Chapter 150: Border Lockdown
Wade wandered around the abandoned wooden cabin again and again, unable to find any sign of activity.
The experience just now felt like a dream, but as a person, he had truly seen Toven’s life flame.
It was like encountering a ghost; he couldn’t explain what had actually happened.
He pressed forward and soon found the only small town in Opal.
It was a gnome town, with short round houses spread across the lush green plains. The red rooftops looked like mushrooms with open umbrellas, and many little gnomes, no taller than half a person, walked back and forth along the streets.
Wade found the Adventurers Guild located prominently in the town and handed his adventurer badge to the receptionist.
The Adventurers Guild was the only human gathering place in the town. It functioned as both an inn and a tavern, where merchants and adventurers coming to Opal gathered inside.
As a Silver-rank adventurer who had completed many tasks, Wade could stay in the guild for free for three days.
After checking in, he asked the receptionist for an adventurer’s map of the area around Opal and inquired about the wooden cabin.
“You mean the abandoned cabin next to the forest?” The receptionist’s face showed a recalling expression. “I’ve heard about that place. It used to be the home of a strange wizard, but I don’t know when he left. That wizard… yes, his name was Toven.”
“Yes, he was a blind wizard. It’s really hard to imagine how he brewed potions and studied spells.”
“Are you planning to go to Nidran? Oh, that letter probably hasn’t reached the guild on the opposite side of the river yet.”
“That’s right. Near Opal, at the Nidran border, it seems a plague has broken out. The king ordered the border to be sealed off; no one is allowed to pass through. The guild has already received official written documents about the border lockdown.”
The receptionist looked around and lowered his voice.
“I’ve heard rumors about you, Iron Mask. You’re a good person, so I’m telling you this message.”
“That rumor is something I privately heard from adventurers. It’s said that near the border, fully armed paladins and priests from the church have entered. It seems to be more than just a simple plague.”
“If you don’t have urgent matters, it’s best not to go that way for now. The guards at the border checkpoint won’t let anyone through.”
“Is there any other route?” Wade wrote on a piece of paper.
“Do you really have to go to Nidran?” The receptionist asked quietly.
Wade nodded; he had traveled for over a year just for this.
Helburg was his second hometown. If something really happened there, he felt he might be able to do something.
“That…” The receptionist looked troubled.
He seemed to know other ways to cross the border but was unsure whether to tell Wade.
“My family lives in Helburg, Nidran.” Wade wrote again on the paper. “I just want to go home.”
Seeing this, the receptionist suddenly understood.
“I get it,” he said. “I’ll ask my friends for you. If there’s a way, I’ll let you know tonight.”
“Thank you,” Wade raised his badge.
“This is the room key.” The receptionist handed Wade a copper inn key. “The room is on the second floor, farthest to the right.”
Wade pocketed the key and took out some silver coins to give the receptionist.
But the receptionist pushed the money back. “Maybe you’ve forgotten, but half a year ago, I heard there was a ranger wearing an iron mask who eliminated the man-eating bear goblin tribe in Katavel. Katavel is my hometown, so please take this as my thanks for protecting the land where I grew up.”
Wade looked into the receptionist’s eyes and silently took the money back. He remembered those bear goblins.
Bear goblins were low-value prey. They didn’t have warm fur like beasts, and their bones and teeth couldn’t be used as spell materials. Hunting one was less profitable than killing a deer.
At least deer meat could be sold, but bear goblin meat was sour and rotten, disgusting enough that even dogs wouldn’t eat it.
On the other hand, these monsters had simple intelligence and were difficult to hunt. They could communicate in rough language, and as their name suggested, they had bear-like strength. Like trolls, they could smash a person into meat paste with one blow.
Without enough rewards, adventurers usually didn’t want to face such monsters.
Adventurers risked their heads fighting monsters in a life-or-death battle; if they couldn’t even recoup the cost of equipment damage and potions, who would take such tasks?
Those bear goblins lived far from the lord’s territory. To the lord of Katavel, they were just pests that occasionally snatched some farmers and livestock from nearby villages to eat. They did not threaten his castle and weren’t considered a problem.
The nobles living in the castle didn’t issue any tasks to hunt the bear goblins.
Only the nearby farmers scraped together money, hoping to hire adventurers to kill the bear goblins for them.
The reward for that task was twelve silver coins, plus some local farm produce, including corn, wheat, and counted chicken and duck eggs.
Honestly, that reward was barely enough to hire someone to kill one bear goblin, let alone a tribe of about five to six.
The task sat in the Adventurers Guild for a full three months without anyone taking it.
Wade heard about it while traveling, from a merchant casually chatting.
Later, he deliberately detoured to the mountains to find that bear goblin tribe, where there was also a group of lower-level goblins.
Wade summoned his elf skeleton army and spent half a day wiping those monsters out.
In the nest, he found no fewer than a hundred human skulls. Those brutal monsters piled human skulls into small mountains.
They kidnapped people in rotation to eat; although they caught no more than ten people a month, the total number eaten had accumulated to over a hundred.
The nobles turned a blind eye. Only the farmers paced anxiously at home, wondering how those villagers, who rarely left their villages, managed to unite and go to the lord’s castle to post the task together.
What must it feel like for farmers wearing dirt-stained clothes and shoes, carrying duck eggs, chicken eggs, wheat, and a large sum of money raised by their neighbors, to stand in the hall of the Adventurers Guild?
When they returned to their village with that disappointing news, would they feel ashamed facing the hopeful villagers?
Wade listened as the merchant laughed and mocked those farmers as “old fools” and “ignorant,” treating it all as a joke. After all, monsters devouring people happened every moment. If it didn’t happen right before their eyes, they simply didn’t care.
For merchants who could afford to hire adventurers as guards, they could never understand the helplessness and fear of being a farmer.
After hunting the bear goblins, Wade took the huge ugly skulls to the nearby village.
It wasn’t to collect a reward from the villagers but to tell them the monsters had been eliminated. They no longer needed to live in fear of monsters breaking into their homes to drag away their parents, wives, or children.
When he left, he didn’t take any reward. The farmers wanted to give him eggs and milk, but he didn’t need food or drink. He left before nightfall and didn’t claim any reward from the guild, as he hadn’t accepted the task when he arrived.
He never thought that his good deed from half a year ago would be repaid today.
Perhaps this was what they called good deeds being rewarded. Because he did that good deed without asking for anything in return, he unexpectedly received a reward today.
Wade went up to the second floor of the guild, turned the key, and opened the room.
It was a large room with a balcony and an open view. The room was clean and tidy, with neatly folded bedding on the wooden bed.
He stood on the balcony, admiring the sunset over Opal.
The sunset bathed those mushroom-like small houses in color. When night fell, lights lit up inside the houses.
On the vast plains, it really felt like he was in a fairy tale.
Yes, the scenery was truly beautiful.
He thought to himself that he really did like watching this world.