Having already made up his mind, Leilin naturally expressed his intentions in a roundabout way.
"In that case… we won't trouble you any further…"
A trace of disappointment lurked in Bessani's heart, along with a faint sadness. She took Ina's hand and left. Isadora, for her part, seemed somewhat reluctant, but she said nothing either.
"Youth really is wonderful…"
Leilin gazed at the retreating figures of the three young apprentices and let out a sigh.
If one counted his original body's age, he was more than old enough to be their grandfather's grandfather. He had every right to speak that way.
Tifa, standing beside him, watched Leilin's world-weary demeanor with a flicker of alarm in the depths of his eyes.
"Oh! We've reached the port!"
Leilin cast an Eagle Eye Spell on himself and looked out toward the distant harbor. A smile spread across his face.
Up in the lookout post, a sailor spotted it too, and cheers immediately erupted across the entire ship.
After disembarking, Leilin first parted ways with Tifa, instructing him to operate in the shadows. Then he hired a carriage and headed for Silver Moon City.
They were already quite close to Silver Moon City now—roughly a day's journey by carriage.
The driver was an old coachman, hunched in the back, yet with lean, sinewy muscles bulging along his arms. Several long, narrow scars marked his face, looking like souvenirs from a past life of adventering or military service.
The old coachman's name was Old Barl, and he turned out to be quite the conversationalist. When he smiled, he revealed several missing front teeth, which, far from making him look fierce, gave him a rather comical air.
Crack!
Old Barl cracked his whip with practiced ease while chatting away with Leilin.
"The customer's got a real eye for choosing our carriage company. There's nowhere old Barl hasn't been, especially here in the North! Back when I was serving in the legion…"
Leilin's gaze drifted casually across the surroundings. The North made its first impression on him as vast—endless, open plains stretching to the horizon with hardly a living soul in sight. Its second impression was the cold!
True winter hadn't even arrived yet, but travelers outside were already bundled up in thick overcoats.
Watching the white puffs of breath from Old Barl's mouth, Leilin asked with a smile, "A legion? I didn't realize you were a retired soldier, Old Barl. Who did you fight against?"
"Must be from out of town, are you, sir?"
Hearing this, Old Barl immediately reached his conclusion.
"That's right! I'm from the south—from the Danbules Kingdom!" Leilin had no reason to conceal his origins. He had no criminal record whatsoever, and the only thing one might hold against him—his piracy—came with the King's own backing and guarantee, so it was nothing to worry about. Once he reached Silver Moon City, he even planned to reveal his noble status and see if any special treatment came with it.
"The south… now that's a fine place…" Old Barl sighed. "Here in the North, how could there not be wars?"
Without waiting for Leilin to ask, he carried on of his own accord: "Fighting off orc invasions, clashing with those other ambitious human kingdoms, even mopping up the green-skinned goblins out on the plains—those damn goblins breed like rabbits. We had to sweep through their camps almost every year. But compared to orcs and the knights of other kingdoms, I'd rather spend every day out on the plains hunting goblins…"
"Orcs!" Leilin slapped his forehead. "Right, I'd almost forgotten about them…"
The World of the
Just as the gods had their own pantheon, the orcs did as well. Under the leadership of Glurxu, the chief deity of the orc divine system, they launched major invasions into the civilized world virtually every year.
Even the gods, depending on their stances and temperaments, were divided into factions. There were clashes among their mortal followers—even outright divine wars!
"It seems that even the gods can never escape their own emotional impulses. Rule Wizards are no different, of course…"
So-called gods and Rule Wizards were nothing more than vastly more powerful mortals! Leilin understood this with crystal clarity.
He actually found this rather appealing.
If he stripped away his own personality, lost every shred of emotion—what difference would there be between becoming a supreme god and being a mere intelligence core?
Eternity and freedom were forever inseparable!
Due to conflicting interests, the orc empire frequently clashed with—and launched wars against—the northern principalities.
The northern lords, of course, refused to sit idle. They gathered under Silver Moon City's command to form a league, wielding the power of magic to resist the orc assaults with fierce determination.
This world was, after all, dominated by humanity. The human divine system's power far exceeded the orc divine system's, and even with internal strife, it was more than enough to sustain Silver Moon City.
Through constant battle, Silver Moon City's prestige had grown ever higher, and its sphere of influence continued to expand.
