Chapter 187: Midnight Evacuation, the Left-Behind Bawei, and the Undeliverable Fortune

Thus, Jier woke everyone up in the middle of the night to prepare for departure.

Even the several Caravans following them were no exception; he did not offer much explanation, saying that those Caravans willing to follow could set off with him right then, and those who were not, could part ways here!

Among the five Caravans, one indicated they could not leave on such short notice, as they had some important business that needed to be handled within Suishi Cheng after daybreak. Jier looked and saw it was the Caravan Steward who had secretly redeemed Xiao Aokesi; since he had already taken the man's money, Jier did not make things difficult for the other party and allowed them to stay behind.

Consequently, the area outside the quiet West Gate of Suishi Cheng became bustling in the middle of the night.

The inn's Shop Assistant was woken up, and with extra payment, they were made to take out and sell various supplies needed by the team; once the payment was settled, the entire team headed south quickly.

As they set off, Jier called over the Axe Warrior Bawei, his subordinate who had been wanting to say something: "The situation tonight has had some changes."

"I saw, my lord. We are leaving as soon as possible, right? Although no one asked, what happened, my lord?" Bawei had a look of regret on his face. He had originally intended to find someone in Suishi Cheng, where mining was well-developed, to forge his Magic Material Axe. He had fought hard along the way and had prepared all sorts of materials and borrowed forging funds, but with this sudden turn of events, he felt very regretful.

"I offended the upper echelons of the local Baron family. I won't go into the specific details, but in short, I have an opportunity here now, a very risky opportunity." Jier shook his finger.

"Before offending the local Noble upper echelons, the other party had introduced and permitted a local master Craftsman to me. This is an opportunity I specifically fought for on your behalf. After all, not everyone's skill and ability can compare to a Craftsman who can be titled a master."

Jier spread his hands: "But you have also seen that, because of this and that situation, I and old 'Iron Fist' and the others offended the local Noble family. It is hard to say whether they will do something to our team, so for safety, everyone must evacuate Suishi Cheng as quickly as possible in the middle of the night."

"Then why are you telling me this..." Bawei felt some regret, but was still puzzled about the point of Jier telling him this. After all, if the group really had to run, Jier could have just acted as if none of this had happened; if Jier didn't say anything, Bawei wouldn't have known.

Jier narrowed his eyes: "So, do you want to take a risk? Gamble that the other party won't vent their anger on you, and won't stop you from finding that master Craftsman to forge your weapon? After all, at today's banquet, matters with the master Craftsman were already arranged; you can just go find them directly. You won't even need to pay excessive forging fees, which can save a large sum of money. It is just quite risky; if the other party really vents their anger on you, you will likely be locked up for a long time, until I come to find you in the future."

Upon hearing Jier's words, Bawei fell silent.

All around, people were busy packing up supplies and wagons. Because Jier's side had seized many Caravan horses from the Bandit Leader, after simply having the inn's Shop Assistant handle the horses in the evening, these horses could now carry people and move, though there hadn't been enough time to shoe them, which would have to be done later by finding a specialized blacksmith to fit the horseshoes.

As for the Dwarves, they had also newly acquired seven sturdy and useful cargo wagons with complete sets of horses; they only needed to assign seven Dwarves to drive them, and all the Dwarves could move by riding in the wagons.

Because the number of horses and wagons in the convoy had increased, the corresponding supply reserves also had to be increased additionally, such as tools and materials for temporary wagon repairs, the large amount of fresh water and buckets needed for the horses to move daily, and the hay and Bean they ate, all of which had to be paid for and re-provisioned.

Fortunately, Jier had given Xueya Site a large sum of money, letting this partner use double the price to bribe the inn and the inn's Shop Assistant, which was the only reason they helped Jier and his convoy prepare in the middle of the night.

"How about it?" Jier urged.

Bawei clenched his palm, seemingly having made up his mind. He looked up at Jier: "My lord, I want to try. But I won't go to that master Craftsman immediately. I will observe the situation for a few days first and make inquiries. If the situation is fine, then I will go find the master Craftsman to forge the weapon. If the situation is not very good, I will ride a horse to catch up with everyone."

"Good, that is how it should be. I will leave you a horse. If things don't work out, head east along the main road to catch up with us. If you can forge it, then be careful and secretly find that master Craftsman to have your new weapon forged. It is estimated that things won't be fast; after that, head east all the way to the Southern Province Capital—Jun'gu Bao, and find me. Remember, just look for the Kendall Army from the Northwest Province. I think there aren't many similar armies coming from the Northwest Province to provide support."

