Hao Ren was caught off guard by the sudden response from the petite mage named Rheia. He had prepared a lot of excuses, but none of them came in handy. He could only look at Rheia in disbelief. "Don't you want to know more about us?"
"What else? Are you waiting for you to admit that you're unregistered? " Rheia said as she shook the staff in her hand. "And looking at your reactions, I'm starting to believe that you're really down-and-out adventurers. But I'm a little curious, why would there be a child in an adventurer team these days? "
As she spoke, her gaze fell on Y 'lisabet, and the demon girl was fiddling uncomfortably with the pointy wizard hat on her head (to cover the demon's little horns, as Hao Ren and the rest had not found any demons roaming freely in this world). Hearing Rheia's words, she immediately looked up and bared her fangs threateningly. "You're the child! How much bigger can you be compared to me? "
"You've got quite the temper, little girl." Rheia's eyes widened in surprise before she smirked. "Don't look at me like that, I'm a full-fledged adult. Alright, this is not a good place to chat. Do you want to come over to my mage tower? If we want to introduce ourselves, we'll have to sit by the warm fireplace, no? "
The seemingly reckless female mage had invited a group of unknown adventurers to rest in her mage tower. This was not a lack of vigilance, but it was a sign of caution. A mage's power in their own mage tower would increase exponentially, and the mage tower itself had a large number of automatic defense mechanisms. So inviting strangers into one's mage tower was actually the best way to verify that the other party was not hostile. If they were really a group of mischievous people, they would have to think twice about this invitation. Anyone who wanted to target a mage would try to kill them outside the mage tower, and not foolishly run to the opponent's home ground.
Of course, there was also the possibility of a super powerful assassin sneaking into a mage's Mage Tower. However, if one really provoked such an opponent, there was no need to consider whether to go to the Mage Tower or not. It was just a matter of where one would die …
Hao Ren could roughly guess what was going on. After all, Holletta was a world with a rather advanced magic civilization, and he had dealt with mages there before. Faced with Rheia's invitation, he pretended to think for a moment before nodding. "Alright, we have nowhere to go tonight anyway. But before I go to your Magus Tower, can I ask you about the direction of the commission you spoke of? "
This was a necessary question. If there was no such question, then this group of self-proclaimed 'down-and-out adventurers' would look suspicious, so Rheia did not think too much about it. She nodded and said, "Actually, it's just following me to a ruin to look for something. Of course, there was a little danger, but it was definitely not as exaggerated as what you heard from the Mercenary Guild. Every mercenary that followed me came back alive! If you don't believe me, you can ask the person involved tomorrow! "
Seeing the little mage so agitated, Hao Ren could not help but laugh. "Alright, alright, we are willing to trust our employer. But we still have to wait for you to tell us the details of the mission."
"Of course, I'm a person who values honesty the most," Rheia said proudly, before pointing her staff at the end of the alley. "Then follow me, let's go to my house first."
The sorceress led Hao Ren and the rest through the complicated alleys of White Maple Leaf City, taking hidden paths that normal people would not use. This ancient city with hundreds of years of history was like an ant nest that kept expanding and extending. The streets and houses built by generations of residents piled up layer by layer to form the main body of the city. Within the bright and magnificent city walls, there was a maze of old alleys. If a newcomer were to stumble into it, they would have the misconception that they would never see the light of day again. Only locals who had lived in the city for a long time would dare to casually plan their own route through the alleys, and the sorceress was obviously a rather experienced 'local'.
And with her leading the way, the group almost directly passed through the layers of civilian district, and without going through any official city gates, they arrived at the mage district in the southeast of the city.
It was already nightfall.
There was a saying that the nobles were not necessarily mages, but mages were at least half of the nobles. As a well-deserved group of knowledge and power, mages represented advanced productivity and progressive knowledge in this world. Therefore, the place where they gathered must be extraordinary.
Mages had the right to live in the center of the city, alongside the lords and nobles, but this bunch of arrogant and knowledgeable geeks clearly preferred a quieter place, so most of the mage districts were located outside the main city, and White Maple Leaf City was no exception. The mage district was located in the southeast of the city, and was the only place in the city that was not protected by the city walls, but the magical barrier formed by dozens of magic towers and various automatic defense puppets made this place more reliable than any city wall. Here, the glow from the various magical devices and the scattered magical energy in the air lit up the entire city, and it was no less glorious than the lights of the lord's mansion in the city center, and the magic towers that stood silently in the night sky added a mysterious hue to the sleepless city.
