Chapter 143: No Good People, the Results of the Huimao Hu Li's Scouting

Regarding the fact that money could be earned so easily, just by flapping one's upper and lower lips together, the tavern owner was clearly excited. He muttered complaints to himself: "If making money is this easy, why am I even running a tavern, spending all day greeting people with a fake smile? I should have been an intelligence peddler all along!"

He tucked away the easily earned silver coins, looked up at Jier, and whispered: "Young Master Knight, you surely don't know that the 'Zihonghua' inn, which has some fame around here, and the Oakes Brothers behind it, are not as upright as they appear on the surface."

Jier flicked a silver coin with his finger, making it jump slightly to catch the gaze of the person opposite him: "Tell me, in what way are they not upright?"

"Hehe, that 'Zihonghua' inn is not only half a red house, but in private, it's also half an underground black market for things that can't see the light of day. But unlike ordinary black markets built in the wilderness, I've heard that place has fixed connections with some bandit groups in the area. They act as middlemen; whatever goods the bandit groups have, they tell the Oakes Brothers, who then write it on a wooden board to introduce to certain familiar merchants staying the night."

Jier snorted: "How do you know such secret information? No one would voluntarily spread such things, right? After all, if the Thieves Guild in Duoen Town found out, they would definitely destroy that inn."

"Hehe, of course no one talks nonsense under normal circumstances; everyone can keep their own mouths shut. But, it's not the same after they've had too much to drink. You should understand, many people talk too much once they start drinking. With a little bit of flattery, they'll say anything, and the next day they can't even remember what they said."

"Your tavern is quite the place for gathering information, isn't it?" Jier said, unsure if it was a compliment or a jab, but the tavern owner took it as a compliment.

"Anything else?"

"Yes, yes. Those Oakes Brothers are no ordinary people. Most people think they are just wealthy landowners from a nearby village, running a well-managed inn at this crossroads on the trade route. But actually, after piecing together various bits of information I've heard, I've finally learned the true face of those brothers."

Speaking of this, the tavern owner became mysterious.

If it were someone else, they might not see the crux of the matter, but Jier had dealt with such people a few times, so he flicked a silver coin to the other man and took out another one to hold in his hand.

Catching the coin in his palm, the tavern owner immediately gave the answer: "Those brothers are actually the backers of the largest bandit group around Duoen Town. After all, as you just learned, their inn also doubles as half an underground black market. To maintain this business, they need a continuous supply of looted goods. Instead of searching for nearby bandit groups one by one, isn't it more reliable to have their own people go out and loot?"

Jier thought for a moment, then laughed: "So they supply themselves, is that it? According to you, they are the backers of the largest bandit group nearby, so why couldn't the leader of the bandit group be one of these Oakes Brothers?"

"Oh, that's unlikely, because the two brothers show up here almost every day; it's unlikely they could manage anything personally. They have a pile of things to deal with in their village, too. If it weren't for other relatives managing things, the two brothers would have to have one stationed here and one return to the village. But if you've ever interacted with the two brothers, you'd know that's impossible."

"Why is it impossible?"

"Because of the two brothers, the older one is a smart man, but his physique is very average. He can manage people, but it's hard to get his subordinates to respect him. As for the younger brother, he is sturdy and strong, and the thugs at this crossroads basically all acknowledge that his strength is greater than theirs."

Jier understood; one is the brains and one is the brawn. The two brothers together could naturally handle many things, but once separated, each had their own flaws.

But what did any of this have to do with him?

Jier flicked the coin in his hand to the tavern owner opposite him and continued eating his meal.

"Young Master, Young Master? Do you still want to know about the old stubborn one at the 'Wangu Canzhuo'? That person actually has problems too."

Jier almost couldn't keep a straight face: "Oh, according to you, there isn't a single good person in this 'Meiqian Chakou' of yours, they're all a bunch of %%￥, guys who should be sent to the gallows or the executioner's block, right? Don't laugh, that includes you too."

Once Jier said this, the middle-aged bald owner, who had been grinning, immediately stopped smiling. He suddenly remembered that the person opposite him might be a young Knight Lord, and he had many capable Warriors under his command. At this moment, if this young Knight wanted to do something in this small area of the crossroads, no one could stop him.

In other words, his act of exposing his own shortcomings had instead put himself and the other shop owners on the spot.

Slapping his own mouth a few times, the tavern owner felt some regret for blabbering so recklessly for just a few silver coins, hoping he hadn't harmed everyone.

But fortunately, Jier seemed very satisfied with the stewed fish in his tavern and kept eating, thereby ignoring him.

