Chapter 131: Half a Year of Simulation Gains

Due to the destruction of the Pendor royal family over a hundred years ago, the continent was divided into five nations with similar levels of strength. The collisions between these nations were inevitably accompanied by endless slaughter and hatred; for instance, the Ravenstern Kingdom and the Empire have been fighting for nearly a hundred years.

The years of warfare between nations, the invasions of other forces, the rebellions of the impoverished indigenous people, the differing operational philosophies of the various Knight Orders, and the endless rogue knights and bandits have caused the wilderness of this continent to be far more dangerous than that of the Calradia continent.

Either you are familiar with the terrain, or you must have strength; otherwise, it is very easy to be captured by all sorts of wild forces. In the worst-case scenario, you might even become a captive of the Devourer, Egremont, an envoy of an evil god. Your fate thereafter would likely be to be transformed into some neither-human-nor-ghost creature, which is even more terrifying than death.

To avoid such a horrific outcome, during the simulation, Allen set out from the Elven capital of Elacrai with a squad of Elf Nobles, and the Elf leading this squad was named Risadilan, an Elf Noble who was passionate about combat.

Risadilan's strength was far inferior to Holimion's, but that did not stop this fellow from looking everywhere for suitable opponents to duel, and he never held back during a fight. Recently, for some reason, he actually targeted Isilindil's nephew and had even agreed upon a time for the duel.

Upon learning that Allen was preparing for a journey of no short duration, Isilindil helped Allen prepare everything as quickly as possible and, before Allen left, forcibly shoved Risadilan onto Allen to avoid the tragedy of his own nephew dying under a sword.

In truth, Allen did not want to bring along an Elf like Risadilan who was both high-profile and arrogant; it was simply too easy to attract the attention of slave-hunting parties.

His original idea was to bring an obedient and low-profile Elf to serve as his deputy while leading the team. After all, compared to humans, Allen trusted Elves more on the Pendor continent, and one Elf was not much; such configurations existed in some teams.

However, Isilindil's request was hard to refuse, especially since the other party involved in this duel was Freya's cousin and also one of the heirs to Isilindil's Elven family; this matter had already caused a huge sensation in Elacrai.

After much thought, Allen finally decided to bring along this troublemaker who was prone to causing trouble. On one hand, he had to give face to his backer, and he could also save Freya's cousin in the process. On the other hand, he would consider it a way to prevent Risadilan from suffering treatment similar to exile in the future; after all, this guy really did kill the clan leader's nephew in the upcoming duel, and one didn't know whether to call him stupid or just simple-minded.

Having committed such a crime, even if Isilindil were more open-minded and kind, it would be impossible to allow such an Elf to keep swaying back and forth in front of his eyes all day. That Risadilan was not shot to death by a volley of arrows was enough to show the breadth of this Elven clan leader's heart.

As for the trouble-prone Risadilan, upon hearing that he could leave the Noldor Forest to travel to the human kingdoms, he found Isilindil's nephew overnight to cancel the duel, gathered ten little companions who wanted to venture into the human world, and then, under Isilindil's strict orders, accompanied Allen on the journey—the orders being that he must listen to Allen's instructions, and things of that nature.

The personalities of these ten guys were extremely similar to Risadilan's; they were all troublemakers who couldn't sit still and were extremely prone to causing trouble. Allen, who had originally only wanted to bring one Elf, simply gave up and brought them all along. Anyway, it was the same to herd one sheep as it was to herd a flock; he would deal with any problems if they arose later.

Allen knew that even if all these Elves following him died out there, Isilindil probably wouldn't have any major opinions about him. As for whether this clan leader would secretly feel relieved that these troublemakers would no longer bother him, Allen couldn't guess.

Just like that, Allen and the Elves arrived at the outskirts of Long Lake Town at great speed, and subsequently, with Paul's help, hired a group of about twenty young adventurers who were willing to make a living through legitimate means. Allen's expected duration for hiring them was half a year.

Calling them adventurers, they were actually young, down-and-out nobles who had lost their fiefs and status in battle. Compared to their peers who were already openly robbing farmers, merchant caravans, and pilgrims, these people willing to find work in taverns could be considered the relatively better-behaved among them. The most despicable ones were those who didn't even bother to hide it and directly joined bandit organizations to become black-hearted rogue knights; they were the ones who truly committed every evil.

Because their ancestors had once been wealthy, they basically carried some fairly decent equipment and had undergone a certain degree of training, which was enough to meet Allen's standards for recruiting them.

Allen recruited them not to complete any harsh combat missions, but mainly to cover for the Elves in the team and to do things that were inconvenient for Elves, such as going into cities to purchase supplies, and incidentally to deter any blind highway robbers.

