Chapter 2129: Taking In, the Grand Vizier

————Still about an hour and a half left~~

————

For a moment, Xia Duo actually regretted accepting the invitation from the Grand Emperor of Calimshan. He had originally thought it might just be a relaxed and pleasant sightseeing trip, perhaps with some business discussed on the side, but overall it would be very easygoing.

But looking at it now, it was likely not that simple. Calimshan was unstable, and not long ago, an incident involving the assassination of an Elf Prince had just occurred. Xia Duo suddenly had a premonition—

Once he arrived in Kalim, he would likely still be inevitably dragged into this matter!

As the Floating City delved deeper, although he maintained his state of communication with Fadila, Xia Duo also saw more and more of the ground scenery through 【Wide-Area Detection】 or other passive information-gathering spells.

From high altitude, one could see a vast desert extending from west to east and from north to south, all the way to the coast. Only along the two rivers that ran through the desert to the west into the sea, and one that ran south into the sea, were there more significant distributions of oases.

The remaining territory was only sporadically dotted with some small and medium-sized oases. From this, it could be seen that while Calimshan had vast territory, its actual population was very limited.

Of course, compared to Netheril, it was still much more.

And Kalim, where Xia Duo was headed on this trip, was at the southernmost end of that Kalin River which ran through the desert and into the sea to the south. Looking along the way, Xia Duo had seen the exquisite and skillful combat postures of Calimshani Scholars, and also seen the scenes of the Commoner class struggling to survive.

Oases belonged to every Pasha; if Commoners wanted to live in an oasis, they had to work for the Pasha. They were called "Commoners," but in reality, they might live even worse than some Slaves in Netheril.

The biggest problem in this was the Water Source. In the desert, controlling the Water Source was equivalent to controlling everyone's lifeline. Even a highly skilled Spellcaster, if they did not know how to summon water, would still have to thirst when it was time to thirst!

And although almost all citizens of Calimshan could perform Spellcasting, the vast majority only knew some simple Bloodline Magic, and they would also have to happen to awaken a Water Element Bloodline in a country where the Wind Element Bloodline was mainstream.

Even if they really awakened a Water Element Bloodline, they might not be able to summon water, and even if they did summon it, it might not be enough for themselves to drink, let alone satisfy those around them.

If Xia Duo were a local Pasha, and his intentions were slightly more malicious, the moment he heard of someone who had awakened a Water Element Bloodline, he would immediately capture and kill them. Even if he could not capture them, he would try his best to win them over and keep them under his control.

At the very least, one could report it to those above and ask the "great" Syl Pasha to maintain the stability of this class order.

Thinking along this line of reasoning, I fear there might truly be people in Calimshan who intentionally target spells related to Water Sources within the Bloodline Magic system.

If that were truly the case, Xia Duo dared to conclude—the ruling class of Calimshan was born because of Water Sources, and they would surely perish because of Water Sources!

……

The Floating City was not traveling slowly. Not long after, Xia Duo received a Sending from Niya; she had already seen the magnificent city of Kalim on the distant coast.

The buildings in the city were tall and grand, with towers standing in great numbers. Almost all buildings had pointed arched tops that shimmered with colorful brilliance under the sunlight, full of exotic flair.

Additionally, perhaps to facilitate heat dissipation, the main surfaces of most buildings in Calimshan were coated with a type of fine white sand, which would emit a hazy white light under the sun.

Niya liked this architectural style very much, and the voice in her Sending was also filled with joy and cheer, until she saw the scene in a small village near a small oasis not far north of Kalim!

Hearing Niya's indignant and even slightly uneasy tone, Xia Duo hurriedly adjusted his 【Wide-Area Detection】 target and soon discovered the small village Niya spoke of.

It was a super-micro settlement where only a dozen or so households lived. In the very center was a low building built of stones, inside which was a structure similar to a cellar, and at the very bottom was a damp water trough paved with crushed stones.

Outside the stone building, a circle of wooden houses was arranged in an almost uniform manner. Outside the wooden houses grew two rows of unknown withered trees, blocking the wind and sand from the north and west.

Of course, from the sporadic tiny yellow leaves, one could see that those withered trees were not actually dead; they were just a type of drought-resistant plant that was common in the desert and almost non-existent in the Northland.

If there were no accidents and no rulers above, this small village should have been a paradise where one could live in peace, even if it was difficult.

When hungry, there were fruits on the withered trees, and some lizard-like animals were raised in some of the wooden houses; when thirsty, there was a Water Source in the cellar of the central stone house.

But reality was reality after all. Although Xia Duo was one step behind Niya in observing, from the tools scattered outside the wooden houses and the long string of horse hoof prints extending deep into the desert to the west, one could also see that a man-made disaster had just occurred here.

Of course, from the perspective of 【Wide-Area Detection】, Xia Duo could clearly see four masked men on horseback to the west, wantonly singing a song with a wild melody.

Looking at the village side, fortunately, no bloodshed had occurred; it was just that the gang of horse bandits and sand thieves from the west had snatched the Water Source stored in the village.

At the moment, winter had already arrived, and the Northland had even entered a frozen state. But in Calimshan in the south, even in winter, the days were still scorching hot, and it was almost impossible to survive without a continuous supply of water.

Thus, Xia Duo, whose timing was just right, saw the extreme evil side of human nature—

A girl, whose thin frame could be seen even while wrapped in a loose smock, was surrounded by four or five men who were equally thin but had exceptionally fierce looks in their eyes.

Although Xia Duo could not understand Calimshani, from their gesturing actions and the expressions on their respective faces, he could also see that those four or five villagers were forcing the little girl to inject water into the stone trough.

As for how to inject it, it was clearly just a bit of instinctive spellcasting from the Water Element Bloodline.

Niya should have seen the sand thieves robbing them and the villagers turning against each other after being robbed earlier. When Xia Duo asked, it was indeed so, and she also mentioned that the girl had just produced some clear water, but those villagers were still not satisfied and wanted to squeeze out more. However, Bloodline Power was limited and needed to recover, so the pathetic scene of coercion that Xia Duo saw occurred.

Through the investigation outside the village, Xia Duo estimated that from the village to the nearest oasis, it would take at least a day's walk at the villagers' pace. If they wanted to bring water back, I fear it would be drunk by the people transporting it before they could even walk back to the village.

Or the people transporting it would be exhausted and collapse.

Now there were only two paths before this village—

One was for the group to abandon the village and head to the oasis to become obedient Slaves of the Pasha; the other was to force the girl with the Water Element Bloodline to produce clear water for everyone to tide them over temporarily, so that the water in the cellar trough could recover.