The tavern owner moved away from Jier with careful movements. After walking out the door of the 'Siren Ganzi' inn, he finally let out a sigh of relief. As soon as he looked up and saw the dead man on the pole at the entrance by the light of the inn's fire, he immediately spat a few times in disgust, bypassed the unlucky thing, and trotted back to his own tavern across the trade route.

The tavern owner didn't know that when he walked out of the inn just now, Jier had been watching him from behind the whole time.

And his eyes were full of coldness.

"Take another look."

After finishing his meal, Jier returned to his room, sitting on a small wooden chair with the door half-open, waiting for something.

He held a piece of roasted meat from the dinner plate in his hand, his right foot tapping the wooden floor rhythmically.

Soon, a Huimao Hu Li slipped in through the half-open door, its flexible tail even pulling the wooden door shut as it entered.

Jier placed the plate on the floor for the fox to eat. But the roasted meat didn't seem to be to the creature's liking; it chewed for a while before swallowing.

"Speak, what information did you gather? This is the first time you've worked for me since you surrendered. I hope you didn't disappoint me, so as to prove that accepting your surrender was the right decision."

As Jier spoke, he spun a Magic Dagger in his hand. The Huimao Hu Li, which was sitting obediently on the ground, clearly looked at the dagger in Jier's hand with fear.

Suddenly, the fox spoke.

Its voice was that of a young man, and it was unclear whose voice from the Humans it had eaten it was using: "Lord Jier. After receiving your order, I immediately shrank my body size and quietly slipped into the rooms of the inn's staff and their boss to scout."

Jier nodded; this was the only reason he accepted a Monster into his team—it wasn't because he thought it was cool or that it made him seem unique. The existence of this Shapeshifting Monster was known only to the few confidants who had fought alongside him from the beginning; others, including the Herbalist, did not know.

He hoped this risky decision he made back then would bring him enough return.

"Because of the arrival of your Warriors, they were all busy tidying up rooms, preparing fodder and beans for the horses as requested by the horse handlers, or calculating the team's various expenses at the inn. Therefore, their rooms were empty, but they were all locked."

"Could you get into their rooms?" Jier asked.

"That didn't stump me. The rooms have wooden ventilation slats, so I just squeezed through. There were many swords, axes, and even two sets of pieced-together Leather Armor in the staff's room. There was also quite a bit of money."

Speaking of this, it lowered its head and spat—clatter, clatter—a pile of loose coins larger than its own volume was spat out by the fox. It was unclear how it managed this; perhaps it was a unique ability of the Monster. After all, Jier clearly remembered that when this guy was fighting, it had transformed into a Lizardman form nearly three meters tall.

And now it was just a forty-centimeter-tall Huimao Hu Li; the volume difference was nearly several dozen times.

To say this Monster didn't have some mysterious ability was impossible.

But Jier was still very dissatisfied with this big pile of loose coins, because even though there was a large pile, in terms of value, it might not even be worth as much as the few silver coins he had just tipped the tavern owner.

"You... don't do this kind of thing next time. It's not that you can't, but it's not very meaningful."

Jier explained to this Shapeshifting Monster that had always lived in the Forest. He took out a Gold Coin, pointed at the pile of coins, shook his hand in refusal, then pointed at his Gold Coin and nodded.

It wasn't that it couldn't steal money, but if it was going to take things, it should try to take high-value items.

The Huimao Hu Li nodded in confusion. Its knowledge and experience of Human society were almost entirely derived from the partial memories of the Humans it had eaten, and then from what it had seen and heard while following the caravan during this time.

It knew that Human coins were divided into several types, but as a Shapeshifting Monster from the Forest, it couldn't quite understand the value of each coin. After all, the concept of value was an abstract concept unique to Human society; animals and Monsters in the Forest didn't have thoughts about what was valuable or not.

Their lives were only about survival and reproduction, nothing more.

"Continue, what else did you find?"

Jier gestured for it to continue.

The Huimao Hu Li continued: "Under the staff's room, I found a Secret Chamber. Fortunately, the wooden door for entering and exiting had a wide gap, so I tried to squeeze in."

This was a new skill it had mastered after realizing the essence of its nature as a Shapeshifting Monster. In the past, these Shapeshifting Monsters could only operate within the images of the lives they had devoured—big was big, small was small. But after contacting Jier, it saw for the first time while alive what the essence of its body was—a combination of Shapeshifting flatworms possessing collective consciousness, wisdom, and a soul.

Therefore, after realizing this, even if it hadn't preyed on small animals or snakes, it could control parts of its body—actually, parts of the Shapeshifting flatworms—to pass through particularly small gaps and holes.

