Chapter 8: Alliance
“So the method of distinguishing time is very similar to the past!
Leylin thought inwardly to himself as he messed around with the crystal pocket watch in his hand.
The surface of the crystal pocket watch had fine workmanship, with twenty-four small frames inside. Each frame represented an hour.
Not only did he extort a weapon from Ourin’s lackeys, but also spoils of war worth thousands of gold coin. This pocket watch was contributed by a small fatty.
As for the revenge from their family, the Dorlan family that Ourin belonged to was from the Bourbon Kingdom, which was a few kingdoms away from Viscount John’s territory. Furthermore, the relationships between the two kingdoms were already in a state of hostility.
Not to mention that time it took to become a Magus was at least a few years, and even sending letters back and forth would also take at least a few years.
Leylin only gave it a little thought before throwing the matters between him and Ourin’s family to the back of his head.
“This time, I’ve really made a profit! Furthermore, the magic crystals are the currency among Magi, so they are very useful for acolytes!”
Leylin took out a magic crystal and flipped it around in his palm. It emitted a steady, cold feeling.
According to the calculation of the A.I Chip, although this magic crystal had some slight radiation, the effect it had towards the body seemed to be positive. It could enhance the body’s vitality.
“But! Ever since the news about me defeating Ourin spread, everyone’s attitude towards me has changed. Should I say that this is a world that respects the strong?”
It had already been two days since the previous incident, and the battle results with Ourin had spread among the nobility teenagers.
Especially the scene of him breaking Ourin’s arm while smiling, it had become the nightmare of those teenagers present. When Ourin returned, he immediately hid in his carriage and tended to his injuries. As for those nobility teenagers, they trembled the moment they saw Leylin and quickly ran away.
“Hi! Leylin, do you want to play together?
A nobility girl from the same carriage came over and asked. She wore nobility attire, wearing something similar to stockings in Leylin’s previous life on her long legs, giving off an alluring charm.
The custom of this world was to respect the strong. Now, Leylin felt that the atmosphere in the carriage was much better, and the others didn’t try to go against him either.
Moreover, several other nobility girls also extended invitations to him.
This girl was in the same carriage with him, her name is Lilith.
“Thanks! But, I have friends coming!” Leylin said apologetically.
“Ooh! I must have been interrupting! I’ll invite you, later on, Jasmine and a few others are also interested in you!”
The long-legged girl tenderly smiled, raised her skirt, and made a noble’s greeting, extending a tempting invitation.
“Girls nowadays are really maturing early!”
Leylin bitterly smiled in his heart.
“Haha……what did I just see? How many times has our young master Leylin been invited by girls?” An exaggerated voice came.
“How can I be compared to you? ‘Satin Gold Mane Lion’, your great name has spread among the female circles in the entire carriage!” Leylin rolled his eyes.
“Didn’t you want to avoid me so as to not be isolated from everyone, are you no longer afraid of that?” Leylin looked atGeorge who wasthe approaching .
“You’re the hot topic in the camp now! Many girls have interest towards you. That Lilith earlier wasn’t bad either. I can guarantee you that if you just put your heart into it, you’ll be able to take her down in three days!”
George laughed, “Furthermore, I have to congratulate you on your successful revenge!” With a wave of his hand, a glass bottle drew an arc in the air and was caught by Leylin.
Opening the oaken stopper, a fruity aroma mixed with a tinge of alcohol drifted out, causing Leylin to subconsciously take a deep breath.
“Apple wine! I haven’t drank much of this in these few months!”
“Correct! Furthermore, it’s a speciality from our federation. It wasn’t easy for me to have kept it hidden till now!” George opened the wine bottle in his hand.
“To our Leylin! Cheers!”
“Cheers!” Leylin smiled. Wine bottles knocked onto each other and emitted a clear sound.
“Also, thank you!” Leylin said sincerely.
