Chapter 189: The Outsider’s Evaluation

The next morning, the adventurers, finally free from days of travel fatigue, were busy with their own things. Indeed, a strong body is a necessary condition to become an adventurer. If one were a herbivorous otaku, they would most likely have died on the bumpy sailboat in the harsh environment.

These strong guys, as long as they soak in a comfortable hot bath; stay away from the crackers that are about to get maggots or rubber worms, and the salty, gritty cured meat; and eat a hot, decent-looking lunch or dinner; most importantly, stay away from the swaying canvas hammock and sleep soundly in soft bedding.

Then they could eliminate most of the negative effects caused by the sea voyage the next morning. At the same time, they would recover a significant part of their combat ability. This is why, even for a female caster, Miss Lino Ebertz is still considered a tomboy.

As for that asthmatic patient who relied on a quarter ounce to survive, oh! Let’s forget that he is an exception with the “Pig’s Foot” template and great luck! Mortals cannot be compared to the chosen ones of the Planes, even for a moment.

This was exactly when the sun was rising. Old Handsome Uncle Mario was kneeling on the floor, facing the East, holding the Sacred Radiance of the Sun Face, and praying with great concentration. The Sun Face was constantly surrounded by a soft, dim yellow light.

And the handsome Bramble Ultrad Alamil was now also leaning on his Longsword, kneeling on one knee, performing his daily morning prayer. Unlike Uncle Mario, this Paladin was slightly glowing with a different light. Even by the Dogma of the Lord of Justice, which favors Paladins, his display made him absolutely a focus of attention.

In fact, except for that Priest of the Sun God, usually good Clergy use dawn or noon as the time to communicate with their gods and receive Divine Arts.

Most Evil Priests are used to using dusk or midnight. Of course, some good or Neutral Deities related to the night, Negative Energy, the moon, and death also set their prayer time at night. As for dusk, there seems to be a weak Deity who uses it as their holy duty.

By the same logic, Stone Marx, the favorite of the jungle, left the inn early. He was now in a small forest not far from the port.

“The trees here grow so well! Although I can’t communicate with them like Danny does, I can still vaguely feel their joy. It seems the Lord here values nature protection very much, so he must have a good relationship with the local Druids…” Stone Marx touched the bark of a birch tree and muttered to himself for a while, “Oh! This is really a good place.”

After that, this Half-Elf with a small mustache leaned against the tree and began his communication with this nature. In the woods, it was quiet. If you looked up, the rising sunlight filtered through the leaves, like stars twinkling in the sky. It was a bit blinding but very crystal clear and beautiful, revealing an unpredictable tranquility.

A gentle breeze blew by, accompanied by the sound of “Shaa! Shaa! Shaa!”. The light and shadow shining down swayed left and right, faint and clear. Suddenly, a wild rabbit that was hiding behind the bushes ran quickly past Stone Marx’s feet. It looked around with a timid eye, as if it wasn’t just coming out to find food but also to admire the only patch of tender green scenery nearby.

Stone Marx seemed to ignore it as if he didn’t see or hear it. Fortunately, this was just a small forest, without large animals like wild boars. Otherwise, it might have added some fun for passersby.

As for Miss Lino Ebertz, she was in her room at the inn, engaged in a very brain-draining struggle with her spellbook. You can imagine memorizing and reciting the Oxford Dictionary early in the morning while solving problems in topology? Uh! It’s roughly like that. This is because Lino Ebertz is a low-to-mid-level Mage.

And Green Beren, who could only camp on the streets due to his faith and the path he walked, was looking at a small pile of coins in front of him with a bitter smile. His expression was as awkward as it could get.

Meanwhile, in Poitou City, George hurriedly finished his breakfast and went to the City Hall before Ben and Aldred even left their rooms. It seemed he was afraid of being caught by his little friends. After all, although they couldn’t be said to be in deep water and fire now, they were in a state of pain mixed with joy.

Friends who share good times occasionally and pull you up when in trouble will definitely try to drag George into this. So George has been leaving early and returning late during this time. Although the young people were in the prime of life, under the training of the Val Knights, they fell asleep before George even returned.

Using Uncle Mario’s house as a temporary meeting room, everyone held their breakfast and exchanged ideas. It was clear that the leader of this adventurer group was not the Paladin Bramble Ultrad Alamil, who looked the most suitable for leadership, but the Priest Kisac Mario.

