Chapter 221 Dust Falling in the Mist

On the fourth level of the maze, in a small town deep in the jungle, a team of guards were patrolling the streets.

As it is shrouded in thick fog all year round, with only sporadic lights dotting the gloomy streets, over time this nameless town has acquired the name Misty Town.

However, since the new demon king arrived and occupied this place, everything has changed. Not only have the streets become much cleaner and tidier, but coal-fired street lamps have also been installed on both sides of the road.

As a result, this notoriously lawless area has become orderly.

Of course, the order here is only relative to the chaotic maze itself.

If we compare it with Thunder City, then this small town definitely cannot be compared with the former. After all, there are not even a few decent residents here. They are either undead and demons, or mercenaries and adventurers.

But the magic lies here, that two groups that are incompatible with each other can actually live in peace in this safe zone without interfering with each other.

Even if you look through the history of the maze, you won't find a single second of precedent for this kind of thing.

As the captain of the Misty Town Guard, Alex had thought about this question for a long time.

At first he attributed this to the power of the Demon King, but he soon realized that the new Demon King was not as powerful as the previous one, so it did not make sense to simply attribute this to his own personal power.

As for the devil's minions... although they have some surprising tricks, they are not decisively powerful.

After all, the sword of the Principality of Campbell is not bad. Throughout history, there has been no precedent of being able to defeat Hell whenever it invades the surface.

However, as time went on, he finally found an explanation that made sense to him.

Because people need such a place.

This may sound a bit unreasonable, but it also makes surprisingly sense.

Because of his noble birth, Alex received an education that included theology and history, so he knew much more than ordinary people.

Most peasants in Campbell Principality believe that the gods are something like the sun that has existed since the beginning of the world, but this is not the case.

If they had actually read the Book of the Holy Scriptures instead of just listening to the fragments relayed by the priest, they would have understood that the gods are beings that came into being as a result of the prayers of the people.

The gods of elements came into being because people in ancient times needed a deity to calm the chaotic spirits of themselves and their tribes.

Otherwise, if one person wants it to rain today and sunny tomorrow, and another person wants it vice versa, the weather will become unpredictable.

This is the history that happened in the First Age, engraved on stone murals.

Because people need gods, gods are born. In other words, gods are the choice of the people!

A long, long time ago, this was the source of the "legitimacy" of the Church of St. Sith, but today, a thousand years later, it is no longer important.

After all, the empire has already won the world, and mentioning those old events seems both redundant and annoying.

Alex could vaguely feel that there must be something in this world that could respond to people's wishes.

When people are looking forward to something, it will happen... although it will not come in the way people expect.

For example, right now, the people of the Principality of Campbell and the monsters in the maze need a place where they can coexist peacefully. As a result, this place has become the "bridgehead" for surface humans to invade the underground world.

This is the will of the devil.

It may not be the choice of everyone.

The patrolling guards passed through the street in front of the Adventurer's Guild, and the bustling crowd quickly attracted the attention of the guards, including Alex.

"There seem to be more and more people coming to Misty Town recently." One of the guards muttered quietly with a look of surprise on his face.

The slightly older guard next to him glanced at the crowd not far away and said casually.

"Maybe it's because winter is over. Adventurers weren't very active in winter in previous years."

When he was a mercenary, he had dealt with many adventurers. Since it would be very difficult to survive if injured in winter, most people would choose to live conservatively during this period, either staying in front of the fireplace in the tavern or going back to their hometown to visit their relatives.

Alex thought so at first, but another guard next to him said.

"...Not quite. Spring is the busy farming season, so there are more adventurers than in winter, but not this many. In previous years, it was at least summer before we saw so many people gathering at the door of the Adventurer's Guild."

This statement resonated with many guards. After all, many of them used to be in this line of work.

According to their understanding, most adventurers came from various rural towns in the continent of Oss.

