The drizzling rain made everyone feel a bit lazy and disinterested. Felix sat cross-legged inside the spacious carriage, fiddling with a quill on the pages of the "Arcane Balance Guide."
Ever since trapping that mysterious angel sister with The Seal of the Twelve Zodiac Houses at the Saint Erde Cathedral, Felix had developed a certain fondness for arcane control.
Arcane Seal and elemental magic had always been his minor fields of study. Elemental magic required a substantial foundation of magical power to unleash its full destructive potential, while Arcane Seal was more about the material demands.
As long as one had enough Caesar coins and casting materials, even a magic apprentice could potentially kill a great mage. Of course, that would be considered killing with the heavy weight of Caesar coins!
On his journey of practicing Holy Light Magic, Felix hit a certain bottleneck. The "Holy Cross - Redemption" leaned towards elemental magic in its offensive spells, requiring not just a devoted faith in the holy light but also a significant amount of magical power, which was exactly Felix's weakness. He needed time and long periods of meditation to accumulate magic power.
The opening line of the "Arcane Balance Guide" intrigued Felix. He circled it and noted it down in his portable magic journal.
"Master balance, and you master the law. Master the law, and you will master order."
Arcane matters were more complicated than magic, with countless annotations and specialized vocabulary. Without a solid foundation in arcane knowledge, it would be as good as reading an indecipherable script to an amateur.
Compared to that, elemental magic is much easier. Meditation, mana, spells, and magical seals — with the right conditions, one can unleash powerful magical attacks.
The self-proclaimed angel sister, Angela, lay beside him, seemingly uninterested in magic. She toyed with a flashy but impractical enameled crystal bracelet while lying on a snowy, soft blanket, idly flipping through "Flowers and Old Soldiers."
Last night, she finally finished "The Funeral of the Rose," teary-eyed from the melodramatic plot. She clung to Felix, then used his pristine priest's robe to wipe her tears, leaving it in a soppy mess.
After changing into a pink pleated skirt, the angel sister seemed lazily alluring, with the demure elegance of a lady of leisure, except for her slouch, which often revealed more than intended. Felix inadvertently caught glimpses of her fair chest and the blush of pink beneath.
The angel sister seemed to have a particular aversion to undergarments like bras, so most of the time, she went without them.
The group was simple: aside from the coachman, there were several female priests and knightesses trained by Notre Dame from a young age. Except for Felix, most had considerable strength. The middle-aged female priest carried an old-fashioned box emanating a strong aura of holy light, its contents a mystery to Felix.
This world is filled with recorded treasures, though many have been lost or damaged. Notre Dame's daring venture into The Burial Ground of Bones to seek the so-called "The Left Hand of God" wouldn't be possible without some key lifesaving tricks up their sleeve.
If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.
They traveled two days along the desolate trade route, passing through several sizable towns without stopping, only pausing for quick supplies.
This road leads to the outskirts of the continent, to the Barren Plains, home to green-skinned, fanged half-orcs. The prosperity of one race inevitably suppresses another. Just as the elves moved from this prime material plane to the outer planes, with the proliferation of humans, many races have faded or left.
The Barren Plains has a notorious place known as the Wrath of Thunder, once a gathering spot for tauren or minotaurs.
Traces of tauren on the continent are scarce, and perhaps they still exist in the depths of the underworld, gradually disappearing from human sight. When the elves decided to migrate en masse, many races took the opportunity for a free ride, including the tauren.
The Barren Plains are rich in furs, with harsh geological and climatic conditions, an active ground for beasts, and abundant in resources, including open-pit minerals.
Rare herbs and fusion agents used by spellcasters, 20% are transported from the Barren Plains. A whopping 300% profit is enough to lure any merchant seeking Caesar gold coins. They just need to prepare a cartload of food and iron weapons to trade for rolls of fur and rare trinkets convertible into heavy Caesar gold coins.
Witchcraft is a specialty of the Barren Plains, with green-skinned shaman priests who always know some strange spells. Unlike other spellcasters, they need oddities like living human eyeballs, pregnant lizard tongues, or white fur from a tiger-toothed beast — things that mages find unimaginable.
The Vulture Plains, the Barren Plains, the Bone Wastes, plus the extension point of the Maya Mountains and the outlying seaside cities, make up the southwestern corner of the continent and the furthest edge of the Titans Empire's territory.
At dusk, the group arrived at the Fish Town, one of the towns near the sea, connected by a main road to the seaside cities to the west.
The roads of this era are cobblestone, and although the carriages are lined with soft blankets to prevent jostling, the muddy roads after the rain still significantly slowed their pace. The middle-aged nun leading the group decided to rest here for the night and continue on their journey once the rain stopped.
There are many such small towns on the empire's borders, spaced out at intervals along the way. These towns are usually small in population, just three to five thousand people, and mostly survive by earning money from trading merchants through inns. Not only the empire's merchants but also those from the Free City and even the Saturn Empire travel thousands of miles to come here. In the eyes of the half-orcs, humans are distinguished by race, not nationhood.
the Fish Town, located at a fork in the main trade route, sees more travelers, and a town not particularly large boasts no fewer than ten inns.
The place where Felix's party chose to stay was an inn named Jasmine’s Fragrance, a higher-end establishment that one could tell by the name offered special services. However, the leading middle-aged nun was apparently unaware of this fact; she chose it solely for its nice environment, cleanliness, and tidiness.
After checking into the inn, the devout nuns did not go out. They chose to enjoy dinner in their rooms and complete a prayer ritual.
Felix had no such plans. After a quick meal, he went down to the inn's lobby, followed by the bored angel sister, who donned a black cloak and trailed him with interest.
In such small towns, inns also serve as entertainment bars, providing lodging, food, drinks, and the kind of exercise desired by lonely and weary travelers.
Of course, these places are also the best spots to overhear interesting gossip and potentially useful information.
The fire in the fireplace crackled, occasionally stoked by a plump girl with a pretty face. In such places, if the price is right, even the matronly innkeeper with her charms intact would spend a romantic and wonderful evening with you.
Felix spent the evening listening to gossip and rumors, mostly trivial matters, but the angel sister seemed to find it very entertaining, her pale blue eyes sparkling as she occasionally flashed Felix a sly smile.
Just when Felix was about to give up and return to his room to rest, the inn's door was violently pushed open. With the wind and rain came a chill, and the first thing that caught his eye was a pair of silver-white hands!
Silver-white gloves, woven from some precious metal thread!
Silver-white hands with dried blood near the wrists!