Chapter 1286: Blood Castle (2)

Chapter 1286: Chapter 631: Blood Castle (2)

It’s not an adventure town like Suo Yu Bay or River Valley Town.

Up until a few months ago, when demons began appearing more and more frequently in the nearby hills and showing extremely aggressive behavior, with the garrison stretched thin and no reinforcements in sight, Blood Castle made an exception and started recruiting adventurer mercenaries on a large scale. Adventurers who go wherever the money is began converging here from all directions.

Only because of past reasons, there were basically no supporting facilities for the adventurer profession around Blood Castle.

And if they were to carry out large-scale renovations of the already-formed city districts just for this, it would be not only troublesome but also involve too many interests, easily drawing the dissatisfaction of the original residents and a considerable portion of the soldiers.

So, after some thorough discussion—

The officials of Blood Castle opened up a large tract of new ground at the bottom of the valley, where it connects to the edge of the Lower City District, using it as a temporary camp to house adventurers and set up related supporting facilities.

Adventurers, whatever else you say about them, are each powerful individuals wielding supernatural power; their finances are ridiculously abundant, and they have extremely strong willingness and capacity to spend.

That patch of open land that not long ago had only a few vegetable plots and some rough shacks turned, in just a few months, into a large camp that could even be called bustling and lively.

When the three people and one wolf pushed out of the dense forest at the bottom of the valley, what met their eyes was a cluster of buildings in wildly different styles, each showing its own unique character.

There were patched-up tents with beast-hide flags raised high at the door, a middle-aged Human adventurer with a shifty face shouting loudly beneath them, and a stall at his feet piled with unfamiliar hides of unknown origin;

There was a crowd forming more than half a ring around a patch of open ground by the roadside, noisy and boisterous, and amid the jostling heads you could just make out a Green-skinned Orcs and a sturdy Dwarf resting their elbows on an overturned barrel, faces flushed red as they wrestled wrists;

There was a lousy Minstrel plucking out ugly tunes, drunk Mercenary sprawled every which way in the mud snoring like thunder, and a pointy-eared Half Elf Ranger pointing at the purse in his hand, gesturing as he haggled with a native merchant whose accent was so thick it made every word a struggle…

Just a short while ago, everywhere you looked here was still untouched hills and dense forest. Now, faced with this kind of lively scene, Xia Nan felt momentarily dazed.

“This camp has only been up for a few months after all. In every aspect it can’t compare to proper adventurer towns.”

“But the facilities inside are still fairly complete. Whatever you need, you can find it somewhere in there.”

Ranger Tal, following behind him, spoke up at the right time with his Introduction.

After all, this world has never lacked opportunists.

With such a large ‘Outer Camp’, it’s impossible that everyone here is an adventurer. There are also many ordinary people who’ve come trying to find business opportunities.

Dealing with adventurers means risk and profit in equal measure.

If you happen to run into those whose brains don’t work too well and whose tempers are violent, even the tiniest quarrel could be enough for them to chop off your head with an axe.

But at the same time, given adventurers’ spending habits, even if you only run some small business, the money you make in a single day might equal what you used to earn in a month or two.

If you get lucky and pick up a few bargains, you might even scrape together enough seed money to move from the Lower City District up to the Central City District.

“Mm… sir, don’t blame me for talking too much, but in a few ways, this place is a bit different from the outside.”

In any case, Blood Castle is ultimately a Border Fortress practically controlled by the Sevia Kingdom government. The Kingdom’s garrison forces are the ones calling the shots here.

Recruiting adventurer mercenaries is already an exceptional measure for Blood Castle, outside of the norm. Naturally it can’t be run like other ordinary towns where adventurers are allowed to run wild.

In the Outer Camp and the Lower City District, they might turn a blind eye, but further in you have to follow the rules and regulations of the town.

Otherwise…

Let’s just say, many of the soldiers and officers stationed in Blood Castle have already obtained Professional Levels.

With numbers, discipline, and tactical formations backing them up, they can easily take down even a full adventurer team.

These past few days, the number of prisoners in the fortress prison has almost quintupled compared to before.

Of course, for Xia Nan, this kind of Transformation hardly matters.

After all, in a sense—setting aside his outfit and level of Strength—his life in town is almost no different from that of an ordinary resident.

He doesn’t think that just because he’s an adventurer he’s somehow above everyone else, free to trample ordinary residents underfoot. Sometimes when bargaining, if he notices the other party forcing a smile because of his identity, he’ll take the initiative to back off and pay the asking price.

As for the rules of Blood Castle, he actually hopes they’d be stricter, so he’d have less trouble in his daily activities.

Thinking about it, as his Professional Level gradually rose and his Equipment got upgraded, compared to when he first started out in River Valley Town, it’s been a long time since anyone dared to come up and cause trouble.

Even those blind drunkards, as soon as they show the slightest sign of offense, their companions usually drag them away. The conflict ends before it even begins.

Right now, Xia Nan himself is one thing.

Then there’s Winter Wolf Fenney at his feet, reverting to her cold and aloof manner the moment they enter a crowded area.

And Barbarian Fugang beside him, silent and taciturn, yet radiating a strangely intense presence with every move.

Let’s just say, walking down the street, they don’t need to look particularly like Senior Adventurer; as long as someone has even a bit of experience, most adventurers won’t dare meet their eyes head-on, for fear of provoking trouble out of nowhere.

At most, they’ll wait until the group passes, sneak a few glances at their backs, then huddle up with their teammates to whisper and speculate.

Given how fast adventurer gossip spreads, odds are that by tonight, word that “two tough characters with a White Wolf suddenly showed up in the camp” will have reached every Tavern in the fortress.

—As for Ranger Tal, because he’s acting too much like a follower and his appearance really is that ordinary, the adventurers automatically leave him out of the story, maybe at most adding, “Those hard cases have a bald lackey tagging along.”

Walking the streets of the Outer Camp, Xia Nan’s expression stays the same: steady, without a single ripple.

But his gaze keeps drifting over both sides of the street, taking in the surroundings.

Since barring surprises he’s likely to be staying here for a while, getting a head start on scouting the area definitely isn’t a bad thing.

Following Barbarian Fugang’s lead, they don’t linger in the Outer Camp.

Under a barrage of looks from behind them—some hidden, some wary—the three of them head straight up, passing through the Outer Camp, the Lower City District, and the Central City District.

Three people and one wolf make for a conspicuous lineup, and in the end, as they’re about to enter the Upper City District, they get stopped.

The ones stopping them are a three-man patrol.

They wear standard armor bearing the crossed blood-axes and fortress crest. The leader looks seasoned; he’s a professional, but not high Level, probably just Level 1 or Level 2. The two teammates behind him haven’t obtained a Professional Level yet.

It’s clearly a matter of duty forcing their hand.

They don’t want to offend these hard-to-read Senior Adventurer, but they also can’t pretend not to see them while on duty.

The man who seemed to be the Captain hesitates again and again, but finally steels himself, steps forward, stops Xia Nan’s group and asks where they’re headed.

And for this, they seem to have been prepared in advance.

Barbarian Fugang, who’s stayed silent ever since they entered the camp, takes two steps up, pulls a letter out from under his fur cloak.

He doesn’t even need to open it. Just seeing the seal on the envelope makes the Captain straighten up, saluting with a posture that’s both surprised and obviously relieved.

“Take me to your superior officer.”

“Yes, sir!” The Captain’s answer comes without the slightest hesitation.

Seeing this, Fugang gives a slight nod.

Then he turns, and says to Xia Nan:

“I’m going to the Inner Castle. You take Fenney and look around town for a bit. I’ll come find you once I’m done.”