For Rhodes, if a fire burns the Grosso plain, then his mission is completed. So after witnessing the golden wheat fields covered in flames and smoke, Rod turned around and patted his ass and left, for him, even if it was over, it had nothing to do with him anymore.

But for the reformers, their nightmare has only just begun.

The duration of the Brimstone River was not very long, less than half an hour, but its enveloping area was almost all over the farmland of the Grosso Plain, which directly caused the raging fires to burn more and more with the help of the dry autumn wind, and even in the next three or four days, the entire Grosso area was completely covered in dense black smoke, and the wildfires not only burned everything on the Grosso Plain, but even spread to the surrounding mountains and forests. The Reformers were overwhelmed by the spread of the fire, and although they had spent a lot of money to invite several mages to extinguish the flames, it was to no avail, and in the end, the fire burned for fifteen days before it was completely extinguished by a late autumn night rainstorm.

But for the reformers, they are already crying without tears.

In these fifteen days, not only the food stored in the Grosso area has been completely burned, but even the surrounding area has been affected by the pond fish, including thousands of people who fled due to the threat of necromancers, thousands of people have been left homeless, the fire has burned everything they have, and now these refugees are gathered in the big cities, desperate to live a life without a future. These questions alone are enough to give reformers a headache. However, this is only the beginning, after investigation, the reformers also learned a very desperate bad news——— perhaps because of the long-term burning, the soil of the Grosso plain has become dry and barren, that is to say, even if the fire is extinguished, the only grain producing area in the south has been completely abolished in the future, and they can no longer get fertile food from here, which also means that the south will face a food shortage crisis in half a year.

As the saying goes, good things don't come alone, and the reformers would be naïve if they thought that was all they suffered.

While the reformers were anxious about the situation on the Grosso Plains, there were rumors among the people that made them feel even more frightened and panicked, most of which blamed the reformers for their previous unfavorable measures against the necromancers, and it was no secret that the reinforcements were suddenly attacked by the Necromantic Legion while heading to the Grosso Plains, and were completely defeated. And many people have already learned the truth, in front of that terrible necromancer, the reformist army did not even hold on for a moment before it was completely defeated, if it were not for the last moment when a war angel came desperately to die with the other party, I am afraid that all parts of the south would have been reduced to a place of undead ravages by now.

At the beginning, the reformers also took measures to strictly prohibit the surviving soldiers from talking nonsense, but the composition of this regiment was already very mixed, and after this attack, many people were extremely dissatisfied with the reformers' deliberate behavior of sending themselves to death, so although the reformers issued a ban everywhere, the people in the surrounding areas still learned the truth of the whole incident in the shortest possible time. If it's just one or two people who say it, then it may be a false deception, but there are many people who say it differently, not to mention that the silver pillar of light that erupted when Celia was self-destructing was so dazzling, everyone saw it, and combined with these words, as long as they were not fools, they could understand the truth of the matter.

…,

And with the Grosso fire that followed, a sign that had worried reformers finally appeared.

That is, the people began to question the status and power of the reformers.

At the beginning, when the reformers declared the independence of the south from the Duchy of Moon, the public reacted differently, but most of them did not oppose it, because they lacked favor with the royal family under the propaganda of the reformers for many years, and second, the reformers also promised the people that they would give them a better future, and with the support of the Land of Light, they would grow into a prosperous, prosperous, self-defeating and peaceful country. Since their own interests were not threatened by the war for the time being, and the long-standing dislike of the royal family made the majority of the people choose to support them silently, if things really are as rosy as the reformers portray, then they will not object. But what if things aren't as rosy as they portray?

This is the end.

For Grosso's refugees, what they hate most is that the reformers, who were supposed to protect them when the necromancers wreaked havoc in their homeland, did not send troops to help them fight the undead, but left them to leave their homeland. This makes these people extremely dissatisfied, although the reformers also say that they are understaffed because of the fighting on the front line, but the other party is the undead, you have time to kill each other, but you don't have time to fight the undead? What kind of truth is this? And the one who saved us the most was actually a war angel!! The royal family can put aside their old grudges to help us, why can't you do it?!!

