Chapter 94: Bounty Quest

The Naga Sea Witch is an exceptionally powerful mysterious spellcasting hero. Though not strong in close combat, she is highly skilled in ranged attacks.
These children of the sea, clad in scaled armor, are born with the ability to control storms, lightning, and water elements. Legend has it that coastal fishermen often see them as a sign of an impending storm.
The Naga Sea Witch’s ultimate ability, the Tornado, creates a fierce tornado storm that lifts enemy ground units into the air, causing them to be stunned and taking severe damage. Enemies at the periphery of the tornado are also slowed by the wind force, preventing them from escaping the battle.
Although the power of this spell is far less than that of the level 9 spell Tsunami, which can unleash a catastrophic disaster and destroy a port city, it is still considered a pseudo-legendary spell or sub-prohibition by mages. Its power exceeds that of ordinary level 9 spells but falls short of true legendary status.
Due to the strength of pseudo-legendary spells, even the Grand Mage must prepare thoroughly and pay a price to cast them.
However, compared to the level 7 war spell Lightning Storm, which only silver mages can master, the Naga’s Tornado is nearly on par in overall power, with the widest attack range among all heroes’ ultimate abilities. In terms of range, only the Moon Priestess’s Starfall can compare to it.
Starfall is the longest-lasting attack ultimate among all heroes’ skills. But because of its prolonged duration, its short-term destructive power is inferior to that of the Tornado and Earthquake. It also requires more preparation time and lacks the ability to restrict enemy movement, making it easier for enemies to attack the caster while it’s active.
What pleased Donald the most was that the Tornado ability could attack enemies in the air, on the ground, and all building units within its range simultaneously.
Unlike fixed ranges in games, a real tornado can move according to the caster’s will. That is, as long as the spell lasts, wherever Donald goes, the tornado will follow. Of course, Donald’s mental strength is limited at the moment, preventing him from moving the tornado more than 300 feet away. In other words, within a 600-foot radius, that is Donald’s attack range.

The flame burst of the Flame Lord has even greater attack power than a tornado, with a similar range, but it has the drawbacks of being unable to target units in the air and having a fixed, immovable range. This might be worth considering in the future, but for now, the tornado is the better choice for the current situation.
The only flaw of this innate spell is its high mana consumption, as is the case with several other powerful spells. A single tornado spell can deplete almost all of Donald’s mana, and as his level increases, both the power of the spells and their mana cost rise accordingly.
Fortunately, he has many ways to replenish and increase his mana capacity. By carrying plenty of restorative items and sufficient potions, a lack of mana will no longer be a problem.
On the fifth day after Donald led his team back from Mount Izumo, many adventurers and patrons in the taverns of Giantstone City were discussing the news.
“Have you heard? Baron Merlinar, the lord of Dalaran, issued a bounty quest a few days ago, and many adventurers plan to take it on!”
“Forget it! That kingdom hero, the greatest mage in the North County, is going to eliminate the ogre monsters found near his territory. He needs powerful adventurers—why should I, a low-tier black iron swordsman, go and join in?”
“But just by participating, each person gets three intermediate alchemy potions for use in battle. After completing the quest, killing one monster earns a reward of 100 gold sols, and killing ten monsters grants an advanced magical item. I heard the two largest mercenary groups in our North County are interested! Intermediate alchemy potions—distributed so casually at dozens of gold sols each! That baron is truly wealthy!”
“But you need to be alive to enjoy them. My uncle said that adult ogres are at least bronze-tier strong, and it takes five peak black iron warriors working together with excellent equipment to take on just one. It’s said there’s a tribe with dozens of ogres there.”
“Why not form a small team with some acquaintances early on to take on the quest? That way, we’ll be safer, and we can sell the potions we get and split the money. That way, each of us could get 100 gold sols. Maybe we’ll even be lucky enough to kill an ogre and earn another 100 gold sols as a bonus!”
…
Besides the taverns in Giantstone City, nearby Redmaple Town, Shininggold Town in the south, and Greenwood Town under the rule of Bloodstone Fortress also heard about it. These days, adventurers and mercenaries have been discussing this quest, and many have already set off for Dalaran’s territory.

