Chapter 51: Uninvited guests from afar
In late autumn, the southwest border of the Bajas Empire, northeast of Kahn Village
On the Qazi Plain, where grasslands are the main terrain, a huge caravan with dozens of carriages is slowly moving forward in the autumn wind.
Each carriage in the caravan is loaded with large and small packages of heavy goods. There are adventurers on horseback or on foot around the caravan, holding various weapons to keep on guard. Whether he is a clerk from a trading company or an adventurer hired as a guard, they all look capable and good at fighting.
I remember someone once said that a person should experience two things in his life, a casual trip and a desperate love. But in fact, in the fantasy world of the cold weapon age, a quick trip can be called a great adventure, and the destination of the journey may be to the cemetery - or more Too bad, even the graveyard is saved, and it leads directly to the stomach of a certain monster.
If you want to go on a long journey in this vast and sparsely populated world, first of all, you must arm yourself well, otherwise you will just become a mobile wallet for bandits, or a mobile wallet for ogres and goblins in the wild. Wait for the evil race to add food. Even within the human kingdom, these dangerous elements are common, and in the border areas where countries have loose control, the security situation can only be described as completely disorderly.
Secondly, you need to prepare various tools for survival in the wild, and it is best to bring enough dry food. For the indigenous residents in this real world, they do not have the various bags equipped by players in the game. Everyone can bring The supplies are extremely limited, so you cannot stay in the wild for a long time; finally, you must bring enough money for travel, otherwise you may encounter the problem of "a penny can stump a hero" at a critical moment.
Of course, none of the above is actually the most important. The most important thing is a trustworthy partner. Therefore, adventurers traveling alone in this world can be said to be very rare. Most of them stay with passing caravans or find familiar friends. Travel with friends. For example, at this time, the young female magician Arshe, together with her three teammates, rode the carriage of the passing caravan and headed towards the destination of their trip.
Although they are not actually adventurers in the standard sense, but "black workers" who are far more notorious than adventurers...
——Arshay, whose full name is Arshay. Eve. Lil. Field, was once a noble lady of the Bajas Empire and the most outstanding genius student of the Imperial Academy of Magic. She mastered all commonly used magics from one to three levels at a very young age, and continued to sprint towards the pinnacle of magic. Even the most powerful magician in the empire, Fluda. The great sage Paladin also admired Arshay's magical talents.
However, her once bright future was suddenly interrupted - around the time when "Blood Emperor" Gilcunifor came to the throne, Arshay's family was unfortunately involved in a series of civil strife and political storms that broke out in the empire. Although he was not involved in the incident deeply, he was not jailed or exiled or his family was executed in the end. However, he was deprived of his noble title by the emperor, lost his fiefdom and annuity, and suddenly fell into the embarrassment of livelihood.
If that's all it is, it's not the most tragic thing. After all, as an excellent magician, even if he was unable to become an official due to political reasons and could only become an adventurer, Arshe could still receive a very generous salary. And she thought the same way when she first dropped out of the magic academy.
But the trouble is that although they have lost their title, have no income, and can only sit back and forth, Arshe's parents still spend a lot of money and spend a lot of money, and owe a lot of debts. However, he has no intention of making money to support the family, and just takes all the responsibility of repaying the debts. Passed on to my daughter. Therefore, the little income from being an adventurer is far from enough. Arshay can only bite the bullet and engage in "black work" that is more dangerous but also more lucrative.
The so-called "black workers" generally refer to the "dropout" group among adventurers, or the "free mercenaries" who broke away from the adventurer guild.
The adventurers in this world are not actually like the brave men in the "Dragon Quest" game. They are free to roam the world, defeat evil people, go to unknown ancient ruins and other secret places, and search for wealth, treasures and lost knowledge. Explorer. Instead, they are strictly constrained by the various systems of the Adventurer's Union, similar to dispatched employees in modern society. Generally speaking, registered legal adventurers must and can only accept missions and receive rewards from the Adventurers Guild, and will also be charged intermediary fees by the Guild. No matter what they do or what job they take, adventurers must record it in the union. If they act without authorization, evade agency fees, or conceal them, they will be severely punished.