When stealing money in the staff's room, it even just extended its gray furry tail through the opening of the money bag's wooden box, swallowing the coins inside into its body through the bag and the box.

"It was a Jianlao, but no one was there; it was empty," the Huimao Hu Li said.

Hearing this, Jier frowned. He didn't feel relieved because the secret Jianlao was empty; instead, he took a deep breath and slowly let it out.

Huimao Hu Li seemed to have sensed something; it lowered its head, not daring to look Jier in the eye, as if as long as it didn't look at Jier, Jier wouldn't be able to see it.

"Continue telling me about your findings."

"There was only so much from the Shop Assistant at the inn, but there were also gains from the innkeeper."

Speaking of this, Huimao Hu Li retched again, and beside a pile of worthless money, it spat out a small pile of money mixed with Gold Coins, and even one or two ornate Daggers inlaid with scattered Gems that only a Merchant would have.

However, the Daggers seemed a bit old; clearly, this matched the information Jier had previously received, as these two Daggers were likely old items the innkeeper had obtained from a looted Merchant back when he was a Bandit Leader.

"Anything else?"

Huimao Hu Li then retched again, spitting out several hand-copied books from its mouth. Jier ignored the stickiness on them and picked them up to inspect them. One was the diary of the inn's original owner, which began by recording some daily business operations, but later recorded events where his young relative brought people over to forcibly seize the inn.

Violent beatings, verbal threats, setting up gambling dens to make the original innkeeper owe money, forcibly signing transfer documents, and so on—after a series of traditional seizure methods, this innkeeper was driven away. The diary ended on the day before the other party was driven away, and the content was full of Curses and insults directed at this relative.

"Hmph, the same old routine, nothing new." Jier put down the old diary and picked up the other hand-copied book.

The handwriting on this one was much messier; clearly, the original owner of this inn had received systematic training in reading and writing, but the current innkeeper, while he could write the common Human language, not only wrote messily but also had spelling errors and omissions throughout his vocabulary.

After barely reading a few lines, Jier felt miserable; it was practically like being subjected to cognitive torture, and he would rather get into a fight with someone and be beaten up than continue flipping through this hand-copied book.

Inside, it basically recorded in a messy fashion some things worth noting that this former Bandit Leader had encountered after managing the inn.

To tell the truth, it was boring enough.

It was nothing more than extorting some small group of travelers, and not many days later, the other party took revenge on him, actually going so far as to hire a manure cart from Dorn Town and pouring it at the entrance of his inn early in the morning. Following that was him chasing them down in a rage and eventually killing both people who did the deed in the nearby wilderness.

Besides that, it was him privately contacting several Bandit Groups nearby, but the whole process was very unsmooth. Because he used to operate in Ke'er Shan Jun, the Bandit Groups here in Cuikuang were clearly very exclusionary toward him as an outsider.

Jier saw an entire page of this guy's cursing, which made him laugh out loud.

In this Bandit trade, there is also such a thing as xenophobia and regional discrimination.

If viewed this way, combined with the situation the several Senior Stewards in Dorn Town told him about, the situation around Dorn Town is not that bad. After all, the local Bandit Groups in Cuikuang clearly would not unite and act with Bandit Groups coming from outside.

Unless the profit is huge, but excessive profit also represents the difficulty of distributing the spoils after a successful raid. It is very easy for "dog-eat-dog" conflicts to break out between Bandit Groups.

So the question arises: was the joint Bandit Group that attacked the Wealth Fruit Merchant Guild Caravan a few days ago a local Bandit Group that heard the news and united to pull off a job, or was it something done by outside Bandit Groups uniting together?

Considering the actual situation, and that the Wealth Fruit Merchant Guild is a large Merchant Guild of the local Merchant Union, the local Bandits know their limits and are unlikely to provoke such a behemoth that has the Thieves Guild backing it.

Otherwise, how do you think Dorn Town was established?

Then, in all likelihood, it was outside Bandit Groups that temporarily united to attack the Wealth Fruit Merchant Guild's convoy. Along with that, Steward Deripari's investment suffered heavy losses, and more importantly, the money Steward Deripari invested was the misappropriated bounty money from Jier killing the Mountain Wolf Bani.

This whole chain of events led to Jier's reputation in Dorn Town being labeled as someone who cannot judge character.

Jier was very unhappy.

Although the Merchant Union eventually helped Steward Deripari out and made up the money Jier was owed through various methods, he was still very unhappy.

When he is unhappy, someone is going to be unlucky.

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