Chapter 54: A Rendezvous Under the Moon
“One vodka.” Sidlipha said.
Lekh was a small village in the Rhodope Valley, with a population of about two hundred.
The most lively place in the village was the tavern built by the river, known locally as “Old Man’s Tavern.” Basically, in the evening, whether they were farmers or hunters, the villagers liked to come here for a drink.
Today, however, there were many strangers, who looked like mercenaries. The villagers sat in twos and threes around the round tables, glancing at the seven or eight outsiders sitting at the bar, whispering among themselves.
Except for the leader who was a man, everyone else was a beautiful woman.
Hmm, they must be nobles from somewhere. Some nobles did like to be surrounded by beautiful women. As for why they were all dressed as mercenaries, it could only be said to be a special hobby of the nobles.
“Your Balkan vodka.” The tavern owner, nicknamed “Old Man,” poured Sidlipha a glass of vodka and pushed it towards her.
“Strong!” Sidlipha gulped it down, her face flushing up to her neck. She burped in admiration. “Another one.”
“You girl, you have quite a tolerance for alcohol.” Old Man said with a smile, pouring her another glass.
“I’ll have gin.” Eleanor said.
“Then I’ll have a fruit brandy.” Nuo said, looking at the menu.
“Bloody Mary.” Medea snapped her fingers.
“I want a Flying Dutchman cocktail.” Mia shouted, raising her hand.
“Children can’t drink alcohol!” Nuo forcibly pressed her hand down and asked Old Man, “Do you have any juice?”
“We have raspberry liqueur, non-alcoholic.” Old Man chuckled.
“Damn it, why can everyone else drink alcohol, but I have to drink juice?” Mia protested, waving her arms and legs. Nuo slapped the back of her neck and quickly subdued her like a cat.
Under Nuo’s clutches, Mia could only let out disgruntled purrs.
“Give me a draft beer.” Asker said finally. “What does Peggy want?”
“Just iced soda water, thank you.” Peggy said.
Soon, Old Man prepared all the drinks and brought the glasses to everyone.
“I didn’t expect there to be a bartender in this small village.” Medea said with a smile, resting her chin on her hand.
“Ah, what bartender, I’m just a barkeep.” Old Man said, “When I was young, I worked in Constantinople and learned some bartending skills. You’ve been to Constantinople, right?”
“Yes.” Asker said, “I heard that the Seljuks are about to reach Nicaea, so Constantinople is in danger now, right?”
“The Seljuks, a barbaric and backward country.” Old Man shook his head. “I heard that each of their families must have 4 children, how can they have so many children? My wife gave birth to two, and just taking care of them usually tires her to death. If we had two more, I can’t even imagine it.”
“I’m afraid that if they really attack, we won’t have a choice.” Asker said.
“No, Constantinople will be fine, it has three layers of giant walls.” Old Man said with a dismissive smile. “Besides, we have two Empresses, God will bless Constantinople.”
Asker didn’t argue, he just slowly finished his beer and put down his glass: “Do you have anything to eat?”
“For snacks, we have grilled squirrel skewers, roasted lamb chops, and apple pie.”
“Let’s have some of everything.” Asker took out a few silver coins and put them on the table.
“This raspberry liqueur is really good.” Miel said to Mia.
“Hmph, I won’t drink it!” Mia said angrily. “What’s the point without alcohol? Back when I was in the guild… Wuwuwu.”
She couldn’t continue because Nuo stuffed a piece of pie into her mouth.
“The lamb chops here are especially tender.” Eleanor pulled out the lamb chop bone and said to Sidlipha. “The mutton in our area is tougher, but it’s chewy.”
“Northerners basically don’t eat mutton.” Sidlipha said as she began to tear into the lamb chop.
“Then what do you eat?” Eleanor asked curiously.
“Mainly smoked salmon.” Sidlipha said vaguely. “And whale meat, seal meat, and walrus meat.”
“Whale?” Eleanor put down her fork. “What does it taste like?”
“Similar to fish steak, but with a thick layer of fat.” Sidlipha said, “We usually smoke it and can store it for half a year. I guess you’re not used to the smoky taste.”
“I can get used to it.” Eleanor said thoughtfully. “We also eat smoked bacon, sausage, and ham, but they’re made of pork. Sometimes we hunt bears and eat bear meat.”
“Oh, oh, oh, bear meat is delicious!” Sidlipha’s eyes lit up. “We occasionally hunt polar bears. There’s an island in the North Sea called Svalbard, where there are many wild animals.”
“Do you hunt bears with guns?” Eleanor asked.
“No, we shoot them with arrows.” Sidlipha said. “With very long arrows.”
They ate and drank until late at night, and then went back to Furnace Island drunk.
On Furnace Island, the girls had already built a simple wooden house and put four double beds in it.
The climate of the semi-plane was similar to a temperate ocean, synchronized with the outside world 24 hours a day, so going back to Furnace Island to live could also save on accommodation expenses.
Asker went alone to the shallows by the river and found a large rock to sit on.
The moonlight poured down, plating the river with a layer of silver scales. He stared at the river without saying a word, replaying the next plan in his mind.
According to the main storyline, Constantinople would soon be betrayed by the Venetians and fall into chaos under the attack of the Franks.
The attack would end in failure, and then there would be a coup in the royal court.
Theodora would be imprisoned by Zoe in a monastery.
