Strength 99999 but the Holy Sister

"If you're talking about ten years ago, then it was indeed true. There were even quite a few adventurers willing to try their luck here. It was a bustling little place, with more trees than it is now. But as the Earl raised taxes, gradually no one wanted to live here anymore. As you can see, this land has been abandoned by the Earth Mother. Even the abundant rainfall and warm weather in the summer can't bring any changes. No crops can be grown here. The only people who live here are hunters and adventurers who try their luck. They make their living in the forest, and the monsters and animals in the forest provide them with income and food."

That forest, naturally, refers to the forest where Elsa and the others came from.

"But Earl Leonard bought all of Seavis's land from the previous Earl of Seavis. No, perhaps it should be said that the old Earl of Seavis had already fallen on hard times. This was a deal. The old Earl of Seavis had land, and Earl Leonard had money. This isn't surprising."

Silbaz led the horse and pointed to the tower in the distance.

"Those were originally the property of the empire, managed by Earl Seavis. Later, Earl Seavis died, and Earl Leonard naturally inherited them all."

Elsa was thoughtful.

It stands to reason that a count is not qualified to do such a thing. There must be other reasons behind this. However, if we think about the coup that Tricia mentioned, perhaps there were signs of something happening a long time ago.

Ten years ago... or even earlier?

Then, more than two years ago, the conflict broke out quietly in the imperial capital.

Could it be that, like the feudal states of her past, the Empire had also fallen prey to a conflict of interest between the central government and the local nobles? — This was just Elsa's speculation based on her self-proclaimed limited understanding; there was likely more to it than meets the eye.

It would be difficult to know the full picture if you are not involved, right?

"So everyone here left later?"

Charlie asked.

"Yes, Earl Leonard ordered everyone in the territory to pay more taxes, in full, because he believed that the policies of old Earl Seyavis were too 'kind,' even 'flattering and accommodating.' That would have been fine, but Earl Leonard also designated this forest as the lord's woodland. Those who entered to hunt or borrow the road naturally had to pay a fee—Mr. Ebusen could certainly afford this, but others couldn't. The hunters and adventurers who originally lived here could only earn enough to cover fines. Some were detained, some fled, and those who stayed either couldn't escape or simply became accomplices of the Earl."

Tricia didn't answer.

Human activities, or the activities of creatures with souls, can feed back to the earth's veins to a certain extent. The loss of population here will probably make it more difficult for the earth's veins to recover - this is a vicious cycle.

Logically speaking, the lords here should avoid such things from happening. Why would they instead formulate such harsh policies to force the people here to leave?

Silverz continued, glancing at Aisha with a pointed look. "This place hasn't been a good place for a long time. If the road hadn't been destroyed, we wouldn't have come here. But anyway, we won't be here long. We'll be leaving before tonight. Since this is your first time here, be careful. The people here aren't very friendly."

As they were talking, the caravan arrived at the center of the town's square. It was called a square, but in fact it was just a place where people here got water. The square was not big, and there was a statue of a goddess in the center, but it seemed that no one had repaired it. The statue of the goddess fell to the ground with half of its body buried in the gravel. The originally white statue had turned the color of yellow sand, and the body was broken from the arms, and the arms were no longer visible.

On the other side of the square was a windmill well. When the caravan arrived here, several people dressed as hunters were drawing water.

When the hunters saw the caravan, the mischief in their eyes disappeared.

"Hey, it's been a while since I've seen outsiders here," a hunter took the initiative to come forward and strike up a conversation. At the same time, his eyes naturally looked at the other people in the caravan, and finally landed on Aisha and Xia Li. "You look injured. Oh, look at me, I mean, you may need help - can I ask where you are from?"

"The main road over there is blocked, so we took a detour from Moulton Fornia."

Silbaz lied without batting an eyelid, saying that Mortonfornia was adjacent to Seavis in the southeast, which was a good excuse.

"We came here to find a place to stay and buy some supplies and medicine."

"Haha, if you're just looking for a place to stay, well," the hunter nodded towards an empty house behind, "you can use these empty places as you please. Although the roof and doors and windows leak a bit at night, and sand rushes into your face and collar, haha, I mean, if you don't mind, it's not a problem at all."

The hunter stuffed the leather water bag in his hand with a cork and hung it bulging around his waist.

"But if you need food, you'll have to look for it up ahead. There's always someone willing to sell you some meat—you just need to give them something from outside, and they'll like it. Oh, and if you need some medicine, go to old Janji in the north. He doesn't have a pharmacist's license, but his medicine is genuine."

Silvers asked again, "Is the Adventurer's Guild still there?"

"The guild? Ha, if you want to go, it's right in front—find it yourself."

