At this time, Altera’s blonde heartthrob—Oslo—was rushing over to Altera, having left his home city a day prior.
Counting down, he still had a day of travel. Fortunately, he got a beast carriage for himself, otherwise the trip back would’ve taken even longer.
The Chancery of Appointments teleportation array could only be used once during the hiring. Unless Altera fired and timed his rehiring, which was a tough bet, he wouldn’t be able to come the same way.
Of course, there was another way to teleport without a portal. That was: to join an enemy village that would attack Altera.
Heh…
Maybe he’d get skewered by ice picks first.
"Are we there yet?" Obi asked loudly from his own carriage. He asked this question precisely 10 minutes ago.
Oslo rolled his eyes. How old was he? Wasn’t he already in his mid-30s? Why was he like a kid?
"A bit more!" he yelled back, "And don’t you travel often to assist in territory wars? What are you doing so impatient!?"
"..."
Obi crossed his arms, realizing the validity of his point (not that he’d admit it). However, he was the youngest next to Oslo and was also relatively spoiled for a while. This attribute was activated often when he was with family.
Otto, who was in the carriage behind him, cackled. "So much for being a grand guard!"
Obi clicked his tongue, "This place better be worth it!"
"No one forced you to come!" A feminine voice from another carriage responded. This was Olga who was, at this time, lounging about in her own car with her maids, eating some dried gouji fruits she bought from a specialty store back in the city.
She didn’t seem particularly satisfied.
"This used to be your favorite…" The long-haired Ogro said, worried for her. The short-haired Oren shook her head and tried getting other snacks from her space, which also didn’t seem particularly appetizing to her anymore.
Ogro and Oren were twins who served as her guards and maids since she was a child. They knew her preferences and she did usually like what they brought her.
Olga sighed, "Well, the snacks Oslo brought spoiled everything else."
At the recollection of those delicious snacks that got consumed too quickly, a lot of her ladylike training went down the drain. "Can’t we just hurry up! I want to get there already!"
Oslo sighed, hearing the interaction from his own carriage. Their windows were opened so everyone could talk to everyone else as needed, but Oslo was very tempted to just close everything to get his peace and quiet.
Obviously, they were all raised to act with grace and poise, why was everyone so immature when alone together without parental supervision?
Obi, Otto, and Olga had insisted on coming with him to Altera. He tried to warn them of the long and tiring trip—as they had never gone to this mountainous area before—but they were vehement.
They were smitten with the products he brought and they refused to wait another month for his return.
Of course, he also brought with him some magic tools the Lord would definitely love. He also bought tons of potions for her to study—some of which available only in cities.
For example, there were the Beast Repelling Potions which could let one avoid certain levels of monsters (something doused in their carriages as well) and the Beast Attracting Potion, which had the opposite effect. It was a bit more expensive with absolutely secret ingredients.
Sadly, he wasn’t able to get an amputation potion from their city pharmacist because he was locked by the Lord to do stuff. Next time, he mused, he should be able to procure the potion, even if it cost hundreds of gold…
This brought an image of her smiling face and he ended up smiling goofily in response. It was just that it was promptly wiped out by the image of her husband’s dark face.
Speaking of her husband, Oslo also brought some items for him. They were mostly equipment. For Garan himself, he brought a Class B sword and there were others for his team.
These equipment were mostly Class C with the lowest ones at Class D. These were really varied and it would definitely raise the guard team by another level.
He also brought some gadgets Ansel would definitely like. For instance, the Magic Sound Amplifier, which could allow a voice to travel farther distances. It was much better than their cone.
And, of course, he also brought the children’s toys. He had to admit the Alteran’s toys were really fun and creative, but the special toys he bought—usually available only for city nobles—were magic tools that used aether! freewebnøvel.com
They were also very expensive, but seeing those cute little babes chuckling just made him—and everyone else, for that matter—so happy!
Similarly, he asked his siblings to bring items themselves to trade.
Although they had money, Altera lacked these magical things, and it was his way to add these novelties in circulation.
Considering how innovative people there were, who knew, maybe they’d figure out how to build them. That way even his family could purchase these things from Altera, which would definitely be much more affordable than purchasing them from other territories that charged too much.
Inevitably, his mind moved to his happy days there. The nights at the tavern, the shopping, the bonding with the citizens…
One Token was already big, even if it was just a village, let alone combined tokens. This amount of power was no joke. However, after so long, how many territories could really crush others of the same level to the point they’d get their Lord Tokens?
Very few, right? At most they would just win, weakening the territory bit by bit by taking their resources through the victories, eventually gaining the Token.
But this would often take years, especially if one didn’t have backing.
But the arrival of ’new people’ meant something different.
When new territories—possibly thousands—appeared, it would equate to hundreds or thousands of lord tokens becoming available. Many lords who had yet to fill up their merge slots would definitely want a piece or two!
This fact would undoubtedly cause a sensation.
If this was made public…
Just the thought of it made Oslo’s stomach churn.
Wouldn’t people surge to attack their territory to get the Lord Token?
The only bright side was that this secret not a lot of people knew of.
Even if there were rumors, this was suppressed by the interested parties. It must not have been publicized by those who knew because they wanted the loot to themselves.
Otherwise, millions of people and thousands of new territories appeared 20 or so years prior, how could the common people not even hear rumors?
They didn’t even know, nor care, about that civilization’s name.
They must have been attacked for their tokens back then, barraged by wars as soon as they were exposed.
Silently, the newly-arrived aliens just became slaves, having no control over their lives.
Would this time be the same?
It was estimated subsidiary villages of the privy people in power would be arriving in their territory soon…
Was Altera ready for such a surge?
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