Chapter 115: The Rebirth of Misty Town

In the forest.

In order to catch up with the end of the banquet, the resurrected Long Xing Wanli ran all the way, but when he was about to reach the Misty Town, he suddenly stopped.

Hmm? Footprints?

Those were not ordinary human footprints. Judging from the shape and size, they were more like a subspecies similar to humans.

Long Xing Wanli quickly squatted down and searched on the ground for a while, and soon made a new discovery.

I saw a row of densely packed footprints on a piece of land not far away!

Judging from the huge number, these footprints were definitely not left by wild animals. They must be a group of at least two or three hundred people!

Not only that—

Judging from the traces of footprints stepping on each other, this group of unidentified guys should have come here first and then turned back.

Long Xing Wanli narrowed his eyes slightly.

"Has anyone been here?"

Out of curiosity, he did not return to the banquet, but followed the trail of footprints.

There was a thick gray fog all around, visibility was very low and nothing could be seen.

Long Xing Wanli followed the footprints for a long time, but found nothing.

Just when he began to wonder if he had been tricked by the dog planner, a cave suddenly appeared in front of him.

The cave is like a tomb mound inserted diagonally into the ground, and it is easy to miss it if you are not careful.

In fact, if he had not discovered it from the front, Long Xing Wanli estimated that he would have ignored it as a small mound of earth.

That series of dense footprints was hidden at the entrance of this cave!

Long Xing Wanli suddenly realized something, and then he felt ecstatic.

"This is--"

Entrance to the fifth floor!

And it seems to be a hidden entrance!

Instead of rushing in, Long Xing Wanli carefully returned along the same path he came from.

Obviously! This is not an area where one person can play alone!

He has to bring his stuff and more people!

…

On the other side, Tyrael, who was sitting at the banquet table, frowned slightly and looked towards the outside of the town.

"The breath of ogres... there are quite a lot of them, at least five or six hundred."

Of course he couldn't see that far, but the dry wooden cane leaning against him could see it.

That’s not all.

Behind the group of ogres, he also saw a small lizard following the ogres' footsteps, running all the way from outside the town wall to the nearest entrance to the fifth floor.

There was no doubt that they were the Demon King's subordinates.

It seems that everything is under the control of the adult in front of him...

Looking at Tyrael who suddenly raised his head with a look of awe, Luo Yan glanced at the official website and said casually.

"Those guys on the fifth floor?"

There is no news on the official website.

It seems that either his players didn't see it at all, or the ones who noticed the movement were the old Goubi players with the ID Longxingxx.

"Yeah." Tyrael nodded. "Normally they wouldn't come here... My guess is that they must have heard the noise here, so they wanted to come here to take advantage of it."

As for why he ran away, it is very simple. Most likely he found this bone difficult to chew.

Tyrael didn't like those guys.

Those ogres have huge appetites and are extremely cunning and untrustworthy.

When he convened the "Summit Meeting" before, he tried to unite the main forces of the first five layers of the maze to deal with the problem of lack of order, and those guys acted as troublemakers.

Not only that, they also attacked the messengers he sent to the lower levels of the maze.

Due to the existence of these ogres, the summit meeting failed to reach a substantive agreement and only reached a reluctant consensus on non-interference.

However, Tyrael could roughly guess why the ogres wanted to act as troublemakers.

Those guys are actually working for the warlords deep in the labyrinth, and the latter are not willing to see a monolithic upper level of the labyrinth.

The first five layers can maintain chaos and serve as a buffer zone for the deeper levels of the maze, which is best for those demons.

Looking at the expressionless Tyrael, Luo Yan could probably guess that the relationship between the Grey Wind Tribe and the ogres was not good, so he spoke.

"Can you tell me about their situation, including the fifth floor of the maze and the current ruler there?"

"Of course, Lord Demon King."

Tyrael nodded slightly and gave a brief report in a leisurely tone.

The fifth floor is an area known as the "Blood Arena".

The environment there is the exact opposite of the Misty Forest, it is a wasteland with sparse vegetation. In addition to the monsters commonly seen in the northern wasteland and the Wanren Mountains, the main people living there are ogres and some goblins who depend on them.

