Chapter 274: Treating the Wise with Respect or Coercing and Tempting

The next day, George went to the south area of the single-story wooden houses with great interest. That area was specially arranged for certain special personnel as single rooms. Not everyone was willing to stay in the same ward with others. Extra Silver Coins or the identity of a Spellcaster were both acceptable. Whether it was the payment of the former or the identity of the latter, both could leave those staying in the large dormitory speechless.

‘Although there was a rule before that Spellcasters could enjoy single room treatment here, I really didn’t expect a Spellcaster to be admitted to the hospital!’ George muttered as he walked. Of course, the system needed to be as comprehensive as possible to handle theoretically possible low-probability events. But I didn’t expect to actually meet such a weirdo today!

Those Divine Arts Spellcasters often had the ability to heal themselves, so they really didn’t need to come to the hospital George built for long-term treatment. Of course, Rangers like them were an exception. If they wanted to learn Divine Arts, they were close to the Black Lead Rank. However, those who lived in the jungle for a long time, and Arcane Caster users, although they often didn’t have that self-healing ability. But generally speaking, the vast majority of them could not be poor. Because the learning process of Arcane magic often involved huge monetary consumption. Even the most ordinary apprentices usually had a modest family fortune; otherwise, they simply couldn’t afford it.

As George had said before, low-end people paid less monetary cost and a lot of time cost to get average medical results. High-end people paid a larger monetary cost, basically didn’t consume time cost, and got high medical results. Even if an Arcane Caster couldn’t get that much money at the moment, the Temple would often agree to let them run a tab and repay it through labor—research-type Arcane Casters might not be able to make Artifacts or potions, but they could usually copy Scrolls. As for spontaneous casters, this was probably quite unlucky. They might even have to join some hunting missions!

The ground covered with fine sand was slightly soft, and combined with George’s long-term self-training, there was almost no sound along the way. The contact between the cork soles and the gravel did not leave any obvious traces.

When he gradually approached the key ward for single rooms, George gradually heard someone arguing inside. Of course, the other person’s voice might not have been loud at first, but once people got excited, they inevitably forgot to control their voices. Although this was said to be a single room, it was just separated by thin wooden boards. It could block others’ sight but not the spread of sound.

“Clarice, I think we should give up on this mission! Look, we just started fighting and we lost Fairbanks, our main force. And I can’t participate in the battle again in a short time. Such losses are not suitable for us to participate in the upcoming battle with the Dark Elves. Although the bounty offered by the Duchy of Nohan is quite generous, not everyone can get it!” This gentle and elegant voice clearly reached George’s ears from inside the room.

George carefully looked at the nameplate outside the ward, then opened his palm to look at the small note he got after arranging someone to investigate yesterday. After confirming there was no mistake, George waited outside the door for the argument inside to end.

Because this was the first time he was contacting others. Although his status was far higher than theirs, considering he might want to recruit them later, making a move to show respect for the wise beforehand would be a good choice.

‘The other person inside must be the original teammate of that Magus Warrior who went on adventures together! It looks like they suffered very serious losses in the battle with the Dark Elves before—according to that person’s words, the most important master in the team seems to have already fallen.’ George nodded secretly after getting a lot of intelligence from this conversation, ‘This situation is quite common in this period. Otherwise, this medical point in the rear of Greywood Town wouldn’t have so many wounded. By the way, why do I always feel an uncomfortable aura inside the room?’

In fact, although Greywood Town had already received more than 600 patients, according to George’s estimate, this number was at most about half of all the wounded. Because according to the intelligence sent back by the Ahuatan Knight at the front line, at least a quarter of the personnel with serious injuries were still staying in Broken Halberd Fortress.

And the number of Adventurers who did not leave the battlefield due to light injuries was certainly even higher. This sentence was not just a slogan from before crossing over. Because once Adventurers stopped their missions, they immediately lost their external economic source. For them, who were not good at financial management and saving, that could be a huge trouble.

So, unlike the little songs sung by Bards in most Taverns. Those Adventurers bravely fought on the front line facing barbaric creatures and evil intelligent races. It was not the spirit of heroes or the dream of becoming famous and successful. It was more because of the pressure of daily life for three meals a day.

As for why Bards would praise those Adventurers, of course, such praise was far from singing praises of merit. There were many reasons for this: First, most Adventurers came from ordinary families and had a natural closeness, or you could say a sense of immersion, with the Freemen living at the bottom level.

Because not all Bards could be invited to the grand halls. Looking at the Continent, the Bards backed by wealthy patrons were only a very small part of their huge group. The majority in this group earned their living expenses in town squares or village trading days. So the content of their poems and stories naturally needed to suit the taste of the bottom-level people.