Then, the captain of the guard, Michael, and the official scribe, Varomina, would instigate a riot among the citizens of the imperial capital, rescuing Theodora from the monastery and forcing Zoe to swear that she would never fight her sister again.
Immediately afterwards, the Seljuks would officially land on the Thracian plain, and Constantinople would be besieged for two months.
Finally, Constantinople would fall, and the two Empresses would flee to the Siris province.
This dramatic main storyline had been complained about many times by players, such as the two sisters still fighting each other while the country was in crisis, and the captain of the guard being able to instigate a civilian rebellion, which was unreasonable and illogical.
The game design team even issued a very long explanation for the rationality of the plot, which could be summarized in six words:
Dear players, I am your daddy.
There was actually nothing to discuss. After the famous movie “Titanic” was released, some rational viewers scientifically argued that a wooden board could fully support two people in the seawater, and Jack didn’t need to give the wooden board to Rose and die himself.
Then director Cameron said, this is art, do you understand art? Art doesn’t need to consider physics.
My script clearly stated on page 147 that the male protagonist must die, if he doesn’t die, the movie can’t end.
Even if he didn’t drown in the seawater, the screenwriter would arrange for other factors to make him die.
Similarly, since the game design team had arranged it, then according to the main storyline, the Venetians would definitely be blinded by greed and instigate the Frankish knights to attack Constantinople, Zoe would definitely attack her younger sister in order to seize power, and finally, Constantinople would definitely be captured by the Seljuks.
This game was called “Iron and Fire,” it was meant for players to experience the grandeur and cruelty of war. In the open beta stage, an empire was sacrificed first, which was worthy of being the opening act of the decade-long epic of total war.
Version 1, Bloodbath in the Balkans; Version 2, Holy Roman Civil War; Version 3, Attack on the Church… Each version had at least one national war, the casualties of NPCs were in the tens of millions, and the number of player deaths was even higher, exceeding 100 million.
It was precisely because of this that Asker, since he transmigrated to this world, had been so eager to recruit people, do quests, run dungeons, get equipment, refine potions, and follow the guide to push the progress every day, so busy that he didn’t even have time to rest.
Medea saying that he was mentally exhausted was not a groundless speculation.
He was indeed very tired, but he couldn’t stop and rest now.
From the open beta stage to version 1, the level cap was level 5. At the end of version 1, his team had to reach level 5 for all members, and in version 2, they had to rush to level 10.
Version 3, the Unjust Crusade, was Emperor Otto of the Holy Roman Empire attacking the Church, almost half of the continent was dragged into the fight. If they couldn’t reach level 10 in time, low-level Transcendents would most likely die in battle in version 3.
Of course, they could also hide, they could hide in the Iberian Peninsula or Britannia, but if you could hide in version 3, what about the later versions?
There would always be a time when you couldn’t hide.
“Want a drink?” A voice sounded behind him. Asker turned around and saw that it was Nuo.
Nuo looked at him with a smile, her beautiful face flushed with a slight drunkenness, looking extremely pure and beautiful under the moonlight.
Sometimes I really envy you, you don’t have to worry about anything… Asker sighed in his heart and took a sip from the bottle.
“Seeing you sighing here alone, is something bothering you?” Nuo sat down on the big rock next to him.
“I’m having a headache about how to improve your strength as soon as possible.” Asker said honestly.
“Since it’s related to the whole team, why not discuss it with everyone directly?” Nuo looked at him seriously.
“Because it’s meaningless.” Asker said, “Do you know where to find the materials for your next potion formula?”
“My next potion formula is Spirit I.” Nuo nodded and took out her Spirit I formula from her pocket, which read:
-Ingredient-
Purified Ectoplasm
-Subsidiary-
3ml Blood of Hector
3 Seeds of Ephemera
1mg Benzyl Amine
-Processing-
Dissolve 1mg of benzyl amine in 3ml of Hector’s blood, add the Ephemera seeds at 1 minute, 3 minutes, and 7 minutes respectively, the error cannot exceed 15 seconds. Finally, let it stand until the liquid is clear and transparent, add the purified ectoplasm, wait until a smoky sol appears in the liquid, and then drink it.
“So? Even if you know what the materials are, can you handle it yourself?” Asker asked.
“Well, I know that ectoplasm is the residue of a ghost after death.” Nuo thought seriously. “Purified ectoplasm, I understand, it’s just washing it clean with holy water…”
“Ectoplasm dissolves in water.” Asker said, “It will disappear if you wash it with holy water.”
“Uh. Hector’s blood…” Nuo tapped her head. “This name sounds familiar, is Hector some kind of octopus?”
“Hector refers to a special kind of spiritual black dog. They go to graveyards in the middle of the night to dig up the ground and eat the rotten flesh and bones of dead people.” Asker said.
“Then Ephemera must be a kind of mayfly.” Nuo said with certainty.
“It says ‘Seeds of Ephemera,’ it’s a plant, of course.” Asker said, facepalming. “Ephemera grows abundantly along the Nile River, and its appearance is similar to reeds.”
“Benzyl amine is a benzene ring connected to a methylene group, and then connected to an amino group?” Nuo said uncertainly, seeming to have lost confidence.
“You finally got one right, you’re good at things related to science.” Asker commented.
“Asker.” Nuo said faintly. “Am I stupid?”
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