After a day or two of setting sail down the river – two or two nights plus an extra afternoon to be exact, the scenery on the riverbank changes dramatically.

The king stood on the watchtower at the bow of the ship, squinting at the lush forests on both sides under the scorching summer sun.

The king said to Elizabeth, beside him, "Look at the trees on the banks of the river at last, and you will not see these trees that are common in your hometown any further down." ”

"Huh?" Elizabeth looked at the mage with some surprise, "Why?" ”

Wang: "Because the climate is different, the Matlau Hengduan Mountains block the warm and humid air flow from the south, so the climate in Monrovia is completely different from that of Kosania.

"Now we are still at the junction of the climates, and you see on the shore, there are both coniferous and broad-leaved forests that are common in Posania. If you continue downstream, you will have a broad-leaved forest. ”

Elizabeth looked at the riverbank and muttered, "There are indeed some trees that I don't recognize." Besides, there are basically no mountains to be seen by the river, and they are basically flat rivers. ”

Wang: "The Hengduan Mountains have passed. We are now in Monrovia, and we should be able to see the first Frontier Castle in a little while. ”

Monrovia would deliberately make the fiefdoms of the frontier nobles larger, so that they could afford to raise more soldiers, build better castles, and have more time to resist enemy attacks.

Of course, this wishful thinking has never really been realized in the history of Monrovia, but the tradition of the frontier has been preserved, and the interests of the big ones have been formed.

Elizabeth held the guardrail with both hands, looked at the lush woods by the river, and suddenly sighed: "Langdon has never seen such a prosperous dense forest, how much is this?" ”

Wang: "That's the effect of the climate, Kosania is too dry. It is also reflected in the diet that Kosania always eats all kinds of turnips, cabbage, mushrooms and meat. It's a little better than the Solaces, who can only eat pickled cucumbers in different ways. ”

Elizabeth: "Is Monrovia rich in food?" ”

"Yes, there are more than a dozen kinds of fruits alone, which is an unimaginable number in Kosania."

As soon as she finished speaking, Nini's voice floated from the top of the mast: "There is a castle and a harbor ahead!" ”

The king patted Elizabeth on the shoulder: "Here, the red tape as an envoy will be handed over to you to deal with." ”

Elizabeth: "Why are you going?" ”

The king shrugged, "Stand by your side and play as a wise advisor and loyal guard." After all, no one knows about the new place, and I can't cast protective spells. ”

**

Bradford, a big fat man who seemed to blow his air, glanced at the papers that Elizabeth handed over, and handed them to his secretary.

"It's good to leave this kind of thing to the secretary. Langdon ...... Her Excellency the Duchess. ”

This is a false title that Bruce has prepared specifically for Elizabeth, who does not have a duke under her name. With this false title, the nobles of Monrovia had to treat Elizabeth with the etiquette of entertaining the duke, which could avoid a lot of trouble.

Bradford looked Elizabeth up and down, and said, "Is that the rumored saint you?" You don't have a holy emblem on you, so what do you use to cast healing spells? ”

It seems that rumors of distortion have occurred in Monrovia, and it is completely unrelated to the facts.

Elizabeth: "I am a warlock, and the Holy Maiden is just a legend, not a reality. ”

"Uh-huh, Warlock." Bradford looked at Elizabeth again with the same eyes as an estimate, "Does the Duchess have a marriage contract?" ”

Elizabeth interrupted: "The purpose of our visit is to deal with the crisis of the end of the world. ”

"I know, Salvation Squad, that's what everybody calls you. But there are no cases of cats and dogs missing in our territory, and there is no distortion of positive energy."

Wang: "It seems that your intelligence work is good. ”

Border Uncle: "The shadow thief has known the details for a long time, and shared them with the Military Intelligence Service, and the Military Intelligence Service is a big sieve, which is basically equivalent to the nobles of Monrovia. ”

Elizabeth: "Then we'll be able to get to work......

