The World of Masks

Since then, the ascent has been rarely attacked by monsters and wild animals. Fortunately, there were only one or two monsters. The weakened mercenaries there were worse off than the first Cadillac because they died early in the battle. As a result, the Merchant Guild was able to reach the wall of the northern city, the final destination, without further casualties.

"The walls of Marlahan."

The leader mutters emotionally. Others sighed in relief and glanced at the huge wall with happy eyes. The mercenaries, as well as the merchants, servants and slaves, rejoiced that their journey had ended safely. Four mercenaries are dead, but there's no damage to the merchant group. The ascent was clearly successful.

Jack also stared at the wall that was erected in front of him. A massive wall situated on a plain overlooking them by chance. Marlahan. That was the name of this city. Blessed with Berted's blessing, Blau was a commercially centered megacity whose seafood spread north in the holy neutral city of Blau. At the gate, there were long lines of people who wanted to enter the city, and those who left the gate were constantly continuing. The sights alone boasted enormous spectacles that would not be left behind by the sacred neutral city Jack had seen. The only difference was that Marlahan looked desolate, unlike the sacred neutral city where the alpine vegetation was full of the energy of life. Alongside Marlahan, enormous fields were unfolding like a sacred neutral city. However, unlike the crops in the holy neutral city, the color seemed dull and powerless.

"What are you looking at?"

Jack turns his head to feel the gentle tapping of his shoulder. It was Brills. After Jack saved his life, he changed his attitude 180 degrees. I still have a bad tone, but at least I don't have any malice mixed into it. No, he took good care of Jack with tools and tools.

"The fields in the Holy Neutral City and the fields in the city seem a little different."

"It's not like it was different, it's actually different."

With the speed of the wheels rolling, Jack and Brills walk slowly. The wall in front of you and the group surrounded by the procession of people coming and going is completely relaxed. However, leaders and representatives of merchants did not say much. This was a safe place. At least it didn't deserve to be ambushed.

"The Holy Neutral City is the place where God's blessings come directly. So things like soil and life are qualitatively different from other places. Besides, Jack, you used to be a blouse, right? Worshiping the god of agriculture and abundance, Berted, among many holy neutral cities. The Holy Neutral City, on average, is very rich and pleasant to live in, but it also varies subtly depending on the nature of the gods the city serves. Blau has tremendous benefits and privileges in crop cultivation, since he is a holy neutral city of Berted. It's no exaggeration that the crops there are the best on the entire continent."

The group slowly stops. I arrived at the end of a long line standing in front of the gate. At the far gate, several young men are busy moving. Guards of this city. The guards have been diligently examining the identity checks and the merchandise of the traffickers and arranging their ranks in a chaotic fashion. A guard shouts a whale to the ears of Jack. There was little compassion for the guards running around in the hot sun.

"Come here for a second."

Jack, looking at the guards from afar with his poor eyes, is drawn to the edge of the road by the hands of Brills. On the side of the road, a vast field was spread out. Brills points fingers at the crops planted in the field.

"Look at me. How many grains are there?"

Jack narrows his eyes and examines the grains on the crops. All of a sudden, there were only three to four grains of wheat in the crop.

"Really, how long is it going to take?"

The crops I saw in the Holy Neutral City were not like this. Even though it looked the same, the grains in it seemed to be more than 400. However, the grains of the fields around Marlahan were miserable compared to those of the holy neutral city.

"It's the difference between a land occupied by the Demon King and a land blessed by God. At least there's a lot of this up north. If you go further north, the output drops to about 1.5 grains per person."

Then Jack could clearly recognize the difference between the two lands. If the land of the Holy Neutral City was a youth full of life force, the land here was barely breathing.

"Once you've swept through something like a pest or a flood or a drought, there's a mass casualty. Of course, this is a city, so it's a little less, but sometimes the whole village gets wiped out. The North has truly become a land cursed by its Demon King. The leader doesn't want you down south for nothing."

After finishing the description, Brills taps Jack on the shoulder again and returns to where the group was. Jack turns and walks toward the group, rather than turning away from the state of the field for a moment.

An hour passes by the noisy gates, and the group's faces are covered in dark relief. After seeing the city, the snail crawls down a slow, narrowing line like hell to those who want to end this journey quickly. I didn't know that only the beast carrying the cart drool and chew the cud, but other people wanted to get out of this gate as soon as possible. It was the same with Jack. Even Jack, who patiently waited to see if he had pasted the reality rush hour as it is. Usually I waited patiently for this amount of waiting, but now I just wanted to rest for an hour. I had to rush into it.

