Chapter 88
It was too early to consider these things now. After leaving Rose Manor, Veris and the dragon set off again towards the Lortheran army.
Passing through a large city, Veris sold his mule and bought a decent-looking horse instead.
The dragon still walks.
It was bored and wanted to ask Veris if he was bored too. But when it looked up, it found Veris looking at a stack of documents and then pulling out a pen from somewhere to circle some marks on them.
After circling and marking, annotations were added. Once a document was processed, it was casually tossed aside. Before the paper even hit the ground, a magic circle appeared out of thin air, magical elements rippled outwards, and the document was teleported away.
dragon:"……"
It couldn't believe it: "Weren't we on a trip? Why do you still have to go to work?"
Veris didn't even look at it, and simply said, "If you're bored, I can give you something good to play with."
The dragon's eyes lit up, and it nodded repeatedly: "I want to play!"
Then Veris pulled a brand-new harp from a floating magic circle. In an instant, the dragon remembered that eerie night. It shrank its neck and followed Veris beside it, with a large group of zombie-like humans in front of it.
It swallowed hard and said, "Well, well, forget it..."
Veris glanced at it: "You think you can unleash the same power as me?"
Generally speaking, a dragon would be angry to hear such contemptuous words, but this time, for the first time, it just smiled, took the zither, held it awkwardly, plucked a few notes with its fingers, and muttered to itself.
Veris then asked if it could play. The dragon fiddled with the harp a few times and said, "It's a little different from the previous style, but the way to play these harps is similar. You should be able to figure it out in a little while."
Yes, the dragon can play the harp. Long ago, it was the only one in the group who could play an instrument. Because it lived a long time, the dragon often found ways to amuse itself. There weren't many forms of entertainment back then. Bards have survived to this day. Even hundreds of years ago, bards could make a living anywhere because they could entertain the masses.
As Veris listened to the music gradually becoming more fluid, he suddenly turned his head and asked, "Have you ever dealt with bards?"
Long hummed: "Of course I have. I even worked there for a while before."
Veris exclaimed in surprise, "How come I've never heard you mention this before?"
Dragon: "That was a long, long time ago. I guess Lortheran's grandfather wasn't even born yet, and I hadn't been in this position for very long either."
It fell into memories, and its movements as it plucked the strings slowed down. After a while, it continued, "I remember a city lord was arresting people on the street to perform. The human was terrified, so I volunteered to go."
"I forgot what the city lord looked like. Anyway, those humans were malicious. I found them disgusting, so I picked up a drum and beat them to death."
At this point, it burst into laughter: "You want to steal my jewels, huh!"
It's roughly the story of a city lord who forced a street bard to perform. The bard saw that the dragon was young and handsome, and had evil intentions, intending to do something wrong. In the end, the bard killed the dragon by hitting it with a drum held in one hand.
Veris laughed too. He thought of the dragon performing in the hall, and if anyone displeased it, the guy would just grab his violin and smash it into their head, leaving them bleeding profusely.
After laughing, he made a few more apologies, as if trying to cover up his mistake.
Long snorted, but still started fiddling with the zither. The zither now had many more features than before.
It took the man and the dragon two more days to get close to Lor'theran's army.
The army was resting in the capital city of Salem at this time, and it was said that the Duke of Salem held a grand banquet to welcome Earl Reed and his officers. As they went further north, the army inevitably experienced some cases of acclimatization problems, but these could be treated by the army doctors.
Salem's main city was much more bustling than other places. The city gates were open, and people were coming and going. Veris and the dragon were among them. Their clothes were not particularly eye-catching, but their two unique faces still attracted a lot of attention.
Upon entering the city and stepping onto the main street, the dragon seemed to sense something and tilted its head.
Veris glanced at it without saying a word.
Someone had their eye on them, but it was unclear whether they were ordinary thieves or connected to the Duke of Salem. After all, Veris and the dragon hadn't bothered to hide their identities while clearing the border villages, so those people must have known their features.
This main city, located in the northern part of the continent, has a total of fifteen streets. The place where they were standing was the main street. If they continued forward from here until they reached the north of the city, they would reach the Duke of Salem's mansion.
Veris and the dragon entered through the west gate of the city.
I heard that the army is stationed in the south of the city.
The dragon was still leading the way. They didn't linger on the main street for long. Soon, the dragon led him into another street, which was much less crowded than the main street. There were many vendors hawking their wares on both sides of the road. Veris looked around and saw that the vendors were selling all sorts of things: monster pelts, ores from the mountains, herbs from the herb garden, and many daily necessities.
This place is much the same as other cities on the continent of Icarus.
Those following them were also very cautious, it was unclear whether they were monitoring them or hadn't found an opportunity, since Veris and the dragon had been blending into the crowd the whole time.
But soon, the two figures quickened their pace, startling the pursuers. By the time they caught up, they saw the two figures enter Salem Cathedral.
Damn it! He cursed under his breath, but still found a spot near the church to lie in wait.
