Blue Sword

The White Illyana finished loading cargo at the Ochakiv port in the Principality of Kievan Rus and began its return voyage.

Upon hearing that the Emperor was defeated at Manzikert, shipping orders to the Black Sea immediately increased dozens of times. Keen businessmen have predicted that the southern trade route from Asia Minor through the Ilanian Plateau will definitely be cut off by the Seljuk Empire.

The only way to maintain normal trade with the Dragon Kingdom in the east is through the Sarmatia-Mongolia steppe route north of the Black Sea.

Because this route is too far north, it can only be run in summer. In winter, when roads are blocked by heavy snow, trucks are basically unable to move.

The Principality of Kievan Rus doesn't seem to have the money to spread snowmelt on the road, not to mention that the Mongolian steppes are full of nomads running around. If they can't survive in the winter, they will squat on the roadside and plunder, so in winter This trade route was inevitably interrupted.

Therefore, you have to stock up quickly during the summer.

The nobles of the Principality of Kievan Rus were also very thieves. They heard about the defeat of the empire from somewhere, so these Skorabo nobles, who were dressed in animal furs, ordered their serfs to set up numerous tax cards on the roads in their territories. So much so that the price of furs exported from Kievan Rus has tripled.

The ship owner roughly calculated that this trade could barely break even, so it was a wasted trip.

If it hadn't been for carrying a wealthy mercenary group, this trip to the Black Sea would have been a waste of money. The depressed captain ordered the ship to return, secretly praying that the mercenary group that landed on the mysterious island could survive.

Then you can harvest another 5 pounds.

"What!" The ship owner, who was feeling lucky, was in a state of collapse when he learned from the lookout that the mysterious island had disappeared again. "It's impossible! Such a big... such a big island! Why? Maybe it’s gone? Did our route go astray?”

"Captain, even if you don't believe in the compass and sextant, you should believe in the GPS on our ship." The navigator said with a wry smile.

The owner leaned against the side of the ship in frustration and had to admit that the pilot's judgment was correct. After all, that mysterious island can appear out of thin air on the Black Sea, and it can also disappear out of thin air... It's just a pity that I can't earn those 5 pounds.

Just when his mood hit rock bottom, a red signal flare suddenly rose in the distance. The captain's mood immediately felt as if the winter snow had finally melted, and his whole spirit was lifted.

"Quick, quick, drive over there!" he shouted, pointing in the direction of the flare.

As the merchant ship approached, the sailors on board finally saw a small boat floating on the sea with the current. The five people on the boat were sitting in a circle, muttering something.

"I am a prophet." Nora said, "I saw the identity of the leader last night, and he is a werewolf."

"No, I am the prophet." Ask said seriously, "I checked Nora's identity last night and she is a werewolf."

"I can't tell who is lying at all!!!" Eleanor screamed, hugging Peggy next to her with tears streaming down her face.

"I think Ask is the werewolf." Paige said calmly while being hugged.

"Why?" Ask asked calmly.

"Intuition," Paige replied.

"Please speak in order, Aske, you have already spoken." Medea, as the referee, sat next to him and said sickly. On the one hand, her spirituality was damaged and has not recovered, on the other hand, her own psychic ability... playing werewolf is cheating.

"Then I'll vote for Aske," Eleanor said.

"I'll vote for Aske too," Nora said.

"Okay, the werewolf is killed and the game is over." Medea said boredly.

"Yeah!" Nora and Eleanor high-fived excitedly, pulling Paige along to start cheering.

"Playing Werewolf with four people is still too easy," Asker said. "After I go back, I will start thinking about expanding the team."

"According to the four professions mentioned before?" Nora flipped through her small notebook, "thief, armor-piercing warrior, gunner and arcane mage."

"That's right." Asik looked at the merchant ship coming ahead, "Our ship back has arrived."

Two sailors jumped from the side of the ship into the sea, swam to the side of the boat, and fixed the four sides of the boat with steel cables with iron hooks. The sailors on the ship started the machine and pulled the boat up.

"By God, you can come back alive!" The captain excitedly gave Aske a hug for the sake of the 5-pound note.

"Don't ask me where that mysterious island went." Ask joked.

"Of course, of course, we don't care about supernatural events." The captain took the 5-pound note handed over by Aske and put it away with satisfaction.

At 3 p.m., the White Illiana arrived at the dock of the Golden Horn. After bidding farewell to the ship owner, everyone set foot on the land of Constantinople again.

Then take the subway across the Galata Bridge to the main city of Constantinople and get off at the subway station near the Mercenary Guild.

"The mission targets are all dead." Walking into the mercenary guild, Asik came to the counter and said directly to the receptionist.

"Have you collected the remains of the target person?" the receptionist asked with a polite smile, "If there are no remains, we may not be able to pay you."

"No, because they all sank to the bottom of the sea." Asker said, "Therefore, you can also tell the mission publisher that no one will be able to find these targets."

