Vantoris, a city abandoned by the Empire...... Following the bearded man, Jiang Zhe and Alan slowly drove the carriage towards the rumored gathering place of villains and thieves.

Van Torres ...... Let's just count it as a city, if it has a mud and stone rampart that acts as a wall—if anything that looks vulnerable can be called a wall.

As if seeing the doubts in the eyes of Allen and Jiang Zhe, the bearded man said in a low and inexplicable tone, "If you had been born two hundred years earlier, maybe you would have seen something very different...... Earlier, we built walls out of mud and stone to ward off the attacks of wild beasts, but now ...... No need!" As he spoke, he pointed to the broken wall in the distance, and said lightly, "I want to warn you, don't make trouble when you go in—I won't help you for a gold coin!"

"Wow," Alan said with a grin, glancing at the bearded man, "you can rest assured that we will never cause trouble, but if someone else comes to mess with us—I don't think anyone will mess with a team of a few magician apprentices, right?"

"How many?" The bearded man subconsciously glanced at Jiang Zhe beside him, and said with a chuckle, "Yes, it's true that no one would want to mess with a few magic imps, but I don't think those magic imps would be willing to be enemies of a few thousand people, right?"

"Thousands?" said Allen, shrugging exaggeratedly, "Of course, we're just trying to find a place to rest and then head to Galik early tomorrow morning!"

"Very well!" said the bearded man, smiling slightly, and then jumped out of the carriage and walked in the direction of the broken wall, which was probably the so-called city gate.

Slowly driving the carriage, Jiang Zhe and Alan followed the bearded scumbag man towards the city, and for a moment, they suddenly regretted coming to this place.

To tell the truth, it was the worst place they had ever seen, with crumbling houses, dirty roads, and a layer of dust in the air, and on both sides of the road, sometimes some Thranders leaned against the broken walls of various ruins, staring coldly at the slowly passing carriages, as if staring at their prey.

"Yo, Viv, is this carriage your trophy?" Outside a half-collapsed mud house, a strong man with bronze muscles crossed his arms against the wall, greeting with a bit of joy.

Glancing at each other, the bearded man said with some regret, "I'd love to say yes, Tammy—they're my guests!"

"Guest?" Suddenly, the strong man's face changed, and he walked towards the carriage, and said in a low voice, "Vantolis doesn't need guests, Viv!

As his words fell, a large crowd of people gathered around the dilapidated houses on both sides of the road, apparently not to welcome the carriage.

"Tammy!" the bearded man named Viv shouted, frowning, "There are just a few imps in the carriage, they are going to Galik, and they will leave tomorrow!"

"So what?" Tammy licked his lips and whispered as he walked up to Viv's side, "Wouldn't it be better to have only a few imps?, I think the carriage looks quite valuable—since we're going to Galik, there should be food and water in the carriage?"

"Tammy!" frowning at the brawny man Tammy, Viv said word by word, "There are only a few imps in the carriage!"

"What's the matter?!" saw the strong man Tammy shake off Viv's hand and roared viciously, "I just know that there is not enough food in the city, and we will starve to death before winter!"

"There's no winter in Thrand, Tammy ......"

"But we're going to starve to death too!, you know? As of today, it's eighty-ninth...... We Thorlandians are not crushed by the iron hooves of the Imperial Knights, but hunger can defeat us completely!The little imp named Ka is only eight years old...... Last year I went to Jacobs Sembo, and the local nobles fed the dogs with clean bread, whole pieces, so big, but what about our children? What do our Thurand children eat? It's the roots of the damn Vals tree, so small that you can gnaw on it for a night! I hate this damn land!"

Patting Tammy on the shoulder, Viv whispered, "Tammy...... If you really hate this place, then you won't choose to stay here......"

Glancing deeply at Viv, Tammy said in a deep voice, "I don't care what those elders are going to do, I'm going to use my own methods to change - I hope you can help me!"

After looking down and thinking for a while, Viv nodded hesitantly and said in a low voice, "Let me think about it!"

"I'd love to, but I don't have that much time for you to think about it, Viv, I hope you can give me an answer tomorrow!" As he spoke, Tammy glanced at the carriage, Jiang Zhe and Allen, who were sitting in the groom's position, and said viciously, "If those little ghosts dare to do something unpleasant to us, I will be happy to string them one by one on the spear!"

Glancing at Jiang Zhe and Alan with a bit of pleading, Viv nodded and said, "I think they'll pay attention!"

