Equipment Printing School Mage

It was only the beginning of autumn, and Baldur's Gate was located in the southern part of the Sword Coast, right at the most favorable latitude. Frost was still a long way off, let alone freezing. Even the crops in the wheat fields hadn't fully matured yet.

But at this moment and place, several lifelike ice sculptures appeared in the south of Rivington. This unexpected event naturally caused a sensation in the entire outer city area.

Even if it was just an ice sculpture, it would be fine. But soon someone recognized the emblem of Eltoril on these people.

Eltoril is the capital of Elturgard, Baldur's Gate's eastern neighbor.

Baldur's Gate has indeed expanded rapidly over the years, but Elturgard has also continued to expand its territory from its original city-state. Over the years, one settlement after another has been incorporated into Elturgard's territory.

The most dangerous relationship between nations is being neighbors. This is also true for Baldur's Gate and Elturgard.

In the past, the process for handling such incidents was straightforward: the Levingtonians would call the nearby Flaming Fist soldiers. Then, the Flaming Fist would handle the situation, and locals wouldn't have to worry about it. If you wanted to know what happened next, you'd have to check if you knew someone who had joined the Flaming Fist, and then see if your acquaintances were trustworthy enough to tell you the truth and if the situation was serious enough.

But at this time of year, everything changed.

Baldur's Gate is a nation founded on trade, and as such, its ruler is not a king, but rather a group called the Council of Four. The Council of Four consists of the four Grand Dukes of Baldur's Gate, elected by the citizens of Baldur's Gate. Once elected, they serve for life until death or retirement.

Now is the most turbulent time for Baldur's Gate.

Slani Rivengard, Grand Master of the Flaming Fist Mercenaries, Baldur's Gate's armed forces, suddenly announced his retirement not long ago, and the election to elect a new Grand Duke is about to begin.

All eyes are focused here, and the open and covert struggles that have been prepared for a long time have already begun.

At this time, a team from a neighboring country suddenly died on the outskirts of Baldur's Gate... It was truly a shocking event.

The first to take control of the scene were the Red Moon Group under Grand Duke Valakan.

Of course, Flame Fist was naturally reluctant to give up his right to decide the matter so easily.

Over the past few days, the ranks of the Flame Fist's troops have been rising, while the Red Moon's have also been increasing. Both sides have simply set up camp outside of Rivington. Neither side is willing to back down.

When the envoys from Elturgard finally arrived after rushing day and night, the confrontation not only did not end with the arrival of the foreign guests, but instead intensified.

Therefore, when outsiders arrived again, the Flame Fist and the Red Moon Group almost without hesitation chose the same response method they had used in the past few days.

Get people away from the scene.

The Flaming Fist captain's patience had long been worn out by the prolonged and seemingly endless standoff. Baldur's Gate was currently experiencing a period of turmoil, and manpower was needed everywhere. This matter, while serious in nature, shouldn't have required the increased manpower it was currently requiring.

He took off his helmet in frustration and shouted to the three people who were tentatively approaching Feilong Bridge, "A murder has occurred here! Everyone unrelated, please stay away from the scene!"

On the contrary, the seemingly gruff leader of the Crimson Moon Group acted sensible and polite, waving gracefully at the three of them. "The Baldur's Gate election is approaching, so if you're just passing through, that's fine. But if you're going to enter the outer city of Baldur's Gate, please report to the Crimson Moon Group. Of course, all we need is your name and purpose."

"Of course, if you want to report to Flame Fist..." At this point, the leader of the Red Moon Group curled his lips in the direction of Flame Fist.

The Flame Fist group was originally a little depressed due to fatigue, but when these words were spoken, they immediately became furious.

The right to register the identities of those entering and leaving naturally belongs to the Flame Fist. The Red Moon Group's actions are a clear provocation and an overstepping of boundaries.

When the atmosphere between the two sides was about to flare up again, Emilia finally saw through the gap in the crowd what the three groups of people were surrounding.

Those were a few ice sculptures that still emitted a chilling chill under the late summer sun.

