Arcane splendor begins with the throne

Chapter 167

In the quiet compartment, which was completely covered, there was a small oak table with short legs in the middle, on which was a brass candlestick that had begun to turn green, and the candlestick was covered with caked hard wax.

Under Brian's order, the candle lit up a flickering candle, adding a little light to the dark compartment.

He waved his hand, and a black shadow landed on the table in front of him, stretched out his left wing, and combed the dew-stained feathers with a sharp beak.

This is a falcon with pitch-black feathers, its strong wings are trimmed with golden fringe feathers, the feathers are white, and there are two clusters of tall pointed hairs on its head.

This little animal was summoned by him from the natural plane Ten Thousand Animals Garden by using divine power to cast spells, giving it the ability to stay in the material plane for a long time.

The petite size of this kind of falcon means that it does not have the fierce fighting power of eagle raptors, but it has fast speed, sufficient endurance, and powerful long-distance travel ability.

The most important thing is that compared to other falcons, it has a high intelligence attribute and is quite human, and can quickly understand the meaning of its master's words.

It was a kind of natural ally unique to the Ten Thousand Animals Garden of the natural plane. He spent a lot of money to coax and coax a covenant of cooperation with this little animal for him to drive.

The purpose of Brian summoning the Falcon with this characteristic is to help him and the mercenaries in Longshou Port pass some information to each other.

The communication item he originally considered was a communication stone, but the materials and costs of making such a magic item were too large, and when the distance was too far, both parties needed to have spellcasting abilities, so he gave up this plan directly.

After all, he is now the titular lord of Longshou Harbor and the Storm Islands.

Although it is still inseparable from the post, it does not mean that during the period of time before taking the post, he will ignore this strange territory of his own.

Seeing the falcon returning with the letter made him realize that his group of mercenaries had returned to Longshou Port.

So he beckoned, and the little falcon instantly understood and flew to him.

Brian took off the sheepskin scroll tied to the falcon's leg, let it return to his own plane to rest, and then opened it to check the etched content.

"The plundering mercenary group?"

After a while, he frowned and said to himself, and began to recall the information of this mercenary group in his mind.

The plundering mercenary group has nearly 1000 warriors. Their leader is a half-orc from the extreme northern wilderness. He is smarter and sharper than his half-orc counterparts. With a violent temper, he steadily controls a powerful mercenary group.

Because the mercenary leader has always tolerated other intelligent evil races to join him, his subordinates are mainly composed of orcs and half-orcs, and there are even a few ogres and trolls.

This also led to the brutal and bloodthirsty behavior of this mercenary group.

Two years ago, during the war between West and Amastacia, the shadow of this elite squad of mercenary regiments appeared.

It was precisely because of the assistance of these mercenaries that Tasha was able to quietly and quickly take down the Bloodstone Double Door Fortress without the West Kingdom being prepared.

So much so that it triggered a large-scale battle in the goblin wasteland.

Today, with the declaration of independence, Longshou Port has become the first free federal trade port in the mainland.

They used the oligarchy to control the largest port city.

The so-called 'oligarchy' is an oligarchic regime controlled by leaders of different parties who divide the city's territory into separate districts or organize to rule together.

Even so, this mercenary group still does not have the right to join this political system.

From this, it can be seen how difficult it is for him to become the ruler with the most say in Longshou Port and the Storm Islands with his current power.

No wonder the Kingdom of Tegrila gave up this hot potato without hesitation, and gave him this half-elf illegitimate son so generously.

This is indeed a difficult task for him.

At this time, besides the White Crow Mercenary Group, he only had an escort team of a dozen mercenaries and adventurers headed by Brynden.

Although he didn't meet the group of subordinates who took refuge in Jinyu City at that time, he observed them secretly.

In this group of people, except for the female warrior from Breland, who surprised him, the strength of the others was not as outstanding as he had imagined.

The task he arranged for Brynden seemed to be to let them escort the items for him, but the real purpose was to give them a test.

If these people can really persevere and complete their tasks, they may really be able to become their future backbone personnel.

And that Brynden who claimed to have never been lucky, as the second son of the Marquis, he didn't think that Brynden's old father would ignore him and take refuge in him.

Maybe when the group of them arrived in Stormy Waves City, his old father, the marquis, would very likely sponsor his children.

Of course, it is also possible to lock him in the water dungeon of Stormy Wave City and cut off contact with him.

As for how to choose, the premise of all this is: he can successfully return to the Kingdom of Tigrila.

