Chapter 114: Returning to Duoen Town, the Cautious Soldiers

A few days later, the caravan quickly traversed the distance that would have taken the Refugee Team a long time to cover.

The various trade routes, which were originally sparsely populated, gradually became inhabited; by the roadside, bold Merchants had built inns—places with small houses but large courtyards, providing temporary lodging for traveling Merchants.

Jier's team naturally stayed in these places, but these inns, which originally hired Warriors to guard against guests and then carefully conducted business, were all trembling with fear when facing Jier's caravan.

There was no helping it; Jier's team was truly too intimidating. With several dozen armored Warriors, if Jier hadn't refrained from flying the banner of some Noble or Knight, these inns would have all assumed Jier's team was yet another army heading to the Province Capital to participate in the conscription.

Needless to say, every inn encountered on the road these past few days had to happily satisfy the various supply requests of Jier's caravan.

Barrel-packed Bread, cured salted meat, pickled vegetables, fine rations for the horses, and so on, were all prepared for Jier's caravan.

Of course, the prices were also much higher than usual, but even so, the owners of these inns dared not offend Jier and provided him with various supplies at the current cost price.

By now, several days later, Jier and his caravan could already see Duoen Town, with its dense flow of Caravans, through the continuous fields and the figures of those debtors working hard in the fields.

He had the caravan slow down and came to the side of the ox cart where the old Dwarf was, took out a map, and said to the old Dwarf: "Look, ahead is the Duoen Town I told you about. This is a place where commercial trade is very prosperous, and it is managed by several Merchant Guilds. They are all well-informed Merchants. I think they must have various news regarding the Dwarves living within the Saint Hors Kingdom."

Upon hearing this, the old Dwarf stood up on the carriage and shielded his eyes with his hand to gaze at the small town in the distance.

Although they had not yet approached it, the large swaths of fields on the outskirts of the town and the various cash crops planted on them did make the old Dwarf reveal a glimmer of expectation.

"I hope it goes as smoothly as you say."

Subsequently, the old Dwarf asked about the history of this town, which was located at a key transportation hub. Jier, having heard a few words from the previous Merchant Guild leaders, knew: "Not long. In just a few decades, it has changed from a place with nothing into the prosperous small town it is today. Moreover, this place has no city walls; protection relies entirely on the Merchant Guilds themselves, their hired armed forces, and some Thieves Guilds in the shadows to maintain."

The old Dwarf's attention was not on the latter part of Jier's words; he muttered to himself in a low voice: "What a pity. It was only established such a short time ago. If 'Warboots' had walked here back then, it would have been good."

His words were full of regret. Decades ago, he had sent the Mine Defense Captain of the Zhenbao Mine out to search and listen for information, but the most capable Dwarf in the mine never returned, most likely having died on the road.

One must know that the then-Mine Defense Captain held the important position of Mine Defense Captain officially granted by the Dwarf Kingdom and was very formidable. That even such a Dwarf Warrior could not escape back alive was a huge blow to the other Dwarf Miners who wanted to return to their homeland at that time.

Now, decades later, the miners of the Zhenbao Mine led by the old Dwarf had once again set foot on the road to find their way home. Although it was not exactly hacking through thorns and thistles, it could be said to have been plain sailing; they hadn't even experienced a single battle in the ten-plus days they had been out, and they had already arrived at this place established by Merchants, where information was well-circulated.

The old Dwarf felt, was it a misstep to have sent only Warboots out alone back then?

They should have sent more people out at once, so that there would be mutual support on the road. When some unclear situations arose, they would be easier to handle.

After all, many times, it is not the case that the stronger the combat power, the better things can be handled.

This time, by attaching themselves to Jier's caravan, they enjoyed many conveniences. For example, when they were in Yemei Town, they stayed behind in Yemei Town, not having to face the dangerous parasitic Monsters and the battle between the unfathomable Hunting God Church and the Alien Evil God.

Without Jier's connection and care, they would not have been able to enter Human towns and would have inevitably had to fight against an unknown number of parasitic Monsters in the wild, fighting and moving all the way, which would have been very difficult.

Not to mention that if such a team of pure Dwarves had appeared outside the Great Hunt plan of the Hunting God Church and had been secretly hit by a Magic Arrow from the Church, it would have been disastrous! At that time, there would inevitably have been heavy casualties, and they wouldn't even know who had dealt the blow.

After hearing from Jier about the New Clear Spring Village Villagers and the Bandits having their right knee joints shot through, the old Dwarf did not doubt that the Hunters of the Hunting God Church would do such a thing.

If it were him, he would do the same.

