"Ah? Do I look so much like a bad guy?" Isidor said indignantly.
"I'm sorry, I still don't know how to distinguish between good people and bad people, but since you are my sister's partner, you must be a good person." Emmeline bowed hurriedly to apologize, which made Isidor feel a little embarrassed.
"There is another one named Iovia who is sleeping in upstairs. You are tired from the journey, so go to your sister's room and rest for a while. When you have rested enough, we will set off." Esna smiled and led Emmeline to her room to rest.
"Hey, can she really be of any use? Isn't she too timid?" Isidor asked in a low voice.
"Her strength is guaranteed. I have let her study at the Piedmont Magic Academy for the past ten years. It is known as the strongest academy in the human race that trains S-level adventurers in batches. Even in a place where everyone is a genius, Emmeline has always been number one in archery and mechanics. If it weren't for the lack of actual combat opportunities, she would have obtained the title of S-level adventurer long ago." said Esna.
"I believe she is very good, but what I mean is - can she really kill the enemy with her personality?" Isidor asked with some concern.
"It's okay. You saw it. She was willing to die for me, not to mention fight for me." Esna smiled.
"You weren't prepared to use her from the day you rescued her, were you?" Isidor asked suspiciously.
"I can't say I didn't mean to do that, otherwise I would just give her some money and let her live a good life. But I invested a huge amount of resources to let her learn knowledge and fighting methods from the best teachers. Maybe at that time, I was already preparing for today's situation. You must think that my behavior of taking advantage of my sister is despicable, right? But I'm sorry, I have now reached the point where I will do anything to achieve my goal." Esna sighed.
"I didn't say anything. From her perspective, you are a savior. After her hometown was destroyed and her whole family died, she was sold. It can be said that she was in hell. However, at this time, an elder sister she had never met rescued her and paid for her to live a life of ease and receive the best education. If it were me, I would probably be grateful and willing to give everything." Isidor said.
"I don't think you are the kind of person who will be loyal to someone just because of a favor. To be honest, there are many things about you that I can't see through. But fortunately, I still have the solution to the problem of soul collapse, which I can give to you as a reward." Esna said with a smile.
"I hope to receive your reward soon. After all, it's really uncomfortable to be bound by invisible pressure." Isidor said, pinching the dice in his pocket.
That night, Esna went to the town and bought a large horse-drawn carriage used by merchants.
The carriage is spacious enough to accommodate a large amount of cargo and enough to sleep several people.
Esna personally engraved wind magic runes on the carriage, so even such a huge carriage only needed two horses for power, which greatly saved travel expenses.
The next morning, Esna asked her half-elf sister to meet with Iowa formally. After explaining their goal, the four of them got on the carriage and headed north.
What surprised Isidore was that the person driving the car along the way was the young-looking Emily.
Although she looked extremely timid, her driving skills were very skilled, which was obviously the result of long-term training. She was also very skilled in taking care of horses, setting up tents, lighting fires and cooking. For a moment, Isidor felt like he was being taken care of by a nanny.
"Are these still taught in the academy?" During dinner, Isidor approached Emmeline curiously and asked.
Emmeline lowered her head and dared not answer, but cut off the roasted leg of lamb with a knife and handed it to him.
"You really have a good sister." Isidor gnawed on the perfectly roasted leg of lamb, turned around and said to Esna enviously.
Chapter 69: One Test of Sword and One Test of Bow
The northern continent is vast, sparsely populated and extremely desolate.
The carriage traveled for two days and one night. The population around gradually became sparse and the road became rugged and difficult to travel.
Just as the carriage came to a narrow pass, a group of thieves put down their barricades and blocked everyone's way.
"It's such a headache. Are there thieves in such a remote place?" Esina said while rubbing her head.
"I'll go and take care of him. It's time to get this sword stained with blood." Isidor said as he jumped off the carriage.
"Go ahead, and be careful not to get hurt," said Esna.
"Ladies and gentlemen, are you here to rob me or rape me? If it's robbery, I have no money, but if it's rape, I dare not mess with those people in the car." Isidoro teased.
"We don't rob you of your money or your women. Just leave the sword on your back and we will let you go." The leading thief stepped forward and said.
"You don't care about money or property, you just want the sword? You guys really know what's good. You didn't follow me all the way from Rodria, did you?" Isidor sneered.
"Haha, you're quite smart. In that case, I won't act anymore. I'm the A-rank adventurer Held. Leave me your sword and I'll spare your lives." The thief leader took off his mask, revealing a face covered with scars.
