Ji'en has been living in a small town since he was six years old, and is indeed very simple-minded. Never mind Ji'en. Lin Lei felt that Zhan Ni was also very simple-minded.

  With just a few words, Lin Lei had fooled Keen, the little guy.

  At the same time, Lin Lei roughly understood what was going on with Jien and his sister.

  "Inheriting the position of the castle lord is not that simple." Lin Lei's gaze was far more profound than this naive brother and sister pair.

  The hierarchy of the O'Brien Empire's cities, with the highest being the Imperial Capital, followed by the provincial capitals of the seven major provinces. Below them are the county seats, then ordinary small towns, and finally rural villages.

  The lord of the county castle still has a high status.

  How can the position of the city master be so easily taken by a simple country boy?

  One night of cultivation, and when I opened my eyes again, it was already daylight.

  "Lord Rai, we should arrive at the Imperial Border City by late afternoon today." Lantz said with a smile, "Lord Rai, let's have some breakfast together."

  "Good."

  Lin Lei took Beibei and walked over, as for Heilu... those foods were not enough for it to eat. Last night, Heilu had already gone into the Magic Beast Mountain Range for a trip, and had a good meal.

  On the carriage not far from Lin Lei.

  "Sister, I'll go down first." Keen jumped down from the carriage happily.

  Lambert looked at Keene's carefree appearance and shook his head silently, then turned to Jennie. Lambert was well aware that Jennie was kind-hearted and also very simple-minded.

  "Miss, don't be in such a hurry." Lambert squeezed out a faint smile.

  "Grandfather Lambert, what's wrong?" Jennie asked with a puzzled expression, her eyes wide open as she looked at Lambert.

  "Miss, you've also seen it, we've all encountered bandits on this road. When we arrive at Biancheng, we'll have to part ways with this caravan. At that time, I'm an old man leading Miss and Young Master, the two of you. If we encounter bandits again on the road, I may not be able to defeat them."

  Zhan Ni couldn't help but recall the scene of last night's robbery and murder.

  "Right, what should we do then?" Jenny said with some tension.

  "Miss, didn't you notice that Lord Lei? Even the leader of those bandits was killed by Lord Lei with just one sword. As long as Lord Lei is protecting you, there's definitely no danger."

  Zhan Ni is eighteen years old after all, unlike Jie En who doesn't understand things.

  "Grandfather Lambert, a strong person like that, I invite him, will he agree?" Zanni looked at Lambert.

  Lambert smiled and encouraged, "Don't worry, just say that you and Keene are the children of the lord of Chell County Castle. This time back, Keene is going to inherit the position of the castle owner. As long as he protects you back, once you return to Chell County Castle, you will definitely thank him deeply. Remember... don't talk about other things, don't tell him that you used to live in a small town in the countryside. That's all."

  Lambert was well aware that if he told the other party all about himself, the other party would probably not agree.

  "Oh."

  Zanni was unaware of the discrepancy between what Lambert had said and the facts.

  "Go on, remember, be sincere." Lambert encouraged.

  "Alright." Jennie nodded and took a deep breath. With renewed courage, Jennie got off the carriage.

  As Jennie got off the carriage, Lambert let out a sigh and said, "Alas, madam, can't you swallow your pride even in death? Must you make Jennie and Keene inherit this castle lord position? Although Earl Wieder is dead, I'm afraid the ladies won't easily let Keene inherit the castle lord position."

  "With a 9th-level strongman protecting, it's almost a sure thing." Lambert heard last night that McKinley had reached the realm of an 8th-level strongman. But Lin Lei easily killed McKinley with one sword. In Lambert's view, Lin Lei should be a 9th-level strongman.

  The wind blows gently, Lin Lei eats his fill and then rests comfortably for a while, and will set off again after a while.

  "The Aubrey Empire, ah, it's arriving tonight." Lin Lei lay on the flat carriage, waiting comfortably for departure. But at this moment, Lin Lei noticed a figure walking towards him out of the corner of his eye.

  "Zhan Ni?" Lin Lei straightened up in confusion.

  Zhan Ni walked over somewhat stiffly and saw Lin Lei sitting up straight, looking over at him. He hastily squeezed out a smile: "Lord Lei, hello."