"Hmph, that's good!"

A few minutes later, the bearded man Viv led Jiang Zhe and the others to his residence, not to mention, his house was indeed a hotel that provided accommodation.

"This is it!" said Viv, pushing open the half-sloping wooden door with one hand, shaking off layers of dust, and then glanced at Alan with bad intentions.

"Wow," Alan said with a cursory look, shrugging his shoulders and smirking, "a little worse than I estimated......"

"Hmph, huh?" Turning at Alan with a faint smile, Vief said with a bit of a joke, "Don't jump to conclusions, little ghost!" he said, striding towards the house.

"Daddy, Daddy is back......"

"Big Brother Viv......"

Listening to the sound in the house, Alan turned his head to look at Jiang Zhe, exhaled and said, "It's better than sleeping in the wild, what do you think, buddy?"

"Hmph!" Jiang Zhe snorted twice without compliment, then knocked on the car door with his hand, and said weakly, "Come down!"

The door of the carriage opened, and several girls walked down one by one, looking at them frowning, obviously dissatisfied with the illusion in front of them.

"Ellen," Lisa said curtly, pulling Allen's arm, "and we...... Are we really going to live here?", she said, waving her hand to dispel the dust from the air, but Larry coughed uncontrollably.

"It's worse than I thought......" Lavia frowned, barely showing some composure, "but it's better than sleeping in the wilderness - at least don't worry about the rain......"

"I'd rather sleep in the carriage," muttered dissatisfied, Lisa pouting as she glanced at the house in front of her, muttering, "I would have liked to find a place to take a shower......

"Okay," stroking Lisa's hair, Lavia quietly pointed to Jiang Zhe and Allen, who were tying horses, and whispered, "Don't complain, we can sleep in the carriage, but what about them, Soth and Allen haven't slept for a day and a night!"

Glancing back at Jiang Zhe and Allen, Lisa nodded, showed a somewhat innocent smile and said, "Well, I know!"

"If it's just a bath......" Dya interjected with a smile as the two of them paused, "I think I should be able to do it - water for six!"

Glancing at Dia with a complicated expression, Lavia nodded and said softly, "Thank you, that's exactly what we need!"

At this moment, the bearded man Viv came out again, leaned against the door and looked at a few little ghosts and mocked, "What?

"Of course not!" a polite smile to Viv, and Lavia strode into the house, followed by the men behind her.

"Hey!" Glancing at the backs of the imps, Viv shook his head.

There were a lot of people crowded in the house, among them there were more than a dozen children, all of them were not very old, the eldest was seven or eight years old, the younger was only three or four years old, and standing against the wall were three young people in their twenties...... "How many of you little ghosts?" One of the young men stared at Lavia who walked into the house, and subconsciously took out the knife in his arms, and the others also learned his movements, but before they could make a move, they were stopped by the Viv who came after.

"Stop, Pa, what do you want to do in front of the kids?"

Glancing around at the children around him, looking at them staring at him with wide eyes, the young man named Pa hurriedly put away the knife in his hand.

Glancing at the dirty children who were looking at her with innocent eyes, Lavia turned back to Viv and asked, "Are these your children?"

"Yes!"

Frowning and looking left and right, Lavia asked suspiciously, "These dozen or so children are yours, aren't Vantoris short of food?"

I saw Viv glance at Lavia faintly, then found a lame stool to sit down, and said in a low voice, "Since their parents died, I have become their father, and they, my children, are there any problems, little ghost?"

"No...... I'm sorry!" Although she was a little dissatisfied with Viv's tone, Lavia still did not lose her aristocratic etiquette.

"Hmph!" said with a sneering snort, Viv pointed to the wooden ladder in the corner of the room, "There are enough empty rooms on the second floor for you to live in, but don't have any illusions about the room, this is Vantolas...... Like we said, no food, no water, no anything you need, one gold per room!"

"One gold in one room?" Lavia said with a frown, "Isn't it one gold in one night?"

"Yes," said Viv with a smile folded his arms, "it's a gold coin a night, but that's only one room, I think you ......," he said, looking back at the boys and girls standing in the doorway, and said jokingly, "If you're willing to have a few people crammed into one room, then I won't say it!"

Glancing deeply at Viv, Lavia said to Alan angrily, "Three rooms, Ellen!"

"No problem!" Alan shrugged indifferently.

