Chapter 647: Inquiries, Searching for the Carriage, and Heading East

The small merchants and travelers wandering around looking for suitable trades did not dare to approach Jier and his companion as they rode their horses.

Not to mention the Amber Metal Long Staff that Priest Bata'er held horizontally across his horse's back, even the various weapons on Jier's tall and sturdy Tianxuecao and the weapons and equipment on Jier himself made the nearby pedestrians look fearful, taking the initiative to clear a path from two or three meters away.

Jier did not even need to open his mouth to ask people to move, which was quite convenient.

Yet, after the two of them circled the area, they not only failed to see Xueya Siter and their carriage in the open space at the city gate, but they also did not see the familiar carriage on any of the several roads connected to the gate's open space.

"What should we do? I have no idea where he went."

Jier looked troubled, but Priest Bata'er was more at ease: "Do not worry. I have heard that outside Mengtuoka City, aside from business swindlers, it is actually quite safe. Your companion is a seasoned caravan guard as you described, so he surely will not run into any trouble."

After thinking for a moment, Priest Bata'er said: "Perhaps he went to find a place to relieve himself, but he could not leave the carriage unattended, so he went to find someone he knows locally to help?"

Jier thought about it, and indeed, that possibility existed, and it was not small. When a person is alone looking after a carriage and encounters a stomachache, it is indeed very difficult to handle.

If you say you get off the carriage to find a place to relieve yourself, then what about the carriage?

But if you watch the carriage, what about your own stomachache?

You certainly cannot do it inside the carriage?

Jier thought of this and gave a sheepish laugh.

He was riding on the tall Tianxuecao, so his field of vision was excellent; he looked left and right, and his eyes lit up.

In this open space outside the city gate where people spontaneously gathered for small-scale trade, besides these small merchants, there were also small vendors who specifically did business with these people.

A row of handcart stalls selling local food and cheap drinks not far away caught Jier's attention.

"Let's go, let's go ask over there. These stall owners must have come here early in the morning; someone must have seen and noticed where Xueya Siter and the carriage went."

Once Jier said this, Bataer also understood and thought it was a good idea, so he slowly urged his prairie horse to move closer.

As soon as Jier's tall horse approached, many travelers who had originally stopped to eat or drink to relieve their hunger at noon subconsciously halted their steps.

Several vendors who were still tending to their stalls looked up, and their expressions immediately turned unpleasant.

But they quickly and cautiously put on a uniform smile, rubbing their hands together as they greeted Jier, who was wearing iron armor.

"No worries, everyone. I am just asking about something. You have all been here since early this morning, right?"

Jier's words made the vendors relax slightly, but the older vendors remained cautious; they had long known how easily these 'big shots' could turn their backs on people.

They might be polite one moment, but the next they might beat someone up on the grounds of being offended.

The travelers who were still eating and drinking at the stalls quickly shoved their food and drink into their mouths, tossed down some coins, and without waiting for change, lowered their heads and hurried away to the side.

The vendors all replied one after another that they had indeed arrived in the morning, but only after the farmers had left the city.

Because the farmers had empty pockets and liked to steal their food when it was crowded, the vendors had long since made it a habit to wait until the farmers heading to the fields had left before quickly leaving the city or rushing over from surrounding villages and towns to set up their stalls on the open ground outside the various gates of Mengtuoka City.

"Hmm, then did you notice anything this morning here—that is, in the open space outside the city gate or on the street—a carriage pulled by two horses parked here?"

As soon as Jier asked, a vendor immediately bowed and nodded, saying they had seen it, but it had not waited at the city gate the whole time; once the number of travelers and small merchants doing business here increased, the person had driven the carriage away along the road to the north.

"Oh! It never came back?"

Jier had considered the possibility that Xueya Siter might not have waited in the same spot, which was why he had this follow-up question.

A young, sturdy female vendor replied: "I noticed that carriage came back earlier, but it seemed like a few people went up and said a few words, argued a bit, and then left."

Jier narrowed his eyes: a few people, arguing, leaving.

Something is wrong; could something have happened?

