The Apennine Mountains are the natural backbone of Italy. They are a huge arc-shaped mountain range, starting from the Cadibona Pass in the northwest near the Maritime Alps and extending as far as the Egadi Islands in the west of Sicily, with a total length of about 1,400 kilometers.

Bounded by the north-south Apennine Mountains, the western coastline north of the Republic of Florence belongs to the Republic of Liguria, and to the east of the mountain range is Parma Modena, which belongs to the Roman Church State, as well as the Principality of Ferrara and some other micro city-states.

The main body of the middle section of the Apennine Mountains is the natural boundary between the Republic of Guria and the Roman Church State. The mountain range itself occupies a very large area, and most of the important mines belong to the surrounding powers.

There are also many mines with scarce output and relatively low value that belong to small monasteries and equally barren towns. In theory, most of these monasteries and towns belong directly to the Roman Church State. In fact, years of competition and chaos have caused many small monasteries to actually be controlled by local power.

In the hands of the emperor, the martial former Pope Julius II greatly expanded the territory of the Roman Church State, including Parma and Modena. This was his political achievement.

But in fact, even in these two important cities, the exchange of power with the election of the Pope is now in the hands of a certain cardinal, and the position of his family's hereditary mayor has re-formed a new semi-official country. Importance

The territories in the lower mountain ranges are even more intertwined with each other and do not have a stable political entity.

Ladislaus and Sirica, who fled from the Ligurian city, plunged into the Apennine Mountains in this way. Although the highway on the coastline has countless advantages, these advantages are more beneficial to the pursuers. If they want to take that route,

Escape from the Republic of Liguria is obviously impossible.

There are also many roads on the edge of the mountains that have been used since the ancient Roman era more than a thousand years ago. These roads connect various towns and villages and are still the economic arteries of Italy. They are also a road network built in the heyday of the ancient Roman Empire.

, complicated and extending in all directions, with the same destination leading to Rome through different routes.

Ladislaus moved overnight after leaving the city of Guria at night, and did not immediately carry out supplies the next day. The horses originally carried spare horse materials, and people could make do with it for a day, relying on Ladislaus's one-day supply.

Level arcane steel viscera, there is not much risk for them to eat some common wild fruits.

They walked day and night until they left the plains along the coast. They entered the last plain town, Apple Town, for supplies. Even the boss Sirica and a level 9 warlock who had extensive experience in wild survival entered the mountains in the autumn and winter without proper control.

The preparation is also an act of suicide.

Although Italy has many commercial city-states that are very prosperous even in Europe and the world, most of its trade methods are sea transportation. The trade on the Apennine Peninsula is not very special due to the confrontation between city-states and the war for hegemony of the French Holy Roman Empire.

thriving.

This small town is located between the two commercial giants of Liguria and Venice. It is the last important supply point before entering the mountains, and there is still no trace of Liguria or Venice at all.

The population of less than a thousand people naturally lives in the intersection area of ​​two ancient Roman avenues. There is no planning and the houses are uneven. There are only pretty good buildings on both sides of the ancient avenue.

The fugitive duo took advantage of the dawn and sneaked into the tavern that occupied a good location on the avenue. The owner, who was closing and preparing to open again at night, was about to stop them from entering. After seeing Sirica's boss making a special gesture, he Immediately continue to install the closing door panel, and at the same time greet your family to receive guests.

Don't get me wrong, this is not an intelligence station that sends messages to Vienna or Madrid day and night. No matter how powerful the empire is, it is impossible to invest in intelligence in the countryside. The few spies are concentrated in the city, and even more in the palace. .

