Chapter 198 Feralas' Journey (1)
On the endless grassland, a primitive dirt road extends from the front of you to the end of your sight. There are deep grooves on the road, which are traces left by caravans and carriages during day-to-day trading activities.
Ranger—Felas sat on the crunching carriage, bent his waist, rested his arms on his knees, and held unknown weeds pulled from the grassland in his mouth, looking at the surrounding grassland.
Unlike the hometown of hilly terrain, the northern grassland is a different landscape. The terrain is not very undulating, like an irregular wavy line with a huge span. The weeds on both sides of the road are as high as the waists. Perhaps there are deadly ambushers or delicious grassland rabbits hidden inside.
This trip was not in vain!
Phelas thought in his heart, but no matter how beautiful the scenery is, it feels boring after watching it for a long time. The son of a wealthy businessman from the south felt a little bored soon.
"Hey! Uncle Merck!" He turned his head and shouted at the mercenaries riding horses next to the caravan in the rear.
Da da da da da ~.
Mercenary - Merck grabbed his horse's belly and drove the horse to the shouting young man. Before the person arrived, the cheerful laughter came first: "Haha! Why are you calling me?"
Phelas took off the wine bag from his waist and handed it to the bearded mercenary who was riding a horse. He asked with a smile: "Uncle Merck, the wine brought from his hometown."
"You boy! You shouldn't take out such a good thing sooner!"
When he heard that it was the wine brought by his hometown in the south, Merck's eyes lit up. He grabbed the handed wine bag, pulled out the plug, raised his head and took a sip.
The cold and spicy liquid slid down the throat, and the internal organs seemed to be burning, which made people shocked.
"Ah~!"
After taking a big mouthful, Merck let out a satisfied sigh, his dark face turned red two times. The taste of the wine evoked his memory of his hometown: "That's right! It's the black rice wine from Jode Province! It's this smell!"
On the side, Ferras smiled. He took a boat from the far south to Yangfan Port in Beidi, intending to travel and see the exotic scenery of the north.
I came to the northern part of the world and the famous foreign city of Thorn City, naturally I had to experience it.
So, he found a caravan to Thorn City in Yangfan Port and paid a free ride. He accidentally discovered a mercenary who protected the caravan, speaking with a familiar hometown accent.
When a fellow villager meets a fellow villager, he will not be able to cry, but chatting a few more words is essential, and they become familiar with each other after a while.
Seeing that the fellow villagers were reluctant to let go of drinking, Ferras smiled and said, "Haha, I'm giving you this wine, so I'll keep it for you."
Merck thought to himself that this fellow villager was up, and he was not polite. He hung the wine bag on the skin around his waist, and then took off the wine bag that was originally hung on his waist: "Give it! The special wine made by the wild boar! You can't drink it in other places!"
After exchanging some wine bags, the relationship between the two got closer.
Phelas asked casually: "Uncle Merck, how many years have you been to the North?"
"It's been about ten years."
Before the heat of the homeland's spirits had passed, the bearded mercenary showed a reminiscent look and opened the conversation: "I took on a mission to protect the merchant ship. When I came to the north, I stayed at Yangfan Port. Hey, let me tell you, this northern grassland is under my nose..."
"More than ten years ago, the northern prairie was much more chaotic than it is now."
Merck pointed to the members of the mercenary group who opened the way forward: "At that time, if you entered the grassland to go shopping, you would need to bring at least five times the escort force that you would take. The extraordinary beasts on the grassland, especially the grassland wolf in winter, were lying in groups in ambush in the grass, and suddenly jumped out and dragged the people into the grass."
"Once, our mercenary team was surrounded by a pack of grassland wolves. There were thousands of wolves. That time it was really dangerous... Not only extraordinary beasts, but those grassland natives were also very dangerous. Once they found that outsiders were weak and could be bullied, they would immediately turn into robbers, especially the robber race - centaurs..."
Speaking of the centaur, the bearded mercenary who was speaking happily paused, and his face showed a look of fear, obviously remembering bad memories.
But he quickly came back to his senses and continued, "At that time, the crowds of centaurs were like nightmares. They could not beat them and could not escape. The prey they were targeting did not even have the chance to fight to the death. The centaur's bow and arrow skills were too terrible. We died a dozen brothers in one round of volleys..."
