Cthulhu Gonfalon

The Forest of Remote Antiquity was very big. The closer the border was, the wider the trails in the forest were.

Judging by the woodcutting remains on the roadside, the Druids were likely in pain, but Ray felt very comfortable because this meant he was about to leave this boundless vast forest and once again come back to the human society!

Yet, there was a saying that went, ‘Never mistake a clear view for short a distance.’ In the morning, they clearly felt that they were close to the edge of the forest, but it was long past sunset when they really left the forest and saw a city which was built adjacent to it.

This was not a big city, but very high walls surrounded it. In the center of the city there was an outstanding building which was like a landmark. It suddenly rose from the ground towering majestically over the landscape. It was twice as tall as the other architecture and was like a giant standing among a crowd, looking down on the commoners.

It was a magic tower, accommodation for advanced casters, an important stronghold, their library, their scientific research center, their inheritance place, and the last burial place for them.

“Phew! Finally, I’ve gotten out of the forest!” Seeing this tall magic tower, Ray couldn’t help but exclaim and smilingly said, “The characteristics of cities in the Commonwealth of Mifata are very clear. Each city revolves around the construction of a magic tower. Therefore, seeing the magic tower means one has arrived in the city. With a glance, one would see it clearly.”

“It is probably a good choice to build a city like this,” Sui Xiong said. “Many advanced casters live inside the magic tower who could protect the city residents. And the existence of the city residents also helps the city become prosperous which makes the living conditions of the casters better, so that they can have a better mental state to concentrate on researching.”

“Indeed. Therefore, although the Commonwealth of Mifata has been established for less than a thousand years, it has become the magic research center of the main plane. Even though there are many seniors still attached to the tradition that “a caster should stay away from the mortal world” and look down upon the philistine lifestyles of these casters, many youngsters have long considered this place as the Holy Land of the casters. Every year, there are many people who come from different places with the hope of having a chance to step into this profound magic field and become a mighty mystic caster.”

“Did you come here that year?” Sui Xiong asked.

Ray was silent for a while, then nodded.

“So, would anyone here recognize you?” Sui Xiong asked again.

“Probably not.” Ray lowered his voice to say, “… After that event, they would probably get involved, too. Being able to stay alive was already good for them, but not being able to recognize me is actually the best.”

“Don’t worry, no one will recognize you. Don’t forget that your face has been completely changed.”

Ray nodded and forced a smile, but his face looked kind of sad.

Every time he recalled some old stories, he would be sad for a long time.

When seeing Ray so sorrowful, Steele would praise him ceaselessly.

“Although I can’t take him, I have to admit that he is indeed exceedingly handsome when he is sad! There isn’t any kind of normal feeling of being dejected from you, but on the contrary, you exude a prestigious temperament which is really like a majestic prince in the knight legends. Ah, apparently he is really a prince, although his inheritance right might have been taken already…”

As a result of her saying these words, Ray was outraged and beat her with firewood. Although he normally didn’t hit women, these words had angered Ray, as they were taboos for him. If she dared to insult him, then he would not be merciful toward her.

The little pink pig flapped its wings and flew around Ray to enjoy the rare scene of the “melancholy prince’ from different angles. Sui Xiong thought if Steele had been living on earth, right now, she would have taken out her mobile phone and snapped several pictures.

There were naturally guards at the city gate. These guards were fully dressed in shiny armor and equipped with long swords and halberds. Each one of them was sturdy and tall, full of energy. At first glance, one would know they were elites. The assigned clerk who led them worked very responsibly. First, he welcomed them to the Green Tree city, then meticulously asked about Ray’s identity, and at the same time registered him.

“Does everyone need to register?” Sui Xiong curiously asked. “Doesn’t it waste a lot of time?”

This clerk was about forty years old. He slightly pushed his pair of round glasses up his nose and smilingly said, “Of course, not everyone needs to register. In reality, I remember all the city residents in Green Tree city. Only those I don’t know and are powerful need to register.”

“You have a good view!” Sui Xiong said enthusiastically. “Many people judge others by appearance, but you are not like that. No wonder you are entrusted with such a heavy responsibility!”

“That’s right, a person must not be ordinary when he has two magic pets such as a floating jellyfish and a flying pig!”

If it weren’t for Ray grabbing Sui Xiong with his left hand and Steele with his right hand and pulling them back, this clerk with an excellent memory might have been beaten down, and his face might have been imprinted marks from pig feet.

“Who is a magic pet?!” Sui Xiong was still angry and discontented even when they settled down in a hotel. “This man is completely blind! He dare rank a strong, mighty man like me as a low-level creature like a magic pet!”

‘Suo ha! Suo ha! Luo muo niu dou bo lou sou!” (That’s right! That’s right! He couldn’t even recognize a beautiful woman!). Steele also yelled angrily, took out a wood log, quickly wrote several pieces of criticisms, and labeled the clerk as worthless.

On one hand, Ray tried to hold back his laughter because he was on the verge of laughing, and on the other hand, he had to comfort these two. It indeed was very hard for him.