“After getting information yesterday afternoon, let’s hear your thoughts. What is your first impression of this Territory?” Kisac Mario asked, swallowing his seafood salad first.

“If I have to say, what we have contacted so far is only part of the port. On the map of this Territory, it is a very small area. I think we cannot draw any conclusions yet.” Lino Ebertz, drinking her juice with what she thought was an elegant gesture, gave the most rational answer she could think of.

“Alright, Ebertz! Although knowledge and matching wisdom are most important for a Mage, you still don’t reach that point based on the current situation. Of course, this might be because you have devoted most of your time to the ocean of Arcane. So, regarding the acquisition of knowledge in other areas, you seem a bit, how should I put it! Yes, too careless. This is also why you cannot currently earn extra stable income by acting as a Noble advisor.” After saying this, Alamil shrugged, then cut a small piece of lamb chop with his knife and fork and put it in his mouth.

As the saying goes, don’t hit people on the face or expose their shortcomings. Lino Ebertz, who was immediately pointed out for her biggest weakness, immediately became a bit hysterical: “Enough, Alamil! If you don’t speak, no one will think you are a mute!”

“Okay! Okay! Lino Ebertz, I think Alamil is doing this for your own good. If you want to advance further in the future, you’d better listen to his advice. You know that just relying on adventuring, few Mages can get enough resources to promote themselves. And you have no talent in producing artifacts and Alchemy Potions. What he just said is your greatest hope for promotion to a high-level Mage. You should also know that although Alamil speaks very carelessly and directly, he usually hits the key points.” As the team leader, Uncle Mario immediately gave a lecture to the only female in the team to comfort her.

Then he put down the soup spoon in his hand, turned around, and said to Alamil: “The same goes for you, Alamil! I hope you can try not to be so direct in the future. Although what you say always hits the target, if the process could be like when you negotiate with people outside the team, that would be even better.”

“Alright! Our Mario, but that is too tiring. You know how much mental energy it takes to deal with others. If we have to do that within the team…” Alamil didn’t finish his sentence, but his gesture of spreading his hands seemed to clearly tell everyone that it was impossible.

“This kind of laziness is the main reason why the leader of the team is me and not you. I hope you will be more diligent after you inherit your Territory.” Our Uncle Mario could only show a bitter smile.

“That’s different! I can only feel truly relaxed and at ease when I am with you. It’s like accepting prayers in a Temple or communicating with my peers. You know, as a Paladin of the Lord of Justice who cannot lie, how much energy it takes to deal with those hypocritical guys.” Alamil held his hands tightly in front of his chest and made starry eyes to everyone present. This prank immediately diluted the slightly tense atmosphere before.

“Alright! Alamil, you always have a way to eliminate others’ anger towards you. But you cannot establish your authority within the team like you do outside.” Lino Ebertz held her head with her left hand and waved her right hand to show she didn’t mind the previous matter.

Seeing this, Alamil continued to speak out the knowledge that has long circulated among Nobles: “Since Lino Ebertz forgave me, let’s get back to the main topic! Although the territory of every Lord might be considered large, the most critical towns within the territory are often just one or two. Other Manors, villages, and other gathering places of people are all serving them. So, as long as you grasp the key points, you can roughly understand the overall atmosphere of the Territory and the Lord’s main policy direction. Of course, if it were a great Lord with a vast Territory and a major city, just forget what I just said. But the Bolerum Territory in front of us is obviously not.”

“So, you and Mario both think that the port where we are located is the key to this Territory?” Stone Marx, who was drinking cream soup, waved his spoon and said. Then both of them nodded to confirm his statement.

Lino Ebertz spoke first about her experience of acting alone: “Well, let’s take my feeling as an example! The trading here is quite fair. At least in the few shops in the port, they basically did not intentionally raise prices or pass off fake goods because we are outsiders.”

“Moreover, the whole port feels quite busy. Of course, everyone here can see that, so I don’t need to say more.” As her words changed, everyone present smiled.

“But I can almost buy most common and cheap spellcasting materials here. Do you know? There is no specialized shop for Mages like the ‘Mage’s Home’ here. Just a roadside grocery store can have such results, which is truly surprising! You know that in most ports I have visited before, this could not be done. If I have time in the future, I will research why this is?” Lino Ebertz showed some interest. Mages’ curiosity about unknown things is always stronger than others. Of course, in the face of the mysteries of magic, these other knowledge often had to stand aside.