Merck took off his wine bag and took a sip of wine, rubbed the wine sticking to his beard, and then changed his voice: "Now, there are fewer centaurs, and it is all the credit of the three giant dragons in the Modo Peak Forest."
When Phelas nodded when he heard this, he came to the north, and when he listened to the most singing of the minstrel in the tavern was the story of the Three Dragon Alliance, cleaning up the robbers of the grassland, building commercial roads, fighting against the grassland indigenous alliance, and building cities...
The story varies from the personal perspective of the minstrel, and the evaluation of the Three Dragons is also mixed, but without exception, everyone recognizes the achievements of the Three Dragons and recognizes the rule of the Three Dragons over the central part of the prairie.
However, even though everyone is discussing the story of Sanlong, the outside world knows very little about Sanlong itself, and it can even be said that he knows nothing except the name, because the Modo Peak Forest where Sanlong lives is an absolute forbidden area, and Sanlong rarely appears in public.
The mysterious and powerful five-colored dragon, the alien civilization with huge differences from the human world, the alien civilization's unique style of acting...
It is precisely because of this that the three dragons in the northern grassland are well-known on the Tedanor Continent and have become a topic of conversation for many people after dinner. Phelas was curious and decided to go to the Triangle Plain to take a look.
"But Uncle Merck, then again, a five-colored dragon actually built a road, protected the chamber of commerce, rather than robbing, this is really..."
For a moment, Phellas didn't know how to evaluate Sanlong's move, so he paused and continued, "It's unreasonable."
"Hahaha! Who said no!"
Merck laughed and said, "I heard that when this commercial road was just repaired, many chambers of commerce in Yangfan Port thought it was a trap and did not dare to leave. In the end, Miss Lucia from the Conch Chamber of Commerce was very brave. She ate the first crab, and everyone's courage gradually became stronger..."
Just as we were having a lot of chatting, the carriage fell into a small pit. Sitting on the carriage loaded by the carriage, Feras suddenly felt that the goods under his butt were separated, and moved his butt to a more comfortable position.
He scanned the vast grassland next to the trade road: "Uncle Merck, are there many robbers robbers now?"
"Since the orc army under Sanlong began patrolling the commercial route, there were fewer and fewer robbers on the grassland," Merck said in a little depressed tone.
As a mercenary, he does not want to encounter robbers at all, but he does not want all robbers to be destroyed, because the disappearance of robbers means that the value of mercenaries will be greatly reduced and their income will also decrease accordingly.
"However, although there are a lot fewer professional robbers, there are still some part-time robbers."
"for example?"
"The natives of the grassland, especially some nomadic orc tribes, usually grazing and selling prey furs, but if they find that they can eat the entire chamber of commerce without leaking the news, they don't mind making a guest appearance as a robber, and more than a dozen or twenty people disappear on the grassland, that's normal."
As he said that, Merck looked at the grassland vigilantly, and he was worried that a group of robbers would pop up in the grass.
“…”
The two of them talked along the way, leaving behind the boring time on the road.
While listening to the bragging of his fellow villagers, Ferras couldn't help but think about the Three Dragons.
"If I could ride a dragon back, it would be so cool," he thought to himself and said it out.
"Ahem! Cough..."
The bearded mercenary next to him almost choked to death by the alcohol and slapped his chest: "You... cough... you really dare to think about it..."
Stop coughing, Merck added: "Boy! You can't say this in the Triangle Plain! Otherwise you will be beaten to death!"
After accidentally speaking out his inner thoughts, Phellas felt a little embarrassed: "Hehehe, don't worry, I'm not stupid, come on, drink."
The two raised their wine bags and sipped them, resolving the awkward atmosphere.
Merck was still worried and added: "Last time, someone got drunk in the Sands City Tavern and shouted that he wanted to kill the dragon, but he was almost pinched to death by the ogre boss..."
"Hahaha, I'm so kind. I dare to stay in a tavern run by ogres. Isn't this a sheep entering the tiger's mouth?"
"Haha, the Triangle Plain is such a magical place! If I had been there before, I would have thought that I would have had a day with orcs and a wine with ogres. Hey, I drank alone in the room... "
"Take you down! You are not as big as an ogre!" After getting to know each other, Fellas did not hesitate to expose the bragging of his fellow villager.
