"What's going on outside?" Veronica walked to the man's side. "Is the person following us gone?"
"No, that person hasn't left yet," Laing said softly.
The two's original plan was to investigate the movements of the Aesthetic Society, but as soon as they appeared in Shield Coin Street, they found that they were being followed.
The stalker's strength was extraordinary. Laing and Veronica tried to circle around the area a few times, but the stalker didn't let them go. The stalker's eyes followed the two of them for an entire street without stopping.
So Laing and Veronica decided to act as if they were really on a date. They walked around the streets and tried on clothes. The two of them went through half of the street's tailor shops and bought a lot of clothes.
"Still not gone? How troublesome. "Veronica bit her lip." Then what did you see? "
"Do you remember my experience in Nord? There was a mercenary group with me at that time … "Laing told Veronica briefly, then said," You continue trying on clothes, I'll go out and take a look. "
"Dear, our main goal is to complete the mission, not to buy clothes. You go out and see what's going on. I'll be right there." Veronica shook her head and motioned for Laing to go out and take a look.
So Laing walked out of the tailor shop and found that the remaining members of the Blood Axe mercenaries were gathered at the corner of the street. A few people dressed as sailors were holding onto them and wouldn't let them go. The leader was obviously the captain.
"Liar! Deceiver! Give me the money! If you don't, I'll have the guards arrest you! Put you all in the water prison! "
"Mr. Captain, we have no intention of deceiving you. We are also deceived. We, Blood Axe, value integrity the most. We have no intention of using lead to deceive you! The commission we received also turned into lead. "
The captain and the sailors were quarreling outside. The Blood Axe mercenaries were surrounded by the captain and the sailors. Emilia was only wearing a thin fur coat and tight leather pants, shivering in the cold wind. The girl's face was pale from the cold, but she still tried to explain. "Mr. Captain was there when the great alchemist handed over the commission."
"Impossible!" The captain standing in front of Emilia was much taller than Emilia. Emilia was only about 1.63 meters tall. Standing in front of the captain who was 1.9 meters tall, she looked a little petite. Especially with the captain's fierce look, the girl's figure looked even more frail.
The remaining members of the Blood Axe mercenaries looked rather sad, and vice leader Wayde's face was filled with shame and anger. Laing then noticed that Wayde was holding some lead in his hands.
"It must be you! You were greedy for gold and secretly changed the gold to lead during the journey. Then, you pretended to be the victims to deceive us! " The captain's face was filled with anger. He reached out his hand towards Emilia. "Let me see if the gold is hidden on you, you little b * tch!"
"Ah!" Emilia retreated in fear. The female mercenary who wasn't strong was grabbed by the shoulder.
"Stop!" Laing saw the opportunity and stood up. "What's going on? Please don't use force! "
When Emilia saw Laing appear, she subconsciously slapped the captain's hand away and hid beside him. "Mr. Laing?!"
"You're … that Mr. Laing?" The captain immediately realized who the person in front of him was. He gulped and said, "I didn't mean to. I'm also a victim!"
"Pfft! Who's a victim?" The sound of high heels came from afar. Veronica appeared beside Laing.
"We're all victims!" Who knew that the mercenaries and sailors would say the same thing?
Laing learned the whole story from Emilia and the captain.
It turned out that the day after Laing left, Emperor Karl-franz of the Empire came to Mjolden Haven. After a short rest, the emperor led his army to the frontline and defeated the barbarians.
On the way back, the great alchemist Bayershazer Gelt returned to Mjolden Haven. He asked for a group of mercenaries to do something for him. The mercenaries didn't say much about what it was. In short, the vice-captain was overjoyed. He was worried about how to recover his strength in the future, so he accepted the task without hesitation. He felt that he could establish a connection with the Royal Empire Wizard Academy.
The remaining members of the Blood Axe Mercenaries followed Gelt and boarded the ship from Mjolden Haven to Marlin Castle.
There were no problems during the few days of sailing. However, when they boarded the ship, the great alchemist did something strange. He took out a large amount of gold and handed it to Gelt in front of the captain. This money included the Blood Axe Mercenaries' commission and the ship's fare.
After the ship docked, Gelt left directly. When the Blood Axe Mercenaries opened the bag, they found that all the gold in the bag had turned into lead!
The captain couldn't take it anymore. He insisted that the Blood Axe Mercenaries secretly changed the gold and asked them to pay the ship's fare.