After all, the citizens in the city could not stand the life on the edge of a knife, nor did they have the need to go out and explore. Only the children of tenant farmers who stayed in the countryside all year round would have the idea of ​​going out and exploring because they would go back to their rich uncles in the countryside every now and then.

The guards whispered among themselves, and Alex raised an eyebrow in curiosity.

The situation this year is indeed unusual.

In particular, he suddenly noticed that many of these adventurers were obviously inexperienced rookies.

Most of them were dressed in coarse linen clothes, and their faces were filled with fatigue and stupidity, like donkeys without their leather harnesses, carrying packages made of linen on their backs.

Not only are their attire different, some people are holding pitchforks that don't fit in with the maze, or weapons modified from hoes... These things are indeed very intimidating on flat ground, but in a narrow maze they may not be as effective as short weapons and shields.

I think they know nothing about the environment in the maze, and they don't even have amulets to resist mental attacks. Most of them have followed the large group of unscrupulous businessmen to this level.

In order to save money, some businessmen would hire some cheap or even free rookies to act as guards, relying on the advantage in numbers to scare away the monsters in the maze.

Generally, the minions of the Demon King will not attack caravans that have sworn to be neutral, so they were lucky enough to get to this level.

"It looks like something serious happened outside." Alex frowned slightly.

He had been in the maze all this time and had no idea of ​​the situation outside.

Perhaps he should write a letter back to his home in the Earldom of Spinol and ask his family what was going on.

The guard walking beside him crossed himself and murmured a prayer.

"Saint Sith bless me, I hope it's not the Chaos army that's attacking us..."

Although it was a bit strange to pray to Saint Sith in the Demon King's territory, the Demon King usually wouldn't bother with them...

The patrolling guards gradually walked away.

And at this time, a group of new androids wearing cloaks and mimicry masks sneaked into the Adventurer's Guild.

They are all newbies who have just obtained the closed beta qualification, and have the opportunity to experience the latest artificial human characters launched in version A08.

Half an hour ago, an NPC named Bond sent them to Misty Town, and told them to register as adventurers as humans, and pretend to be adventurers to infiltrate the human camp.

In order to avoid being discovered, they were in fear along the way, fearing that they would be discovered by the NPC guards.

However, what they didn't expect was that the NPC guards ignored them completely. Instead, their sneaky appearance attracted a lot of attention, so much so that people passing by the Adventurer's Guild cast curious glances at them.

Unexpectedly, their cleverness backfired. These sneaky guys finally couldn't hold back their shame and ended their sneaky activities in embarrassment.

The wealthy man who lives on dirt: "Fuck! Why are we sneaking around on our own territory? Can you be more confident?"

Jade-faced Hand-tired King: "That's right!"

Iron-blooded Fat House: "Brother, why don't you straighten your back first?"

Canglang Lame Leg: "That's it!"

[The Rich Man Who Eats Dirt] blushed, straightened his back, and walked into the Adventurer's Guild with a swagger.

There are not only human adventurers in the guild hall, but also some demons and undead.

The two groups of people were doing their business at different windows and had no impact on each other, and everything went peacefully.

[The Dirt-Eating Rich Man] naturally joined the human queue and walked to the counter, nervously activating the "translation magic" on the mimicry mask.

The clerk behind the counter spoke in a routine manner.

"What business?"

The rich man who eats dirt: "Register as an adventurer!"

Clerk: "Name."

The rich man who eats dirt: "Brother Hao!"

"……?"

The clerk behind the counter looked at him twice, but didn't see anything unusual, and finally threw the adventurer's sign to him.

There are many adventurers who register using pseudonyms or nicknames. After all, there are too many people with the same name, and the former are easier to distinguish.

After getting the sign in his hand, [The Rich Man Who Eats Dirt] was overjoyed. He suppressed his excitement and left the team. Then he shook it to show off to his teammates who were watching from a distance.

It seemed as if he was saying—

See? It's that easy.

Several players looked at each other, then followed suit and lined up at the human counter, completing their identity registration one after another.

