Conflict Zone

From Ars to the Conflict Zone, the road passed through Milport Territory and Usur Territory in the Asura Kingdom, crossed the Red Dragon Lower Jaw, then continued east for another half a month before reaching the Conflict Zone.

The journey was mostly safe. The Asura Kingdom went without saying; along the way, you basically wouldn't run into Demonic Beasts. As for the Red Dragon Lower Jaw, as long as you didn't take the risk of traveling over the mountains, it wasn't especially dangerous either.

After reaching the Conflict Zone, there was a high chance we would get swept into a war, but I had already thought about how to extricate myself.

This was the good habit I had developed over many years as an adventurer: no matter where I went, I gathered intelligence in advance and made proper plans.

Adventurers who didn't plan ahead were always killed by accidents. Only those who made long-term plans could live long. Those were Clark's exact words, the ones he used to nag us with all the time.

The trip through the Asura Kingdom was extremely boring. Along the way, I told Eris all about my experiences as an adventurer, and it made her yearn for it deeply.

When we passed through Bonn City in Milport Territory, she also went to the Adventurers' Guild to register as an adventurer, then directly joined my party, Dawn of Ignis.

When she was registering as an adventurer, I had to prepare supplies for the road ahead, so I wasn't by her side. By the time I came back, I saw Eris being invited by an adventurer party.

It was a party called Counter Arrow. The leaders were a mage and a female warrior with dreadlocks, a style of dress that was very rare in the Asura Kingdom.

When I came over, they saw that Eris had a companion and even tried to recruit me. I gave them a disdainful glance, then showed them my adventurer's tag.

"An S-rank adventurer! Sorry, we've truly been rude. We won't bother you any further!"

Heh heh, I finally got to show off in front of Eris. Watching her look at me with worshipful eyes made my vanity swell to bursting.

If strength wasn't used to show off, then strength had no meaning at all.

However, when the Counter Arrow party left, the little girl at the very back looked back at me with disdain. I didn't care, but Eris bristled on the spot and threw out a, "What are you glaring at?"

The other girl had just been about to retort when her companion covered her mouth. That companion gave us a professional smile and said, "Sorry, sorry. This little girl was born with rather fierce eyes. Please don't mind her."

Then they walked out of our sight.

What a strange party. Hopefully they wouldn't get wiped out in some inexplicable place!

After leaving Bonn City, Eris and I didn't delay anywhere else and headed for the Conflict Zone. After all, this trip was to rescue people, not to go adventuring along the way.

Eris understood that very clearly too. Although she longed for the life of an adventurer, she wouldn't delay the time needed to rescue her parents just because of her own longing.

After traveling for almost a month and a half, we arrived at the Red Dragon Lower Jaw.

The Red Dragon Lower Jaw was different from the Red Dragon Upper Jaw. The Red Dragon Upper Jaw was a valley, with enormous peaks standing tall on both sides, but the route through the valley was still relatively level.

The Red Dragon Lower Jaw was completely different. We had to follow a rugged mountain road upward, advance along small paths between the Red Dragon Mountains, then finally follow the mountain road back down.

From the mountains on both sides, the cries of dragons rang out from time to time. Compared to the Red Dragon Upper Jaw, the Lower Jaw was several levels harder to traverse.

No wonder the Asura Kingdom had never thought about expanding outward. If they marched troops through here, they would probably draw down several Red Dragons.

After nearly half a year of difficult travel, Eris and I finally arrived at the Conflict Zone.

The Conflict Zone was very similar to that region where I had rescued slaves on my way to the Biheril Kingdom before.

On one stretch of continent, there were over a dozen small countries. Every country had allies and enemies. They attacked one another, and the losers became the slaves of the victors.

Because this region was especially close to the Asura Kingdom and the King Dragon Kingdom, those two powerful nations often supported their own proxies here.

They expanded their countries' strength and influence through proxy wars. This was also why, after so many years, the Conflict Zone still had not been unified.

Or rather, the Asura Kingdom and the King Dragon Kingdom both knew very well in their hearts that the other side could not truly rule this region, so they deliberately maintained the division of the countries here. If a powerful force appeared with a trend toward unifying the Conflict Zone, the forces backed by both countries would attack that newly risen power at the same time, ensuring the continued division of the Conflict Zone.

