Chapter 2: New Century (Epilogue)
Chapter 468: Following the Clues (2)
This answer surprised both Platyr and Balner.
They had considered many possible answers from these adventurers, such as coming from Pine City, or a certain village or town.
How could everyone possibly come from the same place when their origins were all different? Balner walked around each stone pillar, the runes still a calm blue. That indicated that these adventurers were telling the truth.
“Platyr, what kind of place is the Endless Wilderness?” Balner thought for a long time but couldn’t figure it out. He could only ask Platyr, as these adventurers were brought by Platyr, so he should know more.
But Platyr had no idea. He only knew that these adventurers were very obedient and simple.
“Uh, Lord Balner.” Platyr nervously fiddled with the hem of his rumpled clothes and said uncertainly, “This Endless Wilderness, as I understand it, is the wilderness of any place, in short, a place filled with adventurers, but without a specific geographical name… Do you understand what I mean?”
Balner nodded, understanding approximately. To put it simply, these adventurers were wanderers, homeless, who happened to form a team because they got along. The only difference between them and a bandit group was that they didn’t do bad things. Adventurers like these were indeed very suitable for recruitment. Even if their strength was a bit weaker, it was acceptable, because they had experienced hardships and would cherish any kindness shown to them.
Next was the second question. Balner asked, “What are your thoughts on the King of Winter?”
The players’ faces were filled with anger, and they roared almost as if yelling, “Does the King of Winter deserve to be called a king? He’s just a traitor to humanity. Such a false king should be overthrown. We wish he were dead!”
Balner: (¬_¬)
Platyr: (O_O)
Shi Wei, who was strenuously exploring Ruo Yi’s orchard with a hoe, also involuntarily stopped his actions again, causing the fox-eared girl to let out a coquettish complaint, wishing she could swallow the entire hoe into the orchard.
The players’ synchronized answers confused Balner again. He looked left and right around the stone pillars. Still nothing was wrong. These adventurers were telling the truth. However, the logic of a normal person told him that something was definitely wrong with this group of adventurers. Were they cast from the same mold? Why could they answer so uniformly, without a single error? Even their angry and fanatical expressions were identical. Could it be that the detection array was malfunctioning? With such doubts, Balner walked into the area covered by the stone pillars and then said loudly, “I am a charming woman.”
“Buzz!” The stone pillar vibrated, and the runes on it changed from deep blue to crimson.
“Platyr, one hour at a time!”
“Buzz!” The runes on the stone pillar turned crimson again.
“Strange, really strange…” Balner stroked his chin and shook his head. The lie detection array was not malfunctioning; all functions were operating normally. Human senses could have errors, but magic arrays would never produce errors. At this moment, Balner became firm in his belief. No matter how much it contradicted his inner feelings, he would no longer consider it. Everything would be based on the results of the lie detection stone pillars.
A few more questions were asked, and these adventurers passed with perfect scores.
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Balner was relieved. Everyone present could be integrated into their team. After it was over, he called Platyr aside and then took out a heavy bag of gold coins from his Space Ring, placing it in Platyr’s hand.
“Sir, what is this?” Platyr was overwhelmed with surprise. There might be one to two thousand gold coins in here.
“Cough, cough, Platyr, you performed well,” Balner said with a smile, patting Platyr’s shoulder. “To be honest, I never expected you to prepare such a surprise for the Master. You’ve worked hard.”
“Uh, sir, I don’t understand what you mean…”
“Still pretending?!” Balner looked displeased at the bald merchant. “It must not be easy to brainwash these people, right? It probably cost quite a bit of money. What did you feed them, Forgetfulness Grass potion, or something else? You’ve become quite skilled in less than a month!”
“Sir, I…” Platyr wanted to say that he hadn’t done anything. He had only taken a liking to (Player Name) (M) and the Candy Super Sweet Mercenary Group. Everything after that had nothing to do with him. If anything, it was (Player Name) (M)’s buy-one-get-one-free offer. But looking at Balner’s expression, he finally remained silent and nodded guiltily, as if admitting it.
“The Master knows you’ve worked very hard. Every time you transport goods, it’s a life-or-death situation. We see your efforts. When working for the Master, there’s no reason for you to spend your own money. Take the money, and if it’s not enough, report it to finance when you get back.” Balner smiled. Platyr was a junior he had brought into the organization. Now that Platyr had brought honor and credit, it was equivalent to him bringing honor and credit. Giving out a few thousand gold coins was nothing to him. With this merit, he could obtain more benefits from the Master, such as the Elixir of Life… At Balner’s age, money and power were already secondary. As a wizard, he pursued the limits of knowledge and a long lifespan more.
“Congratulations, you have all passed the assessment.” Balner turned and announced loudly to the adventurers. Then, his expression changed, and he said sternly, “Our organization is called The Winterbreaking Organization. Each of you is now a Winterbreaker of our organization. We have only one goal: to overthrow the rule of the King of Winter and re-establish a new order on this decaying continent!” Balner’s voice grew louder. He raised his arm and shouted: “Demi-humans, Orcs, Elves, and even demons are inferior races. We humans are the most superior beings, the masters of this world! The glory of the Emperor of Humanity will surely return to the earth!”
“Roar!” The players let out a roar in response to Balner’s declaration. Even though their hearts were burning with anger. Even Shi Wei was so angry that his teeth itched, and he couldn’t help but fill the orchard, scattering all the stored seeds into the fertile soil at once.
“Very good!” Balner clapped his hands, signaling the newly joined Winterbreakers to calm down. “Now, I have a mission for you. You are to escort a batch of Winter City’s standard equipment to Black River City, and then sell this equipment at a high price to the Orcs. On the way, you are very likely to be attacked by the Pine City army…” He paused and growled ferociously, “Are you afraid?”
“Not afraid!” The players raised their weapons, their eyes bursting with astonishing killing intent. If it weren’t for the system controlling them, they guaranteed they would have charged forward and “cut down” this old man named Balner.
