Salin had no pity for this bronze sword saint. What he had to do now was to study how to use a level-one spell to break the residual sword aura in the body of the bronze sword saint. Seeing that Neris was watching, Salin said, "Neris, what did you ask? Go and tell Rex now."
"Then he …" Neris pointed at the bronze sword saint. Salin nodded and agreed to Neris's little request.
Neris got what she wanted, so she got out of the tent. The tent had long been surrounded by black mist, and Neris called out softly, "Rex?"
"Neris, what did you ask?"
"We seem to have made a mistake. It was those people from the forest trading firm who robbed them," Neris said with a grin, observing Rex's reaction.
"Oh?" Rex was neither surprised nor flustered. Even if it was the people from the forest trading firm who robbed first, the things they stole must have been shady. That was why these people would pretend to be thieves and try to get it back. It didn't matter who was right or wrong to Rex. She was not a noble judge, nor a deacon of the inquisition. Even if she killed the wrong people, she had to blame these people for pretending to be thieves.
Neris saw Rex's stone-like expression and knew that her little trick was useless. She continued as if nothing had happened, "They are smuggling something called Emperor Berries."
Emperor Berries!
Rex was a little surprised. Emperor Berries were a plant with strange toxicity and were very rare. In the entire Qinyin Empire, they could only be found occasionally in the southern jungles, and could not be cultivated artificially. Emperor Berries were somewhat like poppies, but they didn't need to be refined, and their juice was addictive. Even a sword saint would be unable to extricate himself if he accidentally ate one.
For a Mage, this thing wasn't dangerous. As long as it was diluted to about 1/120,000, the juice of the Emperor Berries would be basically harmless. At this time, the Poison Detection spell could still detect the toxicity of the Emperor Berries.
Even if one wasn't a Mage, the strong alcoholic smell of the Emperor Berries couldn't be concealed. This thing could be used to make potions, and was a relatively important military resource of the empire. Potions made with Emperor Berries could expel plagues, reduce inflammation, and relieve pain. In the hands of a Magician, the Emperor Berry would become harmless, which was very different from poppies.
However, the worst thing about the Emperor Berry was that it could be used to make alcohol. An Emperor Berry was only the size of an ordinary pearl, but it could turn a large bucket of water into hard liquor. The smugglers didn't know how to use the Imperial Berries to make medicine at all. Instead, they wanted to make inferior liquor to sell. This kind of strong alcohol was slightly toxic. Drinking too much of it would harm the human body, and it could also be slightly addictive.
"In June, the Church issued a ban on alcohol. The Emperor Berries they brought with them were worth more than 400,000 gold coins at Tanggulas."
Rex instantly understood what had happened. This was actually just a simple smuggling incident, but the amount was a little shocking. Four hundred thousand gold coins was indeed enough for a noble to take a risk, even if his subordinates were disguised as bandits.
The important news was that the Vatican had banned alcohol. In the Four Great Empires, the alcohol business had always been one of the most profitable industries. It was just that each country had different tastes.
The people of Tanggulas loved strong alcohol, and every year, they would consume a large amount of grain to brew it. The Tanggulas Empire was vast, but it had the least amount of land suitable for growing grain. By banning alcohol, the Vatican was definitely stockpiling grain. Perhaps they would launch an attack in spring next year, or even expand the scale of the war before winter.
The Tanggulas Empire had banned alcohol many times, but it didn't work. Now that the Vatican was involved, the wine merchants of Tanggulas probably wouldn't dare to resist. In the past, the price of strong alcohol would skyrocket crazily as soon as the alcohol ban was announced.
Under such circumstances, smuggling the Emperor Berry became a good thing.
Strong alcohol made from the Emperor Berry would harm the will of the enemy, and could also earn a lot of gold coins. If Rex knew that the Vatican had banned alcohol, he would probably have the same idea.
As a woman of Qin Yin, she didn't care about the health of the people of Tanggulas, nor would she worry that this matter would harm Qin Yin.
Strong alcohol had always been hard to find in Qin Yin. The most widely sold product was wine made from grapes. No matter what kind of grapes they were, they all preferred sandy land. Such land wasn't suitable for growing grain.
"Who's doing this?" Rex didn't care too much about the details. Smuggling was something that many people did. However, smuggling to an enemy country, whether it was beneficial for the war or not, could be used by political enemies. Even if it was made known to the capital, the capital might not deal with it immediately.
"Marquis Gria of Dragonbone City."
"Oh? That's an impressive person. "Rex only sighed when he heard the name. Marquis Gria controlled the Goethe family, which was a relatively powerful noble in the south. The Emperor Berry was produced in his fief, and had always been supplied to court Spellcasters. He was the one who stole what was supposed to be his job. The Emperor Berry was only produced in Qin Yin, and was only sold to the royal family.
