Chapter 224: The President of the Sweet Fruit Merchant Guild, the Priests, and the Pleasantries

"Is this the inn? But what is this smell? Why is it so fishy and strange?"

After the middle-aged man leading the horse troop asked this casually, he complained unhappily.

The young shop assistant, who had roughly guessed what was happening, whispered: "Lord President, it should be that Knight Jier dealing with the Water-Spraying Crocodile he killed yesterday. That was a very, very large crocodile monster!"

"Oh? I have only seen pictures of Water-Spraying Crocodiles in books and have never seen the monster with my own eyes. I remember our Merchant Guild seemed to have launched an operation a few years ago, inviting all the Knight Lords who owe allegiance to my family to go and suppress those Water-Spraying Crocodiles, right? How did it turn out?"

The two shop assistants from the Sweet Fruit Merchant Guild who were acting as attendants looked at each other and responded with somewhat awkward tones: "President, that was four years ago. We heard it didn't go very smoothly."

"Ahem, the Knight Lords were not very happy. It is said it had to do with their lack of tacit cooperation with each other. After all, Water-Spraying Crocodiles are a gregarious type of monster and are very troublesome."

As the people in the horse troop talked among themselves while dismounting, the middle-aged man leading the troop did not express anything about the failed operation, making it unclear whether he was truly not embarrassed or if he had known every aspect of this matter from the beginning.

"Then tell me, how did this Knight Jier from out of town—that is his name, right? —how did this Knight Jier defeat such a troublesome gregarious monster that all the Knight Lords in the territory invited could not handle? Or is the level of our Ke'er Shan Jun's Knight Lords so poor? They can't even compare to a young knight from out of town?"

This question left the entire horse troop afraid to answer, but fortunately, this President of the Sweet Fruit Merchant Guild did not expect an immediate answer. After all, the answer was right there in the inn ahead; he did not need others to tell him anything, as he could go see for himself and find the answer to this question.

But despite thinking so, the young shop assistant who had followed Jier the whole way still leaned close to the President's ear and whispered: "President, yesterday it was not Knight Jier alone dealing with an entire group of monsters, but a single Water-Spraying Crocodile that had been lured by bandits to attack Knight Jier's caravan."

"Oh, I see..."

The President of the Sweet Fruit Merchant Guild stroked his well-groomed, perky mustache and rolled his eyes. However, he did not stop his feet, walking directly from the hitching post at the front of the inn toward the main entrance.

His own attendant hurriedly stepped forward to open the inn door and shouted into the empty inn lobby: "Where is the innkeeper? Come here quickly, the President of the Sweet Fruit Merchant Guild is here!"

The innkeeper, who was standing on tiptoe at the back courtyard entrance watching Jier deal with the giant monster carcass, immediately trotted over. He knew that no one in the local area dared to play jokes on this Sweet Fruit Merchant Guild, so he quickly called the inn's shop assistants to run over: "President Ke'er, good evening! Your arrival has truly made our small inn look important and magnificent in an instant. You are looking for that Knight Jier, right? Their group happens to be staying overnight here."

The President of the Sweet Fruit Merchant Guild, who shared the same surname Ke'er, waved his hand casually: "That is correct. Take us to that young knight from out of town, a valiant knight."

The innkeeper immediately smiled and reached out to guide them to the inn's back courtyard: "That works out perfectly, that knight and his people are all in the back courtyard. Whoa, I have never seen such a huge monster carcass; a single tooth is actually this big!"

As he spoke, he gestured the length of his entire forearm, which made the people who had just entered the inn look at each other, wondering if this person had lost his mind or if he was old and dim-sighted.

However, when they pushed open the wooden door from the lobby to the back courtyard, they saw at a glance, amidst the crowd of onlookers, the giant Water-Spraying Crocodile carcass being processed by Jier and Mr. Zuojigela.

Although it had been processed for the most part, Jier was currently using a Hunting Sword and a skull-cutting tool to cut pieces of monster meat. The sealed wooden barrels containing the monster meat were already stacked ten or so high, but the giant Water-Spraying Crocodile skeleton left behind after the flesh was removed was the size of a small room.