The location he chose was inconspicuous, a dark alleyway where, looking out of the alley, one could see the church entrance.
The man breathed a sigh of relief and was about to notify his companions when a voice suddenly rang out from the alley: "Who are you people?"
"What?!" The man was shocked and turned around abruptly, only to see a young man looking him up and down. It was the one with the long braid among the two.
"Ha, I was just passing by." The man quickly regained his composure, smiled, and turned to leave.
However, the dragon wouldn't listen to him and said slowly, "If you dare to come out, I'll kill you."
The man's eyes sharpened, but he still stopped and stared coldly at the dragon: "This is Salem, the main city. Do you think it's some kind of chaotic place?"
"Does your church really intend to provoke the monarchy like this?!"
The dragon's smile gradually faded as it looked at the man; this human seemed to know quite a bit.
It also sneered: "Since you know we are from the Church, what you have done has naturally been presented to the royal palace and His Majesty the King's table."
The man's face paled instantly, and then he heard Long say, "Royal power? What is royal power? What kind of royal power do you have? Are you lying in ambush with hundreds of mercenaries on the border, intending to sabotage the army, or are you blocking me, the church's vanguard?"
These words were spoken by Veris, who said that their current status was that of the vanguard of the Grand Papacy.
The man's face was extremely grim. Staring at the dragon, he finally made up his mind.
Several figures suddenly appeared in front of and behind the alley, blocking the dragon's path.
Long raised an eyebrow: "There's a church nearby. You guys are really brave."
The man said coldly, "A church? Don't forget, this is Salem, the capital city. Salem is the Duke's fiefdom!"
Long smiled enigmatically: "The Duke of Salem? Isn't he also a vassal of His Majesty the King?"
"you!"
Suddenly, a shadow fell overhead. The dragon's eyes flashed, and it took a few steps back. The lone figure descending from the sky was not human, but rather a deluge of falling dust.
The powder, capable of killing an eighth-tier magical beast, fell densely from the sky, and upon hitting the ground, it was probably ankle-deep.
The dragon's rank was above the ninth level, but it was still considered a magical beast. At first, it didn't take it seriously, but when it fanned the powder in front of it, it choked.
But soon, it sensed something was wrong; its vision began to blur.
The world spun around it, and the dragon gritted its teeth, never expecting to be ambushed by these humans. Before collapsing, it didn't care whether it could inhale the powder or not, and opened its mouth to unleash a burst of flame.
When these powders came into contact with a spark, they reacted rapidly.
Those who were blocking the way ahead and behind were unaware of what was happening when, the moment the flames appeared, a massive explosion occurred throughout the alley.
With a loud "boom," the people blocking the way were blown away. Fortunately, the houses on both sides were made of solid marble, and the explosion only shook them slightly, causing cracks to appear in the walls.
With just this kind of compression, the explosive power at both ends becomes exceptionally great.
Inside Salem Cathedral, Veris, who was confronting the cardinal in charge of the cathedral, also heard the huge boom. He frowned, and the cardinal quickly said, "Sir, why don't we go out and see what's going on?"
Veris asked for the church's major events of the last three years, but the cardinal couldn't produce them.
He sized up the cardinal, smiled, but the smile didn't reach his eyes; instead, it was chillingly cold.
Then he turned and walked out of the church. The cardinal watched his retreating figure, a cold sweat breaking out on his back. This person was also a cardinal; they were of the same rank. Since this person was a cardinal specially appointed by the Papacy, he had to bow and greet him.
Thinking of this, the cardinal's face twisted slightly, but he quickly caught up with Veris.
Upon exiting the church, the cardinal couldn't help but cry out in alarm when he saw the charred or still-sparkling human bodies lying across the alley.
People nearby rushed over to put out the fire.
With a cold expression, Veris strode over, ignoring the people on the ground, and continued walking towards the alley where the embers of the fire still lingered.
When he reached the alley entrance, he looked inside and his expression darkened even more. With a wave of his hand, he teleported away the dragon that had been blasted to a crisp.
The cardinal dared not approach, assuming that Veris had gone to check on the alleyway and then turned back. He cautiously asked, "What happened?"
Veris said casually, "These people wanted to kill my contracted beast. There were fifty pounds of powder inside that could kill an eighth-tier magical beast. It came into contact with an open flame and then exploded."
The cardinal, hearing these nonchalant and emotionless words, broke out in a cold sweat, a chill running from the soles of his feet all the way to the top of his head.
The man looked at him with a half-smile: "You'd better finish compiling the church's major events tonight, I'll be coming to see."
The young man pulled out a glove from somewhere, slowly put it on his right hand, and said, "Now, I should go to the Duke's mansion."
The cardinal shuddered, forcing himself to suppress his fear as he asked, "Sir, are you going somewhere?"
Veris put on his gloves and said calmly, "Naturally, he should be punished according to his crime."
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Author's Note: Dragon: I was careless and didn't dodge.
See you tomorrow! [kiss]
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