They had obviously been dead for several days, the ice on their bodies had begun to melt, and their feet were covered with water stains that had not yet completely dried up.

And these people were not the only victims. The grasslands around them, covering nearly 100 square meters, had lost their green color, turning a dull yellow-brown hue, and collapsed on the ground.

Those are the scars left on the earth by the extremely low temperature.

Ordinary spells cannot create such terrible marks.

And perhaps it is a coincidence that just a few days ago, the person who was capable of doing this had just died in the Sharp Tooth Forest.

Khal can transform into a red dragon, and of course he can also transform into a white dragon.

Despite being rebuked by the Red Moon, the Flaming Fist soldiers had no intention of abandoning their duties. Their captain approached Emia and his group and saluted. "As you have indicated, ladies and gentlemen, a serious murder has occurred in the outer suburbs of Baldur's Gate. The Flaming Fist is conducting crowd control and investigating the incident. Therefore, if you wish to travel to the Lower and Upper Towns of Baldur's Gate, you may have to wait a few days in the outer suburbs."

Baldur's Gate is roughly divided into three areas: the Upper and Lower Towns within the city walls, and the Outer Towns, which are almost suburban areas and satellite cities.

The high-ranking harpist they wanted to visit had his base in the lower city.

But Emilia didn't want to postpone her trip for a few days - even if she had to wait for things to develop, she had to wait until she got in touch with the Harpist.

But he had nothing to do with the matter, so there was no need for him to sneak into the city like he had something to hide. If something went wrong, it would only cause unnecessary trouble for the local harpists.

Then he had no choice but to use his own method to solve the problem.

Thinking of this, Emilia asked, "Are you investigating the city because you suspect the spellcaster there?"

The Flaming Fist soldiers did not answer this question - apparently, it was confidential.

Emiya pondered for a moment and decided to solve the problem in her own way.

He said, "We intend to enter Baldur's Gate, but we have no intention of becoming involved in any disputes... Can I register for both sides?"

The Flame Fist's discontent was visibly evident upon hearing these words, but they remained silent. The Crimson Moon Group, on the other hand, immediately broke into amusement, seizing the opportunity to secretly make a few awkward gestures towards the Flame Fist.

While Emilia explained the reasons she had prepared in advance to the two representatives in charge of registration, she casually asked, "For my own safety, I'd like to ask, has a white dragon appeared in Baldur's Gate recently? Are you tracking down any clues about it?"

The bodies of the two representatives froze at the same time.

They looked up and down at Emilia's attire: the elegant blue robe, the dagger at his waist, the unusually neatly trimmed beard, and the strange horse following behind him.

A typical mage.

The Flame Fist soldier's initially somewhat annoyed attitude vanished without a trace: "Are you serious about this?!"

A group of people were frozen in ice, perhaps these unfortunate individuals had angered a certain wizard. This was certainly a major crime, but when it came to wizards, the Flaming Fist only needed to assist. As long as the perpetrators stopped committing crimes again, it wouldn't have much to do with Baldur's Gate.

But a white dragon is a completely different matter. While a dragon possesses considerable wisdom, it lacks the respect for the customs and laws of human society. If it persists, it could be a disaster for a city, especially one as rife with trade as Baldur's Gate.

The murder instantly turned into a disaster affecting the entire region.

The Flame Fist soldiers almost immediately tensed their bodies and began to look up at the sky subconsciously, as if a white dragon would flash through the clouds at any time.

Eltoril's envoys also circled around. The envoy himself was an elegant and courteous nobleman, and his dozen or so followers were clearly Eltoril's Hell Knights: all clad in close-fitting full-body plate armor, each set a luxury item costing thousands of gold coins. Their arsenal was so opulent that even the Flaming Fist's equipment seemed rudimentary by comparison.

After a polite greeting, the messenger said, "Sir, the deceased were all elites of our Eltoril. If you have any opinions on the cause of their death, we are all ears."

At this point, the messenger glanced casually in the direction of the Flaming Fist and the Crimson Moon. "—so that we can gather our comrades' bodies as soon as possible. Every Hell Knight is a hero of the people of Elturgard, not a tool to be used in the struggle for power."

