My Magic Age

My second meeting with Margrave Ludwig Aston was at the autumn hunting gathering held by Third Prince Eric.

The Angelibald royal family surrounded nearly a thousand hectares of mountain land on the northern slope of Mount Mazzaro to form a huge hunting ground. Prince Eric found a natural hot spring on this mountain and built a hot spring at the source. An estate dedicated to hunting. Every autumn, when the best hunting season in Mazzaro Mountain begins, Prince Eric will hold such a hunting party. Prince Eric will invite his friends to the manor for a two-day hunting activity. This year, Yingli and I received Eric The prince's invitation.

The hunting ground is on the northern slope of Mount Mazzaro. If you take a magic caravan from the southern pass through the Heroes' Road to the port town by air, and then from the airport town along the mountainous road at the foot of Mount Mazzaro to the north slope, it will take at least five days. However, it only takes one day to reach Prince Eric’s estate by riding a horse over the northern mountains of Mazzaro.

The classes at the Royal Academy of Magic have been very tight recently. In order to avoid the wrath of the magic teachers for missing classes, Ying Li and I chose to walk through the north slope mountain road to Prince Eric’s manor, Gubo, the day before the hunting meeting. Horses are not suitable for walking on mountain roads, so we chose to ride the argali, which is rarely seen in the imperial capital. This is one of the favorite mounts of the dwarves. King Stan, one of the seven monarchs of the dwarf country, once gave it to James. Musi’s ten argali sheep are now kept in the stables of the lakeside manor.

The argali is a very docile animal. After being domesticated by the dwarves, it became a mount very suitable for walking in the mountains.

Before dawn, Yingli, Helena, Becky, Catalina, and little Ella and I took a magic caravan through several manor castles in the first block and arrived at the crater of Mount Mazzaro. At the foot of the north slope, we switched to riding argali at the foot of the mountain, and found two guides to take us along the mountain trails over Mount Mazzaro. It took us a full day to reach the north of Prince Eric's mountain. Poe's estate.

…

Dusk on the northern slope of Mazaro Mountain is about an hour later than in the Imperial City. Standing on the northern slope, the red sun in the distance no longer disappears on the top of the mountains, but gradually sinks below the horizon. This kind of Spectacular views can only be seen from the outer slopes of Mount Mazzaro.

Prince Eric's manor is built halfway up the northern slope of Mount Mazzaro. On the northern slope of Mount Mazzaro, there are firs and red pine trees that are 70 to 80 meters high. Each of these giant trees requires five or six people to hold hands. There are no weeds in the mountains, just clusters of low trees and shrubs. You can always see blueberry trees and lantern fruit trees in the forest. Of course, there are many vines in the room, and some lavender moss grows on the old bark of the giant trees. There are almost no large carnivorous beasts in this woodland. Beasts such as brown bears and gray wolves are almost eaten by members of the Royal Knights. It has been cleaned up, and only some animals suitable for hunting such as pine wild boar, elk and deer are kept in the hunting grounds.

While riding an argali through the forest, I occasionally saw some pheasants flying out of the bushes in the forest, flying hundreds of meters between giant trees, and then burrowing into the distant trees.

This was the first time Ella left the imperial capital. The little orc girl wore a light leather armor and carried an exquisite alloy bow. The quiver was filled with arrows. She shot several colorful golden pheasants along the way and tied them with ropes. The hook of the saddle was on, and she kept talking to Becky very excitedly along the way. Occasionally she would talk about life in the Imperial Warrior Academy, and occasionally she would talk about El City when she was a child, or what Kalantso told her. The memory of Pai Plateau.

"I will return to that plateau one day and take a look at that big snow mountain." Little Ella always said with such assurance.

The mountain on the north slope is not too steep, because there is a guide who is familiar with the place to lead the way, and the roads chosen are safe and safe shortcuts, so the journey is not too hard.

Prince Eric's manor was built at the source of the hot springs. It is a complex of brick and wood buildings with several independent lofts built on the mountain and distributed next to the steaming pool.

If it is summer, it is estimated that there will be many mosquitoes, ants and poisonous insects here. But after late autumn, these mosquitoes either burrow into the soil to spend the winter, or freeze to death in the cold wind.

