Thirty years ago, the ordinance

  Thirty years ago, when the Egyptian Empire learned that Baal had crossed the border of the city-state of Haikou and fled to the Euphrates River Valley through the Syrian Desert, not only did it gather a group of divine masters and warriors from Lower Egypt to pursue and kill him, but also issued an official document requesting the Hittite Kingdom, especially the city-states near the Euphrates River Valley, to assist in the pursuit of Baal.

  The Hatty Kingdom issued a decree, symbolically sent to various places, which was somewhat perfunctory. It only said that each place should send brave warriors to pursue Bell, but did not say what would happen if no one was sent. The big people in each place knew in their hearts that sending someone to hunt down a 9th-level great magician was almost like looking for death, and even if they found him, it was none of their business, at most just passing on the news.

  Duketown also received the order, how could they possibly have news of Belle, let alone send an ironworker to kill a great magician, so there was no action taken at all, and naturally no one would investigate.

  Later, the Isis Temple declared that Bell had been annihilated by Saint Elsie, but the official story was shrouded in mystery and no one wanted to mention Bell's name again, so the matter was considered closed and became history. However, a tail was left behind that no one noticed, the Hittite Kingdom had issued an irreversible decree at the time, which was forgotten after the fact. In fact, no one needed to do anything else, everything had passed, and no one would go out of their way to pursue a great magician who had long since lost contact.

  What's more interesting is that the town of Duk only received an order to assist in pursuing Bell at that time, and after the fact, the Empire of Eg did not notify the Hittite Kingdom that Bell had been eliminated. The Hittite Kingdom naturally did not forward the irrelevant announcement to various places within its borders, so theoretically speaking, the town of Duk was completely unaware of this.

  In fact, the people of Duketown knew nothing about it. The decree thirty years ago was unheard of, and apart from Old Man Crazy, no one else knew who Bell was. Today, Dashti brought out this decree and publicly announced it, and this decree is still in effect!

  The townspeople were all surprised, who is Belle? Listening to the mayor's words, it seemed like a magician, a magician who was jointly ordered by the Empire of Egu and the Kingdom of Hatti to pursue, that must be a very difficult person to deal with. So many divine masters and warriors are needed, do you need to send people from the small town of Douke? Why is the mayor so enthusiastic, even if he wants to flatter his superiors, there's no need to use this matter to show off?

  Everyone looked at each other in dismay, whispering to one another. Old Crazy Nick took a step forward and asked: "Town Head, you said that such a brave warrior has appeared in our town, who is he?"

  Dast pointed expressionlessly into the crowd: "The one blessed by the gods, we have all witnessed miracles with our own eyes and know how the guardian god blesses him, that is Amun."

  As soon as Armand heard the mayor read out such a decree, he immediately understood what was going on. It was what Old Crazy and Song Lie had discussed with Dasiti last night, finding an excuse to let him leave Douke Town or expel him. But others didn't understand, and someone immediately shouted: "What? Armand! The mayor wants to send a child to destroy the magician?"

  It's absurd, absolutely preposterous! Not to mention hunting down a wizard, sending a child into the treacherous forest is also nonsense. If it weren't for the fact that this was said by the mayor of Dastin, he would have been scolded by people until his face turned bloody.

  "Town Head Dasiti coldly retorted: 'Oh, so you're the one who's been sent?'"

  This sentence dispelled the voices of the majority who were about to ask questions, but one person trembled and walked out, kneeling in front of the town mayor: "Sir, please send me..."

  This man is Amun's father, and today he rarely got drunk. The mayor of Dastis looked at him, expressionless, and asked: "Are you a brave warrior? Have you received special care from the Guardian Goddess? Sorry, I've already decided to send Amun!"

  Amon's father muttered, wanting to say something more, but Amon and the old madman had already helped him up, one on each side, and whispered a few words in his ear. He seemed shocked by what he heard, but eventually nodded.

  It was decided that Amun, as the brave warrior sent by Duketown, would venture into the jungle to pursue the evil magician Bell and carry out the kingdom's decree. The mayor only gave Amun an hour to return home, pack his bags, and set off immediately, without allowing anyone to see him off outside the town.

  As supervisor, after the crowd dispersed, Das Ti personally accompanied Amun back home. In Amun's impression, this mayor had never entered his own courtyard before. Amun was the "brave" chosen by Duke Town and should enjoy the honor. The mayor handled the matter impartially and presented him with a purse of money and a knife on behalf of all the townspeople.

