Walking into the village, Belin skipped in front to lead the way, while Liang Lidong followed behind. Further behind them was a group of people. Most of them were children with runny noses and dirty faces. There were also a few adults among them. In a small border town like this, it was rare for one or two outsiders to come to the village in a year. Therefore, whenever there were outsiders, the villagers would always put down their unimportant things and come to watch. This was also a rare entertainment for the villagers throughout the year.
If it was an ordinary visitor, the villagers and children would dare to point and gossip. If it was a minor noble, they would also dare to whisper. However, Liang Lidong was dressed in a Blood Red disciple robe and a bright red cloak with several magic patterns flowing with a blue luster. With such attire, the villagers only dared to follow behind and watch, not daring to speak carelessly.
For ordinary people, nobles were already an unreachable group of people, and the status of spellcasters was even higher than that. Regardless of whether it was mages, warlocks, or priests, these people who could use supernatural powers were mysterious and terrifying. Even if they were several kilometers away, if you spoke ill of them, they would still know. Then, at night, they would come to your side and give you the most terrible punishment, such as turning a person into a frog …
Ordinary people were in awe of spellcasters, thinking that they were the representatives of God in the world. In fact, this was indeed the case. The majority of mages were believers of the Goddess of Magic, and the priests were even more believers of the Goddess. They borrowed the power of the Goddess to spread miracles. Only warlocks who could cast magic innately had little to do with the Goddess. But even so, the majority of warlocks still chose to believe in a Goddess who had similar ideals to them.
At first, Belin was also very afraid of Liang Lidong, but the latter successfully used his social skills that he had trained in the game for eight years to perfectly dissolve the girl's fear of him. Noble Temperament was a very good specialty. When encountering someone he hated, he could use the pride brought by Noble Temperament to set up an invisible barrier between the two parties so that the other party would not come into contact with him. For people he liked, Noble Temperament could be transformed into a special attraction, making others feel that Liang Lidong was noble and gentle. Even during negotiations, Noble Temperament could be transformed into a special oppressive aura, defeating the other party's momentum and giving Liang Lidong the upper hand in negotiations.
Now, Belin was completely influenced by Noble Temperament. Every time she passed by a house, she would happily introduce the details of the house to Liang Lidong.
"This is Aunt Jessica's house. Her husband died more than ten years ago. She has a twenty-one-year-old son, Brother Thor, and an eight-year-old daughter, Sister Laffey. But people say that Sister Laffey is Grandpa Hawking's daughter. Why? Grandpa Hawking is an old man, how can he have a child …"
"This is Uncle Nicholas's house. He is a blacksmith. In the village, apart from the village chief's family, his family is the richest …"
"Here we are, this is the village chief's house!" Belin stopped in front of a large white house.
Most of the houses in the village were yellow mud brick houses with straw roofs. But this large house was obviously different. It was a three-story building. Not counting the courtyard, the building itself occupied about two hundred square meters. The triangular roof was covered with bluestone tiles, and the outer walls were made of white cordite, which was a very good building material. In the game, after Liang Lidong became a lord, he had opened a mine and started a stone business. Cordite was a commodity with small profits but quick sales.
Of course, the concept of small profits but quick sales was only for players. For the NPC civilians in the game, cordite was a very expensive building material. A small house made entirely of cordite could buy twenty years of rations for an ordinary family of five.
Judging from this building, the village chief was indeed a very rich family in the village. But Liang Lidong also saw that the outer walls of the building were covered with mottled moss and sparse mountain vines. The outer walls should have been pure white, but yellowish stains had seeped under the surface of the cordite. This meant that the house had a certain history, probably more than a hundred years old.
It seemed that the village chief's family was similar to a small aristocratic family in this village.
Belin followed to the fence of the courtyard and shook the copper bell hanging on it. It was the size of a palm that was already covered in a copper-green color. Belin's melodious voice rang out along with the clanging of the door, "Lord village chief, we have a guest!"
"Coming, coming!" The slightly hoarse but energetic voice of an old man came from the second floor window. After a while, the thick wooden door on the first floor that was as mottled as the outer walls opened. An old man with gray hair and a kind smile appeared at the door. He looked at Belin lovingly and smiled. "Shouldn't you be herding sheep at this time? Why are you here? Be careful, or your father will beat you!"
"He won't beat me!" Belin pointed at Liang Lidong behind her. "I've brought you a very important guest."
The village chief seemed to be a little short-sighted. He squinted and walked to the fence in confusion. Only then did he manage to see Liang Lidong's appearance and attire. What followed was surprise, and the kind smile on his face turned serious. He pressed his right hand on his chest and bowed slightly. "Your Excellency, I'm the village chief, Caspar Reed! It's a pleasure to meet you! "
Liang Lidong was wearing the robes of a believer, and believers were generally called priests. The village chief did not treat Liang Lidong as a priest like Belin did, and could even see through his identity. This meant that he had seen the world. In addition, the village chief's etiquette was very steady, and he did not panic at all when he saw an important person. This meant that the village chief often met people of high society, so he was very calm.
