Laing's hand first went east along Nord's capital, Coldwinter City. Following a road, passing through many towns and forests, his finger came to a place covered by a white desert on the map. "The first route is to go east along Keith Avenue. At the end of the road is a giant snowy desert left behind by the Wizard Empire — the Great Desert of Taqir. After that, pass through the Roof of the World ruled by the dwarves and go to the Dark Realm. That is a huge wasteland ruled by the Chaos Ogres who worship Chaos. Bale can find his home there … However, he did not take that route because the distance is too far. It is more than two thousand kilometers. Moreover, Taqir is a barren land. There are only three cities in the region close to two-thirds of Nord. There are no towns or villages. Most of the land is heavily polluted by alchemy and cannot be cultivated. So it is very difficult to get supplies. Even if Bale passed through Taqir, it would be difficult for him to pass through the Roof of the World guarded by the dwarves. The countless extremely complicated mountain paths and underground tunnels are enough to drive Bale crazy. So we can basically rule out the possibility of him taking this route. The fact is just as we thought, Bale chose to go west."
Everyone nodded. No one would choose to take the route of Taqir.
"The second route is to go west and go up north. Go through the port of Lapland to the Wasteland of Chaos and meet up with the northern barbarians who are entrenched there." Laing touched his chin and shook his head. "This is one choice. However, every port in the north is heavily guarded by the army of the Kingdom of Nords. Every ship that goes to the Wasteland of Chaos will be strictly checked. With Bale's rich experience, he will never choose to take such a big risk. The will of the Evil God will make him violent, but it will not make him stupid."
"Then the remaining choice is …" Laing's hand continued to move west along the Meen Forest. Everyone's eyes followed Laing's finger. They saw that Laing's finger was pointing at the Adal River that ran through the Meen Forest. Following the Adal River downstream, after passing by a few villages, Laing's finger came to a port city.
"Karcen Haiwen?" Teresa's beautiful silver eyes widened slightly, and her red lips parted slightly as she whispered.
"Yep, this is Bate's third option, which is to sail out to sea from Nord's western port and find a way to head to the south. Brittany who believes in the Lake Fairy and the powerful Empire are naturally not within Bate's consideration. Instead, the southern countries that believe in Chaos and openly worship the Evil God of Chaos as a God, or the continent's largest port and trade center, Marlin Castle, where people come and go, is where Bate wants to go."
"Mr. Laing is right, but that doesn't mean that Bairt will definitely set sail at Calzen Haven," Wayde raised his doubts.
"Indeed, if you don't have this." Laing took out a piece of bloody paper from his pocket.
It was a death message written in blood by the old demon hunter, "Berte X Aesthetes."
"Aesthetes?! Isn't that … isn't that an organization set up by a group of scholars and socialites who are famous for spreading beauty in Marlin Castle? "Teresa's jaw dropped. She could not believe it.
The Aesthetes was a rather famous organization on the continent. This organization was made up of a large number of attractive upper-class people who were very particular about their manners and closely followed the trends of fashion. They advocated the pursuit of 'beauty' and led people towards' love and harmony '.
"Yes, it seems that Bate's defection has involved more and more secrets. No one would have thought that the Aesthetes, who held regular salons, sponsored art groups in more than a dozen cities for ten years, and provided countless artistic youths with training opportunities, would have something to do with Chaos." Laing's brows furrowed even tighter. "We can't be sure that Bate will go to Calzen Haven, but I'm sure that he will definitely go to the western port and take a ship to Marlin Castle!"
"And our opponent is already a day ahead of us. As long as he travels through the night to the western port, and then hides himself at Marlin Castle and the Beautiful Association, it will be difficult for us to find him."
Everyone frowned.
Marlin Castle was originally a part of the Empire, or rather, it was now a part of the Empire. This port was located at the intersection of three major rivers in the Empire. It was the world's number one port. Marlin Castle was blessed with unique geographical conditions. It was a plain, with a pleasant climate and suitable for living. It was also a strategic location. The deep-water port, which could handle tens of thousands of tons of cargo, was surrounded by two peninsulas. The mountains on one side were a natural barrier.