Moreover, Bards themselves would also participate in adventures to get story material or inspiration. You could say they were often members of the Adventurers themselves. And in many people’s subconscious, material wealth was not the only standard to measure a person. So self-beautification or beautification of their current status was not surprising.

So on the front line of Broken Halberd Fortress, you could occasionally see Adventurers wrapped in bandages on their upper bodies charging towards the Dark Elves. Because if they didn’t get Loot, they wouldn’t be able to cook a meal a few days later. And although the price of 50 Gold Coins for each Dark Elf head was not considered too high, the excellent equipment of the Dark Elves themselves was the best Loot for the Adventurers.

After a brief silence, a new round of conflict broke out in the ward: “It is precisely because of this that we cannot let Fairbanks die in vain. You know, this is the biggest loss since I founded this team. If we can’t make back our costs from those Dark Elves, our team’s strength will be severely damaged. Besides, you have to think about the future life of Fairbanks’ family!”

“It is precisely because I want to consider Fairbanks’ family that I don’t agree with your adventure behavior, Clarice. To heal the injuries caused by Dark Elf poison on my body in a short time, at least one 4th Level Divine Arts spell to neutralize the poison is needed. After paying such a Divine Arts price, our team’s funds will be almost gone. At that time, except for fighting desperately with the Dark Elves, we will have no other choice. Your choice is a crazy gamble. If we fail again, I might be left on that land with everyone. At that time, not only Fairbanks’ family, but even our own families might have no one to take care of them! So while the losses are still bearable, we might as well choose to go to other places to undertake the bounties that match our current strength…”

‘Hey, there is actually a third person there! It looks like there is a contradiction in the team about the next choice! But if it were me, I wouldn’t go on a high-risk mission either when the team was injured. The risk in this…’ George, who was outside the door, was now seriously engaged in the act of eavesdropping. It really didn’t fit his current status at all!

In fact, the wounded in this hospital were often visited by their companions. But such serious arguments were not common. Because the relationships between these team members were often quite good. If the relationship was bad, after suffering such serious injuries on the battlefield, they basically couldn’t come back on their own. If it wasn’t for the help of teammates, how could they be resting here? They might have already been inherited by their own people, let alone the medical expenses after they cut off their income.

“The last time it was just bad luck that we chose too strong an enemy. This time we will look for easier targets from the outside. If you need to consider this matter, I will give you two more days…”

Immediately after, George saw a doll-faced girl with a pale white face walking out of the room door. Fortunately, although George was eavesdropping, his movements were very natural, as if he was just passing by, and did not attract too much attention from the other party.

But just as the other person brushed past George, George instinctively felt an uncomfortable aura. At the same time, he could hardly feel any temperature on the other person’s body, just like an Undead creature.

‘Oh! It looks like I found a good breakthrough point.’ With a decision in his heart, George waited until the other person walked far away and then entered the ward where the argument had just taken place.

“Knock! Knock!” Out of habitual politeness, George knocked on the wooden board and asked: “Excuse me, is this Mr. Jinluoke?”

“Oh! Are you the new Herbalist? Do you have any new conclusions about my injuries?” The blonde man, barely getting up, replied politely.

George showed as sincere an expression as possible and asked: “No! I am the initiator of this medical station and also the Acting Lord of this Territory. We have a new Arcane Caster here, and I am very curious, so I decided to come and take a look. You know, after all, most of your colleagues choose the Temple or healing potions, not our Herbalists.”

After the other person stood firm, he performed a standard etiquette gesture towards George and said: “That is because our team is facing some financial difficulties right now! If your Lordship could assign us some missions, that would be great.”

George pointed out the other party’s purpose without thinking: “You don’t want your teammates to fight those Dark Elves again, right!”

Hearing this, the other person’s face immediately turned very ugly, and the look in his eyes towards George also revealed caution.

George shrugged indifferently: “You don’t need to be so defensive, and I don’t need to spend too much effort investigating you. But your voice and that of the lady just now was too loud. Along this road, no one probably doesn’t know about your conflict.”

But before the other person could relax, George continued to drop a bombshell: “But the lady named Clarice just now is not Human, is she! I clearly felt an aura of Undead from her body. No, at the same time, there was another ominous aura. In this special period, I do not allow factors that do not belong to her to appear in the Territory, so please tell me her identity truthfully. Otherwise, I do not rule out using force to restrict her personal freedom.”

George’s words were so firm that the color on the face of the person before him quickly disappeared. After clenching his fists, he seemed to be estimating the combat power gap between him and George.