Goblins, like ratmen, can be found everywhere. Luo Yan was not surprised to see goblins on the fifth floor of the maze.

The only thing that puzzled him was why the ogres became the leaders of order there? As if seeing the Demon King's confusion, Tyrael continued.

"Reggie Dragun brought those guys in from the dimensional desert, saying that they had extensive experience fighting humans... but in reality, they have no advantages other than being able to eat."

Luo Yan: "Then they must be living in poverty now."

"Not necessarily," Sissi said nonchalantly, shaking the wine glass in her hand, "It is said that they have a complicated relationship with the warlords in the lower levels of the maze. Those guys are former subordinates of Reggie Dragun... You can think of them as a watchdog kept by the warlords in the deep levels of the maze."

"Indeed." Tyrael nodded and continued slowly, "From the fifth floor down, it is the core area of ​​the entire maze, which is mainly ruled by Reggie Dragun's former subordinates... We don't know the specific situation there."

Reggie Dragun's old subordinates...

Luo Yan fell into deep thought.

I guess it was those guys who secretly drew the teleportation array into the human settlement.

If that's the case, they might have their accomplices in Thunder City on the surface.

Let Jack investigate later.

Taking note of this matter silently, Luo Yan raised the wine glass in his hand and said with a smile.

"Let's put aside the matter in the depths of the maze. They will get the punishment they deserve, and the punishment has already begun. As for now, don't let those spoilsport rats affect our banquet."

"That's what I think, too, Lord Demon King." Sissi chuckled a few times, with a hint of intoxication on her slightly tipsy face. "Sissi thinks that those stupid guys are not as good as your little finger... You don't have to take them to heart. Since they like to fight among themselves, just let them kill each other."

Tyrael nodded, immediately expressing his approval of the Lord of Nightmare Land.

"I also agree with the cold approach. The Grey Wind Tribe needs to recuperate. We really can't afford a second full-scale war... Besides, there's really no need to waste our strength on our own people."

Luo Yan laughed and said.

"That makes sense. Instead of wasting time on those traitors, we should spend our time outside, expanding outward."

Tyrael was stunned.

"To, to expand outward?"

Didn't we agree not to expand outward? "We will conquer our opponents spiritually," Luo Yan said with a smile, "so that the humans on the surface can't leave us, become dependent on us... and even become us in the end."

After a pause, he continued.

"Speaking of which, I may need your help."

…

All the guests were having a good time, the cups and plates were in a mess, and there were drunk little demons and skeleton soldiers lying together.

The banquet has come to an end.

Due to the doctrine of not drinking alcohol, Charles and other members of the Knights did not drink much and therefore remained sober until the end of the banquet.

Looking at a group of drunkards, Charles cleared his throat and spoke.

"Are you going back with us, or are you staying here?"

Lying before him were human adventurers, hired guards from the Misty Town, and civilians who had escaped.

It goes without saying that adventurers must return to complete their quests first. As for the hired guards and civilians, many of them are here, and if they go to the surface, they can only seek refuge with relatives or find other jobs in the city.

Winter is coming soon and it will not be easy to find a job.

Moreover, considering the "tacit understanding" between the demon king's army and the future, he also hopes that some of these people will choose to stay and serve as a lubricant between the demons and the humans on the surface.

At least they had fought alongside monsters.

Hearing Charles' voice, many people lying on the ground were sobered up and crawled up from the ground.

"Stay here?"

"Misty Town?"

"Are you kidding me, staying with the monsters?"

Faced with the buzz of discussion, Charles pondered for a moment, and just as he was about to speak, he suddenly closed his mouth and turned his gaze to Alex standing beside him.

There are some things he shouldn't say.

Seeing the former looking at him, Alex immediately understood, so he walked forward and said.

"It's quite the opposite... The Demon King welcomes you to stay as... uh, as a testimony to the friendship between the residents of Thunder County and the Cemetery."

After hearing what Alex said, everyone looked at each other in surprise.

"Friendship?"

"You mean the battle just now?"

