allendalepharm Page 189
Page 189
“Yes!” Latis grabbed Lingling’s outstretched hand, feeling the words she had subtly written on his palm with her fingers, and deliberately coughed twice as he spoke:
"Lord Torso, warriors like us always look young! I'm fifty-eight this year, divorced with two kids, haha, you probably wouldn't guess, would you?"
"Oh, oh, I see."
Torso glanced at Bell, who was kicking Latis's trouser leg, nodded, yawned, looked outside, and asked casually:
"That really disrupted your travel plans, father and daughter... Oh, by the way, I heard there have been some weird and dangerous things happening everywhere lately, like 'seasonal tornadoes,' 'magic vortexes,' and 'time-space flows'..."
boom!
Torso's eyes narrowed, and he quickly turned around, only to see Latis squatting on the ground, cursing and swearing as he spanked Bell on his lap, shouting as he did so:
"You little brat, I've already told you we're poor and you shouldn't get my pants dirty, yet you keep kicking them around like that..."
"Is it a family ethics issue?" Torso stood behind Latis, stared at the scene of fatherly love and filial piety for a while, smiled, glanced one last time at Latis wiping his sweat in anger, waved his hand, and turned to leave.
"In this vast expanse of yellow sand, true friends are hard to find, and kindred spirits are even rarer! If this were my destined one... I would be filled with longing, but alas, it is not."
……
Half an hour later, Torso, who had returned to the tavern and drunk two glasses of ale, arrived at the post station.
"Please rent the fastest and strongest horse, the Eagle-Nut, and take us to the capital."
He pulled out a few gold white coins from his pocket and smiled as he spoke to the innkeeper.
"Ah... I'm sorry, sir, the fastest eagle-crossing horses we had just rented out were available. The remaining eagle-crossing horses may not be able to meet your needs."
"Oh?" Torso picked up a gold white coin between his index and middle fingers, flicked it to attract the innkeeper's attention, then twirled it between his fingers a few times, and said with a smile:
"That's fine, but I'm just a little curious about who rented it. Can you tell me?"
The innkeeper was about to refuse when he suddenly felt a wave of dizziness. He opened his mouth wide and blurted out unconsciously:
"One...a knight from the Church of Light rented three horses..."
"The Church of Light? Three horses? Could they be companions of that man from earlier?"
Torso frowned and muttered to himself:
"Holy Knight... Lundia, a mage?"
He looked up, silently calculated the rental fee, left two gold whites on the counter, then put on his straw sandals, led a hawk-drawn horse, and walked out of the city.
"This is troublesome, Your Excellency. The mission is far too complicated."
Torso let out a long breath and mounted his eagle-horse.
Before setting off, he took out a scroll from his pocket and glanced again at the simple drawing of a male mage, the word "time-space flow," and the words "newly promoted nobles?" on it, which were almost devoid of any clues.
"I'm devastated, I can't understand it at all, I'm devastated."
Torso clutched his head in anguish, put the scroll back in his pocket, and kicked the horse's belly with both feet.
Chapter 205 The Ancient Tree of Dawn felt it was particularly noisy today.
Three eagles and steeds wobbled down from the sky, then knelt on the ground, panting.
Wearing a hooded coat, Latis sprouted illusory wings from his back, flew to the top of the withered ancient tree of morning light, gazed at the road he had come from for a while, and then jumped down from the treetop.
Jennifer placed her hand on the harpy, carefully sensing its movements, then stood up and said to Latis, who was walking slowly towards her:
"Because the flying speed of the eagle and the horse was enhanced by magic for a short period of time, they seem to be a little exhausted now and may need to walk slowly for a while to recover."
"It should be fine now. The path I flew through won't leave any footprints, and I also used a special ability to calm the magical fluctuations behind me. If anyone can still track me down, I'll eat this hammer on the spot!"