The hunter seemed unwilling to say anything more. He left the square and walked towards the outside of the town, looking at the caravan as he walked, and disappeared from everyone's sight.

Elsa stared at the collapsed statue of the goddess. This time, she did not feel that she was being stared at. It was just an ordinary statue of the goddess.

Charlie noticed Elsa's gaze, looked at the collapsed statue of the goddess, then let go of Elsa's hand and walked forward.

Elsa was still thinking about something. Seeing this, Silvers immediately stopped Charlie and said, "Please wait a moment, Miss Charlie, what are you going to do?"

"I'll go put it back up."

Charlie rolled up her sleeves, as if ready to get down to business.

Silbaz was stunned for a moment and couldn't help laughing.

Silbaz didn't really doubt whether Shirley could erect the goddess statue that was much taller than herself. After all, Shirley's strength was obvious to all. How could someone who could cut a person in half with a sword be weak?

“People here don’t revere the goddess.”

"It's okay, it's just standing up."

"I advise you to pretend you didn't see it," Silbaz glanced around. Seeing several hunters staring at them, Silbaz advised, "Yes, it's best to ignore it—otherwise they'll claim you broke it and ask you for compensation."

"what?"

Charlie hesitated.

Elsa is a nun, she would definitely be unhappy to see the goddess statue being treated like this, right? She thought - Charlie didn't want to see Elsa unhappy, but she was also worried that she would cause trouble for Elsa.

Charlie glanced at Aisha subconsciously, and Aisha smiled at her and shook her head slightly.

Charlie then pursed her lips and gave up.

"All right……"

Silbaz also breathed a sigh of relief.

Charlie returned to Elsa in frustration. Elsa took her hand and touched it gently, saying softly, "It's okay. I don't mind."

"Oh……"

Charlie felt that Elsa was just speaking against her will. After all, how could Elsa, such a pious and gentle nun, not care at all?

Elsa did not explain much. Although she did not approve of the behavior of destroying public finances, she could not control the dilapidated state of the town. Besides, Elsa did not really believe in God, so naturally she did not feel any anger or disappointment in her heart. It was just that as a nun, it was not appropriate for her to say such words directly.

Silbaz didn't want to say more and simply changed the subject. "Oh, by the way, if you need anything, you can go and trade it with the people here for some dried meat. The dried meat here was once a very unique delicacy, but I don't recommend buying too much—the things here are not cheap at all, and if you want to trade with them, you can't do it without alcohol."

This place is far away from other towns and few people come here, so wine has become a rare commodity. Some people will brew some themselves, but the berries in the forest are extremely sour and not suitable for brewing wine, so the taste is naturally very ordinary.

"Anyway, let's find a place to settle down first and get a carriage. We also need to process the magic cores of these mountain goblins. They should be worth a carriage. We should go to the Adventurer's Guild to see if there are any. Also, I need to buy some potions. I know Old Zhanji here. I hope he can give me a discount because of our old friendship."

Silvers shrugged and said.

Xia Li thought for a moment and said, "Then... let me help too. I can't just sit there and do nothing."

Perhaps because she was used to it in Weilin Town, Charlie was actually quite enthusiastic. Of course, it was also because of Silverbaz's friendly reminder just now.

Silvers didn't refuse. He laughed heartily, "Then I'll leave the guild to you. They might have a carriage at a good price. Also, remember to ask for any new information in the direction of the canyon. If we happen to catch the monster migration, we might have to wait outside for a few more days."

Aisha looked away and asked casually, "Will there be any monsters passing through the canyon?"

"Yeah, especially this season."

Silvers smiled. "But as long as you're careful, you'll be fine. It's actually easier to avoid the monsters when they're migrating. It's at least more reassuring than accidentally stepping into their hunting grounds."

……

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311. Old Zhan Ji

Silbaz and Aisha briefly divided the work and then took action separately. Silbaz took a few people to find Old Janji to buy potions, while Aisha was responsible for going to the guild to check the situation and ask if there were any carriages for sale.

She took Charlie and Tricia with her.

As for the rest of the caravan, they all found a place near the square to rest.

There was a tavern in the town that provided food and wine, but no one in the caravan planned to patronize it. After all, outsiders like them were bound to be charged exorbitant prices, and the adventurers were already very tired after a day and night of travel. Compared to eating and drinking, a good night's sleep seemed to be more attractive to them.

As for hotels, there are no places for people to stay overnight in the town. There are usually not many people coming here. Occasionally, adventurers and travelers passing by here just find an empty house to stay in. Hotels have no room to survive in such a town.

Ebusen asked the coachman to park the carriage between several houses, and the other eight or nine people gathered around the carriage to rest. Except for a few people in charge of guarding, the others ate some dry food and fell asleep quickly - they had no plan to spend the night in the town, and would probably set off again after resting here for a while.

