They don't want me to try anymore.

"Brother Richard! Tell me a story! Tell me a story!"

Before he could even muster the poetic inspiration typical of time travelers while admiring the scenery, a petite loli with short, golden hair hugged his waist.

He trembled and quickly muttered to himself:

Rejecting childish aesthetics, starting with you, him, her, it... wait, something's not right!

Richard's eyes glanced at the little girl's pointed ears, and he said with a smirk:

“Melissa, as a half-elf, you are already eighteen years old. Strictly speaking, you are the older sister and shouldn't act like a child anymore…”

"what?"

The little girl was slightly taken aback, but immediately hugged him even tighter: "Brother, what are you saying? I don't understand, brother, are you telling me a story?"

"Haha, Richard, it's really kind of you to take care of my sister."

Richard glanced at the tall, slender half-elf standing at the door, smiled helplessly, cleared his throat, and began telling the little girl at his waist a Snow White story from another world:

"Once upon a time, there was a princess whose skin was as white as snow. She was skilled with a meteor hammer and could uproot a willow tree..."

...Richard met the half-elf brother and sister on the road. The brother was named Evan and the sister was named Melissa. They were the children of a viscount in the southern border of the empire and were on their way home to visit their father, passing through Nion.

Both were young at heart, and they started chatting after meeting. Eventually, by chance, Richard became an ambassador for spreading Earth's culture to another world.

It was only then that Richard learned that, due to the many great migrations of the elves throughout history, many elven clans that had fallen behind in the past remained in the southeastern part of the empire and had now largely integrated into the imperial system.

Hmm, Roland Empire's cultural knowledge +1

However, not everyone "likes" this elven brother and sister pair so much...

"Richard?"

Just then, Katyusha and Zoe, carrying desserts, also entered the observation room. When the latter saw Richard's new Lolita-style waist pendant, her eyes immediately lost their sparkle.

"Time is so cruel to humans. In just a few years, the place that once belonged only to me is now occupied by someone else. Ah, I envy the lifespan of elves... Hmm!"

Richard stretched out his merciless iron hand, ruffled the little girl's hair, and interrupted her inexplicable madness.

"Seriously... I'll tell you both a different story, okay?"

Little Melissa clapped her hands: "Great! Great! Richard is the best!"

Zoe blushed slightly and turned her head away: "I... I didn't say I wanted to hear it..."

"It's going to be about the Grandmaster's Journey to the West, and I've just come up with the latest chapter..."

"……Huh?!"

As it turns out, even if a girl is stubborn and aloof for several years, she can't hide it anymore.

Happy times fly by.

On the third day at noon, the airship arrived at a small town and began to land.

Further ahead lies the renowned Abarania Mountains in the southeast of the empire, where the air currents are chaotic and unsuitable for airships to pass through, forcing everyone to return to the carriage.

Having heard that the Abarania Mountains were home to many unusual creatures—mountain bandits—Richard and his companions, along with the elven siblings, rented a carriage and then joined an armed caravan before continuing their journey.

The caravan owner had triangular eyes, was impeccably dressed, and spoke and behaved in a manner that imitated aristocracy, but in a somewhat exaggerated way.

He introduced himself as a graduate of the Imperial Technical School, specializing in mining. He later earned his first fortune on the Divine Grace Islands, built his own team, and came to Nyon to work as a miner in the Abarania Mountains.

In this world, although trains and ships have not yet appeared, the early version of the steam engine has already been widely used because it has decent power and does not require expensive magic crystals, which has also made coal mines valuable.

However, what truly interested Richard was his boss's experience visiting the Divine Grace Islands.

The so-called Divine Grace Islands, though called islands, are actually more like several small continents, and together they are larger than the Empire’s mainland.

These islands are concentrated in the center of the western ocean. In the past, they were surrounded by layers of fog and storms. In the last hundred years, the fog dissipated for unknown reasons, and they were gradually discovered. People regard this phenomenon as a divine blessing, so they are called the God-Grace Islands.

Because these islands are rich in resources, they have attracted people from countless countries and ethnic groups to compete for development.

That's right, this is the new continental colony of this world...

Faced with the curious Richard, the caravan owner was respectful and answered all his questions—he was no imperial nobleman, and for him, being able to communicate with a graduate of Saint Goethe was already an honor and an opportunity that he couldn't miss!