Every year, tens of thousands of caravans came and went to Marlin Castle. An astonishing amount of gold flowed into this huge port city, but very little flowed out. The ruling family of Marlin Castle was the Iris Flower family. The Grand Duke of Marlin Castle was most likely the richest man in the world because there were very few forces that could command him. After the second Chaos invasion ended 150 years ago, the new Empire was reformed and had many things to do. At this time, the previous Grand Duke of Marlin Castle suddenly came to Ludwig and took out an astonishing amount of wealth. It was said that it was at least ten years of the Empire's revenue. The Grand Duke of Marlin Castle used this money in exchange for autonomy from Ludwig and wrote it into the founding ceremony. Since then, the Empire could only collect a sum of money from Marlin Castle every year and could not interfere with any of Marlin Castle's internal affairs.
Many people disagreed with Ludwig's actions, thinking that he was trying to divide the country. However, Ludwig said, "The Empire needs an astonishing amount of wealth to rebuild. The Chaos in the north will eventually return. Living too comfortably and indulging in pleasure will not help in the fight against the Chaos."
Therefore, Marlin Castle was in a "no one cared about" zone. The astonishing amount of taxes was not only paid to the Empire but also flowed into the pockets of the upper nobles of Marlin Castle. Every year, countless refugees and mercenaries came and went in and out of the city, looking for opportunities to make a name for themselves. There was also a huge and complicated underground tunnel under the city that was used to smuggle and hide goods. If Berthe escaped to Marlin Castle, it would be very difficult to get him out again!
"It's already very difficult for us to catch up to Berthe, so what we need to do now is to go to Karzenhaven. Karzenhaven is the closest to here. Once we get there, the Church of Justice will help us check the recent records of the sea. Then, we'll continue to pursue Berthe." Laing had decided on a plan. His words had gained the approval of the crowd. Traveling through the night was no longer useful. On the contrary, if they made too much noise, it would be easy for Berthe to notice them. So, Laing's plan was to go to Karzenhaven unhurriedly, hide, and wait for Berthe's next appearance.
With the clue of the Aesthetic Society, finding Berthe would not be as difficult as finding a needle in a haystack. There were several ports on the west coast of Nord. With the strength of the Fallen Hunters, it was impossible for them to send out so many people to guard each and every one of them.
"Alright, then we'll go to Karzenhaven tomorrow. Based on our speed, we should be able to reach Karzenhaven by noon. By then, Laing and I will go to the Church of Justice and ask them for information." Teresa nodded. Boris and Wayerl nodded in agreement. After so many things had happened today, the sorceress was very tired. After deciding on a specific plan of action, they bid each other farewell.
It was already late into the night. The camp was set up near a small rocky hill. Laing saw Teresa struggling to walk with her staff. He took the initiative to support her arm wrapped in a white lace glove. "Let me give you a hand, my dear Madam Trovic."
The sorceress glanced at him. She could feel the firm support from her arm. She did not refuse. Instead, she sighed softly. "You took the initiative to ask us not to travel. Are you worried about my health? Then you don't have to worry about it. My condition is much better than you think. I'll be fine tomorrow. "
"Oh? Is that so? Don't lie to me. You won't be able to recover in three days, let alone tomorrow, right? "Laing directly exposed the sorceress' lie.
"Tch, you'll be in charge of my safety during this time." Theresa's lie was exposed, and her pretty face blushed like a ripe peach, beautiful and moving. Her complexion was not so good. Any proud and arrogant female Spell Caster would feel uncomfortable if they were in such a situation where they were at the mercy of others.
It could only be said that Ryan understood spellcasters too well.
There were three types of spellcasters: wizards, shamans, and warlocks.
