The rumbling of hooves broke the silence of the dark night.
Nearly a hundred light riders galloped over, only stopping when they reached the two mountain passes. The burly man in the lead waved his hand, and a small group of about ten riders spurred out and spread out to stand guard. The rest of the riders dismounted and began to feed and drink their mounts, beginning a short rest. An hour later, the hundred or so light riders got back on their horses and galloped towards the King's City Plains …
No one expected that the hundred or so light riders would be missing two people when they resumed their journey. Lollister and Tagger crawled out of the bushes and listened to the distant hooves. With a slight shake of their heads, the two of them began their journey.
If they followed the main road from Nubit Port to King's City, they would only need fourteen to fifteen hours if they left in the morning and arrived at night. If they were messengers, they could arrive in ten hours on horseback. However, if they relied on their two legs, it would take at least a day and a half, usually two.
Lollister and Tagger could not follow the main road to King's City. After all, the main road to the King's City was controlled by the Norton Family's armed forces. Even an idiot would be suspicious if they swaggered into King's City on horseback or in carriages. Lollister and Tagger planned to walk diagonally across the hills and pretend to be the escaped nobles of Nubit Port who had escaped into the hills to escape the enemy's search. They would cross the hills to find their way back to the King's City.
After walking for more than two hours, they rested twice. The sky was already beginning to brighten.
Lollister, who was walking in front, stopped and pointed to the front. Then, he and Tagger sat on the right and flanked them.
There was a sparse forest here, and not far away was a small rocky hill. On the other side of the hill, the sound of flowing water and noise could be heard …
Below the small hill was a fast-flowing stream. There were a few people resting by the rocky banks of the stream. They seemed to be the nobles who had escaped from Nubit Port.
In the middle of the stream stood a tall, tanned man. His bare back was covered in old whip marks. At this moment, he was bending down, trying to catch fish from the stream that was as deep as his thighs. However, he didn't seem to have any experience in catching fish. Although his hands were like palm-leaf fans, he was always a step too slow. His whole body was soaked and he didn't catch a single fish.
Sitting on a big rock by the shore was a nobleman dressed in luxurious clothes. He was about 30 years old, and his face was pale and his eyes were lifeless. He was paralyzed on the big rock, and his bare feet were being massaged by an old man dressed in gray clothes. He was also cursing the big man in the stream with vulgarities such as "useless dog sh * t" and so on.
Next to the nobleman squatted a middle-aged man in his forties. He wore brown leather armor and held a longsword in his hand. His eyes stared straight at the stream, and from time to time, he would echo the nobleman's scolding.
On a large stone slab three to four meters behind this middle-aged man, a burly man wearing bright silver chainmail was lying on it. He had his hands behind his head and was watching the farce in front of him indifferently, as if it had nothing to do with him.
Tagger gestured at Lollister, and when he saw Lollister nod, he walked out from behind the tree and walked towards the riverbank.
"Who's there?" The burly man wearing chainmail who was lying on the large stone slab was the most vigilant. He immediately jumped up and pulled out his sword in a defensive posture. A golden light flashed, and the longsword glinted with a golden light. It was a Gold-tier swordsman. However, although this burly man wearing chainmail was a Gold-tier swordsman, his posture of vigilance was a little ridiculous. His front foot stepped on the air, and his center of gravity was tilted backward. It was clearly a posture of turning around and fleeing if he saw that the situation was not good.
The middle-aged man who was squatting and the nobleman who was leaning on the big rock immediately shut their mouths. The middle-aged man pulled out his sword and raised it in a defensive posture while trembling. The nobleman kicked the old man who was holding his foot and said angrily, "Hurry up and put on your shoes …"
The burly man in the stream also straightened his back and looked at the forest where the sound came from with vigilance.
"Don't be nervous, Carrick. It's me." Tagger appeared beside the stream.
The middle-aged man who was holding the longsword was stunned when he saw that it was Tagger. "It's you, Tagger?"
"Motherf * cker, I've been screwed over by you idiots. You forced me to enter the inner city, saying that the inner city could be defended. Damn it, you gave up on the inner city before the enemy even attacked and wanted to break out of the encirclement. You left me behind and almost got caught. If it weren't for my great fortune, I would've died in your hands … "Tagger cursed as he crossed the stream by stepping on a few big rocks and walked towards the middle-aged man.
When he saw that it was Tagger, the middle-aged man heaved a sigh of relief. "It's you, Tagger. I thought Creamer and the others were with you …"
"Creamer? He's dead. When we first left the city, he was with us. However, not far from the city gate, an iron crossbow bolt flew over and nailed him to the city wall, scaring us half to death. After that, we continued to run. In the end, I was separated from Broop, Philinde, and the others when the enemy cavalry caught up with us … "Tagger spoke nonsense as he walked in front of the middle-aged man.