Muttering quietly, Lavia stepped on the wooden ladder to the second floor, but the creaking sound from the wooden ladder made her a little worried, and behind her, it was Lisa, Lerella, and Dia...... "Here!" Alan took out three gold coins in his hand, bounced them one by one in front of Viv, and then jokingly said, "Three gold coins in three rooms, it's really yours, man!"

"Heh!" Catching the three gold coins, Viv picked one up and blew it on his lips, and said with a smile, "But you still gave it, didn't you? It's been almost ten years, you little devils are the only ...... who take care of my business" As he spoke, he pointed to himself and introduced, "Geneviv Dolby, you can call me Viv!" After speaking, he pointed to a few young people standing in the room who were looking at Jiang Zhe and Allen with unkind eyes, and introduced them one by one, "Madara, Pa, Comy!"

Shrugging his shoulders, Alan laughed at himself, pointed at himself, then at Jiang Zhe, and said, "Alan Scander, you can call me Ellen, he is my buddy, South!"

"Well," Viv nodded meaningfully, then licked his lips and said with a bit of a joke, "actually...... We can provide you with some food and water......"

As if they couldn't believe what they had heard, the three young men were shocked and said, "Brother Viv, are you kidding? That food is not enough for us......

Raising his hand to stop their words, Viv looked at Alan with a smile, but saw Alan smiling, leaning against the dusty wall indifferently, and teasingly, "But you need money to buy it?"

"Of course!" Viv grinned, touched his chin and said, "Trust me, little ghost, gold coins can't fill people's stomachs, one serving, two gold coins!"

Looking at Viv amusedly, Alan scratched his head and teased, "I see, you plan to rob us in a different way, don't you?"

"Well," after a moment's thought, Viv nodded, and said, "You can understand it that way, I always think that blind and indiscriminate use of force is not a good solution to the problem......

"Then how do you explain what happened just now? A dozen people surrounded us with weapons, it couldn't be a friendly conversation, right?"

Listening to Allen's taunt, Viv glanced at the three young men with angry eyes, shook his head at them, and then sighed slightly, and said to Allen, "Little ghost, there are some things that you can't avoid if you don't want to. I remember when I was a child, my family was very poor, hehe, I should say that this part of Thrand is very poor, and now it has been almost thirty years, and at that time I wanted to open an inn, because if I didn't want to take a long detour, from Galic to Sasson, you had to go through Vantoris, a room for a silver coin, and those rich merchants would not care about a silver coin, of course, for some aristocratic imps who like to venture around, I don't mind renting them a room for a gold coin for a night......"

"Yo, are you talking about us?"

"Hehe," said Viv, smiling slightly, picking up a little girl of three or four years old who had walked up to him, stroking her messy hair, and said in a deep voice, "Vantolis is a place where thieves and villains live, and a city full of sins, and I have heard such words more than once, and perhaps because of this misunderstanding, the caravans have gradually decreased, and the neighboring areas, such as Jacob Senbu, no longer welcome us......"

"Are you trying to say that you're actually friendly, with a dozen men and weapons in their hands to 'welcome' a passing carriage?"

Glancing deeply at Allen, Vief shook his head and said in a deep voice, "Then I can only say that life is more important!

"I don't want to understand what you're thinking," with a strange expression, Alan took a few steps forward, took a dozen gold coins from his pocket and slapped them on the only wooden table, then tilted his head to look at Viv and said, "Six!"

I saw Viv grinning, reaching out to take a dozen gold coins in his hand, and said, "Deal!"

Shrugging his shoulders, Alan turned his head inadvertently, and suddenly saw a child in the room eating something with a missing wooden bowl, just a few cursory glances, his expression suddenly became very strange, turned his head and tilted his head to look at Viv and said, "The food you are talking about, it won't be ......"

"As I said, don't report any fantasies, this is Vantolas......" Looking at Alan playfully, Viv shrugged his shoulders and shouted into the house, "Ram, prepare some more food tonight!"

"Why? if that doesn't last, it won't last until ......" A woman's voice came from the depths of the room, and then, with a slight sound of footsteps, a dark-skinned woman came out of the shadows, and when she saw Jiang Zhe and Allen, her face was stunned.

"It's all right," Wiff comforted the woman, reaching out to hand the twenty gold coins that belonged to Allen, "if you don't have enough to eat, let Madara and Pa take a trip to Jacob Senbu...... Forget it, let's go to Galik, exchange these gold coins for some food, and we'll keep some of them, and divide the rest among others......"

