Chapter 549: The Argument Behind the Scenes, Soldier Captain Yelu

After Jier learned that the grain warehouse was the third wooden house on the west side of the enemy's Jiedian, he had the Spirit Dog Big Nose continue to scout the fourth wooden house to the west.

"Go quickly, return quickly. I saw that person seem to head over there as well. You can understand our Human speech; go over, take a look, and listen to what that person is doing. See what the fourth house is for, too."

Jier waved his hand, and Big Nose let out a woof before running swiftly toward the enemy Jiedian.

Just like before, relying on its tall stature, it leaped during its run and cleared the four-to-five-meter-high wooden fence, while the enemy Soldiers patrolling the wall did not notice at all. Even the Defeated Soldier enemies who came into contact with Big Nose inside the wall felt nothing.

Watching Big Nose's movements, Jier still felt this scene was highly absurd.

He himself could see, touch, and even ride Big Nose, yet no one other than him could make contact with Big Nose, and unless necessary, Big Nose could not even affect or touch other things.

"It's too idealistic! This ability bestowed by the god is truly too idealistic; it has a strangeness that defies common sense. And in terms of its manifestation, it doesn't look like the power the Agricultural God should have, does it?"

Jier muttered to himself, wondering where the Agricultural God had even obtained such a strange ability.

"Halt! Adjutant Piluo, please halt!"

A shout to stop, along with a raised hand and a slightly tilted Long Spear, blocked Knight Adjutant Piluo in front of the wooden house.

Piluo's expression changed immediately, and he scolded the two Soldiers blocking his path: "Are you mistaken about something? I am Knight Hate's Adjutant, and you are Knight Hate's subordinates! I want to enter this dilapidated house; why are you blocking me? By what right do you block me?"

The two Soldiers guarding the entrance to the pit looked at each other, somewhat surprised by the nonsense this Knight Adjutant was spouting.

But when the other party brought up Knight Hate's name, the two men dared not block him directly, instead bringing out a different set of excuses: "Adjutant, sir, this is currently where the Captain himself resides and the room where the organization designates combat plans. No one may enter without an invitation or an order. Of course, if Knight Hate himself came, he could naturally enter directly, but you cannot!"

Adjutant Piluo gripped the hilt of the Long Sword at his waist; this small movement did not escape the eyes of the two Soldiers, so they also tightened their grips on their Long Spears.

One of the Soldiers even put a Wooden Whistle to his mouth, ready to blow a warning signal at any time to summon all the surrounding Soldier companions.

Seeing the actions of the two, Adjutant Piluo blew a puff of air from his nose and snorted with dissatisfaction: "Then go inside and 'request' it, tell our 'great,' 'noble' Soldier Captain to 'allow' me to enter and meet with him once. That should suffice, right?"

He grew angrier as he spoke, emphasizing his tone several times to mock the Soldier Captain who now controlled the unit.

Unexpectedly, upon hearing these words, one of the guarding Soldiers was somewhat surprised and couldn't help but ask: "Didn't you have an argument and a fight with the Captain before, and the two of you stopped interacting? Why are you here to find the Captain today?"

Adjutant Piluo glared at the gate-guarding Soldier: "I am naturally here to see him about official business; do these matters also need to be 'reported' to you? Are you sure you want to hear them? Hmm?"

Faced with this retort, the guarding Soldier said nothing. The two exchanged a look; one kept the Wooden Whistle in his mouth without moving, while the other turned and walked into the downward pit, taking a detour to enter the wooden house behind to notify the Captain.

From the pit leading to the interior of the wooden house, the faint sound of a woman's moaning could be heard.

After a while, the sound inside the house vanished, and a female wearing a Cloak that obscured her figure—her face invisible—but carrying a bag of items, walked out of the house following the guarding Soldier.

This slender and graceful female intentionally covered her face and hurried away with the items, while the guarding Soldier, who looked at the female with envy, signaled for Adjutant Piluo to follow him inside.

"Hmph, 'room where the organization designates combat plans,' what a load of crap." Piluo cursed under his breath. Both guarding Soldiers heard it, but they couldn't refute it and had to remain awkwardly silent, though they followed Piluo into the wooden house one after the other.

Naturally, they dared not let Piluo meet their Captain alone in the house. The two had previously erupted into conflict and fought; although neither was injured, their Captain was not someone who excelled in force, so letting the two talk alone in the house might result in him being at a disadvantage.

"Hmph, I won't have a conflict with him," Adjutant Piluo said sarcastically.

But the two Soldiers responsible for guarding still followed him in.

The interior of the wooden house was not large. Unlike the house where Knight Hate lived, this place was furnished with several lighting tools that emitted a cold glow, so the room did not feel stuffy and the light was quite sufficient.

In the middle of the room was a simply made wooden table, upon which a spread-out cowhide map was placed in a professional manner; it was a map of the Viscount's territory at Grinana Lake in the south of the Southern Province.

