Chapter 148 : Chapter 148

Chapter 148. What Do You Mean She Finished the Hunt in Five Minutes?

The perspective shifted to the other side. The team led by Oliver was making its way down the mountain path step by step.

One of the adventurers carrying the scroll, panting heavily, finally could not take it anymore and complained,

“Captain, why aren’t we just going in directly? Why do we still have to wait another three days?”

Their expressions were filled with dissatisfaction.

Although the scroll looked like little more than a strip of cloth, plenty of precious metals had been stuffed into it during its construction.

Even when the spell structure for the spell inscribed on it had been drawn, a considerable amount of refined iron, Adamantine, and similar materials had been used, which made the thing absurdly heavy.

Even though they were all professionals, and before becoming adventurers they had all used the Body-Tempering Technique to improve their Physique, with some of them even knowing a bit of the Breathing Method, there was still no way they could comfortably handle something weighing four hundred kilograms.

It took four of them carrying it together just to maintain a normal pace on this mountain road. Combined with the weight of the cloth armor they were already wearing, it only made things worse.

Just hauling this scroll here over the past three days had already exhausted them.

Not to mention that today they had been running up and down the mountain. In terrain where they could barely even lift their feet properly, they had nearly fallen off more than once.

So they were deeply dissatisfied with the captain making peace with that girl.

Why did they have to carry this thing back up again seven days later?

The extremely complicated emotions in their words did not make Oliver empathize with them in the slightest, because after all, he was not the one carrying the heavy thing.

Instead, he patiently explained,

“That was a mage, and this place is too close to the Alliance. We really can’t afford to get into a conflict with her.”

He continued,

“In the north of the Alliance, including all of Antir, there are six kingdoms and more than thirty free city-states. In all those regions, none of their rulers would dare kill a mage on their own land.”

“That’s because the Alliance is simply too close, and it is also one of the strongest powers on the continent. That makes them afraid to offend it.”

“Otherwise, one day, if one of the Alliance’s floating cities appears over their heads and someone happens to mention that a mage was murdered here, then what descends upon them will be a natural disaster.”

Oliver’s stern words caused the expressions on his teammates’ faces to disappear. Their gazes also turned grave.

Oliver went on,

“Of course, there are always exceptions. In this entire region, the only ones who could kill a mage without caring about the consequences would be the Bloodwolf Knights...”

“Their captain also has a mage’s background, which is why they aren’t afraid of retaliation from the Alliance. So do you understand now? In the future, don’t casually offend those mages.”

The captain’s speech made the mood of the team sink into gloom, and the adventurers carrying the scroll felt even more short of breath.

It seemed that seven days later, he really would have to carry the scroll back down the mountain again. Even after it was used, they would still have to carry it down afterward.

Because the leftover materials from a used scroll could still be sold for a bit of money. It was not as though casting the spell within the scroll would consume all of those materials entirely.

Seeing that the team’s morale had fallen somewhat, Flynn brought up another matter to divert everyone’s attention.

“The Bloodwolf Knights... I nearly joined them once.”

Those words immediately aroused the interest of the other team members, who hurriedly pressed him for details.

Flynn said cheerfully,

“Do you know what methods noble children have if they want to become a knight of the formal tier?”

The team members all shook their heads. None of them came from noble families. They were merely somewhat fortunate, with most of them having been born into adventurer families and then taking up the same profession after coming of age.

Flynn continued,

“For those noble children, they either obtain the inheritance rights to a territory and effortlessly inherit the extraordinary power passed down from their fathers, or they join a knight order.”

“Every kingdom has such knight orders. They are the principal military force of each kingdom. The lords are responsible for guarding their territories, while these knights are a force that can be mobilized freely.”

“Those who join knight orders are almost always second sons of territorial nobles or people without inheritance rights. After training hard and earning merit in battle, they can use the knight order as a path to advance to the formal tier.”

“In a knight order, only the people at the front are already of the formal tier and can truly be called knights. Those who first join can only be counted as squires.”

Flynn paused for a moment, adjusted his clothes, and then continued,

“But the Bloodwolf Knights are different from all the others. Every one of their formal members is a knight of the formal tier.”

“That goes back to when their captain first established the knight order. His knight order was not attached to any particular kingdom. It is one of the rare knight orders that can be hired.”

“He also only recruits those who are certain to advance to the formal tier. After accepting them, he does not bring them along on missions at all, but instead directly grants them the title of knight, allowing them to qualify for advancement to the formal tier.”

“Only those who advance within three months can become true members of the Bloodwolf Knights. Those who fail are kicked straight out.”

At this point, Flynn sighed and went on,

“I joined the Bloodwolf Knights back then too, becoming what was called a ‘reserve member.’ Of course, I failed to advance within three months, so I could only slink away in disgrace. After that came the story I told you before, about meeting an old Ranger who taught me his skills.”

The adventurer team members listened with great interest. Stories like this were among the few bits of excitement they ever got to hear in their ordinary lives...

Oliver also realized that the atmosphere in the team had grown too gloomy, so he tried to lift their spirits as well.

“Don’t worry. We won’t have to carry this thing back up.”

He knew these team members had always been grumbling about this huge burden, so he said,

“Based on my experience, that mage absolutely cannot succeed in hunting that Earth Drake.”

“Don’t think that just because nobody in our region dares provoke mages, their combat ability is actually as strong as you imagine.”

“That mage from just now is, at most, only a little stronger than me. If we really fought, she would lose to our team nine times out of ten.”

Flynn also chimed in from the side,

“That’s right. Mages have come to participate in hunts like this before, but in the end none of them ever succeeded. When all is said and done, hunting magical beasts is still something best left to professional adventurers like us.”

“Those mages are just here to give us money.”

A cheerful mood immediately spread through the team. The earlier gloom was swept away in an instant.

Even the few carrying the scroll felt as though the weight on their shoulders had become much lighter.

But just then, they felt the earth trembling.

The scattered stones on the ground shook continuously, and even the scroll wobbled several times along with them.

“That mage started the hunt already?”

Oliver stopped walking. Just as he was about to call out to his team, he suddenly sensed that something was wrong.

He looked up and felt as though even the sky had dimmed a little.