"So many?" the woman looked at the gold coin in her hand in disbelief.

"Hey," glancing at Allen, who rolled his eyes, Jiang Zhe asked in a low voice, "Twenty gold coins, how much food can be exchanged?"

"How much food?" Alan grinned, and said angrily, "Ordinary civilian families, the cost of a year is only one gold coin, what do you think, man?" As he spoke, he exhaled and said with a little unwillingness in Jiang Zhe's shrug, "I was deceived by this guy, and I have to tell my old man about it when I go back, and I have to teach me a hard lesson!"

"Teach you?" Jiang Zhe shook his head slightly, and then whispered with a little surprise, "Actually, I was very surprised just now, you know, Allen, you from a noble family actually reached out to shake the other party's hand without caring about it, and you were talking to him so speculatively......

"Hmm?" Glancing at Jiang Zhe with a puzzled expression, Alan thought about it, as if he understood something, shook his head and whispered, "You're wrong, man, I'm not a nobleman, although I don't want to admit it, but I have been influenced by my old man since I was a child...... I'm from Operios, you know, apart from the battle mage, I'm a businessman, and the old man taught me from a young age that the most important thing for a businessman is profit, what is profit? pay less, get more in return...... A smile, a handshake, how much effort can it cost you?"

Stunned to see Allen's tirade, Jiang Zhe nodded with a smile and said affirmatively, "Yes! You're right! Allen, I've changed my opinion of you, you shouldn't go to Ruiox, you don't need to go to any knight academy, it's a waste for you not to be a businessman......

"I'm a knight who yearns for freedom and glory, ah no, a battle mage, and then a merchant...... There's no way, my old man will give birth to me, and sooner or later he will arrest me......"

Just as Alan and Jiang Zhe were talking and laughing on the side, there was a sound of footsteps on the second floor, and immediately, several girls hurriedly walked down, looking at the expressions on their faces, obviously very dissatisfied with the environment they were about to move in.

"Excuse me," said Lavia to Viv after descending the wooden ladder, "is there any water? I mean clean water—we want to take a shower!"

"Water?" Viv suddenly laughed, glanced at the girls, and said mockingly, "Do you mean that you want us to bathe you with the precious water you use to drink?"

Frowning, Lavia said in a deep voice, "Then give us a big wooden basin, a cleaner one...... Forget it, we'll clean it up ourselves, you can prepare a bigger tub for us!"

"Tub, what do you want Tub?" Glancing at Lavia suspiciously, Viv seemed to think of something, his face showed a little surprise, and then turned his head and held out a finger at Alan.

"See, this guy is better suited to be a businessman than me!" Purssing his lips speechlessly, Alan angrily took out a gold coin from his pocket again and flicked it in front of Viv with his hand.

"Wait," said Viv, taking the coin, stood up, rummaged through the darkness of the room and found a large wooden barrel, carried it to the only table in the room, licked his lips, and asked hesitantly, "Magician...... Can you make water?"

"It's not manufacturing, it's condensation!" corrected Viv's words, and Dia walked to the edge of the large wooden barrel, and immediately lowered her head and recited a few incantations, as the temperature in the room dropped a few degrees in an instant, a large amount of water was quickly condensed into the barrel.

"Oh my God......" The three young men were dumbfounded, and the young man named Pa rushed over in a few steps, reached out and probed into the barrel, then looked at Viv and muttered, "Really...... Is it really water?"

"Hmm!" Vief nodded slowly, as if with some concern.

Strangely seeing the children staring at the bucket of water, Lavia turned to Viv and asked, "Is there a place to boil water?"

Viv silently pointed to the corner of the room, and saw a simple iron frame on a pile of dry wood.

"Alan!" Lavia gestured to the barrel.

"No problem," said with a slight smile, and Alan stepped forward, easily picking up the bucket full of water and carrying it to the iron shelf.

After staring at the barrel for a long time, the young man named Pa came back to his senses and hurriedly said, "I...... I'm going to find the tinder!"

"You don't need that thing," Hehe smiled, Alan turned around, pointed to the wooden barrel behind him, and said to Jiang Zhe, "Hey, buddy, take a hand!"

"Smack!" as a snap of a finger sounded in the room, and the pile of dry wood burst into flames.

Looking at the flickering flames for a long time, Viv sighed slightly.

"Magic ......"

(To be continued)