Chapter 121: Wooden Carvings for Training, the Shocked Young Master Lipuerde

If you have no money but possess martial strength, you can survive, though you will have to endure some hardships.

If you have money but no martial strength, you absolutely cannot survive; you won't even have the chance to endure hardships.

The old Dwarf naturally understood this basic principle, so throughout the journey, even though the forty-plus Dwarves each had their own set of armor, no one thought of trading these armors for money.

It was only in a place like Dorn Town, where commercial trade is well-developed, that the old Dwarf planned to take out a spare set of armor to test the waters, evaluate the price of a set of armor, and estimate roughly how much everyone's armor could sell for.

If the time ever came when they truly needed to raise funds, this was a way, even if it wasn't the best one.

Jier wandered around the stalls and felt there was no problem; every Dwarf with special skills had brought out things they were good at. A Dwarf with animal-taming abilities even brought out the few fierce dogs he had been retraining on the road these past few days, preparing to sell them at a low price.

This Dwarf was truly very capable; he had merely picked up a few puppies in Yemei Town that others didn't want, yet in just a few days, he had trained them to look quite impressive, making them stand when told, shake hands when told, and they seemed highly obedient.

And the stall next to him belonged to that Dwarf friend who liked wood carving; he had carved some wooden carvings during his spare time these past few days and was now bringing them out for sale. Interestingly, the wooden statues he had carved these days were all humans he had seen, such as Jier's subordinate Warriors, the Town Guards patrolling the streets of Yemei Town, and the shop assistants he had encountered while staying at Caimen Inn.

The group's wooden carvings were not the kind of serious, static works, but rather vividly depicted the Warriors' arduous training, the worried and restless Town Guards, and the hardworking shop assistants.

Not to mention others, even Jier found them hard to put down after seeing them, praising the Dwarf's work again and again as having reached a master's level.

"It's already very impressive. I think if you could imbue these wooden carvings with more emotion, it would definitely be master-level technique!" Jier particularly liked the few wooden carvings of his subordinate Warriors training hard, because not only were these carvings finely detailed, but they also gave him some inspiration, feeling that guiding his subordinates' training every day was very troublesome; if he could have a set of wooden carvings of human Warriors with complete action sequences, he could let the Warriors correct their own wrong movements by observing these carvings!

Therefore, he told this plan to the Dwarf friend who liked wood carving. The Dwarf scratched his head: "I can do it, but I don't understand your human combat situations. To carve wooden carvings, I have to learn and understand what they are doing, but this matter..."

It was normal for a Dwarf to have concerns; after all, the conservative protection of technical skills existed everywhere. To carve the wooden carvings, he would naturally have to let this Dwarf systematically learn the Warriors' fighting methods.

Jier felt it was nothing; anyway, whenever everyone went out and spent the night by the roadside, they gathered together to rest, and before resting, the Warriors would perform their daily martial arts training in front of everyone. If one wanted to steal the techniques, they would have already learned them during this process.

Moreover, Jier felt that what he taught wasn't anything remarkable; anyone could learn some basic martial arts skills from town guards everywhere just by spending a little money. You wouldn't even need money; if you joined some local troops, they would teach these skills and techniques.

Compared to the systematic militia training in Kendall County—teaching the militia the use of bows and crossbows, long spears, shields, formation training, formation movement, and rapid dispersal and assembly—the things Jier taught his subordinate Warriors were quite ordinary.

There was a difference between the two; what Jier taught were close-combat Warriors, while what Kendall County taught were soldiers for large-scale warfare.

The former could be found everywhere, while the latter appeared more important.

"It's fine, the skills I teach don't amount to much. You just learn them, and then according to the points I give you, how about making a whole set of wooden carvings to accompany the martial arts training? When it's done, one Gold Coin per wooden carving!"

This price was not low. After all, teaching aids are not art pieces; they don't require such creativity and artistry, nor do they need to be vivid, so they should be very fast to produce.

The Dwarf looked at the old Dwarf standing to the side, and the old Dwarf nodded affirmatively, so this fellow agreed.

Nightfall soon arrived, the inn's backyard was opened, and some of the public who had been waiting outside the inn curiously walked toward the bright backyard. They looked in surprise at the large group of Dwarves who were only 1.3 meters tall; some people couldn't help but laugh out loud, but they were immediately met with the serious gaze of the Dwarves, so the people who had laughed put away their smiles and walked over.

As for the merchants with some status in town, they had long been waiting in the lobby of the Jinbi Dingdang inn. Many of them even had a meal in the inn's restaurant, eating while watching the Dwarves set up the sale in the backyard.

