Chapter 34: Welcoming the Phantom Beast

A chaotic clamor of footsteps erupted around Amy and Da Qingshan—a large group of mercenaries and non-mercenaries rushed into the guild, seemingly crowding around a few newcomers.

Amy furrowed her brow slightly; with so many people gathered, it was nearly impossible to hear anything.

"We're looking for a… to complete a… escort…" a sweet, crisp female voice said.

"1,000 gold coins…" the voice echoed again.

Wow, Amy immediately jumped up and dashed into the guild—whoa, there were so many people! In just a few minutes, at least thirty individuals had packed in, all tiptoeing and straining their eyes to see what was happening at the front.

Being of only slightly above-average height, Amy couldn't see anything through the wall of mercenaries, which included some towering berserkers blocking her view completely. In her urgency, Amy took a deep breath and shouted, "Green, don't cast lightning!"

"Whoosh—" Everyone in the room, including the staff, ducked down. Over the past few days, everyone had experienced Green's unparalleled power—casting spells without needing incantations and never worrying about exhausting its magic. It could strike fifty people with lightning in one day and still have energy to spare. Soon, everyone in the treehouse tavern knew how to dodge Green's lightning—just drop down, as there would always be someone standing who would become a human lightning rod.

"Excuse me, excuse me…" Amy and Da Qingshan cautiously wove through the crowd, tiptoeing to the counter. "Everyone, please don't panic. I've successfully defeated that evil dragon; sigh, it's over 200 years old, still a child who doesn't know better."

"Miss, are you looking for mercenaries?" Amy looked up and met the gaze of two girls who were also standing. "I recommend my mercenary team. Is it 1,000 gold coins?"

To everyone's eyes, the two girls appeared to be human. The girl in the red dress was slightly taller, with long black hair cascading smoothly down her back, a heart-shaped face, and brown eyes that exuded a sense of calm. The girl in the blue dress was clearly a magician, her sensitive spot displaying the insignia of a second-level magician, with chestnut hair neatly framing her face, blue eyes, and a hint of anxiety at the corners of her mouth. Both girls appeared to be under twenty. Behind them stood several imperial soldiers, some with weapons in hand and faint traces of blood on their attire.

The two girls were fascinated by the local custom of greeting by lying down, and they also took note of the two young mercenaries introducing themselves:

Amy wore a white leather outfit, revealing one shoulder in the summer, her dark skin contrasting with her sculpted features, lips, and nose that were sharply defined like a statue. She had a light smile that conveyed the grace and arrogance typical of nobility, with no traces of the lustful gaze often directed at beautiful women.

Da Qingshan, slightly taller than Amy, wore black leather, creating a striking contrast between the two. His short black hair also left one shoulder bare, his thick brows and large eyes exuding purity and simplicity.

The girl in the blue dress pursed her lips slightly, "Sorry, we need an A-level. And the task is quite dangerous."

"We have 1,000 gold coins; we are A-level," Amy said with a slight smile.

The girl clearly didn't believe her but said nothing more. She shook her head slightly and turned to the staff member who had just gotten back on his feet, saying, "Find an A-level or veteran B-level mercenary to take us to the capital of the Hami people. Our guide was killed in the conflict."

The staff member picked up the task scroll and began writing seriously: B-level escort mission, to be completed by a B-level or above mercenary group, no limit on the number of mercenaries, payment of 1,000 gold coins, no advance payment required. "If both A-level and B-level mercenary groups compete at the same time, miss, which do you prefer?"

"A," the blue-dressed girl replied firmly.

"Okay." The staff member addressed the crowd, "We are now starting to accept applications. Everyone heard that we need a mercenary group, either B-level or A-level."

"I, I want to participate." Amy, being closest, raised her hand first. A few other mercenary groups echoed in response, but they quickly fell silent—everyone knew the conditions; unless it was the Silver Snow Wolf, no one else could compete.

"Miss, it is my honor to recommend one of the few super-level mercenary groups in the world." The staff member extended his hand toward Amy professionally, "Mr. Amy of the A-level mercenary group."

"Ah—" The girls and several soldiers could hardly believe their ears; if not for the tavern's longstanding reputation for fairness, they would have thought the staff member had been bribed.

One soldier couldn't help but interject, "We require the mercenaries to also be A-level or B-level. We don't want G-level or F-level mercenaries, even if they are Silver Snow Wolves."

"Right—" The staff member replied earnestly, "Respected Mr. Amy and his partner are both A-level mercenaries and are the leader and vice-leader of this mercenary group."

Amy's smile instantly broadened: "Miss, we may be small mercenaries, but we truly have extraordinary strength. Trust me, I will take 100% responsibility for the 1,000 gold coins."

"But it's very dangerous along the way," the girl in the red dress added.