We chatted like that until evening.

The group set up camp in the valley, while Richard and the others sat down with the caravan owner around the fire.

"Gentlemen, where was I? Oh, right, in the desert, I encountered three fully armed, depraved dwarf bandits! You might not believe it, but thanks to the goddess's blessing, I calmly dealt with them..."

As the boss spoke, he seemed to get a little carried away, but Richard still listened with great interest.

Not far away, several mercenaries were also warming themselves by a fire.

One of the shorter men, hearing the boss's boast, muttered sneer, "What a load of nonsense. With his build, he can't possibly take on three dwarfs..."

His companion laughed and said, "That's enough to fool a few young masters and ladies who've never seen blood before."

“That’s true.” The man glanced at Zoe and Katyusha and said lewdly, “Just watch, if any bandits come later, they’ll be crying their eyes out, hehehe, and then I can… Ah! What is that!”

There's a snake in your pants leg!

"It's crawled into my crotch! Get it out right now!"

"Oh ho ho ho! So cool!"

The commotion behind him interrupted the caravan owner's boasting, and he muttered, "What's going on?"

Richard said, "It's nothing, just a broken egg. Please continue."

Only the half-elf brother Evan raised an eyebrow, quite surprised.

Just now, Richard secretly summoned a snake from a distance of more than ten meters, didn't he? There was almost no magical fluctuation; the precision is terrifying. Have Saint Goethe's students become this powerful...?

A dozen seconds later, the campfire chat was able to continue.

boom!

Whizzing!

Suddenly, gunshots and arrows rang out from the surrounding bushes!

The guard at the very front of the convoy had blood spurting from his chest and collapsed to the ground.

"Enemy attack! It's bandits!"

With a shout, the entire camp descended into chaos.

The caravan owner, who had just been boasting, was now shrinking back and hiding behind Katyusha—after all, the large shield at the maid's feet looked very reassuring.

However, Katyusha clearly didn't like this, and silently carried her shield, guarding Richard's side.

Richard smiled and waved his hand: "You just need to protect the others in the camp."

Before he finished speaking, a row of tall earth elementals appeared in front of him, blocking many of the bullets.

"Leave the rest to me."

Chapter Fifty: Night Raid? I can do that too!

Richard casually cast a shield on himself, then surveyed the camp.

After the initial panic subsided, most of the people in the caravan came to their senses. Ordinary people quickly hid in the carriages, while those with weapons took cover with their weapons.

The mercenaries who had been darting around earlier were indeed quite skilled. The two older ones were clearly Iron-rank professionals. Their hasty counterattacks actually produced several screams from the mountaintop.

But that's about it.

Amidst a new round of gunfire and arrows, they were also pushed back to the back of the carriage. The short man, who had a snake in his crotch, was accidentally stabbed in the knee and howled on the ground.

Judging from the density of enemy fire, the number of bandits hiding in the darkness was likely very large, exceeding the usual scale and the limits that these people could handle.

As a result, many people immediately converted to defeatism and began to surrender.

Even the caravan owner was on the verge of collapse: "I'm part of a construction team, not a money transport team! Did we really have to attract so many bandits? Was it really necessary?!"

call……

Richard exhaled a breath of stale air, feeling he had seen enough.

Just then, another burst of intense gunfire ended. Considering the long firing intervals of firearms in that era, this meant a relatively safe period of about half a minute.

Richard seized the opportunity to have earth elementals shield him from the elements, crawled out of his cover, and silently chanted a spell to summon three treants.

At night, in the hillside woodlands, nothing beats this for elemental items!

He left one behind to protect himself, and directed the other two to rush into the woods, and soon...

Then, screams of agony rang out from the other side!

In the dead of night, the bandits didn't even notice the tree that had appeared beside them before they were hit on the back of the head with a wooden stick!

A few clever ones who dodged the first attack couldn't help but start to feel fear—with so many trees around them and poor lighting, they really couldn't tell them apart!

The shadows in the dark forest were indistinct...

There's something dirty in the woods!

"Damn it, some of the trees are moving!"

"Which tree? Can you point it out?" "I can't see it! I've lost it!"

"Master, it was that master down there who did it!"