George had the strength of a preparatory Knight, and with his leadership status amongst this bunch of nobility youths, if he had taken any slight action earlier on, he could have easily settled Ourin.
However, he cared about Leylin’s emotions and only helped Leylin increase his strength secretly. Besides that, he had hidden their relationship so that Ourin would provoke Leylin without any second thoughts. Finally, he helped Leylin complete his revenge.
This protected his pride as a noble very well.
From this, Leylin could see his meticulousness and his ability to take care of others’ feelings.
“This is no longer about winning the hearts of people, but about using sincerity to move them. I should say that it’s really worthy of Satin Gold Mane Lion’s family, leader of the Furze Alliance!” Leylin thought inwardly.
“No need for thanks! We’re all members of the Furze Alliance, how could I have turned a blind eye at you being bullied by those northerners!” George laughed, downing all of his apple wine in one gulp.
“Pity! Now that we’re deeper and deeper into the wilderness, we haven’t been passing by any large cities for a long time now. Even supplies are hard to find!”
George seemed to have recalled the taste of the apple wine and had some regret.
“Right! We’re going to organize a barbeque banquet; it’ll be for our Furze Alliance. Do you want to join?”
George extended an invitation.
“Of course! It’d be my pleasure!” Leylin smiled and responded. With his identity as a noble from the Furze Alliance, he could only join this circle.
At times when one’s strength was still weak, joining circles was also a method to protect one’s safety.
It was deep in the night. The sky was filled with shining stars, pulling a silver veil over the ground.
Inside the camp, groups of young men and girls all sat together, circling the campfire as they laughed and messed around. It was very lively.
After a few months of living together, they had gotten closer to one another.
“Come, Leylin, I’ll introduce the both of you to each other. This is Yarfuan, Viscount Normier’s descendent!”
“Nice to meet you! I’ve heard lots about you trashing Ourin!” Yarfuan stretched his hand out as he smiled.
“Nice to meet you!” A genuine smile was drawn on Leylin’s face as he shakes Yarfuan’s hand.
“These are the sisters, Gwen, and Gwylith, they are your admirers!” George led Leylin in a circle around the campfire, introducing him.
“Nice to meet you! Mister Leylin!” The sisters looked exactly the same. They each had a pair of glittering aquamarine eyes, identical voices, and some red blush on their faces.
“Nice to meet you, beautiful ladies! It’s an honor to meet you!” Leylin placed his hand on his chest and did a noble’s greeting.
Seeing the two girls blushing as they ran, George looked like he was about to faint.
“Brat! You’re blessed! The two of them seem to be interested in you! They are twins! Twins!” George’s hands were dancing around as he said this, with some heartache.
“Okay! I believe that in a time when supplies are starting to decline, you should have another purpose to organizing this banquet, and not just simply to search for lovers!”
Leylin said.
As for his personal needs, he was still able to restrain them. Although he didn’t mind letting them out, that also depended on the location.
“It’s good that you’re able to see this point!” George said. The smiling expression on his face disappeared and was replaced with a leader’s presence.
He strode to the center of the area and banged the silver spoon in his hand.
“Ladies and gentlemen! Sorry to bother you for awhile, but please shift your gazes over here!”
George’s prestige was still rather high among this group of people. The surrounding crowd all stopped what they were doing and shifted their gazes to the center.
“Firstly! I would like to welcome a new comrade joining us! He’s Leylin!” George announced in a loud voice and clapped.
“Pa Pa Pa!” An intense, wave-like clapping sound could be heard from the surroundings.
Leylin got up and made a greeting towards the surroundings.
“Okay!” George waved his hand, stopping the clappings and continued, “I set up this small alliance to guarantee that every single acolyte from our Furze Alliance would safely reach the academy and become a well-respected Lord Magus. And now, fellow comrades, trouble has arisen and it is time for us to work together!”