Moreover, although the Adventurer's Guild is similar to the Mercenary Guild, it is not willing to take on all jobs. For example, in order to maintain its aloof position, the Adventurer Guild has always maintained absolute neutrality in wars and civil strife in various countries. Adventurers are not allowed to participate in coups, mutinies, and wars, nor are adventurers allowed to serve as spies for their employers to spy on hostile forces. information, and even reluctant adventurers to serve as bodyguards for nobles to avoid being involved in conflicts. In general, the basic idea of the Adventurer's Guild is to allow adventurers to become a mercenary group focused on defeating monsters and avoid getting involved in internal battles among humans. But the problem is, no matter how noble this idea is, as long as there are disputes between humans, there will be such market demand, and then supply will occur. In any case, there are people in any era who want to get more money and are willing to do dangerous work for generous rewards.
Therefore, many adventurers are tempted by money and refuse to be constrained by various complicated rules. Instead, they choose to leave the adventurer union and engage in various shady professions, becoming "black workers" - as long as the employer is willing to pay, Just do anything. To be honest, such violent gangs are probably just a thin line away from criminal groups. And there are indeed many "black workers" who eventually become big bandits, which makes the reputation of this industry even more infamous.
However, under the pressure of heavy debt, Arshe eventually embarked on the road of no return and became a black laborer. Later, Archie became even more desperate when she discovered that although she could make money as an illegal worker at an alarming rate, her parents were spending money at an even more alarming rate, and they always spent it on meaningless things! Every time she earned gold coins through life and death, her parents took them with ease and turned them into a pile of perfumes, fashions and works of art at an extremely fast speed. It seemed that they never thought that their daughter had sacrificed her life for the money. Even when the family had no money, their parents would borrow money from loan sharks everywhere without any hesitation. Naturally, the responsibility of repaying the principal with interest later fell on Arshe's young shoulders.
The worst thing was that her parents never notified Archie every time she borrowed money from usury, so she was not even mentally prepared.
It is often only after the debt collection thugs come to the door that Arshe will find out angrily what stupid things her vain parents have done! In fact, she had been chased by moneylenders' thugs several times, with nowhere to go, and she was only one step away from being sold to a brothel and nightclub - for the old madams in the flesh business, being able to launch a The noble female magician goes to bed to receive guests, which is an excellent gimmick.
But the parents didn't care what happened to their daughter Arshei, they just kept asking her for money, money, and money.
After doing this over and over again, Miss Archie's patience was worn out, no matter how gentle and filial her character was.
"...I have given so much money back and forth, and the grace of raising me has been repaid! I will never give money to my family again. When I get home, I will take my sisters out to live..." Sitting On the bumpy carriage, Miss Alshe was thinking this while holding her wand, while looking around at the three teammates around her: Captain Heklan, a young swordsman wearing full armor, Imina, the elf scout with pointed ears, and a bulky middle-aged man. The strong man Robatiku.
In her eyes, these teammates who have been with her through life and death many times seem to be more kind and humane than her indifferent and greedy parents.
"...Captain, how far are we from Kahn Village? When can we arrive?" Arshei sighed, turned to Heklan and asked.
"...Well, it's not far! We just crossed the border and we should arrive tomorrow at the latest!" Heklan said after taking stock of the environment.
"...We're almost there...I don't know the target our employer wants us to scout this time. What kind of person is the magician Ainz Ur-Gown in the Kingdom of Yestij? What kind of person is he?" Batiku muttered while drinking the wine from his water bag.
"...It's hard to say...but at the very least, he can be regarded as a heroic figure because he can seize a territory in such a catastrophic and chaotic world."