It's all so easy that it's unbelievable.

The clerks didn't even confirm their identities carefully. At most, they asked them to take off their hoods and take a look. Once they confirmed that they were not demons, they said nothing more.

Actually, think about it.

The adventurers on the human side are not just humans. Occasionally, orcs, dwarves, and half-elves will join in... As long as they are not from the hell race, they will basically not be excluded.

Although these androids don't look very regular, with the camouflage masks on, they are indistinguishable from humans.

It is precisely because of this that they were able to get away with it smoothly without any flaws being discovered.

"...It seems that the next step is the key to the mission." Playing with the adventurer's dog tag in his hand, [Jade-faced King] fell into deep thought, and said after a moment, "We have to find a team of adventurers mainly composed of humans to sneak in."

According to the description of the novice mission, there must be at least three living people in the team, and then completing three tasks with difficulty level F or above will be considered passing the level, and generous rewards will also be credited to your account at that time.

It is up to them whether they continue playing as adventurers to earn human currency or return to the necropolis to start free play.

However, this is also the crux of the problem.

According to the experts on the forum, there are too few individual adventurers in Misty Town, and almost no one will form a team here.

Not only that, generally no one will guide inexperienced newbies. They may have to complete a mission on their own first to raise their adventure level and become at least an E-level adventurer.

Iron-blooded Fat House: "Our level is too low. What should we do if we don't have a team of adventurers?"

Canglang Lame Leg: "Yeah, I just stopped a big brother and asked him if he needed someone, but he didn't even look at me and told me to get lost."

Seeing his two companions looking constipated, [The Rich Man Who Eats Dirt] was silent for a moment, and suddenly something came to his mind.

"Got it! If no one wants us, why don't we just build our own team?"

The other players' eyes also lit up.

“What a great idea!”

"Shit! Why didn't I think of that?"

"Can newly registered adventurers create a team?"

"I don't think it says no! I'll give it a try!"

He did what he said and [The Rich Man Who Eats Dirt] immediately returned to the team and registered the adventurer team in a short while.

Although the Adventurer's Guild has a church background, it is not a strong organization after all, and its staff turnover is high. Its management is not very strict. Anyone can register for a team, and if they fail to complete the task for a long time, they will be automatically deregistered.

After completing the registration for the adventurer team, Brother Hao immediately came to the door of the Adventurer's Guild. He transformed from a newly registered newbie into a big brother and shouted loudly to the adventurers who were wandering at the door.

"Are there any adventurers who haven't found an organization yet? Our Invincible Supreme Adventure Group is recruiting! No level limit! No occupation limit! Anyone is welcome!"

In fact, there was still half a sentence he didn't say.

That is, as long as you can complete three commissions and let them pass the novice missions.

He had originally just shouted this out with the idea of ​​giving it a try, but he didn't expect that as soon as he finished speaking, a large group of people rushed towards him.

"Master, do you need anyone here?"

"Do you think I can do it?"

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"I'm so strong! Even a 100-kilogram fat pig can't twist me!"

Looking at the enthusiastic crowd, the [rich man who eats dirt] was overwhelmed for a moment and hurriedly shouted again at the top of his voice.

"Our temple is too small to accommodate so many people! Also, our group has just been established, so funds may be tight and there is no fixed salary! But don't worry, as long as we complete the commission and make money, everyone who contributed will get a share!"

He thought that saying this would reduce the number of people, but he didn't expect that the number of people crowded around him did not decrease at all, but instead increased.

"It's alright, sir! Just provide food and lodging! I don't want any money!"

"Master, look at me! I don't want a place to live, I just want food to eat!"

Looking at this group of excited "adventurers", the [Rich Man Who Lives on Earth] was stunned.

Good job.

Are these people adventurers or beggars? Why do they feel like they are begging for food?! Not far away, experienced adventurers were watching the joke, not hiding the mockery on their faces.

