Secret: The years I served as a foreign aid for the Aurora Club

Chapter 277 The First Day

569
It seemed that because of the messenger lady, Ms. D paid more attention to Klein than at the beginning.

While Ms. D was looking at the map and making plans, Klein took out the information that Renette Tinicole and Ms. D had brought along, as well as the reply from Mr. Azik.

After the copper whistle was severely damaged, Klein no longer used it to summon spirits to send messages. Fortunately, the messenger lady replaced it in time.

In his reply, Azik first said that he was really busy recently and was sorry that he could not reply in time, but he remembered Klein's previous question and attached relevant information about the spirit world predator. Azik said frankly that he had recalled many things recently, and the loopholes in his memory were getting smaller and smaller. He had to digest and recover through sleep to balance the human memory and the divine instinct, otherwise it would be easy to lean towards the cold appearance of the past.

Seeing that Mr. Azik was not affected by the previous incident and had now returned to normal, Klein truly relaxed. With the golden sunlight projected through the gap in the roof, he shifted his gaze to the following content in a good mood.

Azik's description of the Spiritual Plunderer is:
"...This is a very cunning creature that is rare in number. It is very good at camouflage and is not easy to find... One thing that can be used is that it is very aggressive. However, it is also very dangerous. Even if you have strength close to Sequence 4, you must be cautious enough, otherwise, you will become its soul if you are not careful..."

"Its specific characteristics are... the area where spirit world predators often move around is the extremely dangerous 'Calderon City' deep in the spirit world. There are many dangerous spirit world creatures there now. I don't recommend you go there, but I don't know if there are spirit world predators active in other areas... I suggest you pray to 'Red Light' El Moria. He is very friendly to humans, willing to answer similar questions, and has the corresponding authority... The key to the ritual is the correct honorific name and symbol..."

"Once you have clues about the spirit world predator, you can wait for a while. I may be able to provide some help..."

How could this be so embarrassing... Klein raised his right hand and pinched the sides of his mouth.

He then flipped through the papers and looked at the last page:
"...I am doing something very troublesome now. I have never done this seriously. I can't say I like it, but I don't hate it either. I just find it very hard to imagine...Okay, I should still have some free time. I remember you said you were going to the South Continent. Don't go to places that have been occupied by the Balam Empire. If you must go, bring the copper whistle with you..."

"...By the way, if only Calderon City has spirit world predators, if you encounter unimaginable danger there, or see any dangerous people, throw the copper whistle away."

Mr. Azik didn't seem to have changed much. At least I couldn't tell from the letter what the last sentence meant. The copper whistle he gave me turned out to be a panacea-like prop... Klein couldn't help but laugh. He shook the paper in his hand and ignited it, turning it into ashes that floated into the dust piled in the corner of the warehouse.

The memory that Mr. Azik recovered this time seemed beyond imagination, and he actually gave an accurate geographical location of the spirit world.

If his tone of voice had not remained exactly the same as usual, Klein would have suspected whether Mr. Azik had gradually become the "Death Archon" of the ancient Balam Empire. Although Azik suggested in the letter that he should not go to Calderon, but to ask the "Red Light", one of the Seven Lights of the Spirit World, about other areas where the spirit world predators were active, he still planned to ask about Calderon City in his reply.

No matter what, we already have the “evil magic”, and we should always have expectations... Also, I have to tell Mr. Azik that I have arrived in the southern continent... Klein thought seriously about how to write his reply.

However, he did not start immediately because Ms. D on the other side had stopped writing and drawing.

Although she was a noble lady from the Northern Continent, Ms. D seemed to have enough knowledge about the Southern Continent. She quickly made a new plan based on the existing situation and even made two versions.

"We are now setting off directly from Caesar Port. There are two routes to choose from." Ms. D placed a piece of white paper with a simple route map and a rough plan on the box and indicated it with a pencil. "After Berens City enters a wartime state and the sea routes are cancelled, the first route is to go directly west, but it may pass through the battle zone between Balam and Loen. It is quite chaotic there now. It is said that there are still affected zombies wandering around. The spiritual influence of both sides is still residual, and neither side can deal with it in time."

“Although we may not be in danger, this road is not suitable for transporting items.” Ms. D looked at the boxes in the warehouse.

Klein's knowledge of the Southern Continent was limited to the various organizations and the forces behind them, not including transportation and war zones. He also didn't expect that a fight would break out there just after he arrived, so he nodded in a serious tone.

“So I suggest taking the second route.”

Ms. D pointed to another route and said, "We will go south for a while, then bypass the war zone and head west to enter Berens. However, during this process, we may attract the attention of the Loen military, so we need to avoid the forces of the Aurora Society and Balam. The officer who commissioned you should have given you the corresponding documents, right?"