Brian withdrew his drifting thoughts, and with a thought, the sheepskin scroll in his hand instantly ignited, turning into a pile of inconspicuous ashes.

Falcon needs to rest in his own plane for a day, so he can reply to Capas the next day.

The main reason why the stormy mercenary group was mentioned in the letter was that Karpas's subordinates judged from the trajectory of the stormy mercenary group's activities that their destination was the Amastaxia Kingdom.

And Brian's destination happened to be the city of Abrera, which is dominated by non-human races, so he introduced the information of this mercenary group to him in detail, in case of accidents.

He also unexpectedly learned that the elite warriors of the Rage Mercenary Group would almost always have a tattoo of a serrated scimitar on their left arm. This was the best way to identify them.

It can be seen from this that the mercenary captain is careful in his work.

According to the information revealed to him by the dwarf Broto, the Council of Elders in Abrera City also wanted to follow the example of Longshou Port and become the second free federal trade port.

Brian made no comment on this matter.

The reason why Longshou Port was able to become independent was the mercenary group and the chaebol business group, which can be said to have both power and financial resources, and even the island owners of the Storm Islands were secretly contributing to the flames.

And their city of Abrera, which is dominated by non-human races, does not have the strength to compete with the army of the Amastaxia Kingdom except for having more money.

Therefore, Brian is actually not optimistic about their independence.

"Rider!"

At this time, a vulgar and loud voice sounded outside the rickety carriage, "There is a rider ahead!"

Brian's expression changed, he lifted the canvas and walked out.

"Uncle Broto, there is a group of light cavalry of unknown origin ahead, heading towards us." The dwarf Varda, who was looking for the road, was reporting, with a dignified and low voice, "It's not a good person!"

"Stop all!"

Brotor, who was riding on a horse, pulled the reins and roared to the convoy behind him: "Be careful, boys, move quickly! Varda, hand me the hammer."

The dwarves called the parking team, and all put the loaded crossbows on their knees, covered them with tar cloaks on their bodies, and stood ready.

Varda hastily took out a heavy adamantine warhammer from under a piece of sheepskin on the carriage.

Brian noticed that there was a sharp hook on the hammer head of this war hammer, which reflected dazzling light in the sunlight.

Broto tucked the hammer handle into his boot, and the tomahawk rested on the horse's back.

Brian motioned to Mario beside him to hide in the carriage, then jumped up and jumped off the carriage.

He rode on the light horse that he had prepared in advance and always followed beside the carriage. Together with Broto, he came to the front row of the convoy and looked towards the road ahead.

"Earl Ormond's light cavalry."

After a while, Brian said: "It seems that this place is very close to the double door of the bloodstone. This is his light cavalry squad. I can recognize the arrow eagle emblem and clothing on their flag. However, don't let your guard down. Because emblems and clothes are easy to come by."

Seeing the Arrow Eagle emblem, he thought of the few nobles he had met in the Steel Hammer Tavern. The emblems they wore were also Arrow Eagles.

However, now serving in the Ranger Force at Thornburg.

"I think so too." Broto nodded slightly.

The cavalry quickly approached in the dusty sky. There were about fifteen of them. In addition to Earl Ormond's flag with blue arrows and eagles on a white background, they also had a golden griffin flag that symbolized the Kingdom of West.

"Since it's the kingdom's army, it's better for me to deal with it. If an accident happens, just look at me." Brian and the dwarf looked at each other and said.

Broto gave him a grateful look and nodded silently.

"stop!"

The rider at the front shouted. He was wearing a dark blue cloak, tall and mighty, with a deep scar on his left cheek and one missing ear.

There is no doubt that he must be the leader of this cavalry team. "Who are you? Where do you come from and where are you going?"

"Who is the questioner?" Brian sat up straight on the saddle calmly, "In whose name?"

"Your Excellency who likes to inquire, we are Earl Ormond's troops! The person who asked the question is Danwell, the captain of the No. 13 Cavalry Squadron of the Bloodstone Two-Door Fortress. He doesn't like to ask repeated questions! Answer immediately! Who are you?"

"I'm sorry, we happen to be the kingdom's troops." Brian said calmly.

"Anyone can say that! I didn't see anyone wearing the colors of the kingdom! I didn't find any flags flying! All I saw was a group of vulgar dwarves!" the cavalry captain responded coldly.

"Then come here, captain, open your eyes and look at this pass in my hand." Brian took out the kingdom pass given to him by Princess Korni and showed it to him.