Most importantly, if these guys harbored any improper thoughts because of the Elves, Allen and the Elves could slaughter them all in a short time and then walk away. Of course, this was an option in the event of certain circumstances.

The cost of recruiting them was not cheap, but under Paul's mediation, Allen obtained a contract that both parties were fairly satisfied with.

Before setting off, Allen would pay these young adventurers one-third of their wages first so they could settle their families. During the journey, he would pay them another third in monthly installments for their daily living expenses, and the final third would be paid in full after the hiring period ended.

The entire process would cost Allen nearly ten thousand Dinar, but the benefit was that he did not need to be responsible for their casualties in battle; correspondingly, they would not participate in battles that were clearly suicidal. These conditions were already completely sufficient for Allen.

Allen was not particularly short of money on the Pendor continent. He had previously entrusted Paul to open a shop in Long Lake Town selling Elven goods; even just earning the price difference, the income was quite good. However, because he had no fief, these earned Dinar would not be included in the Simulator and could only be used on the Pendor continent, or exchanged for fine equipment and gems to take out.

This behavior was slightly counterproductive for Allen. After all, purchasing directly from the shop required no cooldown, and the Dinar earned could only do small things; he couldn't buy many pieces of equipment qualified to be exchanged out. After all, compared to the Calradia continent, prices on the Pendor continent were higher, especially for soldiers' wages and top-tier, well-crafted equipment.

Most importantly, Risadilan and his group were on a publicly funded trip this time and did not need Allen to pay them wages; he only needed to provide food, lodging, and some pocket money. Otherwise, the hiring costs for these ten Elf Nobles would have bankrupted Allen at this time.

After preparing everything, the group of over thirty people followed the map's markings and embarked on the journey to the Brotherhood Camp.

That Allen could descend as the Prophecy Child meant that the Pendor continent had already fallen into the most chaotic state. In the Empire, things were actually quite good; after all, it was a centralized state with extremely strict laws, usually using an iron fist to suppress lawbreakers. The motto often on the lips of high-ranking officials was, "The Empire's will is law."

Only the extremely powerful Snake Cult could still stir up trouble within the Empire's borders; other lawbreakers were not particularly willing to cause chaos on Imperial land because the Imperial army arrived too quickly. Even forces like the Red Brotherhood only used bribery to accumulate strength within the Empire.

However, the public security of the Ravenstern Kingdom was quite different. It was still a relatively primitive feudal system, with large "no-man's-land" areas between lords, and the oppression of commoners by nobles was extremely cruel. A large number of civilians who could no longer survive became one group of Greenwood Bandits after another.

On the stretch of road from Long River Town to Lion City, which had large forests, Allen encountered several groups of bandits within a week. Those weaker guys naturally retreated timidly when they saw a group of well-equipped Cavalry, but not everyone had a clear understanding of their own strength.

Soon, a group of bandits with quite a few black-hearted rogue knights did not hesitate to target Allen.

"Ah, another traveler. As a kind-hearted person, I must warn you that traveling on this land is a very dangerous thing. However, as long as you take out a little money, my brothers and I will ensure you can leave here smoothly and reach your destination. You guys, just give about one thousand Dinar."

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This bandit leader who proposed the extortion to Allen had eyes that rolled around, sizing up the twenty-some young adventurers riding horses on one side and the dozen or so mysterious guys shrouded in green Cloaks on the other. After calculating in his heart, he gave a price he felt was reasonable.

"Less is less, these people might actually be quite good at fighting."

Facing the bandit leader's extortion, Allen was actually a bit hesitant. If he could avoid a bloody battle by paying money, it wasn't impossible; after all, there were dozens of Cavalry on the opposite side, plus a large number of infantry composed of refugees.

It wasn't that they couldn't win; according to Allen's side's combat power, dealing with them was not a difficult matter. It was just that once a fight started, the identities of the young Elf Nobles who needed to fight with all their might would naturally be exposed. Allen did not want to test the character of those human young adventurers; after all, human nature could not withstand testing.

Moreover, everyone had been getting along quite well during this time. After a long time, there was a certain emotional foundation, so even if the Elves were exposed, the probability of problems occurring would be reduced to a tolerable level. If there was a choice, Allen was still not very willing to personally slaughter these subordinates he had recruited.

However, Allen's hesitation lasted less than five seconds. Risadilan, who was behind him and had also heard the extortion, had already drawn the Rune Bow in his hand and shot dead the guy who was spouting nonsense in front of Allen.

Risadilan, who had not experienced the beatings of society, naturally assumed that since his Captain was being extorted by others in public, a counterattack was the only reasonable and legal action. His simple and irritable personality couldn't even conceive of the option of compromise, although compromise was also an extremely effective way of doing things.

