Alien Knights

A heavy rain fell intermittently all night.

Early the next morning, the residents in the city opened their windows and were pleasantly surprised to find that the outdoor world had already cleared up after the rain, and the sky was blue.

Sitting in the semi-enclosed carriage, listening to the sound of the wheels rolling over the water, Brother Qiao, who was in charge of the population registration in Muxi City, quickly glanced at Huggins, who was sitting opposite, and then talked to the man in charge of civil engineering who was sitting next to him. Elijah exchanged a look.

Huggins looked out the window, but his voice was directed towards the two people opposite.

"I know you have questions."

Compared with Elijah, who was born as a scholar and acted more steadily, Joe, an old official in Muxi City, spoke more straightforwardly.

"Huggins, you didn't say anything when you left. I thought you were exiled by His Majesty. Where have you been all these years?"

Huggins looked at Old Friar Joe with some embarrassment: "I thought you were asking about ocean refugees."

The gray-haired Qiao opened his mouth with a smile, and his rotten teeth were particularly conspicuous: "Now that His Majesty has made a decision, it doesn't matter what happens to the ocean refugees."

Huggins smiled helplessly: "I'm afraid the refugee issue is not as simple as you think..."

Qiao patted the car seat: "Don't change the topic, let me ask you, what have you been doing these past few years?"

"I opened a hotel in Yinhuan City."

"Um... gone?"

"No more, that's it."

Old Friar Joe rubbed his head in dissatisfaction. Just as he was about to argue with Huggins, his sleeve was pulled by Elijah who was sitting next to him.

Elijah nodded lightly towards Huggins: "No matter what, just come back."

The latter also nodded and smiled: "Yes, just come back."

The carriage drove through the city center, then through the commercial street, and then boarded a barge in the port area. When it finally arrived at Waiheke Island, it was already noon.

Under the scorching sun in the sky, when a group of three people got off the boat, they were all shocked by the scene in front of them.

The originally sparsely populated, deserted and dilapidated island has now turned into a bustling and lively town.

Taverns, stables, car shops, blacksmith shops, bakeries... As long as you can think of buildings in an ordinary city, you can find them all here.

Businessmen and sailors with different accents, looks and costumes crowded the barge docking area of ​​Waiheke Island.

Hundreds of huge wooden boxes are sorted and stacked in the storage area. Officials from the Kingdom's customs are inspecting and counting the goods in batches. The pulley crane developed by Muxi University is placing them in order for temporary rental by the owner. warehouse space.

Friar Joe rubbed his dim old eyes, then put on his glasses and said to Elijah: "Is it my imagination, or something else? This place looks more lively than Muxi Port?"

Elijah sighed softly: "I came here once last month, but I didn't expect this place to change so quickly."

Huggins took out the folding crutches from the storage box of the carriage, knocked on the stone pavement under his feet, and said: "It's still early, the carriage is staying here, we can walk over, just in time to inspect the situation on the island."

The group of people walked along the road and looked around, heading towards the center of the island.

Along the street, the dazzling array of seafood, the bustling big market, and the bustling entertainment street left a deep impression on the three of them.

After traveling forward for about an hour, the three finally arrived at the center of the island - a place called the Waiheke Island Trading Post.

It's said to be a trading post, but it actually looks more like a town center.

There are rows of buildings, well-maintained roads, military camps stationed on the side, and well-defended city defenses.

When the three of them approached the trading post, they discovered that there was already a long queue of people waiting to enter at the gate.

Huggins, leaning on his cane, crossed the line and walked toward the gate.

Someone in the team immediately made a voice of dissatisfaction: "Oh, oh, oh, what about you, you are not allowed to jump in the queue! You are not allowed to jump in the queue! Don't think you are a lame, I will not be ashamed to beat you!"

Huggins took out the dragon-shaped badge pendant from his chest, and there was no sound in the team for an instant.

Responsible for checking at the gate were two Crusaders, a tauren and a rat-headed man.

The rat-headed man was still doing the inspection work conscientiously, while the tauren-headed man stood there and scratched his hooves impatiently.

The appearance of Huggins made the tauren's eyes brighten. The latter separated the crowd with his hands, walked quickly to the front, and said to the former: "Are you the one sent by the city to find those fishmen?"

After receiving a positive answer, the tauren kicked the rat-headed man away and led the three people directly into the military camp and found the orc Carol.

Carroll was busy preparing weapons. He saw Huggins and his party were stunned for a while and asked, "Where are your guards?"

"We didn't bring any guards." Huggins was a little confused: "Are those ocean refugees dangerous?"

"I can't say it's dangerous, but those people are more wary and reluctant to come into contact with us."

Huggins thought for a while and said to Carol: "His Majesty's decree is for me to contact the leader of the Salamo Mermaid Tribe..."

Before Huggins could finish speaking, Carol said in a deep voice: "I know the mermaid you are talking about. Compared with those ocean refugees, she is indeed relatively easy to communicate with. Let me call a few people. Go with you."

Carol walked into the back of the military camp, and soon came out with Aldenan and two other orcs.

In this way, a team of three kingdom officials and four Crusaders headed towards the gathering place for ocean refugees on the west coast of Waiheke Island.

On the way, Huggins was secretly frightened by the endless stream of motorcades.

"What do these people do?"

Aldenan held a piece of grass in his mouth, looked at the respectful saluting humans on the road, and said, "These people are all going to do business with the ocean refugees."

Friar Joe wonders: "Doing business with refugees."

Aldenan: "You must not think that those refugees are just a bunch of poor people. On their wrists and necks, there are a lot of baubles, such as corals, pearls, and gems. Those things are worthless in the sea. , it’s an incredible treasure on land.”

Carroll explained: "In addition to the treasures in the sea, marine races can also dive into the deep sea to collect some extremely rare ores and plants; in addition, they also have special methods to breed some delicious but rare fish and shells. Shrimp and crab.”

Huggins nodded and said, "It sounds like these ocean refugees are living well in the kingdom."

Aldenan curled his lips and said, "It's not just good. Those mermaid girls live a life that can't be described as extremely luxurious. Even the ones they use for bathing..."

"Ahem, cough, cough." Carroll quickly interrupted Aldenan: "But having said that, there are many people in Muxi City who have great opinions on these ocean refugees, and can even be said to be hostile."

"Hostile? How do you say that?"

"There are many reasons. One is that these sea refugees have plundered the kingdom's wealth and lowered the living standards of the kingdom's citizens."

Carroll paused and then said: "There are also some people who say that these refugees are pagans who believe in the ancient god of the sea and should be expelled from the land of the Dragon God."