Grace was still alone, leaning against the wall with her head down. No one could see her face clearly, but she looked like she was resting. Becky and Armand took turns on duty. Armand had wanted to sit down and rest for a while, but Becky was so diligent that Armand had to follow suit.

Following his memory, Silbaz came to the north of the town and found a dilapidated low house.

"This is 'Old Janji's' home. Wait here for me for a while."

Silbaz asked his men to wait outside the house while he took out the fine wine he had prepared long ago and gently knocked on the open door. A hoarse voice came from inside.

"I told you not to knock, it's too noisy. If you have something to say, just come in."

Silbaz smiled awkwardly, carefully considering his expression and tone, and stepped into the hut.

A sticky, almost suffocating smell of herbs wafted into the hut, and all kinds of dried herbs were hanging from the beams. Silbaz had to lower his head slightly to see "Old Janji" hunched over and fiddling with a mortar.

Old Janji was still dressed in coarse gray clothes, his hair tied into strips with some gold and silver ornaments strung on it with ropes, his lips, nose and ears were all buckled with golden rings, and his face was painted with colorful makeup - it is said that witch doctors all do this.

He was a man, an elderly man, and he gave off an uncomfortably gloomy vibe, just like the small house he lived in.

Old Janji turned his head, and the ornaments in his hair made a crisp sound.

"You... a foreigner? No wonder. I said these idlers couldn't possibly know a thing or two about manners. So, who are you, tall young gentleman, and what do you want from an old man like me?"

Old Janji stopped grinding and squinted his cloudy eyes to look at Silbaz - his vigorous tone did not seem like that of an old man of his age at all.

"Old Janji, long time no see. It's me—Silbaz. I wonder if you still remember me."

Silbaz smiled, shook the bottle of wine in front of old Janji, and sat down at the table.

"Look what I brought you."

However, old Janji did not accept the bottle of wine as happily as Silbaz had imagined. He just chuckled twice, which sounded like a gurgling sound from his throat, and also like a laugh.

"Silbaz... Oh, I remember you. You haven't been here for a long time." Old Janji lowered his eyes, thinking about something, glanced at the bottle of wine, and raised his eyes again. "What's the matter with you looking for me? If you have something to say, tell me."

"Buy some healing potions, do you have any?" Silbaz didn't mind and said straight to the point, "I can trade you some wine. Of course, if you want money, that's fine too."

"You're not hurt."

"My companion needs this."

"The potion I made isn't enough for everyone in our town, and you're asking me to sell it to you?"

Old Zhan Ji looked down on him and pushed the bottle of wine away.

"Go away, I don't drink anymore."

"I only need twenty bottles. Is that not too much trouble for you?"

Silbaz sat there without moving.

Old Zhanji glanced at him sideways, thought for a moment, and suddenly asked, "Are you an adventurer now?"

"Yeah, I changed my career."

Silbaz used to be a mercenary, but with the advent of peace, there are fewer and fewer mercenaries - even though many adventurers do the same work as mercenaries, people are more willing to find adventurers to issue commissions, as if mercenaries are all some kind of vicious guys.

"That's quite the look," Old Janji said, glancing at Silbaz. There was a brief silence between the two, and then he suddenly said, "Take me away, and I'll give you the potion."

"You want to leave?"

This time it was Silbaz's turn to be a little surprised.

Old Zhan Ji snorted: "Just consider it a commission. I won't charge you any money."

Silbaz smiled dryly. "That's not what I meant... I meant that if you leave, there won't be any pharmacists left here."

"So, I have to trap myself in this godforsaken place for those bastards? Silverbaz, you've seen the world before you, you should understand me!"

Old Zhan Ji's tone suddenly became a little excited, and bloodshot appeared in his eyes.

"My son, my wife, they're all gone, leaving me here alone! Pathetic, hateful. I used to think I was doing something great—look, I'm such a noble person, but I stayed in hell for these hopeless bastards... Haha... But do you think these guys will thank me for this?"

Silbaz glanced at his surroundings and sighed slightly.

"I'm working for others now, my employer and my brothers, and I can't let them get hurt because of you."

Silbaz spoke directly, which was his usual style.

After all, those who still stayed in this town now were already "unable to leave". There might be various reasons, but the only thing that was certain was that if Silbaz took old Janji away on his own initiative, the people here would not let their caravan go easily.

Don't think those old hunters are easy to mess with. No one knows this land better than them.

Old Janji was neither surprised nor angry at what Silbaz said. He just smiled sinisterly.

"Then let me talk to your employer."

……

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312. The Destitute Guild

Meanwhile, Aisha brought Charlie and Tricia to the guild.