George’s expression turned a little solemn, and even his tone was grave. Being infected by him, the surrounding atmosphere also became a little quiet. Only George’s voice still echoed in the air.
“We are nearly out of the wilderness and are about to enter the Great Plains of Death. This is the last stage of our journey, and also the most dangerous part!”
“Great Plains of Death?” Leylin was surprised, and immediately searched through his original memories.
According to the memories in the A.I Chip, the current continent that Leylin was in was very vast, filled with many kingdoms and without a united name.
Originally, the Furze Alliance that Leylin joined belonged to the southeast corner of the continent. They seemed to be one of the first batches of students. The travelling party had headed North, passing through many dukedoms and kingdoms, and now already reached the north side of the continent.
After passing through the wilderness, there was a long patch of narrow plains. Opposite the plains was rumored to be an ocean.
And this piece of plains was filled with all sorts of dangers, and had always been a restricted zone for humans! Rumor was that the plains were filled with all sorts of beasts; even the most ferocious bandits didn’t dare to enter the plains. Every part of the plains was filled with corpses of mercenaries, adventurers, and travelers!
Right now, the Magus acolyte-filled travelling party was about to pass through this Great Plains of Death, to the coastline.
“With the protection of the black robed and white-robed Lords, we’ll definitely be able to pass through it!” A fat boy said as the crowd went into an uproar.
“Correct! With the protection of the Lord Magi and Knights, our possibility of passing through here is rather high! But when those Lords are unable to manage, we will encounter death. It could be me, it could be you, do you want to experience such an outcome?”
George asked.
“Definitely not!” The fat boy shouted as his face turned red and sat back down.
“Correct! Our motive is to reach the Magus Academy opposite the ocean and to become well respected Magi. But the cruel screening will begin now. According to the information that my father obtained, there will be large amounts of death in the Great Plains of Death in every single Magus travelling party!”
George went on, revealing a small part of cruelty.
“What……What should be done?” Lots of young men and women panicked, and they looked at George with ashen faces, hoping that he would have a plan.
Chapter 9: Entering the Plains
“Of course, the reason we formed this alliance was for that purpose!”
George stated loudly.
“We’ve already discussed this with the other traveling parties. We will swap positions with them so that our Furze Alliance can occupy a few carriages that are close to each other! We’ve also gotten the permission from the black robes!”
“Furthermore, us noble males will take turns being guards to protect the carriages! Of course, this is with the caveat that we are merely assisting the black robe Knights. As for the beautiful ladies, the logistics and cleaning duties will be up to you!”
“As for the weapons, you guys also do not have to worry. We’ve already made our preparations and even got hold of a crossbow!”
George called out his plans.
The youths of the alliance all begantalking amongst themselves, and after some discussion, most were in favour of this plan.
“Okay, we agree!”
As for the position of the captain of the guards, it was inevitable that George would take that position. Striking while the iron was hot, George began to hand out some missions.
The feast continued afterward, but it was clear to see that most of the enthusiasm in the crowd had long since been lost.
“Originally I had planned on giving you a cross blade, but it seems there is no longer any need now!”
George held up his cup as he walked towards Leylin, pointing at the sword hilt fastened at his waist.
“Is it true that every single time a Magus troop enters the Great Plains, there are many deaths?” Leylin asked.
“Of course, the best case scenario is that only one or two will die, but there have been times where at least ten have perished!” George shrugged his shoulders. “Otherwise why else would I spend so much money and energy in order to establish an alliance that would be dissolved when we reach the coastline?”
“Wherever you plant a seed, there will be some form of profit to be had!” Leylin laughed.
No matter what, as long as everyone grouped together, then their odds of survival would increase. And any of the surviving acolytes would definitely hold some goodwill towards George and his family. As long as one of these acolytes were to become a Magus, then the returns would be great.
But even if there were no survivors, it wasn’t a big loss to him, either way, right?
“Aside from your swordsmanship, your intelligence has really impressed me!” George’s eyes sparkled. “The things I did were all things that my father told me to.”
