Deterrence

When Bishop Gillian led the Goddess of Ocean Currents's party into Snow Bear City, she looked up and saw many familiar faces.

In White Dragon Port, many Mercenary make sure to be on good terms with the Church of the Goddess of Ocean Currents, since many of their mercenary missions are related to the sea, and maintaining a good relationship with the Church of the Goddess of Ocean Currents is always a good idea.

As a Second Order Profession User, Gillian's memory is naturally far superior to that of ordinary people. She can find many familiar faces with just a glance.

"These are all capable Mercenary in White Dragon Port, but these Mercenary alone cannot stop us from obtaining that item."

"He must have other ways to get that thing."

Gillian quickly snapped out of her thoughts. Perhaps the city lord of White Dragon Port had arranged for a Mercenary to seize that item, but on the surface, these Mercenary were still no match for her.

She turned to look at the lord of Snow Bear Territory. Although the lord's strength was somewhat lacking in this war, the final battle would definitely take place within Snow Bear Territory, which clearly enhanced the lord's value.

She looked up and saw a very strange figure.

She wore a pure white robe with a strange snowflake pattern printed on the front, and below it was the mage's insignia of the Alliance.

Fran did not wear the First Order Mage robe that represented her status, but instead wore the robe of the Northern Lands Society, symbolizing that she was a mage of the Northern Lands Society.

Therefore, Gillian didn't immediately confirm that Fran was the Alliance mage, but she also saw the Alliance symbol, which made her very curious.

She went up to Blake and greeted him.

"Lord of Snow Bear Territory, thank you for welcoming the followers of the Goddess of Ocean Currents. May the goddess bless you."

As she spoke, she placed her right hand in front of her chest, pointed upwards, and then calmly lowered it.

"No problem. As long as you don't harm the people of my territory, I will still treat you with the highest honors."

Blake was very assertive. Although he didn't know that his opponent was a Second Order Profession User, he recognized that there were quite a few First Order Profession in the opponent's team.

These First Order Profession alone are several times the number of Profession currently in Snow Bear Territory, yet he remains extremely defiant.

Because he also knew that without the Alliance's name, he would have no way to deal with so many Profession.

He didn't want these people taking anything from his territory!

Blake's firm reply slightly surprised Gillian, who stroked her chin.

Why isn't the Snow Bear Territory lord afraid of me at all? He might not be able to tell that I'm a Second Order Profession User, but he definitely can tell that the First Order Profession in his team are.

He couldn't possibly be unaware of this, so what is this lord relying on that makes him unafraid of them?

Instead of immediately launching an attack, Gillian steered the conversation toward something she was more interested in.

"May I ask who this is? Why is she wearing the Alliance's insignia?"

Gillian glanced at Fran, a hint of coldness hidden in her smile.

Before Blake could answer, Fran spoke first:

"I am naturally the Alliance mage; only the Alliance mages are allowed to have such a design printed on their robes."

These words startled Gillian, because before she set off, her superiors had warned her to be careful of the Alliance.

Gillian had also heard about the Magic Alliance.

In the ports of the Magic Alliance, only a few places are open to the Church of the Goddess of Ocean Currents, while most ports are run by mages themselves.

This greatly displeased the Church of the Goddess of Ocean Currents, and other factions retained only a few ports, while the Magic Alliance did the opposite.

Furthermore, the Alliance has specifically developed many spells adapted to Ocean trade, which has greatly displeased the Ocean Church of the Goddess of Ocean Currents with the Alliance.

However, no action was ultimately taken against the Alliance, after all, the Alliance's Floating City and some of its mages' spells were no joke.

Often, when navigating the Ocean, it is necessary to use spells unique to the Alliance to determine the course.

Therefore, the Church of the Goddess of Ocean Currents is extremely wary of the Alliance, and there are often frictions between them. However, both sides are very restrained and limit the conflicts to local areas.

Now, having arrived in the Northern Territory, she has encountered an the Alliance mage, which makes her extremely wary.

But her expression remained unchanged as she continued to ask:

"Oh? When did the Alliance get robes like this? I remember your the Alliance liked to wear robes with their own spell structures engraved on them, didn't it?"

She knew, of course, that mages in the Alliance often wore robes representing their own School, rather than spells that indicated their specialization.

This is a rumor that has been circulating in mainland China for a long time, and it differs greatly from the actual situation. That's why she brought it up specifically to test whether the other party was really the Alliance mage.

"This is the robe of the Northern Lands Society, which also belongs to the Alliance."

Fran only mentioned what her robes were, completely omitting the second half of Gillian's question.

This left Gillian somewhat confused about whether Fran was actually a mage from the Alliance.

She knew that the word 'learn' was a proper noun used within the Alliance, and many ordinary people living in the Alliance were unaware of it.

However, Fran did not correct the second half of her sentence, leaving her unable to confirm whether the other person was the Alliance mage.

Moreover, Gillian had never heard of the Northern Lands Society before. The Northern Lands Society's name was only well-known in a small part of the Northlands, and the news had not yet reached White Dragon Port.

However, Gillian also knew that there were many societies within the Alliance that she had never heard of, which made her somewhat undecided.

"May I ask what School you belong to?"

"The Sword Chant School," Fran said without changing her expression.

Her identity as a member of the Forge School is now somewhat sensitive; if she were to reveal it, it would only provide clues to those who might be searching for her.

So she chose to disguise herself as a mage of the Sword Chant School, since such mages were very distinctive; a mage wielding a sword would certainly not allow her to associate herself with ' Fran ' from the Forge School.

Gillian frowned, her doubts deepening. She knew that the Sword Chant School was a very famous School in the Alliance.

However, this still did not help her determine whether the other party was a mage from the Alliance.

As far as she knew, most mages who advanced from the Spirit Realm possessed one or two Combat Technique, making them naturally more adept at close combat than the mages of the Alliance.

This made it even harder for her to tell whether Fran was a true the Alliance mage or a figurehead pushed out by the White Dragon Port lord to mislead her into believing the Alliance had intervened in the incident.