Chapter 198: Setting the Bait

After some patient questioning and communication, George roughly understood the situation he might face. In terms of the current situation, threats were waiting at every moment for the Bolerum Territory under George’s leadership to let down its guard.

After George confirmed that he had learned most of the information he wanted from the other party, he crossed his fingers in front of his chest and asked, “Since you have accepted the employment, what kind of actions do you plan to take next?”

George’s words made the few adventurers in front of him feel a bit at a loss. This was because they had never encountered a similar situation before.

After being stunned for a good while, Priest Mario finally managed to recover his senses. He asked with a puzzled look, “Lord, you had better say those words again just now; I seemed to have auditory hallucinations.”

George had to scratch his head and repeat his previous words, “I mean, since you have accepted the employment, what kind of actions do you plan to take next?”

Priest Mario, having confirmed repeatedly that he had not misheard, began to stutter a bit with his next words, “Th-this, this doesn’t seem right! Since you hired us, it should be your responsibility to assign us tasks!”

“Heh! Heh! That would normally be the case. But I don’t know exactly what kind of work you are good at. More importantly, the patrol team and security system in our territory are already quite perfect. If I just arrange you into them like this, I am worried that it would not be a good thing for either side.” George explained his previous words quite calmly. In his view, the other party should be able to understand.

In fact, the result was as he expected. Apart from the female mage Lino Ebertz, who initially showed a bit of indignation on her face, the others lowered their heads and thought for a moment, then nodded thoughtfully.

“Putting it that way, there is indeed some sense to it. The tasks we have performed the most in the past were hunting down those evil-doers. However, we only acted after obtaining relatively accurate information. Situations like this time, where the number and existence of the enemy cannot be confirmed, do not seem to be what we are good at. Regarding intelligence matters, we are indeed not able to help much in the Bolerum Territory; after all, the intelligence networks we have contact with are all in the South.” Alamil said with some embarrassment. It seemed that he also realized that for the situation at hand, their group did not have any members who were good at it.

After all, whether in terms of the squad’s professional configuration or individual ability specialties, their combination did not seem to be good at intelligence work. George had understood this when he first saw them. After all, having lived in this world for over a decade, he more or less possessed such judgment.

“Actually, besides this kind of crusade-type mission, we have accepted protection-type missions before.” Stone Marx said tentatively. However, judging by his appearance, that mission probably did not go very well.

Although Alamil suddenly gave people a feeling of being speechless, he still spoke quite honestly to George, “That was a protection-type mission. To be honest, our team’s experience in that area is really not great. Although the previous few missions achieved their goals, the dangers that occurred during them were not something anyone liked to see.”

Given the premise that a Paladin cannot lie, and there were no obvious loopholes in Alamil’s words, George relatively approved of his behavior of exposing his own shortcomings, “In a few days, I have a long journey; you can join this operation!”

“Are you still going on a long journey during a time like this?” Priest Mario immediately reminded him with good intentions. Compared to the heavily guarded Lord’s Castle, the wild was like an undefended place. Whether it was assassination by Assassins or soldiers ambushing the road, the danger of George’s trip would increase greatly.

Upon hearing George’s plan to travel far, the several adventurers present all frowned.

Alamil could not help but speak out, “Lord, please consider it again! After all, the risk of an accident will increase greatly this way. Is there something you must handle outside at this point in time?”

“That is because of the issue regarding the marriage alliance. Meetings for marriage alliances between nobles cannot be delayed under normal circumstances. More importantly, I do not want too many people to know that such a thing has happened in the territory.” At the end, George emphasized his tone.

George’s words characterized the main purpose of this trip as noble social interaction and stabilizing the hearts of the people. This caused Mario and Alamil in the team to lower their heads in deep thought. Because they also came from noble families, they understood the intricacies involved.

For the commoners of this territory, the greatest threat was not the daggers hidden in the dark, but the riots caused by the fear of the unknown.

Once commoners fled in panic, they would be like unguarded wheat straw, giving those villains a chance to harvest heads. More importantly, the vulnerability in people’s hearts would greatly increase during this period, and the effect of large-scale mental spells would be more effective than usual. If the other side instigated the rioting commoners to attack the city, the impact would be immeasurable. Such things absolutely had to be strictly guarded against to prevent them from happening.

After a while, Alamil, who had figured out the cause and effect of the matter, stood up and said, “Then alright! Our group will advance and retreat together with you.”

