Surviving The Fourth Calamity

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Adrian came down quickly and sprawled comfortably on the sofa, smiling at Hill as he said, "There's always some idiot who makes you think he must have lost his intelligence at birth."

"What did the Nofa family do?"

"You can quickly think of their family, right? After all, they're notorious for their debauchery."

"What have they done? All I know is that someone from their family flirted with a woman from the Undead Tribe and got beaten half to death for it."

"Did you hear it from the Undead Tribe?"

"Stupid fat nobles, leering and audaciously grabbing people and dragging them into carriages, threatening to sell them to brothels if they don't obey— you can tell it's them just by hearing this."

"Were they beaten badly by the Undead Tribe?"

"Oh, it was a group of girls from that family out shopping together. Among them there were both Sky Knights and Magisters! They told me not a single hair was left on him, and whenever they mention him, they refer to him as that Baldy."

"That must be the heir of the Nofa family."

"So, they want revenge? What are they planning to do to anger the Undead Tribe?"

"Oh, Mr. Hill, you should be asking me this!" Suddenly, someone interrupted.

Hill and Adrian turned to look: a deer stood gracefully to the side. Baldy was with two others, clearing out a medicine cabinet.

Hill laughed, "You are finished with your business then?"

The deer nodded, "We just happened to gather yesterday because Romance wanted to see us. Then sisters from the Outer City of other worlds asked for help, so our entire family went to help."

"Your way of communicating can directly connect with the entire Undead Tribe?" Adrian asked, genuinely surprised.

Hill pulled out a sofa, "Beautiful miss, please take a seat! Although we knew there was a fight, we aren't clear on the details. Thank you so much for sharing."

The deer sat down contentedly, and Hill poured her a glass of juice.

Cradling the cup, she said slowly, "Someone put a bounty of 100,000 gold for each girl from the Undead Tribe. If it's one of those involved in burning Baldy that day, the price is 200,000 for each."

Hill thought silently, no wonder they went straight for burning the Nofa family's Sky Knights. It seems the news has already spread far and wide. Those idiots from Nofa still dare to intercept people, just waiting to be dealt with.

"Some of our girls who had recently arrived and stayed in cheap inns in the Outer City dislike fighting. They don't have much money! That area has lots of money-making quests.

We knew it wasn't very safe, but we are protected by Divine Power while we sleep, and usually, everyone's out on missions.

We didn't expect the gang to drug our food during a meal. Probably around a dozen sisters were captured. That Baldy even tried to get handsy and was struck by Divine Thunder.

After the sisters woke up, they planned to leave, but the gang didn't want to let them go, and that's when the fight broke out."

"Initially it was just the Outer City fighting, after all, the deities would tell us who our enemies were so we weren't afraid of hitting the wrong target. We had no idea how many gangs were involved, but the number of enemies kept growing. There were few high-rankers in the Outer City, so they asked for help from other worlds."

"Our family was the first to respond; the city gates weren't even closed yet!"

"With more Mages present, all right! We smashed a few buildings on Pal Street, we found lots of kidnapped people underground, including many children!"

"Those kids were so pitiable. We took on their quest for freedom. Among them were noble young ladies, all snatched by the gang!"

"More and more people came out to stop our rescue. They all ran out from the underground on Pal Street, so we definitely fought! "

"Many people from the Inner City came out to help! Those who tried to block us must have been Baldy's accomplices. The city gates were still closed at that time, so we blew them up."

"Now Pal Street and the urban evildoers nearby have been wiped out, and us warriors of the night retired. I may have bought a lot of potions yesterday, but they are almost used up."

"So we thought we'd buy some potions before going back to sleep."

The deer, beaming with joy, drank the juice heartily, "Ah! This is really delicious. My magic power is all restored! Mr. Hill, what fruit juice is this? Can we buy it?"

Hill looked at her innocent smiling face, feeling a touch of helplessness, "This juice is squeezed from the fruit of Creeping Bluevine. The tree is also known as Emerald Tree, very precious and only the Wood Elemental Spirits can nourish it. It's a specialty of the Elf Kingdom."

"How much does it cost? We could pool our money to buy some."

"This is exclusively for Mages. Didn't William open up two Magic Towers for you to access? My elders bought it from there."

"But the things there require military exploits to purchase! We want territory, what a pity."

Hill, smiling, brought out a jug of juice, "Thank you for clearing up the matter, my lady. Please accept this small token of my gratitude."

The deer accepted it gladly, "Thank you so much! Mr. Hill, you're always so courteous."

Baldy, having finished shopping, came over as well, "Mr. Hill, how long will your store be open?"

Adrian interjected, "We'll return to our territory once William's coronation ceremony is over."

"Ah! That's just three days away."

Hill responded with a smile, "We'll still sell these items in our territory. You know the address, right? You're always welcome to visit!"

Baldy, clueless, said, "We plan to place our territory in the southernmost part near the western Border City. Close to Mr. Adrian's, so that we can also participate in the war."

Adrian's eyebrows twitched, "You're already preparing for war?"