A robust man of about thirty was pretending to examine the map with his clothes slightly disheveled.

"What are you pretending for? I saw it just now, that woman who slipped out of the door."

As soon as he entered, Adjutant Piluo scanned the interior of the house, but there were not many things here; besides the wooden table in the middle, there was a camp bed against the wall, a few small boxes, and two equipment racks.

There was nowhere to hide a person, and he was very familiar with the contents of the boxes; most were necessary document Scrolls, some writing tools, and rare materials they had seized from Monsters and Magic Beasts during battles while passing through the Southern Province.

Most of these could be crafted into valuable Magic Materials; just taking these things out could be exchanged for a large sum of money.

Originally, he and the Soldier Captain opposite were responsible for managing these items, but as Knight Hate's injuries grew more severe and required trustworthy people to provide close care, these items and the corresponding work were all taken over by this person.

The greater the responsibility, the greater the power.

After the other party took over this work, the management power of the entire unit was gradually seized by him as well.

At first, nothing was apparent, but once their group of over a hundred people successfully crossed the Southern Mountains and arrived at this abandoned Mine, things suddenly changed.

The other party began to frequently adjust the internal composition and structure of the unit, either breaking up some of the Soldiers conscripted from Knight Hate's territory and placing them in other squads, or concentrating them and constantly arranging trivial tasks that required them to go out, keeping them from stopping.

Meanwhile, other Soldiers from Odorf County in the Grinana Lake Viscount's territory were concentrated and stationed here at the Mine, under the other party's direct command.

Piluo had noticed something was wrong at the time, but Knight Hate's condition was worse than it was now, and he could only stay in the Tent every day, using Herbs found by the Soldiers to make simple Healing Ointment to barely treat Knight Hate's severe injuries externally.

He simply couldn't attend to these adjustments of the Soldier units.

Subsequently, after settling down slightly at the Mine, this Soldier Captain suddenly took away almost all the Soldiers, moved north, and raided a Cunzi not far from there.

In Adjutant Piluo's view, this was simply insane!

You have to know that you either don't do something, or you do it thoroughly. But the other party raided the Cunzi without capturing the resident Agricultural God Church Priest. This was bad; at some unknown point in the future, the Agricultural God Church would inevitably investigate and even report this matter to the Provincial Noble Council.

And when that time came, even if Knight Hate survived this incident safely, he would inevitably lose his honor, have his fief revoked, and have his Knight title stripped in the future for condoning his subordinates' raid on the Cunzi.

You must know that these Soldiers raided the Cunzi under Knight Hate's name. And they were indeed Knight Hate's subordinates, and Knight Hate was indeed in their rear Jiedian.

It was just that at the time, the Knight himself was deep in a coma caused by infection from severe burns, and the person actually commanding the army was not him.

But that was useless.

"That woman? Heh, in a rural area, what kind of woman could be worth looking at? She just had a slender figure and hadn't given birth to children. But her voice was pleasant, like a nightingale trapped in a predicament, emitting some miserable, mournful cries that were satisfying to listen to."

The robust Soldier Captain of about thirty raised his head and spoke the words above.

He was actually a rather handsome male, but when he said those things, he wore a disdainful, wicked smile, not looking like a good person at all.

Of course, he wasn't a good person; he was the one who personally led the Soldiers to raid Changmai Cunzi, and it was his own idea to order the capture of the Villagers and lock them in the Mine to exchange Mineral Ore for grain.

"So, Piluo, let's end the irrelevant talk. I thought that since our last conflict, you wouldn't come looking for me again. At least not until our Knight is fully recovered."

This person touched his groomed beard, his tone carrying a provocation.

Piluo knew what the other party meant; in fact, their last argument had already laid many things out in the open.

The other party knew most of Knight Hate's plans. When Knight Hate found the group hiding to avoid disaster, he had secretly told him, Piluo, and the other party most of the situation.

But unexpectedly, as things progressed and Knight Hate was seriously injured and fell into a coma, this person developed some other ideas.

The other party wanted to use this batch of Metal Ingots, which the enemy country urgently needed, to exchange for a large sum of money, rather than the Lizardman Transformation Potion that Knight Hate needed most.

Now that the war had reached this point, the Lizardman Transformation Potion, which was not common in the past but could still be bought through various means, was no longer for sale on the market. As soon as alchemists made the items, they were immediately taken away by people on the spot; they would never be released to the market, and some potions were even custom-made, making them impossible for outsiders to buy.

Back in the autumn of last year, when they still had contact with merchants, a single bottle of 【Lizardman Transformation Potion】 was already selling for around three hundred Gold Coins, and the price was still rising.

Furthermore, there was demand but no supply.

Previously, he had discerned the other party's intention, so he stepped forward to press them; as a result, the two went from a verbal altercation to taking action and started fighting.