Merck was not angry and continued to argue: "But I have a lot of alcohol, claiming to be unintoxicated by a thousand cups. Also, I also made a friend of orcs at the table."
"Uncle Merck, your face is already red!"
“…”
Listening to the interesting stories about the Triangle Plain and bragging with fellow villagers who have experienced a lot, Phelas' journey is not boring.
After advancing for a while, the caravan suddenly saw some dust rising above the end of the road in the distance, and immediately became alert. The mercenaries responsible for protection put their hands on their weapons.
Although the orc patrol patrols on the commercial road from Yangfan Port to the Triangle Plain, the robbers did not completely disappear, but were more secret. Sometimes they would disguise themselves as nomadic tribes and clean the battlefield after the robbery.
Gradually, the caravan members saw the appearance of the visitor and immediately breathed a sigh of relief.
It was a team of orcs, with about fifty orcs. Each of them rode a wolf under their crotch. Two people were in a row behind the leader of the team. Even if they ran, they did not disrupt the order of the team. In addition, the orcs were all wearing standard leather armor, with a sharp sword on their waists, and behind them were bows and arrows and quivering pots filled with arrows.
They are the regular orc army affiliated to the Three Dragons, and they are also the patrol and patron saint of this trade route.
Seeing that the visitor was an orc patrol, Merck looked awe-faced and said to the young fellow villager beside him: "Don't look at the fact that this orc unit has only fifty people, at least half of them are professionals, and the captain is at least a mid-level professional. With the orc's racial talent and the wolf under their crotch, it is enough to fight to match a thousand regular troops."
Phelas was slightly stunned, shocked by the strength of the orcs, but soon accepted that in the south of the mainland, some noble private guards of the nobles were at this level.
Although surprisingly, the Orc Patrol is not so unacceptable.
"Lead the horse! Stand on the side of the road!" The chamber of commerce manager scolded the guys to hold on to the slow horse.
The Orc Patrol is not an enemy, everyone knows this, but the horses of the Chamber of Commerce do not know it. In addition to the natural fear of carnivorous wolves, the Chamber of Commerce must stabilize the horses in order to prevent the horses from being frightened and causing trouble. Wait for the Orc Patrol to pass before continuing.
Without letting the caravan wait for a long time, the orcs came on a wolf.
The orc leader, led, glanced at the small caravan organized by nearly a hundred people, without paying too much attention, and continued to run along the path given by the caravan.
Amid the uneasy neighing of the horses, the two teams passed by.
When Merck saw the orc at the end of the team, he looked happy: "Hey! Reth Black Wolf!"
Hearing someone calling his name, the young orc at the end of the patrol turned his head, saw the bearded mercenary saying hello, patted the wolf under his crotch, slowed down and stayed in front of the bearded mercenary: "Ha! My friend! Long time no see!"
Phellas was surprised and looked at the bearded mercenary beside him. Unexpectedly, he really had an orc friend, who was also a member of the patrol team.
Merck rushed over and raised his chin slightly, as if saying: Look, I'm not bragging.
After doing a show-off action, Merck turned to the orc who drove the wolf and walked over: "Old friend! Long time no see!"
After looking at the running team ahead, he asked curiously: "Race! Are you on a mission?"
"Well, my friend, because of the rules, I can't answer you."
"Hug...sorry, I should ask."
"It's okay, by the way, I'll tell you a good news," the orc said excitedly with the orc's unique loud voice: "We are going to establish the country! Five months later, the great true dragon will hold a founding ceremony in Oka City! Also, the Modo Peak Forest will be open to the public in one month, and you can also go in and take a look!"
"Okay, I have to keep up with my teammates, goodbye!"
"well?!"
The two major news caused the mercenaries, Phelas and the caravan not far away to lighten their light. When everyone reacted, they found that the orc had driven the wolf away for a distance.
Everyone was suddenly in anger. After a while, the news spread throughout the team, and everyone in the caravan was discussing the news brought by the orcs.
"My God! This is incredible!"
"Is it April Fool's Day today?!"
“…”
In the team, Phelas, the son of a businessman from the south, showed excitement, and he felt that he was coming at the right time.
Chapter completed!