Children

Roy walked into the Town Hall lobby, bypassed the front desk, and went to the Guard Squad's archives.

The room was filled with filing cabinets, and a desk was placed right next to the window by the door. Miss Carlisle and Olsea were the clerks here, responsible for managing the personal files of the resident Half-Elf elves of Rampart Town.

"Roy, it's about time you arrived..." Miss Carlisle turned around and greeted Roy, who was standing at the door.

Roy handed the list of those released on bail to Miss Carlisle's assistant, Olsea. Standing at the window, one could also see several wooden cages in the clearing in the woods.

"What happened?" Roy asked curiously.

Miss Carlisle said with some helplessness, "I heard that these elves are suspected of being involved in the slave trade."

Roy hadn't expected those Half-Elf to be Slave Traders. He hesitated for a moment and said, "The portals to the Pattington Plane have been closed for almost three years. Where could they possibly sell their slaves?"

Olsea walked to the bookshelf, searching for the elf's personal file in the catalog, and interjected:

"The young elves who were rescued say that these Slave Traders wanted to take them to the Pagisto Plateau."

Roy pressed further, "Where were those young elves rescued from?"

"On the western border of the common territory," Olsea said, "Several Slave Traders have escaped and are still being pursued."

Are there still young elves who haven't been saved?

"I don't know," Olsea said.

After the reconstruction of Rampart Town, Woods ' uncle led a group of Half-Elf to plant many apple and orange trees around Rampart Town, and now there are several orchards around Rampart Town.

The Half-Elf gathers Magic Herbs and hunts low-level magical beasts in the jungle here, exchanging these magical materials for necessities to make a living...

Many elven hunters also go into the Blackwater Swamp in groups to hunt the Venomous Horned Black Serpent and dragon flies in the swamp. This hunting activity is very dangerous, but it can also yield valuable monster materials.

Roy thought that the Slave Traders had either been captured or escaped and had completely disappeared.

I never expected to see this in Rampart Town...

Roy walked out of the archives, rubbing his slightly sore eyes; he really had a headache.

Although the Teleportation Portal to the Pattington Plane remains closed, the slave trade in the Pattington Plane has not been completely contained.

In fact, the council leaders and military of Padesto City knew that there were some Half-Elf villages in the southern part of the Griffon Bulwark Mountain Range, and that there were Beast Tamer among them. They were probably worried that these Half-Elf would become a potential threat to the Silver Pegasus Legion. Therefore, the Padesto City Elder Council issued a decree: prohibiting the elves of Rampart Town from trading with the elves in the southern part of the mountains, and even not allowing them to give them the most basic living supplies.

Of the Half-Elf Roy bailed out of Padesto City, at least three had been imprisoned for this type of illegal trade.

For this reason, the Silver Pegasus Legion's troops have always been stationed next to the town.

A group of Slave Traders appeared on the west side of the common territory, and the army stationed in Rampart Town sent Elf Warrior to hunt Slave Traders down, which is why there are so few troops stationed in the town.

Roy walked out of the Town Hall without lingering in his dusty magistrate's office.

This is the central area of Rampart Town. Several horse-drawn carriages are parked in front of the Town Hall. The carriages are filled with neat Wooden Box, which should contain some monster materials.

Half-Elf hunters were also queuing up to sell monster materials.

The Pattington Plane has seen almost no new Adventure Group entering recently, so the elven hunters have had a decent harvest in the jungle, even though the purchase prices are a bit low.

As Roy passed by the only fish stall in town, he noticed a boy wearing an earth-colored linen shirt woven from hops squatting under a tree opposite the stall. His hair was messy and hadn't been cut in a long time. His shirt had several holes and hadn't been mended, but his face was relatively clean.

He squatted quietly under the tree, staring intently at the several frozen fish displayed on ice at the stall.

Roy stopped and walked over with some curiosity.

The boy was probably a Half-Elf. When he realized Roy had noticed him, he immediately became a little nervous. When he saw Roy walking towards him, he turned and ran into the woods.

He must have been very familiar with this place, for he quickly disappeared from sight.

Roy walked up to the fish stall, picked out two sea fish, and bought them.

"Does that child come over often?" Roy asked the fish stall Boss, carrying two large blue fish in his hands.