This ambiguous sarcasm immediately made the Flame Fist soldiers blush.

Emiya sighed: "Ah, please let me get closer, don't worry, I won't ruin the scene."

After receiving formal permission, Emilia walked around the bodies of several people from a distance, with a look of genuine sadness on her face.

Death comes so unfairly and unexpectedly.

They value their own lives and interests more than anything else, so they treat the lives of others as discarded pawns and destroy them at will - and then they shamelessly use some self-deceiving excuses as a basis for their wanton behavior.

A worthy death.

He calmed himself down, observed the marks on the ground, and replied, "Okay, now, let me tell you the part I'm more certain of—they were most likely killed by the frozen breath of an adult or ancient dragon."

The Flame Fist captain wanted to struggle a bit more, but then he took a deep breath and said, "Sir, please tell us your reasons so we can report to our superiors."

"Well, it's not complicated." Emiya nodded. "In fact, on grasslands like this, observing the attack range can eliminate a large number of targets. First of all, severe frostbite will leave a lot of obvious marks on the grassland."

In areas that had been attacked by frost, all the grass stems showed obvious signs of wilting and discoloration, and even after several days of sun exposure, the ground was still much moister.

"This trace grows thinner and wider, from a single point to its widest point, approximately 28 meters. This distance is far beyond the attack range of most spells. At least, cone-shaped spells that can attack such a large area are extremely rare, and even if they do exist, the caster must be a very powerful wizard."

"Of course, one of the things that led me to think it was dragon's breath was the cone-shaped shape," Emilia replied. "May I ask, gentlemen: what does a cone, the familiar trumpet shape, look like when viewed from above?"

While the Flame Fist and Crimson Moon members might not be illiterate, geometry was clearly beyond their purview. They all shook their heads. Eltoril's emissary lowered his head to examine it, then suddenly realized, "...If it were a horizontal cone, it would look like a triangle. But this radius looks a little... too round."

"Yes, there are very obvious arc marks on the bottom." Emiya confirmed the Eltoril messenger's guess. "This means that the starting point of this frost explosion is very high, perhaps 8 meters? Indeed, it is also possible that a powerful wizard cast a spell in the sky."

Having said that, Emiya glanced around the source: the place had long been trampled into a swamp by the Red Moon Group and the Flame Fist, and no trace could be seen.

"—But the most likely scenario is this: a white dragon several dozen meters long pounced in front of them, slightly raising its head, towering several stories above these people. With a gentle breath, these Hell Knights turned into ice sculptures."

A vice-captain of the Flame Fist had already begun writing furiously. When Emiya finished, his eyes were filled with admiration. "Sir, may I report your opinion? We need to go through a very complicated process to request support from the mages. If we have detailed supporting evidence, subsequent measures will be much faster."

Emiya was immediately surprised: "-So far, you haven't requested support from other mages?"

Captain Flaming Fist's face showed a hint of embarrassment. "...Sir, simply finding mage support isn't difficult. But the mages within Baldur's Gate all have... well, backgrounds. So, if they're involved in more complex matters, it will only make things more complicated."

The death of an Eltoril near Baldur's Gate was obviously a very troublesome matter.

Eltoril's messenger snorted.

So they would rather find a passing wizard to endorse it.

Emiya sighed inwardly and asked, "So, can we enter the inner city now?"

Captain Flaming Fist replied, "We'll send this message back immediately. If all goes well, the entry and exit restrictions can be lifted as early as tomorrow morning—in any case, the process will definitely be much faster, I can guarantee that!"

If the murderer was a mage, perhaps all parties would try to shift the blame to someone else. If the murderer was an ice dragon, at least the focus of everyone's efforts would be on slaying the dragon.

At least for the time being, their activities will not be hindered.

The initial standoff immediately eased, and most of the Flame Fist soldiers dispersed, many of them quickly running towards Rivington. Many of the Red Moon soldiers also left.

Although they had reached the outskirts of Baldur's Gate, they were still more than ten kilometers away from the inner city. Traveling on the busy thoroughfare, they couldn't go any faster.

