I Can Make Everything Level UP

"Not much, I know that several merchant families decide things, and every ten years, those families select one of the heads of those families to be the representative of their state," Marie replied. "They are always trying to surpass one another by obtaining more resources and gold, but thanks to that, they don\'t invest much in their military."

Since soldiers cost money, the more you have, the more you will spend. It didn\'t seem like those guys wanted to expand their territory. While that was good, it was also dangerous since many other states could Aim for them since they accumulated so many resources. In any case, it was a pretty simple state… they could have grown a lot more steadily if they could hire some soldiers or mercenaries from other states. However, after asking a few questions about it, Billy realized that no one had those… at least no one in the nearby states. Adventurers were the ones who had that role…

After walking for three nights, they crossed the border. Billy was sick, tired of walking. Maybe the lifestyle of using carriages whenever possible ruined him. Still, always moving at walking speed was just much. Thanks to that, he began to think in earnest about what he should do regarding all that traveling... the end of those journeys was quite something, but spending some much time inside carriages or walking was truly annoying as hell. He made a mental note to seriously think about that.

"We aren\'t one hundred percent safe of being seen by spies yet, and since we are relatively famous, we will keep moving only at night until we reach the largest farm of his state. You guys will lay low there since it will be hard to explore the place," Marie explained.

"It is the farm of the current leader of Riormi?" Billy asked.

"That is right, hundreds of people work on that farm, so they easily pass as workers," Marie said.

"What do you know about this guy?" Kate asked.

"It is a woman, and she has a good reputation, and Jean readily accepted her alliance, so I think it is fine," Marie said.

"If it is a woman, I suppose it is fine… I don\'t think that many women reach the top while having a bad personality," Kate said.

That was probably discrimination, but Billy decided to keep quiet about it. In times like those where women taking the reins of certain things are rate, they need to be a lot smarter than men because some people tend to underestimate them.

After three more days, they reached the farm that Marie had mentioned, and she felt safe in walking during the day inside it since the fields expanded to the horizon to the point that they had to walk for a day and a night to reach the center of the farm where the villa of the current of the state lived. They found some workers along the way, but they were ignored, even though they had weapons.

"Those people have no sense of danger…" Billy frowned.

Things changed a little bit when they approached some big ass warehouses. Some armed guys were guarding the places, but their levels didn\'t even reach the forties… Marie told the others to stop, and then he showed the guards a letter and a certain seal. It was probably the letter Jean received. After that, the guards silently guided them to the largest building in the area. It was a house decorated with flowers and had a pretty unique design. All the big buildings Billy had seen until now looked rather dull, but that probably had been built according to the wishes of the owner.

After entering a very luxurious house, the group was guided to the living room, where a confident blonde woman was waiting for them. The group frowned since even though she apparently seemed to be in her thirties, she looked quite a bit like Natalie. Now that Billy thought about it, aside from her curves, Marie and Natalie also resembled each other quite a bit… could they have some sort of blood connection by sharing the same ancestor?

"Welcome, dear visitors. My name is Aura. It is nice to meet you all," Aura said.

Aura welcomed them with a warm smile, but that only put Kate and Rosalie\'s group on guard, she was wearing one white piece dress, and she was quite pretty, but she also looked a bit haggard due to the small bags under her eyes.

"I am Marie, former leader of the snowforge guilds, and these are my friends," Marie said. "According to Jean\'s wishes, I brought the sole survivors of Ignace\'s house to be protected here."

"Thank you for your hard work," Aura said. "Still, I believe that the trip must have been long, and our guests are a bit wary of us, so you could stay and rest if you want."

"I suppose that is fine. Leaving as soon as returned would make your people raise questions, and that would create rumors," Marie said.

"You don\'t need to believe me that I want to help yet, but I sweat to you that I mean you no harm, Rosalie," Aura said. "The last few months have been rough for you and your group, so why don\'t you follow my servant here and look for some good rooms for all of you."

"Thank you, I am really grateful," Rosalie said and then bowed before following one of the servants of the house.