Chapter 53, Post-Mortem Analysis (5,000-Word Chapter)

PS: A new chapter is added today, and it may not be there tomorrow.

The two discussed recent events, and Ryan asked about Oliver's party.

"I have already arranged everything for them. I have already helped Gray Blade cancel their mercenary regiment in the mercenary union, helped Blood Ax solve the problem of their possible relegation, and paid most of the remuneration, Wilt They are currently renting a farmer's longhouse with the remaining dozen or so people, planning to spend the Winter Veil Festival in this city, and then consider going to other places after the beginning of spring." Teresa took out a contract and handed it over To Ryan's hands: "This is their mercenary contract, I have verified and signed it."

"Then this." Teresa took out a bag of gold coins and handed them to Ryan: "This is the money Oliver gave us. I don't want my share. I brought yours for you." .”

"You didn't want your share? This is not like you." Ryan took the purse and weighed it. There were at least one or two hundred gold coins. The White Wolf Knight calmly collected the money.

He knew that two businessmen, Oliver and Matz, had suffered heavy losses during this trip, and taking their money at this time was a big blow to them, but Ryan took the money with peace of mind, without any psychological burden.

The reason is simple. If Teresa's spells hadn't repelled the Beastman gang again and again, if Teresa and Ryan hadn't personally dealt with the Doomsday Bull, this group would have become a delicious meal for the Beastmen.

For Ryan, of course he dealt with the doomsday bull because of Urick's oracle, but from another perspective, he also contributed to the retreat of the merchants.

"Then, I have already met with Albert Baker, Earl of Miljordenhaven. This is a middle-aged man in his forties. Nordland has been passed down to the present, so he is a real earl, not a lord of the Nord Kingdom. Albert Baker is characterized by being like a tax collector, and there are a lot of women. It is said that there are female courtiers in his castle There are as many as a dozen people, and there are several people in the outer room.” Teresa took out another document and handed it to Ryan: “This is a nobleman different from Villard. Not from a war background, he prefers to study the taxation of ports and docks rather than fighting wars, and is satisfied with his quiet rule, and under his policy of seeking stability, Mijodenhaven has experienced long-term prosperity."

"So this is a lord who is inclined to domestic affairs?" Ryan touched his chin. After a few days of field activities, thin stubble had grown on his chin.

"From the current information, it is indeed true. Albert Baker is not unreasonable in battle formations, but most of the military operations he has carried out over the years have been to eliminate bandits and beastman tribes. He rarely goes to the battlefield in person, and prefers to appoint himself Although there are very few cases, when he goes into battle in person, he will come to the front line with full armor on a half-breed elf horse, and use a lance to fight against the enemy." Teresa described herself as black jade With her long hair tied behind her ears, the woman leaned half on Ryan's shoulders, her expression was lazy, and she had a unique and charming style that ordinary people could not see. The scent of lavender came to the man's sense of smell.

"Also, this is the list of knights in this town. There are two kingdom knights and five ranger knights stationed in Mijodenhaven. Their lists are all here. I didn't find any particularly famous or powerful characters, not even one This is a member of the Knights." Seeing that Ryan did not subconsciously avoid, Teresa was happy, and her tone became more cheerful: "So for now, we will not stay here for long, and we should not have too much contact with them. More contact is necessary."

"Well, you're right." Ryan kept his expression on the surface, but he was secretly surprised in his heart. He was not surprised that Teresa relied on himself, but was surprised by her intelligence gathering ability and ability to arrange various affairs .

"Here is the city's tax intelligence,

This city can pay taxes of more than 3,000 gold coins a year for their lords. The registered population of Mijodenhaven exceeds 3,000 households. As the largest port city on the west coast of the Nord Kingdom, the maximum mobilization amount is 500 standing troops and 2,000 conscripts. "

It took only one day to collect all the information of the entire city. Sure enough, the women from Jialan can be called good at dancing. If it is Ryan, even if he is a knight of the kingdom, it will take at least three days to do this.

"..." Ryan gently pushed away the female sorceress leaning on his shoulder, and stood up from the soft sofa. Seeing him standing up, the female sorceress also stood up subconsciously, followed behind him, gently asked, "What's wrong?"

"Thinking about it carefully, I think this mission is really a failure." Ryan shook his head with a wry smile: "I set off from Winter City to bid farewell to my adoptive father, and it has been ten days now. Oliver and the others, do you know? The doomsday bull led his war gang to come to us after being notified by Belt."

"But it's not your fault. Chasing evil is what we should do. If we don't chase Belt, he won't do these things?" Teresa walked behind Ryan, expressing her own point of view : "The effect of the Fallen Hunter is like a snowball. If you don't react early, it will become more and more destructive. At least our efforts have forced him to escape from Nord. At least we have eliminated two Beastman Beastmasters during the journey." .”

