Chapter 176 Paying only half the magic tax? Heading to human territory...
After dinner, Sissis was taken to rest. Guided by the administrator, he entered a teleportation array. After a brief period of dizziness, a long corridor decorated with flowers appeared before him. He was somewhat surprised and asked, "Can I stay overnight in the Flower Castle?"
The clerk nodded gently: "This is a room reserved specifically for guests. Please rest assured."
After Shuxin designated it as the activity center, Flower Castle underwent a major renovation. In addition, the Tree of Life itself grew taller and taller, so Flower Castle has now been expanded to ten floors, with the previous five floors all moved upstairs.
The current floors from one to five are: first floor reception hall, second floor conference room, third floor activity room, fourth floor guest bedroom, fifth floor guest dining room, then the sixth floor private dining room, seventh floor private conference room, eighth floor administrative staff residence, ninth floor tax officer residence, and tenth floor flower fairy residence.
Sissis was then led to a guest room on the fourth floor.
After thanking the officer, Sissis flew into the room, somewhat bewildered. He touched the long blanket draped over the bed: "This is... a fluffy flower?"
The Land of Sin was nothing like he had imagined! Even the nobles in the royal city probably didn't live as well as the commoners in the Land of Sin. Was all this because of the Flower Fairy's rule? His hometown was also a direct territory of the royal family. If that person… He shook his head, Sissis stopped thinking about it. His Majesty the King's choice was the best choice for all the flower fairies.
A cool, magical tree leaf lay on the wooden bed, the pillow filled with fluffy flowers was soft and fluffy, and the long blanket woven from fluffy flowers was soft and cozy. Sissis lay down on the bed, and a cool breeze brought a faint floral fragrance into the room through the open window. She couldn't tell what kind of flower it was, and after traveling all day, she was very tired and fell into a deep sleep without realizing it.
After enjoying the same delicious breakfast the next day, Sissis, led by the tax collector, went to the conference room again. The radiant Flower Fairy was still sitting at the conference table as she had the day before. After greeting him with "Good morning," she began:
"After careful consideration, I believe that doubling the magic tax is still too much for the Land of Sin. However, I have some complicated matters to attend to and cannot leave for the time being. In addition, the magic situation in the Land of Sin has only recently improved. Therefore, we can only provide half of the original magic tax to His Majesty the King. Please convey our apologies to His Majesty the King."
The flower fairy's gentle, smiling voice was like a bolt from the blue to Sissis, leaving him almost speechless.
Sissis was already mentally prepared for the double magic tax to be rejected, but he didn't expect the princess to also reject his choice to return to the royal city. Not only that, the Land of Sin was only willing to pay half of the magic tax. How was he supposed to explain this?!
...Should he forcibly take the Flower Fairy back to the royal city? Sissis fell silent. Just as he was about to reach for his magic wand, an immense pressure suddenly descended, almost immobilizing him. It was then that Sissis noticed a snow-white lamb lying in the Flower Fairy's arms. The lamb's round, dark eyes were now staring coldly at him, full of warning.
This is also a demon! Can even a flower fairy be bewitched by a demon?!
However, Sissis could sense that the magical fluctuations emanating from the flower fairy not far ahead were still pure and peaceful. If she were truly influenced or even controlled by a demon, her magical fluctuations would definitely be corrupted, and he couldn't possibly fail to detect it!
Therefore, the Flower Fairy was clear-headed and rational, but she still made this decision: she did not support His Majesty the King's choice, or perhaps it wouldn't be wrong to say that she opposed His Majesty the King's choice.
He couldn't change the mind of the flower fairy in front of him, especially since he had personally witnessed the earth-shaking changes that had taken place in the Land of Sin—the once incredibly barren Land of Sin had become rich and abundant, and many flower fairies had even become nearly the same size as the flower fairy, and the magical fluctuations they emitted were also very powerful. Sissis could hardly deceive himself; the facts were right in front of him, and he couldn't say that the path this flower fairy was on was wrong.
Finally, Sissis lowered her eyes: "As you command, Your Highness."
Only the Flower Fairy and the little lamb on her lap remained in the meeting room.
"Xi, do you have any way to obtain Sissis's memories without harming him?" Shu Xin suddenly asked.
Sissis, no, not just Sissis, all the patrolmen must know what the king is doing. They support the king's actions, which is why they patrol for him, not only collecting magic taxes for him but also willing to forcibly take people for him. Even if they are rejected, treated coldly, and hated, even if their lives are in danger, they will still do things for the king. They must believe that what the king is doing is right and beneficial to the flower fairies—but none of the things the king is doing right now seem good.