  "Hello, Miss Zhan Ni." Lin Lei was somewhat perplexed, what did Miss Zhan Ni come here for?

  Zhan Ni stood there for a moment, hesitating, and unexpectedly didn't know how to start speaking.

  "Miss Zhan, is there something?" Lin Lei asked aloud.

  Zhan Ni's face was slightly red, looking a bit tense: "Lord Lei, it's like this, my brother and I are going to our father's county city this time, my brother is going to inherit the position of city master. But on the way, I'm worried about danger, so I want to ask Lord Lei... Lord Lei, you protect us."

  Having said all this in one breath, Jennie began to stutter a little.

  Lin Lei was familiar with the general geography of the O'Brien Empire, his younger brother 'Worton' was in the southernmost province of the O'Brien Empire - O'Brien Province.

  It seems that I have now arrived at what should be the Northwestern Province of the O'Brian Empire.

  From the northwest to Aubrey Province in the far south, it's probably going to take a year and a half. Of course, if Lin Lei rides the black-striped cloud leopard, he can travel thousands of miles in one day and arrive within ten days.

  Lin Lei is not in a hurry.

  My younger brother is studying at O'Brian Academy, what's the hurry to go and do something? The most important thing now is to cultivate oneself and improve one's strength as much as possible.

  "How long will you protect us?" Lin Lei asked with a smile.

  "It won't be long," Jennie said hastily. "The city of Chel is in the northwest province, and from here to there, it's estimated that we'll arrive in about ten days or half a month. At that time, we will certainly thank you properly."

  "Thank you?"

  Lin Lei secretly sighed. With Lin Lei's insight, it was clear that the position of a county city lord would not be so easily obtained by two simple and unsupported siblings.

  "We'll give you a lot of gold coins." Zanni looked at Lin Lei expectantly.

  "How much gold coins?" Lin Lei joked.

  "Ten thousand gold coins, how about it?" Jennie said with a gritted teeth. Jennie had been living in the countryside since she was ten years old and usually used one or two gold coins for a long time. She also knew that the lord of the county town was very rich, so she thought that this astronomical figure of 10,000 gold coins should be enough to satisfy Lin Lei.

  "Ten thousand gold coins?"

  Last night, the leader of the mercenary group wanted to thank Lin Lei and give him 10,000 gold coins. In fact, not to mention the wealth in Lin Lei's space ring, just as a master stone carver, one of his works is now worth over 100,000 gold coins.

  "Isn't it enough?" Jennie asked nervously.

  Lin Lei looked at Jennie and said: "Miss Jennie, how much did you spend with Keane in the small town in the countryside for a year?"

  "A small town in the countryside?" Jennie hesitated, Lambert had just reminded her not to reveal that she used to live in a small town in the countryside, but Lin Lei seemed to have figured it out.

  "Probably spends tens of gold coins a year, after all, I still have to pay for my mother's medical treatment. Ah, Lord Lei, I don't have that much gold now, but I'll have it later."

  She was indeed a simple girl, Lin Lei had to admit.

  "Well, actually, the Empire should be very safe inside, Grandfather Lambert must have been overthinking. Well, I'll go first." Jennie was a bit embarrassed and her words became disordered.

  "No, I'd like to ask, how many gold coins can you take out now?" Lin Lei said aloud.

  Just now heard that the other party's county city is in Xīběi Xíng Shěng, Lin Lei decided to help them out along the way. Anyway, he himself was going from Xīběi Xíng Shěng to ào Bù Lái Yáng Xíng Shěng.

  "What about me? I have ten gold coins on me." Jenni pulled out a small pouch from her pocket, "And there are some more at Grandpa Lambert's."

  Lin Lei took over the bag and pulled out a gold coin from it.

  "Alright." Lin Lei put the gold coin into his own pocket, "From now on, you are under my protection. Of course, this one gold coin is just a deposit, when your brother becomes the city lord, I will still collect the remaining 9999 gold coins."

  Jenny was overjoyed.

  "Thank you, thank you." Jennie's excited little face was bright red.

  The team moved forward again, the black-striped leopard ran alongside the flat carriage and growled at Beibei in confusion: "Beibei, a master with 10,000 gold coins would accept employment?"

  It would take more than 100,000 gold coins to invite someone of Lin Lei's caliber.