"Excuse me, we probably spent more time fighting than shaking hands..."

Suspicion was written on everyone's face.

Even though they believed that this demon king was different from the previous one, no one dared to gamble their lives on him.

"It is precisely because of this that the time of shaking hands is so precious and worth remembering."

Alex coughed, interrupting everyone's discussion and taking control of the topic back into his hands.

"Anyway... the demon king thought it would be a shame to destroy this town, so he planned to make it a 'safe zone'."

"Those who have businesses here can continue to do so, and those who don't... can continue to do what they did before. For example, if you are a shop owner, you can continue to run your shop. If you are a chef and your boss unfortunately passed away, you can now buy your boss's shop and continue to run it..."

"It doesn't matter if you don't have money. The Demon King can lend you some start-up capital to buy back those shops from him. The interest can be deducted from your taxes, and there is no tax or interest for the first three months. Someone at the town hall will be responsible for handling this business. Anyone interested can go there to learn more."

Luo Yan told him all these things.

And it wasn't just a verbal notification, related flyers were also posted at the door of the town hall and the four gates of Misty Town to replace Miranda's wanted warrant.

To be honest, after hearing these conditions, Alex was so surprised that his jaw almost dropped to the ground.

A loan without collateral, what's the difference between this and giving it away for free? !

What surprised him even more was that this was an idea that a demon could come up with?!

It seems that he really knows too little about hell.

Or, when the people on the surface knew nothing about the underground world, hell had already developed into something that none of them had ever imagined...

After hearing what Alex said, everyone at the scene started talking about it, and the surprise on their faces was no less than when he first heard the news.

Especially the waiters who were temporarily hired to help, all had surprised expressions on their faces.

"The Demon King...provides a loan? Is that true?"

"Devils still understand this?"

"Do they know what money is?"

"Perhaps it is precisely because they don't know that they came up with this idea of ​​giving away money for free... They really should learn from the moneylenders in the underground streets. Not everyone can do that. They have to be either a gang or a knight order. If they don't have the ability to collect debts, they will definitely lose everything!"

"Maybe they just don't care? Anyway, I've never heard of a demon needing money."

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This view was shared by many people. After all, no one had ever found money from the monsters in the maze.

Even if the little devil occasionally puts some money in the treasure chest, it is to lure adventurers into taking the bait.

Only a nouveau riche who has never seen money could do such a thing of throwing money around.

However, they did not hate such a demon king. After all, who would hate someone who gives out benefits? Many people with quick minds were ready to make a move.

"Dimilius, aren't you planning to open a store? Now you can go to the street and pick, there are empty windows everywhere, haha."

“Here?!” The short waiter swallowed and said nervously, “Are you crazy or am I crazy… I would rather open a shop in my hometown village.”

Although there will definitely be no customers, at least there is no danger to one's life.

Noticing some residents' concerns about safety, Alex, based on the principle of helping to the end, looked at the group of mercenary guards and adventurers.

"The same goes for you... If you want to find a job, you can continue to be a guard here. Since the Demon King said he won't invade here, I believe he will keep his promise, so the work here will be much easier than before. You don't need to be on guard against the movements of the Demon King's army all the time. It will be enough to maintain law and order in the town... and the salary will remain the same."

He didn't know how much these people's salaries were before, but the account books should be found in the branch of the Adventurer's Guild.

Considering that the devil could even come up with the idea of ​​"lending money to residents with his left pocket and buying back the shops with the money in his right pocket", he should not be stingy with this tiny bit of salary.

The hired guards standing on the street looked at each other, and then a bald middle-aged man stepped forward and raised his arm.

"I have a question... Who hired us? The Adventurer's Guild? Or... the Demon King?"

By the time he finished speaking, many of the adventurers and mercenaries present calmed down, and their originally excited expressions turned into nervousness again.

If you join the devil, you will go to hell.

Although they may not be very devout, they are at least believers of Saint Sith in name only.

Most people think it is not worth sacrificing their next life for a not-so-generous salary.

Looking at everyone who was in hesitation, Alex was also in a dilemma for a moment.