Not to mention that all the way here, the caravan relied on Jier's caravan and reputation to enjoy the facilities and supplies of the inns along the trade route. Although many people inside those inns changed their expressions when they saw that there were many Dwarves mixed into Jier's caravan, they still honestly provided supplies for the entire caravan.

The old Dwarf had privately asked Jier how the owners and Shop Assistants in those Human inns viewed the existence of a group of Dwarves like them.

Jier just went over and asked the inn people directly; unexpectedly, the inn people also answered him honestly.

"Young Knight, these people must be the alien Dwarf mercenaries you hired, right! Look at the thick Armor they are wearing, it's truly amazing! Look at their thick arms, gods above, the Western Province being able to fight the Dwarves for years is truly remarkable."

The inns along the way all regarded the Dwarves in the caravan as Dwarf mercenaries hired by Jier, the young Knight.

This answer was very much in line with everyone's imagination of the caravan's situation, and to a certain extent, these people even guessed correctly.

After all, it is a common thing for two Human Kingdoms to go to war and hire some alien mercenaries. Not to mention the Mao Maos that crawled out of the carriage boxes when the caravan stayed overnight; these upright cats that could speak human language were even more in line with the imagination of Jier spending money to hire aliens to do things.

Before Jier's caravan had even approached Duoen Town, more than a dozen mounted Soldiers ran over quickly.

At first, they were very vigilant. After all, it was normal for a caravan to approach Duoen Town, but the news that had reached the town in advance told them that this caravan did not look like a merchant caravan, but a combat team with a very high proportion of professional armed personnel.

This could not help but make the Merchant Guilds in the town and the Soldiers under them raise their vigilance.

If such a team of unknown size, but very likely close to one hundred people, launched an attack on Duoen Town, then this place with prosperous commercial trade would be ruined.

However, when the few leading Soldiers approached, they didn't recognize anything else (including Jier and most of the Warriors, whose equipment had changed greatly.), but the Horse Armor on the warhorse Jier was riding was recognized by the Soldiers who had been deeply impressed by Jier.

"The style of this Horse Armor? Could it be?"

"Seems to be Knight Jier who led a large group of Refugees past us a while ago?"

"Hey!!! The person in front, may I ask if you are Knight Jier?"

Jier took off his Helmet, revealing his face, which had been tanned quite a bit recently. He shielded his eyes with his hand and looked against the sun, carefully identifying the Soldiers who were slowing their horses and approaching cautiously, and found that a few of them were indeed familiar.

He couldn't name these town Soldiers, with whom he had basically not said a word or two, but these people were deeply impressed by the young Jier; after all, not every young Knight dared to move hundreds of Refugees over a long distance during this chaotic period.

They had bet at the time that Jier's Refugee Team would fall apart before reaching Sasi County, and it was possible that those Refugees wouldn't even have half the people return to Duoen Town along the original route.

And now, it was clear that most of them had lost this bet.

"Oh, it's me, it's me, Qiao-Jier. You still remember me? Is it the brave Knight who led hundreds of Refugees past you?" Jier asked back happily.

The leading Soldier coughed lightly, but a quick-mouthed guy next to him had already blurted out the real reason: "Oh, no, my lord, we recognized you because of the horse Armor you are riding, which is a famous horse equipment product developed by our Duoen Town."

Jier was stunned and took a look at Tianxuecao he was riding, only then realizing that his equipment had changed a lot, especially the most conspicuous Armor, which had changed from the Full-body Metal Armor he wore when passing by here to a scale-style Armor with Hard Cowhide Armor as the base and covered with Metal Armor Plates.

At the same time, to block the summer sun, he also wore a dark Cloak made of dense Linen Cloth over his Armor.

His signature Sword was covered, so naturally, the only thing on his whole body that hadn't changed was this set of horse Armor on Tianxuecao.

He shook his head and went up to meet them.

After getting closer, the Soldiers recognized Jier's face to his face. Although his skin was a bit tanned, there was no helping it; let alone Jier, even these Soldiers who needed to patrol all day had been tanned a lot these days if they hadn't made preparations for sun protection.

However, I don't know if it was an illusion, but seeing Jier again after dozens of days, they couldn't immediately detect that kind of cold feeling that made people feel uncomfortable from Jier. However, since they all lived by force, they could all faintly feel a more intense sense of oppression from Jier.

It was not the kind of killing intent that would lead to being killed if a disagreement occurred, but a feeling of faintly facing a high mountain.

It was as if human power could not shake a great mountain.

This was not a feeling that could be clearly detected upon first meeting, but the town Soldiers, who were sharp-minded and had seen many different kinds of people, could all keenly and carefully detect this point.

"Knight Jier, you must have experienced a lot these days, right? Everyone feels that you have become much stronger."