It allowed every human who saw it for the first time to know just how massive a monster the original Water-Spraying Crocodile was.

One must know that the four legs of the Water-Spraying Crocodile placed to the side, which had not yet been processed, as well as the crocodile's long tail—which was still swaying and had the volume of several people—could confirm what a terrifying size this monster was in its complete form!

At this moment, the President of the Sweet Fruit Merchant Guild finally understood that it was a normal thing for the Knight Lords under his brother's command to have failed to deal with a group of Water-Spraying Crocodiles. If such a group of monsters rushed into a town without city walls, they could completely destroy the entire town in just one day by relying on their size and weight.

It was the kind of reckless ramming that only utilized size and weight that could easily destroy a town.

Not to mention that they are called Water-Spraying Crocodiles; their most powerful ability is that after absorbing water, they can spray high-powered cutting water jets. Ordinary human houses would collapse with a single hit. Even sturdy brick and stone houses could not last long under the attack of a Water-Spraying Crocodile.

"Lord Knight Jier! I have brought people back, and our President of the Sweet Fruit Merchant Guild happens to be at the guild today. After hearing about your deeds, he followed along to get to know you." The young shop assistant from the guild immediately and politely pushed aside the onlookers, walked over, and introduced the middle-aged man in the center of the crowd, who was wearing a conspicuous, bright, and wide-brimmed hat with a fiery red feather.

Although he was a middle-aged man, his appearance was truly excellent. Even in middle age, he was a handsome man with a slender, sturdy build, and every movement was full of the good manners and upbringing of a noble. Just standing there, he was different from everyone else around him.

It was somewhat similar to Weier's usual demeanor, but speaking of looks, this man was on par with Weier. It was just that Weier was much younger, only in his twenties, while this President of the Sweet Fruit Merchant Guild was said to be over forty. However, this man also possessed that confidence and momentum that Weier currently lacked, or rather, had long since lost.

"Knight Qiao Jier, it is a pleasure to meet you. But I am even happier that thanks to your valiant act, you helped our Ke'er Shan Jun get rid of a troublesome monster!"

After finishing, the merchant guild president walked down the steps while taking a deep breath of the foul, fishy air around him. However, at this moment, this seemingly unpleasant air actually made him quite happy.

He placed his left hand flat and turned it outward, kept his right hand at his abdomen, bowed his body slightly, and performed a noble's gesture of gratitude.

Jier, with his hands full of monster meat scraps, threw his axe and Long Sword on the ground, clapped his hands casually, and punched his own chest: "It is also a pleasure to meet you. Getting rid of this monster was just a matter of convenience. After all, this stupid monster was specifically lured by some bandits to attack us, and getting rid of it was just a measure for our own self-preservation. It is not worthy of your gratitude. However, I do not yet know your name. I heard that the Sweet Fruit Merchant Guild and the Baron Ke'er family of Ke'er Shan Jun..."

"That is correct, that is correct." The merchant guild president responded with a smile: "That is correct, I am Ke Rui Weisi Ke'er. My elder brother is the local lord, Baron Ke'er. I am just helping my brother look after the merchant guild under the family's command in my spare time, doing some small things like clearing trade routes and promoting trade."

The two were now acquainted. Afterward, the shop assistant of the Sweet Fruit Merchant Guild immediately introduced the several low-to-mid-level officials from the Government Office of Duan Ya Cheng who were responsible for the wanted bandits and security affairs, as well as the ten Priests of the Church of the God of the Dead who had been specially invited at Jier's request.

In fact, unlike others who were attracted by the exaggerated scene of the Water-Spraying Crocodile carcass being dismantled as soon as they entered the back courtyard, these Priests of the Church of the God of the Dead turned their heads in unison to look at the carriage containing the twenty or so naked, foul-smelling bandit corpses as soon as they arrived.

When they were introduced, the Pastor leading the team raised his hand slightly to interrupt the introduction: "Spare us the useless pleasantries. Fortunately, we arrived in time, otherwise the bandit corpses in that carriage would have caused big trouble."

After they finished speaking, they walked over in unison. Jier smiled: "That might not necessarily be the case, right? Living corpses or whatever, they are actually nothing; we can handle them, don't you think?"