The Eltoril people's purpose was to collect the bodies of their companions, so they naturally couldn't leave at this moment. After their messengers exchanged names with Emya—of course, Emya used a pseudonym—most of them returned to their camps.

The messenger's name is Rex - contrary to his elegant appearance, his name is quite powerful.

Mars should know something about Eltoril, but unfortunately this is not the place to talk.

After everyone had gone far away, Yin finally got the chance to speak.

The three of them mounted their horses again and headed towards the outer city area.

Yin sighed. "Really? Murder means death, debt means money. If you don't know who did it, go find them. If you can't beat the murderer, find help. Such a simple thing has become so complicated in the city."

Mars said coldly: "Because revenge is only a spiritual relief, but leading the revenge is a lucrative business."

And Emilia was thinking about a question.

Eltoril, a secular ally of Moonsong.

Baldur's Gate is now a subordinate of Finwe and a secular ally of Narcissus, with whom she originally had a bad relationship.

But that night, the Baldur's Gate mercenaries turned against their druid allies and did not side with Finwë. Even during the subsequent interrogation, Narcissus, under various spells of assurance, claimed that he had not given any orders to the Baldur's Gate allies and that he thought they had left on their own.

If we calculate the time, these Eltoril people might be the same group that left the Sharptooth Forest.

If this was really done by Keha, then for what reason and at whose request did Keha kill these people?

Three Meetings with Harpers

Since the Arcane Scourge, refugees who flocked to Baldur's Gate from all directions have gradually been forced to live outside Baldur's Gate.

Although Baldur's Gate was already one of the most important cities on the Sword Coast, its population was only 30,000. There was no way that refugees, several times the original population, could be squeezed into the city—and this had nothing to do with the friendliness of the city's residents.

Therefore, the appearance of Baldur's Gate has gradually changed over the past few decades.

The so-called outer city is just a kind of beautification. In reality, it is just temporary housing that refugees have gradually built over the years - although they have lived in these temporary housing for a hundred years.

The Outer City begins at the walls of Baldur's Gate and extends outward.

The so-called Gulf Boulevard is a land trade route along the entire west coast of the Sword Coast, but over the years, this road has long been completely surrounded by the Outer City and has become part of Baldur's Gate.

Rivington is a small town outside Feilong Bridge. As the outer city of the outer city, the only good news about living here is that you don’t have to pay a toll of 5 copper coins when passing Feilong Rock.

Although, no matter where they wanted to go, they had to cross the entire Chongsa River - the area of ​​Feilong Bridge was even larger than Livington where they lived.

After seeing the Feilong Bridge toll booth, Mars looked back at the houses made of rough branches and thatched roofs and sighed, "I wonder when life will get better for the people here."

Looking around, the only buildings in Rivington are hotels that the locals can't afford.

They seem to be city dwellers, but their lives are probably much worse than those of ordinary farmers - these descendants of those who left their hometowns have no land of their own and can only do all kinds of dirty things in a narrow space that city dwellers are unwilling to do.

This difficult life will probably continue for a long time.

Feilong Bridge is a massive floating bridge, tens of meters wide, perhaps hundreds of meters or even a kilometer long. A stone structure of this size would be a sight even on Earth.

This place should have been bustling with activity, with a large crowd gathered, waiting for the Flaming Fist soldiers to let them through. However, the murder had caused this wide passage to become much quieter than usual.

Rather, even those who had any plans would likely be forced to stay in Rivington for a few days—and they didn't know at the moment that Baldur's Gate was about to lift the restrictions.

This was definitely bad news for them - they really didn't want to attract so much attention.

Yin shrugged, "It seems that we can't enter the city quickly and hide our whereabouts again."

Emiya sighed: "Whether we can achieve this goal or not is not something we can do."

This depends on the response ability of the Baldur's Gate Harpers.

The Flaming Fist soldiers opened the door for their colleagues, who whispered a few words to each other before all looking towards the three of them.

Afterwards, when the Flame Fist soldiers walked through the gate, the soldiers guarding the gate did not intend to close the door, but instead signaled them to go through directly.