Path of Light.

Chapter 967, Section 962: Lingang
The Black Pearl slowly descended from the sky and landed at the port dock west of Boles City.

A large number of transport ships are moored here, each of which is much larger than the imperial merchant ships.

The Black Pearl landed at the southern end of the port, where the ocean-going ships were already filled with grey dwarves who were about to embark on their voyage. A large group of grey dwarves were using narrow sampans to transport supplies to the ocean-going ships. A large number of grey dwarves were crammed onto the ships, and Roy could see that the deck was crowded with grey dwarves who had come out for some fresh air.

The gray dwarves on the deck included men, women, and children of all ages, and the scene was quite chaotic.

Perhaps it was the impending departure from their homeland, perhaps it was their awe of the sea, or perhaps it was their uncertainty about the future, but the gray dwarves on the ocean-going ship appeared extremely irritable.

Roy only glanced at the Black Pearl when it landed in Port Boles and noticed two fights breaking out.

The gray dwarves were incredibly strong, and when they fought, even the onlookers suffered as a result.

The city buildings in the Grey Dwarves' area are mainly made of stone. The buildings in each block of the city are almost closely connected. Many buildings have connecting passages on the second floor or rooftop. The city's roads are intricate and complex. Except at crossroads and city gardens, there are no plants on the streets.

As the Black Pearl slowly sank into the sea, all these sights disappeared from view.

In Roy's view, the port docks were also crowded with gray dwarves and all sorts of supplies.

Roy and the others chose to stay on the Black Pearl immediately and did not rush to disembark.

The other two magic airships did not land on the dock with the Black Pearl. Instead, they hovered in mid-air, flying clockwise around the city of Boles. If Roy encountered any unpredictable danger, the griffin riders would quickly bring him back to the magic airships in mid-air.

Even if the grey dwarves manage to control all the griffon riders, Archmage Gremus and Archmage Opeia will work together to ensure the safety of the entire group.

Archmage Graemus will temporarily create an icy realm.
The Archmage Opeia would immediately open a portal scroll, quickly taking everyone away from Boles...

At this time, all the elves and orcs who were preparing to disembark were gathered on the Black Pearl.

Archmage Opeia and Archmage Graemus stood together in the flowerbed atop the ship's deck, admiring the lush flowers of light within.

"This place is filled with holy light. Although Roy doesn't admit he's a battle priest of the Temple of Liberty, he is in fact a priest with unwavering faith! How could a priest who dedicates everything to the Goddess of Liberty possibly be with a magician..."

The Archmage Graemus leaned against a pillar at the entrance to the flowerbed, arms crossed, and spoke to Opeia, who was admiring the blooming flowers of light in the flowerbed.

Opeia held a pot of light flowers, straightened her back, and examined the pot of light flowers for a long time. Perhaps because of the strong magical aura on her body, the pot of light flowers withered quickly.

She put the potted flower of light back in its original place, and the withered leaves came back to life.

Opeia stared at the potted plant with some surprise, and said to the Archmage Graemus with a hint of disdain:
“You don’t understand. He is definitely a unique half-elf. His faith is purer than any of yours, and his soul is powerful and pure. I’m not one of those young people who have just turned 180. The reason he can release such a strong aura that attracts me is because his soul is attracting me.”

After saying that, Opeia added:
"The initial attraction between two elves might be based on their appearance and alluring bodies. This attraction might continue if they share common goals for their future life, but to last... it absolutely requires their souls to be extremely compatible!"

Graemus and Opeia have a decades-long friendship, especially in the last decade or so, during which they have worked together on numerous missions commissioned by the Magic Guild, making their relationship extraordinary...

So at times like this, Graemes becomes less restrained in his speech:
"Since your souls are so perfectly aligned with Roy's, and you possess the most perfect face and a body that is incredibly similar to that of a succubus, why are you still standing with me on the rooftop in the cold wind?"

These words struck a chord with Opeia, but she still held onto her pride.
"A completely independent and pure soul will never easily accept other souls..."

The great wizard Graeme continued to mock her:
"According to you, Roy should be single, but he clearly has a half-elf he loves, and their relationship seems quite stable."