Xi hesitated, "Without damaging the soul, the memories that can be extracted are only recent ones..."
"Then let's forget about it," Shu Xin said, stroking the lamb's soft fur. "It's not that important."
The important thing is what she wants to do. Shu Xin picked up the little lamb and said, "Xi, you can teleport demons over long distances, right? Can you teleport elves? Would it be convenient to take the demons and elves to the human realm and help me find the body and soul fragments of the riverside elves?"
The little lamb wagged its tail: "It's convenient, but I won't work for free. Have you thought about what kind of reward you'll give me, my dear master?"
Shu Xin: "...Here, here, here, you can have whatever you want, okay!"
Before the harvest month arrived, Xi led her disguised caravan on another journey.
Those who left with the group were all river elves who had regained their normal size. Some of them were former members of the Golden Cloak Caravan, while others were servants of the Flower Castle. Ananka, the captain of the Golden Cloak Caravan, and Pepete, who had the talent of illusion magic, were among them.
Ananna, Lilia, and Memeline stood with the other flower fairies who had come to see them off, waving goodbye as the caravan departed into the distance.
"be safe!"
"Come back safely!"
"The goddess of flowers is with you!"
In preparation for the Harvest Month, Xi didn't take too many demons with her on this trip. Of her three subordinates, she only took Bluehorn and Mountain. Blackfoot said he was going to pursue a partner and stayed behind. Bluehorn and Mountain were curious and asked him who his sweetheart was, but Blackfoot kept it a secret. Xi seemed to know something, but Bluehorn and Mountain didn't dare to ask. So, until they left the Land of Sin, they still didn't know who Blackfoot was going to pursue.
Looking enviously at the riverside elves who were having a lively send-off for their relatives and friends, Shan couldn't help but say, "How wonderful! Why didn't anyone come to see us off?"
Bluehorn ignored him. The river elves who came to see him off were either parents, siblings, wives, husbands, or children. How could a hybrid demon have parents, siblings, wives, husbands, or children? He couldn't even dream of such a thing.
"Let's go." Blue Horn took the lead and walked towards the spatial rift opened by the stream.
This time, Xi led the caravan directly to the city lord's mansion, which they had visited before. The sudden appearance of a group of people in the courtyard startled the servants who were walking around. The sharp-eyed male servant immediately noticed that the leader was a handsome young nobleman with short, curly blond hair, and behind him was a tall and strong female mercenary.
This striking feature instantly alerted the male servant. He had been recruited after the new city lord took office, but he had heard about the "magic riot" that had previously occurred at the city lord's mansion from a distant cousin.
It was called a magical riot, but this was just a pretext to appease the public. What actually happened was horrific. A caravan led by an underage nobleman entered the city lord's mansion, which was hosting a banquet, under the pretext of offering a rare and precious two-headed demon wolf. They brutally murdered the city lord and captured all the mages in the city. The respected white-robed mages stood up for the safety of the other mages and were taken away by that terrible mercenary caravan, never to return.
He took off running, eager to inform the city lord and the magician!
The magician in blue robes and the city lord holding a scroll were having afternoon tea in the garden. They were probably discussing something when the male servant rushed over in a panic and saw that the tea in the two ladies' hands had gone cold.
Upon hearing footsteps, the mage waved his staff and dispelled the silencing barrier. The city lord also looked over sternly, and the servant hurriedly told him everything he had seen and guessed.
The city lord praised his quick wit and summoned the steward to give him a raise. Under the protection of the magician, he went to the courtyard.
As the male servant followed the steward out of the garden, he saw several other servants also coming over to report to the city lord. He puffed out his chest smugly, thinking how lucky he was to have been the fastest runner!
Pepe looked left and right, very curious about the human world. Ananka waited patiently for a while before asking the blue-horned person in front of her, "What are we going to do next?"
Bluehorn, who was yawning with his arms crossed, replied upon hearing the voice, "I'm not going to do anything, I'll just wait here."
Before Ananka could say anything, Shan asked curiously, "Why are we waiting here? Aren't we here to capture human mages?"
Bluehorn couldn't help but roll his eyes: "Don't you think this place looks familiar? We've been here before, we've already captured a magician here!"
The newly appointed city lord had just arrived when she heard the woman/mercenary's rather pleasant yet loud voice. However, the content of her words made her lips twitch—"You know this place has already been used to capture mages once, right? Why are you here again?!"
