Chapter 516 - Unexpected Assault
Chapter 516 Unexpected Assault
More than one gold coin was a lot of money.
Fruit wine in this world was generally inexpensive, and even if it was of the highest quality drunk by nobles, one silver coin could buy two or three large barrels. The only thing that was more expensive was the elven nectar wine, which was 1.5 times its equivalent weight in gold. However, not even the elves drank much of this. There wasn’t enough to supply the elven royal family and high officials, so it hardly ever flowed to the human world.
The occasional people who drank it were legendary sages and heroes-it was more rumor than fact.
Or, some humans who were quite friendly with the elven higher-ups were occasionally gifted with it.
They hid it for themselves and rarely took it out.
In any case, the elven nectar wine was the true luxury alcoholic beverage.
The fruit wine that humans drank, no matter how good it tasted, was just a normal drink. The red-bearded dwarf, however, was able to drink himself into so much debt, despite the fact that fruit wine was generally inexpensive, so it could be easily imagined that he must be a hopeless alcoholic.
He was probably the kind of drunkard who soaked in a wine jar every day.
Looking at the receptionist’s expectant expression, Roland sighed and handed over two gold coins.
The receptionist immediately took it, and then returned the extra money with a red wooden badge. “This dwarf is in the mines about ten kilometers west of the city, take this sign and you can bring him back.”
Again with the wooden badge!
People in Fareins really liked to use this thing as a credential.
Roland took the wooden badge, and after leaving the Guild of Mercenaries, he flew directly to the west of the city.
Human Cannonball caused quite a disturbance, and many people who had an intuitive reaction to magic power felt it.
Some even went out onto their balconies and watched as a human silhouette crossed the sky of the capital.
It was quite an interesting way to fly!
It was very fast.
Many people looked on yearningly and some understood its principles, but too few were able to do so.
First of all, only with precise control of magic power could one activate Magic Shield and at the same time perfectly cast Spatial Bubble.
Secondly, it was dangerous. The Spatial Bubble itself was not dangerous, but sucking oneself in and then flinging oneself out, therein was the danger.
It was much more dangerous than Long-Distance Teleportation.
Long-Distance Teleportation was dangerous enough, let alone this strange skill of using a Spatial Bubble to throw oneself in a certain direction.
Low-level Mages wouldn’t dare to do that.
Legendary Mages could control the bubble squirt to a less dangerous threshold, but the problem was that they had their own flight magic, such as Wind Soaring. This was 100% safe, so why risk it?
Only a Golden Son, who was not afraid of death, could effectively use this spell to fly.
Of course, Roland’s technique still left impressions in the hearts of many bigshot Mages; after all, its flying speed was incredibly fast and could be used to escape at critical times.
A ten-kilometer distance, at the high speed of the Human Cannonball, would take less than a minute.
Mines were extremely easy to identify.
Wherever there was a road leading to the mountains, and where there was pair of road marks made by crates driving over the road…
Add to that a large amount of gravel scattered along the roadside, and the road most likely led to a mine.
Roland quickly found such a road and landed at the foot of the mountain.
As soon as he landed, he saw a crate full of greenish ore driving by.
The three miners on the cart saw him and subconsciously bowed.
Roland nodded to them, then looked up the hill.
This road led to a green forest on the mountain, and the entrance to the mine could not be seen from above, but it could be seen from this road.
Seeing many miners along the way, Roland came to the mine cave, where there were several mud houses, presumably for housing the miners.
There were even slightly larger stone houses, which probably housed the overseers.
Roland walked over to one.
The front door of the stone house was wide open, and there was a table and a man in a coarse blue coat sitting behind it, yawning in boredom. When he looked up and saw Roland, he immediately stood up in shock, nodding and smiling at the same time. “Master Mage, may I ask why you are here?” Roland put the wooden badge on the table and said, “I’m here to pick up Red Beard Wilmot.”
The man was immediately relieved. He had thought Roland was looking for trouble. The miners here were strong, but they could never beat a Mage.
The man called a miner who was sitting and resting nearby to go get Red Beard, then he said obsequiously to Roland, “Master Mage, would you like to go inside the house and rest for a while?”
“No thanks, I’ll just wait here.” Roland waved his hand.
In reality, the environment in the stone house was terrible—the overseers were not hygienic people—and it was full of stench. This man simply offered; he didn’t think that a Mage would go into such a poor house to rest. Roland stepped aside and waited for a moment.
Then a red-bearded dwarf carrying a cane frame was seen coming out of the mine entrance.
As he walked, he shouted unhappily, “You humans are so annoying. Leaving aside not giving me a drink, now you won’t even let me dig ore. Of the three most important things for dwarves, you deprive me of two! Do you want me to die of pain and sadness?”
The dwarf’s voice was so loud that Roland felt his ears prickle when he heard it from a distance.