Sure enough, this remark infuriated Opeia, causing violent fluctuations in the space around her...

"Greems, if you can't speak properly, you'd better just shut up. Don't blame me for not warning you!"

This is a prelude to unleashing the 'Spatial Blade'...

It is said that this spatial magic can ignore all defensive measures. Even if Gremus hid his body in ice crystals, he could not avoid Opeia's full-force attack.

Seeing that Opeia was about to get angry, the Archmage Graemus quickly softened his stance:
"Alright, alright, I won't say anymore. As an old friend, I just wanted to offer you a friendly reminder..."

"Shut up!"

On the deck, the brief argument quickly subsided.

……

A group of orc leaders waited in the lounge on the third floor. These days they had been living on another magic airship, eating their fill and then going to sleep, waking up and quietly waiting for the next meal.

The food provided by the half-elf included not only the roasted meat they often ate, but also various sweet fruits, as well as some small dried fish that didn't require removing fish bones, served with sweet fruit juice...

Where have these beastmen ever tasted so many delicacies!
In just two weeks, each orc leader gained more than 20 pounds.

Orcs are not afraid of being fat. In the orc language, "fat" and "strong" are the same word, and fat orcs are almost always powerful warriors with extremely high combat strength.

"So this is what elves usually eat. No wonder they are so skilled in martial arts and archery. If I could eat like this for a year straight, I could probably break through two realms..."

One of the Aries orc leaders said to Grand Chief Grop with some surprise.

"Then why don't I just recommend that you bring the tribe's young warriors here to help the half-elves fight against those Nakhmar demons!"

"Chief Grop said with a chuckle."

The white sheep orc leader's eyes lit up, and he replied:
“That’s great! But you have to make it clear to those half-elves that we’re fine with helping them defend Presidius City here, but the food we eat every day should be just as plentiful as what we eat on the ship.”

"Augustus, you didn't actually get bribed by those few meals the half-elf gave you, did you?"

The other Aries orc leaders laughed and joked.

"I've been halfway to becoming a second-tier powerhouse for a few years now. Our orc lifespan is already rather short. If I don't try to break through now, as I get older and my physical attributes continue to decline, I'll never have the chance to advance to the second-tier powerhouse again."

"I heard that you can try to fight Nakma here. I just want to know if I can still have a chance to break through in this dangerous situation!"

The Aries leader said casually.

The other Aries orc leaders also fell silent; everyone had come here with the purpose of tempering themselves.

In the eyes of the orc warriors, there was no place more suitable for them to break through than the battlefield... "I've heard that the Nakmar demons are very strong!" an orc leader said.

"Strength is what we need..."

"That's it."

When Chief Grop heard footsteps coming from the corridor outside, he immediately waved to the other orc chiefs, and they all fell silent instantly.

The footsteps outside became clearer...

Then there was a knock at the door. When the cabin door was opened, a half-elf guard stood in the doorway and spoke to the group of Aries orc leaders inside the cabin:

"The boss invites all leaders to come downstairs. The Black Pearl has docked, and we will soon be meeting with the high-ranking Grey Dwarves of the Northern Fleet at the pier."

"Finally, we can disembark! Let's go, let's go see the city built by the gray dwarves!"

The Aries orc leaders spoke with great interest.

……

Roy, along with Grand Master Grop, Grand Mage Graeme, Grand Mage Opya, and others, disembarked from the Black Pearl and stood in front of it.

After leaving the Black Pearl, a stark contrast became apparent. The large ocean-going ship carrying the Grey Dwarves, moored nearby, was as long as two Black Pearls joined together, and three times as wide.

The grey dwarves on the dock were quickly carrying supplies onto the ship. Through the gaps in the wooden crates, Roy could see that they were filled with stacks of baked flatbread.

Those baked wheat cakes were very coarse, with some whole wheat grains mixed in on the surface.

Woods, Sabrina, Moira, and a group of Aries orc leaders followed behind.

