The First Order

Chapter 1133 Fortress 178’s enemies

“I have a question for the two of you,” Ren Xiaosu remarked while riding on his horse.

However, Chen Cheng and An’an, who were riding next to Ren Xiaosu, just glanced over and did not answer his question.

The two of them were muttering under their breaths, reciting the spell incantations they specialized in.

Ren Xiaosu raised an eyebrow. “I really do have a question to ask.”

But Chen Cheng and An’an still ignored him and continued reciting their incantations.

In the two days since the trade caravan left Vaduz, Chen Cheng and An’an had been undergoing stress training throughout. Based on Ren Xiaosu’s instructions to them, they were not to interrupt their incantations regardless of how he might try to distract them. The moment it was interrupted, they would receive punishments such as cooking for Ren Xiaosu or finding hay for him to make his bedding. At the beginning, the two of their incantation recitations got interrupted very often. Sometimes, Ren Xiaosu would suddenly appear and scare them, or he would wake them up in the middle of the night and order them to recite an incantation immediately.

Disregarding everything else, Chen Cheng and An’an deeply experienced just how annoying Ren Xiaosu was over the past two days.

Currently, they were Ren Xiaosu’s slaves, as they meticulously took care of his daily needs.

However, there were also some benefits. In these two days, An’an realized it was really not so easy for her incantations to get interrupted anymore. Just a short while ago, two playful children bumped into her from the side while she was proceeding with the trade caravan.

In the end, An’an realized that even though someone had knocked into her, she still subconsciously continued reciting her incantation.

This signaled a very good start to her training!

But as a result, Chen Cheng and An’an totally ignored Ren Xiaosu when he actually had something to ask them.

“Ahem, let’s pause the stress training for a moment. Don’t worry, I definitely won’t punish the two of you even if you stop reciting,” Ren Xiaosu said.

Chen Cheng and An’an glanced at him with disbelief written all over their faces.

Ren Xiaosu said resentfully, “Am I that untrustworthy?”

Chen Cheng and An’an nodded frantically while still reciting their incantations.

“Fine, carry on then. I guess I’ve misplaced my trust in you as your mentor.” Ren Xiaosu sighed.

Then he rode his horse towards Melgor. When Ren Xiaosu came alongside the carriage, he realized Melgor was teaching the sheeple the language of the Magi inside.

When Melgor saw him approaching, he asked, “What’s the matter?”

“I’ve got something quite important to tell you,” Ren Xiaosu said.

Immediately, Melgor hopped out of the carriage and walked with Ren Xiaosu to a secluded spot. “What’s the matter?”

“I feel like something is amiss. We’re already in the Winston family’s territory. How much longer will it take us to get north to Ghent City?” Ren Xiaosu asked.

“About half a month or so.” Melgor said, “The trade caravan is traveling at a faster speed this time around.”

“The moment we’re about to leave the Winston family’s territory, we’ll have to immediately go our separate ways with the trade caravan.” Ren Xiaosu said, “This is for your own safety. Qian Weining is using your sorcerer status as a pass, but you can still reach Ghent City without following them.”

“Is it that serious?” Melgor wondered, “Did you discover something?”.

“You’re too gullible, so I can’t tell you the truth yet.” Ren Xiaosu said, “Just be prepared. As soon as we reach the northern border of the Winston family’s territory, bring the two sheeple with you and follow me. If they’re unwilling to leave the trade caravan, it means that they’re also a problem. You’ll need to abandon them and follow me to Ghent City via an alternate route. Don’t worry, you’ll be fine with me around.”

Melgor was a little puzzled as to what had made Ren Xiaosu so wary. With a sharpshooter like Qian Weining protecting them, wouldn’t that be better than taking an alternate route by themselves?

Melgor hesitated for some time before agreeing, “Alright.”

For some reason, Melgor chose to believe Ren Xiaosu, a stranger from the Central Plains he hadn’t known for long. He somehow believed Ren Xiaosu would not lie to him.

Ren Xiaosu was relieved when Melgor agreed to his request. Just a moment ago, when Old Xu was scouting around in the vicinity of the caravan, he was surprised to find that all the bandits in the nearby mountains had been killed.

Not one bandit in the seven hideouts was spared.

In the hot summer weather, the flies around the corpses looked like a dense, dark cloud.

Ren Xiaosu was unsure who could have done that, but he felt that the situation had already escalated. Qian Weining’s plans to disguise themselves as part of the trade caravan to travel north might not succeed. The oak barrels the trade caravan was transporting were definitely not filled with red wine either.

After the Berkeley family brought forward their declaration of rebellion, how could the Tudor and the Norman families allow a trade caravan of the enemy into Ghent City?

At that time, Melgor would probably also be treated as a sorcerer sent by the Berkeley family, and they would all be imprisoned and tortured together.

As they were speaking, Vice President Qian suddenly walked up to them and said with a smile, “Sirs, what are you discussing? It looks to me that both of you are very worried.”

“Oh, it’s nothing.” Ren Xiaosu smiled innocently. “We were just talking about what to eat tonight.”

“There’s something I want to discuss with the two of you.” Qian Weining smiled and said, “We’ve been attacked twice by bandits since we left York County, so in order to ensure the safety of Lord Melgor, I’ve put some guards in place to protect the two of you. This is a token of our York County Chamber of Commerce’s goodwill, so please don’t turn us down.”

Melgor was stunned as he looked at Ren Xiaosu while Ren Xiaosu sneered in his head. Of all times he could have done it, why did he arrange for them to be protected at this moment?

It was obvious they were here to watch over them. Qian Weining was afraid Melgor would sneak off!

But Ren Xiaosu could not understand. Just what use did Melgor, a fringe sorcerer, have?

When it was time to set up camp at night, Qian Weining even purposely parked his carriage next to Melgor’s.

n

Through this arrangement, Qian Weining would remain on the left side of their group while the trade caravan guards kept watch on the right. They were intent on keeping them under a close eye. However, Ren Xiaosu did not say anything. With just a few normal guards stationed here, it was a delusion to think they could stop him.

The naïve Melgor did not realize the situation had already become dangerous. He even believed it was quite good to have more guards to protect him.

Melgor sat at the campfire and gazed curiously at Ren Xiaosu. He whispered, “By the way, I haven’t asked you about the Central Plains before. Tell me about it.”

“What do you want to hear?” Ren Xiaosu gave him a glance. “For example…” Melgor thought for a long time. “Does the entire Central Plains fall under Fortress 178’s control?”

“No.” Ren Xiaosu shook his head. “Fortress 178 is only in charge of the northwestern territory.”

“There are other forces?” Melgor was curious. “Does Fortress 178 have any other enemies besides the Kingdom of Sorcerers?”

Ren Xiaosu pondered the question for a moment and replied, “Yes.”