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Chapter 227: The Everchanging Flags on Roel’s Bed

Half a month later, a merchant convoy consisting of over thirty individuals entered the Austine Empire’s Pordere Village. There was no house insignia on the carriage, but it bore a symbol commonly used by Rosaian merchants. It signified that they weren’t from a noble house but one of Rosa’s many merchant associations.

Since they didn’t have any noble background, their entry wouldn’t alarm the local nobles either. That being said, for a remote village like Pordere Village, the arrival of a merchant convoy was still quite a spectacle for them, drawing in huge crowds.

And their curiosity was met with returns too. They got to feast their eyes on the presence of two extremely beautiful youths who looked like the graceful elves in stories.

They were the black-haired boy and silver-haired girl seated at the centermost carriage, looking like an unmarried couple. As for why the crowd thought of them to be a couple, there were three reasons for it.

One, they were sharing a carriage after all. Two, even though the two of them were really good-looking, the differences in their hair and eye colors hinted at them being non-blood-related. Three, they had a lovey-dovey atmosphere between them.

They were either hugging one another or holding hands, almost as if they were stuck to one another. The black-haired boy still looked composed about it all, but the silver-haired girl had a clear look of bliss on her face.

There was no married woman in the village who wasn’t familiar with the expression on her face—it was the look of a woman in the honeymoon period of her romance. Gossip about these two unusually good-looking youths spread swiftly, and the most popular theory postulated that the black-haired boy was the young master of a merchant association and was bringing his fiancée around for a tour.

Roel was oblivious to all of the rumors going around. He was already used to Alicia clinging to him, and honestly, he couldn’t be bothered to explain the matter either. Even if he were to find out that Alicia was intentionally putting on that intimate act in public, he would probably have just turned a blind eye to it.

As a true-blue bro-con, it was inevitable that he was extremely forgiving toward his little sister. So far, there had been nothing she had done that he wasn’t able to forgive her for yet. Regarding the ‘night assaults’, he simply attributed it to a child’s prank.

Cynthia and the others didn’t dare to raise questions about his verdict—it was Roel’s private affair after all—but the skeptical looks in their eyes were more than enough to show what they thought about Alicia’s act of climbing onto his bed.

There was little Roel could do about how others thought about the matter, so he could only order everyone to keep mum about it. Naturally, Alicia was dissatisfied with the order. If she could, she would spread this rumor all over the continent and ensure that everyone knew about the ‘night assaults’ so that she wouldn’t have to get married to anyone else. In the end, she could only content herself with informing Cynthia and the others that they were actually non-blood-related siblings.

Cynthia and the others were clearly relieved to hear that. They were quite conflicted when they learned that their Holy Son might be committing incest since it went against what they deemed to be ‘socially acceptable’. But soon, they realized something that completely changed their impression of Alicia.

Is she going to be our mistress in the future?

After all, from Cynthia and the other’s point of view, the two of them were already at the extent where they were sharing a bed. Wouldn’t marriage be the next natural course of action between them?

Oblivious to them, however, there was actually an intense war over Roel’s bed that wouldn’t pale in comparison to Rosa’s century-old war for independence.

Like a widely contested territory, Roel’s bed was constantly changing hands; it was just that the Alicia Kingdom had the upper hand at the moment. That said, it didn’t hinder Cynthia and the other mercenaries from trying to build up a close relationship with Alicia. Their lovey-dovey atmosphere and the knowledge that they were non-blood-related made it pretty clear to them whom they should throw their lot with.

...

Ahhh, it looks like Lord Holy Son and Miss Alicia are getting along well today too.

While issuing orders to her subordinates to transport the wine out, Cynthia shot a glance at the carriage with a warm smile on her lips. Meanwhile, Roel was seated in the carriage, staring deeply at the wine glass he was swirling in his hand.

Right after entering the village, Roel ordered his subordinates to purchase all of the Cadi wine from the shops and even from homes. He even headed straight for the best tavern in the village to buy himself a cup of it. As a historian, he was quite interested in this wine that had over a thousand years of history to it.

It was indeed very cheap, costing just two copper coins each cup. It even came with a complimentary slice of sweet lemon, which, according to the tavern’s boss, was necessary or else some people couldn’t even be able to bring themselves to drink it.

Hearing those words, Roel gave it a try and nearly spurted out the drink right away.

Due to its unrefined manufacturing procedure, the Cadi wine didn’t have a high alcohol content. It had a slightly refreshing, numbing texture, presumably due to the mushroom, but its taste was really unflattering, to put it in a milder way.

It was really, really bitter, and it carried the stench of dirt too. It was like the polar opposite of the Pamela wine produced by the Ascart Fiefdom.

Due to its awful taste, Roel didn’t bother reserving any for Alicia. Despite so, the curious Alicia still insisted on giving it a taste, and she was immediately convinced of Roel’s sharp judgment.

Pordere Village’s local specialty was unsatisfactory to Roel, but this was not the only thing he was looking out for here. This was the first time he was traveling to the Austine Empire, and he was planning on making use of this opportunity to see how the other municipalities outside of the Ascart Fiefdom operated so that he could better refine his policies as the proxy fief lord.

After careful examination, Roel soon came to realize something—the Austine Empire probably wasn’t as rich and powerful as the rest of the world imagined them to be. At the very least, the infrastructure in the mountainous municipalities was very poor, and it looked like the civilians lacked a sense of belonging to Austine too.