Luckily, these two didn’t have good memories. Their anger came fast but also left fast. Judging from this aspect, in fact, Sui Xiong and Steele’s personalities suited each other really well despite the huge difference in their values. After a while, Sui Xiong urged Ray to go out and try the culinary delicacies of the Country of Casters. At the same time, Steele also expressed her desire to see if this place had any amusing specialties as she wanted to buy some of them to play.

They were not rich, but absolutely not poor either. As an adventurer who was just one step away from the legendary realm, as well as a solitary chief thief, Ray had extremely abundant assets. Before, he had already used up more than half of his assets to seize the crystal containing the supernatural power of life, but the remaining assets of his were enough for a normal person to live a well-off and stable life for several decades.

During the time they were adventuring, the number of assets they had acquired was also significant. Only those mighty demon beasts that they had hunted along the way had a surprising amount of wealth. Needless to say, the evil dragon accounted for the majority of their wealth.

Not to mention others. The venomous snake which was used as the research base for the alchemical grandmaster, Wendy, had lived for more than 450 years for sure, maybe close to 500. It had accumulated a stunning amount of wealth. At the first glance, it might not be anything, but the evil dragon “Brutal Burner,” Uherskreider, which wreaked havoc ruthlessly in the human world had lived for more than a thousand years. Considering its race, this number was very scary.

Wendy had carefully studied and found that the snake was in fact just a normal species. Under normal circumstances, a snake that lived for up to thirty years would be considered long-lived, and those that lived for fifty years were considered lucky snakes. But this snake had lived for more than 500 years. To humans, the existence of this snake was like a strange elderly person living for almost a thousand years compared to the human’s average age of more than fifty years and the long-lived age of eighty to ninety years.

The protection of human rights in this world was far inferior to that on earth. If a thousand-year-old man appeared, he might be likely chopped up for research just like that snake.

Then how much did a part of this valuable research material cost? Everyone had different opinions about that. According to Wendy, maybe it was just a research topic that was not bad, suitable for killing time in the magic tower. According to Steele, it was a treasure that helped the nobility and the rich prolong their life expectancies and it was indeed priceless. According to Ray, this thing that could help those old b*stards who had been rotten to the bone live several years more should have been smashed into pieces because it was worthless… But one thing that could not be denied was that it was a precious treasure.

While hiking through thick and thin, they had acquired many similar things as well.

Therefore, when they strolled down the street with a pocket full of money, they were very confident.

They came to the most luxurious restaurant in the city first, but they were stopped at the door when they wanted to enter. The gate-keeping guard said that this restaurant only accepted guests wearing formal suits; it didn’t allow pets inside either.

“What if the guest is an honorable cast?” Ray asked as he didn’t believe that the casts wouldn’t be allowed this privilege in this country of casters.

“It is the same for casters. The caster has to dress in formal attire for casters, keep the pets in a special space bag, or temporarily cancel the summoning. This is the rule.” The guard was sturdy, tall, and handsome. He looked more like a fashion model than a gate-keeping guard. He didn’t hesitate in saying, “This regulation has never been changed even after many years!”

He sounded very confident.

Ray frowned. His experience told him that the backing of this restaurant was first-rate and it must have a complex relation network. He thought that there was no need to make a fuss here, but instead, leaving was the correct choice.

But Sui Xiong didn’t want to leave in this way and tried to negotiate a little more, “Why do you think I am a pet? We don’t have pets here. We are just adventurers of different races.”

“Low-level creatures are not allowed in.” The handsome guard didn’t show any intention of compromising. On the contrary, his tone was more caustic and spiteful, “All of you can come in, but it is just that… a jellyfish that can talk and a pig that can fly can be made into a jellyfish salad and roasted pork. Those two are special dishes.”

“We don’t want to make a fuss,” Ray sighed. He thought it was inevitable that they would have a fight.

“I am not making a fuss… Give me a price. The jellyfish and the pig are not bad, and buying them to make delicious dishes is not a bad idea either.” The smile of the handsome guard looked harsh, but his eyes became colder and colder.

It seemed that no matter what they chose, this guy appeared to want to fight.

But Sui Xiong didn’t make a move, he just coldly laughed, “Formal attire? Pets prohibited? Really simple!”

After saying this, he waved his tentacles and a blue light covered Ray and Steele. When the light dissolved, a poor adventurer and a pig now turned into a handsome man and a beautiful woman in luxurious attire.

After that, Sui Xiong quickly transformed himself into a super burly chap standing at eight feet tall and eight feet wide. Although he was wearing gorgeous attire, he was ugly enough to make people have nightmares.

“Do we meet the requirements in this way?” The burly chap, who couldn’t be verified as human or not, spoke in a low muffled voice. Although he was asking, his tone didn’t have the slightest hint of inquiring, but on the contrary, was quarrelsome.

He thought, “My motto is ‘use kindness to treat kindness and use evil intention to treat evil intention.’ I, brother Xiong, have never been a coward who restrains his anger after being bullied!”