Chapter 42 On the Road (2)

  (Second update)

  When Isatis said to Odara, "Go, take your entourage and also take my daughter. Take them to your hometown, to the kingdom of Osedin", Odara didn't think much of it. Although he might not have the face to go back himself, but Aisuli was someone else's daughter after all, she had to be sent back anyway.

  But now everything is different. The nobles of Tabriz were all killed in one day, and the confirmed killer has become the new master of Tabriz. Now it seems that only following Isatis' will, they can be brought back to the north.

  The north, it's time to go back and take a look. Odala thought.

  Tabriz City is in the south of the Empire, Ossedin Kingdom is to the north of the Empire, and Odara's hometown is in the south of Ossedin Kingdom. If you find a map of Middle-earth Continent and draw a straight line between two points, this line will pass through six principalities, more than 20 marquisates, and countless earldoms.

  In short, it was very far away. Even if the Second Empire had too many vassals, resulting in some shrinkage of the territories of ordinary dukes and marquises, crossing so many countries was still a terrifying journey.

  "Next, we're going north," Odara said to the two young people. Astrid had by now gradually recovered from the pain of losing her father, although her face was still somewhat numb, but at least she could already understand what others were saying.

  "Sir, are you going back to your hometown?" Johnny still followed with courtesy.

  "Not bad." Odara glanced at Johnny, "By the way, you don't have to call me 'sir' anymore. I'm not a knight now. Of course, there will definitely be opportunities in the future, but for now, I'm not a knight."

  "What should I call you then?" Johnny was still respectful towards Odara.

  "All your current combat skills were taught by me, so just call me teacher." Odara stroked his chin.

  "Yes, teacher."

  "What was I saying? Oh, we were going to the North. I remember that at that time, I traveled from the North all the way here to Tabriz City, taking three years." Astrid still looked stunned, while Johnny's face turned a bit green. "In those three years, I stayed in many places for a period of time, yeah, stayed for a while and observed the local customs and people."

  It turned out to be like this, Jony's heart was slightly relieved. I thought it would take three years to walk.

  "Afterwards, I saw the recruitment of knights in Tabriz city and settled down until today. That time, I almost traversed the entire Vilsa. Now that Joni is more at ease in his heart, 'This time we don't need to take a detour, it should be faster.'"

  Shall we set off then?

  "Now there's a bit of a problem." Odara rubbed his chin, "We don't have any money."

  This world is just so cruel. The savings of several generations of the Smith family, the blacksmith, were enough for them to live a peaceful life eating black bread and occasionally having dried meat, but not enough for three people to travel.

  "Then Master... how did you come here back then?" Qiao Ni asked curiously.

  "What else can I do? Osadin doesn't have any crappy mercenary unions, Warrior's Guild. It's not like they paid the registration fee to be mercenaries and earn a little bit of money by risking their lives?" Odara's mention of the Warrior's Guild made her furious. Joanie only then realized why he didn't go with him to take the exam, it turned out he had a grudge.

  "In short." The older person was good at controlling his emotions, and Odala had already calmed down. "The two of us will have to go back to our old ways again. As for Astrid, she's always been like that."

  Estelle still looked stunned, but she nodded.

  "But...," Johnny hesitated for a moment before finally telling the truth, "I don't have my certificate on me!"

  Audrey stared at him in surprise, and even Astrid slowly turned her neck towards Johnny.

  "You didn't bring it?" Odala asked incredulously.

  "I didn't bring it." Johnny shook his head firmly.

  "What about the mercenary scroll?"

  Jiao Ni thought carefully and it seemed he really did have something like that.

  "I didn't bring it."

  Audrey looked up and down at Johnny, smacking her lips: "You little rascal have never tasted the bitterness of being a mercenary."

  Astrid's eyes were dull and she nodded slightly.

  "Really?" Johnny rubbed his head.

  Audrey looked at Johnny and smiled without saying a word.

  Next, the issue of Jony's identity needs to be resolved. There is no guild in Weirra City, after all, the Mercenary Union and Warrior Guild are purely profitable organizations, and it is impossible to set up an office in every earl's territory. Except for Tabri City, only Charles City can be called a big city in this area, which is a marquisate. From this, we can see how brilliant Tabri City was back then.

  Will Tabriz City be renamed Holy Tabriz City and become a direct territory of the church? It doesn't matter. What matters is how to go north. And with this hypocritical church, Joanie can slowly settle accounts.