But at this moment, a sudden inspiration came to his mind and he thought of a good idea.

"Just think of it as working for me."

Looking at the people whose faces were filled with surprise, he continued in an affirmative tone.

"From now on——"

"The 'Brave Sword' mercenary group is established."

…

Alex's thoughts are not complicated.

Originally, he had planned to set up a mercenary group to do something big, and now there happened to be a need to maintain law and order in Misty Town.

Besides, these mercenaries had just been through life and death with him, and they had already established a good relationship of trust with each other. He might as well take this opportunity to raise the flag.

As for the question of whether or not he would go to hell after death... he didn't care about it as much as those mercenaries did.

First of all, he did not think that maintaining peace in a piece of land was a betrayal of Saint Sith. In fact, it was precisely to safeguard the interests of the people of Saint Sith.

Secondly, if all the demons from hell were as open-minded as the devil in front of him, while the angels beside Lord Saint Sith were intolerant of even a grain of sand in their eyes... then it would be hard to say which side was hell.

After the banquet, Alex first discussed with his two adventurer teammates, and then found Luo Yan to express his ideas.

In order to avoid Luo Yan's misunderstanding, he also expressed the concerns of the mercenaries, including issues of faith and stance.

"I asked the mercenaries, and they are unwilling to work for you, fearing that they will be reincarnated into hell after death. However, they said that if they were to obey my orders, they could pretend not to know who I was serving... In short, there are fifty-five people willing to stay, including me and my two teammates. I hope you don't mind my unauthorized decision."

"Why would I mind? You've helped me a lot," Luo Yan smiled and patted Alex's shoulder, "The Great Cemetery welcomes you to join us!"

Alex's expression was a little subtle when the Demon King patted his shoulder. He coughed lightly and said.

"Ahem... I have no intention of joining the Great Necropolis. Please forgive me. After all, I am a servant of Saint Sith."

Having said this, he paused for a moment and continued.

"I just think that it is meaningful to make the war between us become what you call a 'glorious war'... Even if Saint Sith knows my actions, he will definitely forgive my choice today, or even agree with me."

"I'm very happy. This shows that we have the same ideals... Okay, no need to explain further. I understand what you mean." Looking at Alex who wanted to explain, Luo Yan interrupted him with a laugh and continued, "Then...how about signing a six-month employment contract? For the next six months, I will pay you 3,300 Austrian silver coins as salary every month."

A mercenary group of 55 people is equivalent to 60 Austrian silver per person, which is about 6,000 Austrian bronze.

In Thunder City, where the per capita income is only more than 3,000 bronzes, this figure is already considered a high salary, and even some adventurers would be tempted.

Especially since they don't need to fight, they just need to maintain the law and order of Misty Town and catch some thieves...if any thief dares to steal things on the devil's territory.

As for how much Alex paid the mercenaries, Luo Yan didn't care. That was their own business.

He didn't even need them to expand their staff.

After all, letting mercenaries serve as local guards is only a stopgap measure, purely to balance the proportion of demons in the public security system.

If the guards were all demons, no adventurer would dare to rest here. And if no adventurer came here, it would be even less likely that there would be human guards, and the local business would become even more desolate... thus forming a vicious cycle.

Therefore, the existence of mercenaries is necessary, but they are also destined to be eliminated.

When the residents of Misty Town gradually get rid of the psychological barrier of "working for the devil", when they finally realize that everything they do is for themselves, and begin to take on more social responsibilities... he naturally won't need these mercenaries to fill the void.

Out of trust in Alex, Luo Yan opened the small treasury of the Misty Town Adventurer's Guild and directly advanced him one month's salary, allowing him to use the money to win over people's hearts.

If this man intends to still pay the mercenaries according to the monthly salary of 40 silver coins offered by the Adventurer's Guild, then this money will be enough for him to do many things besides paying salaries.

After sending Alex away, Luo Yan found Zerik, the chief of the gecko clan, and asked him to arrange for several monks to work in the town office as temporary clerks to register the real estate information of Misty Town and receive humans who were interested in staying in Misty Town.