No wonder it had to be so mysterious and tense. Rex shook her head. She had killed the wrong person this time. If she had known about this, she wouldn't have minded killing those swordsmen of the Williams family. Now she was wondering if the swordsman of the Williams family knew that the goods they stole belonged to the Goethe family. If he did, he would be trying to get Lassalin involved.
Rex wasn't afraid of Gria getting angry. She was now a queen, which was higher than a marquis. The Bitter Water Prefecture was thousands of miles away from Dragonbone City. Even if Gria was angry, he couldn't do anything to her.
However, the distance between Dragonbone City and Alchemy City wasn't far. This matter had to be handled carefully.
Inside the tent, Salin kept attacking the Bronze Sword Saint with Icicle. He was still using the original Level One Icicle, and the release speed was deliberately slowed down. The sword aura in the Bronze Sword Saint's body reacted naturally, trying to defend against Salin's attack. Salin watched patiently. Every time the icicle was about to hit the Bronze Sword Saint, he immediately dispelled the spell.
After careful observation, Salin found that the sword aura was very much like life energy. Back then, the mages on the continent used this kind of power, a kind of divine power from the goddess Myers.
Salin himself had some experience with the divine power of the goddess. The difference between divine power and sword aura was very obvious. Sword aura was more condensed and full of explosive power, while Myers' divine power was majestic and thick, giving people a very comfortable feeling. However, the source of the two was very similar. They were both a kind of power outside of the six elements.
Although the power of the sword aura was not within the six elements, Salin could still calculate the weakness of the sword aura. As long as the speed of the sword aura was slowed down by a hundred times, he could easily defeat it.
The Bronze Sword Saint was seriously injured and on the verge of death. He had also lost the will to control his body, and the sword aura in his body was running much slower. Salin could use this as an experiment.
If the Bronze Sword Saint was still conscious, he would probably be ashamed to death. Salin controlled the icicles accurately, and every icicle was immediately dispelled when it came into contact with the skin. Salin could release nearly two hundred Level One spells in a row. When the magic string was about to run out, he stopped.
He understood the defense principle of sword aura. The icicle pierced into the Bronze Sword Saint's lower abdomen, creating a bowl-sized hole. The remaining sword aura in the Bronze Sword Saint's body was hit by the icicle. He immediately lost control, and his internal organs were smashed by this chaotic sword aura. Salin looked at the Bronze Sword Saint's body and let out a long sigh.
He had a vague understanding of the principle of sword aura, but there were all kinds of ways to use it. If he wanted to deal with a Sword Saint in actual combat, his calculation speed was far from enough.
Salin held the magic core in his hand and quickly restored the magic string. He knew that if he relied on himself, it would still be very difficult to deal with a Sword Saint. After he used up all his scrolls, it would be even more dangerous. Rex reminded him not to lose himself in power. In fact, Salin was even more sensitive to this than Rex. He didn't learn any magic from Jason, but he learned too much about how to become a mage.
Rex's voice came from outside the tent. "Salin, let's go."
She didn't want to stay here any longer. If Marquis Gria's men returned, she didn't want to continue killing people now that she knew who they were.
What Salin had done previously was still within Gria's tolerance. It was perfectly normal for a mage to kill all the bandits, but now that he knew the other party's identity, Rex only had two choices left.
Either he killed them all, or he revealed his identity.
Neither was good, so Rex decided to walk away. Salin was called out of the tent by her. Rex didn't remove the Dark Mist, and just asked Nelis to put the tent away. Sicar led the horses over, and the four of them didn't care about the caravan anymore. They rode on the main road and galloped directly east.
This time, Rex didn't control the horses' speed. The four of them changed horses every hour. By the evening, they had already run nearly two hundred miles. Even with the help of magic, the eight horses were exhausted and could not be ridden anymore.
As they sped up, they missed the town, and the four of them had to camp in the wild again.
Rex set up a simple magic array to protect the eight horses, and then set up magic traps and magic alarms outside the camp. Then, the four of them lit a bonfire and prepared food like ordinary mercenaries.
In the north of the empire, even in the middle of summer, the nights were still cool. If it rained, it would be a little cold. Mages could adapt to all kinds of climates, as long as they had magic strings. Sicar wasn't afraid of the cold. Even in the middle of winter, she dared to wear clothes that exposed her lower abdomen. As for Nelis, as a little demon, the natural environment of Myers Continent was like heaven to her.
If someone approached this camp, they would see a strange scene. One man and three women. Four young people, dressed differently. Nelis was wearing a fur coat, Sicar was wearing full armor, Salin was wearing a simple magic robe, and Rex was wearing a colorful robe. The four of them surrounded a bonfire. The bonfire wasn't burning wood, but pure magic potions.
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