"Grade A?" Isidor couldn't help but feel disappointed after hearing this.
As early as when he was in Grimdor, he had defeated a man with a broadsword who was equivalent to an A-rank adventurer. Although he took advantage of his restless mind, he would not be much weaker than him even in a fair fight.
Now, not only has he completed the second evolution, but his swordsmanship has also improved by leaps and bounds. A-level opponents are really not worth mentioning.
"Haha, are you scared? If you want to blame someone, blame yourself for being too ostentatious. Dragging such a huge minotaur corpse into the city, it is impossible to keep the sword forging secret." The A-level adventurer sneered.
"Since you know this sword is very powerful, why do you dare to steal it?" Isidor took down the sword and stuck it into the ground and asked.
"Haha, stop pretending. I've already sent people to find out. All the members of the Pure Love Adventure Group rushed into the mountains, and were almost wiped out in a bloody battle. That's why you took the advantage and took away the corpse of the giant minotaur. If you really have the strength, how could you still be an iron medalist?" said the A-level adventurer disdainfully.
"So you're looked down upon because of your brand... Well, I'll make you pay for your ignorance!" Isidor said, and rushed forward with his sword in hand.
“Idiot, besides me, an A-level adventurer, there are five B-level adventurers here. Even if you can really defeat the giant minotaur, you are no match for us!” The A-level adventurer laughed, raised a shield, and took Isidor’s attack head-on.
"Haha, your strength is indeed much stronger than that of D-level, but it's just that. I specially bought this shield with maximum resistance to slashing. You no longer have any chance of winning!" said the A-level adventurer, counterattacking with sword in left hand and shield in right hand.
Isidor wanted to test the performance of the sword, so he didn't use his full strength right away. The A-level adventurer in front of him was indeed quite capable, and his attack and defense transitions were very skillful. If he had encountered him before his evolution, it would have been a bit tricky.
The two fought back and forth for more than 20 to 30 rounds. The A-rank adventurer had hoped to chop Isidor with one sword, take the sword and run away. Unexpectedly, the opponent's swordsmanship was so advanced that every attack of his seemed to be predicted and blocked.
"Brothers, come together and chop him up!" The A-level adventurer became anxious when he saw that he could not defeat Isidor after a long time of attack. He called his companions to attack Isidor together.
"Yes!" The other five B-level adventurers also took out their weapons, but before they could make a move, they all fell to the ground with their heads raised.
"Hey, why don't you guys go ahead? Now is not the time to sleep! I have paid you!" the A-level adventurer shouted in panic.
"It's a 1v1 battle between men. Why ask for help? If you're a man, fight me one-on-one!" Aisina said with a smile.
“Damn it, don’t think I’m afraid of you in a one-on-one!” Seeing that there was no hope of support, the A-level adventurer attacked more fiercely and with much more strength, as if he had used some skill to enhance his attributes.
"It's almost over." Isidor was already tired of the enemy's moves, so he suddenly changed his tactics and slashed at the A-rank adventurer in front of him with his sword.
The A-rank adventurer hurriedly used his shield to block, but Isidor used all his strength in this sword, and the greatsword made of blue gold was extremely hard, so it actually split the shield directly, and chopped off half of his arm and fell to the ground.
The A-rank adventurer was stunned for a moment, and before he could feel the pain, Isidor's next sword came at him. He hurriedly used the sword in his left hand to block it, but the sword and the man were cut in half.
Poor adventurer, he originally wanted to rob Isidor of his weapons, but in a short while, he turned into six corpses.
After killing the enemy, Isidor curiously looked at the helpers who had fallen inexplicably, and found that there was an arrow stuck in their bodies. Although the parts of the body were different, all of them were hit by a single arrow.
Isidore looked back at the carriage and saw Emmeline standing at the shaft with a bow and arrow, looking over here nervously.
Obviously, she had shot and killed the B-rank adventurers just now. Although they were all minor B-rank characters, it seemed to Isidor that they fell down almost at the same time, which meant that Emmeline had accurately shot five enemies in the head in a short period of time.
As expected, Esina would rather delay time to wait for the fighting power, it is indeed extraordinary. If she was there when fighting against the harpy, it might really become a one-sided hunt.
After this battle, Isidor's feelings towards Emilyne have changed from a reserved girl to a cold-blooded killing machine.
"You've made progress! You can actually maintain your center of gravity with such big movements. It seems that the footwork I taught you has not been wasted." Esna clapped her hands and said to Isidor.