"Beta, believer of Goddess Woking!" Liang Lidong continued to bluff. "In order to spread the glory of the goddess, I passed by this place, but unfortunately lost my way. I want to rest here for a while. I can do something within my power to pay for the accommodation. I wonder if the village chief is willing to take in a lost traveler like me? "
"Ascetic believer?" The village chief was somewhat surprised!
Liang Lidong nodded. The so-called ascetic believer was a special priest responsible for spreading the god's ideas. They wandered everywhere, looking for a place to build a new temple. Generally speaking, ascetic believers were very popular because they were not pure spellcasters, but rather the disseminators of the truth. Naturally, they also had consummate skills because there were all kinds of dangers along the way. If they could not deal with them, how could they spread the glory of god?
After obtaining Liang Lidong's affirmation, the village chief's face became cheerful. He promptly said, "To have your excellency stop here is the greatest honor of our Reed Family in the past hundred years. Please come in …" Then he turned to the young girl beside him and said, "Belin, go and find Kail. He is practicing his sword in the open space behind the village!"
The young girl skipped away.
"Please!"
Liang Lidong followed the village chief's footsteps into the small building, and the first thing he saw was a portrait hanging on the wall. In the painting was a handsome man. In his left hand was a flaming longsword, and in his right hand was a shield. The shield was engraved with a flame emblem. He wore half a chainmail and stepped on an ugly demon.
The village chief noticed Liang Lidong's gaze and proudly said, "This is my ancestor, the legendary hero Kite Reed. Five hundred years ago, he defeated the demon Diablo, who had been resurrected from hell. He then refused the king's invitation to become the commander of the royal family's cavalry regiment. He returned to his hometown alone and lived in seclusion. Our ancestor was so great, but we, the descendants, are so weak. We are a disgrace to our ancestor's glory. "
The legendary hero Kite Reed indeed existed in the game, but he was mostly mentioned by the wandering poets in taverns. Liang Lidong was a noble, so developing his territory and fighting against other powers was his main gaming career. Exploring the game's history was something only 'wandering scholars' could do. However, he had heard of this Legendary Hero before.
"I've heard of your ancestor. When Diablo was resurrected, the first thing he did was destroy a small country. I don't remember the name. Then, he led countless undead to Hollevin." Liang Lidong didn't really believe that the village chief was a descendant of the legendary hero, but he certainly wouldn't show his thoughts. Instead, he flattered him. "The king of Hollevin, Haydn the Fifth, ordered a counterattack, but the army couldn't withstand a single blow. When Diablo's army was about to approach the capital, a young man stood out. He charged into the army of undead alone and killed Diablo. He was unbelievably strong!"
Hahahaha! The village chief was delighted to see that Liang Lidong knew about the glorious deeds of his ancestor. He found him even more pleasing to the eye. Before, when he told the villagers about his ancestor's deeds, they all treated it as stories, and when he talked to other nobles about his ancestor, the nobles didn't care at all. He was a low-level noble from an unknown village, and if he didn't have a noble coat of arms, he would've been treated as a muddy person by the upper class of Hollevin. Nobody would believe that his ancestor was the Legendary Hero Kite Reed.
The village chief invited Liang Lidong to sit down and asked, "Where are you going to grant your blessings, Mr. Beta?"
"Where God wants me to go!" Liang Lidong bluffed. "I want God to give me a hint when I find it."
The village chief's expression changed. "How about Priest Beta stay in our village … Although our village isn't rich, it's still not enough to support a small temple …"
Before the village chief finished, a young man barged in and shouted, "Grandpa, I heard from Belin that an honorable guest has come to our house, a priest who can cast spells?"
It was a fair-skinned young man who looked about fifteen or sixteen years old. He had short blond hair, but it wasn't as eye-catching as Liang Lidong's bright blond hair. His hair was dark gold, but it was also very shiny. In addition, the young man was very handsome. In terms of appearance, he was more eye-catching than Liang Lidong, but because his face was still childish, unlike Liang Lidong's calm and gentle, and because Liang Lidong had the bonus of Noble Temperament, it looked like Liang Lidong was much more handsome than the young man.
When it came to charisma, appearance was part of it, temperament was part of it, and personality was part of it.
"Kail, what are you shouting for?" The village chief stood up and said rather discontentedly, "Come here and meet Priest Beta!"
"Aren't I in a hurry!?" The young man rubbed his head and smiled awkwardly. He walked up to Liang Lidong and looked at him with yearning eyes: "Hello, honorable priest, my name is Kail, and I am from this village. The person with the best swordsmanship in the village. I heard that you can cast spells, can you teach me magic, I have saved a lot of money, and I can give it to you!"