Pale Emblem

Chapter 148 Jinsha Town

Jinsha Town is located in the Godore Mountain Forest area east of Luoye City. Unlike the fully autonomous Bolang Town, it is a small village under the Godore Military Town system and has the obligation to guard the border.

But in fact, the geographical environment of Jinsha Town has no military value and should not be included in the Godore military town system.

More than 120 years ago, Fallen Leaf City developed the Godore Forest and discovered a medium-sized, high-quality gold mine. At that time, after some bargaining, the Highland nobles decided on the ownership of the gold mine, and quickly built villages and towns near the gold mine and sent troops to defend it.

This is the origin of Jinsha Town.

More than 50 years ago, the gold mines in Jinsha Town were finally exhausted, and the nobles abandoned the town without hesitation. Before leaving, they sold Jinsha Town to a few wealthy men at a low price.

The so-called rich man is actually a half-elf overseer serving the mine owner.

According to the rules of Luoye City, Jinsha Town, as a border military town, cannot be bought and sold privately, but the famous families in the Highlands have always liked to play with the rules.

They incorporated Jinsha Town into the Godore Military Town system as a compromise in order to reasonably divide the benefits of the gold mine.

Now, the gold mines in Jinsha Town have been mined out, but the slaves working in the mines have been multiplying for generations. The mine owner is unwilling to resettle thousands of slaves, so he sold Jinsha Town and the surrounding mountains and forests to several of the richest overseer families, draining them of the wealth accumulated over three generations, and also dumped nearly 2,000 miners on them.

The former overseers became the landlords of Jinsha Town. They were ambitious and prepared to make a big move here. However, without the gold mine, Jinsha Town was actually worthless.

Eight landlord families led the miners to reclaim wasteland around the town and built several plantations. However, the land in the mining area was relatively barren, and the income from farming alone could not support nearly two thousand miners, especially those barbarian slaves with huge appetites.

The landlords had no choice but to sell the strong and healthy slaves to prevent them from rioting due to hunger, and the money they earned was enough to keep the town running.

When more than 900 slave miners were sold, the town suffered from a serious shortage of strong labor, and the plan to open a mountain plantation was shelved.

Faced with the difficulties, the eight landlords in Jinsha Town had serious disagreements, and three landlord families even absconded with the money overnight, completely destroying the last hope of Jinsha Town.

Today, only one of the original eight landlords remains, and they make a living by farming and collecting rent. Jinsha Town has become a typical poor and remote place, unknown to the public.

Since last winter, when the town of Bolan on the eastern border was captured by the orc army, the Godore Fortress that defended the eastern border of Fallen Leaf City entered a state of war readiness. A large number of troops and adventure groups began to gather at the Godore Fortress, and even the sparsely populated Jinsha Town began to have adventurers visiting and staying temporarily.

It was autumn now, with forests and mountains covered in colorful colors. A group of travelers appeared on the mountain trail leading to Jinsha Town in the mist and morning light. There were ten of them, five men and five women, all wearing light armor and cloaks, each carrying a crossbow, a sword, and a long-handled axe, all dressed like adventurers.

The captain of the guard at the gate of Jinsha Town saw the fully armed travelers and immediately led his men to stop them and question them, "Hey, guys, good morning."

"Good morning, soldier."

The leader of the travelers stepped out of the group, took out a piece of animal skin paper from his bag, and handed it to the captain of the guard, saying, "We are all adventurers. This is a document issued by the Adventurer's Guild that proves our identity."

The captain of the guard was a young man in his early twenties, with brown hair, green eyes, and a round face with a bit of baby fat. He wore the standard equipment of the Fallen Leaf City Infantry. The flaming tiger pattern on his shoulder armor indicated that he was a second-level professional swordsman. He held the rank of lieutenant of the Flaming Tiger Corps, the lowest-ranking officer in the alliance, and usually served as the captain of a team of twenty people.