  Lin Lei killed an eighth-level demon beast, and the value of that eighth-level magic crystal core alone was worth at least 500,000 gold coins. Generally, it's very difficult for an eighth-level warrior to kill an eighth-level demon beast; only a ninth-level strongman has a full grasp of killing an eighth-level demon beast.

  "Hei Lu, you understand what this means, Boss is being kind-hearted, get it?" Bei Bei also growled at Hei Wen Yun Bao.

  The two demon beasts were talking in a low voice using the demon beast language, Lin Lei saw them talking and smiled slightly, lying quietly on the flatbed carriage.

  "Creak, creak~~~"

  The carriage rattled rhythmically and continued to move forward. When the sun went down, at dusk, this team of carriages finally arrived outside the border city of the O'Brien Empire.

  Lin Lei sat in the horse carriage, gazing at the city in front of him from afar.

  This castle is entirely black, like a giant monster crouching there. The city wall of the entire castle is as high as thirty meters, and it's hard for ordinary people to climb up to this height.

  "Blackstone Castle, northwest bulwark of the O'Brien Empire." Lin Lei had long heard of Blackstone Castle's great name.

  In the past, there were many large-scale battles that took place in Heishi City. Even after many years have passed, when approaching Heishi City, one can still see a layer of dark red on the black giant stones that make up the city walls. That is the color of blood that has been dyed over the years.

  "Let's part ways here." Malong shouted loudly outside the city walls.

  According to the task, as long as the mercenary group delivered the convoy, it would be considered a completed mission. Suddenly, merchants or ordinary pedestrians in groups of three or two, each carrying their own luggage and horse-drawn carriages, headed towards the city gate.

  "Lei Ge." Keen shouted from the horse carriage.

  Halfway through, Keen knew that Lin Lei was going to protect them, so he immediately got close to Lin Lei. Lin Lei also let Keen call him "big brother". After all, Lin Lei is only 21 years old this year.

  "Let's go together."

  Lin Lei walked towards the city gate with a two-meter-high and four-meter-long black leopard, and the originally lazy city gate guards saw the black leopard next to Lin Lei and were all frightened to retreat several meters.

  Leopard-type demon beasts, lion-type demon beasts, and tiger-type demon beasts are all high-level demon beasts. Even the weakest leopard-type and lion-type demon beasts are probably at least seventh level.

  It's not wartime now, and the inspection at the city gate is very loose.

  Even for Lin Lei, those city gate guards didn't check at all and directly let Lin Lei in.

  "Heavens! What level of magical beast is that black leopard? That leopard just gave me a glance and I was scared to the point where my heart almost stopped!" The city gate guard exclaimed.

  An older city gate guard next to him lowered his voice and said, "Keep your voice down, as far as I know, the lowest among the leopard-type magical beasts is the golden-striped leopard, which is a seventh-level magical beast. This black leopard, at the very least, is an eighth-level magical beast."

  "Wow, this Blackstone City is so prosperous." Keen's eyes shone brightly as he looked around.

  On the main street of Blackstone City, Lin Lei, Ji En and Zhan Ni walked shoulder to shoulder. Zhan Ni wore a duck-billed cap with the brim pulled low over his face, which was also veiled. After all, Zhan Ni's appearance was likely to attract trouble.

  "This is also called prosperity?" Beibei whispered on Lin Lei's shoulder.

  Blackstone City is a city of war, although it's a bit prosperous due to trade. However, it can't be compared to the sacred capital 'Fenlay City' in its heyday, or even the royal capital 'Hers City', there's still quite a gap.

  "Be careful." Lin Lei's figure transformed into a phantom and flashed directly in front of Gien and Jennie.

  "Hmph." "Hmph."

  Lin Lei waved his right hand and caught two arrows.

  "Want to leave?" Lin Lei flipped his hand, and the two arrows shot back in the opposite direction, directly piercing the throats of the two men who were already preparing to escape in the distance.

  "Uh—"

  The two men covered their throats in terror and then fell to the ground dead.

  "Ah." The originally quiet and peaceful street suddenly erupted into a chorus of screams, with many people running around in a panic.

  "Go." Lin Lei said to the stunned Keen and Zhen Ni.

  （）