The belated spring revived after a cold spell and got hotter in less than a month, and by the time people came to their senses, summer was already quietly coming.

The chicks born in the cold wave are able to fly on their own, except for those who die of illness and starvation and those who freeze to death, and those who survive are able to fly alone after a few months. They hover in the sky with their parents as they wait for the human fishing boat to pull up the trawls.

For various reasons, the number of seagulls is much lower than last year, but judging by this vigorous appearance, it is only a matter of time before the population recovers.

The same is true of rats, cockroaches and flies that have been greatly reduced by the disaster. These peculiarities, which depend heavily on the development and growth of human civilization, are drastically reduced in number when human society is in turmoil and disaster, and then riot again after it has regained its prosperity, making the work and life of the inhabitants miserable.

They are like the evils of prosperity, trying to survive between people.

Just like the slave problem that still exists in this city.

Unlike a king on the other side of the Inland Sea who ruled over a small kingdom, many things were not just something to do in the vast and intricate Padrossi Empire.

Without slaves, without the problem of oppression, there would have been no anger and retaliatory attacks by the Southerners—anyone can make such a conclusion, but it is another matter to change all this.

Avenella was able to issue the proclamation of the emancipation of slaves and the abolition of slavery with the enthusiasm and enthusiasm of Edward I, who was still a prince, because the country was only a small country with a small population.

It covers a small area, and the business is not very developed, and it is basically in a state of self-cultivation and self-sufficiency. The farmland was scattered, and most of the peasants worked together as a family, and the slaves who helped with the cultivation were only in demand by a few large landowners. The starting point of wanting to be a country on an equal footing with the big powers, combined with the fact that it did not have its fundamental interests touched, allowed this small young country to transform rapidly.

But Padrossi is different.

Like the Southern City-State Alliance, the descendants of the ancient Laman Empire inherited the fine traditions of their ancestors, and had very efficient means in the application of engineering technology and the use of human resources.

Straight to the point.

Padrosi and the South, with their glorious prosperity, were built on the bones of slaves.

These two countries and regions of pride of the Lamanites are completely supported by the backbone of slaves to have their present and future.

Remove the slaves, who will do the work of cleaning the sewers? After the slaves are removed, who will do the work of rowing the oars for the warships and merchant ships?

Employing the townspeople?—— pampered only to hate the bad wages that they can't eat and drink, and raise their wages?, so how can the noble merchants accumulate wealth?

How can Parnilla, which has lost its wealth, still be the most prosperous commercial port on the East Coast?

This is the very foundation of the city, and it is a great symbol of the wealth that humans accumulate by squeezing their own kind.

To change it, it's not as simple as the middle-aged people on the first floor of the hotel who don't know what they boast about when they point out current affairs with spirits.

What needs to be done to reinvent the city and the whole of Palosisi from the ground up will be as difficult as digging a tunnel into the hard mountains of Paloshia.

Difficult, but not hopeless.

It's not right now, but there's something buried.

The little aristocratic lady was writing hard in front of the window, and after excellent teaching, she wrote beautiful and neat Lamanite characters. Sunlight streams in through the windows, only a handful of people walk on the streets outside the four-story mansion, and the market in the distance is nowhere near as hot as it used to be.

Traces of the battle are still everywhere, and although they have returned to normalcy on the surface, some of the alleys that are closed to traffic, as well as the mossy debris that has not been cleaned and bleached for months, still tell the story of the consternation.

As word spread that Parnilla was back in the Empire's control, the citizens of the nearby countryside and forests gradually returned to the city.

The scuttled merchant ships were broken down underwater by skilled divers with saws and then salvaged by fishing boats, and the wood that could be recovered was recovered as much as possible, while the rest was discarded further afield.

After the shipwrecks blocking the harbor were removed, merchant ships and fishing boats were finally able to go to sea, and everything was gradually starting to get back on track......'" Knock knock-" Margaret stopped the quill in her hand, the ink left a square dot on the delicate paper, she frowned, and put the pen in the ink bottle.

