Chapter 87: The Great Dragon Blood Wall, Making Arrangements For The Villagers
Chapter 87: The Great Dragon Blood Wall, Making Arrangements For The Villagers
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
“Grandpa Village Chief, I’m afraid the underground shelter won’t do!” Meng Lei vetoed Old Peter’s suggestion at once. “The underground shelter can only defend against normal beast tides. It won’t be able to stop the Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants!”
“Why is that?
Old Peter’s brows drew together into a frown.
“Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants are a type of dark-elemental Magical Beast that live underground. The moment they catch a whiff of their prey, they’ll start to dig tunnels!” Meng Lei explained solemnly, “You can try imagining how fast Sixth-Grade Magical Beasts are at digging tunnels. The shelter won’t be able to stop them at all.”
“What should we do, then?”
Old Peter’s countenance changed at once. The village sat at the Magical Beast Forest’s fringes—the shelter was their last hope. What were the villagers supposed to do when even the shelter couldn’t serve its purpose?
“Retreat into The Great Dragon Blood Wall!” Meng Lei said slowly, “It’s the safest in the Great Dragon Blood Wall. Our safety can only be guaranteed over there!”
“The Great Dragon Blood Wall?”
Everyone looked at one another.
“Yes, the Great Dragon Blood Wall!”
Meng Lei gave a heavy nod.
As a kingdom situated at the borders, the purpose of the Fire Dragon Kingdom’s existence was precisely to protect the empire and guard the borders. For generations, every single person in the Fire Dragon Kingdom had shouldered this responsibility.
To better accomplish this task, the Fire Dragon Kingdom’s first Fire Dragon King had especially established the capital at a place near the Magical Beast Ridge, such that it was but a day’s journey from the capital to the Magical Beast Forest.
A day!
This meant that once a beast tide broke out, under the circumstances where they weren’t hindered, the Magical Beast army would need only a day to reach the capital and threaten the safety of the whole kingdom.
How could one possibly allow others to intrude into their territories?
This short distance caused the whole of Fire Dragon Kingdom to feel as if they were sitting on pins and needles. As a result, not only did Fire Dragon Kingdom station eagle scouts in the Magical Beast Forest all year round to monitor all activities in Magical Beast Forest, but they had also built a defensive fortress stretching several thousand kilometers between the Magical Beast Forest and the kingdom.
This firm and sturdy, long wall that measured 50 meters tall and 20 meters thick on average was a big and tall, and tough and solid frontier stronghold that stretched on endlessly.
That was the Great Dragon Blood Wall famed throughout the entire empire!
For several tens of thousands of years, the Great Dragon Blood Wall had seen countless Magical Beasts buried at its feet, an indeterminable amount of Magical Beast blood splashed across its walls, and stood against innumerable beast tide attacks...
It stood firm and erect for an everlasting period of time!
It could be said that the Great Dragon Blood Wall was a protective amulet-like fortress. It was the most important, as well as the final wall of defense protecting the Fire Dragon Kingdom. In the whole of Fire Dragon Kingdom, not a single person would allow anything to happen to the Great Dragon Blood Wall!
Thus, not only were elite troops garrisoned at the Great Dragon Blood Wall all year round, but the moment war broke out, the kingdom would also deploy troops from other regions to head over as reinforcements. It was the safest over there!
“The Great Dragon Blood Wall may be safe, but it’s a great distance from the village. How are over a hundred villagers going to make their way there?”
Old Peter let out a troubled laugh. “Not to mention that there are also the old, infirm, women, and children. With their entire families in tow, many of them won’t be able to last till they reach the Great Dragon Blood Wall at all!”
Hudders and the others also nodded in silence. The Great Dragon Blood Wall was safe for sure, but it was too far from the village.
Otherwise, they’d have moved to the Great Dragon Blood Wall a long time ago when beast tides had broken out in the past. Why would they still stay here so miserably, letting their blood flow and sacrificing their own lives?
“That isn’t a problem!” Meng Lei smiled. “There are only 100 people in the village, so we just need to rent a few large magic cars. Magic cars are very fast. It won’t take them long to send people back and forth!”