Of course, in the face of these doubts, it is not without the members of the reformists who called on the people to see clearly the conspiracy of the royal family, which they deliberately did to unite the undead spirits to act against us, we should calm down and believe that the reform———ists have to say that although the words of these parliamentarians have become infinitely closer to the truth, these are undoubtedly nonsense for Grosso's refugees who have lost their loved ones, property, houses, fields, everything, and have nothing left. What's more, in their opinion, the words of the reformers are untenable, although the royal family has many problems, but no one has ever heard of the royal family being associated with necromantic creatures. Now the reformers are suddenly saying that, which makes the refugees think they are shirking their responsibilities.

Of course, these direct victims are only a small part, and the reformers do not need to pay attention to them at all, they just shout no matter how loud they are, and since they do not want to listen, they should not be left alone. But the indirect victims are not something that the reformers can ignore.

After the fire on the Grosso Plains, the price of grain in the surrounding area suddenly increased several times, and not only that, but many merchants even began to hoard grain and no longer buy and sell it. This caused the people in the surrounding area to complain, and along with the rise in food prices, the price of food, including bread, also began to soar, and the price of bread that could be bought for three silver coins has now risen to two gold coins, and even so, the amount of bread sold per day is still limited.

This immediately caused dissatisfaction among the surrounding people, and their complaints gradually increased, after all, until now, they have not seen the benefits of breaking away from the royal family, but the disadvantages have been felt by themselves. The threat of the undead, the clouds of war, the incessant fires, the rising prices of food, and the filthy refugees who have caused many problems for the security of the city.

People are a very real thing, and politicians can choose to look at things from a long-term perspective, but more people are concerned about the things around them, and they want a safe, peaceful, stable and prosperous environment. That's the most important thing, not the so-called self-justification, glory or something......... If you can't eat enough, who will talk to you about ideals? …,

If Grosso's refugee reformers could choose to ignore it, they had to come up with measures in the face of growing public complaints. But in fact, this matter is also full of disputes within the reformers, after all, most of the reformers in the south are now composed of merchants and some nobles who are hostile to the royal family. The aristocrats expected the merchants to come up with hoarded grain to improve their situation. But the merchants were reluctant to do so, for the simple reason that the grain was their private property and could not be used for the relief of the people. This should be the job of the Southern Parliament, not their obligation. If the Southern Council wants them to pay for it, they have to buy it at the current market price! If we are forced to give up our private property just for the sake of those people, what is the difference between the Southern Council and the tyrannical and despotic people of the Northern royal family!?

As soon as this remark came out, it was so good that the aristocrats were half angry, and it was even rumored that in the parliament, those members even rolled up their sleeves and fought in front of the public, making a huge and serious meeting hall no different from a street hooligan brawl. Eventually, after a lot of noise and a good fight, the Parliament reluctantly agreed that the Southern Parliament would pay for some of the food from the merchants, and then they would ask for assistance from the Land of Light (thankfully, the coastal routes were not blocked), and the Southern Council made a decision to open small granaries in several other regions to transport grain around Grosso to stabilize the situation. Although there is no food reserve in the whole south as a result, there is only so much they can do for now.

As for the problem of the necromancer, the reformers made a drastic punishment——— and the old general Michel was helplessly imprisoned by them as a scapegoat, and at the same time he was accused by the Southern Council of not fulfilling his responsibility to protect the people, and he had to bear the responsibility of losing Grosso's stronghold, and in the end, it only took one morning for the reformists to make a verdict in court after stating their opinions, and put General Michel in the dungeon and imprisoned him for dereliction of duty and poor command of the war. This was the only decision they had made about necromancers.

The refugees are very unhappy about this, but what can they do? After the reformists imprisoned General Michel, it was clear that they did not intend to continue dwelling on the subject, and the refugees had no choice but to swallow this breath after the protests were ineffective.

However, it is still unclear whether this group of refugees, who have lost their homes and relatives, but have not received any substantial compensation, will really endure this breath.

Despite all the tossing and turning of the reformists on the Grosso Plains, Rhodes didn't care at all, and at the moment, he was heading to his next target, which was also the lifeblood of the reformers——— Fiat.

However, unlike Grosso, Rhodes was very hesitant before going to Fiat.

Unlike Grosso, as an ore source, Fiat is a mountain city, although not as good as a deep stone city, but as an ore source, Fiat is also a relatively closed place. Moreover, sealing the locked mines is far more difficult than setting fire to the plains, which means that Rhodes can no longer hide in the mountains and forests as before. Not to mention that the largest mine in Fiat was controlled by two large families here, and it was impossible for Rhodes to pass through there without alarming them.

