My Magic Age

Walking through the mossy bluestone road, water dripped down from the layers of rainproof eaves in the alley.

In the gaps between many bluestones, there grew some purple mosses, which were covered with small yellowish flowers smaller than match heads. A local dog ran out of the yard with its tail between its legs, and a woman's angry curse came from the yard.

There were almost no pedestrians on the street. Several children were squatting at the street corner playing marbles. When they saw us coming out of the alley, they ran away in a swarm.

Capa took Catalina and me through several streets and alleys. We walked a long way. It felt like we had walked through half of the city before we came to this slum. There were no cheap rental houses in the slums of Qiyan City. The houses here were built very compactly, and these houses were squeezed together like pigeon cages.

A clever boy in shorts, shirtless and barefoot ran back and dug out a marble with three-color petals from the crack of the mossy stone. He squatted on the bluestone slab at the entrance of the alley and was horrified to see several pairs of feet stopped in front of him. He subconsciously wanted to run away, but found that there was a cold stone wall behind him. If he wanted to leave, he could only bite the bullet and pass by these three people.

He was like a little poor creature, standing nervously against the stone wall, bowing his head deeply, like a child who was punished for doing something wrong.

Capa took a step forward, then squatted in front of the child and asked him, "Do you know Nathaniel?"

The child nodded subconsciously, then realized that he shouldn't admit it, so he quickly shook his head with a look of horror, his hair like a bird's nest and a pile of dry grass.

"You know where his home is, right? Tell me!" Capa stared at the boy, and his bluffing look looked a little bit like he deserved a beating.

The child hesitated for a moment, but finally gave in under Capa's sharp eyes and pointed to the yard at the end of the alley.

Capa took out a piece of hard beef jerky from his arms and stuffed it into the child's hand.

The child curiously put the jerky under his nose and smelled it, with a hint of joy in his eyes.

Taking advantage of the moment when Capa turned his head, he slipped away from Catalina like a loach.

The child ran away quickly, and we walked towards the yard in the direction pointed by the child. After only a few steps, the child ran back again, "Huff and puff", and shouted to Catalina loudly: "Nathaniel is not here, he went out."

Capa waved to him, indicating that he could leave.

In fact, this was the third child he had asked in this alley.

The three of us walked along the alley to the door of Nathaniel's house. Catalina walked up and tried to knock on the door, but no one answered for a long time.

Catalina deftly climbed into the yard and opened the door from the inside. We walked into Nathaniel's yard.

This small yard looked a little dilapidated, with debris piled up in the corner. The door inside was not locked. I pushed the door open and walked in. The living room and kitchen of this house were connected. The furniture in the room was very old. There was a lizard skull hanging on the wall, and a blanket full of strange patterns. There were some simple wooden Wan on the dining table.

There were two bedrooms in this house. On the shelf in one of the bedrooms were several worn-out leather armors, a rusty alloy bow and seven pairs of worn-out leather boots. On the extremely simple bedroom wall, I also found a simple homemade map, but those messy lines and graffiti, I am afraid that no one except the maker can understand the meaning of it.

This is Nathaniel's home. There is a broken net hanging on the other wall... maybe a hammock, but it is already in tatters.

I reached out and touched the table in the bedroom, and some dust came up on my fingertips.

We couldn't find anything useful in the house. After searching Nathaniel's house, we left the house with Capa. We even locked the door of the courtyard again.

Walking out of the narrow alley, there was an ice drink shop a short distance along the street. We found a cool place and sat down to order three ice drinks.

Capa stared at the huge high-heeled glass filled with finely chopped fruit pulp and crushed ice, and couldn't wait to take a big sip.

The weather in Qiyan City was hot. After running in the city under the scorching sun for half a day, it was inevitable that the mouth was dry. At this time, it was possible to drink a sweet cold drink.