Jier asked his Warriors. At this time, these Warriors, who were either looking out from the second-floor windows or squatting on the edge of the back courtyard, smiled and replied in unison: "That's right, my lord, no matter what it is, we can all handle it."

This left these Priests of the Church of the God of the Dead a bit confused.

It was not until this moment that this group of Priests, led by a middle-aged Pastor with the rest being mostly young Apprentice Herdsmen, took a careful look at the people in the back courtyard for the first time.

They didn't know until they looked, but upon looking, they realized that these Warriors were all tall and sturdy, with strong and powerful bodies. Although many were only wearing the light casual clothes they had just changed into, one could tell from the appearance of the other fully armed Warriors who were still wearing full sets of Metal Armor Plate, carrying bows, arrows, and Shields, and wearing Long Swords at their waists, that these people were all not to be trifled with.

The leading Pastor could even perceive that each of these Warriors was entwined with a scattered Death Aura and the entanglement of lingering resentful spirits. This showed that basically every one of these Warriors had rich combat experience and had killed one or two people.

But when he looked at Knight Jier, who was in the center of the scene, he unexpectedly did not detect a single bit of resentful spirit entanglement from this young knight. Instead, he could perceive a hidden mental aggressiveness, or in common terms—killing intent.

This young man must have killed many people, many, many people, but he clearly also had a method to eliminate the entanglement of resentful spirits, just like those Knight Lords who often participated in wars.

"Although it is a good thing that you have confidence, after all, professional matters must be handed over to professional people to handle, right? I think this is also the reason why you, Knight Jier, specially asked our guild to invite the Priests of the Church of the God of the Dead to come?"

As expected, the task of making small talk and smoothing over the atmosphere was handled by the President of the Sweet Fruit Merchant Guild, who had both status and ability. As soon as he spoke, the slightly unusual atmosphere at the scene was restored.

Jier also smiled: "Of course. In fact, I was also being lazy. I should have cut down some large trees while in the mountains yesterday to burn all these people's corpses. Now I have to trouble the Priests of the Church of the God of the Dead from Duan Ya Cheng. Sorry to trouble you all. The corpses of the twenty-plus bandits killed last night are all in the carriage closest to the back door. If you Priests did not bring a carriage when you came, you can borrow that carriage for the time being, but you need to return it to us before dawn. After all, we will continue to head east at dawn the next day."

"There is enough time, and it is not far from here to Duan Ya Cheng. President Ke'er, please give us a token to open the city gate, or let your attendant go with us?"

The leading Pastor said.

President Ke'er waved his hand at his attendant, signaling his subordinate to go over and help. He did not need to worry about his own safety, as he had Magic Tools for self-defense. He even had a special Magic Tool he had bought two years ago that could allow him to have the ability to fly for a short time.

The Priests immediately went to deal with the corpses that had died in the hot summer. In fact, after only one day, these bandits, who were not very hygienic themselves, already had their bellies starting to bulge. It looked like they only needed to wait another day or two for these bellies to be burst open by the putrid gases expanding inside.

At that time, once stimulated, the corpses that had already accumulated a portion of Death Aura might suddenly twitch, crawl up from the carriage, and bite living people.

Under the leadership of the leading Priest, the Priests collectively performed a Prayer Divine Art, letting their bodies be shrouded in a layer of black-gray Divine Power ripples, before personally stepping forward to lift the stinking corpses down one by one. According to the degree of decay and the concentration of Death Aura gathered on their bodies, they divided the twenty-plus corpses into several parts.

The most troublesome corpses were handed over to the leading middle-aged Pastor to handle, while the corpses in other general conditions were handed over to these young male and female Apprentice Herdsmen to handle.

Although watching the Priests of the Church of the God of the Dead deal with corpses was considered somewhat unlucky by most civilians, Jier's Warriors did not care about this at all, and many of them ran over to watch the Priests deal with the bandit corpses.

As for Jier, he continued to process the Water-Spraying Crocodile carcass with Mr. Zuojigela while talking to the President of the Sweet Fruit Merchant Guild.