A sturdy man carrying a battle axe curled his lips and said with a sneer.

"A bunch of idiots."

Recruiting a group of farmers into the team, are they going to grow vegetables in the maze?

Whenever they encounter slightly stronger monsters, these rookies will become a burden that hampers them. Not only will they be useless, they may also take advantage of the situation to rob or run around.

A maze is not a plain. There is no space for them to form a formation. Having more people is not necessarily an advantage.

However, he did not go up to remind the adventurer who was not picky about food and those rookies who were rushing to die.

Reality will teach them a lesson! ...

In just a few minutes, the "Invincible Supreme Adventure Team" of only four people has expanded into an "Invincible Supreme Adventure Group" of fifty people.

Not only that, these adventurers who appeared out of nowhere don’t want any wages, they just want food to eat.

They could even accept the harsh condition of not having a fixed salary, and promised to share the profits after the adventure group made money.

Such a hardworking and thrifty ox and horse made the four players feel at a loss, and they even began to suspect that there was a bug in the game.

How can there be free people in this world?

And the most important thing is that they never thought of hiring so many people! Now they can no longer do the task of finding lost cats and dogs, and can only be forced to take on some big jobs.

"This group of people don't even have to pay maintenance fees, which affects the balance of the game too much..." Looking at the large group of people behind him, the iron-blooded fat otaku couldn't help but complain.

Canglang lamely nodded in agreement, also with an unbelievable look on his face, and said in confusion.

"Indeed... Is there no work to do on the surface? How did you get dragged into the maze?"

[The rich man who eats dirt] frowned and said with a troubled look on his face.

"What should we do about the food problem? There are more than 50 people, and the rations consumed are not small."

Iron-blooded Fat House: "Why not just drag it to the construction site for them?"

[Jade-faced Hand-tired King]'s eyes lit up: "What a good idea!"

[The Rich Man Who Eats Dirt] also thought this was a good idea, and after thinking for a long time, he spoke.

"Let's set up camp outside first. I need to buy some supplies and chat with them to get to know their situation."

Iron-blooded Fat House: "We just entered the game, where did you get the ghost money?"

The wealthy man who eats dirt: "Why not just buy it on the forum? The price of ghost money has long been driven down by those cows and horses who don't eat or drink to brush the other world. Do you think it was when the server was first launched?"

Canglang Lame Leg: "Fuck, RMT!"

Iron-blooded Fat House: "Brother Hao 666!"

[The Jade-faced King with Tired Hands] sighed.

"I almost thought you were really eating dirt."

The wealthy man who eats dirt: "..."

…

The group left the gate of Misty Town, built a fire in the open space outside the wall, and set up camp.

This is also a safe zone, so you don't have to worry about monsters or attacks from other players.

Brother Hao, who refused to eat dirt, went to a nearby market to buy supplies. He bought a trailer of roasted sweet potatoes, each costing two ghost coins.

When the trailer pulled into the camp, a group of "adventurers" showed eager looks on their faces, as if they had been hungry for a long time. They didn't mind at all that these things were used to feed pigs on the surface.

[The rich man who eats dirt] Although he felt pain in his heart, he still generously let them eat as much as they wanted, based on the idea that you can't catch a wolf without sacrificing a lamb.

A group of adventurers rushed forward, eating and taking, and in an instant they had divided up half a trailer of sweet potatoes, and sat in front of the fire to chow down on them.

Perhaps because they were full, these guys who had refused to explain their life stories finally opened up and told their origins in detail.

"...I came from the village in the north. Not from the Silver Pine Forest, but from the north of Campbellburg, upstream of the Running River."

Looking at the blazing fire, a bearded man picked up a branch and threw it into the fire while speaking, as if to burn away the memories of the past.

Sitting next to him, [Iron-Blooded Fat House] interrupted curiously and asked.

"Then why did you become an adventurer? Is your family sick? Your children need to go to school?"

