Chapter 49: Hometown

  After sixteen days of trekking, Han Jin and his party finally approached the Lonely Cliff City. During this time, he also learned some things related to the Lonely Cliff City. The Lonely Cliff City and its neighboring Beite Alliance were very similar, both refusing to join the war with a taste of permanent neutrality. However, the Beite Alliance was forced to declare neutrality after repeatedly losing the trust of its neighboring countries, while the Lonely Cliff City had maintained its neutrality since its establishment.

  The internal political system of the Lonely Castle and the Beit Alliance is very different. The Beit Alliance has four city lords taking turns, anyone can be the boss, while all the political affairs of the Lonely Castle are decided by nine local business groups. They form a Senate with a total of nine seats, as long as five people vote in favor, the policy will be implemented.

  In this chaotic world, the nine merchant guilds have developed into armed merchant guilds by today. However, in the city of Guāng Yá, there is still an existence that can counter the nine major merchant guilds: the Mercenary Guild. The policies set by the merchant guilds only affect civilians, while mercenaries, apart from serving as private bodyguards and protecting merchant caravans, make a living by hunting monsters and are not restricted by the merchant guilds. If the merchant guilds try to interfere with the freedom of the mercenaries, they will have committed a grave mistake, for the mercenaries will not back down. On the other hand, the merchant guilds also have their own armed forces, so the mercenaries do not dare to go too far either. This maintains a delicate balance.

  The merchant group also thought of using money to buy high-ranking mercenaries, in order to divide the power of the mercenary guild. However, it turned out that this was not cost-effective. A high-ranking mercenary, as long as he is not too lazy, can earn a surprising income and be free and easy-going, working when he wants to and playing when he doesn't want to work. If you let him serve for you day and night, the pay will have to be several times his previous income. It's possible to raise a few of them, but no one can afford to raise many. Moreover, the merchant group ignored people's laziness. In the past, if they didn't work, they would go hungry. Now, regardless of whether they work or not, they can receive money and spend it. Who is still willing to work hard? What's more, mercenaries are used to a free and easy life, being ordered around by others will inevitably lead to resentment. Mercenaries are not soldiers after all, they can cooperate with others, but they won't follow anyone's orders like puppets.

  Most importantly, disbanding the Mercenary Guild would not be beneficial to Lone Cliff City because of its complex situation, which requires strict laws to manage. The Mercenary Guild is the best executor, and only they can remain impartial and not favor any particular merchant group.

  Of course, these are just surface phenomena, as for what's inside, people like Mo Xingke have no way of knowing.

  Gū yá chéng zuò luò zài sēn lín zhōng, bú guò chéng shì fù jìn de mì lín yǐ jīng bèi kǎn diào, gǎi chéng le yī piàn piàn de mài tián, lí yuǎn kàn qù, fēi cháng zhěng qí. Zài Gū Yá Chéng de hòu fāng, yǒu yī zuò jí qí tū wù de gāo shān, bǐ zhí de chā rù yún duān, nà biàn shì "Gū Yá" de yóu lái le.

  Han Jin and the others had a look of joy on their faces, finally able to return to normal life, but Mo Xinkai looked very unwilling, dragging his feet and walking at the back, the closer they got to Gu Ya City, the slower his movements became, his face full of suspicious looks, if this continued, even an idiot could tell he had a problem.

  Han Jin stopped and frowned: "Mo Xin Ke, what's wrong with you?"

  "What? Nothing." Mo Xinkai replied with a forced smile.

  "Mo Xinkē, tell us the truth, is there someone in Gūyá Chéng who has a grudge against you?" Han Jìn said: "If so, I hope you'll clarify it with us now, lest we be caught off guard!"

  "Yes, Mosike, what's on your mind? Don't you trust us yet?" Sasou added.

  "It's not an enemy... you've misunderstood." Mo Xinko scratched his head and said.

  "What kind of person is that."

  Mo Xin was silent for half a day, seeing that everyone was staring at him, knowing he had to say something, and reluctantly squeezed out a sentence: "It... is a woman."

  Han Jin's eyes lit up and he exchanged a glance with Sasou: "What kind of woman is she?"

  "She... how can I put it, anyway she's just a woman." Mo Xinkai looked around cautiously.

  "How old is she?"

  "Over twenty."

  "How old is it?"

  "Three years older than me, what's wrong with that?" Mo Xinkuo retorted.

  "It's nothing, just asking." Han Jin smiled: "Beautiful?"

  "It's just an ordinary person."

  "How long have you known her?"

  "It's been almost... ten years."

  "How's your relationship with her?"

  "You... are you leaving or not?" Mo Xinkuo finally lost his temper: "If you're not leaving, I'll leave myself!" After saying that, he took big strides forward, but only walked three or four steps before turning around and walking back.

  "Uh... Sasau, can I borrow your magic wand for a bit?"

  "What's going on?" Sasuō was somewhat perplexed, but still handed over the magic wand.

  "This is yours." Mosuke placed his great sword in Sasuke's hands.

  The giant sword of Mo Xinke should weigh over 40 kilograms, Sasou almost couldn't hold it, fortunately he often wandered around and his physique wasn't too weak, barely holding on in time.

  "Miss Kairi, may I borrow... your cloak for a moment?" Moshika looked at Kairi once more.

  "This is what women wear." Keli said in surprise.

  "It doesn't matter, let's just help out." Mo Xinkai said with a smile.

  Qīlí took off her cloak and handed it to Móxìn Kē. Without saying a word, Móxìn Kē put on the cloak, but his head was at least three sizes larger than Qīlí's, so the hood tightly wrapped around his head and face, making him look utterly ridiculous.

  Moxinke turned around and walked away, everyone burst out laughing at the same time, even Xian Ni'er was laughing so hard she was doubled over. The cloak that could cover Jiali's knees couldn't even cover Moxinke's butt, and it made his hips stand out even more. And to make matters worse, this tall and sturdy man was holding a toothpick-like magic wand in his hand, this getup was just too ridiculous.

  "Is it that hard to look?" Mo Xinkai looked around, unfortunately he couldn't see his own back: "Sasou, release a Mirror Image Technique for me!"

  "I'm just a high-ranking wizard now, what can I use to release the mirror?" Sasou said with a wry smile.

  "Mo Xinke, by doing so, you'll only make others pay more attention to you." Han Jin said with a mixture of laughter and tears: "Actually, if you just shave off your beard, nobody will be able to recognize you."

  "Ah!" Mo Xinko exclaimed in surprise and delight: "Sasou, come, help me out!" As he spoke, he pulled down his hood, but the top was wrapped too tightly, with a ripping sound, the hood had been torn in two.

  "I'm really curious now, what kind of woman can scare Mosike like this." Xian Ni'er said with a smile.

  "I'm curious too." Han Jin said as he looked towards the distant Lone Cliff City, "It seems that Mo Xinkuo grew up here."