Six-Armed Serpent Demon

Page 114

Medusa paused, then said softly, "In another dimension, there is a twin projection world called Toril, which is said to have benevolent dragons. But I don't believe it. A dragon is a dragon, and every dragon is a walking embodiment of the seven deadly sins. The silver dragon Keogrosia isn't exactly a good thing either, but compared to Hesladi, she's practically the embodiment of truth, goodness, and beauty."

Chapter 138 The True Self Needs Additional Steps

After six uneventful days of sailing, the three-masted sailing ship arrived at Keogo, a famous port of the Northern Federation.

The closer they got to the Northern Federation, the less Ivy-Beate dared to take out the meteorite dragon head.

She believed the most appropriate place and time to deal with the meteorite dragon head would be when she was summoned back to the Abyss to fight by another six-armed serpent demon.

While Demogorgon is the most powerful demon lord, the other abyss lords are not to be underestimated. As long as the meteorite dragon head isn't retrieved within Demogorgon's territory, there shouldn't be any major problems.

However, the lack of even a single summons during this period inevitably left Ivy Beatrice somewhat frustrated.

—But it doesn't matter, time is always on her side.

As the land appeared on the horizon, Ivy Beatrice went up to the deck, shaded her eyes with her hand, and looked towards Keogu.

Compared to the scorching city, the sun in the northern seas is less warm, and the humid sea breeze carries a hint of chill.

Unlike the city of the Fiery Land, Kiogu is not a mountain city.

The entire city was built along the bay, taking the shape of a crescent moon, gradually transitioning from a flat coastline to a large area of ​​hills.

As a six-armed serpent demon, Ivy Beatrice's eyesight remained extraordinary even in human form. At a glance, she could see that the city was filled with brown-red roofs and colorful house walls, and the ground was paved with large gray-white stones and colorful pebbles.

The city's colors are very vibrant and bright, making it a pleasure to look at.

Ivy-Beate saw four or five lush green hills in the middle of the city, surrounded by streets and urban areas. On the highest hill sat a palace made entirely of white, which seemed to be the residence of the silver dragon Kiorgrosia.

The three-masted sailing ship gradually approached the harbor.

Ivy-Beate stood on the deck, surveying the port of the ancient city-state of Keo.

This truly lives up to its reputation as the headquarters of the invincible fleet. Two-thirds of the entire bay is a naval port, located at either end of the crescent-shaped bay, with twenty or thirty warships anchored on each side.

The civilian pier where they were to dock was located in the center of a crescent-shaped bay. Both civilian fishing boats and merchant ships had to pass between the tall, imposing warships on either side to enter or leave the pier, creating a rather imposing atmosphere.

A three-masted sailing ship slowly entered the harbor.

Ivy Beate discovered that this place was quite different from the orderly docking habits of Fire Harbor. Sailing into the center of the crescent-shaped bay, she saw a maze of scattered rocky islands.

These reefs are where ships dock and moor.

Captain Sink explained, "Only merchant ships fully loaded with cargo can unload at the spacious city docks. Empty ships can only anchor in the reef harbor and be watched over by the Gulf Fleet. That's the rule in Keogu."

—It seems the Invincible Fleet is on high alert.

Under the skillful navigator Chasan, the boat successfully found a berth beside a rocky island and lowered its anchor. Ivy Beate then noticed that the rocks were covered with large iron rings used for securing boats.

The sailors not only lowered the anchor, but also secured the bow of the three-masted sailing ship to the iron rings with ropes. The trimaran following behind did the same.

After everything was safely anchored, the landing craft was lowered.

Ivy-Beate and her group boarded a small landing boat, sailed into the dock, and set foot on the land of Keogu.

As soon as the small boat docked, the two owl bear cubs eagerly jumped onto the land, but they walked unsteadily and could only pitifully coo to Ivy-Beate.

Having spent so much time at sea, the two little ones have gotten used to the ship's rocking and are actually a bit seasick.

Ivy-Beate cast two "calming" spells on them, which revitalized Bear Gu and Gu Xiong.

“The parking fee collectors are here,” Sink warned.

Ivy Beatrice followed his gaze and saw four goblin bears walking towards her with an air of indifference.

She asked with a hint of surprise, "Are you sure they're collecting parking fees?"

These four guys were burly and muscular, covered in black fur and scarred faces—that was bad enough. But what they were really wearing was chainmail and bronze half-plate armor! And they had large cleavers and flails slung across their waists! Good heavens, and that thing they were carrying on their backs—wasn't that a tower shield…?

—I would believe you if you said these four are veterans who patrol the battlefield, but what kind of toll collectors need to be armed like this?

“Uh…” Sink was a little embarrassed to say it, “This is the kind of outfit you have to wear to collect berthing fees at Keogu Wharf.”

At that moment, the heavily armed bear goblin warriors approached Ivy Beate with fierce eyes.

Ivy Beatrice was ready to pay. But before she could speak, she saw a goblin behind her tug at their leader, signaling him to look next to her first.

Then Ivy Beatrice and the leader of the bear goblin warriors both turned their gazes to the Medusa girl beside her.

