my age of magic

Chapter 404 200. Campfire Camp
Standing on the high ground behind the charcoal field, looking east, you can see the golden apple grove in the outer suburbs. The large leaves sway gently with the summer wind, just like graceful dancers shaking their waists. The dance steps are so slow, and the heavy body is covered with numerous fruits. Those are the private orchards of some nobles in Ayr Town, and they send hundreds of cars of high-quality golden cider to the outside every year.To the west of El City is a flat wheat field, with endless waves of wheat that can't be seen at the edge at a glance. This is a land of prosperity.

The charcoal field has already reached the extreme edge of the northwest side of El City. Even the residents in the slums rarely build shacks here. They usually choose an area south of the charcoal field and west of the moat. within.It seems that this charcoal field is the dividing line of the slums, and the area north of the charcoal field and west of the moat is still a wasteland at present. Even the poor are unwilling to live in the north of the charcoal field. Looking from the ground to the distance, the channel of the moat flows northward from here into the Benma River dozens of kilometers away.

There is a winding loess road leading to the Pai Ma River in the distance. Many businessmen like to go west along this road to the Pai Ma River, and walk west along the turbulent Pai Ma River to the Pai Plateau. At the foot of the Xilu Mountains, you can walk up the mountain road from there for a month to reach the easternmost fortress of the Pai Plateau-Gruudin Fortress.This loess road can be said to be a business route leading to the orc tribe. Many caravans will choose to rest in El City on the way from Gludin Town to Sloit City. The city of El, which originally belonged to a small border city, is now gradually prospering.

A very simple bonfire camp for homeless people was built here, surrounded by dozens of simple shacks, and each shack was simply built with dead branches, and a layer of reed grass was spread between the branches. , barely formed a humble dwelling capable of sheltering from the wind and rain. A pile of burning bonfires was piled up in the center of the camp. Well, the three branches supporting the iron pot were already covered in black ash from the smoke, and looked precarious and might be broken at any time.

The iron pot looked heavy at the moment, and it seemed that it was filled with a pot of soup. A dozen orc children simply sat around the iron pot with a piece of tattered linen around their waists. Looking helplessly at the big iron pot on the campfire, the corners of their mouths were constantly drooling, and they were all as dark as coal balls by the vicious scorching sun.Obviously, he couldn't wait to get something to eat from the iron pot, but he still had to endure it.

Beside the fire, an old orc with a broken leg kept throwing some dry firewood into the bonfire, and from time to time he used a wooden spoon to stir it back and forth into the iron pot. heat.Seeing the intoxicated expressions of the dozen orc children from a distance, they didn't know what kind of delicious food was cooked in that iron pot, so they squatted aside obediently and waited obediently, salivating.

It seems that it is already past lunch time, I don't know why the group of children haven't prepared to eat yet, it seems that they will continue to wait.

I turned my head to look at the female orc warrior, she seemed to know what I was asking, and she explained fluently in orc language: "These children are still waiting for those who are doing hard work in the city to return before they can eat. If they eat at noon After eating the most abundant food of the day, they will be hungry again in the evening, so it is better to eat it later, and make up a gruel meal at night to last until tomorrow morning!"

——The reason for this is as follows:

Before Bobby finished his meal in the big food shop, he was picked up in a hurry by the family's carriage, probably because he had something urgent to do.But in the end he still stubbornly threw the elf slave to me. He stubbornly thought that I really liked that pure and beautiful elf girl with big eyes bright and clear like a pool of water. I said: The only unsatisfactory place is that the figure is a little bit worse!I can't hold back against him, and it's impossible for passers-by on the street to see the ugliness of the two magic apprentices fighting on the street. After all, I have to maintain a little dignity of magic apprentices!
So when Bobby was about to get into the car, I quickly stuffed the three scrolls of 'Magic Catalysis' in the magic pocket into his hand, then patted him on the shoulder flatly, and said to him: "Hey, although this The value of a few scrolls is not even worth one-tenth of the magic crystal, but even if it is a little bit of my heart, you must accept it, otherwise I will really feel ashamed!"

So, Bobby took my three newly drawn three magic scrolls, and hurried away in his own carriage as if flying away.

I want to see what the life in the slums mentioned by the beast warrior is like. I never knew there were such poor places in El City, even if I walked all the way to El City along the Benma River , drifting here like a homeless stray dog, at least I never went hungry.Thinking of this, I took the orc female warrior and the elf female slave to the refugee area here, and I wanted to see how the orcs living outside lived.