Xueya Site greeted Aoni and approached the several officials from Duan Ya Cheng who had been called over. They escorted the two bandits who had been beaten several times and pointed out that Knight Jier's team had almost completely wiped out this heinous Bandit Group that had set up roadblocks and used monster attacks to intimidate passing caravans to extort money.

They asked these officials if there were any official bounties or private rewards for these bandits. As for these two surrendered bandits, they were naturally handed over directly to these local officials; the caravan would not take these useless, extra people.

If they could be exchanged for money, they would be; if they couldn't, they would find a way to kick them away to others. If no one was willing to take these rotten-to-the-core bandits into custody, Jier and his men would take them away directly, and when they reached some uninhabited place, they would slaughter them and throw them far away for the wild beasts and monsters in the mountains and forests.

Of course, now that Jier had the shapeshifter Ruier'erui among his subordinates, perhaps it would be much easier and simpler to handle. It is believed that Ruier'erui would also not refuse anyone.

"Knight Jier, I heard from my subordinates that your team actually has an entire squad of Dwarf mercenaries? I wonder if you could introduce me? Of course, I am not interfering with your hiring them to participate in this war; I am just like everyone else, full of curiosity about these alien races! I wonder if you could introduce me?"

After conversing with Jier from a distance of several meters for a while, the president of the Sweet Fruit Merchant Guild indeed made a request that Jier had anticipated.

Of course he could; Jier had no intention of stopping him. When he and the Dwarves set out from Huitou Forest, they had agreed to look for and inquire about news of other Dwarf groups for the Dwarves along the way.

And in the entire Ke'er Shan Jun, who could possibly have better intelligence than the president of the Sweet Fruit Merchant Guild himself?

Therefore, looking for this person to inquire about news could not be better.

"Of course, this is a very simple matter. Lao Tiequan! Come out for a moment; this is the president of the Sweet Fruit Merchant Guild, the brother of the local Baron, please come down, he has something to discuss with you." Jier shouted loudly, causing the circle of people nearby to cover their ears, but the trick worked; thud, thud, thud, thud, very quickly, Lao Tiequan walked down with Xiaoxuezi and Shishou.

President Ke'er immediately saw the Dwarves he had been longing for; just as described in the books, Dwarves, they really were short. President Ke'er himself had a slender build, wearing riding boots and a hat with a bright feather, looking to be about 1.9 meters tall, while the old Dwarf in casual clothes at this moment only reached a point even lower than President Ke'er's stomach, and the two Dwarf Warriors next to him, wearing thick Dwarf Armor and sleeveless Armor, were only slightly taller.

However, no one would underestimate a Dwarf; after all, even for the old Dwarf himself, as the manager of a large family, his arms were as thick as a Human's thighs, so it was not hard to imagine how great the strength of the Dwarf Warriors was.

Jier ignored the conversation between President Ke'er and the old Dwarf; whether they chatted in the backyard, which was not a suitable place for conversation, or went to the restaurant on the first floor of the inn to talk, it would not hinder him from dissecting the carcass of the Water-Spitting Crocodile.

As Jier cut off most of the meat chunks from the crocodile's torso and packed them into buckets, the entire massive carcass of the Water-Spitting Crocodile was basically left with only the empty torso itself and the hard bone plate running along the spine on top of the torso.

However, Jier still made some other discoveries; at the place where the upper and lower jaws of the Water-Spitting Crocodile connected, he found two thick air sacs wrapped in elastic muscles right next to the oral cavity.

This thing looked like a pig's bladder, but it didn't smell strange at all; when opened, there was even a faint scent of river water and algae inside.

"Mr. Zuojigela, come over and take a look; is this thing the water sac that the Water-Spitting Crocodile uses to temporarily store water when fighting?"

Jier was unsure, so he called over the Herbalist who was processing the crocodile's lungs nearby.

Mr. Zuojigela came over, took one look, and immediately nodded: "That's right, this thing is exactly the type of organ that many animals use to store water. It's just that, unlike ordinary animals, the water storage sac of this Water-Spitting Crocodile should possess the ability to store a large amount of water and apply pressure to the water sac. I have also seen similar things on some lizards that can spit water to strike insects."

There is another chapter today; it is the end of the month, and I have to hurry to make up for the updates missed this month.