In July, a group of four knights rode their horses on the main road of the northwestern province of Munster.
"Bond, you didn't say we were going to the Ligite Plains," said Locke, who was at the front of the group.
"Don't even think about getting blood essence in the empire." Bond didn't care about Locke's complaints at all.
"That's true. Let's just treat it as a holiday," said Raphael.
"Let's take a look at the scenery of the Ligite Plains," said Gauss.
Bond and Locke were the only ones who planned to get the blood essence, but they didn't expect to bump into Raphael and Gauss one after the other on the way.
Raphael and Gauss weren't with them for the blood essence. It was just like when they participated in the trial missions in the past; they just wanted to relieve their boredom.
The four of them had developed a good friendship in the past few months in Osdale, so they decided to go to the Ligite Plains together after meeting each other.
The Ligite Plains was located in the northwestern border of Aomar. It used to be a barren land, but a group of nomads settled there some time ago. After farming and rearing livestock, it gradually developed into a large grassland.
Apart from two or three nomadic kingdoms, most of the areas in the Ligite Plains were inhabited by countless barbarian tribes.
Their destination was a barbarian tribe in the Great Ritter Plains that had some relations with Bond's family.
"Are you sure that the barbarian tribe has blood essence?" Asked Raphael. He had the best family background among the four of them, so blood essence wasn't essential to him. However, it would be a good thing if he could get his hands on it.
No one would complain about having too much money.
"Yeah, my father saved Chief Shabille's life, so I can still get some blood essence from him," said Bond with a smile.
Raphael nodded. Indeed, some powerful tribes in the Ligite Plains would rear giant beasts, and blood essence was produced by these beasts.
"Should we get some guards to accompany us?" Asked Gauss. His family was located in a province in the northwest of Aomar, so he could easily get two to three hundred guards to help him.
"Forget it. It won't be good if we make them suspicious," said Locke. Though he wasn't sure what the relationship between Bond's family and the barbarian tribe was, he knew that the tribe leader would definitely be wary if he brought his soldiers there, especially if the tribe wasn't that big.
The four knights were all mid-rank Knechts, so it wouldn't be too dangerous for them to trade with any of the tribes in the Ritter Steppe.
The group of four passed through the desert in the northwest and walked out of the imperial border military station. A green grassland appeared in their sight.
"Heh, it's more beautiful than the grasslands in the empire." Raphael exclaimed. He had traveled to many places, but this was the first time he had come to the Great Ritz. This was also the main reason why he had joined the Blood Sprite Trading Team.
"Let's go. Chief Shabille's tribe is two weeks away from the grassland border!" Bond held a rough map in his hand as he rode in front of the group.
Two days later, dozens of Mongolian yurts appeared on both sides of a verdant river valley.
Locke had seen the lifestyle of the grassland people many times in the past two weeks, but as soon as he approached the tribe, he was stunned when he saw the giant figure by the river.
"What's that?" Locke pointed at the strange creature that looked like an elephant and a deer. It was huge and had a single horn.
The Mongolian yurt that was seven to eight metres tall only reached the giant beast's neck. In terms of body length, the giant beast was probably close to ten metres.
It was the second largest creature Locke had seen so far, second only to the two scorpiondrakes in Morphey Forest.
"A teru? You've never seen one before, have you?" Bond chuckled and patted Locke's shoulder. He was very satisfied with Locke's expression, which was exactly the same as his reaction when he saw the teru for the first time.
Raphael and Gauss were also amazed. They had only seen terus in books in Imperial Academy's library. This was their first time seeing one in person.
In the afternoon, the four knights from Aomar were warmly welcomed by the people of the tribe. Bond had probably been here a few times before, so the barbarians were familiar with him. They even welcomed him with their own special etiquette.
When the chief of the tribe appeared, he was almost two and a half metres tall. He was probably the strongest man Locke had ever seen.
His arms were as thick as Locke's thighs, making him look like a humanoid major monster.
Chief Shabille's personality was as rugged as his appearance.
"To thank you for coming, our tribe will be holding a bonfire party tonight!" Chief Shabille said to Bond with a smile.