"But it's not enough, it's far from enough. The only basis for success is to catch or kill Belt, not to make up with these meaningless things." Ryan shook his head: "Our actions were slow at the beginning. If We were not held back by that Beastman warband in the Forest of Meen, and we had a good chance of catching up with Belt in Kaltzenhaven."

"You're right, we're too passive, maybe it's my fault." Teresa finally admitted her mistake generously: "I should have joined you from the beginning, instead of puffing up and thinking that I must be better than you." So I chose to separate, the blood ax guaranteed my safety, but slowed down our steps."

"Oh." Ryan sneered, he never expected those mercenaries to help, as for those wandering knights? Judging from Ike's actions, this kid is more like a philistine mercenary, or a speculative and slick bandit leader. He never thinks Ike is a knight, and he is more like getting along with high-level mercenaries way of dealing with him.

And he had written down the account of being coerced by him.

Ryan once had an extremely vicious idea in his mind.

If he chose to abandon the sorceress and the mercenary group during the encounter in the Mien Forest, let them hold back the Beastmen, and then rush to the port overnight, there is a high probability that he will be able to block Belt.

But he quickly threw the idea out of his head.

First of all, he is a knight. As a white wolf knight, if he does not abide by the eight virtues, he will be no different from those wandering knights who are greedy for money and greedy for profit.

Secondly, as the heir of that person, he has unrivaled pride in his bones, and he would not bother to do such indecent behavior unless it was absolutely necessary.

Just thinking about it, the blood ax mercenary group has grown from a full staff of fifty to now only a dozen or so. They also made terrible sacrifices in order to protect Teresa. Now that Teresa has realized her mistake, it's not good for him to dwell on this issue any longer, so the man stretched out his hand and pressed the woman's shoulder: "Sit down and talk."

"It's you when you stand up, and it's you when you sit down." Teresa smiled brightly, like a plum blossom in midwinter.

Ryan had the illusion that the entire interior of the room was illuminated by her smile.

This smile is intoxicating.

Emmm... In an instant, Ryan had the urge to "the little head directs the big head", and his old face turned a little red.

So the two returned to the sofa. Unlike before, Teresa simply kicked off her high heels and sat on the sofa with her legs bent. Her slender red phoenix eyes first looked at the man, then at herself, and suddenly He laughed and said, "This is the first time I've sat on the same sofa with a man like this."

"Uh...you don't think I'm taking advantage of you." Ryan replied with some embarrassment.

"No... I've always felt that we don't have to be so alien." Teresa stretched out her light-white fingers painted with cardamom nail polish, and lightly tapped Ryan's palm: "You always feel that I deliberately put A cold look, that is in front of outsiders, we are people who can trust each other with our lives, I don't mind this as a woman, why are you embarrassed as a man?"

Ryan thought it might be the same. The congresswoman Garland herself didn't mind, and he didn't suffer from embarrassment.

So the White Wolf Knight, who had been cautiously peeking at the woman's beautiful body and glamorous face before, gradually became presumptuous and bold.

A woman's insight into where a man's eyes are looking is amazing, but Teresa doesn't care.

What Ryan didn't know was that Teresa was of course a normal woman. After her menstrual period ended, her emotional changes would naturally be caused by changes in her menstrual cycle.

In short, she is also more willing to get closer to men these days.

As for which men are worth getting close to...does it need to be said?

After making an appointment to have dinner together in the evening, Teresa spent an hour dedicated to makeup, and then spent another half an hour picking out clothes. Under Dietlinde's guidance, Teresa carefully recalled Ryan's preferences , finally chose this outfit.

Sure enough, Teresa felt very satisfied facing the man's unstoppable amazed gaze. She had always been confident in her beauty.

Hmm~ What am I thinking about?

The woman's face was like a ripe apple, suddenly flushed.

She began to understand what kind of feelings she had for the man in front of her.

"Why is your face suddenly red?" Ryan didn't know what the woman was thinking, but he knew that he couldn't interrupt at this time, so he waited patiently for a while before speaking.

"No, it's nothing, by the way, do you still remember the female mercenary who took care of me during the trip, Emilia?" After figuring out her thoughts, the female sorceress let go of her burden, and she turned towards the man again. Getting closer, almost half of his body leaned against Ryan: "Don't you think it's a little strange?"

"What's strange?" Ryan was a little uncomfortable.

"You said that a teenage girl who walks alone, why is she so clumsy in taking care of her menstrual affairs?" Teresa just wanted to change the subject.