Wizards used their rich knowledge and exquisite magic control to cast spells. In theory, they could learn all the known spells. They used their own magic to construct the spell and then cast it. Therefore, in order to cast a spell, a wizard had to know the incantation and how to construct the spell. Therefore, for a wizard to be trained from an apprentice to a great wizard who could stand on his own, the amount of manpower and material resources needed was very shocking. Their early fighting power was very weak, but they had to spend a lot of money to support them, let them experiment, learn, and even grow through repeated failures. Most of the money was wasted. This caused many farmers to have children with magic talent, but they had no money to train them. They could only send them to the magic church to be apprentices of other wizards. Many children's magic talent was wasted year after year, day after day, apprenticeship work.
Unlike wizards, shamans' spellcasting was not so much casting as channeling. Shamans' mana came from the magical elements that wandered between heaven and earth. They communicated with the elemental forces through totems and meditation, and used their own mana to guide the magical elements between heaven and earth to complete their spellcasting. Shamans could cast spells very quickly and consumed very little mana. However, their spellcasting was severely limited by the environment. For example, in a world of ice and snow like Nord, shamans could not cast fire magic. If they encountered an area with chaotic magical elements, a shaman could cast a water cannon spell and turn it into a healing spell. In some areas where magical elements were scarce, shamans were no different from normal people.
Finally, there were warlocks. Warlocks were known as the "tall, rich, handsome, fair, rich and beautiful" among spellcasters because they were born with the ability to cast spells. The origin of warlocks was a little strange. Some people suddenly gained the ability to cast spells after experiencing a storm, while others gained the ability after some fortuitous encounter in mines or beast lairs. However, most warlocks appeared because of their bloodline. That is, if one of their parents was a spellcaster, the magical bloodline of the spellcaster would be passed down to the next generation, and as they grew older, they would automatically learn how to cast spells. Usually, they did not need to know how the spells were constructed or what the principles of casting spells were because those things were engraved in their blood. They only needed to recite the incantation to cast spells.
Because they were born with the ability to cast spells, warlocks often felt superior to others. They disdained those who worked in the mud all day long. Therefore, warlocks would not appear in the good camp, and there was no such thing as "Mother of Mercy" and "Universal Love". In Laing's opinion, if necessary, Teresa would not hesitate to sacrifice these mercenaries in exchange for a chance to escape.
Without a perfect profession, a Warlock's ability to cast spells would also be limited. For example, if a Warlock's bloodline was that of a great Lightning Magus, then he might not be able to learn one or two healing spells in his entire life, even if it was the simplest Circle 1 or 2 spells. Similarly, a Warlock with a Fire Magus' bloodline might have to spend several years to master a simple Water Magic.
The casting of a warlock relied on the power of their bloodline, so when Teresa's magic was exhausted at that time, she forcefully activated the power of her bloodline to cast spells. The result was that her body was severely overdrawn. Within a few days, not to mention her magic, even her physical strength was at a severe low.
"With me here, don't worry. I'll protect you for Lady Aurora's sake." Laing smiled for a moment before the corners of his eyes curled up. "But I'm not your servant. I hope you can understand."
"I know. No one would treat a royal knight as a servant." Teresa nodded in agreement. The woman was reminded by the man and only then did she realize that her tone was a little similar to the tone of a servant at home.
Aurora Trovic, an elder of the council, had saved the life of Laing's adoptive father, Norman. That was before Laing was adopted. The specific situation was during the battle against the barbarians on the battlefield. The young knight Norman had been knocked off his horse and almost died in battle. Aurora's spell had saved his life. Even though Aurora didn't take it seriously, Norman had always remembered it in his heart. Because of this, Laing was willing to give in to Teresa and take good care of her.
However, this didn't mean that he was willing to be her servant or bodyguard. He and the warlock had a relationship that complemented each other in the first place. They were companions, not subordinates.
Laing helped the warlock lift the curtain of the tent and smiled. "Good night, Teresa. Sweet dreams."
"Good night, Laing."
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