“Well then, are you willing to help me?” George extended his hand.
“As you wish!” Leylin laughed, linking his hand to George’s.
……
Leylin’s reply to George’s request wasn’t an impulsive one. In fact, he had made this decision after careful deliberation.
With regards to the hidden dangers in the plains, he wasn’t very knowledgeable about it. So joining hands by cooperating would be a decent proposal.
Huuuuu
The cold wind descended upon the group and hit them in the face like knife blades. With each breath drawn, Leylin could smell the fragrant smell of grass.
“It’s already been 15 days since we’ve entered the Great Plains of Death!”
Looking back at the carriages, Leylin could see some traces of damage on it, causing him to feel quite gloomy.
The marks on the carriages were three different lines linked into one as if it was created by a single claw.
“The Great Plains of Death have dangers that even normal humans or even Preparatory Knights would have trouble with!”
After entering the plains, although the black and white robed lords had increased the number of patrols, and for the acolytes to band together, there had still been some casualties.
The marks on the carriages had been caused by a pack of plain direwolves. The very moment they had arrived, the carriages had suffered a siege.
Although there hadn’t been any deaths, the pack of plain direwolves had nearly pushed over the carriages and damaged it, giving Leylin a deep impression of them.
From that moment onwards, the students didn’t dare to camp outside and all tried to sleep in the carriages! But even with that, there had still been some casualties.
Leylin’s face grew dark.
Although the black-robed Knights were guarding them, some of the youngsters still needed to go out to take care of their bodily needs. Alas, within the danger-filled Great Plains of Death, that meant danger.
One youth had been bitten by a poisonous insect the very moment he stepped off the carriage and died.
“According to the calculations of the A.I Chip, the poison of the insect would corrode the brain within 13 seconds. There was not enough time for medical help, and even the few white-robed Magus could only watch the youngster die…”
After that incident, the students would get off the carriage only when absolutely necessary. However, due to the small size of the carriage and the sheer number of people squeezed inside, the smell within was certainly unpleasant.
For the price of helping the black-robed Knights drive a carriage, Leylin was given the chance t get some fresh air.
Although being on the outside of the carriage seemed to be more dangerous, with the black robed Knight right next to him, it was actually much safer.
As for the carriage driving skill? Leylin only had to listen to the black robed Knight for a short amount of time while the A.I chip recorded everything.
“It’s getting dark! Everyone gather within the carriages to rest!”
A voice called out from the front, causing every single carriage to stop.
Not only was traveling at night dangerous, but it meant the horses did not have time to rest, which could lead to their deaths, and cause even more troubles.
“Your carriage driving skills are quite good!” The black robed Knight looked at Leylin and spoke softly.
“Thank you for your praise!” Leylin nodded.
Returning to the inside of the carriage, a fierce smell hit his nose the moment he opened the door. Leylin’s eyebrows creased together, but seeing the stupefied looks on the students faces, he could only sigh to himself secretly.
Ever since the first casualty, none of the youths had a happy look, instead, there was a mournful atmosphere. This was another reason why Leylin did not like staying inside the carriage at all.
“Leylin, you’re back!” A small freckled youngster forced out a smile as he greeted him.
“Yeah!” Leylin sat down and looked around before taking a piece of flatbread to gnaw on.
The dry piece of flatbread was chewed up inside his mouth, feeling as if he was chewing on sand. Despite its taste, Leylin managed to swallow the bread with great difficulty, but in doing so, he felt a sudden pain in his throat, prompting him to hurriedly take out his canteen and chug down a large amount of water. After he finally finished the entire piece of bread, he heaved a sigh of relief.
After entering the Great Plains of Death, supplies were hard to come by. Even though the students had some gold coins, there were no merchants around. So in this situation, the gold coins were not much better than mere stones.
“Ley….Leylin, what’s the situation like? Just how many more days until we’re out of this damned plains?”