As the captain, Heklan curled his lips, "... Anyway, as long as we get there, won't everything be clear?"
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At the same time, in the opposite direction of Alshe and his party, that is, near the village of Kahn. In the northwest of the Yestije Kingdom, there was also a dusty convoy, which was trudging through the vast wilderness on the edge of the big forest, along the rugged and remote trails, all the way towards the village of Kahn.
Unlike the caravans from the Bajas Empire, this traveling caravan was smaller in size, but its vehicles, horses and clothing were more luxurious. At the head was a carriage specially designed for nobles, pulled by four pure-colored horses and moving forward slowly. The outer shell of the carriage is inlaid with gold and silver, which is extremely luxurious. Even the axles are decorated with elaborately carved family crests. The driver and retinue are also well-dressed. All these are to show off the wealth and wealth of the car owner.
And inside. Gazef, the strongest warrior commander in the Yestije Kingdom, followed behind on horseback, looking at the luxurious carriage with a gloomy expression.
——This is a team of envoys urgently dispatched by the kingdom's court. Their mission is to go to Carn Village to find Ainz, who is said to be powerful. Ur. He worshiped the magician, and then canonized him as a noble, and ordered him to send troops to serve the king and assist the king in wiping out the undead army that was ravaging the country.
It is said that they are assisting in the eradication, but in fact they are just putting money on their faces. Strictly speaking, they should be saving lives.
In the past six months, as the undead army has been raging everywhere, Li... The Kingdom of Yestije has shown a tendency of disintegration. Vast tracts of once densely populated and fertile territory are rapidly turning into lifeless death lands. Several counterattacks that the kingdom reluctantly organized ended in losing troops and generals. Nowadays, even the troops guarding the royal capital are stretched thin, the finances have completely collapsed, and everyone has a premonition that the situation is not good.
Although the local nobles and princes still control a lot of troops, no one is willing to hand over their private soldiers to the unified command of the king, and they just focus on guarding their own territory. Even the Adventurer's Guild, which had always been responsible for fighting monsters, gradually changed its initial positive attitude and was no longer willing to continue organizing adventures because the royal family's finances were gradually unable to bear the bounty expenses for slaying the undead and began to default on various employment fees. voluntary labor.
In desperation, the king, who was short of soldiers and money, had no choice but to take out a bunch of noble titles as rewards, woo and bribe various local powerful factions with humble backgrounds, as well as those well-known adventurers, hoping that they could organize The volunteer army came to save the country and help the country survive this crisis.
However, even this helpless approach to survival has been strongly opposed and obstructed by the domestic nobles - even now at this time of life and death, within the human camp, the contradictions between the royal family, nobles and adventurers are still rising. It still hasn't eased, but has intensified.
——The chain of contempt is a magical thing that surrounds us all the time, just like the American drama party on the modern Chinese Internet despises the Japanese drama party, and the science party despises the liberal arts party. Although there is indeed a certain reason for its existence, in reality After all, it is still a stupid performance.
It's a pity that human beings' stupidity never ends. Even if the world is changed, this stupid and corrupt thinking will still exist.
Today, here. The adventurers, traditional nobles and royalists of the Kingdom of Yestije are in a chain of contempt that is severely alienated.
The low-status soldiers and adventurers worked hard on the battlefield, but were not even guaranteed rations and military pay. Now they are full of resentment. They all cast their contemptuous and resentful eyes on the incompetent royal family hiding outside the battlefield. and stingy aristocrats.
The traditional self-centered aristocrats, on the one hand, despised and ridiculed the king for his incompetence in governing the country and his inability to defend the enemy. On the other hand, he turned a deaf ear to the royal edicts and was unwilling to devote a single soldier to defend the country, or even to take advantage of it. Give a piece of bread and a copper coin.
