear, probably telling him that this thing is not worth so much money.

The druid didn't speak after listening, he waved his hand to signal for everyone to be quiet.Then he closed his eyes again, and pressed his hand on the statue to sense something.

Plague felt a little nervous, he hated seeing a spell caster make a deep look in front of him, usually this was casting some kind of spell or communicating with the gods.Praeg, who was born as a warrior, instinctively rejected such strange and incomprehensible things, except of course the priest of Lady Luck.

After a long while, the druid opened his eyes and said, "No! This thing is not worth that money! I can offer up to 10 gold coins."

Praeg’s smile was still kind, and he pretended to be relaxed and said, “How is that possible? I bought this thing for 8 gold coins, and brought it here from such a far away place. And the risk is great. At least a gold coin is needed!"

The druid shook his head and said: "Don't lie to me, you can buy this thing for no more than 5 gold coins, and it is very reasonable for me to give you 10. I don't like people always lying to me." His eyes He also became stern, and continued: "And if you don't sell it to me, if you continue to carry this thing yourself, then the risk of losing it will be even greater." As he spoke, he motioned for Plague to look at the few people around him. dude.

Plague felt a chill rushing up his spine, this hateful caster must have used some prophecy just now!And this is not something he can contend with.If the other party is a businessman, Praeg can still think that the other party is pretending to test him, but the other party is a spellcaster, a person with strange abilities.There is no benefit in standing in front of this kind of person.What's worse is that the eyes of a few guys around have revealed a look of greed, probably really thinking that this statue is worth 25 gold coins.Now they know that with such a valuable thing, they can't afford to steal their hearts.

He smiled awkwardly, and immediately apologized: "Hehe, it is indeed as you said. I sold this statue for 10 gold coins. By the way, do you need anything else?"