To quickly spread the task throughout the entire Northshire, Donald sent out his airships—traveling across the whole region in one night with passengers aboard was no problem. Moreover, there were only two distant locations that needed the task sent to: Greenwood Town and Shining Gold Town, where the most adventurers and mercenaries gathered in Northshire. Especially Shining Gold Town, with its developed commerce and connections between the north and south, had many mercenary groups stationed there year-round. Since Stone City and Red Maple Town were close by, sending riders on horseback to deliver the task would suffice. As for Far Mountain Town under the Macbeth family’s rule and Lord Gryff’s domain, Donald had no intention of going there at all. With airships for travel, the messengers he sent completed the task in just one day.

Hiring mercenaries and adventurers to fight was a decision Donald made after careful consideration. Mercenaries and adventurers were essentially the same profession; in fact, most mercenaries started as adventurers, with only a few joining mercenary groups from the beginning. Mercenaries who operated alone were not truly mercenaries but could only be called adventurers. Only those who fought as part of a team could be called a mercenary group. Thus, a mercenary group was simply a larger and more organized version of an adventurer team.

That orc tribe, though powerful, rarely left their territory and appeared in the area around Cloud Mountain. If they could be lured out, Dalamar’s forces should be able to handle them. A few such attempts would likely eliminate most of the orcs’ fighting strength. Once the number of adult orcs dropped below twenty, Donald was confident he could single-handedly invade their lair and wipe them out completely.

However, after some thought, Donald realized these orcs weren’t worth his personal involvement. Clearing out the entire orc tribe on his own would come at a huge cost. He did a quick calculation: with over fifty orcs, even if he could lure out two or three to eliminate each time, summoning a creature would cost at least two thousand gold sols per use. If the number of enemies lured out increased by two to three times, he would essentially spend thousands of gold sols on magic cores. With that amount of money, he could hire powerful mercenary groups led by silver-ranked experts to handle the task.

Moreover, although the summoned soldiers under him were tireless and fearless elite warriors who would strictly follow his orders, they could still get injured or die. Unlike those temporarily summoned creatures, which had a limited lifespan and whose sacrifice wouldn’t be regretted in the pursuit of victory, Clinton and the others were real humans. Having spent so much time together, bonds had formed between them, making it unworthy to sacrifice them in battles against orcs. Thus, hiring mercenaries and adventurers for this dangerous fight was the best choice. After all, large sums of money had flowed into the domain since returning from the capital, so there was no shortage of funds at the moment. The principles from his past life—“Money can make even ghosts grind grain” and “People die for wealth, birds for food”—still applied in this world as well. “But more preparations are needed, and additional reinforcements must be sought.” Having made up his mind, Donald immediately gathered the people of the domain to prepare for the plans in a few days. Three days later, a tavern and an inn were quickly built under the supervision of the administrative officer William. Since they were reconstructed based on the existing buildings in town, they could be completed in such a short time. When Donald came to inspect, William reported to him, “My lord, the tavern was completed early because its renovation was simple. However, the inn requires more elaborate decorations and has more rooms, so it has only been briefly repaired. It’s still habitable, but not as comfortable as it would be once fully finished!” “Time is urgent; as long as it’s habitable, that’s fine. This is to accommodate adventurers and mercenaries. They often live in harsh conditions, so having a place to stay is good enough—they won’t ask for much. The rest can be taken care of slowly over time!” “These past few days, with the influx of outsiders, there have been some issues with security in the domain, but nothing serious. Even with the reserve members included, the guard force is still overwhelmed.” Donald was somewhat troubled by William’s report. It made sense—there were only a little over thirty full members in Dalaran’s militia guard force, and including those in training, barely seventy in total, many of them just children in their teens, not capable of handling emergencies. It was obviously impossible for just a few dozen people to oversee a town that could hold thousands of people plus two villages in the north and south.

So Donald came up with a makeshift solution on the spot and ordered William, “From now on, the guard force will be responsible only for patrolling the town. As for the security of Windbell and Ashwood villages, instruct them to temporarily entrust it to their hunting teams. Although the hunting teams are not very strong, the deterrence of a hundred archers is enough to intimidate adventurers below the Bronze rank.” After saying this, Donald thought to himself that he would have to launch the plan ahead of time to strengthen the military strength of his territory.