Chapter 568: The 'Peaceful' Dispersal, and Knight Hartna's Guess

Speaking of this, he cursed viciously: "Damn it! Why? Why should the fruits of our labor be used to exchange for things that Knight needs? Why should we Warriors have to run into the Mine to dig for ore like lowly, hardened criminal Miners? Huh? Why? Why?"

He grew frantic, cursed a few more times, pointed at a Soldier, and loudly questioned him: "Tell me, are you willing to go into the Mine to dig for ore just for Knight Hartna alone?"

This young Soldier was somewhat bewildered by the question and stammered: "I don't know..."

Yeluba was not very satisfied and asked another Soldier: "Speak! Are you willing?"

This Soldier was much more direct: "###@#! Why the hell should I go to the Mine to dig for ore! Yeluba! You did a damn good job! The work of mining is something we should be forcing others to do while holding swords and blades; I was born to hold a sword, I can't hold a Mining Pick at all! And you, Piluo! So you and your dog of a master were actually plotting something like this? Why couldn't I have just stabbed you to death with a sword when we were crossing the Southern Mountains!"

This answer satisfied the Captain Yeluba greatly, and he laughed as he incited them: "That's right! Why should we all go down into the Mine? It was already hard enough for us to struggle our way across the Southern Mountains, and now they want us to go into the Mine to dig for ore? Is this the kind of terrible thing a Human could do?"

Although what Yeluba said made many of the onlookers feel angry, especially since the Adjutant Piluo did not argue, this meant he tacitly acknowledged that this matter had indeed happened.

Even if the plan to make them go down into the Mine was never actually implemented, this scheme clearly exposed the neglect and oppression of all the Soldiers by Knight Hartna and Adjutant Piluo.

At least, that is what these Soldiers believed.

"Everyone, please listen to me for a moment..." Adjutant Piluo tried to explain the reason for their actions, but the surroundings became noisy, and the curses of many Soldiers rang out, cursing Knight Hartna and Piluo, though naturally, there were also Soldiers who were not easily swayed who opposed the former at this moment.

The two sides began to argue; some felt that Adjutant Piluo's words made sense, and that they should leave this place as soon as possible and head north to a safer location. These people did not want to die in this remote, uninhabited mountain forest, and they still wanted to return to their hometowns to see their loved ones!

But naturally, there were also Soldiers with pockets full of plundered wealth who patted their money bags and argued with those who wanted to leave. By the afternoon, everyone had heard about the incident on the south side of the Jiedian, but after all, they hadn't seen it with their own eyes and lacked a direct experience, so they couldn't feel the fear that the Jiedian could be destroyed at any moment. Furthermore, they loved the current status quo of exploiting the Villagers through violence and rules too much; not only did they not have to go down to the Mine to dig themselves, but they could also rely on the food that originally belonged to the Villagers to control them, whether it was collecting Mineral Ore or buying female Villagers who sold their bodies for rations.

These people naturally stood on the side of the Soldier Captain Yeluba, and together with the twenty people who came with Yeluba, they surrounded Adjutant Piluo and the dozen or so Soldiers who supported him, everyone arguing, crowding, cursing with foul language, and gradually beginning to shove each other.

But after all, Adjutant Piluo still had more than ten Soldiers standing with him, and since everyone was wearing Soldier Armor, unless they really went for the kill, mere shoving and collisions of fists and feet wouldn't hurt anyone.

Piluo stared intently at Yeluba in the crowd opposite, and Yeluba also watched Piluo.

Yeluba suddenly felt a bit guilty; he thought of Knight Hartna in the wooden house not far away, and at the thought that Knight Hartna still had a bottle of 【Courage Potion】, he felt a tremor—that was a combat Potion that allowed a Knight to fight at full strength without fear of his injuries for a short time, and a single bottle was worth dozens of Gold Coins. If he really did something to this Knight Adjutant Piluo now, Knight Hartna would certainly know, and in a fit of desperation, would drink the Potion directly.

Then he, this so-called Soldier Captain, would truly not survive.

By then, Adjutant Piluo would be dead, he would be dead, and Knight Hartna might also die from his worsened injuries, yet these foolish Soldiers around him would live, which made him feel a sense of disgust.

He couldn't die; he still wanted to use this current opportunity to make a huge fortune and live a life of ease!

"Everyone calm down!"

Yeluba shouted loudly.

He still had some prestige among the surrounding Soldiers; if someone else had spoken up to tell everyone to calm down, they might have been ignored by these reckless Soldiers as if it were a fart, but when he spoke, these Soldiers still listened.

"Everyone calm down, we are, after all, brothers of life and death who crossed the Southern Mountains together. Even if such a disagreement has arisen, we shouldn't turn our fists inward and hurt our own! Piluo! You coward, why do you only let me speak to persuade everyone to calm down? Why don't you speak? Or is it that you actually want this current situation?"

What a heavy accusation to pin on someone; Adjutant Piluo needed someone to listen to him too!