"You came here alone?" The one who asked the question was not the middle-aged man called Carrick, but the Gold-tier swordsman who still had a vigilant look on his face.
"Forget it. I don't have that ability." Tagger sat down with a tired look on his face. He reached out and scooped a few mouthfuls of water from the stream. After he was half full, he replied, "If it weren't for the three guards that our Merchant Guild secretly sent to follow us, I would have been captured or killed by those cavalry."
"Locke, come out. We're all on the same side. It's fine," Tagger called out to the forest. Loriste flashed out of the forest and slowly walked over while maintaining his vigilance.
"He's a guard of your Merchant Guild? Why haven't I seen him before? "The middle-aged man called Carrick asked curiously.
"They've been following me in secret. Firstly, to protect me and Aire, and secondly, to report everything we've done on this trip to the Chamber of Commerce. If it weren't for the urgency of the situation, they wouldn't have appeared in front of me, "Tagger explained.
Oh, everyone understood now. This was a traditional behavior of many noble families in Galinthea. It was to secretly send people to monitor and protect the children of the family when they went out to travel. They would then report the children's journey and performance in detail back to the Merchant Guild. This way, they would understand the children's character and evaluate whether they had the talent to inherit the family or whether they were worth spending a lot of money to nurture. However, they didn't expect Tagger to receive such treatment.
"Didn't you say that there were three of them?" Carrick looked at Loriste and asked.
Tagger cursed loudly, "I don't know what kind of bad luck I had to travel to this broken archipelago of yours. I just happened to run into this damn war! Didn't you say that you didn't have any enemies? You've even been attacked all the way to your nest! If I had stayed in the outer city and revealed my identity at the first moment, with the reputation of the Peterson Merchant Guild, I wouldn't have been treated like a distinguished guest, but at least my life wouldn't have been in danger.
I was brought into the inner city by you and followed you to break out of the encirclement. After running in the middle of the night, I encountered cavalry. They wouldn't listen to my explanation and drew their swords. If it weren't for the three guards who saved me, I would have been finished. Now, three of the cavalry are dead, and two of us are dead. Those cavalry are still chasing us. If it weren't for Locke, who was familiar with the mountains and forests and took me to escape, would I still have to cross the mountains and suffer so much? "
Carrick touched his nose resentfully. "Tagger, we brought you to the inner city because we wanted to protect your safety. This is the kindness of a friend. It's just that we didn't expect the enemy to be so powerful … "
Tagger shook off the water droplets on his hands. "How did you provoke such a powerful enemy? I seem to have heard people in the Merchant Guild mention this family with a bear pattern on their flag, but I can't remember what their name is at the moment. "
Carrick squatted down again. "I'm not too sure either. I heard that two or three months ago, the nobles and slave merchants of the kingdom joined forces and dispatched tens of thousands of people to the Andinac Kingdom's Silovas Island to carry out a big hunt. They captured tens of thousands of refugees and slaves. However, they also suffered great losses in that operation, and many people died. Silovas Island seems to be the territory of a family called the Norton Family … "
"Norton Family?" Tagger jumped up as if he had been frightened. "Damn it, how dare you provoke the Norton Family? No wonder they came knocking on your door …"
"Huh? You know about the Norton Family? "Carrick asked.
"I heard that they are known as the Roaring Bear of the North. They are the military nobles of the former Crisen Empire, and they guard the northern frontier for the empire. Before I went out to travel, I heard people in the Merchant Guild say that the Norton Family defeated the Iberian Kingdom's army of 100,000 in a single battle. Are you sick in the head to provoke such a powerful enemy? If a military noble like them forms a grudge with them, they will not rest until one of them dies. You are in trouble this time. However, I really don't understand. Isn't the Norton Family's territory in the north? How did Silovas Island become their territory? "
"To be honest, I don't know either. I heard that Silovas Island is also the Norton Family's new territory. The Norton Family recruited 50,000 to 60,000 young and strong refugees to develop and build on the island, so the higher-ups began to have ideas about these refugees. During the last gathering, we said that our Haneabada Kingdom has been lacking slaves for the past few years, so when we heard that there were so many young and strong refugees, who wouldn't be envious … "Carrick said.
"Are the nobles of your Haneabada Kingdom all idiots? You should at least understand the other party's background before you act. Why don't you use your brains and think about it? Would a noble family that has the ability to recruit 50,000 to 60,000 young and strong refugees to develop and build on their territory be easy to provoke? Ordinary nobles wouldn't even be able to feed fifty to sixty thousand people! Besides, isn't the lack of slaves your kingdom brought upon itself? It's your fault for not treating slaves as people and ordering them around. Naturally, there won't be enough of them after so many die. Why don't you understand that slaves aren't expendable goods? They will create wealth for their masters, so can't you treat them a little better? The more slaves die, the more losses the slave owners suffer. Why can't you understand such a shallow logic? "Tagger scolded.
