Published: March 11, 2025
CHAPTER 57: Black Mountain Pass
At the northern exit of the Valley of Oblivion, a fortress stood quietly. This fortress was entirely made of black stone, with walls that reached a terrifying height of about forty meters, blocking the entire Valley of Oblivion.
The fortress resembled an iron wall, completely sealing off the Valley of Oblivion. To pass through the valley, one must go through the Black Mountain Pass.
However, as you approached the Black Mountain Pass, you would find that this fortress was not as imposing as you might imagine. In fact, it resembled a feeble old man; many parts of the defensive walls were damaged, and the entire exterior of the fortress looked dilapidated, as if it had not been maintained for a long time.
This was indeed the case. When the Versailles Family built this fortress, it was to prevent the magical beasts from the Corpse Swamp from crossing the Valley of Oblivion into the Versailles Principality. However, this fortress had stood for hundreds of years, and those magical beasts had only ever roamed the Black Earth Wilderness, never coming to the Valley of Oblivion. This gradually led to the fortress being forgotten by people. Although there were still some stationed troops, their main role was simply to maintain security.
While there were not many stationed troops at the Black Mountain Pass, no one dared to underestimate its combat power, as numerous adventurers and mercenaries were present. These people formed a force that couldn't be ignored.
However, the presence of these individuals also made the security situation at the Black Mountain Pass quite chaotic. The city defense officers found themselves in a difficult position because both adventurers and mercenaries were unruly. One wrong move, and they might draw their blades. Faced with such a group of wild men, the already unremarkable city defense forces felt even more powerless.
As a result, the Black Mountain Pass evolved into a place managed by several large mercenary groups and big merchants, with the city defense forces merely acting as bystanders. These large mercenary groups and merchants had their own territories and did not infringe upon each other, coexisting peacefully.
Of course, under these circumstances, the Versailles Principality could not expect to collect any taxes here. Without taxes, the principality could not provide funds for repairing the city walls, slowly turning the Black Mountain Pass into a paradise for mercenaries, adventurers, and even fugitives.
This also indirectly reflected the situation in the Black Earth Wilderness, which was considered a dead zone. For the Versailles Principality, the Black Mountain Pass was the safest border town, surrounded by mountains and devoid of enemies. Such places often attracted a mix of people. If the Black Earth Wilderness were prosperous, the Black Mountain Pass would have become an important border town, facilitating trade and allowing the Versailles Principality to collect substantial taxes, leading to greater attention being paid to the area, rather than having it forgotten like now.
Given this situation, the state of city defense at the Black Mountain Pass was predictable; for Galen, this was an undefended city.
He certainly would not swagger through the front gate of the Black Mountain Pass, as that might lead to him being recognized. Instead, Galen climbed over the walls to enter the fortress.
The commercial development in the Black Mountain Pass was highly distorted, with weapon shops, potion shops, and equipment stores everywhere. Taverns, inns, and restaurants were abundant, while places selling daily necessities were hard to find. Apart from the city defense forces, the fortress was filled mostly with adventurers or mercenaries, with very few ordinary citizens.
Of course, these details were not Galen's concern. He found a relatively secluded equipment store and bought five black magic robes, the kind with hoods, along with a long wooden magic staff. He also purchased a set of armor—quite beautiful but not the highest quality. The most important feature was that it came with a helmet that covered his entire face.