However, Rod couldn't just walk in like this. …,

The reason is simple, maybe in the Grosso area, few people will know Rod if he takes off his mask, but in Fiat, Rhodes can be sure that if he walks down the street, at least seven out of ten people will recognize him.

The reason is simple.

Fiat is the birthplace of the Wings Mercenary Guild——— and it is also the birthplace of Old Lawson.

Rhodes never doubted that his performance at the Midsummer Festival would definitely reduce his popularity in Fiat to "apathy" or "hostility." "If he walks up like this, then I'm afraid he will have to kill a river of blood and bones all over the field to achieve his goal.

If it were a weekday, Rhodes would definitely welcome it. After using the [River of Brimstone], a card belonging to the [Law of the Red Lotus], his experience has almost completely dropped back to the level of the early forty levels, and even the decimal point behind the experience points is a series of zeros that make people headaches when they look at it. Rhodes had no doubt that if he used the [River of Brimstone] or the [Seven Hells] again, he would definitely fall directly below level forty......... That was definitely not a good thing for him.

But it's a pity that considering that Fiat is also a territory of the Duchy of Moon, it is not easy for Rhodes to overstep his bounds. If Fiat was his own territory like the Land of Atonement, he really wouldn't mind using those idiots to gain experience points, now......... Rod had to find a new way to do it himself.

However, Rhodes did not have no options at all, in fact, when he left the Grosso Plains, Rhodes was already full of confidence in the next plan.

The "Goose Mother" is a tavern located in the area around the southern harbor, and on the surface, it is indistinguishable from ordinary taverns——— a small two-story building is isolated in the bosom of the woods, serving as a transit point for passing passengers. It's just that it's been a bit deserted lately, perhaps because of the recent turmoil in the south, or because of the fighting between the reformers and the royal party. Not too many travelers travel here. In fact, when Rhodes pushed open the door of the tavern, he only saw a middle-aged man lying on the counter, he seemed to be squinting, enjoying the warmth of the afternoon sun leisurely, and except for him, the entire tavern was empty, without half a figure. The tables in the tavern were clean and spotless. Rod didn't care, he just tugged at his cloak to hide his face from the shadows, and then strode to the bar, stretched out his hand and knocked on the table, three short and one long.

"Huh?"

Hearing the sound of banging on the table, the man who seemed to be enjoying a nap opened his eyes and looked up at Rod.

"Ah, welcome, guest. What would you like to use? ”

In the face of the other party's inquiry, Rod did not answer, but once again stretched out his right index finger and lightly tapped it on the table four times, still three short and one long. The man squinted his eyes slightly, glanced at Rod's fingers, and then raised his head again, still half-asleep, as if he had not yet recovered from his dream.

"Ah, welcome, guest. What do you want? ”

Then he asked again. Hearing his inquiry, Rhodes lowered his head slightly, he looked around left and right, then took out a money bag from his arms and put it on the table, then opened the money bag, and soon, under the sunlight, the golden brilliance inside was reflected.

"I want to be alone."

Then, Rod spoke. …,

This time, the man finally reacted, he glanced at Rod, then reached out and took the bag of coins, and quickly put them into his arms, then he lowered his head, and instead of looking at Rod's face, he looked at the table in front of him, and then took out a piece of parchment from the counter below, and a quill pen. Then he pushed it in front of Rod, and Rod didn't ask or be polite, but picked up the pen, swept it around, and quickly circled a few circles. Then he reached out and pushed the parchment back again.

Few people know that the "Goose Mother Wine Pot" is not just a tavern, and even among the players, there are very few people who know the secret here. It is affiliated with a mysterious organization called "The Masquerade." "This organization has always been mysterious in the history of the game, although they are not as bad as the "Dark Brotherhood", nor like the Thieves' Guild, but the scope of the "Masquerade" has always been in those gray areas. Falsify bills, lose your personal position, help people get rid of tricky and troublesome things, or contact those dark and evil forces that are not easily accessible on a normal day——— as long as you pay enough, they will even contact the dark elves who are far away underground.

No one knows the true composition of the organization of the "Masquerade", but the fact that they can connect so many forces shows that this organization is not simple at all. However, because it rarely does the most vicious things, the group is more of an NPC force that can be useful to the player. Rhodes also had a lot of fun in the game to track down the details of the masquerade for a while, but it was too difficult, so in the end he just chose to give up.

Of course, Rhodes didn't come here this time to continue his unfinished business in the game.

He had other plans...... ）,