In such a luxurious and upscale city, Rheia's dilapidated Mage Tower naturally stood out like a chicken among cranes.
Her tower was the closest to the civilian district in the mage district, and it was a stone building about twenty meters tall. The building had clearly been in service for a long time, and it was severely lacking in maintenance. The walls of the tower were mottled and cracked, and the original paint had long been eroded by wind and rain, and in some of the most severely damaged areas, even the magitek wires buried in the walls were exposed, and sparks were crackling in the air. Looking up the tower, there were half-closed windows and broken windowsills, and a metal pipe extended out from one of the windows, and there were still wet clothes hanging on it.
Compared to this tower, all the other buildings in sight were resplendent and magnificent.
Hao Ren silently lowered his head, and thought that the only way to allow Rheia's mage tower to exist in this city was to write the word "demolish" on the wall …
"This is my Magus Tower!" Rheia pointed at the door with her iron staff, and then she noticed Hao Ren and the rest looking at her, and a little embarrassed. "Aha … funds have been tight for the past two years, and I haven't had much time to repair it. But don't worry, it's a mage's thing, as long as the magic structure is intact, it'll be fine. Everything inside is still very useful, there's hot water and heating. Let me tell you, this tower may look old now, but it's a symbol of seniority. It's one of the earliest mage towers in this district, and when my teacher's teacher's teacher was still alive, it was the tallest building here! "
Since then, the tower had not been renovated at all, right? How many generations have you been poor, miss?
Lily secretly poked Vivian's arm. "Hey, Battie, if you're so poor, you're probably related to her, right?"
"Shut up!"
Rheia felt that the awkwardness could not go on any longer, and the best way to end it was to get them to stop looking at the big houses around them. So, she quickly led the guests inside. "Ahem, everyone, come with me. Make yourselves at home. Ah, be careful when you go in, this brick is a little loose … "
The group entered the mage tower, and just as Rheia said, while the building looked a little run-down, the facilities inside were still complete. At least the lights were on, the tables had four legs, and the door could be closed …
The environmental control circle in the Mage Tower was operating as usual. The warm spring breeze dispelled the chill of the night outside. Although the round main hall on the first floor was simple, it had a warm fireplace and chairs for resting. It was enough to entertain a small group of visitors.
Rheia threw her staff aside as she entered, and took off her old robe, and the two items automatically flew to the coat rack and storage rack by the wall. Then, in her light housecoat, she went to the chimney-piece, and touched one of the brass carvings, whereupon the fire grew brighter, and the hearth itself took on a different appearance.
So the whole thing was some kind of illusory device.
"There's a warm wind barrier here, and there's actually no need for a fireplace, but my teacher likes these useless things, and said it makes it feel like home, so I kept it," Rheia said as she directed the shiny brass teapot and saucers to make tea, and at the same time, she gestured for Hao Ren and the rest to find a place to sit. "Have a seat, don't be so formal, this mage tower doesn't have those annoying rules, just do as you please."
Hao Ren sat down near the fireplace, and looked around the place, ignoring the furniture and unknown magitek devices, he saw a row of round picture frames on the opposite wall, and in each frame was a portrait of a mage, and these portraits were nodding and greeting the guests in the hall, and below the frames were their names.
"My teacher, my teacher's teacher, and all the elders … Hah, they're all a bunch of weird and frivolous people." Rheia noticed that Hao Ren was looking at the portraits, and said in a helpless tone, "The first generation, died challenging a dragon after drinking heavily; the second generation, died challenging a dragon after drinking heavily; the third generation, died challenging a group of dragons after drinking heavily; the fourth generation, did not drink nor take any drugs, but went to propose to a dragon, and was killed by the dragon's husband … My teacher is the most normal one, and before he could challenge a dragon, he was killed by a dragon-slaying spell that he developed."
"… What kind of grudge does your family have with the dragons?" Hao Ren asked.
"Stop it, it's tiring," Rheia waved her hand helplessly, "Before we explain this mission, let's introduce … Eh? Sister, what's that on your shoulder? "
She looked at Vivian in shock, and on Vivian's shoulder was a little girl the size of a hand.
Hao Ren was stunned the moment he saw the little thing, "Oh my, how did this little thing …"
“biubiubiu！”
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