Chapter 31: Specialties of Vanilla Town

Lin Qi slowed down his pace as according to Yi Longlong’s words. Every once in a while, Yi Longlong would stick out her small snowy white head from the bundle behind his back, half peering over his shoulder that was cloaked with a black colored robe, cautiously snooping the situation ahead.

The woods gradually became sparse; the tepid winds blew against their faces.

The chopstick-thin silver beam of light did not pale at all within these ten or so days. The splendorous radiance led them onwards ahead, like a divine finger, steady and eternal.

The buildings ahead were already vaguely in sight. It was midday at this time; the cooking smoke had risen up from here.

But at this time, Yi Longlong had grasped onto Lin Qi’s clothes with her paw, signaling him to slow to a halt. She did not comprehend any magic at all, and also did not know how that guiding was activated, but from logical reasoning, since it guided the way, then it was quite possible that there was a set coordinate. This coordinate also had a great possibility of being the small bordering town that Roland and others had set off from.

If there are people from the small town who knew Roland had this kind of skill, but sees that the person returning isn’t Roland, what will they think?

Then without a doubt, they will be treated as robbers and get caught – although they did indeed ransack Roland no mistake about that, but it was reasonable self-defense.

In any case, even if no one treated them as criminals, this beam of light must have already lasted for many days. If they were to go out there along with the beam, it will definitely attract a lot of attention.

She is a dragon keeping a low profile.

The tiny body wriggled. Yi Longlong scrambled her way out from the bundle onto Lin Qi’s shoulder. The paws stopped him and pulled the brakes. “Stop, let’s change directions.”

She tugged on Lin Qi and returned once again to the forest, leaving that beam of light, then cautiously took a long turn around, until the darkness closed in. Only then did they move in towards the small town from a different direction.

The small town that Roland and others had set off from could be considered as a security checkpoint on the borders, however this town had a name that had nothing to do with might at all. It was called Vanilla Town, the reason being that several top-grade vanillas were being produced here; they were indispensable ingredients in making perfume.

Besides vanilla, based on the palette squad’s chatter and from what Roland had said on the road, Vanilla Town also had two other specialties, first being the Oak Tree Tavern, the second being the priests inside the village’s temple.

Temples are religious buildings on this continent. The continent prevalently believes in a god called Aldin. The temple’s influence is extremely great and vast, with a branch in every part of the world, sending off multitudes of priests. There are a total of two priests within Vanilla Village’s temple. One is that soft-spoken grey haired person who went with the palette squad, the other one, from Roland’s words, is the main specialty, the identity being the teacher of that grey haired priest.

Back then when he spoke of the second specialty item the priest, Roland did not say too much and only revealed an indescribable sort of smile. “After seeing him, you’ll understand.”

The rays of light in the sky became a pale yellow. Lin Qi finally made his way near this small town that was located on the borders but also neighboring with the vast sea of trees. An ancient rampart was erected along the edges of the small town, the scars on the surface of the stone walls was testament to the harsh weathers it had endured, like a hero in their later days, old and glorious.

When Lin Qi neared the small town, he was discovered by the patrolling soldiers nearby. After ten or more days spent living inside the forest, although they did not encounter danger at all along the way, Lin Qi’s outer appearance looked extremely shabby. His black robes were full of dirt, battered and withered leaves were strewn across his hair, looking like a miserable wretch that had fallen in distress.

The soldiers did not seem to see Lin Qi as strange and also did not raise any alarms. Although the sea of trees was vast, adventurers loved to come to this place. Several small towns on the side nearby also neighbored the sea of trees. People setting of from this small town, or arriving from another town, this sort of matter was not really unusual.

Seeing that Lin Qi was seemingly dressed up as a magician, and one fallen into bad luck and distress at that, the patrol randomly sent a person, asked for Lin Qi’s name, then led him to the lodging inside the town’s  inn.

Yi Longlong was originally worried about being interrogated by the patrol and made lots of prior preparations. Now it was all useless.

Looks like this so-called border patrol is extremely lax.

Passing through the bordering walls, the atmosphere of the small town behind the ramparts was completely different in contrast to the ancient ramparts etched with battles. Beneath the gentle dusky rays of light, the whole town brimmed with warmth and serenity.

The soldier went on his way. He walked while smilingly greeting the people he passed by, sometimes he even stopped to have a small chat, as if he was familiar with every single person. More so, when he saw an old lady moving something heavy, the soldier went forth to help of his own accord, sending her back home.

Due to the soldier’s interactions along the way, what was originally a path that could be considered not long, took a total of half an hour to reach the inn the soldier had spoken of.

The inn and tavern of the small town was combined into one. The first floor was the tavern, lodging for guests was upstairs.

After letting Lin Qi into the inn, the soldier followed inside. “Oak Tree Tavern is the best place for drinks in our town, coming to our Vanilla Town, if you don’t do two things, it’s the same as never having come here.”

Although Lin Qi was silent along the whole way, the soldier did not take it to heart that much and introduced very passionately as always, “Firstly is our town’s vanilla. The spices and perfumes popular with nobles are all made from ingredients produced here, there are craftsmen in the town who turn the vanilla into pressed specimens. You can buy one as souvenir; it’s got some unique local flavor to it.

“Besides that, the liquor from Oak Tree Tavern is even more fragrant then the liquor from the Royal City, having come here, you must give it a taste.”

Hearing him happily speak, Yi Longlong recalled the specialties of Vanilla Town that Roland spoke of, and out of curiosity she spoke up, “Then what about the priest from the temple? I’ve heard that the priest from the town is very famous.” After ten or more days of interactions, Yi Longlong could already perfectly imitate Lin Qi’s voice. She was hidden inside the bundle on Lin Qi’s back. When she spoke, Lin Qi would cooperate and move his lips. Although the lip movements may not necessarily match up, not many people would notice this bit.

When the soldier heard Lin Qi speak, he gave a forced smile and sighed. “So you’ve also heard of this… if you’re talking about his lordship, then it’s better for you not to see him.”

As if it had hit one of the his nerves, the solder immediately shut his mouth, quickly led Lin Qi to the tavern’s counter, gave a short explanation to the boss then turned and left.

The tavern’s boss saw Lin Qi and promptly bent down to retrieve a wooden card. A key hung below the wooden card. “Our policy here is to pay upfront, and to also leave a deposit to pay for the lodging, may I ask how long you are looking to stay?”

Yi Longlong curled up and pondered. She decided to not stay for too long at first, in case they needed to suddenly leave. “Two days, two rooms.” When she spoke, Lin Qi hurriedly lip synched.

The boss was startled. “You also have companions?”

The elegant black haired Adonis had a sincere expression. His lips flapped in a rhythm that did not quite match up with the words. “No, but I like to spend half a night sleeping in one room, the next half sleeping in another, two rooms to sleep in interchangeably, is that not allowed?”