The appearance of half-elf and orc on the dock immediately attracted the attention of the surrounding grey dwarves. Before everyone could gather in this direction, a squad of grey dwarf soldiers from the Northern Fleet came running up, panting.

They quickly formed a human wall between Roy and his group and the grey dwarfs, blocking the grey dwarfs' curious gazes.

Commander Klein personally led a team to the dock to welcome Roy and his party.

The Grey Dwarves also travel by carriage on land. The carriages they build are made of iron, and the surfaces of the carriages and the wheel hubs are full of riveting marks.

The carriage looked very heavy, pulled by a short-legged, cleft-hoofed ox, its massive, mountain-like body dragging the steel carriage slowly to the dock.

Commander Klein forced a friendly smile, stepped forward, and shook Roy's hands with both of his:

"Boss Roy, welcome to Boles at the western end of the Villaria Valley. Boss Roy, in order to ensure that all ocean-going vessels can set sail before the winter ice sea freezes over, we dispatched the first fleet half a month ago."

“This is in line with the code of conduct we agreed upon…” Roy said.

He freed his hands from the two thick palms of the Legion Commander Kleis.

At this moment, the carriage door was already open. The carriage was quite spacious and clean. Led by Legion Commander Kleis, Roy was the first to enter the carriage.

Roy invited Grop, the chieftain of the Aries beastmen, to board the carriage with him. This enormous carriage could easily seat dozens of people; it had far more seats than the long carriages of the Silvermoon Elves of Castletown…

"Recently, we've been overwhelmed by the numerous issues surrounding the southward relocation; there's chaos everywhere, and endless conflicts to resolve,"

Legion Commander Kleis entered the carriage and began to complain to Roy in broken Elvish.

He pointed to the chaotic dock and said to Roy:
"I thought the situation would be better in the second batch, but I didn't expect it to be even more chaotic than the first batch."

"Please excuse my poor appearance!"

"Boss Roy, shall we go into the city to check on the situation in Boles, or should we wander around outside the city?"

Legion Commander Kleis sat opposite Roy and Chief Grop. Moira, Woods, Sabrina, and others boarded the carriage one after another, and the orc chieftains followed.

The carriage was packed full, even a bit crowded.

Commander Klein said somewhat apologetically:

"That's the current situation in Boles. All kinds of supplies are in short supply, especially the horse-drawn carriages. Prices in Boles are also ridiculously high. There's nothing we can do about it. A large number of our compatriots are gathering in Boles before boarding the ship, which puts a huge amount of pressure on the city."

After saying that, he pointed to the ocean-going ships outside the car window and said to Roy:
"There are fifteen such fleets in total, and these fleets will transport about two million grey dwarves."

Roy frowned and asked, "How many grey dwarves are there in the Villaria Valley right now?"

In Roy's opinion, Commander Clays should have prepared at least three more such massive fleets to have any chance of taking away the grey dwarves who had not been counted due to a demographic error...

This southward migration was the last large-scale southward migration of the Grey Dwarves.

"To be precise, there are currently more than 2.7 million grey dwarves in the Villaria Valley, and there are also grey dwarves scattered throughout the Durag. The number of grey dwarves is even more incalculable. Of the grey dwarves who are migrating south to Garo Island this time, less than 2 million are prepared to go with us. The rest of the grey dwarves will stay in the Villaria Valley."

"Commander Klein said to Roy."

Upon hearing Commander Klein's words, Roy immediately stood up, pointed at Commander Klein's large nose, and asked sternly:
"How can you gray dwarves go back on your word? Didn't you say that the Valley of Villaria was going to be handed over to us and officially taken over by the half-elf mine guards? Why are there still so many gray dwarves remaining in the Valley of Villaria?"

"Well, not all the Grey Dwarves are willing to leave Durrag; they want to fight the Nakma Demons until the day they die!"

Commander Klein was caught off guard by Roy's sudden change of attitude and hurriedly began to explain.

"Since you grey dwarves are unwilling to uphold your promises, then don't blame us for continuing to blockade the Mensa Strait and the waters around Quetzalcoatl. Farewell!"

Roy said it very decisively, and then led a group of half-elf off the carriage.

(End of this chapter)