Klein nodded. "The resumes I gave them include relevant experience in the Southern Continent. We can have some contact with them."

Since this was written in the resume, Ms. D had the good sense to not ask Klein whether he had been there.

She looked around the warehouse and asked:
"How are you going to carry these?"

These things needed to be loaded on a small passenger ship. If they were to be transported by carriage, they would not only need to be unpacked and repacked, but would also require at least ten carriages. Carrying so many things on the chaotic southern continent would be like being a moving target, and anyone who saw it would be tempted to touch it. However, if Klein wanted to show off his hard work in transporting the goods and leave a clear route for the Loen officials to investigate, then carriages and manpower were necessary.

Klein planned to wait and see, so he asked, "If we choose the second route, how long will it take to reach Berens? The southern continent is not very safe right now. I hope to resolve this matter within two weeks."

Then he remembered that his two-week delivery deadline had only passed three days, and it took only a little over a day to make the one-way trip between the northern and southern continents, where the routes were now blocked, and he also avoided the army. The divination result was true, and the impatient hunter was indeed a huge help.

"If we use extraordinary means to transport it, we only need to walk along this route, which is about four days."

"Do you have a sealed item that can quickly travel back and forth between the two places? For example, the 'Traveler' or something like that." Klein asked curiously, "The officers of Loen can't reach the southern continent, otherwise they wouldn't ask me for help. I think it's completely possible to use some extraordinary means."

"I'm sorry, I don't have a 'traveler' item that can move freely." Ms. D shook her head regretfully, "I only have an item made with the characteristics of a 'mystic'. It is fixed to a door in my residence and must be monitored, otherwise it will escape on its own. It can only be turned on and off at a time and cannot be taken away."

There is no Sequence 5, only Sequence 4...

Klein said nothing. He began to think of a strategy to divert attention: as long as Ms. D left after he arrived in Berens City, he could use the "Creeping Hunger" to move the goods calmly, prevent his image from becoming even stranger, and save on travel expenses.

After making the decision, he asked again: "I remember that railways were laid between the cities in the southern continent. Moreover, these are all port cities."

"Why does the journey take four days?"

“Because the railway has stopped operating.”

Klein thought of the resistance forces on Rorsted Island and fell into silence, somewhat surprised but expectedly.

Ms. D smiled and said, "In fact, people in the southern continent are very resistant to these advanced items, including railways, gas street lights, and steam engines."

"But it's not entirely because they are ignorant and backward. It's because these items were introduced in the simplest and crudest way, such as using whips and forcing adult men to participate in the construction of the railway, not giving them enough food and rest. The workers' lives are not guaranteed, so they naturally don't support it, but the project still has to go on. After using countless labor and lives to build these modern facilities, they are taken to serve the people of the Northern Continent. We take the train, but they can't afford shoes. How can the people of the Southern Continent accept it?"

Ms. D spoke eloquently about the situation in the southern continent, not sounding like a noble from the northern continent at all. "However, this time, the Church of the God of Death and the Balam Empire did a good job. They did not allow the people to vent their anger and pry open the rails. They just protected the rails and stopped operation... Even so, destruction was inevitable. Many people also pried the rails, or dug up the sleepers to look for the remains of their family, friends, or ancestors, or just took a section of the rails with them."

"Take away the rails?"

"People will fall into the molten iron, but we can't waste such a large vat of molten iron just for one or two people. That would be a waste." Ms. D said in a normal tone, then looked at Klein and changed the subject naturally, "I'm sorry, I talked too much about other aspects - ah, Mr. X, have you decided not to use carriages for transportation?"

“Yes.” Klein controlled the urge to frown and temporarily put aside what he had just heard: “Ma’am, you seem to know a lot about the Southern Continent.”

"I have some properties here and offshore, which are under my name, so I will pay more attention to them." Ms. D smiled nonchalantly, "It's already ten o'clock, and I had breakfast before I came here. Do you want to go get something to eat, or should we just leave directly?"

“No need to eat,” Klein said. “Just go.”

Ms. D put the paper and pen into her shoulder bag and stood up:
"Ok."

Klein and she left the dilapidated warehouse and took the initiative to go out to find the staff at the dock. They wanted to discuss the cost of repairing the warehouse with them, hoping to put a few boards on the roof to prevent the goods from being exposed to direct sunlight from the southern continent or being damaged by rain while they were away.

"excuse me……"

But as soon as he came to the young official who was counting the port's losses, the young man who had taken the initiative to pour him a cup of hot water last night frowned at him and waved his hand impatiently:
"Go stand in the back. There's a lot going on. Don't bother me."