"Understood, the guild will negotiate with the task publisher. If the publisher is willing to cancel the task, then this time will not be counted in the number of failures of your team. Please complete the submission of this task in the APP first." The receptionist said. .

Ask nodded, walked out of the mercenary guild, and said to the four girls waiting there:

"Okay, let's go home."

"Go home!" The girls almost burst into tears. Although the adventure on the desert island in the Black Sea was very exciting, after a day and night of fighting, what they longed for most now became a hot bath, a cooked dinner and a warm bed.

It was already 6 p.m. when we returned to Asker's ancestral home. The girls took turns to finish bathing in the bathroom and put on comfortable and soft clothes. Asike came back from buying food from outside, so everyone ate in the study room on the third floor.

"How is the digestion of your extraordinary power going?" Ask asked casually.

"I digested some." Nora replied.

"A quarter," said Eleanor.

"It's almost all digested," Paige said.

Medea stirred the salad unhappily. She had already finished digesting the Level 2 potion, and now she was short of ingredients for the Desire I potion, so she didn't say much.

"In the future, everyone can go to the Heaven Mountain plane fragments to practice." Ask said, "In this regard, I will draw up a training plan. But I will go out to recruit new members tomorrow, so you should take a rest first."

He threw the "Absurd Dream" to Nora: "Use your spirituality to explore its usage, and it will be easy to get started."

"Are you going to keep it for me?" Nora asked doubtfully. Logically speaking, this kind of precious extraordinary item that seals a plane must be carried by the leader in any organization.

"Yes." Asker said, "You are in charge of the finance anyway, so I'll leave it to you along with the purchasing and warehousing, team administrator Miss Nora."

"Okay." Nora nodded, with a warm feeling of being trusted in her heart, and some strange throbbing like a deer.

………………

The night passed.

In the early morning of the next day, Aske finished washing. He did not wear armor or weapons, but only wore comfortable close-fitting clothes, and went out refreshed.

Arriving at the Coliseum of Constantinople, he walked to the reception counter and knocked on the table.

Behind the counter was a lazy middle-aged man who yawned and said:

"You're late. The next battle will start in half an hour. The betting session has ended."

"I'm not here to place bets." Asik said with a smile, "I'm here to sign up for team wrestling."

"Oh." The middle-aged man opened his eyes wide and looked at this ignorant young man, "Then fill out the application form."

He pulled out a few documents from the cabinet next to him and slapped them in front of Aske's face. One is a basic information application form, one is a temporary employment contract, and the other is a liability exemption agreement:

Those who sign up for gladiatorial games voluntarily participate in gladiatorial games and are fully aware of the dangers of gladiatorial competitions. The arena organizer is not responsible for any injury or death in the arena.

Asker didn't bother to read it in detail. He filled out all the things that needed to be filled in, signed and fingerprinted, and then pushed it back to the middle-aged man.

"Let me take a look." The middle-aged man checked the document, "Aske Lepios Achilles, your name...are you an imperial noble?"

"Can't nobles participate in gladiatorial combat?" Ask asked with a smile.

"Of course." The middle-aged man muttered something and said, "Anyway, in the gladiatorial arena, everything speaks with the sword. This agreement has been certified by the church. If you regret it, it's still too late to withdraw now."

"Don't wait until your arm is chopped off in the arena before you regret it and cause trouble. By then, everyone will lose face."

"Follow the normal procedures." Ask said calmly.

Seeing that the other party did not listen to the dissuasion, the middle-aged man sighed, stamped his seal on the document skillfully, and said:

"There is still one vacancy for the red team. Go straight ahead to the passage on the right. Inside the first door is the red team lounge, including rest, training, and equipment. You can't miss it."

"By the way, the boss of the red team is a tough Thracian heavily armored warrior named Theotis, nicknamed 'Brown Bear'. He may be a little... unfriendly to you."

"Not very friendly?" Asik asked, "Why?"

"Listen." The middle-aged man sat up straight, "Each side of a group duel can have up to 9 people. Any more will affect the enjoyment of the duel. The red team has always been full before, but today someone asked for leave and there was a vacancy. It happened to be The younger brother of the red boss, Saotis.”

"Our Arena does not recognize asking for leave. Since you don't come today, someone else will take your place."

"So, by signing up today, I have replaced the position of Theotis's younger brother?" Asker said, "Even if he comes back tomorrow, he will not be able to return to the gladiator arena?"

"To be precise, there is no way to return to the red team of gladiators." The middle-aged man corrected him, "Unless you die in today's gladiator, leaving the red team missing one person again."

"Well, although there is no evidence, there are always rumors among the gladiators that Theotis secretly killed a teammate during the gladiatorial fight in order to let his brother join his team... Of course we have no evidence. , otherwise we will politely ask him to get out."

"I understand." Asik nodded.

"Don't you think about coming back tomorrow?" the middle-aged man confirmed again.

"It's too much trouble." Ask shook his head and said, "That's it."

"It's up to you." The middle-aged man leaned back on his chair and lazily put his feet on the counter.