Chapter 251: Bingxun Pass - Client Kendo Simons

At the north gate of Bingxun Pass, Jier queued to enter. Regarding his full set of weapons and equipment, the soldier guarding the gate merely warned him that if he dared to hurt anyone within the pass, he would be dealt with by severe punishment.

Since there were no goods or merchandise on Jier's handcart, they simply inspected it briefly and let Jier enter.

After entering the pass, Jier discovered that the main road inside the entire pass—the one from the north gate to the south gate—was a major thoroughfare paved with a thick layer of crushed stone, while the other roads leading into the interior of the pass were all mud paths frozen hard.

It was fine now that it was winter, as the cold temperature had frozen the mud on the ground rock-hard. Jier did not want to look closely at what might have been mixed into that mud before it had frozen.

Considering he had valuable items on his handcart, he decided to first find a safe inn to serve as a base for resting and storing his items.

There were many places of debauchery inside the pass, but Jier was not interested in any of them; he only wanted to develop himself through paid commissions now.

Several expressionless thugs sat leaning against the entrance of a gambling house by the main road, the houses with red lanterns hanging by their windows occasionally emitted the muffled cries of women, a few young people were drunk and brawling with each other at the entrance of a tavern, and the guards maintaining order were grinning and betting on which fool would be the last one standing.

In the restaurants that looked a bit more respectable, travel-worn merchants were whispering about rumors they had heard, and from time to time, pairs of foreign caravans drove carriages rarely seen in Kendall County, transporting large quantities of foreign goods to the local area; they stopped in front of tall wooden warehouses, and with just a scattering of copper and iron coins, people dressed in rags would swarm over to help unload the caravan's goods.

Of course, during this process, the caravan's shop assistants would keep a close eye on those working for money, guarding against anyone having sticky fingers.

Jier glanced slightly at both sides of the main road and found that it was actually quite vibrant, though many places were artificially guarded to prevent people from looking too closely; at the entrance or inside every house, there stood more or less one or two thugs with short swords, daggers, or wooden clubs hanging at their waists. They seemed to only allow people they knew to enter, and for a stranger like Jier, just getting close and looking twice would provoke their displeasure.

Displeasure was displeasure, but these thugs did not dare to speak up to drive away the observing Jier; after all, Jier was carrying a long spear on his back and had a long sword and dagger at his waist, none of which looked like cheap goods, and he was draped in a brand-new wolf-fur cloak, wearing refined clothing underneath that these thugs could not afford.

Because the temperature had dropped sharply recently, there were not many idlers on the roads within the pass, mostly caravan personnel on business and various people who had to come out to make a living.

Jier casually grabbed a passing man; although the other party was unhappy about being forcibly stopped, upon seeing the few iron coins displayed in the young man's hand, he stopped struggling and listened to what the other had to say.

"Ask you something, the money is yours. Which inn nearby is safe and cheap?" Jier did not intend to say much, asking directly.

Perhaps seeing that Jier was a foreigner who had come for the first time, the man smiled twice and impatiently took the few coins from Jier's hand: "If you want safe, go to the Fengye Guan on the main road; that is where wealthy merchants stay when they come to Bingxun Pass. As for cheap, any inn on the ground floor is cheap, as long as you have several partners staying together."

Applying some force to his hand, making the man's arm ache, Jier emphasized: "Safe and cheap!"

Shaking his arm twice without breaking free from the grip, the man questioned by Jier had no choice but to speak honestly: "The few inns next to the Church of the God of Wealth at the south gate are all fine; I heard they are all run by the families of priests, so they will definitely satisfy you. Those are places where decent people stay."

Smiling, "Where do indecent people stay?" Jier asked curiously.

The man had a strange expression on his face and pointed around: "Gambling houses, brothels, taverns—look for yourself, which one is decent?" Having said that, feeling the young man loosen his grip, the man shook off Jier, counted the iron coins he had gotten for free, and walked straight into a bustling gambling house not far away; the thugs guarding the door actually greeted him with smiles and pulled the man inside.

Hah, a degenerate gambler indeed.

Jier pushed his cart away from the center of the pass and walked toward the south gate.

After walking only a hundred meters or so, the shops and houses on both sides of the road became much more respectable; there were more shops selling normal goods, and some women, wrapped up thickly, went back and forth between shops, either selling small items they had made themselves or buying daily necessities.

Jier saw the glittering building of the Church of the God of Wealth, confirmed he had arrived, and found a relatively clean-looking inn to stay in.

Five copper coins a day for the room fee was neither expensive nor cheap. Jier did not know how long it would take to deal with that group of kidnappers, so he had to pay one silver coin to rent it for twenty days, with the extra money to be refunded to him later.

After simply registering where he was from and his name, Jier took the large key handed over by the listless clerk and followed the clerk to a room located on the first basement level.