After a moment of silence, Piluo spoke to the Soldiers who were shoving each other: "Everyone, I apologize for letting the disagreement between Yeluba and me affect you. You are all simple Soldiers, and there is no need to get involved in these arguments; this will only bring everyone distress and sorrow. I will discuss these matters with the Captain privately later. Everyone, please disperse now. Rest assured, although Yeluba and I have some disagreements, we will discuss and resolve them."

Some Soldiers on Piluo's side, especially those who had seen the destruction on the south side of the Jiedian that afternoon, spoke up one after another: "After we disperse, what about your safety? Will the Captain kill you? Or capture you? Or lock you up?"

Piluo knew that Yeluba dared not do anything to him; as long as Knight Hartna was not dead, this guy would never truly dare to do anything. So Piluo pushed aside the surrounding Soldiers, took the initiative to walk up to Yeluba, and under the angry glares of the Soldiers guarding Yeluba's sides, boldly went up and patted Yeluba on the shoulder. The two hugged in a seemingly intimate manner, and after whispering a harsh threat into each other's ears, they each patted each other's shoulders with smiles on their faces.

The metal plates of their Armor made a clattering sound, and one could hear that both were patting each other's arms with great force.

"Look! An argument is just an argument, and a disagreement is just a disagreement, but we are all comrades-in-arms who risked our lives to cross the Southern Mountains together; how could we turn against each other because of arguments and disagreements? Right? Our good Adjutant Piluo?"

Yeluba wore a fake smile on his face and said cheerfully to Adjutant Piluo.

And Adjutant Piluo also wore a fake smile on his face and said to the surrounding Soldiers: "That's right, arguments are a necessary part of communication, and disagreements arise because everyone has different views on the arrangement of our fate; some value safety, some value wealth, and these are all important, and often there is no right or wrong. Everyone disperse; as for the specifics, you can think about it yourselves. Don't make the current scene too ugly."

"Right, we are all comrades, and this scene is too ugly now. Everyone disperse, disperse!" After Yeluba finished speaking, he whispered to Piluo: "Make your people disperse."

Piluo also whispered to Yeluba with a smile: "You have more people; you disperse at least half of yours first, otherwise I won't speak again. Furthermore, if you dare to force anything else or take any private actions, I can tell you, I will commit suicide."

Yeluba's pupils shrank; he hadn't expected Piluo to be so ruthless, willing to commit suicide just to have Knight Hartna fight to the death to take his life.

He suddenly felt that he had been seen through by Piluo.

He hadn't guessed wrong; Piluo and Knight Hartna had long since seen through what kind of person he was. They hadn't said this before because they still had the possibility of waiting for the people they had agreed to trade with, and there was a high probability that the other party would find Knight Hartna directly, ignore the existence of the Soldier Captain Yeluba, and trade with Knight Hartna immediately.

After all, the other party was a high-ranking official of an enemy country and would not care about a small person like Yeluba who managed less than two hundred Soldiers; they probably didn't even know what someone like Yeluba was called.

But the current situation was very complicated; the enemy trading partner, who was suspected to be a Mage, had appeared, but not only did they not find Knight Hartna immediately, they also didn't reveal their identity to find Yeluba's side.

Moreover, the traces of battle on the south side of the Jiedian made the situation even more complicated. Was it a local Magic Beast that fought with the existence suspected to be a Mage? Or was it a Mage or a Knight Rank powerhouse from the Southern Province?

There were too many things beyond the control of the people in this Jiedian, and Piluo had to play the few cards he had left.

"Fine, but you must also promise not to publicly proclaim anything like you did today. If you promise, I will let my people disperse." Yeluba wore a stiff, fake smile on his face as he squeezed out these two sentences.

Piluo nodded in agreement, and so, Yeluba took the lead in letting his people disperse.

Piluo also let the Soldiers who supported him disperse, and as he left, he gave Yeluba, who did not understand the current complex situation, a meaningful look.

Having been given such a meaningful look by his opponent, Yeluba was full of doubts, but he didn't know where the problem lay, so he had to lead his men back in frustration.

On the way, he asked his guard Soldiers in a low voice: "Did you find that woman? A woman with that kind of figure shouldn't be hard to recognize once seen, right? Find her, and even if you have to use force, bring her to my house tonight."

The guard Soldier was somewhat troubled: "My lord, that woman really hasn't been found. Perhaps the food you gave was a bit too much; it will probably be difficult to find her before she eats all the food. After all, there are too many Chalu under the Mine, who knows which branch tunnel she and her family are hiding in?"

"Are you afraid of going down into the Mine? You didn't go inside the Mine to look?" Yeluba was full of fire and questioned the initiative of the Soldiers around him.

"I am ashamed, but there are many alien Beast activities in the Mine. My men and I are afraid that if there are too few of us going down, we will be blocked by those alien Beasts, and then we will be stripped of our equipment and come back, which wouldn't look good for you, would it?" This Soldier defended himself, and because the reason for the defense was so outrageous, it sounded like the truth instead.

