Whispering Verse

"A special pass? Captain, thank you very much. I was thinking just now that it would be too troublesome if I had to queue up every time."

Shade raised his glass and saluted the captain. Captain Rades was very happy that he could help Shade:

"You have helped me so much, this little thing is nothing. Oh, speaking of which, I forgot to congratulate you."

He smiled and lowered his voice:

"The winner of the 1854 Equestrian Competition around the city."

As he said that, he clinked glasses with Shade. It is now Tuesday, and the news of the competition that concluded last Thursday has already spread throughout the Old World. Of course Captain Rades knows about it.

"It's nothing."

"It's so humbling. You're probably the most awesome person I know."

As he spoke, the captain talked about new things about his job:

"There is no need to think that the special pass is very impressive. The garrison in Kasenlik has also set up border checkpoints near here. They also have similar passes. I don't know how many nobles on both sides have these two special passes. I heard that It’s already living on the black market.”

He shook his head as he spoke:

"Let me tell you, the big shots above all have their own ideas, but apart from causing trouble for citizens and villagers on both sides, such border inspections actually have no effect."

He still lowered his voice when he said these words, but it was obvious that he had been holding it in his heart for a long time:

"Yesterday evening I met a woman with her children. They wanted to come from Kasenlik. She is a villager from Kasenlik and married to a villager from Delrayon. She came back with her children some time ago. I was visiting my parents in the south, but I didn’t expect that when I came back, I would have to go through registration procedures, but she couldn’t write.”

"What should we do?"

Shade couldn't help but ask.

"Let her go back to the village in the south and write a letter of certification in the village to prove her identity. Or find someone familiar with her to go to her husband's village and send someone to pick her up."

The captain sighed deeply:

"This is just what I saw. There are many other things going on."

Shade also pursed his lips and didn't know what to say, but the captain saw that the topic he brought up made the atmosphere a little dull, and took the initiative to talk about other things:

"What are you going to do in Michaela Blast Furnace City? Do you need my help?"

"No, no, I'm not very familiar with this place, so I want to visit the cities on both sides before starting to investigate. Moreover, isn't Michaela Blast Furnace City home to a wonder that is famous in the Old World - the glass blast furnace? ?Now that I’m here, I always have to take a look.”

"Then you are really lucky. Although I have been transferred here to work, it is impossible for me to go to Kasenlik."

Although he said this, Captain Rades still gave Shade a lot of travel information about Michaela Blast Furnace City, which he heard from his colleagues. In addition to tourism information, Captain Rades also mentioned the famous colleges and universities in the Green Lake area. He still remembered that he was in the local school when he met Shade at Fort Midhill, so he also suggested that Shade go to them. Folklore professors try their luck:

"If the Edwards family wants to study weird knowledge, they always have to ask others for advice. This kind of research can't be understood by reading books, right? Maybe more than a hundred years ago, they asked the local school for help. Helped.”

The captain said, this actually gave Shade a new idea.

Captain Rades still had the task of inspecting the camp, and Shade also had to seize the time to cross the border to a neighboring country, so the two planned to say goodbye after drinking. Shade will be active locally for a long time, and they will have plenty of time to meet again in the future.

Just as the two were chatting, the tavern proprietress wearing an apron and a headscarf sent drinks to the table next to them behind them. The three guests at the next table spoke Kasenric with a very heavy accent. They cursed the Delarian army's behavior of setting up checkpoints at the border very unceremoniously. It seemed that they also encountered this when crossing the border. Quite a bit of trouble.

The men who were talking looked like they were all dressed like ordinary farmers. Their faces were red and blackened by the wind because they had not washed their faces for many years. Their clothes, which looked like they had not been washed for a long time, were patched and their shoes were full of mud. .

They had obviously drunk a little too much, and their voices were getting louder and louder. And unfortunately, because of the special environment, people in the Green Lake area understand the languages ​​of both countries more or less.

Captain Rades, who had his back turned to them, also heard the dirty complaints, but the captain didn't want to care. However, when the landlady brought them wine glasses and reminded them in a low voice to keep their voices down, the man sitting behind Captain Rades, almost back to back, suddenly grabbed the landlady's hand:

"Oh, you damn Delarian cousin, do you want to cause trouble too?"

As the vulgar slang was spoken, the sound of the wine glass falling to the ground attracted the attention of everyone nearby.

