Chapter 2063: Passing by Bleulle
Caravans set for Metteo Town and the desert area had been formed. Everyone involved was alerted to prepare everything they had to. There were even checklists, kindly written by their logistics officers.
So many people have been going on adventures for a while now, but not many people have gone beyond the region.
Before this, especially after Althea and Garan left, there had indeed been a lot of departures in their halls. However, they were usually just to Ferrol and back. Ferrol was like their neighbor.
Now, in terms of distance, other people were heading to other continents. How could people not worry? This was especially true for the relatives.
For example, inside one of the penthouse units in a popular mid-rise building, a family of three was having a meal together. It would likely be the last one together in a long while.
"Are you sure you really wanna go?" Ricky, Alterra’s head glassmaker, looked at his niece and nephew with deep worried eyes.
"Yes, Uncle," the two said simultaneously.
"I’ll make sure our teams will always be together," Ryan added to comfort his uncle. He might not be worried for Ryan, who was a local powerhouse, but he was naturally worried for Sunny, who had barely passed the village cap.
As for why Sunny and several others at this level were allowed to join in, it was because level 18 or 19 was the recommended level of joining this mission, not the requirement.
As long as the civilians were handling things themselves, they were allowed to handle their own training. They could advise against it, but risking their own lives was everyone’s freedom.
Sunny had a rich uncle and brother, so her team not only hired Alterran mercenaries, they were also open to hiring locally in Metteo to assist them. Erol, their liaison, had ’safe’ connections there he could forward to them.
As for why they insisted on coming along at all, it was mostly because Sunny couldn’t leave her sister-in-law alone. Like, she could literally fall ill.
Sunny’s mother died of depression after losing their youngest sibling in a miscarriage. Ryan was already in his teens by then and was living in the school dormitories, but the young Sunny was right there, watching the process of her mother falling apart.
With Sunny going, Dog was going, too. He and Sunny had just started dating officially. How could he bear to have a long-distance relationship already?
Crow, on the other hand, wouldn’t go to the desert just to accompany friends. However, it so happened that he was already about to reach level 18, so he decided to join in as well.
Yeshiya, an aborigine from Basset and had basically settled down in Alterra, had also joined in and tagged along on their trip. Rumor has it that she was after Crow, but neither party had confirmed this yet.
Ryan had no idea about the ins and outs of the situation. He was just sad his only relatives were going so far away, and risking their lives in the process. "That’s so far away..."
They had to go through so many things to be reunited. As their only elder, how could he not worry?
"It’s necessary for a few of us to get some fresh air," Ryan said, trying to comfort this uncle of theirs. The older man did not appreciate it. Instead, he gave Ryan a look.
"Get some fresh air? You mean sand in your nostrils, right?"
"..."
Ryan wanted to give his wife a new landscape to explore. Nothing can beat Alterra, but it was now full of memories, and sometimes, when they were on a walk, he’d see her run to an alley and dry heave.
That was when they passed by a children’s clothing store.
Many times, she woke up from a nightmare, crying, feeling sorry for the unborn child because of her arrogance.
Then, the next day, she would pass through peaceful streets and wonder how old her baby would’ve been when she passed through that street.
Ryan worried so much for his wife, and a bit of the outside world could help. Her level happened to be perfect for the mission too, so maybe leveling up a few times would also strengthen his wife’s psyche more than her physique.
As for Sunny, she was only level 17, so both men were very worried. However, when she told them she’d stay in Dune Town until she leveled to 19 only then did they rest assured.
Although neither of them had been there when Althea and Garan recounted their adventures, they had heard a bit. Most importantly, this was a major step forward for the territory. It wouldn’t harm them to be part of it.
"Well, you both are adults and can make your own decisions," Ricky said with a sigh. "I just hope you will prioritize your safety."
"We also want to see the world," Ryan said, smiling. "But Alterra will always be at home, and we will return safe and sound."
...
While new missions were dispatched, the couple had already landed on Bleulle. They went by beast car this time, since it was not that far away anyway.
Receiving a fitting mission to a City, as people from Towns, was not easy. Unlike in towns, where Althea’s level at 25 was now slightly above average, it was the level of commoners in cities. Who’d bother hiring level 20 mercenaries here?
While they could just ask someone to open a mission and so on, missions generally had to do with the territory itself, and it’d be difficult for them to find and finish a legitimate mission from the City.
They considered jumping over towns, even if there were more jumps, at least the missions would be more doable.
In a City, missions were much more challenging and time-consuming. It might take them weeks to months, just to complete a city mission, and it would likely be more dangerous as well. However, the convenience of a teleportation array was really tempting and might save them a few jumps.
They landed in Bleulle and decided to stay for a day to study the place. This was their first City, after all, and could be a good example or reference—whether it was a positive or a negative example didn’t matter.
To avoid potential conflict with the Lord, who definitely hated them to death, both Althea and Garan changed up their information with the Status Mask. As before, it was a mix of truths and lies, so even if someone decided to interrogate them, it wouldn’t be difficult for them to keep things consistent.
For example, Althea changed her last name and modified the first word to a longer version, making ’Althea’ her nickname instead. This was similar to Garan. Changing names was too tricky and prone to slip ups. It was also troublesome and not worth the stress, so they had to keep their names.
They listed one element again, and also modified their wallets to have average to below-average amounts.
They would not dilly-dally at all, of course, and their perusal would be targeted, and they wouldn’t stay the night. For one, they were taking a look at buildings they didn’t have yet, including how they worked, and what they could consider when choosing the same.
Among the City-level Special Buildings, Bleulle bought the Teleportation Array and the Sanctum of Constructs.
The Teleportation Array was a must-have for Cities. After all, the distances between cities were tens, if not hundreds of thousands of kilometres away.
The building was placed somewhere in the inner circle. To enter the inner circle, if one wasn’t a high noble, one had to pay an extra visitor’s fee valid for a day. This fee was not small, as was expected for a Lord like Bleumrick.
Not many people could take advantage of the Mercenary Hall. Besides, only the access of Class A mercenaries would be able to somewhat match the teleportation array’s range and was even a bit inferior.
Probably only a handful of teams could actually maximize the benefits of the mercenary hall array.
Not to mention, many nobles were also not part of such high-level mercenary teams—which required a high level and a lot of other requirements.
The teleportation array was different. While it also had some physical requirements, it wasn’t too stringent. You could also bring in a massive amount of items even outside of the space.
If the cargo was large, then even if each transport was expensive, it could be said to be value for money.
In the long term, it was also a guarantee of relationships, of resources, and so on. After all, even if the City itself did not have specific resources available in their land, it was likely that the goods would still pass through the City as the center of trade in their respective regions. This would expand much further if a teleportation array were included in the logistics considerations.
The array could connect to three cities by default, and considering how many cities there were in the world, the three cities already comprised a large fraction of the world’s cities.
Most importantly, teleportation arrays, and a certain use of them among other things, were one of the requirements to trigger the Barrier.
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