This is the stronghold of a small band of thieves who secretly worship the Night Lady Shar. Although Sirik is undoubtedly the most powerful god in the entire continent, his dominant position stems from murders, lies, and conspiracies in the five realms thousands of years ago. The clergy of "secret politics" is born from the merger of fraud, illusion, and politics. Politics is the most advanced means for us humans to solve the most complex problems. With this clergy, Sirik shines brightly, and even has "secret room politics". The name "Dark Sun", but also because it involves politics, it is necessary to carry out some superficial beautification. Some low-end businesses that originally had great advantages in Sirik were gradually eroded by some other competitors. Although the monarchs of various countries competed for power. His actions continuously deliver divine power to the "Dark Sun", but criminals on a purely public moral level often no longer worship him. For the needs of the overall strategy, Sirik and his spokesperson-the Pope of Rome, basically The government also adopted a let-it-take attitude towards this small interest. After all, Cyric is now the most powerful universal faith. It is necessary to wash away the traces of the past, at least not too blatantly.

Ladislaus had dealt with the Lady of the Night's admirers more than once in the Ligurian city. Although their reputation among high-level players--politicians--was quite bad, the scandals they spied out did help Ladislaus. Si controls several MPs.

Perhaps out of the expectation of further expanding the transaction, or perhaps out of consideration of gaining connections with the sorcerer royal family, Ms. Shar's main agent in Italy decided to provide Ladislaus with the location of their stronghold near the city of Liguria. Under today's circumstances, Ladislaus decided to use this relationship.

Sirica asked the tavern owner to take care of the two tired Hungarian horses, feed them the best oats and salt, and buy two more horses to carry supplies, as well as a large amount of supplies.

Ladislaus refused the room provided by the boss's wife, released a steel viscera to Boss Sirica again, grabbed a handful of gold coins and threw them to the boss, and fell asleep directly on the bar of the tavern with his clothes on, which lasted less than two minutes. He started snoring.

Boss Sirica, who was also extremely tired, did not sleep at the same time. After the boss took the gold coins and left to collect supplies, he got down and took out a bottle of wine from the bar and ate the leftover bread from yesterday brought by the landlady.

Twelve hours later, Ladislaus, who woke up naturally, confirmed that the arcane power had refilled his body and he could cast spells again.

Boss Sirica climbed up to the bar where the owner had slept just now and rested.

The tavern owner has already bought two pack horses worth 12 thalers, food, water, tents and other travel supplies worth 5 thalers.

While Ladislaus was inspecting the supplies, the landlady had already brought over a portion of freshly cooked veal and pasta. Even though Boss Sirica was fine just now, Ladislaus still brought one to himself out of caution.

The steel-gut declined the landlady's offer of a drink and tucked in half a pound of veal and a double helping of pasta.

Level 1 Arcane Steel Guts gives a creature a +4 circumstance bonus on Fortitude saves against all poisons.

This past made the young master Gladyslaus feel that arcane magic was completely useless, but it was extremely useful to the current fugitive Ladislaus.

After confirming with the boss that there was no place to buy magic potions locally, Ladislaus paid the boss a total of more than 50 talers of Louis gold coins in return for horse supplies and a light crossbow, as well as in exchange for a portion of local silver coins.

Dislaus didn't carry many silver coins with him, and Shar's believers who ran a business naturally had the means to exchange them. Although the boss made at least 20 thalers, now was not the time to save money.

Just as Ladislaus was considering his next move, there were already drinkers slapping the door panel before evening, asking for the door to be opened. A middle-aged man who was extremely decadent and tired seemed to be impatient to get himself drunk.

Boss Ka had already woken up and signaled the boss to open the door normally to keep everything normal on the surface. Anything normal would increase the difficulty of the chase, so Boss Sirica, who had only slept for less than 3 hours, still reluctantly signaled to Ladislaus that it was okay.

Leave immediately to avoid being seen by too many people.

Ladislaus, who had recovered his arcane skills and had the power to protect himself, decided to let him rest for a while, so the two of them went out through the back door and then entered through the front door like ordinary customers. Although this town was not prosperous, it was still popular with passers-by.

Businessmen were still very common, so they didn't attract much attention.

Ladislaus, who was seated in the corner again, let Boss Sirica rest for a while while he began to look at the customers who were entering the tavern one after another.

This tavern is obviously also a local intermediary place. So Ladislaus decided to see if he could hire a suitable guide. After all, the Roman Avenue was built fifteen hundred years ago, even if it was once set by the gods.

Grace, the low-maintenance part is now no different than the wilderness.
Chapter completed!