Captain Rades apologized softly to Shade, then stood up. He didn't even ask a question. After leaving the table and turning around, he kicked the rude man to the ground.

The man's two drunken companions rushed towards Captain Rades with wine bottles on the table, and then were punched to the ground one by one by the sturdy middle-aged officer with a cold face. This made Xia, who was originally planning to help, Virtue, but just stood up and had nothing to do.

"Southern old man."

The captain muttered and noticed some unfriendly looks from the crowd of spectators. There were not only three drunkards in this tavern who were from the South. However, no one dared to say anything because of the captain's uniform and the holster on his waist.

The tavern suddenly fell silent, leaving only the three people on the ground groaning in pain.

"You two, go to the camp gate and call the guards over. Tell them that Captain Rades discovered the stowaway."

The Captain said to the man at the next table to the left, who nodded and hurried toward the door. So the captain said to the bewildered landlady standing by the wall:

"Don't worry, I will take care of these three people. You should hang Delarion's badge on the wall so that these southerners don't dare to cause trouble."

Because it is the border area between the two countries, pubs and hotels in the countryside will usually take the initiative to hang out the coat of arms of a country to indicate their country.

"Also, their drink money will be paid to me."

The captain said again, but the frightened woman just shook her head and seemed afraid to speak to Captain Rades.

The guards of the camp arrived soon after seeing their commander, and without asking any questions, they dragged the three unconscious men away. Captain Rades also walked out of the tavern, and then said again to Shade, who came out a step ahead and was standing at the door looking at the countryside scenery:

"I'm so sorry that you saw this."

"No, no, this gives me a better understanding of what is going on in the Green Lake area now. I didn't feel it when I was in Tobesk. Only when I came here did I understand what it means to be at the forefront of the conflict."

Shade put on the black hat that he didn't have just now:

"But it seems that the landlady here will not welcome you here in the future."

He looked into the tavern through the half-open door.

"Yes, I beat the Kasenlik people here. In the future, the Kasenlik people will come here less often, or they will feel disgusted with this place. If I didn't do it just now, the boss lady would be taken advantage of. She runs a tavern here, so it’s certainly not her first time encountering something like this...but she just can’t help it.”

The captain shook his head and said goodbye to Shade:

"Mr. Watson, I'm wasting your time, so let's say goodbye for now. Come see me again when you have time, I've been at the camp. If I hadn't had time today, I'd really like to see your current Rhodes deck."

"Thank you again for the special pass."

Shade said, then looked at the three men who were carried away by the guards. The idle people watching were discussing the fate of the three people. Such a trivial matter would not warrant hanging, but hard labor in the military camp should be unavoidable:

"Captain, you are probably getting busier and busier lately."

The border area is still a rural area where the two countries meet, but it is not difficult to find a carriage on the Kasenlik side.

The junction of the two countries has been a traffic artery from a long time ago, and there are special taxis waiting here to carry passengers. But this is not the kind of carriage in urban areas that picks up one or two guests and sets off, but a carriage that waits until the carriage is full before setting off.

Most of the carriages of this type of carriage have no roof. If the seats were not comfortable, they would be no different from grain carriages. Shade was the second one to negotiate the price and board the carriage. He didn't wait too long before four more guests negotiated the fare with the coachman and boarded the carriage. Then the group officially set off.

This kind of trip is also very interesting for outsiders. During the journey, which was marked by the sound of horse hooves and the ringing of horse bells, he did not forget to observe his traveling companions. The gentleman who came before him was dressed very similarly to Shade, both wearing a black jacket and stain-resistant trousers. However, that gentleman's hat and boots looked more high-end, and the handkerchief hanging out of his pocket was not made of as good a material as Shade's - Shade's handkerchiefs were all prepared by Lesia.

The guests who boarded the carriage after Shade didn't look so interesting. The four people were divided into two groups. The country woman wearing a headscarf and carrying an egg basket and the boy in his teens came first, and then came the old couple cuddling each other.

Shade was not the only one who was bored by such a journey and not very interested in the countryside. While Shade was observing people, others were observing him.

Therefore, the gentleman who boarded the carriage before Shade, after confirming that Shade was the only traveling companion in the carriage who might have something in common with him, spoke first:

"Sir, you don't look like you're from Green Lake."

"How can this be seen?"

Shade asked with a smile, happy to have someone to talk to.