59: Luck sometimes plays a big role.

"Hmm?"

"Who are you?"

Alistair looked at the stranger who had suddenly popped up before him with some confusion.

"My name is Charlie Rock Crystal, Lord Alistair."

Charlie introduced himself to Alistair, solemnly making the polite gesture unique to the nobility.

"Oh, I know you!"

"The lord who abandoned his own territory and fled. The territory I'm going to used to be yours, didn't it?"

Alistair understood who the person before him was as soon as he heard the name Rock Crystal; the previous owner of his current fief was indeed this Charlie.

Charlie looked a bit embarrassed to hear Alistair speak so bluntly, but he immediately adjusted his emotions.

"Yes, Lord Alistair, that coward is indeed me. I lost my courage when facing the Fel Orcs."

"Today, here, I wish to pledge my loyalty to you and return to the place where I lost my courage and honor to reclaim my dignity."

"Loyalty?"

Alistair found those words boring; he didn't need loyalty.

"Alright, Knight, I don't need your loyalty. I'm not interested in how you reclaim your honor and courage. Don't disturb me!"

After saying that, Alistair prepared to go elsewhere to kill time.

"No, my Lord, you need me!"

"Rock Crystal Territory is right next to the Black Mountain Range. The environment there is extremely harsh, filled with alien races and magic beasts everywhere. You haven't been there, so you don't understand the real situation."

"I was born and raised there. I know those mountains, forests, and lakes like the back of my hand. Taking me along will be useful to you, my Lord."

Charlie ran in front of Alistair and knelt on one knee, tearfully pitching himself.

At this moment, Alistair's butler had finished talking with the Slave merchant and walked over, just in time to see this scene.

"Oh, Bart, you're here at the right time. Look, Knight Charlie wants to pledge his loyalty and go to the fief with me. What do you think?"

Alistair, annoyed by Charlie, immediately pushed the trouble onto his butler when he saw him appear.

Butler Bart looked at Charlie kneeling before Alistair, and information about Charlie quickly surfaced in his mind.

Charlie looked nervously at Bart.

"Master, Knight Charlie has a point. We indeed need someone who understands the local situation."

"Alright, since you've said so, Bart, then Knight Charlie, you shall follow me!"

Alistair didn't say anything more; whether he accepted Charlie or not didn't matter to him.

Bart followed up by saying, "Knight Charlie, you may return to the Red River Valley with the Master, but you can only follow him alone. None of the other members of your family may follow."

"Ah?"

Charlie, who had been very happy, was caught off guard by Bart's sudden words.

"Al... alright!"

He could only agree now; he had no other choice.

"Very well, Knight Charlie. The Master will set out for the fief in three days. Please wait for us at the port in three days."

After Bart finished speaking, Alistair left with him, leaving behind a Charlie who didn't know whether to be happy or sad.

Charlie watched Alistair's departing back with a complex gaze.

"Since I've made the decision, I must be determined."

Charlie muttered to himself.

Ever since he left Evans's manor, he had been thinking about how to walk his future path. He was unwilling to bear the title of coward forever, and even less did he want his family to disappear.

But he also didn't regret his choice to abandon his territory and flee back then.

If he hadn't fled, he would have met the same end as Luke, his entire family dying at the hands of the Fel Orcs.

Although he had lost his territory and title, he had preserved his family. He was still alive, and as long as he was alive, there was hope and a future.

He could now use this life to fight for another future.

"Those few pathetic fellows have completely given up. How foolish. Their descendants are finished, and their families are finished too."

The other two families that fled with Charlie did not choose the path Charlie was currently taking; instead, they used the last of their family wealth to settle down in Rage Bear Fortress.

In Charlie's eyes, with such an approach, their families would completely decline within a few years.

"Fortunately, my luck is good. I waited for this scion of the Rage Bear family. This is my chance!"

"My family will not perish!"

...Red River Fortress.

Renn was currently flipping through the Cold Wind Family's magic books from the spatial ring.

In the past few days, whenever his magic power was abundant, he would go to Red River Town to petrify the road surface. Johnny led people to prepare all the other work, leaving only the sections that needed petrification for Renn to cast his spells.

After casting Mud to Stone, Renn would return to the castle to study the magic books in the spatial ring.

Renn had already looked through the pile of miscellaneous items belonging to the original owner of the spatial ring. Besides some daily necessities, Renn also found several spell scrolls.

It was a pleasant surprise; among them was even a Gold Rank power spell scroll, giving Renn an extra trump card.

In addition to the spell scrolls, Renn also found some notes and spell records made by the original owner from those magic classics. From these writings, Renn learned about the original owner's life story.

The original owner of the spatial ring was a member of a branch of the Cold Wind Family from over two hundred years ago.

He was an Ice Mage whose strength reached the Silver Peak. After sensing that he had no chance of breaking through to the Gold Rank, he chose to travel the Northland.

Finally, he discovered the Red River Valley. Two hundred years ago, the Rage Bear Territory had not yet been established, and the Red River Valley was still unclaimed land.

That scion of the Cold Wind Family thought this place was very good and wanted to develop the territory here to establish his own family.

Afterward, he obtained a pioneering order and returned to the Red River Valley once everything was prepared. Just as he was getting ready to show his skills, he encountered a once-in-a-century Black Tide.

There were no records after that!

Obviously, he died in the Black Tide.

The Black Tide was a unique phenomenon of the Black Mountain Range. The Black Mountain Range was vast and boundless; besides magic beasts and various alien races, many followers of the Chaos Demon God were also hidden within.

Chaos Believers would use the power of chaos to corrupt magic beasts and other alien races to form chaos warbands. When a chaos warband expanded and accumulated enough power within the Black Mountain Range, the Chaos Believers would assault the world outside the mountains.

A large number of chaos-corrupted monsters, mixed with magic beasts and alien races wanting to follow behind for easy gains, and even a jumbled massive army like the undead, would rush out of the Black Mountain Range and attack everything in their path.

This was the Black Tide!

In fact, there were Chaos Believers inside the kingdom as well, but once these guys were discovered, they would be completely eradicated; they were usually eliminated before they could develop.

Only in lawless areas like the Black Mountain Range could large-scale chaos warbands exist.

However, in Renn's memory, since the Grand Duke of the Raging Bear initiated the Blood of the Rage Bear pioneering war and pushed the kingdom's border completely to the foot of the Black Mountain Range, the frequency and scale of Black Tide outbreaks had decreased significantly.

Especially in recent decades, Renn had never encountered a Black Tide.

"Unlucky fellow. He prepared quite thoroughly, but unfortunately, his luck wasn't very good."

The supplies that Ice Mage had prepared for himself to develop the territory had now all gone to Renn, making him a small fortune.

The magic classics and auxiliary cultivation potions he left behind allowed Renn's strength to progress rapidly; Renn's mage level had already broken through to the high-tier Black Iron rank.

He believed it wouldn't be long before he could break through to the Bronze Rank and become a Bronze Mage.

"A pity I can't even get started with the Cold Wind Meditation Technique. Otherwise, practicing this high-level meditation technique would be of even greater help to me."

The spatial ring contained the unique mage meditation technique of the Cold Wind Family, but to get started, one needed to practice in the ancient ruins of the Cold Wind Spire. Renn couldn't satisfy this condition and could only give up.

While Renn was studying the magic classics, Yiven knocked on Renn's door.

"Yiven, what is it?"

"Lord, a merchant caravan has arrived at the dock?"

"A merchant caravan?"