The Boss covered some ice on top of the other fish and casually said, "You mean those kids? They've been here for over half a year, living in town. They live near the Stream Valley. They usually pick fruit from the surrounding orchards. They don't eat much, so they don't waste fruit and they don't go hungry. Sometimes when they want fish, they wait here. Occasionally, I'll give them some fish that I can't sell and are about to rot. They're just poor kids."

"Don't they have any family?" Roy asked curiously.

The fishmonger thought for a moment before saying, "I don't think so, at least I've never seen one..."

After saying that, he glanced at Roy with some wariness...

Roy then asked, "How many children like this are there in town now?"

The fish stall owner was clearly unwilling to say anything more. He stammered, "There shouldn't be many. It's basically just the same few faces."

Roy knew that he wouldn't get any more information by asking any further questions, so he turned and left the fish stall.

That evening, Woods ' uncle prepared a sumptuous dinner at home to entertain Roy and his party.

Woods ' uncle was very happy to see that Woods had made so many friends. When they talked about Woods' studies in Castleton City, Uncle Woods smiled so much that his eyes almost squinted.

If he didn't declare himself a Great Druid, no one would ever guess that this large-jointed, strong Half-Elf was a druid.

He looked more like a fruit farmer used to doing hard labor in an orchard, and his treehouse was the same, with only a few pots of flowers and plants and a few pruning shears hanging on the wall.

His face also showed signs of aging, but his eyes were gentle and he always had a smile on his face.

He spoke about the situation in Rampart Town, stating that the Silver Pegasus Legion's failure to purge the Rebel Army in the town was a way of fulfilling their initial promise.

The Half-Elf people in Rampart Town are quite content with their lives now.

The only inconvenience is that the Teleportation Portal to the Pattington Plane is still not open, and we don't know how much longer we'll have to wait...

There's not much Roy can do about it.

Roy then talked to Woods ' uncle about the elfin children in the town.

"Are you referring to those foreign kids?" Uncle Woods asked, frowning.

Roy mentioned the Half-Elf child he had seen at the fish stall during the day.

Woods ' uncle nodded and casually replied:

"We rescued them from the Slave Traders. We asked them where their home was, and they only said it was on the Pagisto Plateau, but they didn't know exactly where. We couldn't send them back, so we brought them back to the town."

"Actually, they are quite pitiful. They are so young and homeless. However, they have a place to stay in town, which is arranged by the town. They are also allowed to pick fruit from the orchard. As long as they don't waste it, they can eat as much as they want. They also occasionally go outside the town to collect Magic Herbs to exchange for money. They are very frugal in their daily lives."

Roy initially thought these elf children were orphans of the Rebel Army died in battle, but he never expected them to have been rescued from Slave Traders.

"Are there many children like this in the town?" Roy asked.

"There should be forty or fifty," Uncle Woods replied.

"How can there be so many?" Roy was taken aback.

"Apart from a few who were rescued, the others just appeared out of nowhere... That's the strange thing. And when we first encountered those Slave Traders, it felt like they approached us on their own initiative, and then suddenly they all ran away, leaving behind a few children," Woods ' uncle said to Roy, frowning.

Roy could only say, "Please pay more attention to them and at least ensure their basic living needs are met. If they need anything, they can tell me, and I will take care of coordinating it."

Upon hearing Roy's words, Woods ' uncle immediately relaxed his brow and said gently:

"That's no problem..."

After leaving Uncle Woods' house, Klayr asked Woods with some skepticism, "Woods, is your uncle really a Great Druid?"

"Yes, that's right," Woods answered honestly.

"I really can't believe how simple the lives of druids are," Klayr exclaimed sincerely.

"Our lives have always been like this, you just get used to it..." Woods said from the side.

"He stayed here mostly because he was worried about these Half-Elf. Over the past few years, he's been developing Apple Orchard around the town, hoping that Rampart Town can become self-sufficient," Roy said.

"Roy, when are we leaving Rampart Town?" Klayr asked.

"Wait a minute, I still have something to finish..."

Roy glanced at the Griffon Bulwark Mountain Range to the south and said casually.

On the day he arrived at Bulwark Village, Roy sent out the message, but Kaka and Little Eugene. never showed up. Now that Klayr was asking, Roy was getting a little anxious.

Back at his lodgings, Roy was fast asleep in bed when he suddenly heard an owl hooting outside the window.

Roy woke up with a start. He sat up in bed, hastily put on his Magic Inscription Construct, glanced out the window, and saw an owl with a white crescent moon pattern on its chest on a branch outside. He then jumped out of the window and chased after the owl.