The lowest-ranking lieutenant in the corps is also an officer, but he is too young for an officer. But if he has a deep network of connections and is promoted by his superiors, he wouldn't be a lieutenant at the lowest level, right?

The young captain of the guards was often questioned. These new adventurers called him "soldier", but he was not angry. He checked the parchment scroll with a smile and said, "Thunderstorm Adventure Group? The certification document issued by the Eagle's Nest Adventure Guild... It seems that you have come a long way."

The leader of the adventurers pulled down his windproof mask, revealing a handsome face. He was about thirty years old, with short brown-red hair, thin lips, and deep blue eyes. He looked mature and confident, with a bit of aggressive edge.

The captain of the guard felt a sudden tension in his heart, and then he heard the other party say:

"My name is Herman, leader of the Thunderstorm Adventure Group, and a fourth-level archer. If you have any doubts about our identities, we can turn back now and rest somewhere else."

"No, no... no doubt."

The captain of the guard laughed dryly and continued, "Welcome to Jinsha Town. You can go to the Laughing Gold Rush Tavern, where you can find local specialty wines, hot meals, and the latest information, all of which are adventurers' favorites... After you enter, follow the main road all the way to the center of town. Look to the left and you will see the house with the sign."

Herman nodded, took out a handful of coins and stuffed them into the captain's hand, smiled and nodded, "Soldier, you are very friendly, I like you."

For a long time, the Disa Alliance's legions have always regarded adventurer armed groups as potential opponents that need to be guarded against. This trend has led to the legion soldiers and adventurers disliking each other. Generally speaking, the regular legions of the alliance are stronger, and adventurers generally do not hang around the legion's base to avoid trouble.

Hermann couldn't understand why such a small town as Jinsha had regular army soldiers guarding the gate. Wasn't this the job of the local garrison?

However, the young lieutenant did not strictly check their identities and was quite enthusiastic. Hermann praised him for his friendliness, somewhat teasingly.

The captain of the guard took the money with a smile on his face, almost bowing. When Hermann and his party entered the city gate, he immediately counted the coins in his hand and found that there were fifteen silver coins minted by the Eagle's Nest, weighing an estimated 24 silver towers. He couldn't help but whistle, put the silver coins in his pocket, and muttered:

"Adventurers are just rich. They are better than me who farms. I will also set up an adventure group in the future..."

"Master Winster, there's something wrong with those adventurers... There are too few of them. There are only ten people in the adventure group, and half of them are women?" A young man dressed as a legionnaire came over and said.

The captain of the guard raised his hand and pushed the soldier away from him, impatiently lecturing him: "Why do you, a farmer, care about so many things? Didn't our mayor's wife say that there is nothing good in Jinsha Town that people would care about? Adventurers who come here are guests who are willing to spend money. Don't guard against guests like thieves. Do you understand? If you don't understand, it doesn't matter. We will just do as she says."

Hermann heard all the conversations between the captain of the guard and his men. He looked up and saw that there were few pedestrians. The houses on both sides of the road had been in disrepair for a long time, and the walls were mottled and looked shabby, but they were all tall and spacious stone buildings, built solidly enough, witnessing the prosperity of the town in the past.

"The lieutenant just now was called Winster. He should be the fifth son of the Atre family that Harvey and Maddie mentioned. He actually dared to wear the standard equipment of the Fallen Leaf City Legion, causing me to mistakenly believe that the Flame Tiger Legion had taken control of Jinsha Town, but it turned out to be a false alarm." Hermann whispered to his companion beside him with a faint smile.

  A tall, slender yet graceful female adventurer responded in a very gentle voice:

"Please be careful... The Luoye City Council has ill intentions towards you and is considered our enemy. If Jinsha Town is indeed controlled by the Flame Tiger Legion, I must immediately inform you that you cannot enter the town and must find another place to stay."

Upon hearing this, Hermann once again scanned the high walls of Jinsha Town with his sharp eyes, but he did not find any patrolling guards, and the artillery platform was empty, not even the crossbow rack could be seen.

