Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

Harribell wanted to develop the crystal mine that Renaya had promised as soon as possible in order to ensure that she could obtain the most benefits from Wissen Town. After a series of secret discussions with Yang Ling, she left in a hurry. She wanted to return to the Livenza Alliance to begin her preparations early.

She had to send men to the Rossi Empire to look for Renaya to carry out the agreement, and she also had to send men to the Banto Empire to alleviate the conflict between the Banto Empire and Wissen Town. All of her efforts would be wasted if the Banto Empire sent a large army to attack Wissen Town.

According to the preliminary agreement, the Boulade Merchant’s Association would give full support to the development of Wissen Town. They would supply the necessary manpower and various resources. As their reward, the Boulade Merchant’s Association would have priority in purchasing the resources from Wissen Town, such as timber, minerals, and Essence Crystals.

Also, the Boulade Merchant’s Association would build a large scale port on the southern coast near Wissen Town. After the construction was complete, they would receive half the profits of the port.

Building a large port might not bring in any profit in the short term, and the merchant association might even suffer a loss. In the long term, however, Wissen Town’s rich resources, would draw in a never-ending stream of merchant teams as long as the trade routes were open. They would definitely make a profit.

Harribell would definitely make a profit, while Yang Ling would not suffer a loss either. At the current moment, Wissen Town was basically a blank slate. With the support of the Boulade Merchant’s Association, they would be able to develop the town rapidly. The agreement with Harribell was a win-win. Everyone was happy.

The Boulade Merchant’s Association had vast influence, but Yang Ling was not willing to depend completely on someone else for aid. Developing his own influence and securing his control over Wissen Town was the smartest thing he could do.

After the situation was stabilized, Yang Ling decisively ordered his team of personal guards to be expanded to two hundred men. A hundred barbarians and a hundred elf archers, with Argus as their leader, followed Yang Ling to deal with the insurgents.

Casey led eight hundred warriors and guarded the Aila Mountain Pass, and he was responsible for the construction of the fortress. Goode led the rest of the warriors to defend Wissen Town, responsible for maintaining order amongst the steadily increasing population. He was also responsible for the search for resources and the gathering of intelligence. The responsibility of rebuilding of the winery, dwarf weapon shop, and the day to day operations of the Shangri-La inn were all handed over to the old butler Murbaqi.

Two days previous, Goode had brought many gifts to the elf, dwarf, and barbarian tribes, and he had gathered a hundred and fifty elves, a hundred dwarves, and two hundred barbarians. He had also selected three hundred and fifty hunters in town, gathering a total of eight hundred guards. Even though the numbers were not large, they were more than enough to act as a deterrent to the average adventurer.

After the preparations were complete, Yang Ling set off with his personal guards. According to intelligence from Parrot, there were countless aboriginal tribes scattered near the Ladak Mountain Range. There were filthy Gnomes, bloodthirsty Ogres, ferocious Beastmen… There were countless tribes.

Exterminating the aborigines near the Ladak Mountain Range would basically eliminate the threat of bandits to the Aila Mountain Pass. Then, Yang Ling could concentrate his firepower on dealing with the aborigines outside of the Aila Mountain Pass.

The Ladak Mountain Range was made up of many mountains, each one taller than the next. The main path in the mountain range had countless twists and turns. No one was sure how many mountains there were, nor were they sure of exactly how many aborigines lived in them.

Every winter, the hungry aborigines would engage in battle with one another, and the merchant teams along the way would often bear the brunt of the violence. That was also why every merchant team heading toward Wissen Town had no choice but to recruit a large team of guards, severely impacting the profits and enthusiasm of the merchants, which influenced the development of Wissen Town by extension.

In order to avoid alarming the aborigines, Yang Ling and his group disguised themselves as a small, slow-moving merchant team. A few dozen light carriages were lined up single file, and thirty of his men disguised themselves as servants while twenty were dressed as guards. The rest of the personal guards were hidden within the carriages.

From far away, the slow speed of the carriages and the deep imprints on the ground all indicated that the carriages were packed to the brim with goods. But in actuality, other than a few barrels of rum, the carriages were filled with bags of heavy sand.

With the intoxicating fragrance of wine spreading with the wind, Yang Ling believed that the full cargo and the minimal guard would definitely serve as a fatal temptation for the hungry aborigines.

Indeed, he hadn’t journeyed far from Wissen Town when the Horned Bee Beasts surrounding the perimeter of the merchant team alerted him that someone was taking the bait. A group of simply dressed Gnomes were silently surrounding them, as if prepared to take the merchant team in one fell swoop.

Sitting cross legged in the carriage, Yang Ling closed his eyes to rest. Many foreign images appeared in his brain. The speedy Horned Bee Beasts were like high speed cameras, sending him images of what was happening around him in real time.

With the advances in his Wizard Power, Yang Ling had noticed that the images the Horned Bee Beasts were sending to him were getting clearer and clearer. Their effective range had also increased. If he had been receiving a hazy black and white picture at the start, what he saw now was a color picture from a digital television. The picture was getting clearer the nearer they were to the target.