"Why are you showing the paper at me?"

The captain didn't move at all, but frowned, "Do you think I am a literate person? As long as you have money, you can get this kind of paper anywhere, but there is a conspicuous pattern."

Brian winked at the dwarf beside him.

Broto understood his meaning in an instant, straightened his body on the horseback immediately, gripped the handle of the ax tightly, pointed the sharp ax blade at the cavalry captain's nose, and roared:
"If you don't recognize the pass, then take a look at this! Do you recognize this? Take a good smell and see if you can remember the smell left on it."

"Go to hell, you son of a bitch!" Gerbow's crow jumped out of the carriage, landed on Broto's shoulder, and screamed, "This grass-thrower!"

"Ah, this bird really hit the nail on the head." Brotto patted his ax handle and stared at the cavalry captain fiercely.

The cavalry captain's expression changed slightly. He pulled on the reins. The horse raised its front hooves uneasily and took a step back.

He looked at Broto, and the hideous scar on his cheek instantly became bloodshot and turned purple. He also roared loudly: "You bumpkin dwarf, how dare you threaten me? I am Earl Ormond's subordinate!"

"We are servants of the king."

Bryan said slowly, "And, you know, even if your ass-kicking earl is standing here, he wouldn't dare talk to me like that. I warn you, cavalry captain, don't overdo it." .I have never heard that there are cavalry units that roam the kingdom."

"We are standing guard here!" The cavalry captain said confidently: "How do I know who you are? You said you are the king's army. When did the king learn to hire dwarves?"

"You saw my pass." Brian narrowed his eyes and said unhurriedly:

"If you can't recognize the pattern on it, then I have reason to doubt your identity. Since your flag has the same pattern, you should recognize it. You see, you look nervous, like a dissolute woman. "

The cavalry captain looked stunned and visibly restrained himself. It was obvious that Brian's calm words and meaningful eyes had an impact on him.

"Hmm..." He stretched out his hand and scratched the non-existent ear on the left cheek, "Okay. If your identities are as claimed, then you probably don't mind letting me see the goods in the carriage."

"In fact, we not only mind..."

Brian reached out to stop the impulsive dwarf, stared at the cavalry captain with deep eyes, and said coldly:
"And I am very disgusted with this kind of behavior. The goods we transport have nothing to do with you, cavalry squad leader. In addition, I am also very curious about what you are looking for, are you catching bandits, or elves?"

The knight captain took a deep look at Brian, and stretched out his hand to his saber, "Then I will tell you, Your Excellency. Our Lord Earl forbids any merchant to deliver food to the Kingdom of Amastassia. However, there are many people who don't know Dead and alive guys, trying to smuggle food from other places in the fortress into the territory of the Amastaxia Kingdom. If I find food in your carriage, I won’t believe that you are the king’s subordinates, even if you If you take out a dozen passes, you can only use them to wipe your ass."

"A compelling reason."

Brian stroked the hand of the horse's mane, quietly gestured to Broto, and said unhurriedly: "If you want to find food, go find it. I agree."

"Search!"

The captain of the cavalry raised his left hand in a black moleskin glove to the sky, and gave the order.

Hearing the words, the cavalrymen behind him looked at each other, silently touched the hilt of their swords, pulled the reins, and formed two strands in an orderly manner, spreading out from left to right, forming a double-teaming trend, towards The dwarf carriage rushed away.

"Go!"

Brian shouted coldly, and the platinum ring he wore on his right hand suddenly burst into a cone-shaped scattering of dazzling light, shrouding the approaching group of cavalry on the right without any warning.

——"One-ring spell: colorful spray!"

The dazzling light, like countless sharp daggers, pierced most of the shrouded cavalry and mounts.

All of a sudden, the horses turned around in panic because of the pain in their eyes, and stood up amidst the neighing. out.

"Die you son of a bitch!"

The crow on Broto's shoulder rushed to the sky like a sharp arrow.

Its hoarse voice was like an omen, and the dwarf warriors who were waiting in battle showed off their crossbows hidden in their tar cloaks, and the sharp arrows blinked coldly in the sun.

Immediately, with the cracking sound of crossbow machines colliding, more than a dozen crossbow arrows, like a dozen birds spreading their wings, rushed towards the cavalry and horses submerged by the "colorful spray" like rain.

The sound of sharp arrows piercing the flesh came out, and the screams of horses and cavalry were endless.

"Go to hell, you son of a bitch!" the crow hovering in the sky screamed excitedly.