In fact, even if Risadilan had spent some time mixing in human kingdoms, his personality hadn't changed much. In the original trajectory, he would emphasize that he could use various methods to avenge the protagonist when the protagonist was insulted, and it wouldn't implicate the protagonist; he was considered a subordinate with a bad personality but great loyalty.

Of course, all of this was premised on him recognizing you.

At this moment, Risadilan highly recognized his Captain. In his heart, although Allen was only a half-Elf and his Elven bloodline had thinned to a certain degree, Allen could easily defeat him in a duel and had an excellent reputation in Elacrai, which was enough to earn his recognition.

And this recognition also made him kill without hesitation at this moment.

Allen, having no other choice, casually pulled out his Noldor Rune Longsword from under his green Cloak. The Noldor Rune Armor was revealed as the Cloak fluttered, and he drove the Jatu Warbeast beneath him, nimbly hacking to death the rogue knight who was still in a state of confusion in front of him.

Since he had started, he shouldn't hold back.

"Charge."

The Elves, who had long been unable to restrain themselves, had already fired a round of arrows at the bandits who hadn't reacted before Allen even issued the order. Then, they let out excited roars and commanded their Noldor Warhorses to charge toward the bandits on horseback. As for the infantry composed of refugees, they didn't even bother to look at them.

Those were just some crooked melons and split dates, not worth them making a move.

Those hired young adventurers, seeing that both sides had started fighting, showed helpless expressions as they looked at each other. Everything happened too fast; they didn't even have time to react.

In fact, they had encountered this group of bandits in some previous caravan escort missions. Usually, when bandits came out to extort, it was because they felt their strength was superior, and if the extorted party felt it was too expensive, it wasn't impossible to haggle.

Scenes like this, where one killed without a word and even launched a counter-charge, had simply never happened. They could be considered to have had their eyes opened this time, but since they had taken Allen's money, they had to do the job, so they could only follow their employer and charge toward the enemy.

The target of these young adventurers' charge was naturally those bandits on horseback. It wasn't that they were picky about their opponents; they just knew very clearly that as long as they killed these stronger existences, those guys who were just fishing in troubled waters would naturally flee. Mercenaries didn't get battle merits, so there was no need to slaughter indiscriminately for the sake of heads.

Watching their leader get killed during the negotiation, the bandits naturally fell into a rage. Even if this was an inglorious profession, they had never suffered such an insult.

However, in the process of charging toward the enemy, they suffered huge losses in an instant. Originally, relying on their larger numbers, these bandits had the confidence that they could easily win, but upon contact, their side had actually suffered nearly twenty casualties, while the opposite side only had three or four people fall off their horses.

This huge casualty ratio instantly sobered up these bandits on horseback. However, being sober didn't mean they could leave unscathed. Risadilan, who was already excited, didn't give them a chance to regret it at all, and the young adventurers whose companions were injured also charged toward these bandits again with red eyes.

In this process, Allen also hacked to death a few bandits who dared to raise their weapons at him, and then he had no room to perform; the battle ended under the pursuit of Risadilan and the others.

Several young adventurers who were injured in the charge also received Allen's treatment at the first opportunity. At this time, he had to be grateful for the time he spent as an apprentice in Zendar. At the same time, Allen also used his Qi Technique to snatch a subordinate who was seriously injured and dying back from the hands of the Grim Reaper.

Although those infantrymen ran away, the very experienced young adventurers followed them to the bandits' lair and seized quite a lot of spoils. Even though it wasn't specified in the contract, Allen still divided half of the spoils among these subordinates. Of course, Risadilan and the others also had a share.

As Elf Nobles who had lived in Elacrai for years, they were not particularly keen on money because they didn't lack it; rather, the battle just now made them full of enthusiasm for this journey.

Their identities were naturally exposed during the battle, which made Allen somewhat nervous, even to the point of finding Risadilan and asking them to keep a constant watch on whether these young adventurers left the group; although Risadilan was naive, they were not stupid, and after nodding, they entrusted this matter to their own band of cronies.

However, the next few days were very calm, and no abnormal situations occurred; instead, some young adventurers were very curious about the Elf, and both sides began to chat enthusiastically during their daily interactions.

Perhaps it was because of Allen's generosity, or perhaps because of Allen's treatment of their companions after the battle, or perhaps the powerful martial strength had put pressure on these people, or perhaps these people's character was simply more noble than the average person; in any case, the team remained very calm for the next period of time, and even when everyone rested for a day near Lion City, there was no phenomenon of anyone leaving the team.

Of course, it is also possible that it was the combination of everything that led to this result; for Allen, this was a good phenomenon, because the location of the camp was right before their eyes, situated within the vast mountain range south of Lion City.