"Who?" "It's me, miss. The voice of reply was obviously that of the butler Ferruccio: "Your custom-made things are ready, do you want me to send them over, or you—" "I'll go myself." She said this, and stood up.

"Step-" The small round leather shoes made a dull sound on the thick wooden floor, the sun shone on her body, and Margaret, with her ponytail, wore a simple summer skirt. It seems a little out of place by aristocratic standards, but she's not the same person she was last year.

In the past few months, her face has gradually begun to sharpen, and although her height is still not comparable to that of her friends, the noble lady no longer looks like a little girl as she used to be, but begins to make people want to use the word slim.

"Click—" She opened the door and glanced at Ferruccio, who gave a brief salute before handing over a wooden box covered in velvet.

"Just give me two, no, three. Margaret said, "The rest is your share." Ferruccio glanced at her, then asked, "Filippo with you?"

"Hasn't he been practicing his sword every day lately, and if he goes to see them, there's no need. Margaret said nonchalantly, while Ferruccio shook his head: "What a defenseless fellow, still too young, too young." ”

"Let him go, I'll be bothered if the guards aren't skilled. She said, then strapped something to her chest, and with a smile she couldn't help but stomp down the stairs, and then walked to the carriage that had been prepared at the door.

"Let's go. Waving her hand and refusing the maid's help, she climbed into the carriage and closed the door with a quick hand, Margaret began.

————

————

"Can't it really be cheaper?" The hot noon sun shone on the bricks and stones and the ground began to burn, and the lightly armed Luoan girl ignored the pungent smell in the surrounding environment, and said to the middle-aged businessman in front of her who was sweating with a face.

"Ouch, Miss Traveler—" said the merchant in a southern accent of Lamanite with an exaggerated tone, "as you can see, these horses here are fine Abu Sera. You know, it's the endless southern prairie. This is the most suitable horse for such a high summer season, and it is not often that horses can withstand such weather, and even those noble lords often come to our house. ”

He said this, as if his horses were in short supply. Mira didn't say anything, but just glanced at the stable, which was home to more than twenty horses, and there was only one boy, younger than her. The heavy smell of horse manure in the air, combined with the listlessness of many horses, was a sign of the fact that they were undermanned and inadequately cared for, and that the wooden troughs had already had the light colour of sun-dried at the upper ends, and that the young horsemen struggled to carry the wooden buckets back and forth between the stables and the wells a kilometer away, and the heat and fatigue made his hair stick to his forehead and his face red.

The girl rolled her eyes in her heart, if it was really a precious horse, how could they be so negligent in taking care of it?

"Ah, but you have noticed—" The cunning merchant apparently noticed Mira's observation, and he cleverly rounded it all back, "Because of the abominable Southern Nation before—of course don't mistake the honorable Miss Traveler, although it sounds like an accent, but I am from the Southern City-State Alliance, and I must not compare the contemptible people with the uncivilized monkeys—in short, because of the war, we don't seem to be very business-"

"That's why so. He rubbed his hands together and said, "I can give you, lovely Miss Traveler, a suitable price." ”

"Look, 120 gold, over there, third from the left, how about the spotted horse?" he said, and Mira pointed to it—the listless Spotted Horse looked very decadent, and had some round bite marks on it, apparently bullied by the other horses.

"Ah, it looks like it's a bit tiring from the journey, but it just needs to be taken care of—" "It's not that simple—" "Smack-" Mira turned her head.

Margaret, who was still out of place in her surroundings even in simple clothes, stood there, and many people around her turned their heads to look at this side. The coachman of the noble lady's house looked pale as she walked into the stable, which was filled with the smell of horse manure, while Mira tilted her head: "Why are you here?" ”

"Hey, that's done—" Margaret chuckled, and only then did she look like the innocent little girl she had been a few months ago—and the noble lady continued, "But then again, why did you come here, shouldn't you go and get the custom-made equipment?

"Hmm. Mira nodded, she wanted to peek at what Margaret had hidden behind her, but the noble lady began to sway from side to side with the movements of the Loan maiden.