Stewart's wavy, mottled hair hissed impatiently at them.

Ivy Beatrice saw the leader of the bear-goblin warriors, clad in bronze half-armor, shiver and his eyes change.

He remained silent, then cautiously glanced again at the massive figure with a sturdy armor shell protruding from behind the red-haired beauty.

Ivy Beatrice knew without looking that Raphael's vulture head, with its sunglasses and two exaggeratedly large claws, looked like a vicious monster.

The next second, the four goblin warriors said nothing and silently turned and walked away.

Ivy Beatrice watched them walk away and asked in a low voice, puzzled, "Why didn't they charge us for parking?"

Steo said lazily, "This is Keogu."

“Well, mistress,” Sink reported from the side, “there’s a rule at Keogu’s docks: might makes right. Either you pay up, or you fight the guy who’s charging you, life or death. If you can kill him, you won’t have to pay the berthing fee.”

—I see. No wonder those who charge fees are all dressed like they're going to war.

Ivy Beat whistled: "That's interesting. What if you don't want to pay, but you can't cut off the fee collector either?"

Stewart said, "Look over there."

Ivy Beatrice turned her head and saw some half-submerged cages containing people hanging on the distant rocks, their fates unknown.

Steo said, "Those are the examples. They either get beaten to death and fed to the fish, and all their property is confiscated; or they get beaten half to death, pay ten times the amount, and are then kept in a cage and soaked in seawater for a month... They basically die after a month."

"Wow."

Ivy Beatrice exclaimed, "I love this place."

The group followed Stewart and, familiar with the place, turned into a small tavern near the docks.

The tavern is decorated in a peculiar way, with a row of stone statues along one wall. Each statue is a fierce-looking warrior, all sculpted to a lifelike scale, and their postures and expressions convey the anger and terror within them.

The person who sculpted the stone statue was definitely a master.

Stewart ordered as soon as he sat down, without even looking at the menu. He was clearly a regular. The dwarf waitress politely served them steaks and beer.

Ivy Beatrice thanked her politely, and the waitress, flattered, quickly made her escape.

Ivy Beatrice saw that the waitress had a full beard, a muscular build, and was covered in steel armor; she looked like a super fighter.

"Why is it that even she—"

Ivy Beatrice started speaking curiously, then suddenly realized, "So, if you don't tip..."

“That’s right, a duel, that’s the biggest rule of Georgod.”

"You know, I worked here for nine years before this tavern was sold to a new owner," Stewart said, clenching her fist and pointing with her thumb at the row of stone statues against the wall. "See those guys? They're the ones who dared to touch my ass and skip out on my tip."

After they finished their meal, they booked a room upstairs in the tavern.

Medusa's sister, Steo, began to sigh deeply.

Ivy Beatrice asked, "What's wrong?"

"I'm going to the shipowner's house now."

Stéphane tugged at her cheek in distress, because she dared not pull the snake off her head. “How am I going to explain this to his family? The treasure ship is back, but he’s gone. Not only did they not find the treasure, but he’s also drowning in debt… He has a wife and three children.”

"Uh…"

Ivy-Beate gave her an idea, "Why don't you tell his family that through this treasure hunt, he suddenly found his true self and decided to go out to sea alone as a solitary fisherman, fishing all over the ocean... What do you think of this reason?"

The Medusa girl sitting across the table stared at her with eyes wide enough to petrify a dozen people.

“It’s only because I can’t beat you,” Steo gritted his teeth, “otherwise I would have made my move long ago, really.”

Ivy Beatrice was very unhappy with her attitude.

“I’m not kidding,” she said seriously. “My reasoning is absolutely convincing; it’s based on personal experience. I’ve used it to convince quite a few people.”

"...Please shut up, I beg you."

Ivy Beatrice scratched her chin.

"So, what if we add this to the reason we just discussed?"

She arranged three gold bricks with the royal crest removed on the dining table, counting one, two, three.

Medusa stared at the three glittering golden blocks in front of her, her eyes dazzled. If gold bricks weren't inanimate, she would have mistaken them for stone bricks by now.

Stewart swallowed hard. "He's my best friend, my childhood friend. Even though we're not the same race, we grew up together in this city, like brothers..."

So another gleaming gold cube appeared on the table. Ivy-Beate asked, "Should we add more bricks?"

"Huh?! How did you know what I was going to say?!"

Chapter 139 An Encounter on the Street Corner

While they were eating, Medusa had booked rooms for everyone on the second floor of the tavern where they were eating. It was then that Ivy Beatrice realized that the tavern was now owned by Medusa herself.

Steo has been working as a waiter in this little tavern since he was six years old, for almost ten years. Four years ago, due to the unique daily tax resistance activities in the ancient city of Keo, various industries had accumulated arrears. As a result, the tax bureau launched the once-a-decade "Paying Glory" campaign to encourage people to pay taxes. This involved temporarily borrowing a few squads from the Silver Dragon City Lord's elite warriors, the "Silver Steel Guards," when collecting taxes.

So the former boss not only eagerly paid the back taxes, but also handed over his head.