Alamil, who had just quieted down, interjected at this moment: “If it’s this question, I think I can give you the answer, Lino Ebertz.”

“Oh! You know? If you know, just say it quickly!” Lino Ebertz, this time, looked a bit like a girl, showing an eager expression. It seemed that the temptation of knowledge was not to be underestimated for her.

“In fact, this is not a unique situation for this port. If you have been to the Commercial Republics in the South, you will find that it is relatively common there. In other words, as long as the commerce is prosperous enough and the merchants’ range of travel here is relatively large, this situation can occur. However, the previous ones were large port cities that stood for decades or even over a hundred years. A small port that just rose up like this can actually achieve this, which truly surprises me.” Alamil shared his experience.

Green Beren, who was eating Black Bread with plain water on the side, suddenly looked up and asked curiously: “Alright! Is this the result of your few years of service in the fleet?”

“Sort of! Okay, our lovely Green Beren, can you please not mention anything about the Black Sea Fleet?” Alamil immediately raised his hand to surrender. It seemed that the previous sea experience really left a deep impression on him. For this, he immediately changed the topic: “So, Beren, do you have any discoveries?”

“I only know that the security in this port is very good! The Security Squad performed very well in handling conflicts. Especially after the lights went out, there was still a Security Squad patrolling. Of course, based on the intelligence we got before, this port was attacked by pirates recently at night. So I cannot be sure if this system was there originally or appeared after the pirate attack.” As he spoke, Green Beren became a bit hesitant.

“Don’t worry about this, Beren. We will understand sooner or later. Do you have any other news?” Mario’s words were to let Green Beren relax.

Green Beren seemed a bit shy and said: “Just now, I found that most of the residents here are very friendly!”

“Alright! Tell us specifically what happened around you! You are still a minor and cannot control your expressions well. They have already told us quite a lot of information.” Mr. Mario said with a slight smile and winked.

“Alright! In fact, after I woke up this morning, I found a small pile of Copper Coins in front of me. Then, people passing by kept handing these things to me. This included a Black Bread offered by a mature woman who saw that I seemed uninterested in the coins. And last night, the patrol team suggested I could seek help at the Children’s Welfare Institute here. They said I would receive better care there. Of course, the price to pay is that after becoming an adult, I have to work for a long time for the Lord of this place, with only food and lodging but no pay…” Green Beren’s face turned red, and his voice became quieter and quieter.

“From the hints, it seems to only show that Beren is quite popular with middle-aged women…” Stone Marx’s words were not finished. He was immediately hit hard by Alamil on the side.

Alamil opened his mouth to correct Stone Marx’s words just now: “From the information provided by Green Beren, the residents of this port are not only quite friendly, but their own lives are absolutely also considered wealthy. Otherwise, there would absolutely not be so many people giving him coins. Think about it, except for the great cities with many Nobles, who else have you seen beggars? That is because in other places, begging simply cannot make them survive.”

The result was just to make that guy lower his head and start fighting with his breakfast.

Seeing that the situation was not as he expected, Alamil continued: “And that so-called welfare institute there, I think it should be an orphanage! I didn’t expect the Lord here to spend such a big price to do such things. Because of the issue of child survival rates, such an industry can only be charity and is destined to be unprofitable. If we add the public bathhouse we saw earlier, which was also operating at a loss…”

This sentence immediately brought laughter from everyone in the room except Mario.

“Alright! Although neither I nor Captain Mario like that, it indeed provided convenience for these long-distance sailors. From the above points, the Lord here is likely a kind person who cares about the lives of his people. Of course, it is also possible that he is a person who likes fame more than money.” Finally, Alamil voiced his guess.

Then Mario turned his gaze to Stone Marx, who shrugged and said: “I actually quite like this place. The plants in the port are carefully planned and cultivated. You can see traces of Druids. So I think since they can deal with those guys, the Lord here should not be an evil existence either.”

“Okay, let’s stop here for now! Today we will go to the city and take a look again. Everyone pay attention, this will definitely be our choice a few days later. Whether to report the news and leave, or stay and fight with them together.” Mario said, clenching his right hand into a fist.