The Soldiers did not understand the situation and pulled them apart, but both men, who were glaring fiercely at each other at the time, knew clearly that they would inevitably want the other's life.

The other party was wary of the last bottle of 【Courage Potion】 on Knight Hartna, fearing that Knight Hartna would drink the potion in a desperate struggle and slay him. Although, given Knight Hartna's current physical condition, after drinking the last bottle of 【Courage Potion】, the side effects of the potion alone would be enough to completely crush the Knight's body.

But this was a lose-lose outcome, and both sides were wary of the situation turning into that.

Thus, after being separated by the Soldiers, you didn't seek me out, and I didn't come to seek you out.

Both sides were waiting for the arrival of the agreed-upon party.

Piluo's plan was that if the agreed-upon party arrived with the potion but without enough money, then no matter how many schemes the Captain of the Soldiers had, there would be no way around it; he would have to honestly use the Metal Ingots to exchange for the 【Lizardman Transformation Potion】, and at that time, he would only need to stand out on behalf of Knight Hartna to accept the potion traded by the agreed-upon party.

As for the Captain of the Soldiers, his plan was to hope to try his luck, because he knew that for the other party to be able to come to this remote place to trade, they were certainly not ordinary people; were they mostly likely a Mage?

A Mage naturally has plenty of ways to take away these Metal Ingots, and they must also have other valuable items on them, hard currencies like Gems, Magic Scrolls, and the like. He would use the Metal Ingots he had dug and smelted to trade, and if he could get his hands on the 【Lizardman Transformation Potion】 first, he would earn even more!

He could earn enough money in one go to last him a lifetime.

With this money, he would sneak back to his hometown, take his family away, and find a place to settle down in a neighboring country or another province of the Saint Hors Kingdom; even if Knight Hartna and Piluo wanted to find him, they would certainly not be able to.

What? You say, why not share this money with the other Soldiers?

How could it possibly be shared with the Soldiers? You can say you will share it with them to exchange for their temporary loyalty, but naturally, not a single bit of the profit will actually be shared with them.

In fact, this Captain of the Soldiers already had some guesses; these matters behind the scenes would certainly not be let known to the other Soldiers too much. Knight Hartna's initial plan was to let the Soldiers go down into the mine to dig, but after the transaction was ultimately successful, whether the Soldiers would actually stay alive was hard to say.

The Captain of the Soldiers, however, captured the Villagers of Changmai Cunzi to replace the Soldiers in mining and managed to intercept Knight Hartna from obtaining the 【Lizardman Transformation Potion】. Although he felt sorry for Knight Hartna and it would cause him to die from his severe injuries, in terms of the final result, it was highly probable that he could save the lives of the Soldiers under his command.

Of course, the lives of the Changmai Cunzi Villagers must definitely be left in the mine.

The difference between the two sides was merely that one side might sacrifice the lives of the Soldiers, while the other side would sacrifice the lives of the Changmai Cunzi Villagers.

They were all just a bunch of cold-blooded, selfish scoundrels.

"The agreed-upon day has arrived. I came to find you just to see if you have encountered the other party on your end?"

"If the person has arrived, please invite them out to complete the transaction. You must know that the agreed-upon trading partner is Knight Hartna. If it is not Knight Hartna himself conducting the transaction, no one knows whether the cunning enemy will still be willing to bring out the items according to the agreement."

Piluo said in a gloomy tone.

"Perhaps, after you eagerly take them to view a room full of Metal Ingots, more greedy thoughts will sprout in their hearts, and upon seeing that it is not Knight Hartna trading with them, they will reveal their bloodthirsty faces. Don't forget, Yeluba, the flames that burned the army last autumn..."

"They could use flames to burn the army, so they can naturally easily use flames to burn our few people. But the already smelted Metal Ingots are not very afraid of those flames that can burn people to death."

Piluo said at the end.

The warning in his words could not be more obvious. He warned the other party—the Captain of the Soldiers named Yeluba—that everything was best done according to what Knight Hartna had agreed upon with the other party, because the enemy was not a trading partner they could dispose of at will; the other party was the truly powerful side.

As for them, these remnants and defeated soldiers, don't think that just because they raided a village and acted like tyrants over those Villagers and farmers, they truly possessed any advantage.

The cunning and powerful enemy forces were the truly terrifying side.

As the weaker side, it was best for them to do everything according to the other party's agreement, let Knight Hartna bring a sufficient quantity of Metal Ingots to trade for the 【Lizardman Transformation Potion】 at the agreed-upon time and place, and it was best to do exactly as both sides had agreed.

And the actions of the Captain of the Soldiers, Yeluba, including not actively treating the injured and unconscious Knight Hartna, escalating the situation, capturing Villagers from nearby villages to mine, smelting more Metal Ingots that might arouse the other party's greed, and so on, might all be a path to self-destruction.

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