"Ha, if it's not dangerous, what's the point of being a mercenary? If it's dangerous, we'll go; if it's not, we'll create danger just for the sake of 1,000 gold coins. Don't doubt our strength; with so many mercenaries here, just ask them who has experienced peril greater than ours?" Amy performed impressively to secure the 1,000 gold coin task.

All the mercenaries shook their heads.

"Alright, it's you then. Let's discuss the task." Rather than finding suitable mercenaries, the two girls seemed to take a liking to the two young people of the same age. They exchanged glances and, disregarding the objections of the soldiers, reached an agreement with the small mercenary group.

In a secluded small room, several people began to discuss business—the girl in blue had specifically requested the bar to activate a soundproof barrier for the room.

It turned out that the two girls were envoys from the Amy Empire, sent to the Hamir Empire to collect the magical beasts.

"Magical beasts?" Amy and Da Qingshan responded with surprise. Da Qingshan interjected, "Weren't they supposed to be collected last year? They only come once every five years."

"Clang!" Two middle-aged imperial soldiers jumped up and drew their swords. "Speak! How do you know about the magical beasts? Did you attack the envoy?"

"What's so strange about that?" Amy replied, maintaining a relaxed demeanor, though her noble aura made it impossible for anyone to disregard her words. "My teacher is the imperial archmage Reger; do you think I wouldn't know?" Amy estimated that Reger had returned to the imperial capital, so she boldly used his title as a shield—she certainly couldn't confess that Chi Hanfeng and Reger had once tried to hijack the magical beasts.

The two girls were taken aback. "Archmage Reger? You're his student? That's wonderful! I thought you were so young and had such high rank because of an excellent mentor."

The imperial soldiers clearly didn't know who Reger was, but seeing that envoys from the imperial capital spoke so highly of him, it must have been true.

"It was supposed to be last year's collection of magical beasts, but last year the Black Sun and White Sun did not overlap due to a significant increase in magical power, preventing the Magical Beast Sanctuary from opening. Strangely, all the magical beasts that should have given birth last year did not breed at all. After negotiations among various countries and calculations by celestial astrologers, the timing was postponed to this year," the girl in blue recounted.

"We left the imperial capital a month ago and arrived at the border ice forest half a month ago. The imperial border army dispatched a small team of glacier infantry, totaling 100 men, to protect us in completing our mission. However, unexpectedly, as we just emerged from the ice forest, we encountered a surprise attack from a group of black cavalry, and our team suffered over half casualties."

The sudden attack had left the imperial soldiers in shock; the attackers seemed very familiar with their movements. Just as the envoy team emerged from the ice forest, a whistle was blown, and 200 masked figures in black, mounted on black stallions, charged in formation.

At the front was a black magical beast steed.

The result of an ambush on an unprepared group and a numerical disadvantage was obvious.

The current commander of the glacier infantry, along with 30 warriors, fought fiercely to hold back the cavalry while the envoy team leader—Amy, the deputy minister of foreign affairs from the Amy Empire—led the group to escape. The glacier infantry commander eventually withdrew, using the cover of the ice forest.

After the two remaining forces regrouped, they learned that a blindly shot arrow had pierced the deputy minister's chest, nearly killing her on the spot. After urgent discussions, the seriously injured returned along the original path, while Lady Yushang Lin (the girl in blue), the daughter of a count and also a second-level mage under the imperial archmage, and Sister Sharro (the girl in red), a priestess sent by the Holy See, took charge, completely altering their original itinerary and detouring to the capital of the Hamir Empire.

"Did you encounter enemies again later?" Amy asked again.

"How did you know?" Lin Yushang was puzzled.

"You're all injured, and there are too few of you," Da Qingshan added.

"Yes... it seems the enemy also split into several groups to pursue us. We encountered one of those groups during our second battle. Both of our guides died, and we lost over ten warriors. However, we used magic to kill all the enemies, so we hope to find guides and mercenaries to help us reach the capital of the Hamir Empire, Snowfield City," the girl in red timidly chimed in.

"So dangerous?" Amy pretended to hesitate. "If that's the case, then the money..."

"I've heard that if we set off immediately, we can reach Snowfield City in at most ten days," an imperial soldier interjected.

"My goodness, ten days—that means 240 hours of life and death on the line," Amy seemed to shiver instinctively. "How about this? I won't ask you to increase the mercenary fee; just give us a little compensation for the stress."

"You..." Lin Yushang slammed the table.

"I'm not trying to be difficult," Amy waved her hand. "Miss, you have to understand that even without anyone ambushing us, our team of just over ten people might not be able to make it through in this icy environment. Moreover, according to what you said, the enemy knows you very well. This time..." Amy was still hoping to negotiate for more benefits.

"Amy, let it go; help them this time," Da Qingshan interrupted, unable to watch Amy's performance any longer.

