My Magic Age

The bald man standing at the counter wore glasses with thick bottle bottoms, and his beer belly looked round like that of a pregnant woman. He moved his body with difficulty, supported his hands on the counter, and put on a smile. Staring at me with a calm face.

There was only one light in the room, and the smell of whale oil hung in the air.

"I heard from a friend that you can hire a guide here?" I sat on the high chair opposite him and asked him.

He tapped the counter with his thick fingers, spread out an old map of Qiyan City, pressed his thumb on the location of Qiyan City, extended his index finger and tapped on the left side of the map, and then tapped on the right side of the map. , asked: “Rainforest or swamp?”

"The wild swamp of the lizard tribe."

After finishing speaking, my eyes fell on this old map. There were various circles on the map, as well as some strange signs. The only thing that could be identified was the location of Qiyan City, which was within the territory of the Green Empire. The tropical rain forest is considered a wild swamp within the territory of the lizard tribe.

After hearing what I said, the bald man frowned and drew a semi-circular arc on the right side of the map with his finger like a compass, centered on Qiyan City. Then he seemed to remember something and asked me: "Now the lizard tribe is in chaos. Very, there are wars everywhere, how long will you go?"

I remembered that Molayar had lived in Qiyan City for nearly a year. That time her adventure group accidentally encountered ancient ruins and walked in the wild swamp for nearly two months. Said: "I think about two months."

His mouth opened slightly, his hand stopped on the map, and he asked me with a surprised look on his face: "Are you going to go deep into the wild swamp at this time?"

I nodded and said nothing.

He adjusted the glasses on the bridge of his nose with his hand and said to me very seriously: "You may not know what kind of dangers are hidden in that jungle!"

As he spoke, he turned around and pulled out a parchment scroll on the bookshelf behind him, and laid it on the old map on the counter. There was a giant fly drawn on the parchment. His body language was very rich, and he pointed at it. The pattern, famously drawn with hands, was described to me:

"There are poisonous insects and beasts lurking everywhere there. You may have never seen a dragonfly bigger than a fat pig. It buzzes in the air like a piece of shit... If you fly over, you just need to be sucked by it. With one mouthful, the blood and flesh in the body are instantly drained by it, leaving only a layer of skin and bones wrapped in corpses. They will be hung on a big banyan tree by a thin thread, and then they will lay eggs on it, waiting for the younger ones. When dragon flies are born, the mummy will become their nourishment.”

Seeing that I was indifferent, the bald uncle turned around again and took out a second parchment scroll. On the scroll was a huge basilisk. Although I have never seen a living basilisk, I have seen the high-grade leather of a basilisk. After many experiences, I certainly knew that the skin texture of this lizard was very similar to that of some rocks, but I didn't expect that a basilisk was only a little smaller than a swamp giant crocodile.

The room was stuffy and the air was a little turbid. The bald man wiped the sweat from his forehead with a handkerchief and continued to introduce to me:

"There are also seven or eight-meter-long basilisks in that swamp. They like to lie on the rocks like chameleons. No, my description is a bit wrong. Their skin has granite spots on them, and they look like horizontal Giant rocks on the ground. When you pass by them, they will bite your legs. The toxins in the basilisk's body will turn the prey into stones little by little, and then it will be like chewing jelly beans. , Swallowed into the stomach with a bang."

I really wanted to tell him that I was looking forward to meeting large groups of basilisks. This kind of leather was very popular in the Imperial City.

The bald man took a sip of water and continued: "These are just monsters on the edge of the wild swamp. The further you go inside, the more terrifying the living environment becomes. There are even terrifying piranha and flying dragons in the depths of the swamp. The flock spread its wings and covered the sky in the jungle... No one wants to go there, even the most experienced guides don’t want to risk it.”

...Probably the last sentence is what he wanted to tell me. There are no guides in the Thieves Guild who are willing to go to the wild swamp.

I curled my lips and looked at the picture of the basilisk with some disdain.