After Leylin had finished eating, the freckled youth asked him a question.
His words were clearly what everyone wanted to know the answer, and drew everyone’s attention as they turned to look towards Leylin.
“While driving the carriage, I talked with the black robed Knight. We’ve already traveled half the distance, so if everything goes well from here, we’ll reach the coastlines in another half a month.”
“Eh! Good god, there’s still half a month more?! What terrible days these are, I can’t even stand another single day in this place!”
The freckled youth began to pull at his hair as he complained.
“Hey, cheer up, Kassa. As long as you can take these 15 days, then you’ll reach the coastlines. Delicious fruits, fluffy bread, not to mention a comfortable bed and a warm bathroom, all of it is waiting for you!”
Even as a youngster tried to cheer Kassa up, the words seemed to be trying to cheer himself up even more than Kassa.
Dong! Dong!
A rhythmic pattern could be heard as the doors to the carriage opened, revealing George. In his armor and carrying his long sword, George looked like a handsome Knight. “Hey, gentleman! Ladies! Break time is here! If you need to loosen up a bit, just come outside. If you don’t, then please stay inside, after all, the outside is quite dangerous….
The carriage grew restless before a few red-faced girls looked at each other in the eye and walked out of the carriage.
Leylin shrugged his shoulders before grabbing his cross blade, “Let’s go!”
As a member of the guards, he needed to protect these ladies. Even though all he could do was to maintain his vigilance and call out for the black robed Knight to come help them if any trouble arose.
“I…I won’t go down this time!” Kassa spoke out from the side as he shivered.
“Fine then!” Leylin gestured to the rest to follow him out the carriage.
Landing softly on the grass, Leylin couldn’t help but to stretch comfortably outside. A beautiful scenery stretched far beyond what his eye could see. If it weren’t for the amount of danger in here, Leylin would have loved this sight.
“How beautiful!” George spoke out as he watched the setting sun.
“How beautiful indeed, but also dangerous!” Leylin muttered.
“There’s danger everywhere my friend! Sickness, famine, war, the world is filled with dangers like these. To us, this area is a threat to our lives, but to the white-robed Magus, this is nothing more than like the garden back home!” George clenched at his sword.
“Are you trying to say that as long as you have strength, then you can obtain both freedom and safety?”
“Exactly! Take a look at Kassa, he has already lost his courage. On this road to power, he is lacking the spirit to face danger. Even if he were to safely arrive at the Magus academy, it is unlikely that he can become a Magus. After all, studying magic is a treacherous path that is a hundred times more difficult than this plain!”
George threw a rock far into the plains, “It’s time to protect our beautiful treasures now!”
Seeing George walk away, Leylin had a smile on his face, “Courage? But for those chasing the truth, prudence is also a necessity!”
“A.I Chip! Initialize scanning!” Leylin thought.
Following the order, a three-dimensional scenery began to visualize within Leylin’s head, showing off the vicinity of the nearby area.
Within the light blue geographical image, a cluster of white stars. These stars symbolized the students; not a single one of them seemed to be hurt.
As for the black robed Knight, he was a flashing red light. After the A.I Chip’s analysis, it had recognized him as an existence that could threaten his host.
The final few carriages had the white-robed Magus within. Leylin didn’t dare to try to use his A.I Chip to scan it in case its energy was detected and cause troubles for him.
Not too long after, every single nearby source of danger appeared within Leylin’s mind.
“Even if it’s a poisonous insect, they won’t be able to escape the A.I Chip’s scan! As of right now, this area is safe!”
This was a guarantee that Leylin could make.
Although he was a member of the guard, he would never do anything to put himself in harm’s way.
With the A.I Chip, he had a firm grasp of everything happening in a 20 li radius, and this would be the biggest guarantee to their safety.
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
200+ Power
Ranking 
28 Power
stone 
Paragraph comment