Chapter 54: Frozen Forest, the Monster World
The thing that made Duwei confused was that the old magician spent Duwei’s money to buy all the things. When Duwei was caught, in his pouch there was more than a hundred gold coins.
Duwei wore a fur coat, a sheepskin hat that covered his ears, and he also put on some snow boots with a broadsword hanging on his waist…Duwei looked like an adventurer, who had always gone to the Frozen Forest.
When they left the hotel, there was a small sleigh outside, and four grey dogs were lying on the floor.
The sleigh was really small, Duwei could only squeeze in with the old magician, and the magician was still wearing the white gown….he seemed to not be scared of the cold. When Duwei was sitting next to him, he found out the secret. This old man had used magic. When Duwei was sitting next to him, he felt like he was sitting near a heater. The old magician was emitting warmness from his body.
“Huh, knowing magic is not such a big deal.” Duwei hummed.
But he was curious, as there was no driver for this sleigh.
This old magician was really a “Genius”, he even knew how to drive a sleigh; he didn’t even need to yell, he just sat in the sleigh and said, “Let’s go!”.
And then the dogs started running! The old magician didn’t need to control the direction, the malamutes would know the way and they kept running. On the white snow, there was a very long track formed from the sleigh. They were heading towards the north.
Even though Duwei had worn the coat and the hat, he still felt the biting pain when the freezing wind blew on his face. He couldn’t even open his eyes. He could just sit closer to the warm old magician to get some comfort.
The wind in the North was like a sharp knife…Duwei had lived in the southern area even in his previous life, and he never went to the north before. He had just experienced this freezing climate a few times before.
On the way, he had to stay with this evil old magician and this god damn climate!
It was still sunny, but there was no warmth. Duwei was frozen like an ice cube. If he had rubbed himself a bit, his skin would burn. Duwei was in so much pain that he thought that he might die.
The Frozen Forest was located to the north…where people said it was at the most northern part of the continent.
There, was also the official “Borderline” of the Roland Empire. Normally, the citizens of the Empire were not allowed to head to the north.
As they went further to the north, there was not only the freezing snow storm in the Frozen Forest, nor the unlimited forest area…but the most important thing was that it was one of the two places where there was magic monsters living on the continent.
The Empire had troops stationed to the south of the Frozen Forest. Northern “Storm Troopers” of the Empire were spreading along the borderline at the south of the Frozen Forest, and there were checkpoints along all the roads to the Frozen Forest.
Of course, these were only the observable ones.
But secretly, there were many mercenaries, and also some small-scale adventure groups, which headed to the Frozen Forest every year…and these people were all talented. There were terrible magic monsters inside the frozen forest, but in their eyes, these were shining gold coins!
If they sold the monster’s fur, or the different monster cores of the monsters in the south, much more money could be earned.
This “Smuggling” was almost an open secret. The Empire actually acquiesced.
The troops stationed at the Southern boundary of the Frozen Forest were used to blocking normal people from entering this dangerous area; but for those adventurers with great skill such as magicians, or senior knights, they could hide silently from the patrols of the troops. For those large scale teams, they even fought with the troops because of the benefits gained from the smuggling.
People in the Roland Region loved fighting much, and although there were only a few magicians, there were many knights. But due to the benefit gained from adventures, many people had still tried to fight for that.
Duwei and the old magician were heading to the north from that town, and after a half day, they arrived at the checkpoint. When the Empire soldiers saw the white gown…These soldiers were obviously stronger than Duwei. There were a few senior knights only wearing a leather corset, with their hairy chests were exposed. They were standing at the checkpoints, whilst grabbing some snow and rubbing themselves. They sang very loudly while they were rubbing.
This checkpoint was built on the continent without using stones…The frozen soil in the North was much harder than the stone. Every summer, when it was warm, they would just grab some softer soil and build it up, water it, and after the freezing night, a wall would be built.
Looking at those soldier with a thick white gown, leather hat with icicles, Duwei didn’t know if he should feel shocked or what, so he just huddled tightly.
The old magician whistled, and the four Malamutes stopped just before crossing.
There were almost a hundred soldiers at this checkpoint. When they saw a little sleigh stopped in front of them in this snowy place, they immediately gathered around it. These soldiers were intentionally touching their broadsword. The leader stopped showering with the snow and also grabbed a spear whilst he rushed to there.
On the snow, this knight’s running speed was very fast. He just ran a bit and then he stood in front of Duwei. By looking at his appearance, he could be called a “barbarian”, as the long beard almost obscured one-third of his face, which made him look very rough, but therefore his martial should be very great by looking at him and how he ran on the snow.
These soldiers blocked the road, and when there was a person who wanted to speak, he glanced at the outfit of the old magician, and he shut his mouth immediately!
The soldiers in the North knew many things, such as every year, there were magicians who liked to come to this place, and catch some rare magic monster in the forest since the magic cores were their favourite magic ingredient.