"It's better not to have such expectations." "When the news came, the Shadow Thieves had confirmed the status of the cats and dogs, and tested the positive energy, and now they have concluded that it is just an evil order in a local area. ”

Elizabeth: "Didn't they know there would be the next stage?" ”

"Yes, but since you know what will happen in the next phase, it's good to prevent." "In other words, unless you see cheap healing scrolls and healing potions on the market, neither the shadow thief nor the military intelligence department will make any moves." Nor will you receive help from Your Majesty. ”

Elizabeth was about to speak, when the king tapped her on the shoulder, and then spoke in her place: "Monrovia is in trouble now, is it?" ”

Border Bo glanced at the king: "As rumored, the princess is just a vase, and you are the one who really makes the idea, hum." The Shadow Thief's intel is as accurate as ever. ”

Elizabeth muttered, "You just said that I am a saint and how can I be treated without a holy emblem." ”

"Of course, you can't trust all the shadow thieves, sometimes the rumors in the market will unexpectedly contain some truth." Border Bo turned his gaze to the king again, "You are a little wrong, it's not that Monrovia is in trouble now, this country is always in trouble, after all, it occupies such a large piece of the map, and it is accessible in all directions. ”

Wang: "Is the trouble particularly serious now?" ”

Frontier Bo nodded.

Wang: "Then it should be that the orcs on the steppe have formed a tribal alliance again, and they are coming to raid." ”

Bian Bo smiled: "It is rumored that a strong contender for the future emperor of Kosania values you very much, and now it seems that this rumor is not wrong. Yes, the orcs have just ended the civil war and played a new tribal alliance of great chieftains.

"But it has nothing to do with me, after all, my territory is right next to Kosania. You will be given a clearance document and a letter of introduction.

"My daughter is married to a big businessman in the capital, and she is now 'networking', you can go to her with a letter of introduction and let her lead you into the social circles of the capital."

As he spoke, Bradford took out a waxed letter from the drawer and handed it to his secretary, apparently he had already made all the preparations: "Give this to Her Excellency the Duchess along with the customs clearance papers." ”

The secretary bowed respectfully.

Frontier Bo looked at Elizabeth: "I can't help too much with the rest, I will arrange a sumptuous dinner and provide you with a good room." If you have any special needs, please let my housekeeper know. By the way, Your Excellency the Duchess you haven't answered my original question, are you planning to get engaged? ”

Elizabeth replied decisively: "No." Now there's a world waiting for me to save. ”

"That's right." Frontier Bo nodded, "So be it." Tomorrow you will continue your journey. Monrovia is larger than Kosania, and you will have to sail for several days to reach the capital. My advice is not to stop every county, that would greatly reduce your movement speed, and many of you happen to have sons of the right age, you know what I mean? ”

Elizabeth nodded.

**

After the meeting with the Frontier Uncle, the butler led Elizabeth and the mage to the small hall where the team members were waiting.

"This is the living room of the ranks. I promise no one will bother you. The butler said respectfully, "As for the allocation of rooms, there are four rooms and eight beds in total, and I think you can do it yourself." Then I'll take my leave, and dinner will be delivered when it's time. ”

Wang snapped his fingers: "Wait a minute, remember to bring a whole ham for dinner, no need to cut it." And the ham is better not to be so salty. ”

Although the butler looked strange, he still nodded: "Understood, a ham, not too salty." Do you need to cut it and send it in? ”

"No, just take the whole thing."

"Understood. Then take your leave. The housekeeper closed the door.

As soon as he left, Marika ran to the door and put her ear on it, and waited a few seconds before saying, "There's no movement, no one is eavesdropping outside." ”

Elizabeth let out a sigh of relief, then pulled out the Eye Demon necklace: "This thing is very uncomfortable to wear, and it is all sweaty." ”

Wang: "But you see, you don't faint anymore. ”

"That's because I learned how to 'close my eyes', this thing can actually close my eyes!"

