7-Copper Post Office, Dragonbone City Branch, Opening Day.
It was Lin Gui’s sixth day in Dragonbone City.
In the early morning, the first glimmers of the sun pierced through the Dragonbone Mountains, illuminating the small city.
The two-story building near the city gate was already surrounded by people.
There were adventurers in tattered leather armor, blacksmiths wearing aprons, women carrying children, and elderly people leaning on canes.
They stood at the entrance, gazing at the hand-written signboard and whispering among themselves.
“Is this the place?”
“Yeah, this is what it says on the flyer.”
“Seven copper coins for a letter—is that for real?”
“We’ll find out when the doors open.”
The sunlight grew brighter, shining upon the wooden door of the post office.
The door opened on time.
A black-haired mage stepped out, holding a rolled-up map in his hand.
“Make way, make way.”
As he spoke, he pushed through the crowd and walked over to the bulletin board on the left side of the entrance.
It was a large wooden board nailed to the wall, coated with a layer of clear varnish to protect it from moisture and pests.
He unrolled the map and spread it across the board.
The surrounding people crowded in, staring curiously at the diagram.
It was an enlarged map of the southern Akara Continent.
Mountains, rivers, city-states, and forests were all clearly marked with different colors of ink.
The mage took several thumbtacks from his robe and pulled out a roll of fine hemp rope.
Under the curious gazes of the local residents, he pinned the first thumbtack onto the map.
Dragonbone City.
The pin pierced through the map and into the board with a soft tap.
Then, he pulled out a length of hemp rope and tied it to the second thumbtack.
The second thumbtack was pinned to the eastern side of the Southern Tundra.
Whitecliff City.
He continued.
The pins went down one by one, and the hemp rope was pulled out piece by piece.
A long journey was outlined on the map.
【7-Copper Post Office, Second Long-Distance Letter Delivery Route: Dragonbone City (Origin) → City of a Thousand Towers (Transit) → Red Clay Desert (Terminal)】
【The detailed route is as follows:】
【Dragonbone City → Southern Tundra (Eastern) → Whitecliff City → Wind-Whisper Canyon → Watchtower Keep → Withered Wood Wasteland West (Forbidden Zone) → Withered Wood Town → Withered Wood Wasteland East (Forbidden Zone) → Serpent-Spine Ridge → Coppergate City → Twilight Woods → Aspen Keep → Cursed Swamp → Green-Shade Court → Bone Highlands (Forbidden Zone) → City of a Thousand Towers → Crimson Terrace → Twin Springs Oasis → Ashstone Plains → Yellow Sand Court → Ash Rift (Forbidden Zone) → Sandthorn Hills → Red Clay Territory → Red Clay Desert (Forbidden Zone)】
The final thumbtack was pinned down, and the hemp rope was pulled taut.
From Dragonbone City to the Red Clay Desert, a winding line cut across tundras, canyons, wastelands, woodlands, swamps, highlands, and deserts.
A route passing through more than a dozen city-states and spanning tens of thousands of kilometers was presented in plain sight.
The surrounding people were left dumbfounded.
Lin Gui turned back and looked at the residents who had unknowingly pressed closer to see.
He took a deep breath and shouted loudly:
“The 7-Copper Post Office, Dragonbone City Branch, is now officially open!”
“The second delivery route has also been established!”
“Starting from Dragonbone City, ending at the Red Clay Desert!”
“Seven copper coins for one letter! We only accept letter delivery; we do not accept cargo transport for the time being!”
“Everyone is welcome to submit their letters!”
The atmosphere instantly fell silent.
For a long time, no one spoke.
The residents gathered in front of the bulletin board stared at the winding line on the map, their eyes wide.
A middle-aged adventurer in tattered leather armor was the first to speak up.
“This... this route... not even the strongest Gold Rank adventure group in Dragonbone City could complete this.”
Several people beside him nodded in agreement.
“The Withered Wood Wasteland? That’s a Forbidden Zone!”
“Same for the Cursed Swamp; I’ve heard those annoying guys talk about it.”
“Don’t even think about passing through there without a Transcendent Priest.”
“Not to mention the Bone Highlands—that’s where the Undead Scourge broke out twenty years ago.”
“Back then, to suppress that wave of the dead, the City of a Thousand Towers lost many mages. I heard even a Tower Master died there.”
Someone stared at the red dot at the very end of the map, their voice changing pitch.
“The Red Clay Desert...”
“Isn’t that the most terrifying Forbidden Zone on the eastern side of the borderlands?”
“I heard a passing Gold Rank adventure group say that place ranks in the top ten among all Forbidden Zones.”
“To this day, no one has been able to cross it alive.”
A young adventurer swallowed and whispered, “Forget crossing it, even getting close is dangerous enough.”
Lin Gui heard their discussions and explained, “We are only going to the edge of the Red Clay Desert.”