"It's really a stretch to use these people to test the sword. Their strength is too weak and it's of no use in honing skills." Isidor shook his head.
"That's easy. The heavy-armored warrior I hired will be arriving soon. You can learn how to fight head-on from her," said Esina.
"Is she also a cute girl?" Isidor asked.
"She's a girl, but whether she's cute or not...that's a matter of opinion." Aisina said with a smile.
Isidor also laughed for a while. Everyone moved away the barricades, confiscated the gold coins and weapons on the adventurers, and continued on their way.
"How does it feel to kill someone for the first time?" Esna asked her sister in her ear after the carriage started moving.
"I don't have any feelings. Anyone other than my sister can be killed." Emmeline replied calmly.
Chapter 70: I have been an adventurer for half my life, can’t I enjoy myself?
Long journeys are always boring. Although there are occasionally some monsters and bandits along the way, they are all easily dealt with by Isidor and Emilyne.
After more than ten days of trekking, the group of four finally arrived at Raven City.
Unlike the two small towns he had stayed in before, Stern Crow City was a large city with a population of over 100,000 people. The city walls were tall and solid, surrounded by deep trenches, and there were watchtowers and heavy crossbows installed on the top of the city walls, as if they were always on guard against enemy invasion.
The management of Ravenstern City is much stricter than that of a town dominated by adventurers, and everything from personnel to luggage needs to be strictly checked. Fortunately, before Esna came, she had already obtained adventurer certificates for all the staff, and with a generous bribe, the guards at the city gate easily let a few people into the city.
"Succubus! Here I come!" Isidor started looking around excitedly as soon as he entered the city.
"Don't get too excited. We only know that the succubus is in Ravenstern City, but we don't know where exactly she is. Let's find a house to stay in and search for her slowly." said Esna.
"Ah? I have to look for it slowly. Wouldn't that be so boring?" Isidor suddenly became depressed.
"Don't worry, I have a secret technique to track down the demons, so it won't take too much time. Besides, Sternraven City is not a small place like Rodria. As long as you spend money, there are plenty of good things to enjoy. Everyone has worked hard along the way, so let's find a mansion to spend the night!" Esna announced loudly when she saw that everyone was a little tired.
"Great, you're finally willing to bleed." Iowa, who had been drowsy all the way, said happily.
"What do you mean I'm finally willing to bleed? I've always been generous, okay? Besides, we've been adventurers for half our lives, can't we just enjoy ourselves?" Esina said, opening a box on the carriage, which was filled with golden coins of the Kingdom of Piedmont.
"Fuck, this must be thousands of gold coins? You just carry it with you like this?" Isidor was so surprised that his tongue almost popped out.
"What else? Or do you think someone can rob us?" Esna said with a smile.
"That seems to be true..." Isidor grabbed a handful of heavy gold coins and played with them in his hands.
Lu Xun once said: "Whoever has gold can do whatever he wants in this world; with gold, he can even ascend to heaven."
No wonder everyone from nobles and emperors to the common people like gold. The heavy feeling of gold is a pleasure just holding it in your hands.
"This money is our budget, Isidor - this task is left to you. Go to the city and find a place that suits us and rent it for a month. Arrange all kinds of luxuries. We want to enjoy the life like a king." Esna said with a smile.
"Okay, rich woman! I will make sure to arrange everything for you!" Isidro agreed happily.
Although there weren't that many information dealers in Ravenstern, it wasn't difficult to find a tavern or teahouse to get some information. Isidor quickly picked out a courtyard, which was the residence of a baron. The baron's income had dropped sharply in the past two years due to the defeat in the war, and he was no longer able to afford the huge maintenance costs. He had laid off a lot of staff, and the entire courtyard was currently in a semi-idle state.
"Baron, there is a man outside who calls himself Isidor and wants to talk to you." The butler hurried into the room and said to the baron who was enjoying lunch.
"Isidor? Is that the name of some knight? Why have I never heard of him?" The baron said, gracefully putting the chicken cut by the servant into his mouth with a fork and chewing slowly.
Although his income was not as much as before, as the head of a noble family, he still maintained the proper demeanor and etiquette.
"He is an adventurer from another place." the butler explained.
"Adventurer? Does he want to pledge allegiance to me? His news is too delayed, and I don't have the money to hire such a person right now. But if he is an A-level adventurer, I should still invite him in for lunch. After all, adventurers of this level have a certain influence in the guild, and it would be too rude to refuse him directly." The baron thought for a while, then spoke.