I heard that people in El City don't like these orcs very much.

Now that I have passed through the dilapidated and dirty slums, everything I have seen has reached the limit of my heart's ability to bear, but when I saw the lonely bonfire camp outside the charcoal field, I knew The Beast Girl Warrior was not exaggerating at all. Their bonfire camp was simply too dilapidated. Even the dozen or so huts lacked some thatch. It seemed that they were not going to be renovated. They would probably have a hard time with the next heavy rain.

This is indeed an independent small tribe. Although it looks very desolate inside, everyone has their own division of labor. Naturally, the lowest status here are some beast girls. They usually only come out of the shack when they are working. Otherwise, they would just hide in a dark and damp shack. Even if they were eating, they would have to wait for the men and children in the tribe to finish eating before they would share the remaining soup.

At this time, a strong male orc werewolf had already come back from the outside. They dragged their heavy feet and slowly walked back to the camp with some supplies.They silently put the sacks on their shoulders in the corner of the camp. There was a pile of charcoal there, and there was a lot of charcoal in those bags.An orc werewolf walked to a large clay pot, scooped water out of it with a wooden spoon, and poured it directly into his throat. He was only wearing a pair of cow-nosed pants, and most of his sturdy body was exposed. His hard work made him look very strong. He brought back a bag of charcoal, so he sat beside the campfire with peace of mind and began to wait for the meal quietly.

"They are picking up the charcoal that fell from the charcoal truck on the side of the road, and if they collect a certain amount of charcoal, we will sell them to the charcoal field!" the female beast warrior said calmly beside me.

I frowned slightly when I heard what she said. This is not a wise thing to do. Unless the charcoal field is very clear that these orcs really picked up the charcoal left on the road one by one, otherwise the charcoal will be piled here It is easy to be misunderstood as stealing from the charcoal field, especially the people in El City don't have a good impression of the orcs themselves, and the bonfire camp is next to the charcoal field, so they rashly sold the charcoal they picked up back to the charcoal field , is it really possible to do this?

The female beast warrior said to me in a low voice: "The price is very low, and the charcoal field is willing to buy it!"

I didn't say anything. At this time, one after another, male orcs wearing linen clothes returned to the bonfire camp, and they would more or less bring something.Some leftovers, a bucket of swill, a bag of rotten vegetable leaves, a bunch of bloody animal offal, etc. At this time, the big black iron pot was slowly filled with various foods. The content of the soup began to enrich.

At this time, I discovered that most of the orcs who returned to the bonfire camp were wearing the linen clothes of the lowest night watchmen. At this time, I suddenly realized, no wonder some people have been complaining that the work of the night watchman is hard, and the salary is not good. How pitiful.Almost no one is willing to be a night watchman, even the night watchman who fills the street lamps with oil is scarce. The city hall has raised the salary of the night watchman several times, but there are still not many people who are willing to do this kind of loss of status .

I have always wondered, among the night watchmen, who is responsible for cleaning up street garbage, river debris, gravediggers carrying corpses, etc., who is doing the most low-level chores, and now it seems that I have the answer.

Seeing those few men coming back from the outside, the orc girls who were simply wrapped in rags like rags got out of the shack to meet their men.

No wonder these orcs are always hungry. It seems that there are more than a hundred people gathered in this bonfire camp, but there are only a dozen strong orcs who really go out to work, and that’s even counting the orc who picked up charcoal at the beginning... It’s just like this It's a lowly job to support such a big family, it's no wonder they don't go hungry!
Suddenly, I felt some sympathy for this female beast warrior.

Seeing that the meal was about to start, the little orc girl standing aside couldn't bear it.

"Grandma, I still have a piece of delicious wheat cake here!" The little half-orc girl took out her half of the wheat cake that she had been reluctant to eat from her arms, and said very excitedly.

The beast female warrior blinked her eyes, looked at me, and seemed to realize that I was not dissatisfied, so she said softly to the little girl: "Ninny, everything you own in the future will belong to him! He is our master, he will Give us a lot of delicious food, but you must obey his orders! Understand?"

The little half-orc girl opened her mouth slightly, her black bean-like eyes showed confusion, she lowered her head and said in a low voice with a bitter face, "Grandma, we are already slaves, aren't we?"

The female beast warrior nodded slowly, trying her best to conceal the decline in her eyes.

The excited expression of the half-orc girl disappeared suddenly, and she asked me weakly, "Master, can I give this piece of wheat cake to my friends?"