The miner who led him out covered his ears and said helplessly, “The Master Mage helped you pay for the wine money you owe, it’s more than one gold coin-I guess he wants you to work for him.”
“Tsk, it’s not like you don’t know that I hate the so-called nobles and spellcasters, all with their noses up higher than their heads.”
As Red Beard spoke, he saw Roland nearby. He then froze for a moment, and his expression immediately became serious. He threw down the rattan frame with many minerals in it and walked quickly to Roland. “What does a strong-looking spellcaster want from a drunkard like me?”.
“Let’s talk somewhere else?” Roland bobbed his head and motioned the dwarf to go to the side.
The dwarf was only as tall as Roland’s waist, but his shoulders were much wider than Roland’s. His beard was almost all over his face, and only the rough red skin near his nose and eyes could be seen.
Wilmot was hesitant.
He felt that the Mage in front of him was dangerous and could kill him in minutes.
It was just that the other party had already come to his door, and there was no way to avoid it.
After thinking for a while, the dwarf nodded.
The two of them went to the nearby woods, then Roland took the ring out from his Backpack, tossed it to the dwarf, and said, “Stephanie asked me to learn from you the art of grooming beards.”
After hearing this, Wilmot immediately checked the ring, and after a moment, he was relieved. “So it’s someone sent by the First Princess. Is she going to maneuver us, those who shouldn’t be seen in the light?”
“If she doesn’t maneuver you, she’s going to be out of the game.” Roland smiled. “Give me back the ring and take me to your companions… all of them.”
Wilmot reluctantly handed the ring back to Roland.
In reality, as long as he had this ring and knew their identities and spoke the password, he could command them. Wilmot also wanted this ring. It wasn’t that he wanted to seize power, but simply… He wanted to collect Stephanie’s things.
“No problem, but it will take time to rally them,” Wilmot said.
“How long will it take?”
“At least half a day.” Roland nodded. “Okay, then I’ll wait for you to meet me at the Moonlight Stone Tavern in the evening.”
Wilmot suddenly brightened up. “The fruit wine there is good, won’t your lordship buy me a few drinks?”
“Sure, I’ll try to see if I can get a big room for all of you tonight and treat you to a good meal, how about that?” As a typical Chinese man, Roland felt that the dinner party culture was a bit wasteful, but there was no denying that oftentimes, eating and drinking could really bring people closer together extremely quickly.
Roland needed these people to give him information, so wouldn’t it be the right thing to treat them to a nice meal and make them work harder?
An emperor doesn’t dispatch hungry soldiers.
The alcoholic immediately got high on the idea.
“Your lordship is so generous.” Wilmot danced a dwarven tap dance out of excitement, spinning Roland several times before he calmed down a bit, but his spirits still seemed extremely high. “Good, I’ll go and inform those companions. There are seventeen people, and the largest room in the Moonlight Stone Tavern should have no problem fitting over a hundred people.”
After he finished speaking, he bounced to the side with a gait particular to dwarfs, and with a swish, he disappeared.
Then it was clear that there were bushes parting ahead and something unseen leaving quickly.
A Rogue… Roland was stunned.
Generally, for all professionals, the system would automatically indicate their level, and if the other party was too strong, it would be indicated by a skull symbol.
For example, Alfred and other higher-ups of the Red Magic Tower all had skeleton symbols in Roland’s eyes.
But, this Wilmot, in Roland’s eyes, had no level indication and no skull symbol.
Interesting!
A special hidden ability that could fool the system, at the level of natural laws?
The First Princess seems to have some capabilities.
To be able to recruit such a person…
If the rest of the hidden pawns all had these kinds of special abilities, it seemed reasonable that she would become queen.
Roland teleported to a remote part of the capital and then to the underground library.
As soon as he appeared in the library, he felt that something was off.
There were strong elements of dark magic in the air.
He subconsciously activated his Magic Shield.
Right as the shield spread open, a white bone spear that emitted black gas suddenly came from his right and hit Roland’s Magic Shield, trembling in the air for a moment, and then bounced aside after its force and magic power were completely neutralized.
Fortunately, Roland reacted quickly enough to activate his Magic Shield, otherwise, the bone spear would have pierced his skull.
Roland turned his head to find a figure with black gas rolling all over its body standing in between the bookshelves about five meters to the right.
The black magic wrapped around the person’s entire body; it was impossible to see its face or body shape. Even its height couldn’t be determined.
Roland didn’t hesitate to point at it, and a green Chain Lightning was sent out, instantly wrapping around the body of the black shadow.
The lightning and the black smoke produced by magical elements crashed together, creating a strange magic neutralization. The lightning suddenly disappeared along with a chunk of the black smoke, and the other party’s face was faintly revealed.
But it was still not clear.
Then a spatial magic fluctuation was produced, and the shadow suddenly disappeared.
Teleportation!
Roland wanted to take chase but immediately aborted the thought. He looked around and found that Andonara, the First Princess, and Beatrice were gone.