Jier's tone immediately became stern: "Speak clearly, how many people, and what kind of people? Small merchants doing business, travelers, or, well, you know, those people."

The stern tone seemed to frighten the female vendor, and she began to stammer.

At this moment, Bataer carefully dismounted, wearing his fur shoulder armor and Heart Protector, and holding his Amber Metal Long Staff, he walked up to the vendor, nodded politely to greet her, and then said: "Do not worry, my companion is just anxious about the safety of his friend. We had agreed to meet outside the city gate at noon, and since we do not see him now, we are asking you who are always operating here."

Jier coughed lightly and added: "Yes, there is a coin reward after answering. Tell me, what kind of people took my friend away after the argument?"

By this time, Jier was already suspicious, so he directly used the word "took away."

An old vendor added at this point: "My lord, they didn't take him away, they didn't. No one at the city gate dares to take someone away in front of the soldiers; the person in the carriage left on his own."

"You saw it too? What exactly happened?"

Looking at the young, smiling Priest of the Agriculture God in front of her, the female vendor stopped stammering and gave the answer: "It's just that this area outside the city gate is controlled by a gang. Whether you park a carriage in the open space or set up a stall like us, you have to get the gang's permission."

The other vendors around them all bowed and smiled; this was just something that couldn't be helped.

Jier understood: "Oh, the carriage parked here was in the way of their business, right? Priest Bata'er, Xueya Siter probably didn't want to pay the money they were demanding, so he drove the carriage away. He'll probably be back in a while."

Jier looked up at the height and position of the sun; it was high noon, and the agreed-upon time had already arrived or even passed.

"How about this: you and I will each walk for a while along the two diverging roads to the north. We should be able to run into Siter and the carriage. Regardless of whether we find him or not, let's meet back here in a little while."

Bataer nodded: "That is the right thing to do. Let us set off then."

Jier reached into the sturdy Leather Bag at his waist, grabbed a handful of copper coins, and scattered them toward the vendors who had answered him: "It's not much money, just copper coins, thank you."

Then, pulling on the Jiansheng to turn his horse, Jier pointed to a fork in the road to the due north, and then pointed out another fork slightly to the west for Bataer.

He then gave a shout, letting the Tianxuecao start a 'slow' trot.

As he ran, Jier noticed that among the onlookers watching him ask questions, there were several young guys whose attire did not look like they were doing business. He snorted coldly, thinking to himself that if he found his friend, it had nothing to do with them, but if he didn't, these guys were going to be in trouble.

The vendors nimbly caught most of the copper coins Jier had scattered in the air, and holding the brownish-copper coins in their hands, they looked at each other: "He really gave money just for answering?"

Although this money was not much, combined, it was the total daily income for a vendor, so it was quite easy to come by.

Jier and his companion split up, moving from the north side of the open space at the city gate.

Outside the city wall was a stretch of open space specifically for city defense. Beyond that was a road circling the city, with low mud houses built on both sides of the road.

Jier knew that generally, building houses outside the city wall was not allowed, for fear that an attacking force could dismantle those houses to attack the city, or use the houses to hide from long-range strikes from the city wall and launch attacks from close to the wall.

But after all, Mengtuoka City was a transportation hub with a large volume of trade, and even though the city had been built very large and could accommodate enough population inside, people had still built low houses outside the city.

The houses being built low was already a compromise.

Jier noticed that most of these houses along the road now had a small courtyard, and from time to time, small merchants would come in pairs and run into the houses to secretly complete their trades.

It seemed that the houses near the city gate were mostly places where small merchants specifically stored their goods while conducting illegal, tax-free small-scale trades.

To be honest, this kind of thing was indeed hard to manage; when they weren't trading, tax officials couldn't determine if the goods in the houses outside the city were intended for trade.

Merchants could say they are using this as a warehouse, and that would be perfectly fine.

Transactions within the city can be settled using only documents, while the goods are stored outside the city; once a transaction is established, an empty carriage can go outside the city to collect the goods with the transaction contract in hand.