"Carrick, where did this friend come from? It sounds like he has a lot of opinions about the nobles of our Haneabada Kingdom. Why don't we ask him to tell us how to train those slaves to work well? "At this moment, the pale-faced noble leaning against the big rock spoke up again.
"Uh, Lord Viscount, I forgot to introduce him first. I'm really sorry. This is the eldest young master, Tagger, the vice president of the Peterson Merchant Group, one of the seven giants of the Trade Alliance. He and another young master, Erebak, came to our kingdom to gain experience. Hmm, that's his guard, called … called … "Carrick forgot what Loriste's name was.
"His name is Locke, a guard of our Peterson Merchant Group. It's a pleasure to meet you, Lord Viscount. Tagger of the Peterson Merchant Group pays his respects to you. "Tagger respectfully greeted the pale-faced noble who was half lying on the rock. However, the pale-faced noble put on airs and snorted twice, indicating that this was the answer.
"Who is he?" Tagger didn't care. He pulled Carrick two steps forward and asked in a low voice by the stream.
"That's Viscount Timba, one of the seventeen founding dukes of the kingdom. But when it was passed down to him, three generations had passed, and his title was demoted from duke to viscount. However, his sister is the wife of the current king, Luther III, and she has just given birth to a prince for our king, so his title is likely to be promoted to count again … "Carrick also replied in a very low voice.
The seventeen founding dukes were actually the leaders of the seventeen relatively large pirate groups that founded the Kingdom of Haneabada. They were conferred the title of duke. Of course, the pirate king who founded the kingdom was not a vegetarian. He made a rule that if the heir to the duke's title was unwilling to pay a relatively large amount of inheritance money, then the title would be demoted to a first-class inheritance. Of course, the territory would not change, but the nominal title would not be good. It seems that the ancestors of this viscount were stingy and refused to pay the inheritance money, so his title was demoted to viscount.
"What about that one?" Tagger glanced at the golden swordsman lying on the big stone behind him.
"That's Duke Goodman's golden knight. His name seems to be Oz. I don't know him, but we met him yesterday afternoon. Viscount Timba paid a large sum of money to hire him to escort us to Hamidas," Carrick said.
This Carrick was one of Tagger's friends in Nubitt City. He was a small steward in the city lord's mansion, responsible for checking and supervising the management of the treasury. After Tagger invited him to drink a few times and gave him two gifts, the two became very good friends. They almost told him how much material reserves there were in the treasury of Nubitt Port.
Tagger promised him that if the Peterson Chamber of Commerce opened a trading point in Nubitt Port, he would give him one-tenth of the shares. Therefore, for the sake of his financial backer's safety, he dragged Tagger into the inner city after the Norton Family's armed forces had landed and defeated the 3,000 slave hunters that had gone there …
As a frequent visitor of the city lord's mansion, Viscount Timba naturally knew Carrick, the small steward. After breaking out of Nubitt Port yesterday, Viscount Timba escaped quickly in a carriage, but he was unlucky. He was the first to run to this hilly area and became the focus of the scouts led by Joske and Yuri. Viscount Timba commanded his guards and servants to launch the first charge against the scouts' defensive position. As a result, all his guards and servants died, leaving only two slaves by his side. One was an old slave in gray clothes, and the other was the big man who was catching fish in the stream.
While he was in a hurry, he happened to see Carrick, so Carrick was captured by Viscount Timba and became his guard. Later, when Duke Goodman and the others came, Viscount Timba, who had lost all his guards and servants, became the target of neglect. Carrick was afraid that he and the others would be designated as the targets to die, so he suggested that Viscount Timba take the small path, avoid the main road, and cross the hills to return to the capital.
The Golden Knight named Oz, Carrick suspected that he was running away, so he went in the same direction as himself and the others. However, since Viscount Timba knew him and hired him to escort him all the way, Carrick couldn't do anything. After all, Oz was a Golden Knight, and he was just an Iron Knight, so his words didn't work.
Carrick secretly whispered to Tagger, "This Gold Knight named Oz can't be trusted. He can even betray the orders of Duke Gouffman, the patriarch of the family, and flee before the battle. Then, we are just like a group of ants in his eyes." If it weren't for Viscount Timba throwing away all his belongings and belongings and promising to give him a large sum of money when he returned to the royal city, Garlic would have suspected that Oz would have murdered him for his money.
So Carrick was the happiest to see Tagger. At least Tagger was a Silver Swordsman. If something happened, he could block a few more attacks and give himself a chance to escape …
"What are you doing now?" Tagger asked curiously.
…
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