"Yes! William said if we're willing to be stationed in the south, we can directly pick a Border City. The entire city and the land within 300 kilometers will belong to us. A permanent station plus the opportunity to earn military exploits from war—we definitely chose that."

Hill asked, "Have all southern border lands been vacated?"

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"The two central ones, William will have his own people guard. The other four, we'll distribute. However, one of the central ones is quite small. Our top three on the merit board definitely won't choose it. I guess the one ranked fourth will!"

"Right, we have already decided on our family name and emblem," Baldy said proudly, "It'll be called Black Rose. The emblem will simply be a black rose in the center, surrounded by crossed swords, hammers, and magic wands."

"Magic wand?" Adrian asked, puzzled.

"Ah, this is the weapon used by our mages and magicians. We still don't understand why mages here don't use magic wands?" Baldy took out a long wooden stick inlaid with gemstones from his bag.

"To amplify the strength of spells?" Adrian said, showing the seal ring in his hand, "Isn't that only useful for mana gems? Just wearing it on your hand should be enough, so why use such a cumbersome thing?"

"Don't priests also use hammers?"

"Priests derive their power from the gods, and many have only the ability to heal," Adrian said, confused, "Do they use hammers for physical attacks?"

"We also use magic wands to smash when we run out of mana!"

Adrian clearly choked: Seriously? What about your magic scrolls? What about your alchemy potions? If not using those, would physically weak mages really resort to brute force?"

Hill was nearly dying of laughter.

He said to Adrian, "They've just arrived in this world and don't have a stockpile of scrolls or alchemy potions. Otherwise, why would our items sell so fast?"

He turned to Baldy and said, "Priests have their bodies tempered by divine power, so they can swing a hammer. Many mages, on the other hand, are not physically strong, so we usually use magic scrolls and explosive alchemy potions."

"I haven't seen any for sale!" Baldy said, looking confused, "Even Mr. Hill here doesn't sell them!"

"These items are definitely better to have in large quantities. Plus, who knows if those sold would be used against us. Mages make them for themselves!" Adrian stressed, "You haven't been here long, but as a mage, you must make more preparations for yourself. Mana potions have a tolerance effect, drink too much and they'll become useless!"

Hill truly died laughing then.

Baldy tugged at his ponytail, "We don't have such a thing as tolerance in our bodies."

Adrian collapsed in frustration, "Damn God-favored race!"

Hill asked Baldy, "Your family is called Black Rose? William agreed to it?"

"The application passed! There's no issue at all."

Hill exchanged a glance with Adrian, looking at the confident Baldy: His Majesty of Time and Space really doesn't seem to care about saving face for the God of Nobility.

It's been years since anyone outside the Noble Temple's followers dared to use the Rose Emblem.

Hill noticed that no one was entering and that there was someone guarding the door; he turned to Baldy, "Did you flip my sign again?"

Baldy chuckled without speaking, as Dream Awakening quietly stepped back a few paces by the door.

Hill said helplessly, "Forget it, I'm not really in the mood for business anyway, just remember to flip it back when you leave."

The door suddenly opened, and Fran walked in.

Hill and Adrian quickly stood up.

"Grandpa, you're back. Would you like something to eat?"

Fran looked puzzled at the Undead Tribe in the shop, "I thought you had closed up."

Hill could only say, "Just trying to get some information from these people, I don't want anyone else coming in for now."

Fran nodded, "Give me something to eat then, my head is aching, and I need a drink."

He sank into the sofa with a sigh, "What a busy day."

Hill laid out a table full of dishes and poured some wine for Fran, "Grandpa, let's sell some of the Mage Potions from your Alchemy Hut!"

Fran asked in surprise, "The Undead Tribe is actually willing to spend money?"

"Your Alchemy Hut is about to be sold out," Hill said, "Adrian's stock has been cleared out."

Fran looked over at Baldy and the others, full of anticipation, and placed a batch of advanced potions in the central medicine cabinet.

Baldy and the others almost pressed their faces against the crystal cover, "My God! Potions that add attribute points! Call the others! Let's buy first!"

Fran ate and watched, "They sure have a lot of crystal stones! No wonder the fight lasted till now."

Hill asked, "Are they still fighting?"

Fran downed a glass of wine, "Six streets near Pal Street have been cleared. William's men have already taken over."

Adrian quickly poured more wine for him, "When I left, it was only four streets!"

"The Nofa Family is no more. William sure reacts fast," Fran said, "Turns out there were children from the Earl's Family among those saved by the Undead, and even if not direct descendants, the Nofa Family reached too far. Anyway, their Sky Knight is dead, so William just seized their title, no one even spoke up for them."

"The two additional streets were Nofa's influence, weren't they?" Hill sighed, "Does their family really depend on that kind of business for income?"

"Only such a foolish family would get their hands dirty like that," Fran said disdainfully, "William doesn't need to worry anymore, the underworld of the Capital is thoroughly crippled."

Hill commented, "Well, that's good at least."

"Pal Street is completely gone now, and William's people have announced they're going to build a big cathedral there."

"Still not constructing a temple?" Adrian said, "So he really plans to wait until he's done with Rose to establish the Divine Throne."

Fran nodded in agreement.