Most of these street cold drink shops are located in the aristocratic living area. Although this cold drink shop is located in the slums, a relatively prosperous main street is a few dozen meters away. Capa enjoyed the refreshing coolness brought by the cold drink and said to me confidently: "I have said it before, I am as familiar with Qiyan City as my own body. No matter how remote the place is, I can find it."

I sat opposite him and took out a gold coin and threw it to him.

He reached out and caught the gold coin steadily, and did not forget to put the gold coin in his mouth and bit it hard with his teeth.

After confirming that the gold coin was indeed genuine, he said to me with a smile: "Mr. Magician, you are such a generous person."

The reward of one gold coin was a bit high for Capa who only took us to visit Qiyan City for half a day.

"There is one more thing, I hope we can continue to cooperate." I paused and said to him.

His eyes lit up and he asked quickly: "Where else are you going?"

"No, I will stay in Qiyan City for a while." I said.

Sitting under the awning outside the cold drink shop, watching the pedestrians coming and going, I took out two more gold coins and said to Capa: "This is a prepayment for you. I hope you can help me find out any news about Nathaniel. I want to know where he is. As long as the news is confirmed to be accurate, I will give you another reward."

"News about Nathaniel?" Capa frowned, hesitated for a moment, and still couldn't help saying: "Excuse me, Nathaniel's reputation has always been good in the guide circle. He is the kind of good guy who can ignore the reward for his friends. He is also born with an adventurous heart and likes to explore dangerous places. If there is any misunderstanding, why don't you sit down and talk..."

"Are you saying that we are Nathaniel's enemies and come to seek revenge?" I glanced at him.

"..." Capa didn't speak.

"I just want to find out some information from him." I said to Capa, "If you can find out any news about Nathaniel, you can come to the Holien Hotel to find me at any time. I want to know where he went."

Katerina sat aside, crossed her legs, and drank iced drinks leisurely. Her ruby-like eyes were particularly dazzling in the sun.

Watching Capa disappear quickly at the corner of the street, I retracted my gaze.

"Where are we going next?" Catalina asked me.

I squinted my eyes, "Let's meet the guides recommended by Jonah Adams for us. I always feel that there seems to be something wrong with this Qiyan City..."

...

Jonah Adams is a slave owner who sells lizard slaves in Haiyinsi City. Although his business is mainly concentrated in Haiyinsi City, if he wants to obtain high-quality lizard slaves, he naturally has to contact the slave catchers in Qiyan City.

The lizard slave catchers in Qiyan City are the group of people who are most familiar with the Savage Swamp. Only by being familiar with that swamp can they hunt those lizards called jungle hunters.

In my opinion, the slave catchers in Qiyan City are the best guides to the Savage Swamp.

That's why I went to Haiyinsi City at all costs, and even used some of Prince James's connections and contacts to let the steward of the Prince's Mansion take us to the slave market to visit Jonah Adams, in order to obtain a list of guides drawn up by him. Rather than saying that these people are guides in Qiyan City, it is better to say that these people are simply a group of slave traders.

According to accurate information from the Magic Union, seven magicians have disappeared in the past two months.

The law enforcement team of the Magic Union is also trying to investigate this matter. In my opinion, these seven magicians are certainly not brave enough to walk into the Savage Swamp alone. They are likely to follow the adventure group into the swamp jungle, and now these magicians and adventure groups have disappeared one after another...

Although the lizard tribe in the Savage Swamp has recently erupted in a civil war, any adventure group that breaks into the Savage Swamp will be attacked by all lizard tribes, but not all adventure groups will be wiped out.

A standard adventure group consists of four professions: knight, swordsman, archer, and ranger. Many adventure groups can also invite magicians to accompany them. Before the temple was closed, there were even priests or combat priests who joined. Now the latter two professions are hard to see in the Green Empire except the temple.

According to the address Jonah Adams wrote down for me, Katarina and I took the magic caravan to Belle Street.

In addition to the Qiyan City Slave Market on this street, the Qiyan City Arena was built next to the slave market. Many slave owners would rent cages in the arena to imprison those war slaves. Usually, these war slaves would be auctioned in the slave market, and they would also take their war slaves to participate in the gladiatorial competition.