  The three set out on their journey. After four days and three nights of wind and rain, they turned the last bend to see the high walls of Charles City before them.

  The name of Charles Town comes from a heroic figure over fifty years ago, Charles Andel. His heroic deeds united the lords of half the south to resist the invasion of the Tania Alliance. "The brilliance of the Sun God is always accompanied by scorching heat", "Preachers are not only pastors, but also holy warriors", "Even if it's a pastor, while holding the scriptures, there is also a steel-headed mace inserted at the waist". This is how the bards who were not fond of the Church of the Sun God described.

  Finally, Tania's Iron Knights were defeated in Charles City. The religious war was never a sentimental one, and as the main force of the Allied Forces, Marquis Charles Andel suffered heavy losses, which can be said to have created a feud with the Solar God Church. Afterwards, the Solar God Church adopted a policy of appeasement, slowly infiltrating into various cities as an ordinary religion, quietly spreading its doctrine, eventually becoming the main religion in the southern part of the empire. Except for Charles City.

  Alas, under the church's early pull and division, Charles Andel, once regarded as a hero, was gradually forgotten and excluded by various lords. Whether it was doing business or hosting banquets, fighting or dueling, the southern lords would not associate with the Andel family. In simpler terms, they no longer played with him.

  However, this does not hinder its existence as a major regional city, which is an objective existence that will not change due to the subjective wishes of those nobles. As a commercial organization that only considers economic benefits, the Mercenary Alliance would naturally not let it go either.

  The three walked to the foot of Charles City, gazing up at its towering walls. On their way here, Odara had already told them about this city's glorious history, so Jonice didn't dare underestimate it, even though it was a southern city - the empire's south had been thoroughly disdained by him.

  However, as ordinary people, they cannot climb up to the city wall to take a look. So after slightly admiring the majestic city walls that were similar to those of Tabriz City, the three of them walked into the city. Odala inquired about the location of the Mercenary Alliance and led the two towards that direction.

  Although Joanie still didn't know the hardships of mercenaries, he was deeply impressed by the consequences of not carrying mercenary certificates and warrior level certificates with him - a total of two gold coins in registration fees made him feel like he had returned to his childhood, when he was just a small blacksmith. At that time, the sky was still blue, the water was still clear... Now it's the same, just like the prices of this black shop.

  But one thing on his mind was settled.

  "Now that we're here, let's complete a quest before leaving." Johnny proposed. He was really reluctant to part with those two gold coins.

  "Very well then." Odara raised no objection.

  "Shall we do it together?" Estelle had adjusted for a few days and was now just like a normal person.

  "Yeah, save time." Johnny replied.

  Arriving at the place where he was supposed to receive his tasks, Odara asked the staff for the task list and began to flip through it with his head down.

  "Alright then, let's eradicate the lizardmen bandits in the Dark Night Forest."

  War lizard person? Sounds like a hassle. Johnny subconsciously wanted to take a look at the specific situation of the task, and suddenly remembered that he couldn't read, and felt a wave of embarrassment.

  "Hand over your mercenary licenses." Odara returned the task list to the clerk and turned around, holding out his hand to the two.

  At the time of staff registration, he said to both of them: "This mission is a level 7 task. The target is to annihilate the... in the Dark Night Forest."

  Audrey turned back to ask the clerk, "Is the Dark Night Forest that black forest outside your city?"

  The clerk looked up and smiled: "Yes, sir."

  "That's right, I didn't remember wrong. We're going to annihilate the lizardmen bandits in Dark Night Forest. According to the information, there is a small group of lizardmen lurking near the designated location, frequently attacking nearby residents and merchant caravans. The scale is about fifteen. This intelligence was obtained by a hunter from a nearby village at the risk of his life. Hey, this kid's skills are not bad. We're going to annihilate them. The reward is two gold coins, and the spoils can be kept for ourselves. The task was issued by the City Lord's Manor."

  "Is it the City Lord's Manor? Shouldn't such matters of defending the border and ensuring the people's safety be handled by the City Lord's Guard?" Jony asked in puzzlement.

  "Have you ever seen us go kill a land spirit?" Odara retorted.

  It really doesn't.

  "The War Lizards are just slightly stronger pack animals, leave them to the mercenaries, no need for soldiers to take action." Odara shook her head, took over the three scrolls handed back by the staff, "Let's go, I've already memorized the target location."