Jier added at the end: "But if, and I mean if your weapon is forged and you catch up only to find that the allied forces have already departed, then don't chase the army south. Go back, go back to Sasi County's Xinxiwang to find Bata'er Jiaoshi. Go over and help our good Priest. I will also go there in the future. If I don't come, other Warriors in the team who want to visit their families will also return occasionally; when that time comes, you can find me by following them."

Bawei repeated Jier's words carefully twice, and after confirming he had memorized them, he packed his luggage and did not set off with the group, but instead bid farewell to everyone and found another inn outside the West Gate to stay in.

When Jier's convoy left in a messy rush in the middle of the night, on the west gate tower of Suishi Cheng, Bogete Boshitafa, holding a Telescope, let out a breath and muttered to himself: "Quite cautious. Although I spoke the wrong words, is our Boshitafa Family really that petty? They underestimate our magnanimity too much, don't they? It seems Kasi will have made a wasted trip in the morning."

Beside Mr. Bogete were several Squad Leaders of the city guards. Seeing Mr. Bogete muttering to himself, they leaned in and said obsequiously: "Noble lord, did that Caravan offend you? Do you want us to go out and intercept them?"

"Intercept? With the twenty or thirty people you have, who don't even have enough men to guard the city gate? Forget it. Use this Telescope of mine to look at the strength of those people, and you will understand."

Mr. Bogete felt amused as he handed the telescopic Telescope in his hand to these Squad Leaders guarding the West Gate. When these few men took turns using the Telescope to see that almost everyone in the convoy evacuating in the middle of the night was wearing armor, they finally understood what the half-smiling expression on Mr. Bogete's face meant.

With just these few squads of city guards, who didn't even have a single set of Metal Armor, how could they possibly confront an unidentified convoy whose numbers and equipment far exceeded their own? It was even possible that these people of unknown identity could take this West Gate if they attacked.

Thus, they sheepishly returned the Telescope and accompanied Mr. Bogete, who had not left, watching from the high point of the city gate as that unidentified and terrifyingly powerful team walked south along the outer edge of the city wall in the middle of the night, carrying Torches and other lighting implements.

After daybreak, Mr. Bogete returned to the family castle and met Mr. Kasi, who was leading twenty or thirty armored elite guards to escort a closed carriage.

"Why didn't you return all night? If someone hadn't reported that you were at the West Gate, I would have thought I had to bring the money over for them to release you." Mr. Kasi was riding a horse. This time, he was not wearing flashy, eye-catching Noble attire, but had barely managed to equip the Knight Armor he hadn't worn for many years.

Mr. Bogete ignored Kasi, who was the biological brother of the current Baron, and did not mention that Jier and his group had left in the middle of the night, walking away on his own.

"Hey! Hey, hey!"

After calling out twice, Mr. Kasi curled his lip, seemingly having guessed the reason why Bogete ignored him, and snorted as he signaled his men to set off.

"Useless thing. It was just one mistake; did he really think the family would punish and abandon him? Now, by ignoring everything, he has instead voluntarily abandoned the responsibilities and power of his own position."

He shook his head, no longer paying attention to the self-destructive Bogete, and prepared to hand over the promised box of neatly stacked Gold Coin and Gems, the reward for opening the Dwarf Secret Vault, to Jier Knight and his party.

These riches were accumulated by the Boshitafa Family over many years. Although taking them out hurt the family's strength, compared to the treasures inside the Dwarf Secret Vault and the materials used to build the Dwarf Secret Vault itself, it was nothing.

Their Boshitafa Family kept their word. As early as the time of the Baron three generations ago, they had already accumulated and promised a sufficient reward to whoever opened the Dwarf Secret Vault. This money had also been accumulated bit by bit over so many years, and after the value of the Dwarf Secret Vault was calculated, there would be a portion of the reward calculated as a percentage of the Dwarf Secret Vault's value, which would be handed over to the person who opened the vault step by step.

However, Jier and his group had only opened half of it, namely the latter part consisting of the Protective Magic and the physical vault protection itself, so the reward the family had prepared was only half.

Although that was said, the initial reward alone filled a large box, which even required an entire sturdy wagon to carry and transport, and even the horses pulling the wagon were equipped with two robust Pack Horses.

Because they were carrying so much money, they needed a family member like him who had undergone Knight Training, as well as many armored guards to protect this huge sum.

But when they were careful all the way (one had to be careful even inside the city; Suishi Cheng's forces were numerous and mixed, and some crooked forces also existed.), and even cleared the streets in advance, specifically escorting this wagon to the inn outside the West Gate where Jier and the others had stayed yesterday, they learned that Jier and his team had actually left in the middle of the night yesterday!?

