Chapter 97: The Green Grass Domain and Recent Developments

Continuing to read the Snow Hill Evening News, it was just some minor gossip and the situation abroad.

For instance, in Mirror Desert, the Brar clan of the land Naga successfully rebelled; the brave Brar Princess led reinforcements to successfully rescue her mother, allowing her to regain power.

Then there was a piece of gossip about Hou Jue Carpent.

It used a whole large section to introduce it.

【Exclusive Reveal】

【Hou Jue Carpent's Manor: Midnight Ghost Ball Echoing and the Eerie "Soul Contract"】

The general content was that Hou Jue Carpent held an "Invisible" ball, specifically inviting ghosts and lost souls, with the purpose of pleasing an ancient resentful spirit who had signed a Soul Contract with him.

From 【The Exposure of the Soul Contract】 to 【The Hou Jue's Silence and Speculation】, this wandering poet named Leo wrote with powerful force, the story had many twists, and was based on real people.

If not for the extremely small line at the very bottom saying "The authenticity of this article is debatable," Rod would have truly thought it was a real story.

Quickly.

After finishing the table of contents for this issue, Rod felt only the major events at the beginning were interesting.

So he tossed the newspaper to Tally.

Tally was not interested in anything other than her master, so she tossed it to the Banshee.

Chris's voice was actually quite good, gentle and generous, with clear articulation.

It was just unknown why she sounded like she was sawing wood when wailing.

Rod simply let her read it out loud for everyone to hear.

He lay down properly, recalling the gains from this journey.

First.

The promotion went without saying.

Body strength and spiritual accumulation increased significantly.

Then there was the Nu Yi Zhou.

It added two: the Cursed Demon Dragon Nao Lin and the Banshee Chris.

Nao Lin was a pity; she was trapped in the open-air maze, so her obedience couldn't go up; fortunately, before leaving, she unleashed a 【Dragon Breath】.

Chris was personnel awaiting modification.

Rod could feel her restlessness in her heart; therefore, over these three weeks of travel, her obedience had only barely increased by five points.

Sharing skills was a long way off.

Next were blessings and the like.

【Flesh Proliferation】 and 【Resentful Pain Hate Fire】 brought by the High-Level Pass.

The growth, domain maintenance, and super-strong mental resistance brought by the Dry Tree.

This was very strong.

Especially the Sky Ancient Tree Eva; she gave quite a lot.

There were also 121 points of Growth Spirituality and 【Elbert's Quirky Love Secret Manual】.

Although the price was that Rod developed a trauma regarding her, if you had to do it again, Rod would certainly repeat the same mistake.

Finally, there were the spoils of war.

He truly didn't expect the richest one to be that fourth-tier little mage.

"Thirty-four Overload Rings, tut-tut. And the notes on crafting magic rings and Overload Rings, I really..."

Rod knew that with these things.

He would no longer worry about money afterwards.

As for just recently, the gift Daphne entrusted to Sophia to deliver.

It was a domain.

【Partial Authority of the 'Green Grass' Domain: A treasure bestowed by Daphne Argyle, increases the body's source energy, can greatly enhance regeneration ability, the price is a slight reduction in fire resistance.】

"Thanks, Daphne."

It took nearly two hours to cross the birch forest outside Storm City.

Everyone's carriage arrived at Twilight Hills.

This was the final stretch of road between Storm City and Shi Ying Town, with residential areas on both the left and right.

The frequency of the horse hooves' clopping sound slowly decreased.

Finally stopping.

"Mr. Rod, there are people blocking the road ahead; they are bandits."

Miss Gema lifted the carriage curtain and said.

Rod was currently curled up on Tally's lap, lying on his side facing her flat abdomen with not a single bit of excess flesh.

He gradually fell asleep amidst a faint, sweet scent.

Perhaps it was the succubus evolution mechanism; the scent from below them was also sweet, a bit like the smell of honey.

"Chris, go handle them."

"Received! Master!"

Chris revealed her deathly true form and flew out of the carriage, feigning ferocity.

Not long after.

A burst of screams erupted ahead.

"That's strange, huh? I rarely hear of bandits in Twilight Hills."

As Rod spoke, his warm breath all blew onto Tally's stomach, making her chuckle.

"Yes, there are quite a few smugglers."

Gema echoed in agreement.

Chris drifted back into the carriage to claim credit.

"Master, the bandits have been driven off!"

"Nicely done."

"They were just robbing a small merchant. They killed his guards, wrecked his carriage, and the merchant who survived said he'd like to ask you to give him a ride."

Rod sat up at this point.

He leaned his head out to look.

There, by the roadside, he saw a portly old merchant with a face full of worry, and behind him a young girl cowering in terror.

Several corpses lay around them, the horses had been killed, and the carriage smashed to pieces — a pitiful sight.

"Where to?"

"Shi Ying Town! Mr., my name is Frazer Fairclough, and this is my daughter Orley. I run an ore processing plant in Shi Ying Town — might I trouble you to take us along?"

The old merchant called out loudly.

Frazer Fairclough, hm?

Truth be told, Rod had some impression of that name.

And the face seemed to match, vaguely.

Rod didn't mind — the route was the same either way.

"Get on."

Tally transformed into a dignified, proper young matron.

The carriage pulled up beside the old merchant.

Rod shook his hand.

After some brief pleasantries, he learned they were returning from Coral Cove in the Twilight Hills, and that this leg of the trip was an empty haul back to town — otherwise they might have lost a hefty sum.

"Thanks to you, Mr. Rod."

He wiped a cold sweat from his brow.

His daughter Orley pressed close to her father, casting timid glances at the banshee sitting across from them.

Chris's playful side flared up, and she was just about to shift into her death aspect to scare her.

But Rod gave her a sharp knock on the head.

Even so, Orley still got a terrible fright, her eyes brimming with tears.

"Sorry."

"I'm the one who should apologize. My daughter was once terrorized by undead and wendigos, so she's very afraid of incorporeal races. Please forgive her, Miss Ghost."

"Undead and wendigos? In Shi Ying Town? I haven't really seen any."

"Not in town, but there are plenty in the mines to the south, and quite a few ratmen too. We don't know why, but they've been especially active this year, so we have to pay the workers an extra comfort fee."

As he spoke, he shook his head with a worried look.

Clearly, the steep expenses left this merchant — who had his daughter late in life — utterly exhausted.

Shi Ying Town had plenty of mines, and even more processing plants.

Merchants like Frazer were countless, but his aged body could no longer allow him to spend too much energy on the business.

The two chatted a while about recent news in Shi Ying Town.

They also mentioned the harassment of Coral Cove, south of the Twilight Hills, by sirens and golems.

In short, with Etheron's waning power, all the problems that had once lain hidden were now coming to light.

They traveled on for half a day.

Frazer and his daughter stopped at the relay station before the Shi Ying Town road.

He thanked Rod again and tried to pay the fare.

But Rod refused. In the end, Frazer insisted on leaving some fine ore-crafted trinkets as a memento, and, leaning on his daughter Orley for support, walked into the relay station.

(End of chapter)