I rarely pay attention to the gladiatorial competitions in the Green Empire. Compared with this bloody event, I think the water polo competition held between magic academies is more interesting.

When the magic caravan drove into this street, I found that there were still a lot of lizardmen here. These lizardmen had copper collars on their necks, which symbolized their slave status. Some of the strong lizardmen war slaves had heavy shackles on their hands and feet. These lizardmen stood in the shade of the wall, and their golden pupils emitted cold light. Being stared at by their eyes, I felt a chill all over my body.

Affected by the plane war, even in places like Qiyan City, where lizardmen slaves are abundant, it seems difficult to see male lizardmen war slaves.

Some lizardmen war slaves wearing scale armor and heavy shackles on their hands and feet are more or less the signs and pretexts of those slave owners even if they stand under the awnings on the street. They have powerful combat power themselves, and are usually regarded as the appearance of these slave owners. They are also some contestants in the gladiatorial arena. Even if these lizardmen war slaves are openly displayed, in addition to the astronomical price, many of them are not for sale at all.

Compared to these lizard war slaves, the female lizard slaves who were only wrapped in linen under the awnings on the street were the commodities that the slave owners wanted to trade.

The price of a strong lizard war slave was about 15 to 20 magic crystals, and the average price of those female lizard slaves was about 3 to 10 magic crystals.

The arena in Qiyan City looked more like two crescent sculptures built on a spacious open space, and the arena in the middle was rammed with loess and was built quite flat.

Under the awning at the door of a store next to the arena, there were more than a dozen lizard female slaves standing or sitting. My eyes fell on these lizard female slaves. They gathered under the awning with numb faces, like a body without a soul, and their empty eyes were filled with dead silence.

Walking in through the gate, I saw six lizard slaves practicing fighting skills in the inner courtyard. They were fighting in the courtyard. An instructor in leather armor stood aside with a stern face, holding a greasy black whip in his hand. The black color was definitely not the original color of the whip, but was probably stained when the lizard slaves were whipped.

The lizard slaves worked very hard during the training, and their bodies collided with each other, making a shocking sound.

A well-dressed lizard slave girl in tight leather armor walked out of the room. She had two short swords hanging on her belt. She even walked with a certain rhythm. There was a centipede-shaped scar on her slender face, which destroyed the beauty of her whole face. Her figure was first-class.

"Excuse me, what can I do for you? Your Excellency the Honorable Magician." The lizard slave girl seemed to have a high status and had some corresponding say in this courtyard.

"I'm looking for Abraham. Is he here?" I stood in the courtyard, looked around slightly, and asked the lizard slave girl.

Looking at her golden eyes, I thought of Qi Ge's personal slave Takama.

"Did you make an appointment with the master?" The lizard slave took me to the yard.

"No, I am here to visit you without permission today." I said.

The houses around the yard are all very solid stone houses, and these stone houses have no doors or windows, only iron fences as thick as arms. There are also some lizard slaves in the house, crowded in front of the fences of the doors and windows, silently watching everything in the yard. These lizard slaves are in better condition than those lizard slaves sold outside, at least they are a little angry.

"I don't know what to call you, I will report to the inner courtyard for you."

The lizard slave looked me up and down, and took me to the grape trellis in the yard, asking us to take a short rest here, and the lizard slave turned and walked into the inner courtyard.

While waiting under the grape trellis, I couldn't help but take a closer look at the three pairs of lizard slaves in the yard. They held heavy wooden swords and shields in their hands. Every time the wooden swords hit the shields, there would only be a banging sound.

Those lizard slaves looked strong, but the martial arts they practiced were nothing new. They were more like the sparring classes of the warrior apprentices in the primary war academy.

Katarina only took a few glances and then lost all interest.

Not long after, the lizard slave girl walked out of the inner courtyard, and behind her...