The term ‘pureblooded’ carried no significance here, and the people of the village didn’t feel that they were superior to the rest of the world either. This made Roel feel rather comfortable.

When he gave the matter some thought, it did make sense. Who would care about the superiority of bloodlines when they were struggling to stave off hunger and keep warm? Even illusions of grandeur couldn’t triumph over practical needs!

The evaluation he eventually arrived at was that the Ascart Fiefdom was on the right track. It was building on the correct foundation, and he should be able to reap the rewards of his effort in time to come.

Anyway, after replenishing their supplies and collecting over twenty barrels of Cadi wine, they finally accomplished their mission and headed to an inn to rest. The following morning, they resumed their journey toward the Karon Forest.

...

In the Karon Forest, a dark gray-haired middle-aged man and a gray-haired elder were forging their way forward amidst trees and shrubs.

The middle-aged man was Rodney, and the elder was Wood. They were the incumbent and preceding village chiefs of the Strength Sect respectively, wielding considerable standing and power. Yet, their appearances looked incredibly unkempt at the moment.

Rodney was much younger than Wood, and as if to symbolize his vigor, steam would gush out of him vigorously whenever he fought, resulting in his clothes becoming awfully tattered. In comparison, the older Wood looked much more decent. He was wrapped in a wolfskin cloak, just that its fur had mostly dropped from all the battles he had been through, turning it into a leather jacket instead.

The two of them were clearly dressed badly for someone of their stature, and it was a long story how they ended up in their current plight.

It had been three years since the Strength Sect had caught the eye of the evil cults aiming for the Scale of the Snake God. Over this period of time, they had already moved their village twice, but the evil cultists continued to pursue them fervently. Left with no choice, they decided to venture into the remote Karon Forest to seek refuge. At the same time, they also activated their spiritual sense in hopes of finding clues relating to their god and Holy Son.

The Strength Sect was one of the few heretic sects that had a fairly complete heritage, so they understood the great influence that their god had over them. Unlike the Unyielding Origin Attribute, the Strength Origin Attribute came from the giants, so it was far rougher in nature. It was much easier for transcendents of the Strength Origin Attribute to make breakthroughs, but in exchange, the Origin Attribute was extremely demanding on one’s physical prowess, and its powers came with huge side effects.

This was the reason why the Strength Sect only had several hundred people but were able to produce two Origin Level 3 transcendents whereas the Unyielding Sect only had one over three generations despite having thousands of people.

Strength and risk came hand-in-hand; this was simply how things were on the Sia Continent. It was also due to this that Rodney and the others carried great hopes for the Holy Son, hoping to fly right over to his side to seek refuge under him. They knew that while the Holy Son carried absolute power over them, he was also the only one who could lessen the side effects of their Origin Attribute through the blessings of their ancient god.

The entire village had kept their spiritual sense activated for three years now, keeping a close eye out for any happenings, but to their despair, that little boy they saw in their dreams that day never appeared again... till a month ago.

That night, over twenty transcendents in the village received a spiritual vision. The old village chief, Wood, even managed to sense the rough location of the ancient god through his sharp spiritual sense.

As soon as dawn arrived, the entire village immediately got to action. They had finally found a way out of the quandary they were in. Three years of persistence had finally paid off, and it made them break down into tears. They barely had any clothes left to wipe their tears and snot on though, so they could only grab nearby leaves to do the job.

It had really been tough on them. They had spent three whole years living in the wilderness, far beyond the reaches of the human world, such that they thought that they were really going to turn into barbarians at this rate.

Happiness had come so quickly that it literally caught them off-guard. Spring had just barely arrived, and they hadn’t managed to stock up on their rations yet. Even though they knew where their Holy Son was, they didn’t have the resources to make the trip right away. They had no choice but to devote a month of their time to gather as much food as possible for the trip.

Farming was clearly out of the question here, so they could only prepare stuff like preserved fish, meat jerky, and dried fruit. As for the rest, they could only try to make do with their hunts along the way.

But before leaving the Karon Forest, there was one last thing they had to do.

With the two remaining vats of fruit wine their village had in their hands, Rodney and Wood made their way toward the absolute power whom no one could defy in this vast forest to thank it for granting them sanctuary.

The Master of the Forest, Ancient Treant Kayde.

The rumors of werewolves in Karon Forest were actually true, just that these werewolves weren’t exactly real werewolves in the truest sense. They were cursed humans who had chosen to live alongside with the Master of the Forest. It was only with the permission of the Master of the Forest that the Strength Sect was barely able to stand its ground in this forest, and the price of it was annual tributes of wine.

It was only right for them to pay their last respect to the Master of the Forest prior to their departure. So, they ventured into the depths of the forest and found the insignia they had made beforehand. Following that, they entered a mountain valley in accordance with the route they remembered. As soon as they stepped into the vicinity, a massive oak tree at the center of the mountain valley opened its eyes.

“Greetings to the great Master of the Forest.”

Rodney and Wood bowed deeply with the vats of fruit wine in their hands. The towering treant waved its branches in response. Before the two of them could speak a word, the treant had already spoken up first with its hoarse voice.

“You came at a good time. I have a favor to ask of you, my friends.”