The bald man swallowed his saliva and said, "In addition, the environment over there is full of poisonous gas and swamp gas. Sometimes lighting a bonfire in the jungle may cause an explosion."

He stopped looking at me, waved to me and said:

"Besides, the internal war among the lizard tribes is now in full swing. Even the largest airship caravan in Qiyan City is unwilling to cross the wild swamp from high altitude. I think if it is not necessary, we should wait. I don't have a suitable guide here to lead the way. , if you want to find a guide, there are them all over the streets, but their jungle survival experience is limited to the areas around Qiyan City. If you want to go into the depths of the jungle, you must be careful. "

Unexpectedly, the streets were full of guides looking for work. On the Thieves Guild side, no one was willing to be a guide. I hesitated and asked again:

"What's going on with the war between the lizard tribes?"

The bald man rubbed his nose with his hand and said somewhat unnaturally: "The information before was given to me for free. If you want to know the next information, you will need to spend a few gold coins."

When he spoke, he seemed a little reserved and a little bit vulgar.

"Of course!" I knew that the Thieves Guild had to pay a fee to buy information, so I took out a gold coin from my pocket and put it on the counter, pushed it in front of him and asked, "Is this okay?"

"Hehe! I like cheerful magicians." He smiled at me. Although the smile was a bit fake, he did not delay and said to me directly: "The war in the Lizard Tribe was caused by the death of the old Lizard King. The lizard king needs to get out of the blood-stained battlefield. This is a war involving the authentic wild swamp lizard people. Either surrender or die. "

He stared into my eyes and said: "At this time, as long as you walk into the Wild Swamp, you will become the enemy of all lizard people, so I suggest that you don't try to enter the Wild Swamp at this time."

No wonder those members of the Thieves Guild were unwilling to be guides at this time. It turned out that the lizard tribes were fighting for the throne. It suddenly occurred to me that I had never received a letter from Qige. This was probably the reason. I said:

"So... the caravan is also affected by the war between the lizard people and cannot go to the Aetia Alliance Kingdom in a short time?"

The bald man rubbed his hands and gave me a smile: "This will charge for the second message."

I reached out and took out another gold coin and pushed it in front of him.

"You are right. No one from the Qiyan City Chamber of Commerce is willing to organize a caravan to rush to the Alliance Kingdom of Aetia. Four months ago, the last group of Aetian merchants who were stranded in Qiyan City were trading with the largest companies in the Qiyan City Chamber of Commerce. The trading companies formed a joint caravan. They assembled a total of twenty-three magic airships and hired ten mercenary groups. When the caravan set off, they It was so powerful that just one month later, this joint caravan was attacked by a group of flying dragons at Huilal Peak in the Wild Swamp. Only three airships returned safely to Qiyan City. Since then, no one has stepped forward to organize the caravan across the Wild Swamp. "The bald man said quickly, "The last time a caravan from the Aetia Alliance Kingdom arrived at Qiyan City was last winter."

I rubbed my forehead helplessly and asked him: "Isn't there... no way to go to Qiyan City now?"

The bald man also showed a look of helplessness and said: "If the commander of the Akers Corps was not recruited by His Majesty Charles to lead the most elite Construct Knight Corps in Qiyan City to participate in the plane war, there might be a way."

"I think His Majesty Charles also saw the civil war in the Lizard Tribe and will not attack Qiyan City for the time being, so he will mobilize the troops from Qiyan Province to enter the imperial capital."

"If we ask the Akers Legion to come forward, we may be able to open a passage, but it will not be easy for ordinary caravans to cross the wild swamp for the time being."