These signs indicate that Luoye City’s regular army did not move into Jinsha Town.

However, he still followed Christine's tone, nodded and said, "You are right, the master's safety and freedom are the most important... After all, it is now the war period in Luoye City, and Jinsha Town is close to the front line. The Flame Tiger Legion should take over the lower-level military town."

A few days ago, Victor and his team traveled continuously and successfully arrived at the Godore Forest area, only half a day's journey away from their destination, Jinsha Town.

According to Harvey and Maddie, the population structure of Jinsha Town is very simple. The Atre family and their private slaves have a total of more than 700 people. Moreover, the Atre family has a very close relationship with Braun Town. Even their mayor's wife Carol married Mayor Royce Atre after being introduced by Red Lion Bartom.

Their wedding was held at the Adventurer's House in Braun Town, with the Red Lion Bartom as the witness. It also witnessed the union of the Atre Family in Jinsha Town and the Rose Blade Adventure Group led by Carol, and both parties vowed never to betray each other.

As a result, the town of Braun recovered a large amount of debt, the Atre family also resolved the debt crisis, and Rose Blade ended its adventure and obtained the town of Jinsha and a large area of ​​mountain forest.

In order to thank Bartom for his matchmaking, Carol immediately gave him the smallest plantation in Jinsha Town as a thank-you gift after she became the mayor's wife.

The small plantation was the meeting place that Victor and the others had agreed upon in advance. Many of Carol's men came from the adventurer training camp in Braun Town. Based on what Harvey and Maddie knew about Carol, they thought it was unlikely that she would abandon Braun Town.

Now it seemed a simple matter of going to the small plantation outside the town of Sands to join up with old friends.

Christine, however, expressed a different opinion. She believed that neither Carol nor the Atre family was trustworthy. This had nothing to do with their personal character, but rather that their strength and will were too weak compared to the noble families in Fallen Leaf City and were not worth mentioning at all.

The famous families in Luoye City made a lot of noise in order to capture Victor, but they failed to achieve their goal and were severely punished.

I'm afraid they won't give up, at least not in the short term, and will not give up hunting down the important fugitive suspected to be Golden Nightingale.

In fact, with the huge power of Fallen Leaf City, combined with the reputation of Veltok’s beauty in Braun Town, they might link Victor who escaped from Water Snake Town with Veltok, the beautiful boy from Braun Town.

Christine knew very well how terrible the nobles could be once they got serious. They didn't worry about trial and error, nor did they care about wrongly accusing the innocent. As long as they tried a few more times, they would often be able to find out the truth.

Since Victor was going to meet up with his old friends in Braun Town, he had to use his true identity. This was definitely a risk factor that would lead to his whereabouts being exposed.

Harvey and Maddie actually completely agreed with Christine's opinion, so after discussion, everyone finally decided to split into two groups. Victor, Harvey, Maddie, and two alchemy demons, the transparent Toddlin and the dancing Dili, first sneaked into the small plantation to find out the situation, and then waited for an opportunity to meet with old friends alone.

Christine led others into Jinsha Town to gather information from all sides.

With her charm ability, this task is absolutely easy.

In the center of Jinsha Town, there are obviously more pedestrians on the street. The houses on both sides of the street have also been renovated and the walls have been repainted, giving people a brand new feeling.

The front of the Laughing Gold Rush Tavern was quite lively, with adventurers coming in and out in groups of three or four. They only glanced at the arrival of Herman and others, and did not show excessive curiosity.

This shows that, from the perspective of an adventurer, Hermann and his companions are experienced colleagues. Just keep a distance from them and don't expect to get any advantage from them.

After entering the pub, I found it surprisingly spacious. The area of ​​the hall was more than four times that of an ordinary pub. There were hundreds of tables, and thirty or forty groups of people sitting there drinking and chatting, but it didn't feel crowded.