The light bloomed from Brian's ring, as well as the scream of the crow and the galloping of the crossbow, almost at the same time, so that the cavalry squad had no time to react.

As the arrows fell to the ground with howls, the dwarf warriors immediately dropped the heavy crossbows in their hands, picked up their hammers or sharp axes, and rushed towards the cavalry viciously.

The cavalry captain, who was running towards the carriage on the left, finally realized the mortal danger. He quickly tightened the reins and shouted: "Retreat! Retreat!"

However, by the time they reacted and prepared to turn their horses around, it was too late.

Bryan's spell was just about ready.

——"Second Ring Spell: Spider Web Technique!"

As the spell-casting material 'several spider silks' in his palm disappeared, a large piece of multi-layered tough and sticky silk fabric fell from the sky like a fishing net sprinkled into the river, covering most of the cavalry who had no time to escape.

These white threads look like spider webs, but are much longer and thicker.

The sticky substance attached to the tough spider web clung to the cavalry like maggots attached to the bone, making them like small fish trapped in a fishing net.

The cavalry shouted and waved their sharp swords, intending to cut off the tough spider silk, and kicked the horse's belly violently, trying to use the horse's speed to break free.

However, Brian, who was watching coldly, didn't give them any time to escape.

——"One-ring spell: Burning Hand!"

He took out a magic scroll at an extremely fast speed, removed the tie that bound the scroll, and a scorching cone-shaped flame spewed out from the burning scroll, enveloping the group of little fish still struggling in the net.

In an instant, the scorching high-temperature flame ignited the tough and sticky spider web, which exploded into a sea of ​​flames and swallowed all the cavalry.

These seven or eight cavalrymen struggling in the spider web followed the flames to ignite the spider thread, and finally broke free. They were like nightmare horses from purgatory, with flames burning all over their bodies, breathing gunpowder smoke, and they were 'massive' Running desperately on the road.

Feeling the increased experience, Brian hurriedly drove his mount and retreated to a safe area. After all, his arm injury had not healed, and he was not suitable for close combat.

The rest of the matter, these dwarf fighters can completely solve.

At this moment, the battle without warning was coming to an end at an extremely fast speed.

He saw that the cavalry captain who had jumped off his horse had already extinguished the flames on his body, and was about to use his two legs to gallop quickly into the complex dense forest, and was caught up by Broto in the blink of an eye.

At the moment that was approaching, the bearded dwarf warrior swung the tomahawk with all his strength and slammed fiercely on his shoulder.

The sharp ax blade pierced through the skin, muscles and bones, and almost split half of the cavalry captain's body abruptly, leaving only a few strands of flesh and tendons connected, swaying loosely, and fell to the ground dead.

Broto took off the stainless steel warhammer hanging from his waist again, and suddenly let go of his hand, smashing it at another fleeing soldier not far away.

Accompanied by the piercing sound of the warhammer, it hit the soldier's head delicately, with such force that it exploded instantly, like a shattered watermelon.

At the same time, another soldier who was panicking ran towards the carriage. The dwarf Gerbao looked at him indifferently, took out a small black ball the size of a pebble, and threw it on him.

Immediately, the soldier's whole body was ignited by countless bursting sparks, and accompanied by crazy screams, pieces of his clothes and flesh and blood scorched and disappeared in the flames.

When the explosion finally ended, the shapeless corpse fell stiffly on the ground, and wisps of blue smoke rose from the dozens of black holes above.

Until now, the fifteen light cavalry who pretended to be the Earl of Ormond were all wiped out, and only four or five of their mounts were left, running aside to eat grass.

The dwarves were cleaning the battlefield in an orderly manner.

Brian got off his horse, walked to a soldier whose body was relatively intact, and inspected it without missing any details.

He opened the sleeve of the left arm of a corpse, and was surprised to find a tattoo in the shape of a sawtooth machete on it. This pattern made him guess the true identity of this group of people in an instant.

"They're from the mercenary group!"

As soon as the words were finished, Broto and Ge Erbao, who just rushed over, looked at each other and gasped at the same time.

There is no doubt that they also know the origin of this group of mercenaries.

Brian had just learned from Karpas that the members of this mercenary group had gone to the Kingdom of Amastacia, and immediately fought with them.

If he wasn't vigilant enough, he would have seen through their disguise.

This group of cavalry will definitely launch a surprise attack while checking the goods on the carriage, and the two sides are likely to switch identities.

Because of the battle just now and the experience he had gained, he could clearly feel that this group of light cavalry definitely belonged to the elite of the plundering mercenary regiment.

