Chapter 220: Deterrence |
When Bishop Gillian led the Goddess of the Currents’ party into Snow Bear City, she raised her eyes and immediately saw many familiar faces.
In White Dragon Harbor, quite a few mercenaries maintained good relations with the Church of the Goddess of the Currents.
After all, many mercenary commissions were connected to the sea, and staying on good terms with the Church of the Goddess of the Currents could never be a mistake.
As a Second-Tier Professional, Gillian’s memory naturally far surpassed that of ordinary people.
With no more than a sweep of the corner of her eye, she could already pick out many familiar faces she had seen before.
“They’re all capable mercenaries from White Dragon Harbor. But mercenaries like these alone are not enough to stop us from obtaining that item.”
“He must have some other method prepared to seize it.”
Gillian quickly withdrew her thoughts. Perhaps the lord of White Dragon Harbor had arranged some means of taking back that item through one particular mercenary, but on the surface, these mercenaries were still not worth fearing.
She turned to look at the lord of Snow Bear Territory. In this conflict, although this lord’s strength was hardly impressive, the final battle would inevitably take place within Snow Bear Territory itself, and that alone greatly increased his value.
She wore a pure white robe, with an odd snowflake pattern printed across the chest, and beneath it was the mage insignia of the Alliance.
Fran was not wearing the First-Tier Mage robe that represented her status. Instead, she had changed into the robe of the Northern Society, symbolizing that she was a mage of the Northern Society.
Because of that, Gillian did not immediately identify Fran as a mage of the Alliance. Still, she had seen the Alliance’s insignia as well, and that made her deeply curious.
She stepped forward and greeted Blake.
“Lord of Snow Bear Territory, thank you for being willing to receive the followers of the Goddess of the Currents. May the Goddess bless you.”
As she spoke, she placed her right hand over her chest, pointed upward, and then lowered it calmly.
“That is not a problem. So long as you do not harm the people of my territory, I will still receive you with the highest courtesy.”
Blake’s tone was extremely firm. Although he did not know that the woman before him was a Second-Tier Professional, he did recognize that there were quite a few First-Tier Professionals within her party.
Those First-Tier Professionals alone outnumbered all the current professionals in Snow Bear Territory several times over, yet he still remained unyielding.
That was because he also understood that, without borrowing the prestige of the Alliance, there was no way he could possibly deal with so many professionals.
He did not want these people taking anything from his territory.
Blake’s unexpectedly forceful reply surprised Gillian slightly, and she stroked her chin.
Why was the lord of Snow Bear Territory not afraid of her at all? He might not be able to tell that she was a Second-Tier Professional, but he could certainly tell that there were many First-Tier Professionals in her party.
It was impossible for him not to know that. So did this lord have some kind of backing, and was that why he was unafraid of them?
Gillian did not choose to provoke matters immediately. Instead, she shifted the subject to something she found more interesting.
“May I ask who this is? Why is she wearing the insignia of the Alliance?”
Gillian looked toward Fran, a trace of coldness hidden within her smile.
Before Blake could answer, Fran spoke first.
“I am naturally a mage of the Alliance. Only a mage of the Alliance could wear such a pattern upon a robe.”
Those words startled Gillian, because before setting out, her superior had specifically reminded her to be wary of people from the Alliance.
And Gillian had also heard of the Magic Alliance before.
Among the ports belonging to the Magic Alliance, only a few were open to the Church of the Goddess of the Currents. Most of the ports were operated directly by the mages themselves.
That matter had made the Church of the Goddess of the Currents extremely displeased. Other factions had at least retained a small portion of their ports for the Church, but the Magic Alliance had done the exact opposite.
Moreover, for the sake of maritime trade, the Alliance had deliberately developed many spells suited to seaborne commerce, which made the Church of the Goddess of the Currents even more displeased with the Alliance.
But in the end, they had never taken any direct action against the Alliance. After all, the Alliance’s floating cities and the spells of its mages were no joke.
In many cases, sea voyages still required the Alliance’s unique spells to confirm one’s heading.
Thus, the Church of the Goddess of the Currents was extremely wary of the Alliance, and the two sides often had friction in ordinary times. Still, both remained restrained, keeping their conflicts limited to local areas.
And now, here in the Northern Frontier, a mage of the Alliance had appeared. That made Gillian highly vigilant.
Yet her expression remained unchanged as she continued,
“Oh? Since when has the Alliance had robes like that? I remember that your Alliance prefers to wear robes inscribed with the structures of the spells you specialize in, does it not?”
Of course, she knew that mages of the Alliance usually wore robes representing their school rather than robes displaying the structures of the spells they excelled in.
That had been a rumor circulating across the continent for a long time, and it differed greatly from the truth.
She had deliberately spoken those words to test whether the other party was truly a mage of the Alliance.
“This is the robe of the Northern Society, which also belongs to the Alliance.”
Fran only explained what her robe was, without addressing the latter half of Gillian’s question at all.
That left Gillian even less certain whether Fran truly was a mage of the Alliance.
She knew that the word “Society” was specialized terminology within the Alliance. Many ordinary people living in the Alliance did not even know the term “Society.”
But Fran had not corrected the latter half of her statement, which meant Gillian still could not confirm whether she really was a mage of the Alliance.
Moreover, Gillian had never even heard of the Northern Society. The Northern Society’s name only thundered across a small part of the Northern Frontier; the news had not yet reached White Dragon Harbor.
Yet Gillian also knew that there were many societies within the Alliance she had never heard of, and that made her unable to decide.
“May I ask which school you belong to?”
“The Sword Chant School,” Fran replied without the slightest change in expression.
At present, her identity as someone from the Forge Furnace School was somewhat sensitive.
If she said it aloud, she would only be handing a clue to those who might still be searching for her.
So she chose to disguise herself as a mage of the Sword Chant School. After all, such mages were highly distinctive.
A sword-wielding mage would certainly not make others connect her with that “Fran” from the Forge Furnace School.
Gillian frowned, and the doubts in her heart only deepened. She knew of the Sword Chant School; it was a very famous school within the Alliance.
But that still did not help her determine whether Fran truly was a mage of the Alliance.
Because as far as she knew, mages who advanced through the Spirit Realm often possessed one or two Combat Techniques and were naturally more skilled in close combat than the mages of the Alliance.
That only made it harder for her to tell whether Fran was truly a mage of the Alliance, or merely a false image put forth by the lord of White Dragon Harbor to make her believe that the Alliance had already intervened in this matter.