That pile of cyan, different-sized gems was worth about 90 gold coins after a rough evaluation by the six bandits, and with the addition of 60 more gold coins, they had scavenged about 150 gold coins from the castle.

  If converted into yuan, it would be just over two million.

  This money might not sound like much, but almost all the players felt that it was a huge sum of money.

  Money was something that depended on purchasing power and also on the current demands of society.

  For example, in the 70s and 80s in China, it was about 60 to 70 cents for a catty[1] of pork—cheap—but there were still very few people who could afford to eat pork. At that time, eating meat itself was a luxury. Imagine what it was like to have a savings of over two million yuan in the 70s and 80s when pork cost less than a yuan a catty.

  In this game world, the prices and the purchasing power of the people were even lower than in the 70s and 80s of China. Honey white bread, known as the entry-level luxury item, was only two copper coins, which also sounded cheap, but ordinary commoners didn’t dare to eat it indiscriminately, because one copper coin could already buy several kilograms of wheat, and the food that two copper coins could buy was a family’s rations for ten days.

  How could they dare to eat it recklessly?

  This was why this pile of gold coins and gems, in this world, was already a huge sum of money.

  And Bettel was still just the mayor of a small city.

  Because the main force behind setting the castle on fire and scavenging the loot was six bandits, they naturally had a larger share, so they took out sixty gold coins’ worth of stuff and gave it to the six bandits to share.

  The other ninety gold coins’ worth of things were divided equally among the other thirty or so players.

  It didn’t really matter if Roland took the money or not. Now that the number of mages going to the capital to learn his specialty was gradually increasing, his Backpack had an additional thirty gold coins now—he wasn’t short of money. But if he didn’t take it, he would most likely be secretly labeled as being unsociable, ostentatious, acting rich, and other negative labels, so he symbolically took a small white gemstone as his own reward.

  The players then ate, drank, and bragged outside of Mory for two days before slowly dispersing on their own.

  All food and drink during that time were bought from the city of Mory.

  At first, the entire city’s residents and merchants were very afraid of this group of crazy players outside the city. These Golden Sons didn’t need to sleep, and after getting drunk in the middle of the night, they banged gongs and drums, shrieked and howled some strange songs outside the city. This was scary to listen to and the children didn’t dare to cry at night.

  But then they discovered that these players paid for food, paid for other goods, and usually took the initiative to apologize first if they accidentally bumped into someone, so they grew bolder and dared to make contact with them, even taking the initiative to come over and sell some drinks to the players.

  There were some more daring ones that actually dared to come and freeload food and drink.

  The players didn’t care. They poured them drinks and gave them meat; they were extremely generous.

  Even the liveliest feast would eventually break up. Roland was amongst the last to leave, and as he was about to move, a squad of soldiers escorting a young boy found him.

  It was a small boy who was a bit dry and skinny, a bit timid-looking, and he couldn’t hold his bearings even in his noble clothes.

  However, he faced Roland and still used the most wishy-washy demeanor to say something very much in line with the field of equal diplomacy. “Your Excellency, the esteemed Archmage, I am a distant relative of the Bettel family, and as the last heir to the city of Mory, and as the current lord of Mory, I think I should be qualified to ask Your Excellency something.”


  This little boy was truly afraid. He spoke with a tremor and seemed to have tears in his big eyes, but he still bravely looked straight into Roland’s eyes without any shiftiness.

  Roland looked to the guards next to him. These soldiers were the ones that had accompanied Bettel the other day, the ones that wanted to live and die with Bettel.

  But when they faced Roland’s scrutinizing gaze, they all subconsciously turned their heads to avoid meeting his gaze.

  Roland returned his gaze to the little boy and smiled. “Go ahead and ask.”


  The little boy’s voice was still trembling. “Have you accomplished your immediate goal of revenge, and will you come back to attack our city of Mory in the future?”


  Roland saw how afraid the boy was, so he asked a little curiously, “What are you going to do if we come back next time?”


  As Roland said this, the remaining few players who hadn’t left and were in charge of disposing and burying the trash also leaned over, and for a moment, several black-robed people stood together, eyeing the opposite side with great intimidation.

  “I……” Looking at the increasing number of black-robed people across the street, the little boy’s voice not only trembled more this time, but even his lips were also turning white and trembling. “I…… feel like fighting…… killing, no…… good…… We…… can do it another way, we can hand over…… a certain amount of gold coins every month as…… acknowledgment of submission, please spare…… our…… commoners in Mory!”


  The guards beside him were gulping and acting extremely uneasy, wanting to put their hands on their sword hilts, but not daring to for fear of irritating the group of black-robed people across the street.

  The little boy was less than ten years old, and as Roland watched him bravely restrain his fear, he took some pity on him and reached over, wanting to stroke the little guy’s head and soothe him.

  The action ended up frightening the little boy, who screamed lightly and closed his eyes.

  But he still stood straight and didn’t step back.

  Several guards had closed their hands on the hilt of their swords, but they just didn’t pull their swords out.

  Roland patted the little boy’s head and said gently, “The mayor’s position is a bit tough—if you do a good job, we won’t come here anymore.”


  After saying this, Roland left.

  Several other players came up, each of them patting the little boy’s head and saying, “Do a good job.”


  “Do a good job and don’t be like your predecessors.”


  “Work hard and be a good mayor.”


  Then the players left in pairs, the sound of their banter heard even from far away.

  “That little boy is so brave. If I were in his place, I would be so scared that I’d defecate on the spot.”


  “That’s disgusting and wimpy. If it were me, I’m sure I’d just pass out frothing at the mouth.”


  Then there was a string of self-indulgent, obscene laughter.

  The little boy who had been trembling couldn’t help but fall to the ground as he watched the unmasked black-robed men leave until their silhouettes almost disappeared.

  He covered his face with one hand and cried quietly, “It’s terrifying. They scared me to death, they scared me to death.”


  As the words were spoken, a water stain appeared on the ground beneath him.

  Discovering this, the little boy’s cries were even more shameful.

  A personal guard squatted down and gently patted the little boy’s back. “Little Master, you’ve been brave and amazing.”


  Roland returned to Mory and found his former coachman. He took the original carriage in the same direction he had come from.

  He hadn’t been in the carriage for long when he received a guild message from Betta: “Brother Roland, there’s a thread on the general discussion board of the forum saying how to deal with you!”


  Roland was stunned. Had he offended someone?

  He immediately opened the forum and quickly found the thread.

  Regarding How to Target the Strongest Mage Roland.

  The poster claimed to be a “Spell Breaker.”


  [1] Chinese unit of mass