In July, the air in Braggs seemed to be filled with a kind of heat that made people restless.
Under the calm surface, undercurrents were surging. It was foreseeable that the big and small nobles were in a terrible fix over the past half a month. In their circle, the signs of the end of the war were becoming more and more obvious. Although the life of the lower-class citizens was still as usual, those who wanted to take the opportunity to make a fortune were gradually becoming restless.
The citizens often saw the messengers' horses entering the city one after another. Those who did not know the situation would think that the war was urgent, but these letters were the progress of the negotiations in Winterrose Castle.
As a result, the civilians were anxious all day long, and the nobles were also anxious all day long.
But all this had nothing to do with Brando. The young man was steadily following his schedule. He spent three days bribing his connections to get a registration certificate of a pioneer Knight. It was a document that stated the mutual loyalty and responsibility between Knight and King, and then stamped with a seal.
This thin piece of parchment was more valuable than gold in the early years, but as Erouine gradually declined, the Knight class degenerated into a local force, and the adventurers turned to illegal businesses. No one was enthusiastic about expanding the territory of this ancient kingdom, so the title of 'Pioneer Knight' gradually became obscure.
Since the ascension of the former King, the nobles who had made a fortune through the identity of a pioneer Knight gradually began to set a price for this title, and this piece of parchment became less and less valuable since then.
In order to get this identity, Brando, just like what he did in the game, asked Batom to buy a beautiful dress for the wife of a municipal official.
It was already the 11th when he got the document. On this day, the cripple brought him another piece of good news. The long-awaited underground trade fair had finally arrived.
Just like the regular fairs in certain areas, Braggs's Grey Realm would hold an underground trade fair on the tenth day of the month. It was just that most of the goods sold in this fair were stolen goods, contraband, and even human trafficking. It was not surprising because the people who participated in this trade fair were not only mercenaries, adventurers, and illegal merchants, but also the people who made the rules in Braggs.
Namely, the nobles.
There was no doubt that the local underground forces were controlling this underground market, but it was inevitable that some nobles would intervene. This was an open fact.
And it was enough to hide from the ordinary citizens who needed a peaceful and stable society.
Braggs's underground trade fair was regularly held in Maria's Market in Hood District or Shepherd's Market in the East District. The organizers deliberately chose densely populated places to hide from the public. But often, a lot of people would often find a large number of unfamiliar faces in these two places. They would ask questions, chat, and then leave in a hurry the next morning.
In particular, these two markets also had a small auction house for rental. Of course, this was just an excuse on the surface. In fact, apart from the occasional use of these two auction houses, they were almost exclusively built for this regular gathering.
If you tried to find their owners, you would only find them of an ordinary merchant nearby. However, if one were to investigate further, they would discover that these two buildings were actually funded by the local noble parliament.
Of course, these were all digressions.
When Batom led Brando down from the carriage, the sunset in Braggs was just like the one in the oil painting of the same name. It was like an orange-red fireball hanging in the sky, burning the surrounding clouds red.
The young man was wearing a Knight's uniform, which was ironed neatly. The Shire, an apprentice wizard, stood beside him, so that they could disguise themselves as the Highland Knight from Karsuk and his squire.
Of course, there was also Brando's sister, Amandina, and his fiancée, the Roman lady, who came down from the carriage.
Amandina removed her hand from Brando's hand as soon as she got down from the carriage. She was wearing a black veil and a black dress. Her eyes were indifferent as she stared at the people coming and going outside the small auction house.
The young girl lightly pursed her lips. Her aura was completely different from a few days ago. When she first met Brando, she gave off a soft and tender feeling, but now she was cold, and her body naturally emitted an aura that kept people away.
Even if the 'Owl' Jon came to see Amandina, he would not dare to rashly greet her, let alone Tirste's spies.
What's more, at this critical juncture, something as trivial as a person going missing in a big city wouldn't attract any attention at all. The cemetery area was already a dangerous place to begin with, so much so that the city officials only discovered their negligence a few days later from the actions of their colleagues.
Originally, missing people should be the responsibility of the city guards, but before that, the security cavalry had already conducted a large-scale search. The scale of the search could be considered an exception. Three companies of cavalry almost turned the eastern part of the city upside down, and almost alerted the local nobles in Braggs.
However, since Viscount Tirste didn't want this incident to fall into the ears of others, he decided to let it go. In the end, the entire incident was linked to the 'cemetery attack' that happened half a year ago. Thus, it became a case without any clues.
That was why Amandina could be at ease when she appeared outside.
Standing beside her was Romaine, who was slightly taller than her. The merchant girl was staring intently at a row of crystal balls on the table not far away. She furrowed her brows as if she was trying to figure out what it was.
But what made Brando a little dumbfounded was that there was not a single word written on the crystal ball, and no matter how long she stared at it, there would not be any flowers growing on it.
He knew that she was only doing this to attract Amandina's attention.
