Equipment Printing School Mage

Mars didn't elaborate, and Apodale didn't ask further. He just sighed, "...It's really amazing. When I asked Mr. Elminster for help, I just hoped I could help Mars find a reliable team. Now it seems that they are more reliable than I imagined."

"By the way, where exactly is this place?" Emilia asked as she sprinkled seasoning on the cut meat.

"You're asking me?!" Apodale was stunned for a moment and couldn't help laughing, "I've only been here a few minutes!"

Emiya sighed. "At least you came here from that desolate mountain, right? I've hardly left the house since I was rescued here. I really don't know where I am now."

"Alright, alright." Apodel waved his hand. "I can't give you the name of this place. I can only say that it's a wasteland northwest of Baldur's Gate, several kilometers away from the nearest trade route."

To the east of Baldur's Gate is the bustling Bay Boulevard, and to the southwest are the numerous ports of Baldur's Gate.

Northwest? That's really an uninhabited area by the sea.

There was no shelter, no supplies, a veritable wasteland. And to get here, one had to pass through the Upper City—and in the foreseeable future, Baldur's Gate's Outer City would have a hard time developing into this area.

Sig was staring at the wild boar meat overflowing with fat, but at this moment, his pointed ears suddenly moved.

She raised her head hesitantly. At that moment, Apodel suddenly stood up. "...I was just about to boast about Imoen's clever choice of location when a guest arrived. Fortunately, it was only a little unarmed girl... She was dressed elegantly, probably a noble from Baldur's Gate."

Emiya was stunned for a moment, then stood up as well: "Noble lady? Come here?"

However, he soon realized something crucial.

Emiya coughed lightly and pointed in the direction of the theoretical Baldur's Gate: "Mr. Apodel, this is not in Baldur's Gate."

The old paladin was stunned for a moment and couldn't help but cover his face. "Most of the mages I know only care about their own family affairs and are indifferent to everything else. How come you do everything the other way around..."

Emiya quickly came up with an excuse: "I think I should only consider continuing my research on the arcane after ensuring the safety of my temporary residence."

"...Forget it, do as you please." Apodale sighed helplessly. "Remember, don't let your guard down."

Although Apodale spent some time with them, it was obvious that he was no longer in the mood to have another barbecue, let alone to solve the troubles of a noble lady.

Moreover, it was not appropriate to reveal his whereabouts to an ordinary noble lady.

Emiya waved towards the fire under the boar, extinguishing the bonfire he had summoned.

This kind of bonfire doesn't produce smoke, so he dares to barbecue here. Otherwise, he wouldn't barbecue publicly in a safe house that needs to be hidden.

Since they shouldn't reveal the existence of this safe house, they had no choice but to find a way to get that noble lady away.

However, when the face of the noble lady came into their sight, Emilia and Mars both gasped.

Two questions.

First of all, the little girl that Apodel mentioned was not a little girl in the traditional sense - the noble girl was obviously an adult, with a well-proportioned figure, and her age was probably not much different from Emilia.

Second, they knew the girl.

It was she who received them when they first visited the Hall of Miracles of the Gond Church a few days ago.

Her name is Shiji Silvershield, or Shiji II - she is the daughter of the current Grand Duke of Silvershield.

Why did she run out of the city at this time?

Now there was a serious problem - in what capacity should they meet her, the daughter of the Grand Duke of Silver Shield?

Emiya and Mars looked at each other.

They used too many fake identities when they came to Baldur's Gate this time!

Mars shrugged. "It seems we have no choice—in the Hall of Miracles, we use our true identities. If we want to quickly gain trust in this place, this identity seems to be the most appropriate."

"Use my real appearance?" Emilia was still weighing the pros and cons.

The paladin pointed at his helmet. "As long as we have enough identities, our true identity will only be one of many. Furthermore, for someone strong enough, our current disguise has no apparent meaning. I don't think we can keep our identities hidden from the Grand Duke of Silver Shield forever—he's also one of the Grand Masters of the Church of Gond."

That's all we can do.

*****************

Shi Ji II looked up at the sky and turned around.

She began to be convinced of one thing - she was lost.

Her target was theoretically in this direction, but so far, she hadn't seen any trace of it. However, behind her, the walls of Baldur's Gate had almost disappeared below the horizon.

What was even worse was that she had left in such a hurry and was still wearing the tight clothes she had worn as the eldest daughter of Silver Shield - her movements were really restricted in every way.

At this moment, the clear and undisguised sound of horse hooves could be heard from afar, along with a resounding shout: "Excuse me, is this Miss Shiji Silvershield?"