This was the problem. When the Blood Axe Mercenaries received the gold, they had confirmed that it was pure gold. Therefore, when they signed the contract with the great alchemist, they had confirmed that the payment was correct. However, now that all the gold had turned into lead, they had no way to plead.
The problem now was that they couldn't afford to pay the ferry fare. Gater booked the best flight, and the entire mercenary group's ferry fare plus his own was more than 20 gold coins. How could the mercenary group afford to pay so much? Even if they did get some money after completing Teresa's task, it was far from enough to pay the ship's fare.
After hearing this, Laing thought that even if the problem was with Gelt, the Blood Axe Mercenaries had no way to plead. The contract they signed proved that Gelt had paid, so it didn't matter what the great alchemist used to pay. Whether he used straw or gold to complete the transaction, the transaction was completed. Even if the Blood Axe Mercenaries reported this to the emperor, the emperor couldn't help them.
Seeing that Leon had appeared and seemed to know these mercenaries, the captain felt that something was wrong. However, he still braced himself and said, "The famous human hero, Mr. Leon, who single-handedly defeated the barbarian army of thousands of barbarians, would also protect these debtors?"
"No, the dispute between you has nothing to do with me. I just want to remind you to wait for the verdict. Please don't use force, understand?" Laing said calmly as he shielded Emilia behind him.
"Of … of course, I was just a little agitated. I apologize to this mercenary lady." The captain was very happy when he saw that Laing didn't intend to interfere in this matter. In order not to offend this famous human hero, he quickly apologized to Emilia, "I'm sorry, Miss Mercenary."
Emilia calmly accepted the captain's apology. The mercenary bit her lips gently. She was worried about the fate of the Blood Axe Mercenaries.
The Sea God Knight soon appeared. The fully armored Sea God Knight froze for a moment when he saw Laing. Laing immediately said that he was just here to watch the fun. He didn't intend to get involved in this matter.
So the mercenary and the captain were invited to the Sea God Temple for arbitration. Laing saw this and said to Veronica, "Are you interested in going in and listening? Anyway, we will go to the Aesthetical Association in the afternoon. "
"If you must, okay." Veronica just glanced at Emilia who was standing behind Laing, and her eyes flashed with understanding. She reached out and touched the mercenary's little face, "What a beautiful girl! What's your name? "
Emilia's eyes flashed with fear. She knew that her disguise was seen through by the witch in front of her. She quickly hid behind Laing and said, "My name is Emilia, beautiful witch."
"Don't bully the little girl. It's not easy for her to be a mercenary alone." Seeing that Veronica was very interested in her, Laing said helplessly.
"Emilia … is it?" Veronica smiled, but Laing felt that the witch's smile was dangerous.
Seeing Emilia shivering from the cold, Laing took out a blanket made of white wolf skin and put it on the mercenary's shoulder. He motioned her to follow him in to listen to the situation.
It was as if he was really involved in this matter.
In the shadow of the corner of the street, a man watched Laing and the others enter the Sea Temple together. He was confused for a while and finally decided to continue to wait.
The three of them entered the arbitration tribunal. The Sea Knights were very friendly when they saw Laing coming in. A priest even brought him snacks, so they sat in the arbitration tribunal and listened to the situation. Wayde and the captain each had their own opinions in the court, but it was obvious that the Blood Axe mercenaries were at a disadvantage because they were in arrears.
The three of them sat side by side in the wooden gallery next to the arbitration tribunal. A temple priest was listening to the facts of both sides. Emilia sat on the left of Laing, and Veronica sat on the right of Laing. After listening for a while, Garland shook her head and said, "The Blood Axe mercenaries can't win. The evidence is too against them. But we can't blame them. After all, the other party is an unscrupulous great alchemist."
"An unscrupulous great alchemist?" Laing was curious. "What do you mean?"
"In the Royal Academy of Wizards of the Empire, there is a special school of alchemy." Veronica paused for a moment and said with some disdain, "The alchemists of the school of alchemy not only study magic, but also chemistry and physics. The most famous alchemist is the great alchemist Bayershazer Gelt. This great alchemist not only has great attainments in magic, but also has a lot of contributions in gunpowder and engineering. His existence has greatly eased the natural hostility between the Royal Academy of Engineering and the Royal Academy of Wizards of the Empire."
"But there is a situation here. Some alchemists misuse magic to convert gold into consumption, causing the economic market to inflate. This transformed gold will eventually return to its original metal after a certain period of time (depending on its magic power). This kind of fraud, as an economic crime, has seriously slandered the good reputation of the Imperial Royal Academy for many years. The people often protest against this kind of thing. " Veronica's sweet face was full of black lines when she talked about this matter. "So the Royal Academy of Wizards has a rule that alchemists who dare to do this will be punished."
