Chapter 370 — The New Games of the Territory

The scene was thoroughly chaotic; the two contesting teams showed scarcely any order or coordination, and the man standing at the edge of the ground acting as "referee" seemed not to fully understand the rules himself, spending most of his time shouting along with the spectators around him. Yet these people played with boundless high spirits and fervor, and those watching from the sidelines were no less excited, their cheers never ceasing—often they cheered not for a goal at all, but simply for a sudden funny face pulled by someone on the field, or a spectacularly magnificent fall.

Even after seven hundred years of life among humans, Su Jilin had rarely seen such a spectacle—especially among commoners. They might gather together, they might cheer and shout for one reason or another, but they would never throw themselves into such an impassioned sport. The reason was simple: how could commoners—even the lowliest, who could not fill their bellies—waste their precious strength on such a game?

All the more so when it was still the chilly season of early spring, when physical strength was especially precious.

Su Jilin watched the sport on the open ground somewhat blankly, and relevant information slowly surfaced in his mind: this... seemed to be called football. Something his old friend had invented not long ago, and which, once promoted, had quickly won the welcome of the territory's people...

Honestly speaking, Su Jilin rather preferred the several board and card games his old friend had invented, but he could still sense some indefinable attraction in this seemingly savage and crude sport. This sort of game... the vigorous dwarves of the continent's west would probably find it very much to their taste.

Just then, a bright flash of metal reflection in the crowd interrupted the high-ranking ranger's thoughts. He raised his eyes and at last found the true object of his visit—Nicholas Egg was floating amid the crowd, that great comical grin gleaming in the sunlight, visible no matter how far away.

After a period of adjustment, the citizens of Cecil's territory seemed to have grown entirely accustomed to this curious-looking "master artisan." In fact, they had recently grown accustomed even to Kamal, who trailed sparks and lightning wherever he went. The only one they had not quite grown used to was that siren lady with the swaggering walk—after all, Ti'er went out far too seldom.

Su Jilin quickly pushed through the crowd and drew near, calling out loudly beside Nicholas Egg (the cheers around them were far too noisy, after all): "Mr. Egg! Mr. Egg!"

He shouted several times before Nicholas Egg seemed to rouse as if from a dream and sway slightly. Then the great metal sphere turned slowly, and a humming voice came from within: "Mother of... that was intense..."

"Mr. Egg, what was intense?" Su Jilin asked loudly. "By the way, could we find somewhere quieter? I've come to you about something..."

"Yes, yes, let's get out of here..." Nicholas Egg hummed, but his floating was clearly unsteady. "You... you give me a hand here, I'm feeling a bit faint..."

Su Jilin looked at Nicholas Egg's round, smooth, gleaming body and was utterly at a loss—give him a hand where?

Fortunately Nicholas Egg himself did not insist on particulars. Once Su Jilin, wearing a most peculiar expression, laid a hand on him, he drifted along after the high-ranking ranger and left the crowd.

Only once they were outside the crowd did the iron star-man's condition improve somewhat, and then came another exclamation: "Mother of... that was intense..."

Su Jilin turned to look at him: "So what exactly was so intense?"

"Twenty-two people all kicking and stomping at one ball, and sometimes even the referee joins in—that's intense..." Nicholas Egg's tone carried a lingering sense of fright. "Football is actually that brutal..."

Even with the breadth of knowledge and thought that Su Jilin's seven hundred years of wandering had accumulated, it took him quite a while to guess what Mr. Egg meant. The high-ranking ranger's expression turned more peculiar than ever: "You... watching this must feel about the same as how we'd feel watching people killed in the street?"

"Worse than that! When you kill someone in the street, it's not twenty-odd people each hacking at him with a blade..."

Su Jilin's eye twitched: "I understand how you feel... So you came all this way to watch football—looking for a thrill?"

"As if!" Nicholas Egg's tone was close to frantic. "I just heard that some ball game had become popular in the territory, and I thought it was prepared for me! I was just about to come over and sign up—good thing I didn't! They're not short of players at all now, but nearly every team is short of a ball..."

Su Jilin's eye twitched harder still. He looked Nicholas Egg up and down and thought to himself that the other had no need to be so nervous—with that physique and that true weight of his, it would probably take a giant out of ancient legend to kick him across the field...

But considering the great shock the iron star-man had just suffered, Su Jilin could not bring himself to say what was in his mind, and hastily changed the subject: "Actually, I came to find you because I have a favor to ask."

"Ah... ah, you have something to ask of me?" Nigu Xidan snapped back to himself. "What is it?"

"You must already know that I'm putting together the 'Steel Rangers,' and the lord has handed me a task as well—to design or improve a new type of magic armament based on the rangers' combat experience," Suo Jilin said, turning to business, his expression growing grave and earnest. "I've come to you because there are a few 'orders' I'd like you to help design."

"Oh? You can design magic armaments too?" The moment the conversation turned to his own specialty, Nigu Xidan perked up at once, his earlier mental trauma seemingly healed in an instant. "Do you have a concept sketch, or a list of target requirements?"

Suo Jilin smiled faintly. "A concept sketch I can't give you, but some objectives I do have."