The Amber Sword

Four seasons have changed dramatically in the Black Forest, yet, under Baron Cold Cedar, the year of the Sword has just passed and there are no signs of warming. There were two more heavy snowfalls around the sleeping month, but it seems to have implicitly heralded the first harvest of the territory. The streets are still cold and pedestrian, but the only bar in the city is another sight, and the fireplace is warm in the lobby, where adventurers wandering around the Cold Cedar Collar since the end of the summer gather at this moment to wait for the ice and snow to melt in the forest.

Just every adventurer who enters the hotel, with the exception of the snow-capped cape, takes off his hat and pays tribute to a little girl sitting in the corner of the hall, without exception, after observing the entire lobby. The little girl's forehead was tall, smooth as a jade, crystalline in the fire, her eyes were big, she looked a little smart, and her inner flashes of curiosity about the people and things around her. She was wearing a beautiful dress and although she was not old enough, her chest had begun to grow drummed - the dress was tight at the waist and perfectly supported the skinny figure of the lady - except that the dress, full of noble girls, was not in tune with her, but rather a bit of a thief, as if wearing clothes stolen from somewhere.

“Big sister, this is the deer skin you want. It's completely frozen in the forest. It took us nine cows and two tigers to track down a herd of deer. Hatto was also slightly frostbitten, and you can't be too stingy -” several men, apparently dressed as hunters, stood before her, headed by a mountaineer, apparently from a nearby area, wearing a thick leather coat and carrying a long bow.

“Oh, is Hatto frostbitten? That's bad luck,” Roman blinked, curious. "Are there no more deer herds in the forest? ”

“It wasn't because of the ghostly cavemen that scared the animals into hiding. ”

“Eh, I heard the caveman stopped before it snowed. ”

“Well... it does matter anyway. ”

“These deer skins, I'm gonna make Brando a coat and pay you two hundred silver coins, okay?” Roman poked his finger carefully at the deer skin and raised his head and asked.

“Of course we would love to make a coat for the lord, so the lord will definitely prefer you," he said with an obvious look on his face that he didn't believe the young lady in front of him could make a coat, but he complimented: “But that's a little too little less, big sister, Hatto is frostbitten. ”

“But this is obviously last year's deerskin, and you can see some of the places up there have been decayed by insects.” The businessman lady turned her deerskin innocently.

“Ah--?” ‘Big businessmen' poke these guys mute. The adventurers immediately revealed an awkward look, coughing: “The vintage isn't that important. Besides, we've actually been to the woods, and Hatto was really frostbitten. ”

“So, these deerskin aren't worth that much money, you know. The rest of the money is Hatto's injury medication. Don't turn around and lose to Mano's gambler. Tomorrow I'm sending someone to visit Hatto.” She glanced at them: "If he didn't get the money, I would send the cavemen to eat you. ”

After being counted down, several hunters honestly collected the money and left. Although the young lady was not touched, they had little discontent on their faces, as if they were used to bargaining like this. Roman, on the other hand, uneasily touched the round toe shoes beneath his long skirt and slipped his eyes as if they had never stopped. She looked out for someone with a hot glass of barley beer.

This lady, who has been a big businessman since all winter, has been sitting in this position, working here or buying people's hearts. But it is not unreasonable that she should be respected here, not only because she is the fiancée of a lord, but also because half of the wealth of the territory is regarded by all as a god of wealth. It was because she was human and cheerful, she would never use her identity to crush people, even willing to compare the price of a few coppers to an adventurer's afternoon.

But that's why people don't feel the difference in identity —— adventurers don't really live broadly, money is important, and they don't really see people who squander money at will. And of all Brando's partners and staff, only Roman and Freya understand that.

Freya, because of her own origins, Roman is instinctively fond of those bright little things. By the end of the winter, she had blended in with many of the adventurers in Cold Cedar City, and although not closely connected, it was enough for Roman to hear a lot of unknown news.

At this point, the bar door was pushed open again, and it was quiet over there. Silver elf princess Metisa stood in the snow, wearing a plain silver fur cape, her hands holding a sigh of relief, her eyes looking a little nervously at the lobby of so many people. Humans seem a little strange to her, the elves are reluctant to get together so many people, and the elves value a spiritual attachment to the definition of a friend, which is somewhat apathetic to humans due to the long time.