For the past few days, Romaine and Amandina had gotten along quite well. Romaine had a naturally sharp sense of smell, and she was able to sniff out the scent of an opportunity. However, Amandina had the knowledge of the outside world that Romaine lacked, and she also had some necessary knowledge.
For example, if no one told this future merchant girl that the Anzek region had always been responsible for transporting food and wine to Bruglas, this country girl born in Bucce wouldn't have seen the business opportunity in it.
But now, Amandina had taken up this role. Even though all her knowledge came from books, it was still better than the Roman who had all her knowledge from her imagination, wasn't it?
"What is that, Ann?" The Roman finally could not help but ask.
Amandina's attention was also on the row of thumb-sized crystal balls. The owner of the crystal balls was a man wearing a black robe. Not everyone in Erouine had the right to wear such a robe, and the man was a monk.
The young girl could not help but look at Brando, but the young man had an indifferent expression. She paused for a moment and could not help but frown.
"That is a 'Fire Seed'." Amandina did not turn her head and answered softly.
"What is a 'Fire Seed'?"
"A 'Fire Seed' is a sacred object that people use to spread civilization in the wilderness. I didn't expect to see something like this in an auction." Amandina replied.
"I don't understand." Amandina replied bluntly.
Amandina could not help but sigh. After a few days of interaction, Brando did not disappoint her. She did not expect the person who hired her to be a noble Knight, and a legendary Highland Knight at that. Moreover, Brando's behavior was polite most of the time, and he was calm and collected when dealing with matters. He was in line with the image of a lord in her mind.
But this fiancée of his was a bit of a headache. It was not that the Roman were difficult to get along with. On the contrary, Amandina's personality could be said to be likable most of the time. But what gave her a headache was that Amandina seemed to treat her as a moving encyclopedia, and always had a curious expression on her face as she asked this and that.
But she could not refuse and could only answer: "How much do you know about our world?"
"I don't know."
"… …"
Amandina coughed twice and replied: "Then I'll try to explain it in simple terms. In the epic of the Cruz people, their god 'Ahiru' (Martha) created a world out of chaos with the six elements of fire, wind, earth, water, life, and darkness. After the four Elven Kings made a pact, the world's boundary was formed — "
"This boundary constantly drew the power of magic from the chaos, forming a land that extended infinitely in all four directions, which is the world we live in. Thus, the shape of the world should be a circle, and it should extend infinitely in all four directions."
"But this world is constantly leaning towards chaos, so Lady Martha used the Law to restrict it, and fixed the order on the land where mortals walk. In these areas, the sun, moon, and stars operate normally, so mortals can reproduce, and civilization can continue — "
"But outside the land protected by Lady Martha, there is a battlefield between the elements and chaos, and there is a vast transition area in between. These areas are what we call the 'Barbarian Wastelands'. But it is not impossible to change between the Land of Order and the Barbarian Wastelands. This is where the Knight of Pioneer and the 'Demon Wave' came from. "
"And the Fire Seed is the key to planting the Law on the land. A land built in the Barbarian Wastelands must have a Fire Seed. "
Amandina coughed and asked after she finished explaining: "Do you understand?"
The Roman nodded, then shook her head and answered obediently: "I only understood the first sentence — Ah! It hurts, it hurts, Brando, let go of me — "Before she could finish her sentence, she was pulled over by Brando and held in his arms.
"Little Roman, it seems like you are not destined to become a wizard, so don't worry about it. You should be more concerned about how much money we can earn from the auction. "Brando said to her while looking back at Amandina with an apologetic look.
The girl smiled faintly.
She quickly walked up and asked: "Don't you care about the Fire Seeds, Mister Brando?" As an aide, she of course knew that Brando went to buy a certificate to become a Knight of Pioneer.
Brando looked at the crystal balls. He was interested in seeing so many Fire Seeds appearing at the same time, but he was sure that he was not the only one who cared about it. He thought that he could only give it a try later. Besides, there was a Fire Seed in the place he wanted to go, and he was not in a hurry to use it.
"I understand, I can give it a try later."
Amandina looked at him, thought for a moment, and nodded worriedly. In her eyes, Brando was the kind of young Knight who left home to open up his own territory. Whether he could achieve anything depended on whether he could have his own territory, or whether he could make contributions in the war.
The girl also understood how long her own path was, and she was also completely dependent on it. After all, at this moment, only Brando appreciated her talent.
Thus, she could not help but worry about Brando's every move.
Brando saw the girl's worry and wanted to say something, but he suddenly saw Cripple hiding in the shadows and gesturing to him, telling him that the auction was about to begin, and for him and the others to hurry up. The young man was slightly startled and raised his head, and found that the people who had gathered around had already begun to enter.
(PS. I'm not feeling well today, so I'll only write one chapter.
In addition, I sincerely request for monthly votes and subscriptions. After staying in the hospital for a week, I discovered that my subscriptions had dropped drastically.)
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