Eight hundred meters, seven hundred meters, six hundred meters, five hundred and fifty meters… The sieging Gnomes were getting closer and closer, and the images relayed to him through the Horned Bee Beasts were also getting increasingly clearer.

The Gnomes were an ancient race, and they were only about half as tall as an average human. It was said that they were the cousins of the Pygmies, while others claimed that they shared an ancestor with the Dwarves, but the dirty-looking Gnomes had never acknowledged either of those claims.

It was rumored that they had been the masters of the Tailun Continent a few thousand years ago, and that they had possessed a majestic history and civilization. Perhaps due to that, each Gnome had an indescribable allure that was as characteristic of them as their cowardly nature and dirty appearance.

Yang Ling had once heard a joke in Wissen Town.

A hungry Gnome had broken into a person’s house and gone into the kitchen. He took a bag full of food with him after eating his fill. After he was captured and found himself facing the owner’s fury, he defended himself by saying that he had taken the food instead of stolen the food. He would never admit that he had stolen something, even if someone tried to beat the admission out of him.

Unlike the physically powerful Dwarves, the Gnomes were short and weak, and coupled with their lack of magic, it made them as cowardly as mice. In the human empire, the word “Gnome” was basically a synonym for “trash.” A lady would often call a man a “useless gnome” when she was chiding him.

It was easy to imagine how people thought of the Gnomes!

The Gnomes were cowardly in nature, but they would sometimes act recklessly when they were in a large group, taking huge risks based on their numbers advantage. The group attacking them was no exception. There were old gnomes with white beards and bubbly kids mixed in with the group. An initial count revealed that there were around eight hundred of them.

There are robbers like this in this world?

Yang Ling shook his head after examining the Gnomes. These simply dressed Gnomes did not have matching armor or a bright flag. They were completely unaware of the Horned Bee Beasts behind them. If Yang Ling planned the ambush well, he believed that a wave of the barbarians’ attacks would be enough to exterminate the Gnomes.

“Sir, the attacking Gnomes are getting nearer to us. Are we going to attack immediately?” Argus was disguised as a caravan guard, and after receiving a report from his scout, he was itching to engage the enemies that were approaching them.

“Don’t be too anxious. We’ll guide them closer, then attack with all of our men, taking them in one fell swoop!” Yang Ling continued after a pause, “Order the scouts to stay on alert around us as a precaution for any other ambushes from the enemy!”

Even though the Horned Bee Beasts were continuously feeding him data on the situation, Yang Ling did not dare be careless. There was always the chance that he might miss enemies that were lying in ambush. Even though the Ladak Mountain Range was some distance away from the Terras Forest, there were still frequent sightings of Magical Beasts. It was best to be careful.

At Argus’s command, the people pretended to be oblivious to what was going on and continued walking forward. Some of the barbarians even intentionally took out their wine flasks and took a few long drinks. The intoxicating fragrance of wine, the inattentive guards, the full cargo… The attacking Gnomes were all tempted.

After closing to within two hundred meters of Yang Ling, the Gnomes suddenly stopped and settled behind rocks or shrubs on both sides of the road. Soon, a few Gnomes holding staffs started to let out a quiet murmur. A strange ripple slowly appeared in the air.

Spellcasters?

As he watched them through the Horned Bee Beasts, Yang Ling was shocked. The Gnomes had never possessed magic, and there were no records of any Gnome Spellcasters in history. Could the sun have risen from the west today?

In his shock, Yang Ling did not dare wait around. He immediately ordered all of his men to attack and quickly summoned his Magical Beast army. While conquering the tribes could benefit him greatly, it would not be worth it if he had to exhaust eight hundred of his men to kill a thousand of them.

After receiving the order, the army quickly charged out from the carriages. The barbarians lifted their tire-sized axes and charged fiercely forward. The elves were even quicker, their arrows fast as a river current, quickly dispatching of the Gnomes in front of them.

“Not good, an ambush!”

“Oh Yiblis, quick, charge forward and finish off their archers!”

…

Seeing the barbarians and elves suddenly charging out from the carriages, the attacking Gnomes lost their color in shock. They split into two groups under the instructions of an elder, with one group tasked to block the attacking barbarians and the other to charge toward the elves by the side of the carriages. At the same time, seeing the dire situation, the Gnome Spellcasters wielding staffs sped up their incantations nervously.

With the murmurs of the Gnome Spellcasters, the ripple of Magical Energy in the air became more prominent. Just as Yang Ling was about to instruct his Magical Beast army to pounce forward, he saw the small group of Gnome Spellcasters raise their hands at the same time. A huge wave of fireballs appeared in the sky.

Sky of Fireballs?

Looking at the fireballs dancing in the sky, Yang Ling once again suffered a huge shock. He recalled the terrifying Nine-headed Snake Monster and the powerful fire element magic. Getting onto his Unicorn in shock, he ordered the barbarians and elves to retreat quickly, then instructed the Horned Bee Beasts and Gargoyles to make their way around the area before pouncing forward.