"See that person? The one surrounded by Dwarves talking, I heard he is a young Knight from the Northwest Province."

"Of course I know. When this Knight Jier came last time, I even spoke to him at a banquet. At that time, everyone was betting on how many people he could save by kindly leading those Refugees to seek survival? As a result, I heard from the young Warriors in the inn that the vast majority of them actually survived."

"However, although this young Knight has good skills and his organizational and management abilities are not bad, when it comes to the ability to judge people, one can only say it is average. Haha."

"Who's to say otherwise? Heh, 'Skinny Aolier', if that greedy guy hadn't had good luck, could he have become a Senior Steward of the Merchant Union? He doesn't have that ability, you know. What kind of state did he manage the Wealth Fruit Merchant Guild's trade caravan into? That previous attack, I'm sure someone inside the caravan leaked the information to the Bandits."

"Definitely. Otherwise, according to those who escaped back, how could they have encountered a team formed by multiple Bandit groups? After all, the caravan was large, had many vehicles, many guards, and the speed wasn't slow. If they hadn't received the news in advance, how could those Bandits who relied on walking on foot catch up to the carriage caravan?"

At this time, the two middle-aged merchants who were talking by the window heard a cough from the side. They immediately looked over and found it was Young Master Lipuerde Autosfiten of the Treasure House Merchant Guild.

Although this Senior Steward of the Merchant Guild, who had always been in poor health, was only in his twenties and much younger than the two middle-aged merchants discussing the news, the gap in status and position still made the two middle-aged merchants stand up and apologize with a bow.

"Talking about people behind their backs is not an appropriate thing to do, especially when there is no final conclusion to the matter." Young Master Lipuerde, wearing attire that looked simple but was actually secretly very gorgeous, spoke up to admonish them, defending Mr. Deripari, who was in the same circle as him.

But that was all; in fact, the real situation was far more serious than what the two merchants had heard.

Although it was only a Merchant Union and not a true single Merchant Guild, the transmission of news between these large Merchant Guilds was still very frequent. Not to mention the social circles of these Senior Stewards, just the middle and lower circles of the Merchant Guilds—those middle-level Stewards and lower-level shop assistants eating and drinking together—would tacitly reveal the news within their own Merchant Guilds to each other.

After all, the intelligence and news belonged to the Merchant Guild, but the benefits at hand were their own; news that wasn't explicitly stated to be confidential was just spoken out openly.

According to what Young Master Lipuerde heard, in reality, when that trade caravan was being prepared, the news had already been leaked to the Bandits who were vaguely surrounding the place outside the town. Because that caravan used the supplies purchased with the more than five hundred Gold Coins that 'Skinny Aolier' had embezzled from Knight Jier, it made this caravan fatter and more profitable than other caravans, and for the Bandits, the gains after looting were naturally higher.

Where exactly inside the leak occurred, Steward Deripari was still investigating, but there was already a certain scope.

This time, Young Master Lipuerde came in person, naturally out of past friendship, to help Steward Deripari, so as not to truly anger Knight Jier and let this young Knight, who was said to have dozens of armored Warriors under his command and the support of dozens of alien Dwarf Warriors, cause a scene in Dorn Town.

If the town were to be thrown into chaos and it was difficult to subdue Knight Jier and his subordinates, then the public security maintained in the town would be in trouble.

Although in the future they could report Jier's behavior to the Southern Province Noble Council, the Southern Province was currently at war. By the time the war affairs were handled and it was the turn of the complaint issued by the merchants to be processed, Knight Jier would either have already died in the war or would have long since returned to his hometown.

As a young Knight Lord from the Northwest Province, what could the Southern Province Noble Council or the Merchant Union do to him? It was estimated that in the end, they could only punish Knight Jier secretly through the Thieves Guild.

But such revenge would come too late, far too late.

After sitting for a while, Young Master Lipuerde, who was physically weak, didn't eat much. He was physically weak and couldn't eat the food made by the kitchens in these small places, so he only drank half a glass of good wine that his attendant had specially selected from the inn's wine cellar.

"Isn't this our Young Master Lipuerde? You arrived really fast." Nobi Norris, the Vice President of the Burning Furnace Merchant Guild, walked into the inn lobby with their Merchant Guild's Senior Steward Stuoer-Sikete, saw the young man sitting by the window with a melancholic look at a glance, and walked up to greet him.

Although this Vice President was not tall and was a bit round and kind-looking, in fact, everyone who knew him knew that this person was a formidable fellow.

The Burning Furnace Merchant Guild could become so large, and this person's daring to think and act was the main driving force supporting the Merchant Guild.