Even in the daytime, the corridor on the first basement level of the inn lacked light, but Jier did not care; he had taken a fancy to the basement room precisely because he was worried that in a place with poor security, living in a room with windows was not very safe.

But the basement room was different; it only had a thick wooden door, and it was not easy for outsiders to get in.

The space inside the basement guest room was not small, but it was quite empty, likely converted by the inn from an empty warehouse. The clerk followed him in, first replenished and lit a bright oil lamp, left a bottle of clean water for the guest to drink, and then left while humming a crooked, vulgar little tune.

Jier moved the things from the handcart into the room, and soon finished. By the candlelight of the oil lamp, he opened his small notebook and found the address of the client he had recorded.

Simons Chamber of Commerce, a chamber of commerce I haven't heard of. The client's name was Kendo Simons; Jier memorized the name, took some important items with him, and then locked the door and went out.

To ask for directions, one still had to find locals. Jier spent one copper coin to ask the inn clerk for the general location of the Simons Chamber of Commerce.

It was not far, right by the riverside near the Kendall River, close to the south wall of the pass. In fact, this Bingxun Pass was not very large, and Jier estimated that he could become familiar with it after wandering around for two days. However, rescuing the kidnapped person was a matter of urgency; since he had come, he would keep the commission in mind.

After circling a few times through the messy streets and houses by the river and asking two young men who were out picking up firewood, Jier finally found that Simons Chamber of Commerce.

Calling it a chamber of commerce, in reality, the scale of this Simons Chamber of Commerce was far smaller than the Fox Tail Chamber of Commerce. Not only was the location of the chamber of commerce poor, not on the main road, but even the building serving as the chamber of commerce was an ordinary wooden house. If the house hadn't been newly built, Jier would have doubted this client's financial strength.

Presumably because the weather was cold, the main gate of this chamber of commerce was tightly shut. Jier pounded on the door with his fist to call for someone, and it took quite a while before someone came to open it.

The door opened a crack, and the face of an unkempt, rough man appeared: "Haven't seen you before, who are you looking for?" The other party sized Jier up, saw the weapons at Jier's waist, and asked in a fairly polite tone.

Touching the wolf head on his head with his hand, "I am Qiao-Jier from the Table Corner Tavern in Kendall City. Tell Mr. Kendo Simons of my arrival; he knows my purpose." Jier said steadily.

The rough-faced man nodded, let Jier wait outside the door, then closed the door and walked inside quickly.

Soon, the sound of several messy, hurried footsteps came to the door. After the door opened, a middle-aged man with a face full of fatigue sized Jier up from head to toe, seemed satisfied with Jier's equipment, and invited Jier inside.

The other party introduced himself: "Are you the warrior Qiao-Jier? I am Kendo. I heard a friend's recommendation in Kendall City before, which is why I tried the Table Corner Tavern. It is truly great that you could come; I have been at my wit's end here day after day."

The interior of the Simons Chamber of Commerce was actually quite large, with two floors above ground and two floors underground in the spacious wooden house. However, there were not many staff members; presumably because of the weather, there was no work to do, so they had all gone home.

"Don't worry. I was previously suppressing a large group of goblins in Doraerlin Village. After eliminating and driving them away, I reorganized for a period of time before coming here. Please tell me the details of the commission; Todd only gave me some relayed messages. I hope you can tell me the specific details in detail. That way, I can carry out the operation quickly, and the success rate of saving the person will be higher." Jier said as they walked.

Mr. Kendo led Jier to sit down in the main hall of the chamber of commerce, had two people beside him go to prepare some hot food and drink, and only then did he tell Jier about the situation at the time.

The incident happened more than half a month ago. As a chamber of commerce that had developed rapidly in Bingxun Pass in recent years, the Simons Chamber of Commerce had always been quite eye-catching, but most of the trouble came from some peers, nothing more than causing them some minor trouble, which could not affect Mr. Kendo Simons, who had connections in the upper echelons of the pass.

However, for various chambers of commerce that often had to transport goods over long distances, their biggest trouble still came from those bandits who liked to engage in business without capital. The Simons Chamber of Commerce had always traveled behind those large chambers of commerce with sufficient manpower to avoid being robbed and extorted. As long as they paid a small amount of money to the large caravans on the same trade route, several families could mix together to avoid various troubles.

Therefore, the caravan of the Simons Chamber of Commerce had never been robbed once, which was considered a bit of a small reputation in the small Bingxun Pass, and many people came here because of this, handing over some profitable business to them.

However, this was naturally seen as an obstacle and an opportunity by those bandits who had been entrenched in the mountains and forests around Bingxun Pass.

A few days ago, a group of bandits sneaked into the pass without carrying many weapons and specifically broke into the Simons Chamber of Commerce at night. Because the weather was cold, many of the chamber's shop assistants had gone home to rest, so there were not many people in the chamber, and Mr. Kendo Simons's whole family lived in the chamber.