It would definitely not be possible to leave this matter to the lizardmen alone. Their intelligence attributes were not high to begin with, so how could they compare to the cunning humans? So after explaining the tasks of the Palace Guardians, Luo Yan then asked Youyou to publish a server-wide announcement, recruiting some life professional players to help the Palace Guardians.

Especially introduce "business loans" to those who are capable.

Although it cost Luo Yan a lot of faith to make translation crystals for these players, this investment is definitely worth it in the long run.

Looking at the line in front of the town hall, he was full of confidence in the future of Misty Town.

There will come a day when this small town in the maze will become the most shining pearl on the northern shore of the Whirlpool Sea! Even if he can't do it.

Those professional life gamers will definitely do it for him.

"Lord Demon King, why did you suddenly become so generous? What happened?" Floating beside Luo Yan, Youyou asked curiously.

Luo Yan chuckled.

"What you said is true. Haven't I always been generous?"

Youyou: “Huh?”

The surprised voice made people feel a little uncomfortable, and Luo Yan glanced at the air beside him with dissatisfaction.

"Don't treat my ghost money as money. Believe it or not, everyone on this continent will need that stuff in the future."

"Believe me! How dare Youyou doubt you?" The voice in the fog was full of grievance. Youyou complained in a low voice, "Then do you and the guards also use ghost money to pay their salaries?"

Luo Yan smiled when he heard this, but did not answer the question directly.

"Youyou, have you ever fished?"

Youyou: "No...what's the matter?"

Luo Yan said with a smile.

“Experienced anglers often make a nest before casting their rod.”

Although he has never fished, it doesn't stop him from talking nonsense.

Youyou asked in confusion.

"Making a nest?"

"That's right! To put it simply, it's to throw some cheap bait into the pond, wait for the fish to come over, and then kill them with one swing of the rod... This method is much easier than waiting for the fish to bite."

As he said this, the Demon King, smiling, swung his club with great vigor - or rather, made a swing.

He was not fishing for fish, but for the humans on the surface.

And the small town in front of him at this moment was his fish pond! After strolling around, Luo Yan walked back from the town hall to the messy banquet scene.

The night elves and demons have returned to their lairs.

Charles and the knights of the Order of Campbell also left with the adventurers and residents who did not intend to stay.

At this moment, only the owner of "A Rest in the Greenery" and a group of employees were left here to clean up the mess.

Seeing the Demon King coming back, the burly innkeeper quickly put down his work and saluted with fear and trepidation.

"Greetings, Lord Demon..."

Not only the innkeeper, but also the male and female servants in aprons stopped what they were doing and saluted the Demon King.

"No need to be polite, get up."

Luo Yan nodded approvingly, motioned for everyone to stand up, then walked up to the innkeeper and patted him on the shoulder.

Feeling the hand tapping his shoulder, the innkeeper felt his heart beating so fast that it almost jumped out of his throat.

Fortunately, the Demon King did not reach out to take out his heart, but continued in an approving tone.

"I am very satisfied with today's banquet. The food is also delicious... I hope you can continue to run your business here."

After hearing the Demon King's promise, the heavy stone hanging in the innkeeper's heart finally fell.

His eyes were filled with excitement, and he even wanted to kowtow to the devil in front of him on the spot.

"Thank you, thank you, Demon King!"

"Hahaha, you're welcome!" Luo Yan said with a smile, "I only have one request for you, or you guys, and that is to treat all guests equally... no matter if they are humans, demons, or half-blood demons. If they do something wrong, contact the guards to handle it. Other than that, I don't want to hear rumors that you refuse guests."

"Please rest assured! Youlin Xiaolu has never rejected a guest." The innkeeper raised his right hand and swore solemnly, "I can do this to Saint Sith... No, the Devil... Uh..."

"Just swear to your heart, or to me."

Luo Yan interrupted the innkeeper's confused mind and spoke in a gentle tone without making things difficult for him.

"I hope you will be like this in the future... Go get busy."

I'm going to try to divide this book into volumes. I'll start the next volume tomorrow and I have to think about it carefully.

(End of this chapter)