Klein was stunned at first. He looked around. Apart from a few residents waiting to be counted, there were only people in tattered clothes picking up broken wood and iron sheets on the ground with their bare hands. He couldn't tell what they were busy with. But since they said so, Klein had to take a few steps back. Through his enhanced hearing, Klein overheard the conversation of the people who were picking up the rags:

"Don't pick up wood, pick up pieces of iron."

A skinny southern continent man whispered to a woman who was probably his wife, using the common language of the northern continent that he was not very proficient in, as if he was worried that other rag pickers would understand. Rough wood and rusty iron sheets were thrown into the sacks in their hands one by one. The splinters pierced their fingers, but they did not stop. However, the husband's expression was relaxed, even joyful, when he spoke: "Pick up more, and our house will have a roof... This piece can be sold for at least 1 penny, which is as much as I can sell a bag of charcoal..."

The wife picked up a palm-sized piece of iron sheet, and suddenly another hand reached out, snatched it away with force, and cut her palm.

The person who took the piece of iron sheet was a little boy who had been eavesdropping nearby. He picked up the bloody piece of iron sheet and ran, dashing into the crowd without looking back, while his wife, whose hand was cut, started crying in panic.

Klein watched all this in a daze, watching the wife who was crying and wrapping her palms with dirty cloth, the child who ran away, the husband who kept cursing the damn child, and the other indifferent people who were still picking up waste. He felt that he shouldn't just watch, but what should he do? The child hadn't run out of the control range of his spirit line, but what was the point of catching the child and sending the iron sheet back? Or he should tell the ragged and smelly couple that they needed to take medicine if they were scratched by rusty metal, but how could people who had to pick up even a penny of iron sheet afford expensive medicine?
The child ran into a scrap recycling shop.

Under the sunlight, Klein suddenly felt a little dazed.

He looked at the official who was doing the statistics, only to see that he was drinking a glass of lemonade in the blazing sun at noon, as if he hadn't seen anything. Klein couldn't help but lean over again: "I hope to rent a warehouse at the port and repair its damaged roof."

The young official waved his hand and said impatiently:

"I don't care about these things."

Klein also suppressed his anger: "Who should I go to then?"

The young man yawned, glanced at Klein from the corner of his eye, muttered something in Tutan, and then said unhappily:
"If you want to rent it, go to town and register with the person in charge of the dock."

"The roof is broken, find someone to fix it."

Then he turned his head to the side, leaving Klein with a brown back of his head, as if he found him too annoying.

Klein's brows were almost twisted into a "川" shape. At this moment, Ms. D, who had disappeared for a few minutes, walked over with an aura like a savior. Her simple but still expensive dress made a gust of wind. The young man was startled by the approaching footsteps. She stood directly next to Klein and glanced at the young official with contempt under her sunglasses. Her tone was full of disdain:
"It's really filthy. Who's in charge here? You?"

The noble lady from the northern continent spoke the Intis language with a noble accent, lifted her skirt with disgust, kept a distance from everyone, and inadvertently showed the diamonds inlaid on her boots. The young man was dazzled by the expensive brilliance, stood up suddenly, nodded and bowed:

"I am, I am, honorable lady, what may I do for you?"

He smiled flatteringly, but Ms. D didn't even look at him.

"I need to rent a warehouse. Damn it, you lowly people are so lowly even in building a warehouse. You just leave the roof open. What if you damage my precious goods?"

"Yes Yes!"

"So hurry up and fix it for me." Ms. D reported the location of the warehouse. "My things are very valuable. If you damage them, I won't be able to pay for it even if I sell you all as slaves."

“Okay! Okay!” The young man bowed repeatedly and responded repeatedly, which made Klein want to help him straighten his back.

"You better hurry up!"

At the end of the conversation, Ms. D pulled a 5-filgin bill from her purse and threw it directly in the young man's face.

This is equivalent to 3-4 gold pounds, a considerable sum. The smile on the young man's face not only did not disappear, but became even more enthusiastic.

Ms. D walked away, and Klein followed closely. As soon as they left the port, they saw the young man calling a group of people to surround the broken warehouse where the goods were stored and set up a ladder.

A troublesome matter was easily solved by Ms. D.

"Mr. X, you have never been to the Southern Continent, right?"

Ms. D returned to her normal state. She adjusted the position of her sunglasses and looked at the silent Klein. She said with some emotion and some ridicule:
"If you've been to the South Continent, you'll dress yourself up as a North Continent person before you come."

"……You're right."

Klein had no choice but to admit his inconsiderateness, and couldn't help but start thinking about whether he should adjust his expression. If he was in a good mood a few minutes ago, now he was completely depressed, even a little aggrieved and angry. At this moment, he noticed that the child who had snatched the iron sheet appeared on the street and huddled in a corner.

The bloody piece of iron sheet disappeared, and he held a piece of moldy bread the size of a palm and bit it hard.

TBC
------

Double more successful.

(End of this chapter)