The bearded man seemed a little confused by the question, as if he didn't understand.

He scratched the back of his head and shook his head.

"Neither... I used to farm for the local baron, but this year he suddenly said he didn't want to farm anymore and wanted to build a ranch. Then our whole family was driven out."

Hearing this, the adventurer squatting next to him reacted and spoke quickly.

"You're from north of the Rushing River? The valley plains?"

The bearded man's eyes gradually brightened, as if he had met a fellow villager in a strange land, and he excitedly shook the man's shoulders.

"Yes, it is there, the territory ruled by the Earl of South Creek Valley, Rice Husk Village! Are you from there too? Why haven't I seen you before?"

The adventurer in linen clothes grinned, revealing a mouthful of yellowed teeth.

"Haha, I'm from there too! But I'm from Graybrook Village next door to you! The territory of Baron Winderson!"

I didn’t expect that he was really my fellow villager, the bearded man said excitedly.

"I know where you are! No wonder your accent sounds so familiar! By the way, the bread there has a special aroma. I've always been curious about what you put in it."

"I don't know either. Before I left, I always thought that the bread in the entire Oss continent was the same as what I usually eat." The adventurer smiled, but that smile, like his rotten teeth, suddenly turned yellow like old parchment and became less free and easy.

He didn't know what was going on in the world, but suddenly everything he was familiar with changed.

Even himself.

"They didn't compensate you?" Seeing that the atmosphere in the team suddenly became heavy, [Jade-faced King of Hands] quickly coughed, trying to change the subject.

However, he still ignored the historical background of the game and forgot that it was still the feudal era outside, which was at least three industrial revolutions and two world wars away from the Earth.

It would have been fine if he didn't mention it, but as soon as he mentioned it, the bearded man got so angry that his fingers started trembling.

"Compensation? Those soldiers... even scraped off the copper plate I hid above the fireplace! Those damned guys are just like bandits! Saint Sith, why didn't they die on the battlefield of the decisive battle with the devil?!"

Hearing the roaring curse, the man wrapped in a cloak beside him shuddered and muttered to himself.

"It seems that Master Gus is quite kind... He at least gave us ten days to move out, and he also left all the things in the farmhouse to us."

Even though they are just some junk, they should still be able to be sold for a few copper coins... after all, the pot at home is made of iron.

Hearing his voice, the "adventurers" around him cast envious glances at him, especially an old man carrying a pitchfork.

"That's right. We packed up everything on the land and sold it cheaply to a merchant the Baron was familiar with. That guy rushed into my house like a vicious dog with a group of mercenaries and took away everything he could, including people."

This sentence made many people angry, and even the bearded man couldn't help but curse.

“This is too much!”

Compared with this guy's master, he suddenly felt that the soldier who stole the copper coins from his fireplace was not so bad.

"I don't believe such a thing would happen in the Principality of Campbell. This is too much. After all, this is the land watched by Saint Sith. Are they believers of the devil?" The cloaked man shook his head and looked at the old man with a pitchfork with suspicion. "And they even took the people away. How did you get here?"

"That's easy. I'm too old. Are they taking me there to provide for my retirement?" The old man carrying the pitchfork shrugged his shoulders, a bitter smile on his face. "Actually, I don't know which way is better... Maybe it's better to follow those businessmen."

The bearded man shook his head.

"Don't even think about it. They'll send you to the mines, where they'll squeeze every last bit of value out of you, just like the hell dwarves squeeze the fat out of goblins."

“Who knows? Maybe they’ll move to another place to farm…that wouldn’t be too bad.” The man wrapped in a cloak muttered. Living in Silver Pine Town, he still didn’t quite believe that such a thing would happen.

The four players sitting in front of the fire looked at them and each other, unable to say a word. They could only communicate with each other in a low voice.

“It’s too bitter.”

"really……"

No wonder these guys can reach the fourth level of the maze.

They are so bitter, even demons wouldn't want to eat them...

(End of this chapter)