  Warriors also need to spend money on things when they go out, and they also need weapons. The knife that the mayor gave to Armon is a well-made fine iron knife, which is sharp and durable, wear-resistant and not easy to break. It's just that the size is slightly smaller, less than one foot long, it's better to use it to skin and cut meat for prey rather than taking it to hunt down the great magician.

  Amon didn't have much, he only brought that tree branch and two leather pouches. A small leather pouch could be tucked into his bosom to hold valuables, while a large leather pouch could be slung over his shoulder to carry many things. He was going to leave all twenty of the divine stones for his father, but his father insisted that he take half with him, as he would definitely need money outside.

  The town mayor said on the side: "The money Amun needs for going out should be borne by this town, I have already sent the purse."

  Amon's father opened the pouch and found five divine stones, five gold coins, ten silver coins, and dozens of copper coins inside. Amon took a glance and pulled out the five divine stones, saying, "Father, you keep these, I'll take the rest."

  Father shook his head: "You'd better bring all the divine stones, and bring more of them, it's more convenient."

  Dast again couldn't help but interrupt: "Old drunkard, you don't really understand the outside world. In many rural taverns, a cup of wine only costs one copper coin. If you pay with a divine stone, you might even be able to buy the whole tavern! You must bring some small change, it's convenient and won't easily cause trouble!"

  One divine stone is equivalent to twenty taels of gold. The gold coins circulating on the mainland weigh one tael each, while silver and copper coins weigh half a tael each. One gold coin is worth twenty silver coins, and one silver coin is worth one hundred copper coins. If a cup of wine costs one copper coin in a certain place, Amun drank a cup of wine and paid with a divine stone, the tavern would have to give him 39,999 copper coins as change!

  Amon's father gaped, he bought a bottle of wine in Duke Town for one silver coin, and his small cup at home could only hold five cups at most. He was stunned for half a day before saying: "Kid, you really should go out into the world!"

  Dastier Town Lord left, Amun and his father split the money. In the end, Amun only took the pouch of money given by the town lord and left all twenty divine stones he had on hand to his father. His father heard Dastier's words and took thirty silver coins that Fayor gave last time and insisted that Amun take them with him.

  The old madman and Ah Mon both told the drunkard that the mayor was just making an excuse to get Ah Mon out of town, because Xiao Gu wanted revenge on Ah Mon, let the kid go hide for a while, everything is arranged, there's nothing to worry about, wait for some time to pass before coming back. After only the father and son were left in the house, it's unknown what farewell words they said to each other, when Ah Mon left, his backpack had an extra bottle of wine, which was his father's best wine.

  ……

  The villagers of Dukou Town saw off Ah Meng like a brave warrior to the east gate of the town, watching him walk into the winding small path between the mountains. This small path is usually left by people who go hunting, and some people go to the edge of the mountain near the town to pick wild vegetables and fruits. Further in, it is a deep and steep mountain range with dense vegetation covering the sky. The Yu Di River runs through the deep mountains, about 200 miles away from Dukou Town.

  In the depths of the mountains, there are cave-dwelling savages coming and going. In the kingdom of Balun, these cave-dwellers are also called dwarves. However, Ahmon heard from an old madman that in reality, the cave-dwellers were not much different from the residents of Duoke Town; they simply lived in a harsh environment and remained uncivilized, which is why most of them appeared to be rather short.

  Amon knew the old madman was right, actually there were also cave dwellers in Deke Town, who would run out of the mountains to exchange things with the townspeople. They often got the best iron ore and top-grade iron sand, and they knew that these things were what the townspeople liked most. The cave dwellers who came to the town for exchanges should be considered the smartest, they could also speak the language of the mainland, only their vocabulary was not many.

  The mines on the north side of Du Ke Town even hired strong cave barbarians to help mine, they are good miners, after living for a long time, they learned a lot, and almost no different from the townspeople of Du Ke Town, not like "barbarians" at all. However, the vast majority of cave barbarian tribes in the deep mountains are still in a state of considerable savagery and ignorance, often attacking other tribes and passersby, sometimes very dangerous.

  The villagers went hunting in the mountains to the east, rarely venturing deep into the wilderness. Except for Old Crazy, no one had reached the banks of the Youdi River in a hundred years. Amun didn't know where he was going; all Old Crazy had told him the night before was an excuse to leave Du Ke Town and avoid disaster, but following this road could only lead deeper into the mountains.