Even a calm, well-bred, and decent person from a Noble background like Mr. Kasi could not help but curse a few times, and he certainly knew that Bogete knew Jier and the others had left long ago.

"Cautious enough, but our Boshitafa Family is not the kind of family without credibility." After sighing a few times, Mr. Kasi had no choice but to lead his men to escort this huge sum of money back to the vault inside the family castle.

For such a large amount of money, it was only truly safe when placed inside the family vault, which was secure and had cumbersome entry and exit checks.

But fortunately, Mr. Kasi's worries along the way were superfluous. Perhaps the various forces and powers within Suishi Cheng were relatively mixed, but because his escorting of the huge sum was a temporary event without prior preparation, when the full box of money and Gems was returned to the family vault, no one had actually targeted this money.

After all, there was no time. The Boshitafa Family had discussed internally last night whether to give the reward to Jier and the others who had held the family high-ups hostage, and it was only because Mr. Kasi insisted that they extracted this reward accumulated over many years, despite the Baroness's refusal.

After all, the Dwarf Secret Vault had only been opened halfway, and there was still the other half that was a headache.

If they refused to give this deserved reward just because the other party had once coerced and held family members hostage—which was only done out of self-preservation or because they had to leave due to insecurity—then the Boshitafa Family themselves would have no way to deal with the other half of the un-opened Protective Magic of the vault.

The last time they were able to open the vault's powerful Protective Magic, it was by specifically inviting a Formal Mage and letting the other party spend a large amount of resources, using the method of wearing down the Magic Power, to exhaust and wear away the Protective Magic outside the vault, which took a full twelve hours.

If they did the same this time and invited that Mage again, and the other party asked what happened to the person who opened the metal door of the vault, what would their Boshitafa Family say?

Lie to them? Lie to a Mage with superb strength and even higher status?

Tell the truth? Say the family wanted to place the other party under house arrest, the other party held family high-ups hostage for self-preservation, and then ran away in the middle of the night?

See if the Mage would still help the Boshitafa Family open the other half of the vault's Protective Magic. It would be considered very well-mannered if the other party just turned around and left. If they later gossiped about the Boshitafa Family in higher circles, their family would truly become the laughingstock of the Southern Province.

After all, being able to see but not touch an extremely huge fortune, especially when there was originally an opportunity to obtain this fortune, would likely be spread as an anecdote.

Good news doesn't leave the house, but bad news travels a thousand miles; similar principles are also applicable in this other world.

Coupled with the loss of family credibility and the loss of family dignity, it would be immeasurable.

Thinking of this, Mr. Kasi was furious. After personally escorting the Money Box into the family vault, he immediately wanted to convene a family meeting in a rage to discuss how to handle this matter and fiercely target that guy Bogete to make him take responsibility.

Jier and the others carried Torches in the middle of the night, using various lighting methods, and set off from the West Gate of Suishi Cheng. Most of them hadn't even entered the city once, so they first headed south, bypassed the city from outside the South Gate to the East Gate, and then continued to move forward in the dark along the Shanglu to the east.

No one knew that their caution and care had caused them to miss out on a fortune that could be called a huge sum. But whether failing to accept this huge sum in public was a bad thing or a good thing for Jier and his team, no one knew.

Along the way, Jier kept apologizing to everyone in the entire team. After all, everyone had been tired for a day, and as a result, many people hadn't slept for long—some had been drinking and others practicing martial arts in the first half of the night—before being woken up by Jier to continue on the road ahead.

Of course, the caravan's journey was much more comfortable now, because with the extra horses and carriages, everyone either rode a horse or sat in a carriage; no one needed to travel on foot anymore.

The Dwarfs added seven sturdy carriages to the caravan at once, and not only did all the Dwarfs travel by carriage, but they also planned to sell their slow, dilapidated ox carts when they reached the next town, which would not only increase the caravan's speed but also provide them with an extra sum of money under their own control.

Jier and his companions had been busy all night, yet not only did they fail to obtain the rewards they deserved for opening the vault door, they didn't even receive the secrecy fee for the Dwarf Secret Vault, which made Jier and his companions curse as they walked.

The Secret Contract, witnessed by the deity, stipulated that Jier and the others must receive the agreed-upon secrecy fee within three days; otherwise, as the other party to the contract, a large deposit placed by the Bostafa Family in the Contract God Church would all belong to the God of Contract, and the God of Contract would also impose certain punishments on the family members of the Bostafa Family as originally agreed.

The severity of this punishment was vague, and it was precisely because it was vague that it was even more terrifying.

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