“We won’t be going deep inside.”
What he didn’t mention was that the Red Clay Desert wasn't the actual endpoint.
The true endpoint was Caran City, which lay beyond the Red Clay Desert.
However, he wouldn't write that on the bulletin board.
Among the crowd, an adventurer who looked a bit older stepped out and asked tentatively.
“Lord Mage, may I ask... what is your rank?”
Lin Gui glanced at him.
“High-tier High Rank.”
The surroundings instantly erupted into a commotion.
“High-tier High Rank?”
“I heard the minimum standard for crossing the wilderness is Transcendent.”
“For this route, I’m afraid even Transcendent isn’t enough.”
“It’s likely that only a Legendary master could pull this off.”
Voices of doubt surged like a tide.
Lin Gui had long since expected this.
He waited until the noise quieted down slightly before speaking again.
“The 7-Copper Post Office is not delivered by me personally.”
He paused for a moment and began to spin a story.
“It is delivered by a transport team dedicated to sending letters for the common people.”
“The person leading this transport team is a Mid-tier Legendary mage.”
“The members of the transport team are all experts of at least the Mid-tier Transcendent rank.”
“Therefore, none of you need to worry.”
The crowd fell silent for a moment.
Then someone asked, “A Mid-tier Legendary mage? Why would they do such a thing?”
“Yeah, don’t those big shots only move when they’re delivering things for nobles?”
“How could they possibly help us send letters?”
Lin Gui looked at those doubting faces and remained silent for a short while.
Then, he began to tell a story.
“The captain of that transport team was born in a very remote small city.”
“His family was poor, and his parents committed suicide due to the oppression of the nobles.”
“It was his sister who worked day and night, enduring great hardships to raise him.”
“To support him so he could go to the Magic City to study, his sister went to a very distant place to find work.”
“Before she left, his sister said she would write to him.”
“But he waited for ten years and never received a single letter.”
“He always thought his sister had forgotten him, that she had abandoned him.”
“It wasn't until later, when he became a powerful mage and the leader of a strong transport team, that he happened to pass through his sister’s city-state.”
“Only then did he find out that the letters had actually been written—many, many of them.”
“It was just that his sister didn't have the money to send them out.”
“All those letters were piled up in her shanty—a place that had long since become a dwelling for vagrants—covered in dust.”
“And inside the letters were even the gold coins his sister had saved by overworking her body over the years to support his magic studies at the Magic City.”
“Along with... the final letter she left before she died of illness.”
“The letter was filled with her lingering obsession for her brother.”
“That day, the entire refugee district heard his wailing.”
“Having clawed his way up from the bottom, he had already trained himself to be a heartless adventurer.”
“That day, for the first time, his fellow transport team members saw their tough captain cry like that.”
“It was as if he wanted to cry out all the tears he had stored up for more than thirty years.”
Lin Gui’s voice was low and solemn, sounding as if he had been right there by the transport captain’s side to witness it all.
He silently wiped away the tears he had created using a Water Generation spell, sighing with emotion.
“From that day on, he made a vow.”
“He vowed that everyone who wanted to send a letter would be able to do so.”
“He would ensure that every letter reached its destination.”
“No matter how far or remote that place might be.”
The surroundings grew quiet.
The skeptical voices had vanished at some point.
Some lowered their heads, some turned their faces away, and some wiped the corners of their eyes with the backs of their hands.
A woman carrying a child had reddened eyes.
A grizzled old adventurer’s lips moved, but he couldn't find any words to say.
The young adventurer stared blankly at Lin Gui, his gaze having completely changed.
The silence lasted for a long time.
Then, an old man walked out from the crowd.
He was wearing coarse cloth clothes that had been washed until they were faded, and he clutched a letter in his hand.
The envelope was very old, with the corners worn down and the handwriting somewhat blurry.
He walked up to Lin Gui and handed the letter over.
His hands were shaking.
“I... I want to send a letter.”
His voice was hoarse.
“To... to Whitecliff City.”
“To my son.”
“It’s been over forty years since the Demon God descended. I just want to know if he’s still alive.”
Lin Gui took the letter.
He didn't ask any questions and simply nodded.
“Seven copper coins.”
The old man fumbled for seven copper coins from his robe, counting them one by one and placing them in Lin Gui’s palm.
Then, he took a step back and looked at the letter in Lin Gui’s hand, appearing as if he had finally set down a heavy burden.
Another person stepped forward from the crowd.
And another.
And another.
A queue quickly began to form.
It stretched from the post office entrance all the way to the corner of the street.
And that moving story about the transport team captain also began to spread through Dragonbone City along with the opening of the post office.
It also reached the ears of a blonde adventurer inside the Adventurer’s Guild, who was currently looking at the few silver coins in their palm with disdain after just completing a commission.
Rate on N.U.