Hearing this, Shiji Silver Shield thought for a moment, immediately put her hands on her skirt, and began to slowly back away.

Her reaction greatly surprised the rider. He reined in his horse and, instead of moving closer, raised his voice, "You misunderstood! We met in the Hall of Miracles a few days ago, and we both witnessed the strange death of that Eltoril man. Do you remember?"

Apparently, no one would forget this. In fact, Shiji Silvershield still suffers from nightmares every day, so much so that he applied for sick leave from the temple.

But no matter what, at least the visitor is not some unknown bandit.

*********************

Seeing that Shiji Silvershield stopped retreating, Emiya couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

This young lady is more capable than he imagined.

"These are the novices of the church, the reserve priests... The bards are best at talking, but the priests are the ones who understand mortals the best." Mars breathed a sigh of relief.

Emiya steed the Phantom Horse towards Shiji, maintaining a safe distance of several meters from Miss Silver Shield. He dismounted and said, "Good day, Miss Silver Shield..."

"Sorry to interrupt." Shiji Silvershield gritted his teeth, "Could you please not call me by that last name?"

[Aha.] Mars immediately laughed out loud in the telepathic connection. [Want to make a bet? I guess she ran away from home because of family conflicts.]

"I'm afraid I can't make a bet on that, because I think so too. Although it's a little hard to understand why such a capable adult would run away from home," Emiya replied.

Mars disagreed: "Even if a stranger hurls a tirade at someone, it will only make them furious. But a single casual remark from a loved one can make them lose all hope."

Emiya didn't continue arguing with the Candlekeep's top student. Instead, she waved forward. "As you wish... Miss Shiji, do you need any assistance? Could you please tell me why you're in this area? My companions and I are planning to head to Waterdeep next, so we're staying here temporarily. You didn't even bring any luggage, so you don't look like you're planning a long journey. This place is at least a hundred kilometers away from Waterdeep, and there aren't many settlements in between."

Emilia had thought this negotiation would be more complicated.

However, he saw that Miss Shiji's eyes flickered several times in the direction behind them for some reason.

Just as Emilia was feeling bewildered, she gritted her teeth and replied, "...I'm sorry, adventurers. To put it simply, I ran away from home to escape my marriage."

Emilia blinked. "—This is a bit mysterious. You are a novice of the Gond Church, and it seems that the Silver Shield Family does not necessarily need to marry into a certain family?"

Could it be a marriage alliance with Grand Duke Valakon? If so, Grand Duke Valakon's several offspring all seem to be around the same age as Miss Shiji.

"...No, this is a little difficult to say." Shi Ji's face flushed slightly. "Strictly speaking, I don't have any engagement. It's just my parents' wishful thinking."

In other words, the target of the marriage contract doesn't even know it yet: he's about to have a daughter forced upon him by the Silver Shield family.

"That's a bit strange," Mars asked with a smile on his horse. "The Grand Duke of Silver Shield is also a well-known figure in the Northern Lords' Alliance. Is there anyone who would be worthy of him marrying his daughter off in such a unilateral... and humble manner?"

Shi Ji II lowered his head. "It's not that he's unworthy, but I don't want to marry an old man who's older than my parents combined, or even me! Even if he's a hero everyone knows!"

The conversation seemed increasingly bizarre.

Although Emiya didn't think that the priests of the Gond Church would lack such common sense, he still said, "Actually, the ages of different races..."

"I know!" Shiji crossed her arms in frustration. "The problem is, that one is a human! So he must be an old man."

This was getting weirder and weirder.

Grand Duke Silver Shield was at least fifty years old. If the mother Shi Ji was referring to was her biological mother, then she was probably not much younger than Grand Duke Silver Shield.

Add Shi Ji? That person must be at least over 120 years old. Humans of this age are rare in Faerun.

For a moment, Emiya's expression froze.

He considered the current time. Not long ago, this young lady was happily serving as a novice. Something must have happened in the past few days, bringing someone into the sight of the Grand Duke of Silver Shield.

It was the first time that Emilia found a name so bittersweet.

"...The marriage partner your father has arranged for you shouldn't be the famous paladin, Apodel Adrian, right?"

Sixty Fantasy World Musketeers

Emiya felt her scalp tingling.

This was clearly a thorny matter—the Silver Shield family was naturally one of Lord Apodale's most important destinations on this trip. Regardless of how he explored the terrain, he would inevitably have to pay the Silver Shield family a visit in a few days.

This young lady is truly lucky to have a new life. Emiya sighed sincerely.

Miss Ai Meng is so jealous. If she knew that the Silver Shield Family was planning this...

He couldn't imagine what would happen next.