"Alright, alright—I'll show you later, really, if it weren't for the sharp eyes and the color of your hair passing by—so you can just ask me about this kind of thing, and I'll have the best horses for you." Margaret said this, and Mira just shook her head: "Teacher said...... No, I think so too, it's better to be self-reliant. ”

"Yes, yes, Miss Mercenary. Margaret leaned in, and in an instant her hands and feet quickly tied a shiny thing to the chest of Mira's linen shirt.

"What is this?" said the girl hung her head.

"I can't help anything else, at least it's okay to help you bargain, and you must not be tolerated in the face of black-hearted businessmen, this is my family's motto - at least from this moment on—" Margaret did not answer the question, but turned around, and when she heard her words, Mira rolled her eyes: "You made it up." And the aristocratic lady stared straight at the middle-aged businessman who had been speechless since just now and had been wiping his sweat.

"I said, uncle—" "Yes!"

"I'm going to bargain. "Okay!"

After a moment of ".......", the two newly purchased horses were entrusted to the Margaret coachman to choose the matching saddle, and the two maidens walked side by side in the direction of the east gate.

The sound of "clanging" came from the front, apparently where the blacksmith shop was.

The shops that were originally closer to the aristocratic quarters have not yet been rebuilt after being destroyed by the war, so the shops now function as workshops, where customers need to go directly to the blacksmith's workshop, which is covered in charcoal and dirt, to get their own custom-made items.

Most of the nobles obviously did not condescend so much, so most of the people who came were subordinates, but the dogs were noble, relying on the fact that they were the servants of such and such a family, they were often also arrogant, standing there in fine clothes, looking with their nostrils at the mercenaries who also came to buy weapons and armor.

"Sir. When Margaret approached, Henry had just stepped out of the blacksmith's shop, holding in one hand two large linen wrappers, and in the other a long linen-wrapped strip.

Mira walked over, nodded to Henry to indicate that the horse had been bought, and then lowered her little head and continued to stare at the glittering thing on her chest.

"Give. The noble lady stretched out her hand: "Although I want to tie it with my own hands as the head of the regiment, I can't help but the concubine is not tall enough." She shook her head, and Henry shrugged his shoulders before crouching down.

"Hey. Margaret smiled, and tied it to the sage's chest with her own hands.

"This is the Little Explorer's badge, registered with the guild. She said that the palm-sized badge was clearly the work of a top craftsman, and the lightness of the texture, combined with a blue-gray hue that differs from steel in sunlight, proved that it was made of rare and precious mythril.

The brooch has a red background and is carved with a lifelike bust of a unicorn, with an astonishing degree of detail in the lines of the muscles and even the horsehair on the palm-sized brooch.

"Well, it's beautiful. Margaret proudly flashed her same brooch, and then said: "I will directly use red for the background color, although theoretically the badge of the mercenary group must be the same as the level." Now you're only orange, but it's only a matter of time before it's red. ”

"That's the equivalent of ten sets of full-body plate armor!" said Margaret, and the Sage and Mira looked at each other, both shrugged, and chuckled.

"......." obtained new equipment, and the three of them slowly walked in the direction of the port. Stopping near the teahouse near the sea, Margaret ran to ask for a drink. Mira, on the other hand, unpacked the sackcloth and inspecting the new equipment, listened to the mixture of the voices of the navigator, the fisherman, and the seagulls in the distance, and watched the newcomers who disembarked from the sailboat, their faces full of surprise and undisguised curiosity about the city, and looked left and right.

Remembering that when she arrived here, she was unconscious, but perhaps this expression, and she suddenly put on a shallow smile.

"Well done. Margaret, who came back from the drink, said with one hand on her chin, "I can see it as a layman." ”

She said this, and Mira nodded in agreement.

The new equipment was ordered by the dwarves, perhaps because they wanted to prove that not all dwarves supported the previous attack on Parnira, and the dwarven master craftsmen, who had been living in the area for many years, opened up the special armor that was originally limited to qualifications. Not to mention the incredible strength of the armor created by the use of superior secret craftsmanship, it should have been hard to find in the first place.

It's expensive, but it's also genuine.