  Ah Mon walked away cleanly, looking around as if waiting for someone to appear. The old madman had said that there were still a few things to wait until he left before entrusting them, and earlier in the crowd of people seeing him off, neither the old madman nor the mayor of Dastin was seen.

  The path winds along the steep mountain, gradually getting deeper, with tall trees in the distance. Even on sultry days, it's cool under the shade of the trees. The sunlight filters through the leaves and falls on the road in sparse spots. The roadside is overgrown with dense shrubs, many of which are thorny, and various unknown wildflowers bloom in every color. The surroundings are quiet, but there seems to be a lurking sense of danger, while the occasional bird calls from afar are so pleasant. When walking alone in the deep mountains, one would likely feel this way.

  Amon walked for a long time, and when he turned back, Du Ke Town was already out of sight. The four sides were all dense and primitive forests, and the road under his feet became more and more rugged and difficult to recognize. After turning over a mountain pass and coming to a small high slope, he saw two people standing under a big tree, and unexpectedly, Dasiti Town Mayor was waiting for him with Old Crazy together.

  "Town head, Mr. Nietzsche, were you waiting for me? Is there anything else to entrust?" Ah Meng walked up and said. The old man had told Ah Meng yesterday not to call him teacher again, so today in front of Das Ti, Ah Meng called him Mr. Nietzsche.

  The old madman didn't say a word, just staring at Dastier. At his feet, surprisingly, Xue Dingyuan was squatting lazily. Dastier coughed and seemed to force himself to take out something: "Amon, you are the hero of this town, you should get a reward. This thing is my personal gift to you, it wasn't convenient to take it out in front of others just now."

  The old madman added a sentence on the side, "This is a private gift from Rod Dick to the mayor of Dastier as a thank you for getting the tears of the gods in Duke Town. The mayor of Dastier handed it over to you, I think it's reasonable, he received a lot of things from others, and you only got thirty silver coins, almost cutting off a finger."

  Anyway, since no one else was present, the old madman spoke freely, and Ah Meng saw the town lord's face turn bright red for the first time. The documents handed over by the town lord were two certificates in exquisite waterproof hard leather cases, personally signed by Rod Dick, the chief administrator and high priest of the Eguchi Empire's Cape City-State.

  The document was written on high-quality Egu paper, a type of grass paper made from the stems of a plant that grew along the banks of the Roni River. The paper had undergone multiple processes of pounding and pressing to become one of the most convenient writing materials, also an important export good of the Egu Empire to other parts of the continent.

  Amon recognized the letter, and was able to identify one of them as a proof of citizenship from Egur, but the column for writing the name was blank. The signature of Rod Dick at the end and the seal of the Strait City were accurate. Whoever gets it, just write his own name on it, which is equivalent to obtaining the citizenship of the Egur Empire. Rod Dick actually gave such a thing to Dast, which can be said to be very valuable.

  Dast has already acquired citizenship of the Empire, but this document can be given to someone else, it's a great gift. Rod Dick left such a thing, it can be said that he considered it very thoroughly, as for how Dast deals with it, it's none of his business.

  Another document is the Egur Empire's border pass, which is most useful for merchants. To travel between countries, a border city-issued pass is required; otherwise, one may not be able to enter the customs, and if unlucky, may even be caught as a spy. It is clear that this was left for Dasti himself, convenient for him to come and go doing some private business. At this moment, under the old madman's guidance or coercion, Dasti also handed it over to Amun.

  "Kid, the messenger from Wangdu will arrive in Duketown three days later with a public punishment decision for you. I made an excuse to let you leave, and with these two things, there won't be any problems with your identity. The road ahead is treacherous, take care of yourself... Don't thank me, actually I should be thanking you instead. If it weren't for you extracting the Tears of the Gods, I wouldn't have received so many gifts, even Xiao Gu followed suit and sent a fortune... Is there anything else to say? You can talk to Mr. Nietzsche, I'm heading back to town, and I'll see if anyone is following."

  Dast went away, leaving the old madman and Armon to talk alone. The old madman looked at his back and said: "Dast is a good man, you should thank him! Although he got a lot because of you, it's also right for him to give these to you. There are many things that one can do or not do, some of which should be done but require him to pay a certain price himself. As long as he does them for you, you should be grateful. Child, remember this principle."

  Ammon nodded and said: "I remember, is there anything else you want to instruct?"

  The old madman pointed at Xue Dingyuan by his feet and said: "Take this cat away too."

  **