There are more than ten stone pillars in the hall, which serve as support for the entire floor. This is different from the wooden structures of most taverns and gives people a sense of grandeur and solidity.

Hermann and his companions couldn't help but stop and look around the environment in the tavern.

"Jinsha Town used to be a large mine, with no shortage of stone or slaves. The barbarian slaves built this tavern, a place for half-elf hired slaves to relax and have fun... Laughing Gold Digger is different, more like a palace."

A magnetic female voice drew Hermann's attention to the back of the bar in the tavern, and he saw a lady with red hair and blue eyes.

The lady has a neat ponytail, a pretty face, a capable temperament, and plump red lips that make her quite charming. The fine lines at the corners of her eyes show that she is no longer young, but her smile is full of the tolerance and kindness of a mature woman.

"My name is Carol, welcome to Sands Town." The red-haired lady extended her slender, clean hand to Hermann across the bar.

Hermann pondered for a moment, then took out the bow and a pair of daggers he carried with him and handed them to Carol.

The others followed suit and placed their weapons on the bar.

Several bartenders immediately stepped forward and hung their weapons neatly on the wooden rack behind the bar.

Carol snapped her fingers and ordered, "Give each of these new friends a glass of Jinsha Town's specialty Thornfire Wine. It's my treat!"

According to the rules of adventurers, when you first arrive at a new place and visit a tavern, you should first hand in your weapons to show mutual trust. After that, you can chat with the tavern owner and exchange some free information, which may give you unexpected gains.

Herman took a sip of the Thorn Fire Wine, and the taste was indeed unique, first spicy, then sour, and then sweet. So he tilted his head back and drank the entire glass of red wine, burped, and praised, "Very good wine."

"You can drink!"

Carol expressed her appreciation for Herman's taste and poured him another glass of Thornfire. "For your compliment, I'll buy you another drink."

Herman took the cup and nodded, "Generous lady, you are probably Mrs. Carol?"

"Have you heard of me?"

"Yes, on the way to Godore Fortress, a kind adventurer told us that we could rest in Jinsha Town. The houses here are sturdy and spacious, and the rent is very cheap. Mrs. Carol in Jinsha Town is a kind-hearted person. Can she provide...help to the adventurers in trouble?"

Carol's eyes flashed, and she asked with a smile, "Are you in trouble?"

"Yes, Sister Carol."

Christine next to him said, "We are from Eagle's Nest. In the last mission, we encountered two groups of orc bone collectors. We chased them for twenty-three days and our team was broken up."

"Oh, that's so unfortunate..." Carol was stunned when she saw Christine take off her mask, revealing her beautiful face.

"Oh, sister, you are so beautiful."

Christine smiled and explained casually, "My name is Joanna. I used to be an apprentice priestess at the Temple of the Earth. I was freed after being discovered to have the talent of a beast tamer. Of course, I also owed a large debt... I heard that the Adventurer's Guild of Fallen Leaf City issued a war order, and adventure groups coming to Godore Fortress to accept war missions will receive rich rewards. So, we plan to try our luck."

"Ah, then you've come to the right place!"

"Sister Carol, what do you mean?"

"Sister Joanna, you are lucky to have come to Jinsha Town to rest first... You must not know that Godore Fortress and the five lower-level military towns are already overcrowded, and there is no place to accommodate the swarming adventure groups. Now, all adventurers have been driven to Bolan Town and must first accept a 40-day guard mission. No one is allowed to withdraw to the rear before the mission expires."

"Hmm? Braun Town was recaptured?"

"We recovered it right at the beginning of the war... It was very easy. The Orc invaders voluntarily gave up the town of Bolang, allowing our general to take advantage of it."

"……but,"

Mrs. Carol changed the subject and said meaningfully, "Before the orcs and barbarians withdrew from Braun Town, they demolished the city wall of Braun Town."

"What... tear down the city wall and give up the town of Braun?" Herman was shocked and couldn't help asking, "Can the orcs and barbarians be so... smart and bold?"