The Asura Kingdom could not directly rule this region because of the existence of the Red Dragon Lower Jaw. As for the King Dragon Kingdom, it was too far away, with the three small countries of Shirone, Kikar, and Sanakia standing in between, so its whip was a bit too short to reach.

If the King Dragon Kingdom unified those three small countries, then at that point, the King Dragon Kingdom's tentacles would finally extend into the Conflict Zone.

Only a unified country could bring peace and tranquility to the people here.

In fact, the Conflict Zone also had one force with an extremely transcendent position, and that was the Millis Teaching Knight Order.

The so-called Teaching Knight Order was a mercenary force that sent young knights to the Conflict Zone to cultivate war experience, while also being responsible for spreading the doctrine of the Millis Church around the world.

This force had great influence in the Conflict Zone, and they stood aloof from it all, not participating in any faction. Locally, they were only responsible for spreading the doctrine of the Millis Church.

Because Millis was powerful, the forces of the Asura Kingdom and the King Dragon Kingdom would not trip them up. That was why they were my greatest support in searching for people in the Conflict Zone this time.

After all, I couldn't personally search every country in the Conflict Zone one by one. Getting swept into a war once would be fine. But if I were constantly dragged into wars and my strength as a King-ranked mage was exposed...

Then the entire Conflict Zone would encircle me. After all, with a King-ranked mage, if he couldn't join one's own country, then he absolutely couldn't be allowed to join another country either. So it would be easier to just kill him.

So after entering the Conflict Zone, I used magic very rarely. Eris and I traveled together, and any Demonic Beasts, bandits, or small groups of scattered soldiers we encountered on the road were basically handled by Eris.

When necessary, I would also use the Meteor Sword and step forward to help, acting like a swordsman. That way, things would be very safe.

Just like that, I arrived at the first major city in the Conflict Zone, Lars City.

Lars City now belonged to a country called Hilton, but this city had changed hands many times in history. The local residents had long since grown used to changing rulers at any moment. Every household prepared flags from multiple countries so they could switch them out whenever necessary.

After arriving at Lars City and taking a brief rest, Eris and I headed to the largest local Millis church.

I had to say, the Millis Church did extremely well in the Conflict Zone. After all, people who were in danger of losing their lives at any moment were more likely to entrust their hearts to faith.

And believing in the Millis Church also had great benefits. When encountering scattered soldiers looting and abducting people, declaring your faith often scared off the more timid ones. At worst, you usually wouldn't become a slave.

So the Millis Church's churches here were even grander than the churches in ordinary Asura cities, and there were more people praying inside as well.

After waiting in a long line for about thirty minutes, I entered the confessional. Without doing anything complicated, I handed the priest on the other side of the confessional my deposit certificate from the Millis Bank.

After a short silence, the door was opened. I was led into another quiet room.

Eris seemed to be coming to a Millis church for the first time. Beside me, she looked a little restless. I held her hand, and after taking a moment to react, she held my hand back too. I felt that she had already recovered her calm.

A little while later, a bishop in an elaborate white priest's robe entered the room.

After we exchanged bows, I explained why I had come.

"I didn't come here to withdraw money. I believe you already know my situation. My purpose in coming this time is to search the Conflict Zone for my uncle and aunt, who were accidentally teleported to this region because of the magical disaster."

"Oh? According to the information we checked, neither you nor your aunt and uncle are followers of Millis. Are you considering converting to the Millis faith?"

"Haha, you must be joking. My family and I have no plans to believe in Millis for the time being. I can use the funds in my account to pay the reward for this search."

"Very well, poor lost lamb. May you soon find your way back and enter the embrace of Saint Millis."

After I briefly described the physical features and appearances of Philip Boreas Greyrat and Hilda Boreas Greyrat, I remembered something else.

"Oh, right, there's one more person. She's a beastfolk, the Sword King of the Black Wolf, Ghislaine Dedoldia. If you find any information about her, please tell me as well. I'll pay the same price for information on her."

"That is acceptable. For Philip Boreas Greyrat and Hilda Boreas Greyrat, the search fee is 1,000 gold coins per person. We will mobilize the entire Millis Teaching Knight Order throughout the Conflict Zone to search for them. If the result is that they are already dead, or if no specific information on them can be found, you will need to pay 200 gold coins per person.

As Ghislaine Dedoldia is our allied beastfolk, we can give you a discount. If we find her, it will be 200 gold coins. If she is dead or no information can be found, there will be no charge.