The old owner had no other relatives, so Stewart, as his adopted daughter, naturally inherited the tavern, which is the truth behind her so-called "transfer to the new owner".

“Oh my god,” Medusa said, her face still trembling with fear, “you have no idea how ruthless the tax authorities are. My former boss, the one who ran this little tavern, used to be called the Peace Hotel. The idea was that no matter who you were, if you were a dragon, you had to coil up; if you were a tiger, you had to lie low. Everyone had to be peaceful. Anyone who wasn’t peaceful would be taken down. I worked here for nine years and never saw him pay a single tax, but he was a madman. That one time, he paid it all in full.”

—This accent is so touching.

As Ivy Beatrice sat by the window, eating and listening to her talk, she turned her head to look out the window at the sign outside the tavern. She didn't see anything like "Peace Hotel," but she did see a sign that read "Taxpayer Model" hanging outside the tavern.

After finishing her meal, Ivy Beatrice decided to go for a walk alone and take a look at the street scenes of Keogh.

Keogu, being nestled between mountains and water, had streets that sloped slightly. Further from the docks, the streets became paved with fine cobblestones. A beautiful woman with red hair, snow-white skin, and blue eyes strolled leisurely along the grey-brown cobblestone streets. She wore a parrot-green samurai outfit, over which was a bronze female-style muscular half-body armor. Carrying a two-handed greatsword and a pale green gauze cloak, she looked around curiously.

A cool night breeze caressed Ivy Beatrice's cheeks, and strands of hair brushed against her forehead and neck, tickling her.

Although the soles of her Roman-style leather sandals weren't thin, she could still feel the bumps and lumps of the gravel road through them, making her especially nostalgic for the smooth asphalt roads of her previous life.

While keeping an eye on the few scattered pedestrians, she also kept an eye on the two owl bear cubs to make sure they didn't get lost. The two cubs, Xiong Gu and Gu Xiong, were incredibly energetic, running around her and playfully teasing each other endlessly.

Just then, a commotion arose in the distance.

The shouts of "Catch him!", "Thief!", "Stop thief!" and other nonsensical cries caught Ivy Beatrice's attention. She looked up in the direction of the noise and saw a nimble teenager performing parkour moves reminiscent of Jackie Chan in action movies from her past life. He darted and jumped, sometimes sliding along the ground, sometimes climbing onto houses and then jumping down, dashing towards her through the street stalls.

Ivy Beatrice's gaze swept past the parkour thief and landed on five goblin warriors brandishing swords as they raced after him. Their faces were menacing, and they relentlessly pursued the thief. But the boy was agile, and the goblins, clad in heavy armor, couldn't catch him despite their panting.

They clearly saw Ivy Beatrice blocking the fleeing child's path, and they shouted, "Stop him!" "Don't let him get away!" "Stop that thief!"

Ivy Beattie ignored them and quietly made way for the six city marathon runners. She was too busy with her own affairs to bother with anything else in a foreign land.

But she forgot one thing.

She knew to make way, and so did the bear cub who was increasing her intelligence to become a druid. But the bear cub was distracted by the shouting and remained standing there, dumbfounded, watching the six people rushing towards them.

In the blink of an eye, the six-person chase team rushed up to Gu Xiong.

In a flash, the boy bent down, reached out, and scooped up the bear. With a "whoosh, whoosh?" sound, he spun around and tossed the bear towards the pursuers behind him, their swords gleaming. The boy didn't even glance at it, continuing his frantic run forward.

Ivy Beatrice was initially taken aback, then a sharp glint flashed in her blue eyes.

The fastest-charging goblin warrior saw a large, furry ball flying towards him, and instinctively roared, swinging his scimitar to block it. But just as the scimitar was positioned correctly, it missed its target: the large, furry ball suddenly veered in mid-air and flew straight into the arms of the red-haired beauty beside him.

Ivy Beatrice hugged the little furball tightly, feeling it tremble violently. Its usual gentle "coo-coo" turned into a sharp, piercing cry.

She gently stroked it, trying to calm it down.

The bear at her feet stood up on its short, thick hind legs, stretched out its two front paws with owl wings to grab her knee pads for support, and looked at the bear in her arms and cooed softly, as if comforting the bear.

The bear stopped screaming and trembling, and obediently lay in Ivy-Beate's arms, accepting the stroking, though it would still shiver from time to time.

In the short time that followed, the boy had vanished without a trace. The five earth goblin warriors stopped in their tracks, hands on their hips, panting heavily.

Ivy Beatrice noticed that the group of guys angrily looked around before fixing their gazes on her.

She noticed that the teddy bear in her arms tensed up again.

These five guys are coming over.

She bent down and placed the bear on the ground, facing the approaching goblin warriors with composure. As soon as the bear landed, it darted behind her legs and, like the bear cub, cautiously peeked its round head out from behind her legs to look at the five goblins.

A grizzly earth spirit asked in a gruff voice, "Why didn't you stop that thief?"

Ivy Beatrice really wanted to pinch her nose.

As the goblin asked his question, a wave of bad breath and a goblin body odor ten times stronger than body odor hit him.