"You—sigh, forget it. Those alien Beasts, after the trade is completed, they will be useless. Have you prepared the means to deal with them? Although we relied on them to lead the way to cross the Southern Mountains, those damn little things have made us suffer quite a bit. Kill them all before we leave, and consider it letting off some steam for everyone."

The guard Soldier immediately stated their plan: "You are right, so we plan to use some metal tools that alien Beasts cannot refuse as payment, let them kill the Villagers in the Mine, and then take advantage of the time they are picking up the Metal Mining Picks from the Villagers' hands to collapse and seal the entrance and exit of the Mine, burying them all in this Mine."

"They won't be able to dig their way out, will they?"

"They won't," the Soldier explained: "Those alien Beasts can't use the Mining Picks we Humans use at all. I've checked; the Mine tunnels where they are located are all unmined Mineral Ore, but they can't mine the ore right under their noses at all, and can only use stealing and robbing methods to get Mineral Ore from the Villagers."

"Hmph, that's it then. When the time comes, leave these Villagers, alien Beasts, and so on here, and we will leave with a large sum of money. No one will know what we did here. I've been a Soldier for so many years, I know these things too well. As long as there is a war, everyone does this. Don't worry about those dead Villagers; no one cares how they died or who killed them."

Seeing that the few Soldiers under his command had bad expressions, Yeluba added: "Besides, even if someone wants to investigate this matter in the future, they will only find that the Villagers were killed by terrible alien Beasts. We have been providing these Villagers with good food and drink these days, right? These Villagers were invited by us from the Village to help with mining; they provide Mineral Ore, and we give the Villagers food for trade. This couldn't be clearer."

The Soldiers were amused by Yeluba's shameless statement and burst into laughter one after another.

Yeluba also laughed, and the group returned to the wooden house.

After Piluo dispersed the Soldiers who supported him and made an appointment with them to meet privately tomorrow, he returned to the wooden house where Knight Hartna was.

The interior of the lightless, windowless, and doorless house didn't care whether it was day or night; as long as there was no light source, it was pitch black.

"My lord? Are you still awake?"

After Piluo entered, he carefully knelt halfway before Knight Hartna, who was emitting the smell of decay. A badge at his waist emitted a faint light, barely illuminating the surroundings.

"Cough, cough—Piluo, cough, I dare not, dare not fall asleep at a time like this. Hehe, after all, that you and I are still alive depends on the Potion on my body holding us up." Knight Hartna was indeed conscious, but the constant twitching of his cheek on his half-rotted face still showed how much agonizing torture the Knight was suffering every second.

"It is all my fault for being incompetent; I failed to find the trading party when I went out this time. But it is not as if there were no discoveries; I will tell you the situation now." Piluo carefully let Knight Hartna lean against a wooden stake, first fed the Knight some water, and then began to speak of everything that had happened from noon until just now.

"Hmm... it could not have been the Mage themselves who came. You do not understand the status of a Mage. The person who originally made the trade with me was merely one of the Mage's, one of the Mage's apprentices in their army."

Because of his injuries, it was difficult for Knight Hartna to speak, but he still strove to tell Piluo clearly what he wanted to say.

"But to be able to cause the scale of destruction you described... how could that be? That is something mostly only a Mage could do." Knight Hartna also did not understand how, if it were not the Mage themselves who came, such a terrifying scale of destruction could have been caused.

He certainly believed his Adjutant's words, but he could not explain the discrepancy between what was seen and what was rationally judged.

At this moment, Piluo took out a piece of cloth stained with some kind of Grease, carefully displayed it before the Knight, and even presumptuously brought it up to Knight Hartna's nose, letting Knight Hartna take a careful sniff.

"It is a type of flammable, hmm, flammable fuel from the enemy country. I have heard other Knights speak of this stuff; it seems only their country produces it in small quantities. This stuff is no cheaper than Magic Material; indeed, only a Mage could afford to use it. Perhaps the person who came was a confidant of the Mage. Why not come directly to find me?"

The Knight asked and answered himself, and soon, from the impression he had of the Mage group he knew and understood, he thought of the answer: "Perhaps the other party never intended to pay any 【Lizardman Transformation Potion】 at all; after all, the injuries on my body leave me no choice. Hehe, Piluo, perhaps the reason we are still alive is thanks to Yeluba currently controlling the Jiedian and the Soldiers."

The Knight was silent for a moment: "Never believe the words spoken by an enemy. Because when trading with an enemy, only when strength is equal can one ensure the enemy will not go back on their word or breach the contract. And when strength is not equal, one can only beg—beg that the other party might still honor the agreement."

Despair showed in Piluo's eyes; Knight Hartna's judgment had instantly shattered the persistence he had held onto all along. He had originally thought that by holding out until the trading party appeared, and by holding out until Knight Hartna drank the 【Lizardman Transformation Potion】, he could turn all the unfavorable situations around.

But who could have imagined, if the other party never intended to pay any Potion from the start, what was to be done then?

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