At the same time, although the nobles did not want to go to the battlefield, they were deeply resentful of the lowly adventurers who showed off their skills on the battlefield. They were angry to find that these untouchables had actually stolen their glory and limelight, and they wanted to kill them quickly, which would naturally make them more popular. I don't want to give them any rewards or rewards.
As for the weak royalists, they despised the "selfish and stingy" adventurers who refused to fight for free, and despised the nobles who were ignorant of loyalty. However, they really lacked strength and did not have a strong enough leader. Otherwise, they can only complain randomly in private.
For example, the recruitment and canonization of the "Great Mage Ainz" to serve the country was originally strongly advocated by Warrior Chief Gazef. He had followed Ainz and other visitors from other worlds to fight against the special forces of the Silian Theocracy, and he had seen to some extent how powerful Ainz was.
According to Gazef's idea, in order to bribe this powerful magician and his followers, he must recognize the territory he currently controls as a hereditary fiefdom, reward one or two manors and villas near the royal capital, and then give Ainz's honorary title such as "Chief Court Magician" is barely justified. The king, who was now eager to find a life-saving straw, readily agreed to the above request.
However, those nobles who had always been opposed for the sake of opposition immediately jumped in to disrupt the situation after learning about this. They made a fuss in the court and put pressure on the king in every possible way. In the end, they successfully changed the content of the reward and only gave it to Ainz. He was given the empty title of landless baron. As for the territory, manor, position and honorary titles, of course, he lost all of them. He also ordered Ainz to report to the royal capital within a month, and then quickly join the battlefield to serve!
Next, in order to prevent the successful recruitment of Ainz, this powerful magician was attracted by the king, which contributed to the popularity of the royalist party. The opposition nobles also instigated their own henchmen to steal the position of the canonized envoy... ...as if he was afraid that this matter could not be disturbed!
What's even worse is that in order to find a scapegoat to shirk responsibility after something went wrong, Warrior Captain Gazef had to accompany him as a deputy envoy!
Fortunately among the misfortunes, I didn't encounter an undead creature on my way here, even though I deliberately took a remote path. This can be called a rare piece of good luck. (In order to allow the refugees to escape into Karn Village, Ainz specifically ordered the undead army not to block the roads in this area.)
But the bigger problem is what to do after you actually get there and meet the Archmage Ainz with such a canonization document.
"...a group of idiots who only compete for power...trash! At this time when the country is in crisis, it is even more important to treat a powerful magician like Ainz Ooal Gown with utmost courtesy! No matter what happens, Generous reward, polite corporal It’s not an exaggeration! Those are the people who annihilated the elite special forces of the Silian Theocracy [Six Colors Sacred Scripture]! The country has been tortured to this point. Don’t you understand what should be done and what should not be done? ?”
Gazef muttered angrily, venting his dissatisfaction. Although he knew that his eloquence was limited, he still tried his best to describe Ainz's power in the court in an attempt to attract the attention of the nobles. However, the result was counterproductive, and instead aroused greater hostility and attacks from the nobles!
——There is no way, no one can wake up a group of guys who are deliberately pretending to sleep. Even if the end is approaching!
After venting like this, Gazef took a deep breath, reached out and rubbed his temples, trying to calm down.
Now that everything is a foregone conclusion, the only thing he can do is to find a way to solve the problem and try to change the situation.
"...The rewards and edicts have been made clear. As for the final result... I can only hope that His Excellency Ainz's temperament will be kind enough, and at the same time hope that the envoy's mind will not be too bad!" He glanced at the car again. Riding in the sergeant's luxurious carriage, Gazef smiled bitterly and thought without any expectations.
"...After all, Lord Ainz seems like a calm gentleman. If nothing too outrageous happens, I believe there won't be any big problems..."
——It is very regrettable that the simple-minded Warrior Commander Gazef seems to have seriously underestimated this "pig-like teammate" beside him... In short, amidst the different thoughts of the two groups, their respective places The motorcade gradually approached the village of Kahn, which had already changed its appearance...