As she spoke, Elizabeth showed the necklace to everyone, and sure enough, the necklace had folded metal "eyelids" on the base and closed her eyes.

Wang: "So there is still this hand." I didn't find out this when I appraised it, you see, you already know more about this necklace than I do, and sure enough, you are the best person to wear it! ”

Elizabeth broke open her chest muscles: "Look at this mark, I still wear a corset today, in order to put it in the necklace, the corset didn't dare to tighten at all." In the future, if I attended the Minoan banquet, others would think that I was indecent. ”

Wang: "Just because the waist is not tightened?" ”

"Yes!"

Wang: "It turns out that there is such a saying, I have learned. Then you can skip this to a banquet. ”

Flint interjected into the conversation between the two: "So what did Border Uncle say?" ”

"Not much," replied the master, "it was very reasonable to clear us through the customs, and gave us a letter of introduction, so that we could go to the capital to find the daughter he had married." ”

Marika, who was guarding the door, said, "It sounds like she forcibly sold us a favor. ”

Wang nodded: "By the way, the Monrovia side may know more about our mission than we thought. But because they have their own things to do, I guess we won't get much help. ”

Dwarf: "Just go to the Royal Institute of Architects and ask about it, and you don't need any special help." It's impossible that everywhere we go, there are some earth-shattering conspiracies for us to solve. ”

Wang: "That's right. ”

Nini, who was sitting on the windowsill, suddenly asked, "You just said that the Monrovians have something to do, and it sounds like they have something tricky, so what is that?" ”

Wang: "We can't control this. Beyond the eastern borders of the Monrovia Empire, there are huge grasslands and hills, you know? The orcs are the rulers here, and the orcs have just come out with a new generation of grassland overlords.

"According to tradition, after the orcs end the civil war, they will soon start plundering human cities in order to solve the problem of the swelling population and the fact that there is no war to fight."

Nini frowned: "What do you mean that there is no problem that there is no war to fight?" ”

Flint: "It looks like the elven girl hasn't met an orc, and doesn't understand the orc's racial traits. Orcs are basically a species born for war, and if there is no war to fight, they will soon start fighting among themselves.

"The grasslands of the east of Monrovia are a bit reluctant, but they are actually large wastelands, and the orcs living in this place are the initiators of almost all the wars in Monrovia's history. Every time the orcs hit a tribal leader who would convince all the tribes, they would start plundering.

"The Solaces of the north are also plagued by savage orcs, and both countries have a large number of orcs sold into slavery, which is the masterpiece left behind when the orcs raided human villages."

The king picked up on the dwarf's words and added, "Fortunately, the orc tribes have been in a never-ending civil war, and a unified tribal alliance will only be formed when there is a strong man who can subdue all the tribes.

"This tribal alliance never lasts, because the children of powerful orcs are rarely strong enough to inherit Daddy's mantle, and are often killed by challengers. In fact, when the powerful overlord gets old, he will be killed by the challenger. ”

Nini was speechless: "What a barbaric race. What's the point of them doing that? ”

"There's no point, or rather, the very thing of showing one's strength is meaning to the orcs."

Elizabeth asked suspiciously, "Then why don't you assassinate this orc overlord?" ”

Xiaobai was surprised and said, "How can someone who will be easily assassinated become an overlord?" ”

Dwarf: "Yes, do you think orcs won't assassinate?" The most powerful orcs are either powerful and cunning, or cunning and powerful, so the new overlord must have killed hundreds of unscrupulous assassins on his way to supremacy. ”

Wang: "Anyway, we don't care about Monrovia's gossip for now. We have a few things to do in Minoan City, I'll list them first. The first step is to visit the Royal Institute of Architects and see if anyone knows the architectural style of the Order's headquarters.

"If no one recognizes it, we go to the Bard Academy and ask the most knowledgeable teachers in the academy to see if any of them do.