"What kind of punishment?" Laing asked. Laing thought to himself, "Wizards are not governed by the laws of the world, so what kind of punishment can they give?"
"Of course, the wizards will not be exiled or imprisoned, but they will still be publicly punished. That is, they will be whipped by the law enforcement officers in the market for all to see. For a spellcaster, this is already a very heavy punishment." Veronica shrugged. "At least I can't accept it. If I was whipped like this, I would probably hide in your bedroom for years."
"Then why did the great alchemist do this?" Laing was quite confused. Gelt knew what he was doing.
"The great alchemist himself is the biggest unscrupulous alchemist! He likes to use this kind of trick to cheat people, buy information, and bribe the guards. But first of all, the gold he turns into is stable, and the transformation lasts for a long time. It is difficult for the victims to find out on the spot. Then, even if they find out later that it was him who did it, would they dare to go after him? Don't forget, he is the dean of the Empire's Royal Alchemy Academy! An advanced legendary wizard, a mobile magic cannon. Who would want to offend him or even die for this kind of thing? "
"Pfft, you can say that is very unscrupulous." Laing couldn't help but laugh.
"Laing, look carefully at the bounty board in Marlin Castle. You will definitely find a bounty for Gelt, but do you see anyone who dares to take it?" Veronica gently held Laing's arm and whispered, "Sometimes I feel that this is really amazing. You can do whatever you want."
"But I will not allow you to do this." Laing glanced at Gallan, and Veronica nodded gently. This was her promise to the man in front of her. She would not do anything that crossed the line.
"So …" Emilia suddenly spoke. The girl's voice was weak and regretful. "When we were signing the contract, I tried to persuade the vice-leader not to sign it so hastily. But the vice-leader thought that this would make the great wizard unhappy, and he might find someone else to do it."
After saying this, the girl seemed to have made up her mind. She whispered to Laing, "Mr. Laing, please save the Blood Axe mercenary group. I know you have the ability to save us. Please. "
Laing frowned. Out of instinct, he didn't want to agree. He had already been forced by the wandering knight named Ike once. Besides, what could he get by helping this mercenary group?
Mercenary groups like Blood Axe were as common as carps crossing the river in Marlin Castle. With Leon's current status and reputation, it was too easy for him to get a mercenary group to help him. If Blood Axe couldn't prove their worth, he wouldn't help.
Laing was never a good person, and the Blood Axe mercenary group was not a problem for him.
"The result of the arbitration is out." Veronica gestured for this matter to be discussed later.
Sure enough, the priest of the Sea Temple ruled that Blood Axe lost the case. The vice-leader Werther's face was ashen. He stuttered to the priest and said, "I don't have enough money to pay the ferry fare."
"Hmph! You don't have money and you still want to take the ferry?! " Seeing that he had won, the captain's attitude became arrogant again. "I don't care. Please pay the ferry fare immediately. There are so many of you. If you don't have money, you can draw lots and see who will be sold to the slave market."
"You! You bastard! " Werther shouted angrily. "You heartless bastard! Your head is stuffed with money!"
"Silence! Silence! " The priest of the Sea Temple slammed the wooden hammer hard, signaling everyone to be quiet. The Sea Temple Knights in the arbitration court also unsheathed their scimitars. The powerful force made everyone calm down.
"The ferry fare is twenty-five gold denars and sixteen silver coins. I don't want the silver coins. You can pay with gold marks or crowns … Is this okay? Your Excellency? " The captain first reported the ferry fare loudly, then "generously" said that he had already waived the change for the mercenaries. Then he humbly asked for the permission of the priest of the Sea Temple.
Obviously, this was not the first time he had encountered such a situation. The captain was already an old hand.
However, the Blood Axe mercenaries could not raise the money. More than a dozen mercenaries took out their last copper coins, but they only took out less than ten gold denars.
Emilia saw this and took out all her savings since she became a mercenary. Four gold denars were handed to Werther.
It was still not enough. They still needed ten gold denars. Otherwise, the mercenaries would have to take on very dangerous missions with the help of the church, or some of them would be sold as slaves.
So Emilia made a last effort to protect the mercenary group that saved her life. She walked to Laing's side and said softly, "Can you please help me? I will definitely repay your kindness after this. "
Then Emilia whispered something in Laing's ear in Gothic.
Laing's eyes widened.
Amelia could speak High Gothic?!
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