Chapter 26: Wings of Dawn

  "Now that I've spoken of slaves, let me tell you about commoners, artisans, and heroes."

  It was as if Shep wanted to say everything he hadn't said in over a decade all in one night. He took the wine from Rega's hand, downed it in one gulp, and let out a satisfied sigh before continuing: "In general, people without fiefs or noble blood are considered commoners. Artisans and heroes also belong to the commoner class. Commoners have no special privileges, but if they can become artisans or heroes, they can gain some social status."

  "I only know that heroes are promoted from warriors, mages and assassins. Once they become heroes, they can join the guild. Then what is an artisan? Are skills like herbalism and mining considered artisan skills?" Rega asked.

  Xie Pu shook his head, "A craftsman refers to someone who possesses a certain production skill, such as tanning, tailoring, blacksmithing, alchemy, and so on. What you mentioned about gathering herbs and mining is just something collectors do, it's completely different from being a craftsman. In fact, craftsmen are just as important as heroes, also divided into ten levels from apprentice to legendary. However, truly reaching the legendary level as a craftsman is even rarer than becoming a legendary hero, otherwise legendary equipment would be everywhere.

  Craftsmen don't need to go to the battlefield, but in some large guilds, their role is even more important than heroes, they are an important source of economic income for the guild. It's not an exaggeration to say that whoever owns top-level craftsmen and combines them with necessary military strength can monopolize an industry.

  On the Four Kings Continent, countless guild wars have occurred, among which two-thirds were fought over women, one-quarter were fought over craftsmen."

  Lei Ga asked doubtfully: "And what about the remaining quarter? Justice?"

  "Of course not."

  Xie Pu chuckled and replied: "The remaining one-fourth is for those who are both women and artisans."

  Lei Ga smiled warmly in his heart.

  Xie Pu's eyes narrowed as he said, "The reason I emphasize the importance of being a master craftsman is not to make you one just for the sake of making money. I want you to understand that brute force isn't the only way to win; more often than not, you need to rely on your own wit and intelligence."

  Lei nodded, "I remember."

  "Next are the lords, nobles and kings," Shepu continued. "Lords come in different sizes, with smaller ones governing only a few villages, while larger ones rule over an entire region. Many unstable royal families choose to marry into large lord families to secure their position at court. Of course, they have to pay taxes to their own king. As privileged classes, lords have the right to certify mercenary groups, nobles have the right to certify guilds, and kings usually own the largest guild in the country. For example, the White Silver Hand of the Flowing Kingdom, the Angry Lion Heart of the Forest Rock Kingdom, the Red Flame Dragon of the Fire Cloud Kingdom, and the War Bear Claw of the Maple Snow Kingdom - you must remember these four major guilds."

  Lei Ga slightly furrowed his brow, "Shouldn't there be one more?" He knew a bit about the important guilds of the four major kingdoms, but the most powerful one, Xie Pu, hadn't mentioned.

  "Don't be in a hurry—"

  Shep took another sip of wine, moistening his throat before continuing: "The reason I didn't mention the strongest guild on the Four Kings' Continent is to tell you that the king isn't the true ruler of this continent. You must remember this."

  Lei Ga asked in confusion: "The kings can obtain taxes as vast as the ocean every year, but they are not the true rulers. Who is?"

  Xie Pu raised his eyes and gazed at the ceiling, "Holy Light, as well as the Holy Light's agent on earth, the Sisters of Holy Light."

  Lei Ga's heart suddenly solidified in his chest cavity, "Is that the church that only allows women to study magic?"

  "That's right."

  She smiled faintly, "They call themselves the spokespersons of the God's clan, replacing the Holy Light to supervise the evil in the human world, so as not to be taken advantage of by the Demon Clan. They don't have the right to collect taxes, but they also don't need to pay taxes to anyone. Their territory is located at the intersection of the borders of the four major kingdoms, which is also the center of the continent. Unless permitted, no male can approach half a step. Their power is great, even the coronation of the kings of the four major kingdoms requires the consent of the Holy Light Sisters' throne. And the strongest guild mentioned earlier is just a subordinate guild of the Holy Light Sisters, this guild's name is known to all, and is widely recognized——"

  "Wings of Dawn... The guild everyone dreams of joining..."

  "Only true heroes with real power have the qualifications to enter, Dawn Wing represents the integrity, loyalty, bravery and pride of this world. Almost all legendary figures in history come from Dawn Wing. What's most exciting is that once you join the Dawn Wing Guild, your name can be suffixed with the guild's name, for example, Leiga·Dawn Wing, it's like a halo..."

  Cang Yue didn't tell him these things, but the prestige of Dawn's Wings was everywhere like light.

  "Lei Ga? Wings of Dawn?"