Among the princes of the Angelibald royal family, only the third prince Eric particularly likes to hold some dances, hunting gatherings and other activities. Ying Li and I walked into the manor, and Prince Eric also took the servants with him. After being greeted from the main building, he quickly walked down the steps and came to Yingli and me. His smile squeezed out some crow's feet. He was wearing a white shirt and a sheepskin vest. He stood up straight in front of us. He smiled and said to Yingli and me: "I thought you would take a carriage and take a detour from Mazaro Mountain. In that case, you can still Enjoy some scenery along the way, the scenery outside Mazzaro Mountain is also stunning this season. ”

As he spoke, he stretched out his hand and held Ying Li's arm to help her jump off the mount steadily. At this time, a servant ran over and took the reins from our hands.

"There are always some magic classes that you have to take at the academy. This shortcut is also a very good experience." Ying Li leaned next to Eric and said softly.

Prince Eric walked up to me, gave me a high-five, and said very familiarly: "Dinner will not be ready for a while. We are making a hunting plan for tomorrow. Do you want to discuss it together?"

"Okay!" I said.

Prince Eric asked his servants to take the Yingli girls to a small independent attic to rest first. The women had been on the road for a day and couldn't wait to take a hot bath and then change their clothes and have a rest. As for me, I was Prince Eric pulled him into the living room of the main building.

As Prince Eric walked into the room, he discovered that there were many young nobles sitting inside. Some royal members had only met once at the Harvest Festival celebration, and there were also some young nobles. Everyone was chatting in the room, and some Sitting on the chess and card table playing cards, the trays carried by the servants were filled with fine wine. Prince Eric walked into the room and was pulled by several nobles to the sand table model. I followed him and walked over. As expected, they We were discussing tomorrow's hunting route, and I was not familiar with this mountainous area, so I just listened to the discussion of these nobles.

The waiter brought a tray with various alcoholic drinks to me, and I chose a glass of golden cider. This is not because I like to drink it, but because among these alcoholic drinks, I am most familiar with golden cider. , and this is also a habit unique to the Northerners. I don’t know when it started. Golden cider has become a drink that symbolizes the identity of the Northerners. Many people in the Empire have a subjective impression: all Northerners are They all like to drink golden cider.

Looking around this luxurious living room, there are some hunting trophies hanging on the left wall. Among them is a brown bear fur that looks very old, and an elk skull with strong antlers. This wall There was also a magic hand crossbow and a javelin made of ironwood hanging on it. I took the wine glass and walked to the brown bear's fur. I reached out and touched the fangs exposed on the grinning lips of the brown bear's head. The teeth looked very... sharp.

At this moment, Margrave Ludwig Aston appeared next to me. He was still very well-dressed as when we first met. He had one arm wrapped around his chest and the thumb of his other hand was scratching his head. With a neatly trimmed beard on his chin, his eyes fell on the brown bear fur on the wall like me, and he said: "You can't find such a large brown bear on the northern slope of Mount Mazzaro now. All dangerous elements have been eliminated by the knights. After clearing it out, the biggest potential danger in this mountain forest now is the steep mountains. "

I turned my head and looked at Marquis Ludwig Aston, who was standing upright next to me, and said to him calmly: "Marquis Aston, do you also like hunting?"

When I attended his dance a few days ago, I did not disclose to him my idea of ​​buying a bed crossbow when we first met, because after all, it was our first meeting and we had not yet established basic trust with each other. According to Alia, the best results can be achieved after meeting at least three times before bringing up business topics. So when I met him this time, I followed his conversation.

Marquis Ludwig Aston chuckled and said very proudly: "Hunting is not just a sport for young people, but compared to these little forest beasts, I prefer to hunt salamanders and earth beasts in the primeval forest. For second-level monsters like bears, when I was young, I joined an adventure group from the northern border of San Carlos Province into the depths of the Purple Green Mountains. It was truly an unforgettable adventure..."

Margrave Ludwig Aston told me the adventure stories of his youth, and we walked to the viewing room with floor-to-ceiling windows next to the living room with wine glasses in hand.