Mr. Apodale was now in a difficult position. If the Grand Duke of Silver Shield proposed this to him during his visit, he would be in a real dilemma. However, if he told him about this in advance, Mr. Paladin would be in even greater trouble.

How should they treat this young lady who ran away from her marriage?

Helping her run away from home? This was somewhat treading on the boundaries of a paladin's oath-breaking. After all, it seemed like just a whim of the parents, and helping someone leave their home simply for that didn't seem entirely justified.

And the other way around, it's not much better.

It seems that they can only turn a blind eye and pretend that this incident never happened.

However, after Mars climbed up to a high place and looked into the distance, he also became suspicious.

He waved his hand and asked, "Miss Silver Shield, I don't seem to see any pursuers. If you didn't tell us the truth, at least be reserved. We don't care. Just tell us if you need help."

"Uh... well... maybe it's because my family hasn't noticed I'm gone yet. After all, I'm not some aristocratic young lady from the south."

Miss Silver Shield's eyes kept dodging - it was obvious that to her, their group was not a helper that came out of nowhere, but an unexpected trouble.

But the fact that a lone woman would go out into the wilderness on her own was obviously quite remarkable in itself.

At that moment, Sig's telepathic connection rang out, filled with uncontrollable pride: "Hmm, Captain Emiya? Want to make a bet? I bet Miss Silver Shield is hiding something more from you. She may indeed have escaped her marriage, but there's still another hidden secret."

Emiya was silent for a moment: [I guess she has a contact?]

"Yes, clever Miss Silver and I have caught him—Miss Silver has seen him before, but she never bothered to remember his name. Unfortunately, Miss Sig, who is well-informed, happens to know him. Papier, from Little Calinshan, from the outer city! But he is keeping his mouth shut."

Papier, this slightly unfamiliar name flashed through Emilia's mind.

Another novice they met when they visited the Gond Temple.

In such a remote place, there appeared two novices from the Gond Temple.

Now things took a new turn.

Emiya pondered for a moment, then asked the somewhat restless Miss Silver Shield, "Excuse me, are you looking for someone in this direction?"

Shiji Silvershield shook his head frantically almost immediately: "No! No! I just happened to pass by! I just happened to pass by!"

Emilia raised her eyebrows: "You just said that you ran away from your marriage."

But it doesn’t matter, now Emiya has some guesses.

He sighed. "Let's put it this way. We were camping nearby, and then we happened to... meet a friend, a man named Papier--"

Emiya saw with satisfaction that shock rose in Miss Shiji's eyes.

He waved his hand. "We didn't do anything to him. We just don't know why he appeared here alone. We are camping in the wild, and we can't let strangers wander around the camp like this-"

Before he could finish, Shiji Silvershield said flatly, "I don't know why he's here. I'm going back. You'd better not try to stop a novice from the Temple of Gond."

"...I don't know what to say next." Emiya sighed inwardly, "She has a secret. But we can't torture her just for that."

"My curiosity has been piqued." Mars said, "But I can't think of any way to get her to talk."

Just then, another unexpected voice sounded behind them.

With the metallic clashing of tools, an elderly priest slowly appeared behind Emilia and Mars.

They knew him—in the Hall of Wonders of Gond.

In Baldur's Gate, Gutenberg, the highest-ranking priest of the Church of Gund.

The moment the Gond master craftsman came into his sight, Emilia couldn't help but gasp.

The incident they were involved in seemed to be taking a quite different direction from what he had initially expected.

Gutenberg had no idea what Emya was thinking, and clearly had no interest. He had been somewhat patient in the Hall of Wonders. But now, the priest was solemn. "Guests, please allow me to be brief—please leave this place, abandon your camp, and return to Baldur's Gate. Since we once met in the Hall of Wonders, I will impose no restrictions on you. I only ask that you treat what just happened as if it had never happened. Do not speak of it to outsiders, and pretend that you have never met the people of Gond here."

"Of course, Mr. Papill of our church is already a member of the church, even though he is still very young."

Mars was silent for a moment, and said to himself: "I used to not believe that anyone could be so unlucky as to get into trouble everywhere, but now I do."

Emiya's face darkened as she replied, "I'm wondering how much of Miss Imoen's safe house location was intentional."

They hadn't even left the safe house, so how could they have run headfirst into the murderous Gond believers? Judging from their momentum, they had clearly rushed into a forbidden area or something.

Upon seeing Gutenberg, Miss Silver Shield, who had been feeling a bit down, suddenly perked up. But just as she was about to speak, Gutenberg gave her a serious look, showing no sign of camaraderie among fellow clan members. "Shi Ji, we'll discuss your matter later."