They looked at the outfit of the old magician and they knew his identity…Although this old magician didn’t have any badge on the gown.
It was normal to have this thing happen in the Frozen Forest…the magicians that came to this place knew the prohibition of the Empire. Although the status of magicians were prestiged, to avoid provoking the Empire, they hid their identity by not showing their magic level badge. So, they could show their identity of being a magician to threaten the soldiers while the could hide their real name and identity.
Since there were only a few magicians on the continent, if they hanged the badge, other people would know their level. If people wanted to give them trouble, they could go to the Magic union and check. Based on the level, the appearance of the magicians could be found out.
So, in the Frozen Forest, the magician would only wear the gown without the badge. This was not a secret habit…It was so called “Doing a bad thing anonymously.”
Duwei was staring and looked a bit excited. In his point of view, it is impossible for this small troop to block their way. Although Duwei didn’t know how powerful the old magician was…by virtue that he could have trained a magic genius like Vivian, and that he could give a dragon to his apprentice as a gift … the strength of this guy should not be weak.
If they really got a fight, Duwei bet that the magician could defeat these hundreds of soldiers in a few seconds.
But Duwei was disappointed.
The magician stopped the sleigh quietly and got a Parchment from his pocket – in the Magic Union, they didn’t like using the normal paper, all the things were recorded on parchment.
“Sir, here is the official document from the Magic Union.” The old magician gave the parchment to the Barbarian Knight, “The Magic union give me the authority to enter this Frozen Forest.”
By looking at this calm old magician, the leader of the knight’s was shocked a bit.
Although he looked rough, he actually was a detailed person. In the past few years, he was ordered to be stationed at the checkpoint of the Frozen Forest, and he knew many things. This was not the first time for him to meet a magician.
But most of the magicians were arrogant. They could actually use magic and fly over the checkpoint, or act like the wind to enter the forest directly; most of the soldier didn’t even know that.
But most of them liked to show off their magic to the soldiers and walked through the checkpoint.
Since this was the habit they all knew, if a magician really wanted to insist forcing his way through, no one could block him.
So, it was very rare that such a kind magician could bring out the legal document politely and looked like wanting to negotiate.
With suspicion, the knight leader received the parchment.
The parchment looked old, the words on it were blurred, there was even some scrap. The leader put it on his hand carefully as he was afraid of destroying that.
As he read the words on the parchment…the leader felt shocked!
“The person with this letter can enter the Frozen Forest without condition, any Empire Arm Force or local authority cannot stop him or her! The validity of this letter is for…one hundred years!”
What the f*** was that? One hundred years validity?
……
This old man was not joking? The leader could not stop to think about this and that. He did meet some liars before….
Everybody knew that in this place, the army generally didn’t dare to stop the magician, but there were some liars wearing the magicians gown to cheat the army.
But, by reading the signature on the document…
“King of the Roland Empire, Austin V, and the Leader of the Roland Continent Magic Union, Julidia.”
The King of the Empire and the Leader of the Magic Union countersigned on the document?
The most unbelievable thing was…
The King of the Empire Austin V had been dead for 60 years already! The Leader of Roland Continent Magic union had been changed too! The Leader who signed this letter died 40 years ago when he was 119 years old.
Signatures from the former king and former leader of the Magic union?
Who the hell was he?
The leader could recognize the Authenticity of this document surely! The signature could be fake, but the stamp on it could not be fake! The stamp of the King of the Empire and the Leader of the Magic Union both got the magic security marking!
When he received the document on hand, the two stamps gradually appeared on the parchment, then faded out…
The leader immediately showed serious respect!
This old magician in front of him must be at an extremely advanced level! At least he was an old man who was living in the period of the former Empire King and the former President of the Magician Party!
This kind of person, the little leader could not take the responsibility of infringing!
The leader even could not stop thinking…100 years validity…so how old was this old man now?
He rolled up the parchment respectfully, gave it back to the magician with both hands politely and said, “Dear sir, welcome to the Frozen Forest! 27th Patrol Unit of the White Wolf of the Regiment of the North Imperial Storm Legion welcomes you! Should you have any requirement, we will try our best to help you! ”
The old magician replied politely, “No, please just get out of the way.”
In short, soldiers in front moved away, even swept out the snow at the gate immediately, and then lined up to farewell the old magician’s sleigh.
They left until they could not see the gate, Duwei could not stop to ask, “Is the document real?”
“Yes…”The old magician replied, “But, today is the last day of the validity.”
Duwei said, “Last day?”
He looked at the side of the old magician and asked, “How…old…are you?”
“Little kid, has the Roland family teacher degenerated to such an extent? You should use an Honorific when asking the age of the senior.” The old magician laughed and said, “Hm….my age…”
At this moment, the old magician’s eyes flashed a trace of melancholy and said, “I forgot it.”