“Rent magic cars?”
Everyone was taken aback.
“Yes, magic cars!” Meng Lei said with a smile, “Just leave the issue of renting the magic cars to me. All of you can go back home and pack your things. When I return with the cars, we’ll set off right away.”
After he spoke, Meng Lei jumped onto his magic carpet and disappeared straight into the horizon.
“But Meng Lei...”
Everyone looked at each other as they stared at his back view.
“Won’t it be very expensive to rent magic cars?”
“It’ll be a huge sum of money for sure!”
“How is the village going to be able to afford that?”
Everyone’s face took on a troubled expression.
“Let’s just act according to what he said and not concern yourselves with other problems!”
Hudders shook his head as he gave a wry smile. Some things weren’t too convenient for him to mention, so he hadn’t bothered bringing them up. He’d just keep Meng Lei’s kindness in mind and repay him when he had a chance to in the future.
...
“Brat, you’re pretty nice to those villagers, aren’t you?”
Ol’ Amos floated in mid-air. No matter how fast the magic carpet went, he simply continued to float closely above the carpet. It was awfully peculiar.
“Those are my fellow villagers. I can’t just watch them die like that,” replied Meng Lei calmly. “Besides, helping them is no different from just lifting a finger to me.”
“That’s true!”
Ol’ Amos smiled as he twisted his beard. “With your current capabilities...”
The young and the old chatted as the magic carpet flew at breakneck speed. Before long, they’d arrived at the city nearest to the Magical Beast Village—Magical Beast Town.
Situated near the Magical Beast Forest, Magical Beast Town was a place where innumerable adventurers stocked up on their supplies, sold their prey, and rested. It was also where merchants acquired magic cores and beast furs or hides. It was an exceptionally bustling and prosperous place where people constantly streamed about to and fro.
Meng Lei relaxed a little as he walked down the lively streets and listened to the shouts and calls around him. Then, he made a beeline for the magic car depot.
When he reached the magic car depot, an attendant came forward and asked, “Esteemed Lord Magician, how may I serve you?”
“I’d like to rent some cars.” Meng Lei asked calmly, “How many passengers can the biggest magic car you have seat?”
“50 people!” The attendant replied with a smile.
“50? Great, I’d like to rent two!” Meng Lei held up two fingers. Then, he asked, “How much would it cost to rent two magic cars that can seat 50 people?”
“Lord Magician, we charge by the hour. The rental fee for a large magic car is 88 gold coins per hour, so that’d be 176 gold coins for two cars.” The smiling attendant asked, “May I know how long you’ll be renting them for?”
“Around 15 hours, I guess,” replied Meng Lei as he did a silent calculation.
“The total cost for two large magic cars for a period of 15 hours would be 2,640 gold coins.” The attendant asked with a smile, “May I know whether you’ll be paying by cash or card?”
Meng Lei casually tossed out a pile of gold coins. After sorting and counting them, the attendant wrote him an invoice, and Meng Lei headed to the car park with the invoice in hand.
Before long, two large magic cars whistled as they drove out of Magical Beast Town, and they successfully arrived at Magical Beast Village seven hours later. The villagers, who were all set and ready to move, boarded the cars in an orderly manner.
For a great majority of the villagers, this was their very first time riding on a magic car, and they were terribly excited. A few children were even laughing and clowning around in the aisle, incredibly delighted.
Gratitude filled Hudders’ eyes as he watched the scene in front of him. “Meng Lei, I must really thank you this time. If not for you, who knows what would happen!”
“You’re standing too much on ceremony. I’m also a member of the village. This is something I should do.”
Meng Lei waved him off with a smile and added, “By the way, I found some things that aren’t of much use to me in Magical Beast Ridge. Why don’t you take a look and see if they are of any use to the villagers?”
Meng Lei took out a few scrolls as he spoke. A puzzled Hudders opened one of them, and his eyes widened big and round at once.
“Fire Smelting Art?!
“Meng Lei, t-this is a Battle Aura technique?
“This... This is too valuable! We can’t accept it!”