"Then, I think we can add one, let's visit the Shadow Thieves and see if they have any clues. I was impressed with their intelligence capabilities. ”

Elizabeth added: "Is it possible to ask the Military Intelligence Service, the official intelligence agency in Monrovia?" ”

Wang frowned: "Don't be like this, go and ask them, I guess the order will know...... Well? If the Order takes the initiative to attack us, it seems like a way to catch their fox's tail? ”

Marika: "If we can resist the attack." The last minion of the Order who took the initiative to find us was a Seven-Ring Mage. ”

Wang: "Don't be afraid, we now have a priest with the Four Rings!" ”

Dwarf: "Why are you entertaining?" ”

Wang: "And the Elven Rangers!" ”

Nini: "I'm not sure I'll kill the mage of the Seven Rings with a single blow. ”

Wang: "Well, one more, it's to buy powerful scrolls, we need scrolls that can effectively annihilate high-ring enemies, like the Banshee's Howl."

"There is also equipment that cannot be left behind, we have a lot of money, and after replacing them with equipment, we can more or less make up for the lack of combat effectiveness.

"Minos City is a more prosperous trading city than Langdon City, after all, it is known as the crossroads of the continent. We should be able to have a satisfying harvest. ”

Elizabeth: "Don't we still have a letter of introduction from Frontier Uncle?" Going to find this...... Uh, Mrs. Williams? ”

Bradford's daughter was married to Williams, a Monrovia businessman, and so is now the famous Lady Williams.

Wang: "You can pay a visit, after all, her husband's Williams Chamber of Commerce is so famous, he should be able to get a lot of props that we urgently need." For example, scrolls of powerful spells. ”

Marika suddenly spoke: "Shhhh Don't talk. ”

Seconds after the voice fell, there was a knock on the door.

Elizabeth: "Who?" ”

"We're bringing dinner."

Wang: "Okay, I'll continue to lecture Nini after dinner, Elizabeth, do you still want to listen?" ”

"Yes!" Elizabeth said firmly.

Wang: "Last time you fell asleep, and your saliva flowed down the table. ”

"I just drooled, didn't have a table!" Elizabeth exclaimed.

The knocker outside asked, "Excuse me?" Can I go in? ”

Elizabeth: "Come in." ”

So Marika opened the door, and the maids rushed in.

Xiaobai shouted excitedly: "Big ham!" I'm going to! ”

**

After a day's delay at the castle of the Frontier Burg, the Star Chase went down the river again.

The king took the advice of the border boy, and without stopping at all, he went straight to Minoan City.

On the fourth day of entering Monrovia, Nini reported in a loud voice: "There's a huge white city ahead!" ”

Elizabeth leaned happily on the guardrail at the bow of the ship and looked forward: "Where, where?" ”

Wang: "What she saw on the mast, now it is surrounded by plains, and the view from the mast is very good, and she basically has a panoramic view of the surroundings. Because of the curvature of the planet's surface, we can't see it yet. ”

Elizabeth: "What is planetary surface curvature?" ”

"That's it...... It's a long story. The king thought about it for a while, and resisted his urge to be a good teacher.

At this moment, Nini at the top of the mast shouted again: "Smoke! There are manors on the plains burning! ”

Wang: "What the hell? ”

He also leaned over to Elizabeth and leaned over to look out.

Elizabeth said in a mocking tone: "Because of the influence of the planet Quli, we can't see it now." ”

Wang corrected: "The curvature of the planet." The core area of Monrovia is basically free of bandits, and it is summer, and the air humidity is so high that there is little chance of a natural fire......"

Nini's voice came from the top of the mast for the third time: "Wolf cavalry! The riders are a race I haven't seen before!! ”

The king shouted to the top: "It's an orc!" And then they began to plunder! ”

Nini: "The ferry ahead is on fire!" A group of wolf cavalry is setting fire to a passing ship and firing rockets! ”

Wang: "Battle alert!" Captain, get your sailors ready! And shout Flint up from below deck! ”

(End of chapter)