The Mystic Dominator

news from the line merchants

Following the traveller into the tent pitched on the wagon, straw and curtains had been covered long ago for protection against moisture and dust, sleeping on it was no problem at all.

　　Through the firelight leaking in from outside, Ronald took a look at the not-so-large space in the dimness.

　　The wagon was an ordinary carrier, and even the tent overhead had been added later by the owner. Located underneath the two people were neatly arranged wooden boxes and sacks that could be felt through touch, and some crop particles could barely be seen through the cracks of the carriage.

　　Oh ......

　　This is not a coincidence?

　　Just now when rushing past the farmland, Ronald had seen this kind of crop in the field, but judging from the colour of the seeds, the ones on the town's side were still far from ripe.

　　With that, Nessus' identity was quietly presumed in Ronald's mind.

　　The next conversation before going to sleep, he was even more afraid to relax at all times, and had been fighting with all his spirit to deal with this guy.

　　But there were some surprises.

　　Lying together on the carriage, Mr Traveller was very talkative, and did not continue to ask for too much information about himself.

　　The focus of the conversation was basically on Nessus himself.

　　He introduced himself as Nessus Robin, originally a commoner in the First Empire of Entrod. Ever since he was a child, living in a countryside village, he was not willing to be a farmer for the rest of his life until he died, so at the age of thirteen, he secretly followed a passing traveller and sold himself as an apprentice.

　　Since then, he has travelled extensively and has had many experiences, and is now an adult.

　　Although he is married and has a daughter, and has savings in the bank, he has never had the chance to buy a suitable shop.

　　Nessos understands the future development of the world, in this environment to go to the countryside to buy a house to retire, almost the same as letting their children give up the future of a good life.

　　And buying a house in the city ......

　　The house price of the preferred place, that is the city development together with the rising boat.

　　If the residence is not a problem, but to dish out a shop is absolutely unaffordable.

　　And do not do business, all his life in the business of what industry he can go to engage in?

　　He might be able to find a job, but it would not be a comfortable one.

　　That's why, forced by reality, he still insisted on travelling between many countries, doing the business of buying and selling to try to fight for his life.

　　It was a pity that he was already old.

　　In this day and age, 35 years old and above would be considered an absolute old age.

　　Nessus tended to have a feeling of being overwhelmed by doing business nowadays, with all sorts of new things making the world more and more unfamiliar to him, and thinking to himself that perhaps it really was time to retire.

　　Introduced to this point, and revealing his family's wealth as well.

　　The slightly tired merchant showed more enthusiasm in conversation than he could have imagined.

　　Could it be that his status as a nobleman was so appetising?

　　To a certain extent, Ronald had even mentally prepared himself for the possible classic drama of a rich merchant marrying his daughter.

　　The inclination in the other party's words should not be too obvious!

　　However something unexpected happened once again.

　　This night's exchange suddenly came to an end.

　　The flow after Nessus did not go as Ronald expected, just some deeply exaggerated heart-to-heart conversation, this businessman urged Ronald to sleep on the grounds that it was hard work to make the journey, and the enthusiasm in his tone faded very quickly.

　　It was well that--

　　The result of nothing happening was just what Ronald wanted.

　　Assuming that a dowry plot would come up now, his persona as a downtrodden nobleman was not really convenient for him to reject it out of hand.

　　If he really wanted to agree, what should he do then?

　　He couldn't really just follow this guy 'on the road' together!

　　Just like this, the two people who each had their own agenda fell asleep in the carriage, not knowing who was actually counting on who.

　　--

　　The rain is over.

　　Ronald and the traveller, with their backs facing each other, awoke together in the early morning carriage.

　　After a night of heavy rain, the next morning the caravan did not delay much, packed up the camp and set off again through the mud.

　　Although the roads were in poor condition, there were no particularly serious problems to impede their progress.

　　Taking the opportunity to do so, Ronald had a good day's rest in the wagon. By engaging in appropriate conversation and small talk with the people in the caravan, he was considered to have initially integrated into this team.

　　The number of carriages he saw last night corresponded to the composition of this merchant team.

　　Among the four carriages, apart from Nessus who negotiated with himself last night, the other three carriages belonged to three different merchants, and the guards were also hired by each of the four merchants, and then rested alternately according to their turns.

　　For the other three traders, the situation was not quite the same as Nessus.

　　All three of them were adult males, one of them, a fellow called Thomson, also brought a young apprentice along with him, looking like he couldn't be more than 14 years old, and the goods that several of them dealt with were all different.

　　During the conversation on the road, Ronald also made use of his noble identity that was eager to get information from the outside world, and learnt more new news.

　　As merchants who travelled in all directions, these guys could definitely be called well-informed.

　　It was far better than those information obtained in the notes.

　　First of all, the location where the travelling merchant team was located, namely this imperial country called Grid, had already ruled this land for more than 350+ years, and was the southernmost tip of the Latojoa continent, as well as the world's well-deserved number one power.

　　Economy, politics, culture, science ......

　　All aspects are at the forefront of the world.

　　Geographically-

　　The location of the town at the beginning of Ronald's journey belonged to the territory of Grid.

　　It was located in the radius of the agricultural area at the edge of the large city of Berenwich, and was also the extremely bordered and desolate area of the Grid Empire.

　　To the south of the town was a coastal area without a good harbour, with reefs and cliffs making it a natural hazard, while to the north and east was the thoroughly virgin forest of Joyez, a thoroughly undeveloped area.

　　Finally, there was the direction from which Nessus and his party of traders had come.

　　That said, it was also the skill of this group of well-informed traders.

　　Between the cliffs to the south of the Forest of Joiz and the north of the sea, there existed an old road that had been destroyed by an earthquake a hundred years ago, and was now basically unusable due to its age.

　　They, the merchants, were taking the risk of using this 'shortcut' to bypass the Yoyz Forest in order to achieve a quick entry and then start their business activities.

　　But unfortunately, this hidden merchant road was probably not going to be used in the future.

　　About 40 years ago, after the previous Queen Dantrian I declared the inventor's steam engine legal for civilian use, becoming the first country in the world to start the steam revolution, and thus establishing the country's hegemony, the other countries were also realising how powerful the power of this rapid development was.

　　Across the Joyce Forest, the country called Entrod followed the same path.

　　Unfortunately, the king of Entrod didn't have the same ruling ability as Dantrienne I. Because of the distribution of benefits and various conflicts that arose, the country fell into serious civil unrest 6 years ago.

　　Until recently, the largest army in Entrod barely completed the unification of the domestic armed forces, and has now evolved into a military state called Entrod Second Empire.

　　No matter how bold these merchants were, they wouldn't dare to do smuggling under the eyes of the murderous military merchants.

　　In the end, it was also the destination of this group of merchants.

　　After entering the border of Grid, their first and foremost goal was Berenwich.

　　The most modern and prosperous city in the eastern region of Grid!