There were already faint calls for the Goddess's Chosen—the Lord of Silver Moon City—to ascend as queen and establish the Silver Moon Kingdom! Perhaps even unify the entire North!
This was the very root of the latest crisis and potential catastrophe!
Of course, none of this was something Old Barl could have told him. Leilin had pieced it together himself from the old man's descriptions.
"The rise of newly elevated nobles. The old aristocracy won't surrender the power they hold, much less hand over their fiefs—they're bound to fight back. And the orcs won't miss this chance either. The entire human world is in turmoil right now, and the North is receiving very little outside support… Looking at all the signs, this region won't see peace for decades to come…"
A faint smile hung at the corner of Leilin's lips. "No peace, you say? No peace is exactly what I need!"
As a foreign-born noble, even with the status of a mid-rank
No matter where you went, nobles and wizards alike harbored strong xenophobia. Even Silver Moon City, famous for its openness and freedom, was no exception!
Under normal circumstances, Leilin would have no choice but to settle here for several hundred years, risk his life for Silver Moon City countless times, and sign a mountain of unfavorable contracts before he could even hope to enter their inner circle!
But once war arrived, everything changed!
In times of war, everything had to bend toward achieving victory! The usual strict rules for advancement would inevitably be shattered. With military merit, one could climb rapidly—even all the way to the inner circle—as long as one didn't fall in the final moment before success!
For Leilin, war was a tremendous opportunity!
The quickest path to infiltrating Silver Moon City's core and obtaining advanced spell materials—even Legendary spell data—while saving an immeasurable amount of time!
As for the danger? Heh… Would Leilin be afraid?
"Tifa's work needs to be pushed forward. As for me, I'll need to revise the previous plan. Instead of infiltrating the Wizard Guild, I should try to join the City Guard…"
War was the beginning of suffering for common folk—but it was a stage for heroes!
Through the trial of blood and fire, the rotten, outdated old forces would be purged. New powers would rise. Opportunities would be everywhere!
Leilin would certainly seize this chance. As for the deep suffering it would bring to ordinary people—what did that have to do with him?
"As long as I can get into the City Guard system, I'm quite confident I can earn merit rapidly through the war and exchange it for high-level spell materials… Much faster than slowly accumulating reputation inside a Wizard Tower…"
Moreover, the City Guard belonged exclusively to the City Lord—meaning he would be pledging direct service to the Chosen herself. With the
"Lucky break this time…"
Just as Leilin was nodding to himself in satisfaction, his expression suddenly shifted.
Old Barl brought the carriage to a halt, and his cursing voice drifted back: "Damn it! There's trouble up ahead!"
Leilin jumped straight down from the carriage. The Eagle Eye Spell, combined with his current physical condition, let him see the scene ahead with ease.
Three carriages, strung together in a line, had been surrounded by a horde of monsters.
They were green-skinned creatures—like dwarves afflicted with muscular atrophy. They had oversized heads, with noses and mouths jutting forward, most of them half-naked, wielding clubs and rocks as weapons as they besieged the carriages.
"Those damn goblins are out again. Are they stockpiling food before the winter famine?" Old Barl spat a curse and gave Leilin a bitter smile. "I'm afraid we've got a problem, sir. Those goblins have already noticed us…"
In his field of vision, the pack of goblins that had been attacking the carriages ahead had spotted Leilin's group. A green tide was already branching off and moving to surround them.
Though goblins were said to be unable to even defeat a teenager, Leilin could see at a glance that this horde numbered over five hundred!
Even the lowliest of worms, once they numbered in the tens of thousands or millions, became a terrifying force! What's more, Leilin spotted the figures of Greater Goblins and Bear Goblins among this wave.
Those two types of goblins were roughly the size of ordinary humans. Some even wore tattered armor and carried other weapons—requiring elite human warriors to handle.
"Winter famine?" Leilin recalled the contents of a geography book he had read before. "Winter in the North was bitterly cold, enough to freeze the earth solid. Any venture outside was practically suicide! The goblins in the wilderness, along with other roaming beasts—and even the orcs beyond the Sunrise Mountains—would attack human settlements to stockpile food. They would even launch wars over it…"
Because this was a battle for survival, creatures nearing winter grew all the more frenzied. If they failed to gather enough food, they themselves would be the ones to perish.