Li Jia, Du Mei and Shi Hao rode their horses slowly on the mountain road. Li Jia clearly felt that the old knight named Alfonso who led the way had a very strange attitude. His face was uglier than iceberg, but he did not do anything out of the ordinary. It seemed that receiving Li Jia and his party was something he hated but had to do. His reluctant look made him look like a donkey being forced to drink water. The soldiers following behind him looked nervous and defensive, glancing at them from time to time.
Du Mei also obviously sensed this strange atmosphere. She asked fearfully, "They don't seem to welcome us. Could it be... some conspiracy to harm us?"
Li Jia smiled gently and said, "Don't worry, there are only three of us. If they really wanted to harm someone, they would have done it long ago. In my opinion, they seem to be on guard against us."
Du Mei carefully turned her head to look at a cavalryman next to her, and happened to meet his eyes. The man's fleshy face made her heart jump suddenly, and she let out a short scream of "Ah".
Li Jia watched all this and shook his head secretly. The school really had no one to send. How could such a girl succeed? He couldn't help but think of that beautiful and energetic figure again... She wouldn't be like this.
"Hey! Be polite to the ladies, understand?" Shi Hao heard Du Mei's call, looked back, and saw the soldier staring at Du Mei. He immediately frowned and spoke loudly in his not very proficient language.
Li Jia wanted Shi Hao not to act rashly, so as not to cause unnecessary trouble. But unexpectedly, the soldier did not even dare to reply after being told, and immediately lowered his head without saying a word. The team leader Alfonso just looked back and said nothing.
"It seems that these natives only bully the weak and fear the strong. We can't be too polite to them." Shi Hao said with a little contempt.
"Brother Shi, you must protect me. When I came out, I didn't expect these people to be so fierce." Du Mei pulled the reins unskillfully and let the horse walk to Shi Hao's side.
"Don't worry, it's here." Shi Hao pointed to the gun behind him and made an expression to reassure her.
"Yeah." Du Mei nodded repeatedly.
"I've said it before, rashly asking for help will only result in a cold shoulder. Without sufficient benefits, who will fight for your life? To survive in this world, you have to rely on yourself for everything. What I should do most now is to arrange patrols and train militia in the school, instead of coming to see this viscount." Shi Hao said with some annoyance.
"But the committee said that we can still offer something to trade with Viscount Ruiz. Besides, we are his closest neighbors. If bandits keep roaming around, it will cause huge losses to his territory, right?" Du Mei argued in a low voice.
"That's hard to say. Maybe he just wants to sit on the mountain and watch the fight between two tigers. These foreigners look weird and they can't be trusted no matter how you look at them." Shi Hao snorted coldly.
"Don't jump to conclusions. Let's meet the real owner first." Li Jia said as he looked at the castle made of yellow stones on the top of the mountain.
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At the same time, in a room on the upper floor of the main building of the castle, the person Li Jia had been thinking about day and night was looking away from a narrow stone window, at Viscount Ruiz who was sitting at the coffee table in the room.
"Okay, my dear Serinda. Alfonso has gone to pick them up. If you hadn't insisted, I would have been sick. You know, I tend to get a fever when I hear the horn of war. But what if I met them? I am not your father, who has countless vassals. Loyal old Alfonso is the only knight I can use. Do you want this poor old guy to fight with thousands of horse thieves?" Viscount Ruiz leaned back in his chair, crossed his hands elegantly, and looked at Serinda, who was dressed in a tight suit, with a smile.
Serinda's red hair was tied up, adding a bit of mature charm. She was wearing a set of exquisite black leather armor, with a long sword hanging on her waist, looking heroic and dashing: "Uncle Ruiz, you should know that the leader of those horse thieves is Cadiz."
"I have seen this boy before when he was your father's bodyguard. He was a little rough and rustic, but very smart. Perhaps the life of a horse thief is more suitable for him than that of a bodyguard."
"He has a close relationship with our family. You know this, and so do others. This news may reach the ears of some angry magicians one day."
"Your father won't be able to get any evidence against him." Viscount Ruiz smiled gently.
"Handles are used between people who follow the rules. Among magicians...how many of them care about the rules?"
"Perhaps you should trust your father more. Believe that he will handle these things. Be it magicians, nobles, or horse thieves, your father has dealt with many such people in his life. And you, the last time I saw you, you were still a cute little girl jumping around."
"But I don't think he did a very good job. How much reputation does the Arias family have now? What else did he do during his time in the capital except leaving behind a reputation as a playboy? He said he was here to inspect the territory, but he clashed with the people in the territory, and now he wants to make enemies with the magician." Serinda was obviously a little excited, her red eyes seemed to be burning. "What the Arias family needs is more allies, not inexplicable enemies. I think it was a big mistake for him to use horse thieves to test the magician whose background he didn't know. He... I really don't know what's wrong with him. Sometimes he acts like a coward, and sometimes he acts like a lunatic."