"The lizard tribe cannot bear this kind of long-term internal friction. They also lack living materials and military supplies. The traditional lizard tribe deep in the wild swamp has animal trainers. They can tame flying dragons. Those flying dragon warriors are very good at robbing magic airships. ”

I finally pulled off the money bag from my waist, opened the mouth of the bag, revealing the yellow and orange gold coins inside, and said to the bald man:

"Okay, finally I want to release a task. Two of my friends disappeared in Qiyan City half a month ago. I would like to ask your guild to help collect clues about them. Their identities are easy to identify. They are two people from the north. Among the female magicians who came, one was a wood magician and the other was an ice magician. Master, no matter where you have seen them in recent times, or if you know any news about them, please tell me. I will stay in Qiyan City for a while. This mission will be valid for a long time until I find them. If there is anything about them, For news, you can find me at the Hollyon Hotel.”

After saying that, I poured all the gold coins in the bag on the counter. The bag was heavy before, with about a hundred coins in it. When I poured it out, there was a "crash" sound. I pushed the gold coins in front of him and said to him : "This is a deposit. Whether it's good news or bad news, I want to know it."

The bald man looked at the gold coins on the counter with some confusion, hesitated for a moment, and finally put the gold coins away.

"Okay, for the sake of gold coins, I will accept this mission, but don't put too much hope in our Thieves Guild. There has been a lot of chaos outside the city recently, and our people will not leave the city easily. There may not be the news you want. "The bald man said to me: "Actually, you should go to the Qiyan City Magic Guild to apply for help on this matter. The Magic Guild's law enforcement team is very capable, and they specialize in handling this kind of case."

"I'll go," I said.

After communicating with the manager of the Thieves Guild, Catalina and I returned to the Clover Tavern. At this time, the atmosphere in the tavern was very warm. The minotaur Luca stood in front of a tall square table, wearing a linen shirt. His sleeves were rolled up high, and opposite him was a strong man with a tattoo on his head, but this strong man was about the same size as an ordinary person, much worse than the tauren Luka.

The two of them held the square table with one hand, bent their waists, put one arm on the square table, and clasped their hands. The bartender in the tavern who was in charge of acting as the referee picked up a wine bottle with excitement on his face. He threw it hard to the ground and shouted: "Start..."

The strong man only held on for less than five seconds... Five, four, three, two, one, down!

Minotaur Luca excitedly high-fived Justus in celebration. Even Su and Helena came over and high-fived Minotaur Luca, laughing heartily in front of the bar.

Catalina and I walked back and sat on the high chair next to Yingli. Yingli took advantage of the noisy shouting and asked in my ear:

"Is it done?"

I nodded.

"Um!"

She asked again:

"How is it going? Is it going well?"

I touched my forehead and said: "... I'll go to the Magic Guild tomorrow and maybe we can get some clues there."

After sitting for a while, I led a group of people out of the Clover Tavern. Less than 500 meters after walking out of the tavern, Catalina told me calmly: Someone is following us. Catalina and I looked at each other and immediately understood each other's thoughts. At this time, think about what Kalancuo would do?

We did not continue to walk on the brightly lit street with a group of people, but went directly into the alley on the side.

Not long after, two people wearing tight leather armor and black scarves on their faces sneaked into the alley. When they only took a few steps in the alley, they realized the danger. It was too late to retreat. The minotaur Luka was like a thick wall blocking the entrance of the alley, and Justus was holding two bone knives and standing on the other side of the alley. He asked the two trackers seriously.

"Where are you from? The Thieves Guild?" Justus asked, but he casually overturned his guess and said, "No, no, no, the Thieves Guild is not so stupid at this time. Don't you introduce yourself?"

"..." The two trackers did not speak, but just carefully guarded Justus and retreated step by step to the darkest part of the alley.

Just as they wanted to step into the shadow, a dark dagger appeared against his neck, and Catalina's figure gradually emerged from the shadow. The dagger left a trace of blood on the tracker's neck.

In fear, they pulled out the daggers at their waists at the same time and stabbed Catalina behind them...

Before the dagger pierced Catalina's hand, the two trackers trembled slightly, and then they froze in place like frogs on a spike, and two pale bone spurs pierced through their backs, and the white bone spurs were stained with a trace of blood.

"Since you don't want to talk, forget it!" Justus snorted coldly, pulled out the bone spur, wiped the blood on them, turned around and chased after them.