Mythology: Ragnarok

Mammon effortlessly translated Kasa's book and handed it to Agreed, then continued, "Is there anything else you want to trade with me? I can't let so many souls fly away from me."

Agreed inquired, "Do you possess any treasures that would allow me to use vampire magic without incurring a significant cost?"

Upon hearing this request, Mammon scoffed and shouted, "Don't use a question. Who are you looking down on? Of course I have one!" As he spoke, a black staff appeared in Mammon's hand, with a huge black crystal ball embedded at its top.

Mammon tossed the staff to Agreed and said, “The gem on this staff can absorb the blood energy from the enemies you kill and store it inside. This is a precious staff that even the high-ranking vampires can’t afford. Trading those souls for it would be an absolute bargain. But I must warn you, the crystal ball on this staff has a huge capacity. It’s large enough to fill it with enough blood magic to cast forbidden spells, but if you want to fill it by human standards, you’d have to slaughter at least a human city with millions of inhabitants.”

Agreed took the staff and said with great delight, "This treasure is great, but it's not very portable."

Mammon slapped his forehead and said, "My old darling, don't comment without checking the goods! Didn't you see those magic gems under that crystal ball? It can double the power of all kinds of magic. With this, what do you need your broken staff for? It's like upgrading from a slingshot to a cannon! Isn't it natural for mages to use staffs? How is it not portable?"

Agreed exclaimed in surprise, "Such a top-quality staff only costs ten thousand orc souls? I thought it would only have one function, but I didn't expect it could also be used as a staff!"

Mammon sighed and said, "Do you think 10,000 orc souls are easy to obtain? If it weren't for the soul vessel I gave you, who but a necromancer could collect so many souls on the battlefield? Souls are one of the most precious assets in the universe; this is common sense, so please remember it."

"Indeed, thank you very much. I have learned a lot." Agred nodded his thanks, then put away the emptied crystal ball, took the staff in his hand, and walked out of the pawnshop openly.

……

The orcish invasion lasted for a month. Later, the Valkyrie forces of Avalon came to the border to provide support and annihilated the orcish forces. During this period, twelve towns were looted and countless people were displaced. After repelling 20,000 orc troops, Sunset City was bypassed as a difficult pass. Whether it was luck or its superior strength, Sunset City was the only surviving border town in the Avalon Empire.

Note: The Avalon Empire worships the Valkyrie, so Avalon's elite force is called the "Valkyrie Force," which sounds impressive but is actually just a thousand-strong elite force cobbled together from knight-level warriors.

After the war, the people who had been evacuated returned to Sunset City unharmed from the shelters along the main road. Although Sunset City had not fallen, it was in ruins after the war, with both the city walls and the city itself in dire need of rebuilding. So everyone began to rebuild their homes.

The Avalon royal family naturally provided aid, sending Sunset City enough food to last a year and exempting it from taxes for three years. As for the other towns that had been recaptured but destroyed, the country directly exempted them from taxes for twenty years, encouraged population migration, and sent refugees to these towns for development.

The damage caused by the war was not significant for Sunset City. After thirty days, Sunset City was restored to its former prosperity. The families of the fallen soldiers and adventurers received state compensation (no compensation was given to cities that had fallen). Sunset City also benefited from the disaster and became the largest city in western Avalon. Countless caravans began to come here, which provided adventurers with more quests and wages.

One year after that great battle

Agreed walked into the Adventurers' Guild with his staff. The black crystal ball on his staff had turned blood red with the accumulation of blood energy. Agreed looked at the team members who were all present for the first time and asked, "Oh, it's rare for you all to gather so early. Did you also receive a summons from the guild master?"

Sophie replied excitedly, "Yeah, Captain! The president said he has a secret mission for us. Just thinking about a mission secretly assigned by the president is so exciting! I didn't even do my babies' pampering today before rushing here."

Agreed, seeing his excited teammates, chimed in, "Alright, let's go together then. I'm also very curious about this mission. But Rayleigh, I'm touched that you got out of a woman's bed so early, but I still want to remind you that you're wearing your pants inside out, both inside and out."

Upon hearing this, Rayleigh hurriedly glanced down, his face instantly turning red with embarrassment. He ran to the bathroom to put his pants back on, and after he finished, the others went to the guild leader's office on the third floor.

To avoid any awkward situations, Agrede first politely knocked on the door. After the president said "Please come in," Agrede led the team into the office. The president warmly invited them to sit down and asked his secretary to make tea for the guests.

After that, the president spoke up: "The reason I have gathered you all here is that I have an excellent task for you. Some time ago, the border official 'Harvey Smith' discovered a white reindeer in the nearby forest. Such an auspicious sign should naturally be presented to the royal family, so I have specially assigned someone to come here to hire the famous 'Magic Witch' team to escort it."

Argreed remarked sarcastically, "This world is truly strange. Strange animals are protected and transported as treasures from afar, while strange people are ostracized and forced to live in a world of other races." As he spoke, Argreed glanced at Hea.

Hea seemed to understand the meaning behind Agreed's words, and looked at him with a complicated expression.

The guild leader, unaware of the situation, explained, "It may sound absurd, but isn't it true? Lord Harvey is offering 10,000 gold coins. All you have to do is spare a week to accompany the escort team to the capital and you'll get 10,000 gold coins. What a great job!"

But Agreed knew that this money was definitely not easy to earn. Just as he was about to refuse, Heya suddenly said, "Captain, let's take this mission. Anyway, it's been a long time since we've really gone on a mission. Besides, we can't keep avoiding difficulties. We might have some unexpected gains if we go to the capital."

After listening, Agreed fell into deep thought, then looked at the others and asked, "So what do you all think?"

Everyone looked at each other, then shouted in unison, "Captain, it would be a fool not to make money!"

Seeing that everyone was thinking the same thing, Agreed had no choice but to agree, "Alright then, the witch will take on this task."