Caught off guard, everyone in the chamber of commerce was captured by the bandits. The other party did not hurt anyone, because they feared that the screams at night would attract the soldiers in the pass, so those bandits only signaled for the people in the chamber to surrender obediently, and the other party only snatched away some coins and liquid assets; as for other goods and the like, they couldn't take them away, so they didn't.

At the time, the leader of the bandits threatened Mr. Kendo to work for them in the future, but Mr. Kendo did not agree at the time, so the other party kidnapped Mr. Kendo's nephew, who held an important position in the chamber of commerce, and told Mr. Kendo to think it over carefully.

Hearing this, Jier asked Mr. Kendo: "So this matter has not spread around? Others don't know?"

The rough-faced man who brought the food said: "People around only know that something happened at the time; as for the specific things, the president didn't let it spread, so they have some guesses, but none of them know the specific situation."

"I went to Kendall City to find someone at the time, and after failing, a reliable friend recommended you to me, so I went to the Table Corner Tavern. I requested confidentiality from that bartender named Todd; you didn't spread it, did you?" Mr. Kendo asked nervously.

Jier waved his hand: "Only I and Todd know about the matter you entrusted. By the way, the leader of the opposing bandits forced you to secretly defect to them; presumably, you have also been inquiring about and understanding them these past few days. Can you tell me the situation you have grasped so that I can make a judgment?"

Sighing, Mr. Kendo poured Jier a glass of wine and let everyone eat first. After eating a few bites, Mr. Kendo said to Jier: "I have asked reliable friends to inquire; the other party is a group of bandits called 'Luodai Cave'. There are quite a few of them, and there are five leaders alone. I heard their lair is in a cave deep in the mountains and forests, so the several militia sweeps in previous years did not clean them out, and their power is still quite large."

"Of course, the largest scale of bandits nearby is not them; there are several bandit groups outside the county with larger scales, all in remote mountains, and they don't rob our trade route very often. Usually, it is some smaller-scale bandit groups that are active nearby, bringing trouble to all the caravans coming and going."

Jier muttered the name 'Luodai Cave' in a low voice, and after thanking Mr. Kendo, he confirmed the third-level reward for the commission with him again. For Mr. Kendo, finding the location of the other party's lair could only be considered one of the less bad results.

He himself knew the upper echelons of the pass and would have a way to deal with the bandit lair once it was discovered using official forces; however, this meant that his nephew would definitely not survive.

Speaking of this, Mr. Kendo wept bitterly. The chamber of commerce shop assistant eating next to him explained that it turned out the Simons Chamber of Commerce was the property of Mr. Kendo's family, but Mr. Kendo himself had no sons, and after his older brother had several daughters, he finally had a male heir.

That nephew who was kidnapped by the bandits could actually be considered the next president of the Simons Chamber of Commerce, so the other party specifically kidnapped him, considering it a sure hit on Mr. Kendo's soft spot.

If Jier failed to rescue Mr. Kendo's nephew, then Mr. Kendo would have no choice but to mobilize his official connections to completely eradicate that gang of Bandits. If Jier could rescue the kidnapped person, Mr. Kendo would not need to exert so much effort; he would simply inform all the Merchant Guilds and Caravans he knew about what had happened, causing the Bandits' plans to fall through, and then strengthen their defenses. Over time, the Bandits would naturally have other things to busy themselves with, and their Merchant Guild also had endless work to do, so both sides would naturally act as if nothing had happened.

In the very end, Mr. Kendo warned Jier that although he had placed a bounty on those Bandits, Jier himself must gauge the situation carefully; eliminating the Bandits alone was a very dangerous matter. Those fellows were heartless creatures when it came to money; they would squeeze every bit of wealth out of those they captured and would not give the captured people any real chance at survival.

Jier must know when to stop while he was ahead; those Bandits still had some capabilities.

After finishing his meal and gathering the intelligence, Jier took his leave of the Simons Chamber of Commerce, telling them to wait for his news over these next few days and not to take any rash actions for the time being.

Watching Jier the warrior walk away, the rough-faced man closed the Merchant Guild gate and complained to his President: "President Simons, can that kid really do it? He looks sturdy enough, but he's so young; don't let him cost the Vice President his life. I think we should still look for a way to see if we can petition Kelaou Lingzhu to have the Lord lead the county Militia to wipe out the Bandits; maybe we could even save the Vice President."

Mr. Kendo also had a conflicted expression and sighed: "Let's wait a bit longer; give that young man some time. Eliminating the Bandits is useless; the mountains are full of crop after crop of Bandits. As long as there are Caravans on the Shanglu, the Bandits can never be wiped out. For our Merchant Guild, and for our family, saving my nephew first is what matters most. Nothing else is important."

After a moment of silence, he said again: "Nothing else is important."