Latis patted the hammer at his waist. For some reason, although as a mage he could have easily tucked the hammer into the interdimensional rift, he seemed to have gradually come to like the feeling of having a weapon hanging at his waist. It gave him a sense of satisfaction, like a childhood fantasy coming true.
Jennifer's brow furrowed, and she murmured:
"I suddenly have a bad feeling..."
"Don't jinx it, Jennifer!" Latis yelled. He shook his head, looked at Bellling who was observing with her horse's hoof raised, and said somewhat awkwardly:
"Ms. Lingling, I'm sorry about what happened earlier..."
"It's nothing." Lingling put down her horse's hooves without a care, as if she had just experienced a thrilling battle she had never imagined, and shook her head at Latis with bright eyes.
She stood up, touched her still slightly sore bottom, walked to the edge of the cliff, and took off her tall woolen hat against the strong wind blowing from the desolate mountain territory. She shook her slightly sweaty hair in the wind.
"The world outside of Lundia is truly unimaginable!"
Lingling turned to look at Latis and Jennifer and sighed sincerely.
The wind blew her hair close to her ears, making her look like a large, half-mushroom head. Her ears were rounder and larger than human ears, with slightly upturned tips. This was the only physical difference between dwarves and humans when the rest of their bodies were not exposed.
"So what exactly happened just now?" Jennifer led the eagle horse off the ground and walked to the cliff to ask curiously.
Latis took a deep breath, looked at Jennifer's face, opened his mouth, and then fell into deep thought.
"Am I being too alarmed? Perhaps 'time-space flow' isn't an uncommon term among certain groups? No, while that's a possibility, I'm more inclined to believe that Queen Whiteley has already sent people to search for me. Judging from her later displays of ambition, it's entirely possible that even the fragmented clues in my dream could trigger a major movement..."
"I suspect it's a special organization, you know?" Lingling put on her hat amidst the intense light of the Wilderness Territory, thought for a moment, and then suddenly spoke up.
"Huh?" Jennifer handed the reins of a hawk-horse to Lingling and asked, "Boss Lingling, what do you mean by 'special organization'?"
Lingling nodded to Latis, who also looked puzzled, and said to Jennifer:
"To start from the beginning, there was a strange man who inexplicably started testing Mr. Latis. I felt something was off, so Mr. Latis and I put on a show to get rid of him."
The three of them slowly walked to the edge of the cliff, turned around, faced the cliff face, and began to climb down. The eagle-horse, pulled by its reins, also slid down, occasionally kneeling on its knees.
“That man’s clothes don’t look like those of a Norard. Don’t look at me like that. Although I’ve never left Lundia, I still know about the various standards and customs regarding equipment.”
Lingling's breathing became increasingly rapid as she climbed. She struggled to hold her hat down in the strong winds on the cliff face and shouted at the top of her lungs:
"Even for research-oriented mages in Lundia, the length of male robes is usually no longer than the knee. Firstly, it is convenient for movement, and secondly, this length is enough for mages to enjoy the elegance of their robes flowing in the wind; any longer and they would not be able to flow."
"And the man's robe was almost ankle-length. Although there were a few openings at the hem that gave him some mobility, it was still quite strange."
Using the weight of his hammer, Latis climbed down the cliff face with surprising ease, each step leaving a deep crater. He scratched his head and asked curiously:
"Then what did you mean by writing 'keep your distance' in my palm earlier?"
"This is my conjecture."
Lingling revealed a slightly smug smile. Just as she was about to speak, she suddenly slipped and fell. Only thanks to Latis's quick reflexes did she avoid turning into a dwarf roll.
Latis placed her back on the hawk-like horse, and, still shaken, she clung to its neck. Watching Latis and Jennifer navigate the steep cliff face with ease, she finally suppressed her excitement at the new experience and cautiously said:
“I’ve seen the badge on that man before. As you know, I forge equipment at the magic equipment shop. Most of my orders are dispatched through the magic network. Apart from a few acquaintances, I don’t know what channels the orders come from.”