The group is barely able to get inside Marlahan after all the tests have been done on the grumpy guards while checking the crowd. There was an explosion of cool emotion on people's faces. The group makes swift strides, even though it's only a few steps away from the gates. About half an hour on foot. It was in front of an inn that the people who were walking through the unpacked dirt road arrived. It was an inn with a large warehouse next to the building. A representative of the merchant who entered the inn came out of the building when he was resting in a barn that seemed to be used for loading wagons or wagons.

"Hey, Krard! Get everything to the storeroom! And get the slaves some food and water for the Stowaways!"

The merchants move diligently, fearful of the delegate's words falling. I ordered the servants and slaves to unpack and started moving the goods inside. And the beasts who had been forcefully pulling the cart, also called stealing, began to take care of them. The mercenaries stare at him from a distance. Their work is done. Now it was a matter of getting paid by the representative and scattering it on his own. The representative approached the leader first. Then he gave out a heavy package even though he saw it.

"I owe you one. This is the quest payment you promised."

The leader received the package from the representative and began checking in. While it might seem a bit unpleasant, the representative's expression did not change much. It was convenient for the delegates to check in front of their eyes because they were pretending to be pretentious and did not check the money properly, but often there were problems that occurred later. Moreover, there were eyes of mercenaries, merchants, servants, and slaves around here, so it was fine to assume that nothing would happen later if I just checked properly here.

"That's right. I got the money you promised me."

The leader held the representative's hand firmly and waved a few times.

"You did a great job. I heard you're heading south again, but I won't be seeing you for a while."

"Haha. I sense immaturity in this journey. At least I'm not coming up until I get to Class B."

After a few more words, the delegates and leaders let go of their hands and return to the place their group was waiting for. Both of them were busy having a nonnutritious conversation there.

When the leader returns, the mercenaries feel excited. You will finally be paid for what you have suffered. The leader lays his heavy sack on the ground. A circle of mercenaries surrounds the leader. The leader looks around. Like baby birds waiting for food, the appearance of mercenaries made the laughter leak out. However, their ugly appearance was never like that of a baby bird.

"You bastards! You ever get a commission or two? You're gonna have to line up and give it to me. Line up in front of me right now!"

As the frowning and shouting leader looks, the mercenaries quickly line up in front of the leader. There was a slight disagreement that he wanted to stand up first, but he impressed the leader at once.

Jack slowly lines up behind you. In the beginning, the quest cost was fixed, so it wasn't that you couldn't wait in line. You didn't want to argue with the other mercenaries for even a second. He was also a traveler and less desperate for money than others. In the last words, there is Bibil Hill, which is reality, but these teeth are reality. It would have been programmed that way.

The mercenaries who received their share in turn left in a joyful manner. I hid a bag of money in my little pocket with a big smile on its ugly face and hid it in my gut in case it was taken away from someone else. As the number of mercenaries disappearing from one or two's sight increases, the number of mercenaries standing in front of Jack decreases. Finally, the mercenary in front of him disappears, and finally Jack's turn returns.

"Ah! It's you."

The leader swings in his pocket. Shortly after, the leader's hands were touched with a small bundle. Reaching out your right hand and placing it in front of you, the leader places a small package in Jack's hands. I felt better about my heavier senses than I thought.

"Well done. You've done more than I expected, so I'm glad you made it." "

The leader really meant it. If Jack was even like the other two Class F mercenaries, how many more people would have died. Jack's skills as a leader were a delight.

"Yes. Do you intend to go south, as I said?" If you want, come with me. I can trust what you're capable of. "

As Jack, it was a tempting thing to say. Otherwise, Jack was planning on going south. Maybe playing solo around here is literally suicidal. If you hunt around here, all you have to do is play in a team, and Jack has no intention of hanging out with any other unbelievable players. Moreover, if you travel with a leader, you can learn some mercenary know-how. But Jack refused.

"I'm thinking about heading south, but I'm going to explore the city first. It might help us come back later. Maybe it's too late for me to leave."

"Really? Then there's nothing we can do."

The leader no longer recommended it. Jack shakes his hand with the leader and walks out of the castle. There was a hand on Jack's shoulder.

"Hey, Jack. You want to go get that drink you promised?"

Having his arm around his shoulder, Jack walked along Brills with a smiling smile, subtly distorting his evil face.