The Soldiers said one after another, and Jier chuckled: "You guys are quite sharp."

However, although they knew that it was the caravan of Jier, an honored guest of the town's Merchant Guild, that was approaching, the Soldiers of Duoen Town still had to confirm and check Jier's caravan.

"Knight Jier, is your caravan passing through here this time, or are you coming here specifically?"

While jumping off his horse to check the supplies of the caravan, the leading Soldier asked Jier.

Jier rode on his horse, looking at the vast farmland on the outskirts of Duoen Town, and answered casually: "Since I am passing through here, catching up with our Kendall County army that went ahead is also a specific reason for this trip."

The guards were a bit confused, so Jier pointed directly at the Defeated Soldiers crowded onto one of the carriages and said: "Do you see those people?"

The guards naturally noticed these guys with the strange atmosphere immediately. Not only that, they had also received intelligence passed back along the Shanglu earlier, knowing that there was a group of Dwarf mercenaries in Jier's Caravan whose origin was unknown, as well as a group of long-haired Lynx Beastmen who had once appeared in Duoen Town.

So these missing non-humans hadn't run back to their tribes in the mountains, but had followed Jier's Refugee Team!

The Defeated Soldiers pointed at by Jier did not look very spirited, which was very different from the calm and composed appearance of the other Warriors under Jier.

They were very uneasy, wearing thin clothing, and had nothing in their hands; they were not even equipped with a Dagger for self-defense. This was clearly not normal.

Yet these people did not look like Refugees that Jier had grabbed at random on the road, or Bandits he had defeated. After all, these people were all robust, and although the atmosphere was strange, when they looked at the guards, their eyes were mostly appraising rather than fearful or provocative.

The common people would be in awe of them, the Town Guards who held force and power, while Bandits would basically look at them provocatively and subconsciously make comparisons.

"My lord, what are these people doing?"

The guards asked.

Jier also answered them directly: "These people are soldiers from armies that were defeated last year. Hmph! Instead of thinking about returning to their hometowns or rejoining the army, they actually attacked innocent villages and people after getting lost on the battlefield. After I defeated them, the guys who were willing to surrender are all here. As for the others, hmph."

The Defeated Soldiers, whose behavior was pointed out by Jier in this way, lowered their heads. Some felt ashamed, while more did not dare to make eye contact with Jier, who had defeated them.

The guards did not expect these people to have such an origin. Afterwards, they realized what Jier was bringing these people here for, so they laughed one after another: "It seems that our Duoen Town has left a deep impression on Knight Jier! The Stewards will surely be happy when they hear this."

After a cursory inspection of Jier's Caravan, confirming that Jier's Caravan was not here to sell or transport commercial goods, there was naturally no need to find a Tax Officer to collect the various taxes levied on the logistics and circulation of goods transported to Duoen Town for sale or transshipment and storage.

Of course, even if Jier had brought many commercial goods, it is estimated that there was no Tax Officer in the town with enough nerve to risk offending the several Merchant Guilds in the town to come and collect taxes from Knight Jier.

The matter of the army being tax-exempt is much the same from ancient times to the present, and from south to north.

After all, there is only the saying that the strong collect taxes from the weak; there is never a case where the weak collect taxes from the strong.

After all, if the latter really doesn't pay, what can you do? Force it? Don't you want your life?

Under the guidance of the Duoen Town guards, Jier's Caravan quickly approached the town along the road.

Compared with passing through here before, there seemed to be many more Caravans coming and going in Duoen Town, and a lot of people seemed to be gathered on one side of the town, busy with some project under a unified organization.

"Over there, what are they doing over there?"

Jier asked the mounted guard following beside him.

A guard in the front row stepped on his Stirrup and stood up to take a look: "Oh, they are digging a Trench to divert water over there. This weather, from spring until now, not a single drop of rain has fallen. My lord, have you encountered any rain along the way?"

The guards all looked over curiously. They knew from the large number of Merchants passing by that the climate in the Southern Province seemed extremely strange this year. Montoka City in the west had already had seven or eight rains, yet here in Duoen Town, separated by only a narrow north-south mountain range, there hadn't been a single rain.

"It's about the same on my side. Is the well water in town enough for everyone to drink?" Jier asked.

"Of course it's enough. The well water for everyone to drink is certainly sufficient, but several Merchant Guilds have Fruit Trees that have been cultivated for several years and need a lot of water. It won't do without rain. Before, we always relied on carriages to pull water buckets to the river near the town to fetch water. Recently, we finally decided to divert a water channel from the river specifically to irrigate the crops around the town that consume a lot of water."

Jier nodded. To say nothing else, the execution power of the Merchant Guilds in Duoen Town was indeed very high.

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