“You don’t need to worry too much about this aspect; the strength in our territory is still quite good. Although our ability to dispel Undead seems slightly insufficient, with your addition, this biggest shortcoming has been filled. Even if those guys really want my life, they wouldn’t deliberately go and kick an iron plate.” George spoke confidently in front of the few people. It was as if those enemies were a group of weaklings.

It seemed that George’s attitude infected them as well; the expressions on the adventurers’ faces became much more relaxed.

Alamil quickly got into the state, “Then Lord, when do you plan to set off!”

“Probably in four days! No matter what, we have to wait until this celebration is over. After all, if we leave early during this period, it would easily cause bad suspicion and rumors in the territory!” Pausing for a moment, George stroked his chin, thought for a bit, and said, “In these few days, besides preparing for the journey, you can help keep an eye on those troupes outside the territory. In this regard, you are more experienced than the guards in my territory. However, you need to pay attention to your methods; don’t always recklessly use spells like Detect Alignment!”

“We have our own sense of propriety in this regard. Then we will go back now. In these four days, we will do our best to ensure safety for the upcoming journey.” The adventurers, knowing their next task, were not dragging their feet at all.

However, what George did not know was that after these people returned to their temporary lodging, Lino Ebertz immediately questioned Alamil, who had agreed to the matter, “Bula Ultrad Alamil, what exactly do you mean? You actually agreed to that Young Master who doesn’t know his place leaving his territory at this time. Do you know how great the risk is this time?”

“Is the risk really that great? I don’t think so.” Alamil stretched out his finger and shook it.

Immediately after, under Alamil’s subtle gesture behind his back, Mario, the captain, pressed the somewhat agitated Lino Ebertz back into her seat. Then he began to explain calmly, “Just like we underestimated the strength of the Bolerum Territory before. I think those guys from the Evil Camp forming the so-called ‘Dark Front’ didn’t expect the strength here to be this powerful either!”

“Although you keep saying that, I still don’t see where they are strong!” Lino Ebertz was still being stubborn.

“Lino Ebertz, stop emphasizing your outdated Mage Supremacy theory here. If Knights weren’t strong, then the ruling cornerstone of this world wouldn’t be them. The Great Mages of the Silver Moon Federation wouldn’t be living in a corner like they are now.” As he spoke, Alamil stood directly in front of Lino Ebertz and said sternly, “Do you think those high-level Mages are a group of ascetics suffering in the wind and dew? Hundreds of years ago, for the struggle for resources, whether they actively started wars or instigated disputes between different forces to reap the benefits, they used those methods quite proficiently! It was only later that the gradual strengthening of Knights made Mages lose any advantage on the frontal battlefield. Even the success rate of stabbing in the back was so low it wasn’t worth the prior investment. If it weren’t for the fact that in the desert and the Great Snow Mountain, no one besides Mages could guarantee a foothold for humans, do you think countries ruled by Mages would still exist now?”

What Alamil described in his words was the dark history of those years. Before the era of the Old Empire, the status of Mages was so high that nothing could contend with them except the Gods. There were even Great Arcanists who openly declared that Deities were just another type of powerful Spellcaster. At that time, they almost ruled vast territories; many regions, even if they had managers and rulers on the surface, had to be controlled by them in secret.

But with the rise of Knights, although it did not represent the decline of Mages, it gave rulers craving real power a bargaining chip to counter Mages besides divine power. At the very beginning, even if a single Knight fought head-on, they were still slightly inferior to prepared Mages. Only after forming a certain scale could they contend with Mages and their Retainers, Mercenaries, and creations in war.

Later, the bloodlines of Knights were continuously refined, and their inheritances continuously improved. Their development speed far exceeded the spell research of Mages. Most importantly, the material basis required for the growth of Knights was much less than that for Mages. For example, if Mages are similar to the resource-focused style in Mortal’s Journey to Immortality, then Knights are closer to the style in Immortal Gourd; although they still need resources, they need relatively less, and they pay more attention to the tempering and transformation of the so-called mind. At the barrier from Red Iron to Black Lead Rank, it could be said that countless heroes were stuck!

Now, Knights in frontal combat could even achieve one person fighting an iron triangle alone. That is, a Knight of the same Rank could confront a combination of a Warrior plus a Priest plus a Mage. Of course, if there were specific secret arts, Divine Grace, or spell artifacts involved, that would have to be calculated separately; this refers only to general situations.

More importantly, as the number of people increased, this gap in combat power would continue to widen. Once a knight order of over a hundred people was formed, equipped with Squires following every Knight and elite cavalry for support, even the Floating Cities of Mages could not clash with them head-on.