"Faint, why is it always me playing the bad guy while you play the good one? Fine, let's do it your way." Amy shot a glare at Da Qingshan and sighed deeply, realizing that a cooked duck was about to fly away, but there was nothing she could do. The vice-captain had already expressed his stance; they couldn't just start fighting.

Glancing at the dimming sky outside, Amy and Da Qingshan briefly discussed and decided to set off immediately, traveling through the night to try to gain half a day's distance from their pursuers.

The easiest route from the treehouse bar to Snowfield City was the Dragon Tooth Mountain Road. In summer, the snowmelt on the road made it easy to travel. However, considering the pursuers were on horseback, traveling on the road would make them easy targets, and if they encountered danger, it would be hard to escape from a cavalry charge. So they planned to head north into the edge of the ice forest and then east toward Snowfield City.

The envoy team originally had six sleds, but the long-distance sled dogs had become exhausted from the trek over the past few days. Amy consulted Lin Yushang and added 100 gold coins to replace all the sled dogs at the station next to the treehouse bar.

As night fell, amidst the envious gazes of other mercenaries, the six sleds departed from the treehouse bar.

Not long after leaving, Amy forcefully patted Guier, who had just fallen asleep beside her.

"Mm—" Guier rolled over and tucked her head back under Da Qingshan's clothing, continuing to rest.

"Hey, hey, it's your turn..." Amy flicked Guier's smooth head, "After raising you for so long, you can't just take advantage of us! Guier, wake up!"

"Mm—Mm—" Guier hummed playfully, stretching her front paws under Da Qingshan's clothing and tightly clutching her head—more accurately, blocking her ears.

"Hehe—" Amy wore an expression that seemed to say she couldn't help it, pulling out two dried lizard snacks from her pack and rubbing them together vigorously. The dried meat crumbled slightly, and a fragrant aroma immediately wafted through the air. With her forceful rubbing, the enticing scent quickly filled the entire sled.

"Ah-choo—" As soon as Guier caught a whiff of her beloved scent, she crawled out, squinting her eyes and swaying her nose in the night, trying to locate the source.

Amy covered Guier's mouth just as she was about to open it. "You know what they say: 'One day of work, one day of food.' Do you understand that?"

Guier's face transformed into a charmingly submissive expression, nodding rapidly like a little chick.

"First, you haven't done any work for four days; second, we're in a very dangerous situation. Many people are on horseback trying to snatch your lizard snacks," Amy said with a look of tragic resolve, as if they were all in this together.

Of course, Guier was easily tricked... People die for money, and birds die for food. Although Guier wasn't a bird, she had wings, so she shared some similarities. Her little green face instantly darkened, and green dragon breath began to puff out.

"Go take a look in the sky after an hour to see if anyone is following us. If you spot people on horseback chasing us at night, it'll definitely be them. We can give them a good lesson; I've heard their lizard snacks are quite large," Amy said while stuffing the lizard snacks into Guier's mouth, then giving her a gentle pat on the backside. "Go on; you can sleep during the day."

...

In the air, Guier spread her enormous wings, soaring above the forest with the howling night wind, her eyes intently focused on every movement below. How she wished to see someone riding a horse loaded with lizard snacks!

...

On the ground, Amy wrapped herself in a snow bear fur blanket, snuggling beside Da Qingshan. She whispered, "Guier is getting harder and harder to deceive. We need to come up with other excuses. If she hurts herself eating those lizard snacks, I can only imagine… it would probably be us suffering in the end. Hmm… I've heard there's something called cigarettes that's nice… you should inquire about where to buy some."

After saying this, she ignored Da Qingshan's incredulous expression and quickly fell asleep, snoring softly. Poor Da Qingshan found himself in a predicament—his dragon mount was being used by others while he was treated like a fool, staying up at night. What bad luck he had!

---

Snowfield City is highly renowned, not only because it is the capital of the Hamir Empire but also because it is one of the three most difficult cities to conquer in this world.

The city walls are 23 meters high, constructed from massive stones quarried from Dragon Tooth Mountain, with towers ranging from 10 meters above ground to as high as 30 meters. The walls are 10 meters wide, allowing 15 snow wolves to run side by side.

Within a 10-kilometer radius outside the city lies a plain interspersed with several small lakes, which are only ice-free for two or three months a year. Beyond that is an endless coniferous forest, where the snow never melts throughout the year.

The difficulty of conquering Snowfield City lies in the unique, insurmountable barriers formed by its natural advantages of heavy snow, forests, plains, and towering walls.

Only snow wolves or infantry can successfully traverse the heavy snow and forests, but once they reach the plains, no kind of infantry can withstand the impact of the snow wolves. After facing that dual assault, the 20-meter high city walls present an insurmountable obstacle.

Even if someone hopes to besiege the city, the frozen continent only has a non-frozen period of three months each year—at most, three months to lay siege, which hardly matters for Snowfield City.

—*"Shan Hai Jing: Dangerous Places"*