Because of his status, Lipuerde did not stand up to salute, but just waved his hand to let his attendant add two chairs to the table and poured a glass of Wine for the two.

When the Vice President was present, Senior Steward Stuoer-Sikete would not talk so much, although he was far more familiar with Young Master Lipuerde than the Vice President was.

"It's all just for that fellow Deripari. As for the Dwarf goods sale, I will only walk around to satisfy my curiosity." Young Master Lipuerde picked up his wine glass, only touched his lips with the wine, and did not drink much of the Wine he felt was of average quality.

He usually drank Wine produced in the royal territory of the Eastern Province; because of his family's connections, he had grown up drinking that stuff.

"We are the same. There are so many things now, the Merchant Guild's orders are too many to handle, and we still have to take time to deal with the things that guy caused. It's really troublesome. After that fellow Deripari comes later, he must be made to apologize properly to this young Knight."

However, the Vice President of the Burning Furnace Merchant Guild changed the subject and talked about other content: "But have you heard? Something big happened in Sasi County in the southeast! A kind of terrifying vine Monster that can burrow into the human body to parasitize and control humans was spreading in Sasi County before."

"I have never heard this news about Sasi County. But parasitic vines? You are talking about the 'Flesh Demon', right? Books say it was an evil creation made by a god of an alien Kingdom many years ago to deal with humans because he was hostile to humans after the Kingdom and the ethnic group perished. That alien god also turned into an Evil God existence."

Young Master Lipuerde from the Central Province was very clear about these things that ordinary people didn't know, and just from the one term 'Parasitic Vine Monster', he gave an accurate explanation.

"Yes, it is exactly what you said. This thing was spreading in Sasi County before, and I heard that quite a few people died." The Vice President shook his head and said with a look of regret.

"Before? So now Sasi County has already dealt with this 'Flesh Demon'? Hmm, it must have been some Knight Order that got the news and rushed over to deal with it, right? Judging from the location of Sasi County, was it handled by the Imperial Border Knights?"

The two people from the Burning Furnace Merchant Guild looked at each other and laughed: "No, no, no, it wasn't solved by any Knight Order flying in the sky. It was that person, uniting with the local forces of Yemei Town and the team from the Hunting God Church, who dealt with the parasitic Monster in Sasi County."

"And not only that, I heard from that fellow Bantuolisa that the Evil God behind that so-called 'Flesh Demon' was actually dealt with by the Hunting God Church. Tsk tsk, God Fall..."

Young Master Lipuerde looked at the young Knight in the backyard being pestered by the Dwarves in disbelief. Just at this time, Jier also felt the intense gaze, looked over, and waved his hand.

He was not familiar with the Vice President of the Burning Furnace Merchant Guild or Young Master Lipuerde; on the contrary, Steward Stuoer-Sikete, who was not very talkative on the side, was very familiar with Jier.

This wave was naturally directed at this friend of Jier's.

Young Master Lipuerde, however, thought Jier was waving at him, so he immediately stood up and, swaying his body, waved vigorously at Jier.

This scene actually left everyone in the inn's restaurant who knew Young Master Lipuerde bewildered; this young master had a mysterious background and possessed considerable power and influence, clearly hailing from a great family, and although no one knew why he served as the Senior Steward of the Treasure House Merchant Guild in Duoen Town, it was evident that this position was merely a temporary post for him, not his true future role.

Yet, a position that ordinary people would have to exhaust all their efforts to climb to was nothing more than an ordinary job he could take on at will.

One must know that the Treasure House Merchant Guild had a deep relationship with the Baron family of Cuikuang County, to which Duoen Town belonged; previously, even when the Baron himself visited Duoen Town, he was quite polite, even appearing somewhat humble, toward this young man, Young Master Lipuerde, who was over twenty years his junior.

"Norris, is your information accurate? Did an Evil God really fall in Sasi County?" Because he was somewhat anxious, Young Master Lipuerde addressed the Vice President directly by his surname.

Although somewhat displeased, the Vice President of the Burning Furnace Merchant Guild answered honestly: "I heard it all from that old fellow Bantuolisa. And that old fellow heard it from Knight Jier. I cannot verify the truth of the matter, but for something that sounds like a major event, it wouldn't be troublesome to seek verification from the church, right?"

Young Master Lipuerde thought this made sense, so he immediately had his attendant go find the most authoritative priest of the Church of the God of Wealth in town to verify this news.

"I hope it's true, but the Hunting God Church? Do they actually have such formidable strength? This doesn't match my impression of them," Young Master Lipuerde muttered to himself.

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