Locke had come to understand that the grassland language had a strong accent. Fortunately, Chief Shabille had a loud voice, so he didn't have to worry about not understanding him. Only now did he realise that Bond seemed to be very important to Chief Shabille's tribe.
Before the bonfire party started, Locke took the opportunity to ask Bond about it.
"Oh, Chief Shabille's tribe went through three wars last year. They are in desperate need of new resources to appease their people and intimidate the other tribes. I'm representing my family to make a deal with Chief Shabille's tribe!" Bond said.
"Did you bring the gold moores I asked you to?" asked Bond.
Only then did Locke remember that Bond had asked him to bring enough money.
"I did," said Locke after a moment of hesitation. He didn't actually have a lot of money, but there were many valuable things in his spatial ring, be it the fur or blood of major monsters, some potions or the one-time magic items he bought from Billie's family. He believed that they would all be very popular in this tribe.
"Don't worry, I'll definitely give you a satisfactory amount of blood essence!" Bond smiled at Locke.
"Our top priority now is to enjoy tonight's party!" He had been to Chief Shabille's tribe many times before, and the exotic banquets always fascinated him as an imperial knight.
The bonfire party didn't disappoint him. Bond disappeared as soon as the sky turned dark. Locke noticed that he had been hanging out with two tall female barbarians.
Actually, it was a little discriminatory to call them barbarians. Apart from being taller than the average person in Aomar and having slightly yellowish skin, there was no other difference. In fact, Locke found that the female grasslanders were healthier and prettier than most Aomarian women.
That was probably the main reason why Bond was so obsessed with them.
Raphael and Gauss weren't any worse than Bond. Perhaps the people in the tribe saw that they came with Bond, so they were very enthusiastic. Three or four grasslanders had already thrown themselves at them.
The two nobles didn't reject them and Raphael had already made a move on one of them.
"Hello!" Locke heard an awkward greeting in Aomar. He turned around and saw a grasslander woman who wasn't much taller than the others standing in front of him.
"Hello!" Locke replied in Aomar's language. He hadn't learned much of the grassland dialect yet, so he didn't want to embarrass himself.
The woman knew a little of Aomar's language. After a short conversation, Locke could already tell that she was sent by the tribe to befriend a noble like him. However, Locke wasn't interested in fooling around with Raphael and the others.
"Can you tell me about that big guy?" Locke pointed at the giant shadow in the night.
"Oh, that's a teru, the guardian of our tribe," said the woman. She sounded a little more serious than before. It seemed like the teru was really important to their tribe.
"Is it the source of the blood essence?" Locke asked straightforwardly as he pointed at the big guy.
He believed that the people in the tribe knew what the four of them were here for, so he didn't beat around the bush and asked directly.
The woman gritted her teeth and said with difficulty, "Yes!"
The creature that produced blood essence had to be a powerful one. Locke had scanned the hundreds of people in the tribe in the afternoon and only Chief Shabille and the teru were powerful.
He had never heard of humans producing blood essence, so it had to be the teru. However, he was curious why the woman called the teru a guardian.
This was because the blood essence contained a creature's blood essence. The more it lost, the closer it would be to death. Under normal circumstances, powerful creatures would be killed and the blood essence within their hearts would be taken. It was rare to see such a creature raised in captivity.
"Our teru is about to reach the other side." The woman sighed and didn't say anything else.
After staying in the grasslands for half a month, Locke knew that the people here were used to calling the place where people went after death the other side. It was obvious that the teru was most likely dying.
Although he was quite far away, he didn't notice any signs of weakness from the teru during the day. If this was what it looked like when it was about to reach the other side, how strong would it be when it was at its peak? Locke couldn't help but wonder how strong it would be.
He wasn't sure if it sensed Locke's surprise, but the teru suddenly raised its long neck and let out a long whine. It was so loud that the water in the river rippled.
The grassland people who were playing around the bonfire also stopped their laughter and kneeled on the ground with pious expressions.
The observant Locke noticed that there seemed to be a tear in the corner of their eyes.
He looked at the giant figure not far away thoughtfully and lowered his head again, curling up into a ball.
After a long time, the bonfire party around the yurt was reignited with laughter.
Locke touched the spatial ring in his hand and made a decision. ()
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