Viscount Ruiz remained very calm, "Your father may not be a Berserker, but he is certainly a good Arias."
"Uncle Ruiz, no matter what, in this matter, I... I must do something for the family."
Viscount Irus looked her in the eyes, but Serinda did not flinch.
"Really." He laughed, "Kadis is a wild horse. Even your father may not be able to control him, let alone us. Moreover, as far as I know, almost all the decent horse thieves in the Black Mountain area are here this time. The damaged magician's castle, the magician who left home, and the treasures gathered by the magicians, you know how jealous these horse thieves will be. If Kadis wants to stop now, he will definitely not keep his head until tomorrow."
"I never thought of stopping Kadis." Serinda walked to Viscount Ruiz and sat on the chair opposite him. She said seriously, "But I need a chance, a chance to join this battle, a chance to stand on the side of the magician."
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The castle was dark and small, not as romantic as imagined in fairy tales. Even though it was daytime, light could only come in through the narrow window on one side of the corridor. Li Jia and the other two followed Alfonso, walking on a dark red carpet. The sunlight divided the carpet into sections of light and dark grids. Adding the obscure reliefs on the columns, the old tapestries on the walls and the complicated pottery decorations standing in the corners, this journey seemed mysterious and strange.
Arriving at a door at the end of the corridor, a waiter who had been waiting for a long time pushed open the door. Alfonso stood aside and pointed inside with his finger, but did not speak to them.
"Wait." Li Jia hesitated when he saw this. The eerie castle made him feel quite uneasy.
"We're already here, what is there to wait for? If we were afraid of death, we wouldn't have come." Shi Hao put on an attitude of fearlessness and walked in first.
His voice was shaking, and so was his heart. Li Jia keenly noticed Shi Hao's fear. Only the weak need to constantly encourage themselves with words, while the strong... Oh, the three people here are probably not strong. He thought about why Shi Hao was so stubborn, and then he understood. After the goblin incident, Shi Hao seemed to be hoping to prove that he was a courageous person every moment.
In this new world, everyone has to prove something.
Du Mei looked at the two men, and probably felt that Shi Hao's gun was more secure, so she grabbed his arm and followed him in.
Li Jia glanced at Alfonso, and saw a faint sneer of disdain on the corner of his mouth. He could see full of hatred from this expression.
What exactly does he hate
Once all three entered the room, Alfonso followed in and closed the door behind him.
This was a reception room, and there was no one inside. Two rows of simple sofas were placed opposite each other, with a coffee table in the middle. On one side of the room were several windows slightly larger than the corridor, but because the wooden windows were open and there was no glass or window paper, the cold wind came in with a slight whimper. Fortunately, on the other side of the room, the charcoal fire burning in the fireplace brought some warmth and made the room a little brighter.
Li Jia looked at Alfonso. After the old knight entered the room, he ignored them and stood at another door like a sentry.
The owner didn't come, so the three could only look at the furnishings in the room. Li Jia noticed an oil painting on one wall of the room, which showed a group of muscular warriors without any armor, holding axes, slaughtering some well-armored enemies. These people fought savagely and looked crazy. Some enemies were torn in half by them, and some enemies had their heads twisted off by them.
"These warriors are so terrifying." Du Mei sighed as she looked at the realistic paintings.
"No matter how scary it is, it's just an axe." Shi Hao said while holding the gun.
"This must be the legendary berserker." Li Jia said thoughtfully.
"This is the story of my ancestor Lil Bedingani, who followed Lord Melo Arias in fighting against the Black Dragon Empire. Ah, he's the one who twisted the enemy's neck in the painting. He was Lord Arias's right-hand man and had defeated countless enemies. It can be said that every inch of land in this country originated from the axes of these berserkers." A clear voice sounded from behind them.
The three saw the door next to Alfonso open. A middle-aged man in a purple double-breasted robe walked in. The robe was a little slim, with gold embroidery on the chest, hem and cuffs. The collar showed a white shirt with a flower collar, and the lower body was brown trousers and short leather boots. The first time Li Jia saw him, she thought he was quite handsome and elegant. His loose silver hair and blue eyes were in line with the aristocratic style in the TV series. He was completely different from the ancestor in the painting.
The middle-aged man walked to the center of the reception room, touched his chest slightly and saluted, "Welcome, guests from the Magician's Castle. I am Ruiz Bedingani, Viscount of Phoenicia."