But Ryan suddenly thought of something, and then showed a mysterious smile: "Yes! A girl who lived independently in the wild, a woman who has been a mercenary for many years, is proficient in cooking and medical skills, as well as literate and arithmetic. May be so incapable of taking care of people? So, if you think about it carefully, what might be the reason?"

"There are two possibilities. First, she is afraid of me, and she is afraid that I will be bad for her. Then either she has magical talents, and she is afraid that I will capture her to Sky Dome as a wizard apprentice, or she has a special constitution, and she is afraid I'll use her as an experiment." Teresa raised her first finger first.

Ryan stretched out his hand and pressed it down with his fingers: "This is illogical. As a merchant's daughter and fleeing, it is impossible for her to be as afraid of becoming a wizard apprentice as those noble daughters, and she can get your asylum. She can't wait for it. Similarly, a special physique is possible, but the chance of this situation is too low. She has been operating with these mercenaries for two years. Among the mercenary regiments, she is very eye-catching, if she still has a special physique, she will definitely stay here soon."

The slender fingers like green onions briefly touched the man's rough hand, Teresa subconsciously shook, but she didn't break free.

Because it doesn't feel bad, she can feel the wonderful touch produced by the intersection of the magic power in her body and the energy of Ryan's body.

The two energies are attracting each other.

"Then it's the second possibility. This girl has a secret, and she doesn't want others to know." Teresa stretched out her second finger: "Do you still remember the time when we parted at the gate of the mountain fortress?"

"Well, remember, you let me come back alive, I promised, and I did it." Ryan withdrew his hand and crossed his chest.

"That's not what I'm talking about, you know? Before you came, I let Oliver and Wilt flee for their lives, and I will stay alone to face the Beastman battle gang, but at this time, Emilia did not leave... "Teresa told Ryan that the female mercenary gave her the sword.

"Gift? After the matter is over, is her sword with you now?" Ryan touched his chin.

"No, after the matter is over, she didn't mention the sword again." Teresa shook her head, she changed her posture, shifted her body sideways, leaned on the sofa, and showed her beautiful legs directly in front of Ryan : "This shows that this sword is very important to her. It is completely credible that she said that this sword is her family heirloom. Then she has a secret."

"Yes! She has a secret, and it's a shocking secret!" Ryan said very seriously, but the smile in his eyes became more and more obvious.

"Is she a demon?! Or an undead?!" Teresa was very strange: "Is it impossible? If it is true, I can't feel it."

"It's not right." Ryan stretched out his index finger and shook it, and then said seriously: "The real answer is that she is very beautiful, and she is not far behind you."

"Impossible! It's not that I haven't seen her face... Wait, you mean?!" Councilor Garland just wanted to refute, but she immediately understood what Ryan meant.

"Her appearance is likely to cause her trouble!" Ryan squeezed his chin with his hands: "She seems to have used makeup and other means, and her skills are very sophisticated. Ordinary mercenaries can't see it, even if they can see it." Because of her indispensability, I will do my best to help her keep the secret, but outsiders are naturally different, and her appearance is likely to cause her troubles!"

"Then it all makes sense." Theresa let go of most of the doubts in her heart, but a new question arose immediately: "How did you know? And...she is really beautiful?"

"Because when I was looking for someone, I observed and identified them carefully." Ryan stared at the sorceress' eyes: "Beauty often brings trouble to people, especially between women, jealousy often makes people Unrecognizable, she doesn't want to provoke you, am I right?"

Teresa was speechless, the jealousy among women is really hard to explain.

Forget it, what do those low-level people do? It's enough for Ryan to believe that I'm not that kind of person, Teresa thought, trying to change the subject to avoid a possible argument.

"...Speaking of which, Ryan, your sword... is also your heirloom?" The sorceress suddenly brought up a topic she had always been interested in.

Because at any time, Ryan will carry this sword behind his back, even if two people are sitting on the sofa chatting with dinner tonight, Ryan will just put this sword on the large wooden table within reach.

"...Want to know so much?" A smile flashed in Ryan's eyes.

"Is there a reason why you can't tell me?" Teresa looked at the man for some reason. She secretly felt dissatisfied in her heart, she didn't like the way Ryan kept a lot of secrets in front of her, she wanted to know more about this man.

"This sword?" Ryan stretched out his hand towards the wooden table. With the use of spiritual power, the one-handed sword rose into the air and flew into Ryan's hand.

Level zero cantrip, Mage Hand.

"Yes, this sword, can you tell me in detail?" The sorceress' eyes were as bright as the moonlight, and she immediately sat up, wanting to hear Ryan's secret.

"Oh, let me tell you again someday." Ryan shook his head: "The relationship between us has not reached the time to talk about it."

"You just need to know that this sword is the only thing my father left me."