This search is expected to take two months. During these two months, I suggest you wait in Lars City and do not run around."

"Very well. I accept that price. I'll be waiting in the largest inn in Lars City. I hope I end up paying the additional 1,600 gold coins in information fees."

"You truly are an optimistic child. May Saint Millis bless you."

After leaving the Millis church, Eris and I returned to the inn in Lars City. Eris was full of admiration for what I had done today.

"Cousin, how did you think of asking the people of Millis to help us look for my parents?"

"What do you mean, how? I thought of it with my brain. Don't tell me what you had in mind at first was for us to search city by city? If we did that and happened to miss your parents once, we might never find them again."

Eris blushed a little. She probably really had thought we would stupidly search through the Conflict Zone city by city for traces of her parents.

"Then, Cousin, why don't we believe in the Millis faith? That way, wouldn't we be able to save more than 2,000 gold coins? That should be a huge amount of money, right?"

"Ah. With religion, sincerity is what matters. Believing in a religion just to save money is trampling on faith. Besides, your cousin already has a belief."

I couldn't exactly tell Eris that her cousin didn't want to believe in Millis just so he could marry several wives, could I?

"Oh, Cousin, what belief is it? Is the god you believe in really amazing?"

"Haha, I believe in materialism. I believe in the truth of this world. Tell me, isn't that amazing?"

Eris only half understood and had no idea what materialism was. Even so, she still felt it sounded impressive and nodded.

The days passed one by one. Since we had nothing to do in Lars City, I took Eris to accept a few simple commissions and helped fulfill her dream of being an adventurer.

At the same time, I trained her in some essential adventurer skills, such as cooking in the wild, pitching tents, and skinning Magic Beasts. Although she probably would not use these skills in the future, we had plenty of time anyway. When there was something to do, time always passed faster than when sitting around idle.

And so, we waited in Lars City for two months. Just as we were growing impatient, the people from the Millis church came to find us.

"I have not failed your trust. We found the people you were looking for, Philip Boreas Greyrat and Hilda Boreas Greyrat. Ghislaine Dedoldia is also with them.

At present, they are in Hammerbolga, Town of Forging, in the Mercenary State of Malzian. The people we sent to find them have already informed them that you are looking for them. We have also assigned people to protect them and asked them to remain where they are.

If you need us to send the Teaching Knight Order to escort them to Lars City, you will need to pay an additional 500 gold coins."

"No need. Thank you very much for the information. I'll go to Hammerbolga, Town of Forging, to find them myself. Please deduct the information fee for the search from my deposit account. Thank you very much!"

"Very well. Our Teaching Knight Order has considerable influence in the Conflict Zone. If you run into any further problems, you may come to us at any time. We also very much welcome you to believe in the Millis faith. In that case, all services would be free."

"Thank you for the invitation, but I'll pass. Goodbye."

Sigh, the people of the Millis faith really invited others to believe in Millis at every turn. It was a little annoying, and a little frightening.

The next day, Eris and I packed our luggage and set out for Hammerbolga, Town of Forging, in the Mercenary State of Malzian.

Along the way, although we ran into a few incidents of stray soldiers trying to rob us and Magic Beasts attacking, our luck was good. We were not dragged into any wars.

I had basically become familiar with low-intensity combat. And with Eris's mad-dog-like combat power assisting me, the journey went rather smoothly.

After leaving the Hilton Kingdom, we headed north. After traveling for a little over four months, we finally arrived in the Mercenary State of Malzian.

The Mercenary State of Malzian was a small country. Its actual territory was not even half the size of the Fittoa Territory.

It was a mercenary nation, one that constantly trained its own soldiers. After gaining powerful strength, they were hired by other countries to go out and fight wars.

Through constant warfare, they tempered their soldiers and obtained even greater strength. Most people in the country were mercenaries, and very few engaged in agricultural production.

For food, they basically relied on plunder, or on supplies from the nations that hired them.

A country like this had two problems.

First, if they suffered a crushing defeat and their seasoned soldiers took heavy casualties, their combat strength would decline.

Second, if no one hired them to fight, then the Mercenary State of Malzian, which did not engage in production, could only go out and rob grain to keep itself from starving to death.

In any case, it was a country organized by desperadoes. A country like this could only survive in the deformed soil of the Conflict Zone.

If it were placed anywhere else, there would be no way for it to survive.