For a while, the change of roles made me extremely uncomfortable. I stood beside the girl in surprise and paused for a few seconds before I suddenly woke up. I didn't expect that I was already a slave owner with two slaves. This feeling is really indescribable. There is no joy, but there is no discomfort. In this world, it is very common to have one or two slaves.

"Why not?" After I came to my senses, I immediately said to the little orc girl, "This piece of wheat cake originally belonged to you, and you have the right to control it. It's up to you to throw it away, eat it, or give it away!"

The little girl was extremely depressed at first. She didn't know how her life would be different after becoming a slave. She just subconsciously thought that once she became a slave, she would lose her freedom. She was very nervous at first, but she heard I said this, but suddenly became happy, her sweet smile seemed a little naughty, her bright little eyes blinked, she saluted me very politely, and then held the half piece of wheat in both hands. Bing quickly ran down the hillside and ran towards the campfire camp.

In fact, she didn't hear what I said later: "Before you put on that hateful collar, you are still a free little orc!"

She shouted loudly: "Barry, Hardy, look what I got, I swear you have never eaten such delicious food in your life!"

Among the group of children sitting around the campfire quietly waiting for the meal, two dark little orcs stood up. Their bald heads appeared to be very large, but their necks appeared to be very thin. They were obviously malnourished. When they heard the voice of the orc girl in the distance, they stood up in surprise and turned their heads to look at the little girl. They cheered and rushed to meet the little girl. The three children hugged each other and shouted excitedly.

At this time, an orc child excitedly said to the little half-orc girl, "Ella, I thought I would never see you again!"

The half-orc girl's originally excited and smiling face suddenly became depressed, and she stuffed half of the wheat cake in her hand to him, then lowered her head and said, "I'm sorry, Hardy, I won't be able to play with you in the future." Maybe we won't meet again in the future, I'm already a slave!"

Seeing the lost look of the half-orc girl, I didn't know what to say for a while, I just felt like a big stone was pressing on my chest, and suddenly I was a little impulsive, and I blurted out to my side The female beast warrior said: "I can give you a chance to choose!"

The Beastwoman looked at me in surprise and understood what I was talking about, what choice does a slave have?A slave whose rights of life and death are in the hands of others, what else is his own?

I took out a bag of gold coins from my bosom, there were about a dozen more in it, and it looked heavy in my hand.I put the money bag in my hand and said to her: "You can choose again and become my slave. Maybe it will be difficult to see your fellow orcs again in the future, or take this bag of gold coins and bring them back Gludin Town."

The orc female warrior looked at me incredulously, and had to say that her appearance was in line with human aesthetics. Except for a little rough skin and a tough outline on her face, her facial features were still very correct, with thick lips and a straight bridge of nose. The deep eyes are symmetrically inlaid in the oval face, and there is an indescribable mature beauty, full of exotic local style.

"What I mean is that we haven't signed a slave contract yet, you are still free, and I can give you a chance to choose again!" I explained.

The fire of hope in her eyes suddenly became very bright, and the desire for freedom made her hug her round shoulders with both hands excitedly, and squatted down on the wild grass beside her.

Someone in the bonfire camp below the hillside in the distance had already looked towards this side, and the strong old orc with a limped leg also stopped stirring the iron pot, and looked up to this side.

After thinking for a while, she calmed down, stood up and looked at me silently.

I didn't see a look of relief on her face, so I knew she hadn't convinced myself, and I'm afraid she would still be my slave according to the previous agreement with the auction house.So I quickly said to her: "Maybe you don't have to answer me in a hurry, let me see the small tribe that belongs to you."

"No, I want to stick to my promise. There are no betrayers in the Gludin Blood Wolf Clan. Even if the contract ceremony is not held, I am still your slave!" the female beast warrior said firmly.

Looking at the elf girl who was chasing from afar, I was speechless...

Sometimes, I can't understand people like beast warriors and elf girls, and I don't understand what they are holding on to.

Even though I have a chance to be free, my name has not been engraved on the collar of the elf slave, I haven't recited the soul contract, I have already bought a decent set of clothes and shoes, and I can wear a black cloak Covering the bright yellow-orange metal collar around her neck, she still chased after her, as if she had become a loyal slave at this moment, and she had no intention of running away at all...

And the beast female warrior is even worse, obviously I said that I can give her freedom again, but she still has to keep her promise.

(End of this chapter)