Although Knights could be said to have the upper hand in battle, in other aspects, they often could not do without the help of Mages. For Knights, important Enchantment weapons and armor almost all came from the hands of Mages. As for various accessories, artifacts, and potions, they could not be separated from the contributions of Mages. Later, many convenient measures in daily life also came from the inventions and creations of Mages. Even for ordinary house building, if a Mage was willing to put in the effort, the speed would be faster than others. Of course, upholding their consistent tradition, that meant high costs.

It could be said that although Mages failed on the battlefield, they still maintained their dominance in production. Even the “Artifact Masters” among Sorcerers had their innate limitations. They often could only produce items related to combat or adventure, lacking the diversity of Mages and their ability to alter the environment.

Like the city-states in the desert and the cities in the snow mentioned by Alamil earlier, only the power of Mages could help people gain a foothold there. Oases in the vast sea of sand and agriculture under year-round snow were miracles that only Mages could create. This is why even now, the defeated Mages were still noble. They were just knocked off the divine altar but not knocked to the ground.

Of course, Mages nowadays couldn’t oppress others to death for their own research like in the past. On the basis of equivalent exchange, even if their creations had high added value, they still needed the recognition and payment of others. However, there were still Mages who missed the glory of hundreds of years ago. If these guys not only missed it in their hearts but also integrated it into their daily lives to influence their behavior, these people would be satirized as “Mage Supremacists.” Clearly, Lino Ebertz had this tendency.

After being roared at by Alamil, Lino Ebertz also understood in her heart that her idea was unlikely to be realized, and she finally stopped making trouble like just now. Because of the past actions of Mages, even now, hundreds of years later, no person of insight wanted to see them rise again.

Seeing that the other party had finally calmed down, Priest Mario stated the guess he and Alamil had discussed together, “We have dealt with the ‘Dark Front’ quite a bit. Whether it was Righteous Camp missions commissioned by the Church, evil rituals we discovered on the road, or commissions from other Lords or merchants. Along this journey, we have fought them quite a few times. Although there were a few reductions in members, have you noticed that we have never encountered an existence that we absolutely could not fight against?”

Lino Ebertz said as a matter of course, “Isn’t that because every time we chose tasks within the acceptable range of our abilities? I remember clearly that even after I joined, we gave up on about three commission tasks.”

Seeing that the people nearby had the urge to bang their heads on the ground, Mario just couldn’t understand why Lino Ebertz always couldn’t turn the corner on this kind of thing! This really made the few of them feel extremely tangled.

“If tasks can still be chosen beforehand, then let me ask you, regarding the sudden emergencies encountered the previous few times, there wasn’t such an opportunity, right!” Mario had to try his best to make his voice sound authoritative.

Lino Ebertz, unable to think of any rebuttal, had to shut up.

Alamil continued Mario’s topic and patiently explained further, “In fact, in most cases, the power that the ‘Dark Front’ can mobilize is not stronger than the Righteous Camp we are in. It is often even weaker. If they hadn’t always hidden themselves well, they would be fundamentally unable to contend with the gods of the Good Alignment. Moreover, the mutual check between the God of Chromatic Dragons and the Platinum Dragon mentioned in the previous conversation also gave us great inspiration.”

“You mean…” Lino Ebertz seemed to have thought of something, but she couldn’t quite say the specific content.

“Although we didn’t obtain clear information, we think the high-end combat power of the ‘Dark Front’ is also being held back by the high-level of the Good Alignment we are in. Moreover, in the Duchy of Nohan, a country where their foundation is very shallow, mobilizing personnel from the outside is also quite a troublesome matter. So this time, we think the chance of a real attack during this trip is not high.” Mario started to break things down one by one for Lino Ebertz, “I think that Lord is preparing to go out for this reason! Once the number one leader of the territory is away, those guys hiding in the dark might jump out one after another. He might even have the intention to take this opportunity to clean up a batch of them first!”

At the end, Mario reminded them solemnly, “However, this doesn’t mean we can relax our vigilance. Sometimes accidents always happen. Similarly, we still have to follow the employer’s request and keep an eye on those few troupes of entertainers from outside. I don’t want to ruin the squad’s reputation on such a small matter.”

Based on the adventurers’ reminders, George specially sent people to strengthen the control of water sources in the territory. Unexpectedly, they really caught a sneaky suspicious person on the third day. This really made George break out in a cold sweat. Fortunately, the opponent’s goal was not achieved, and he was already captured. The only flaw was that the guy was a low-level slave of the Mojian Church, and no useful intelligence could be extracted from him at all.