"On several orders, the orders included a note requesting that the pattern from that badge be engraved on the finished equipment. I recalled that the equipment with that pattern engraved was of different sizes and specifications, so it shouldn't have been worn by the same person. Therefore, I guessed it was an organization. Although I hadn't heard any rumors about such an organization, it's best to keep your distance from such unknown, hidden organizations."
“This is truly exclusive news that only you, Boss Lingling, know.” Latis shook his head, recalling the design of the badge on Torso’s body.
The background of the intertwined floral branches...it seems to have a somewhat royal feel. In the very center of the branches is a slightly abstract, cursive "D"—what does that mean? Initial D? D-class investigator? Could it be...36D?
He shook his head, dismissing the unreliable conjectures in his mind. He glanced at the cliff he was almost halfway down, confirmed that the slope was no longer lethal, then chuckled and cast a "Greasy" spell on the huge, withered tree root protruding from the ground before plopping down on it.
"Wuhu!"
On the steep cliff, Latis plunged down like he was on a slide. Behind him, the eagle-horse, led by its reins, stumbled and chased after him for dozens of meters before collapsing to the ground in despair, resigned to its fate as Latis dragged it down to the bottom.
……
……
[Nightly: Brothers, this is my latest work, take a look and see what you think? [Image]]
[Jesston: What is this? A mage fighting tentacles in close combat? Was it really necessary to post such a weak and feeble battle? Take it away!]
[Nightly: You have no class, I'm switching to another group chat.]
[Musk: Jay, are you on your way? I'm so lonely all alone in Silver Street!]
[Jesston: Useless, won't you bother me?]
Musk: I, I'm a reformer...
[Julia: Girls, I've really discovered that our three-school alliance is practically a fantasy world! Want something mature and composed? There's Principal Richman. Want something humorous and witty? There's Principal Fisherman. And if you want our beloved "older sister" type, there's Principal Zerris. Seriously, you students from all three schools eat so well! I've already been directly admitted to the Ivy League!]
【Night After Night: ?】
Walmart: ?
[Sex: ?]
[Jesston: What the hell? Drag him out and kill him.]
……
Jeston frowned, disconnected from the Qing Teng Academy's group chat, gagged, and muttered under his breath:
"It was caused by eating at the table."
He stood up, glanced at the cliff he was on, and wiped his blistered hands on his body.
As a poor fourth-year student at Green Vine Academy with little savings, Jeston naturally wouldn't spend the money to rent horses. Anyway, he figured he could exercise anywhere, so he treated the journey to Silverway Town as a daily aerobic workout.
However, he overestimated his physical abilities as a mage.
"Damn it, the air here is so stale, I can barely breathe! Is it because there aren't many trees?..."
Jeston picked up the strong, withered branch he had broken off from the ancient tree, probed the path below, and carefully began to descend.
"This wretched place hasn't seen rain in who knows how many years. The cliff face is so hard that even an indestructible expert like myself can't carve a crack in it... Hmm?"
He peeked out and looked at the hole his branch had made, and was immediately stunned.
Why is there a pit here that leads downwards? Did someone dig it so people could climb out?
Jeston scratched his head, tentatively stepped into the hole, and found it to be very sturdy, which relieved him.
"Great! Thank you so much, anonymous good Samaritan! Digging such a pit in the cliff face must have been incredibly hard work; he's truly selfless!"
He struggled to crawl down the pit for more than ten meters when he suddenly received a signal from the magic network. He paused, connected to the magic network, and then burst into laughter.
"Flying skill is finally off cooldown! Watch me fly down the mountain in one go!"
Jeston activated his flight technique and staggered into the air.
Just as he began to increase the power of his magic, wanting to fly faster, a flying monster with wing membranes covering its limbs suddenly floated by. Jeston turned his head, met the flying monster's gaze, and was immediately stunned.
"Squeak!"