"Good afternoon, Grand Duke Flower." The blond young master, dressed in a knight's uniform and looking quite respectable, greeted the new city lord lazily. "You may call me Belial if it is convenient, or you may call me whatever you want."
"...Good afternoon, Belial," Grand Duchess Flower greeted him calmly, then her gaze swept behind the young nobleman who called himself Belial. "If it's convenient for you, could you tell me if this is the Belial I know as the Demon King Belial? If not, I'll just assume Belial is that guy."
Under the cover of illusion magic, the demons and elves behind Xi looked like ordinary human beings. Apart from being slightly more outstanding in appearance and physique, and all of them being young and strong, there was nothing particularly special about them. This was easily accepted after seeing their exquisitely crafted knightly uniforms. After all, regardless of which church's knightly order they belonged to, as long as they went out, they would all display the prestige of their own god, so it was normal for them to look handsome and beautiful.
Furthermore, the illusion magic that Peppert used was high-level magic. Only mages of the same or higher rank could see through the disguise of this group at a glance. The human woman in front of her was not a mage. Although the magical energy fluctuations emanating from her body were very stable, they were far from being able to see through high-level illusion magic with the naked eye. On the other hand, the magical energy fluctuations of the human mage who was a step behind her were quite strong, and he was obviously a high-ranking mage.
The human woman, whose fine lines at the corners of her eyes seemed to hold the wisdom of time, clearly trusted the magician behind her, which is why she asked so frankly.
Xi hadn't expected their luck to be so bad. Since all the mages in the royal city had already been searched, he felt safe to bring his men and move over directly. Who would have thought that they would run into a high-level mage as soon as they landed? Aren't these mages supposed to be extremely afraid of death? Why would they run into this obviously strange city?
To the high-level human mages who could see through illusions, the true appearances of the demons and elves were naturally exposed. At this moment, Xi was very glad that Shu Xin had considered things very thoroughly and made two preparations in advance. The demons only used Peppert's illusion magic to disguise themselves, while the river elves had another layer of disguise provided by their magic cloaks under this layer of illusion. The disguise provided by the Tree of Life was so good that even a demigod could not see through it!
Therefore, in the eyes of human mages, the knights behind Xi are a group of demons and monsters who have brazenly appeared on human territory.
Thinking of this, Xi Tan nodded frankly: "Yes, it's Belial of Sloth from the Seven Deadly Sins. But I'm not the Demon King. I'm just one of his insignificant offspring who happened to inherit some tricks for crossing spatial barriers. The fallen souls of humans are really delicious, so I thought I'd share these little desserts with my friends. Don't worry, we'll leave after we finish eating."
Grand Duke Flower and the blue-robed mage behind her were clearly not so easygoing; the expressions on the two humans' faces were quite complex.
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Author's Note: Here's a bonus of 4,000 words!
For the explanation of the mage ranks, I directly quoted the explanation from another article within the same world view system, as follows:
Theoretically speaking, magic academies classify magicians into the following ranks: Magic Apprentice, Junior Magician, Intermediate Magician, Archmage, High Archmage, and Saint Magician.
Clearly, magic apprentices are in the first tier; novice and intermediate magicians are in the second tier; archmages, grandmasters, and great archmages are in the third tier; and magic saints are in the fourth and highest tier.
However, in daily life, apart from magic apprentices, everyone from novice magicians to archmages can be called a magician. And because there are novice and intermediate magicians, mages are often called advanced magicians.
If Liat were to tell adventurers or alchemists that she was a mage, they would probably have to think about it for a while. But if Liat were to say that she was a high-level mage, they would immediately realize which level she belonged to.
The situations of Archmages and Grand Archmages are not much different. In real life, Archmages are often called Great Mages, while Grand Archmages are called Forbidden Spell Mages, and Sages are directly revered as Demigods.
A magician who would be celebrated by bards would at least be a great magician. If Liat knew that Doris regarded her as a great magician, she would be flattered.
In Liat's understanding, if a magic apprentice is a primary school student, then a junior magician is a middle school student, an intermediate magician is a high school student, an advanced magician is a university student, but a grand magician is not a graduate student, but a university professor. Forbidden spell magicians are academicians, and as for magic saints, they are practically the founders of the discipline!
Ahhhhhh! I put it in my drafts folder but forgot to set a timer, so it hasn't been published yet! [Crawling around on the floor]
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