But she's not here for the first time. She's here to help Charles, the Lord's servant. Everyone else in the bar saw the little Silver Elf princess and made a clear path, remembering that for the first time someone had twisted her, and almost made the little girl with the pointy ear blush.

As a result, rumours spread that Lord Lords loved his shy second fiancée. When she thought about it, Metissa couldn't help staring at Roman.

“Methisa, do you want some wine? ”

“No!”

“Fruit wine? ”

“No!”

“Shall I give you a glass of honey? ”

“No!”

Metissa knew Romain didn't even drink herself, and she was holding a glass of barley purely because it was warm. And the guy was even so stingy that he never wanted to go for another drink, and when it got cold, he reheated it, and if he could, she would definitely go on the next day. But it was such a stingy guy who might be able to arrange all the income from the Territory just in order, and Metissa herself felt a headache when she saw that pile of gold and silver currencies that meant nothing to her.

The territory is gradually on track, and coins from the silver mine continue to be channelled to Roman, and the businesswoman distributes them to the refugees. Of course, this is not a charitable event, and the result is that for the first time in nearly half a century, the territory of Cold Cedars has opened up vast amounts of wasteland in the forests north of the Gris River, and the seeds of winter wheat have been sown, falling asleep under the accumulation of snow, waiting for the ice and snow to melt, and the soil will break out at any moment.

Charles and the master craftsmen were discussing receiving more war refugees from the North, and the construction of roads into the Black Forest was progressing slowly, with the population of the Cold Cedar Collar small, and even the inhabitants who had moved to Port Gris and Fort Mince were far from meeting their needs. Don't say that the White Lion Legion's army is not there, even the workers who built the town of Odem, the dwarf of Ruwen, can't draw half a dozen points.

And food is the foundation of the plan, but the businesswoman showed more maturity and calm in the matter than anyone could have expected - as Charles put it, she was a natural gift that sparkled in the field of cargo, a natural leadership style that made her feel compelled and organized.

Food from Ambesseur has been shipped here, but Roman did not distribute them directly. Instead, it was handed over to the merchants, who recovered the money that had been released before, and years later, the food market was re-established in Cold Cedar City in the late winter of the year - since the short-sighted Groudin had taken it all into his own hands.

Roman had already begun to think about relaxing the pay for the next job offer, and Brando needed more people, and she was going to do that. The food problem was not at all a problem in her view, as long as the gold of the cedar collar was sparkling, the merchants of Ambethel would flock like sharks smelling blood. In fact, now that they have arrived, the first merchant fleet is not large, but the food and necessities are being unloaded in Port Gris. It's okay, it's gonna get more and more.

Gold attracts not only businessmen, but also fugitives from other territories. The delicious taste of free-flowing currency is sweeter than the cake, which my aunt said, the businesswoman is very certain.

She closed the report that Metisa had forwarded to Charles and glanced at him and said, "Where's Brando, Metisa? ”

“Lord, he hasn't returned yet. ”

“I'll talk to him then. ”

“No.” Metissa refused immediately, and it wasn't the first time Roman had used her as a microphone, she explained immediately, "Lord, since entering the rings of the wind, my contact with him seems to have been cut off. ”

“Ah-” Roman sighed a long, disappointing tone: “Is there anything else the Charlie guy can do? ”

“Well, he just wants to know what you're planning on spending so much money hiring adventurers to do some weird tasks.” The Silver Fairy Princess glanced at the deerskin on the table and wondered if the guy was just for fun. But such thoughts are only due to the sincerity of the businesswoman, who, as Fairy Princess Metisa, has a very faint view of property. If it were Sy or more serious Freya, she would probably have to stare at this young lady with suspicion.

“Ah, Roman was about to say that," Miss Merchant showed a surprise: “There are no more herds in the forest, do you know why, Metisa? ”

As an Elf royal from the days of Saints' War, cultivated by Commander Silver Elf and with extensive war experience, Metissa's face became serious as soon as she heard Roman.

Animals in the forest do not disappear for no reason at all.

This illustrates only one problem, and action has begun to be taken across the street. She couldn't help but look at Roman and realize he was listening, "What else do you know, Roman? ”

“A number of adventurers have mentioned the recent inflexibility of nearby deaths, and I think it was Butch the bad guys who arrived. Brando said they were around here somewhere, right? ”

Madara--

… (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to vote on recommendations, monthly tickets (qidian.com), and your support is my biggest motivation.)