After a long while, the other person let go of his clenched hands and said dejectedly: “Although Clarice is a Vampire Spawn, she belongs to the kind of hunter who hopes to take revenge on the bastard who caused her mother’s suffering. And as far as I know, she has not hurt any innocent people so far. If you still have any doubts, you can arrange for a Priest to use Truth Domain on me.”

As a fruit of horror and tragedy, Vampire Spawn were vampire children born to human mothers. Since human mothers rarely survived the birth of a Vampire Spawn, they often grew up in an environment full of suspicion and rarely understood. The surviving mothers often abandoned these children and refused to tell them the truth.

Some believed that Vampire Spawn were the crystallization of a union between human females and Vampires, while others believed they were the result of pregnant women being viciously bitten by Vampires. Some particularly fanatical scholars even classified Vampire Spawn as an independent race, rather than viewing them as humans defiled and polluted.

In fact, the above hypotheses were supported by the evidence that Vampire Spawn were difficult to pass on genetically; their offspring were almost all Human, usually Sorcerers with Undead bloodlines. In any case, they lived and died like mortal creatures, although they had supernatural long lives like Elves.

Hardships were the true portrayal of the early life of Vampires. Most were orphans. Although they had delicate faces and natural beauty, they faced injustice, misunderstanding, fear, and persecution throughout their lives.

Humans who had witnessed the supernatural power, sunlight sensitivity, and other reactions of Vampire Spawn often kept their distance from them with hearts of fear and hatred. Finally, Vampire Spawn had to learn how to face these hardships and find a foothold for themselves.

Although most Vampire Spawn willingly fell into the evil nature of Undead bloodlines and became monsters recognized by the world; some refused to accept their own impure bloodlines and vowed to take revenge on their mothers by hunting the Vampire creatures that spawned them.

So what the Magus Warrior before him said was relatively credible. And the fact that the other party dared to face Truth Domain meant that this was their view in their own hearts.

However, Vampire Spawn rarely had companions. Evil Vampire Spawn only saw companions and allies as tools; their standard for choosing humans was usefulness rather than race. Even when facing someone who made their hearts beat, most Vampire Spawn would be depressed and introverted.

Sometimes it was to avoid adding the persecution they suffered to their partners, and sometimes it was because they were afraid that their vampire impulses might be vented on their friends’ necks due to a momentary lapse of thought. In short, bonds with Vampire Spawn often ended in tragedy. So George found that Vampire Spawn with deep bonds like the one he had just seen were indeed rare.

“Vampire Spawn? Judging by that person’s appearance, she should be a Vampire Spawn of the Jasmine bloodline. On this point, I will believe you first! But what is that ominous aura on her body?” George then raised his second question. It looked like he was preparing to pursue relentlessly until he got his goal.

Vampire Spawn whose ancestors could be traced back to the Jasmine bloodline inherited extraordinary charm and beauty from their ancestors. Jasmine Vampire Spawn were more inclined to live peacefully with mortals than other Vampire Spawn, but they had to be careful that their relatively free social activities would not trigger jealousy, resentment, or contempt.

The reason they were hunted was more due to greed than prejudice, so they developed a set of social skills to heal cracks caused by accidental discrimination or careless performances. Just now, even in the argument, the lady’s restraint shown was quite in line with this point.

“That is because she is a Magic Swordsman!” The young man before him showed a speechless expression again.

Magic Swordsmen possessed a balanced power of magic and the sword. When their strength was relatively low, Magic Swordsmen relied on their special ability to curse enemies to strengthen their melee attacks. As experience increased, while the curses became more powerful and they gained the ability to twist natural laws, they also acquired the ability to cast limited spells. They could also use the service of their Familiars to strengthen their abilities.

Although this did not mean tending towards Evil, even the friendliest Magic Swordsmen were at best Neutral. Magic Swordsmen could be irritable, or free, disciplined, or pioneering, so there was no need to necessarily tend towards Lawful or Chaotic.

Power always came with a price, and the combination of Vampire Spawn and Magic Swordsman could truly be called a disastrous omen. Because dark powers controlled them, the people they loved often got hurt, the causes they participated in often ended in total failure, and the places they visited often fell into disasters of destruction.

Their bodies were written with pain and fatigue, and their fate was to act as the forerunners of destruction and sorrow.

This made them sometimes depressed and listless, and sometimes reckless in desperate anger. Many times, these people struggled with feelings of disappointment and depression. They spoke out the dark omens they saw and the ominous future, pointing out the loopholes in their companions’ plans.

However, sometimes when these people faced obstacles or troublesome enemies, an uncontrollable anger would pour out, making them rush into a crowd of enemies regardless of their own safety, or swing their fists and curse the gods.