Sitting on a chair by the floor-to-ceiling window, I thought that Marquis Ludwig Aston was really talkative.

Then we talked about my identity as a northerner, and I told him: "When I was in El City, I also went to the edge of the Purple Green Mountains to hunt a two-headed basilisk..."

Since Margrave Ludwig Aston and I had the same adventure experience, we had a great conversation.

"Marquis Jijia, I heard someone said that your rune workshop produces magic crossbows?" Marquis Ludwig Aston said.

I was slightly stunned. I didn't expect that he would take the initiative to mention the rune workshop. When he asked, I nodded honestly and said, "Well, that's true. At present, I mainly supply some single-attribute giant crossbow arrows to the South Wind Legion. You know, I have some connections with the South Wind Legion."

After all, this is not a secret. Anyone in the imperial capital who pays a little attention to some magic reports knows that I own a rune workshop.

Marquis Ludwig Aston laughed a few times and said: "Haha, you are too humble. I heard that not only the South Wind Army used the giant crossbows produced by your workshop, but also the Moh Army and Duer The Wa Legion has all used the magic crossbow arrows produced by your workshop. With all due respect, if you have any extra magic crossbow arrows over there, you might as well sell some to me. I also have a great demand for these magic crossbow arrows. "

I opened my mouth wide and looked at Marquis Ludwig Aston. At first I just wanted to buy a bed crossbow from this Marquis, but I didn't expect that he would also have a need for my magic crossbow arrows. In that case... …

"Do you want to buy some single-attribute crossbow arrows?" I could barely hide my happy mood and tried hard to control the upturned corners of my mouth. I was about to laugh out loud the next moment.

Marquis Ludwig Aston said solemnly: "If the price is right, dual-attribute crossbow arrows are also available."

I heard that he wanted to buy dual-attribute giant crossbow arrows, and I calmed down a lot. I had always intercepted the dual-attribute magic crossbow arrows for my own use. I was unwilling to sell them unless I had to, so I tactfully said Said: "Well, the current output of dual-attribute arrows is not high, and the cost has not been reduced. The price is a bit expensive, and the price-performance ratio is far inferior to single-attribute penetrating arrows and armor-breaking arrows."

Marquis Ludwig Aston then asked me out of curiosity: "They say the price of your magic crossbow arrows is very...very reasonable, but I have never found out the actual price."

I have nothing to hide about this. The single-attribute crossbow arrows sold to the South Wind Legion and Lewis were clearly priced, so I said: "The penetrating arrows with the 'penetrating' attribute are twenty silver coins each. One armor-piercing arrow with the 'sharp' attribute, one '15' silver coin, and one dual-attribute crossbow arrow with these two magical attributes combined into one, one magic crystal stone."

Marquis Ludwig Aston's eyes became particularly bright. He kept thinking about it, and after a while he said to me: "Well, the price is almost three times lower than the magic crossbows sold in the Imperial Capital Magic Market. Four times. If you calculate it this way, the war cost of using magic crossbow arrows is actually affordable. I just don’t know how to buy your magic crossbow arrows. What? You probably also know that I own the largest crossbow workshop in the north of the Green Imperial Capital, and there is a huge demand for these magic giant crossbow arrows. I know that your giant crossbow arrows have fixed sales channels, but I also want to participate. I heard that you also have a great demand for bed crossbows. If possible, I would like to use bed crossbows to replace the magic crossbow arrows in your hand."

As for the equivalent replacement of Marquis Ludwig Aston, this is actually what I want, but I showed a little hesitation and said to him: "The magic crossbow arrows I sell are all at cost price, because There is something to do with this! Can your bed crossbow be exchanged with me at the cost price..."

Unexpectedly, as soon as I arrived at Prince Eric's manor, I reached an agreement to cooperate with Marquis Ludwig Aston. Marquis Aston also readily agreed to provide me with bed crossbows at cost price. Finally, we signed the contract on the spot. With a magic contract, three thousand single-attribute giant crossbow arrows can be exchanged for a brand new bed crossbow. If I don’t want the vehicle-mounted part under the bed crossbow, the number of single-attribute giant crossbow arrows can be reduced to two thousand...