The dark blue velvet fabric mixed with wool fabric in the sun is used as a surface, and the rivets on it are densely packed but neat and beautiful, and the fastening belt is dyed light blue, and the same color complements each other. The buckle part is made of brass and carved to a certain extent.

It's a Brigundy-style piece of armor, and although it's called differently, it's basically what the West Coasters call a plate armor.

This plate armor is made with a large number of overlapping small nail plates, and even the opening part of the chest has overlapping nail plates, and the workmanship is far more delicate than that of the same style on the West Coast. Small pieces of armor are easier to handle, but they are still slightly less defensive than the overall breastplate - the reason why Henry and Mira chose to wear this plate armor is that they are mercenaries, not knights.

Plate armor with a fabric covering the surface is less susceptible to rust due to weather conditions than the cuirass, and is obviously a more suitable choice for mercenaries who don't have an attendant to help with everything. Coupled with the characteristics of being relatively lighter and foldable and easy to carry, considering the price factor, it is obviously a very reasonable choice.

The girl looked very fond of the sackcloth wrap as soon as she opened it, but she still didn't plan to try it on without putting on the armed suit, so she looked at it a few times and wrapped it again.

In addition to the two Brigund Ground Plate Armor, the Sage's other long wrap was a leather half-sheath, the kind he carried for Kramer, which was new, and while the greatsword itself was almost miraculously indestructible, the half-sheathed back hook used for the mount had indeed been tattered after so many years of use.

The delicate armor and clothing and accessories are matched by the tags of the two people who have been promoted by the Mercenary Guild since they returned to the city. Due to the perfect and even overfulfilled Margaret's hanging board mission, and many other things happened in it, they were promoted from the blue card to the orange card at a very fast speed, and became an elite mercenary.

And the remuneration for the tasks provided by the noble lady herself, plus the supply allowance that the guild will have when she rises to this level, the two of them have ordered these things after selling the books that Mira has already read, and there are still leftovers.

However, considering that Luo'an Girl still needs more books for her next study, the money can be said to come and go quickly, which is why she bought a horse before.

Margaret was naturally willing to support them in various ways, and even Minna said that she could continue to use the horses she had received when they returned them, but in the end, they still wanted to be able to support themselves.

No matter how good the relationship is, relying on it is not the right thing to do.

The sackcloth wrap was put away again, waiting for the busy shop to serve a drink, but the three of them were a little speechless for a moment.

"Brother Konstantin...... was summoned back to the imperial capital, and someone sued him, saying that the disaster of becoming a witch was the result of his poor control. Margaret whispered, "He's going with the army." ”

“...... Are you going to leave tomorrow?" said the noble lady, leaning on the table, muttering with an ungraceful gesture.

"Hmm. Henry nodded, and Mira walked over to the shop to get a drink.

"Sister Minna is also busy, and there are many, many things to deal with. And then the one you mentioned, my friend of the steppes, I inquired, and it seems that he had just arrived in Parnila last year, and he had gone in the direction of the imperial capital. ”

"If you go north, maybe you'll meet you on the way, thank you. Margaret took the drink that Mira handed over, took a sip and frowned, "It's tasteless." ”

"After all, it's business, and I won't put too much sugar on you. The girl gave her a blank look.

"Will I see you again? Margaret muttered quietly, "Such an illusion of peace will soon crumble." ”

"Even now, the people's hostility towards the southern countries is getting worse, and many young people in the south who want to come here to find work are living a worse life. ”

"It wasn't them who attacked, but they were from the same area as the attacker. As a result, those who want to rebel against the inequality here have instead created even greater discrimination and inequality. ”

"But this. Mira picked up her words: "It looks the same with those attackers, right?"

"We're all working so hard against the Empire, why are you people willing to be the doglegs of the Empire—that kind of thought. Miss Loan said, and Margaret nodded.

"Will we see you again, us? Miss Noble muttered, and opened her eyes to look at Henry.

"Yes. The sage took a sip of spruce tea and spoke lightly.

"That's good. The aristocratic lady who got the answer she wanted smiled like a flower.