"No, Baron, he is just a D-rank adventurer," the butler replied.
"What? Then why are you coming here to talk? Why not just chase him away?" the baron said with a frown.
"But he seems to be very rich. He said he wanted to discuss some business with you, and these gold coins are a gift." The butler said, placing a stack of gold coins on the baron's dining table with a handkerchief.
The baron picked up the gold coin and weighed it. He knew this kind of coin. It was a general-purpose gold coin minted by the Kingdom of Piedmont. There were about twenty of them. Not only was the color good and the weight sufficient, but the pattern and craftsmanship were also excellent, so they were also circulated in the north.
Based on this information, the Baron quickly made a judgment:
Since the other party was able to take out more than 20 gold coins as a gift, it meant that he must be very wealthy, and this was definitely not the financial resources of a D-level adventurer. He was most likely a wealthy businessman who went to the Adventurer's Guild to register for an iron plate just because of interest, which was not uncommon.
If it were in the past, he might have maintained his aristocratic dignity, but now his family has fallen into poverty and daily expenses have made it difficult for him to continue. He really dare not miss an opportunity to make money.
"Please ask him to wait in the reception room. I will go to see him after I change my clothes." The baron put down his knife and fork.
Isidor walked into the reception room carrying a box on his back. Although the Baron's family was a little poor, it was, after all, an aristocratic family with a history of more than three hundred years. The furnishings and decorations inside the house alone were enough to amaze Isidor.
Unlike the nouveau riche's sense of wealth, in the baron's home, wealth has settled into something more restrained. In this room, there is no exaggerated embellishment, but it reveals the owner's unique taste everywhere.
"Mr. Isidor, it's an honor to meet you. I didn't expect you to be so young." The Baron walked in gracefully from outside the room and sat in the chair opposite Isidor.
"Your house is really nice." Isidor praised from the bottom of his heart.
"Haha, thank you for your praise. My grandfather once designed a palace for the king, so he naturally has some insights into architecture." The earl smiled reservedly.
At this time, a maid with a very good figure came in and poured extremely expensive spiced wine for the two of them.
"Your maid is not bad either, her breasts are almost as big as her butt." Isidor picked up the wine glass and took a sip, but was choked by the overly strong smell of spices and spit it out on the spot.
The Baron's expression changed slightly, but for the sake of the money he didn't say anything more.
"I heard that Mr. Isidor wanted to discuss business with me. I guess you've just arrived and you want to use my noble status to help you enter the upper-class social circle, which will be beneficial to the sales of your products." Seeing that Isidor behaved rudely, the baron stopped being polite and asked directly to clarify the matter.
In his mind, he had already guessed Isidore's intention. Merchants from the south must have brought a lot of rare goods from the north and wanted to make a fortune. But they had no connections or protection in the local area, so it was common for them to work under the protection of a noble. As long as the price was right, the nobles were happy to do such a profitable deal.
"Doing business? I think you misunderstood. I just said that your house is nice, so I want to rent it for a while. Just name a price." Isidor wiped his mouth on the maid's apron, then spoke bluntly.
"Rent this place? Are you sick with a fever? This is not an inn for adventurers to sleep in, but a noble mansion personally appointed by the king! Butler, get out of here..." The baron finally couldn't stand the rudeness of this country bumpkin, and an angry look appeared on his face.
"One month's rent, three thousand gold coins." Isidor opened the box, revealing a piece of golden yellow inside.
Looking at the box full of gold coins, the baron swallowed the word "see you off" which was about to come to his lips.
Chapter 71 Crisis! Vampires are coming!
"You mean, I have to pay three thousand gold coins to rent this place?" the baron confirmed in surprise.
"It won't be too difficult, will it?" Isidor said, pouring the gold coins in the box onto the table. The yellow gold coins soon covered the entire table and even spilled onto the ground.
The maid next to her was stunned. As the illegitimate daughter of a nobleman, she had received a good education since childhood and had served as the head maid in the baron's house for a long time, but she had never seen so much money.
Three thousand gold coins, this is probably the total income of a baron's family in a year! A declining family like theirs may not even be able to make so much money in a year, and the expenses of the nobles are huge, including the salaries of various personnel, food, clothing, social etiquette, and the expenses of maintaining the knights. If only the surplus is counted, this money is even equivalent to the income of the baron's territory for several years!
The baron was so excited that he almost went crazy. Three thousand gold coins were enough to fill his treasury and regain the glory of the nobility. Now he could earn that much just by renting out the courtyard for a month. This was simply a pie in the sky!