Otherwise, they wouldn't dare to rob the dwarves' convoy with just this manpower.

Thinking of this, he immediately walked towards the dwarves' carriage.

"Open it, I need to confirm the doubts in my heart." Brian said to the dwarf warrior guarding the carriage.

He doubted the quality of this batch of equipment. Otherwise, the members of the Ravager Mercenary Group would not have dared to take risks and come here to rob.

"Open it." Broto beckoned after him.

As the tar canvas was lifted off, Brian took out a one-handed sword tightly wrapped in tarpaulin from the carriage, and then took it apart curiously.

Immediately, a sharp steel sword appeared in front of him. He stroked the blade lightly, checking the weapon's properties with great interest:
Standard steel sword +1
Type: One-handed sword
Quality: green and excellent

Equipment Requirements: Strength 8 or more

Features: sharpness +1, penetration +2, armor penetration +1
Enchanting special effect: When attacking, cause an additional 1 point of energy damage

(Note: This is a steel sword forged by combining dwarven quenching technology and dwarf technology forging technology. During the forging process, other special materials were also infiltrated. After completion, a simple alchemy enchantment was performed to make this weapon hit When hitting an enemy, in addition to causing physical damage, it will also cause a little energy damage.)
……

From the perspective of attributes, if this kind of equipment is placed in the main material world, it is not considered a powerful equipment for adventurers in the middle and upper reaches.

But if they appear in batches in this low-magic world, then the meaning it represents will be different.

If such equipment appeared in Longshou Port, all mercenaries would definitely rush to buy it, and the starting price would be at least 1000 gold coins.

"Is this sold to the elves?" Brian skillfully moved the edge of his sword in a half-circle. It felt quite smooth, so he wrapped it up again and threw it on the carriage.

"No!"

Broto retorted, he signaled the dwarf warrior to cover the carriage, and the next sentence made Brian's body stop in place, "This is for the elves in the Dusk Forest."

"You are really generous." Brian looked at Broto in surprise, and quickly guessed the reason, "Are you ready to cooperate?"

He has already learned from Broto that the non-human race in Abrera City seems to intend to take advantage of the famine of the Tasha people to emulate Longshou Port.

This also means that they must have their own armed forces.

There is no doubt that the elves, who share the same fate, become their best partners.

"That's right, this is the decision of the Council of Elders, and we are only following orders."

Broto readily admitted, "The city of Abrera is blocked by the Tassian fleet. We can only make such a big circle, across the two kingdoms, and deliver the goods to the elves."

"Then what happened to the werewolf I killed before." Brian nodded thoughtfully and asked.

He had a vague feeling that this werewolf might also have drawn this batch of equipment.

"I'm not too sure about that werewolf, it should also be from the Raiders Mercenary Group."

Broto took out a bag of wine and handed it to Brian. Seeing that he refused, he raised his head and took a big gulp. "However, his luck is obviously not that good. He met you."

Taking advantage of the time to clean up the battlefield, the two came to a tree stump and sat down.

"It seems that our secret escort has been exposed." Broto wiped his beard and cursed, "Damn it, how did those bastards from the plundering mercenary group find us?"

"Probably a werewolf."

Brian thought for a moment, then continued: "However, there is one thing you don't have to worry about. Even if traces are found, members of this mercenary group will not leak the secrets to other forces, and they will definitely choose to swallow this batch of equipment."

"That's true."

Brotto nodded, and said with a depressed look: "Damn it, in this case, we can't rush along as mindlessly as before, whistling leisurely, dozing off and farting at the same time. Okay. It’s not far from the Bloodstone Gates here, as soon as we reach Amastaxia, there will be elves to meet us.”

After saying that, he looked at the corpses on the battlefield and asked, "What should we do with these corpses? Do we need to make a statement to the supervisor?"

"Wait for a while, someone will come to deal with it." Brian looked up into the distance, showing a mysterious smile.

Work in a while.

A team of light cavalry, about thirty in number, appeared in everyone's sight.

As before, banners of golden griffins and fletching eagles flew in their ranks.

Brian was riding on horseback, with a group of dwarf warriors waiting behind him.

After he unhurriedly showed his pass, the leading cavalry captain looked surprised, quickly got off his horse, and bowed to him.

Afterwards, after dealing with the mercenary's body, they walked towards the Bloodstone Double Gate Fortress together under the guidance and escort of the cavalry team.

…………

(End of this chapter)