  Xie Pu sneered and asked, "Do you know why the Holy Light Sisterhood, which is composed entirely of women, would want to gather all the most excellent men on the continent into their subordinate guild?"

  Lei Ga blinked and replied tentatively: "In order to weaken the royal power of each country?"

  "That's just one small part of the reason."

  Xie Pu's mouth corners rose with a triumphant smile, "The most important task of the Dawn Wing is to guard against assassins - like me."

  Lei Ga was shocked and almost jumped up, "You've fought with people from Dawn's Wings?!"

  Recalling the expression of disdain on Shep's face when Dawn Wing was mentioned earlier, it seems to have confirmed Rega's guess. To dare challenge Dawn Wing and retreat unscathed means that Shep's true strength is at least at the level of a Master-level Hero, or even a Hall of Fame-level Hero, only one or two levels away from being a Legend!

  If that's really the case, then his goal of reclaiming the Cangue Sword is completely unproblematic! Who knows what will happen in the future...

  "Why so excited?"

  Xie Pu smiled and took a long drink from the wine bottle, "I've told you before that I've fought against Liming Zhiyi. If you want to get stronger, first you need to learn how to control your emotions and stay calm at all times."

  Lei Ga quickly calmed down and cleared his mind of all distractions. "Boss, I remember."

  "I reminded you before, don't go to Huoyun City until you become a legend. Now I'll add another one: before you become a legend, you also can't have a head-on confrontation with the Wings of Dawn. Don't just see their superficial strength, although that's already strong enough, but don't forget, behind them is the true ruler of this continent, the Holy Light Sisters."

  Xie Pu said so seriously that Lei Ga couldn't help but laugh and said with a hint of teasing: "But don't you also have nothing to do? You can still open a small wine shop, drink deer whip wine..."

  Xie Pu gave him a glance and said in a low tone, "I'm so poor now that I can't even afford to hire a stripper, what's the use of having good wine?"

  Lei Ga nodded naturally, "This is indeed true."

  Xie Pu handed the wine back to Le Ga, then calmly said: "About some things related to the Dawn Wing, including the predecessor of the guild, the current legendary president, and the twenty years ago that they won on the surface but actually lost the guild war... etc. etc., I will slowly tell you later. Today, I say so much mainly to let you form a basic understanding of the major forces in your mind. This is very necessary for your future dominance... cough, this is very necessary for your future running of the shop."

  Lei Ga raised the bottle and took a big gulp. The strong liquor still had its intense kick, but he was starting to get used to it. "Boss, I'll make a qualified partner."

  Xie Pu nodded satisfactorily. "For the last part of tonight's lesson, I'll tell you about Chunyu Furen, whom you're concerned about - I haven't seen her in person, but rumors say she's the most beautiful woman in the world. As someone who has seen Chunyu Furen with their own eyes, do you think the rumors are true?"

  "It's true."

  "Spring Rain's wife is indeed very beautiful," Lui said without thinking. To this day, he can still recall Spring Rain's wife's loving gaze.

  Xie Pu pursed her lips, seemingly having reservations about the ownership of the title of the world's number one beauty.

  "I've mentioned before that Chunyu is not her real name, but a title given to her by the people of Gemini City when her father was in power. This dates back to about five years ago, when the kingdom of Flow suffered a severe drought. Although their country was almost always dry, this time it was particularly severe, with no rain for over twenty months, crops withering in the fields, livestock dying of thirst, and people having to buy water at high prices from traveling merchants. Those who couldn't afford it had to leave their homes and go to other countries to suffer humiliation. Yet the king of Flow still urged the lords to collect taxes to pray for rain from the Holy Light."

  "How stupid."

  Lei Ga couldn't help but shake his head, "Isn't it the Holy Light that has left their country without a water source?"

  "Anyway, Lord Old Twinfish decided to faithfully execute the king's order. When Spring Rain Lady found out, she hastily begged her father to withdraw his decree - five years ago, she was probably only 14 or 15 years old, yet she already understood what was right and wrong." Zhe Pu sincerely praised.

  "Did her father agree?" Rega asked.

  "Of course not. Her father, in a rage, told her that unless his precious daughter rode naked through the streets on horseback, he would never agree to the request for no additional taxes. This was meant as a joke, but Lady Spring Rain took it literally and the next day she stripped off all her clothes and rode her horse into the streets. The residents of the fiefdom learned that their young mistress had made such a great sacrifice for them and were deeply grateful. Everyone stayed indoors, closed doors and windows, knelt down to pray, even the guards at their posts stood with their faces to the wall, not daring to offend or profane. In an instant, the entire Gemini City was as if it had been emptied, silent and still."

  "What's next?" Lui asked anxiously.

  Then it rained.

  Xie Pu said: "This is why she was respectfully referred to as Spring Rain Madam."