Of course, large-scale transactions within the city will certainly invite the tax officer's subordinates to supervise on the spot, and after confirming the transaction, the due taxes will be collected.

Jier thought that if they found coins inconvenient or unsafe for this tax, they could even record it first and wait until the end of the month or the end of the quarter for the merchant guild involved in the transaction to bring the money to the tax office themselves.

While thinking, Jier lifted his eyes and saw a carriage pulled by two horses coming toward him, and wasn't the driver handling the carriage none other than Xueya Site?

However, what was that young man sitting next to Xueya Site doing?

"Hey!"

Jier shouted, trying to get his companion's attention.

In fact, Xueya Site had long since seen Jier, who was fully armed in armor, and he triumphantly said to the young man sitting beside him: "How about that? What did I say? Look, my companion is here! A Knight, you know! Haha."

The young man's complexion turned terrible in an instant, and then he actually acted ruthlessly, jumping down from the front seat of the carriage.

After falling to the ground, he limped away, drilling into a gap in the wall of a nearby house, and then ran off into the fields behind.

A Farmer family guarding and tending the fields saw someone trampling the crops they were renting, and immediately blew the Wooden Whistle hanging around their necks, summoning other brothers from their family nearby to go together and catch the young man trampling the crops.

Jier, riding on his horse, saw it all; although he didn't know exactly what was going on, he was very satisfied with the outcome, and presumably those Farmers would not let off the young man who had run all the way through the fields, trampling quite a few crops.

At the very least, a good beating was unavoidable.

The carriage slowed down to approach Jier, and once it was close, Jier rode alongside and asked Xueya Site what was going on: "After I finished up with Bata'er Jiaoshi and came out, I didn't see you. I asked those setting up stalls in the open space, and they said you had returned around noon but left after getting into an argument with someone? What happened?"

Xueya Site said with a helpless look: "What else could it be? The open space outside the city is the territory of a small gang, and you have to pay them to park a carriage there. Hey, and they charge by the hour, too."

"You didn't pay, right? That makes sense, it was early in the morning, and there was still some time before noon."

"Yeah, so I drove the carriage to a less crowded roadside nearby and waited for a while, planning to go back and wait for you guys near noon. As a result, that group came looking for me, demanding I pay before parking to wait for people. I wouldn't do it, and they started pestering me. If I hadn't been worried about them hurting the horses, I would have at least given them a few punches to the face."

Jier shrugged; he knew it would be like that.

"Then what was that just now?"

Xueya Site spat to the side: "I didn't want to pay, so they tried to drive me away. The ground was sloped and I couldn't stand my ground, so I had no choice but to tangle with them for a bit. Anyway, once I waited for you guys, they wouldn't dare ask for money. Right?"

Jier nodded and patted the gear on his body. Want money? Do they want to taste some metal?

"That kid was one of their people, insisting on following the carriage to supervise me so I wouldn't sneak back near the open space. Hey, I told him my companion was a Knight, but that kid didn't believe me. Haha, his expression was priceless when he saw you just now."

"Wasn't he supervising you to keep you from getting near the open space? How did he end up coming along with you?"

As they were about to approach the open space by the city gate, Xueya Site was not as cautious as before: "I lied to him, saying I was coming over to wait for someone to pay me, and he wanted to collect the money, but I said I couldn't give the money to him and that if I were to pay, it would be to his boss. The kid had no choice but to follow me over."

Jier smiled.

Their group, one rider and one carriage, stopped in the open space, but no one dared to approach.

Xueya Site smiled at a few people not far away, pointed at Jier on his sturdy horse, shrugged, and beckoned with his hand.

But those few people acted as if they hadn't seen anything, shrinking their heads and disappearing into the crowd.

"Hahahaha."

"Hahahahahaha."

The two of them laughed out loud together.

"You two are laughing so happily, and since Siter the guard is back, let's set off!"

Bata'er Jiaoshi, riding his horse, came through the crowd and said.

Jier shrugged: "I'm not familiar with this place, Bata'er Jiaoshi, you lead the way. We'll follow."

Thus, the three of them traveled along the road around the outskirts of the city, first heading south, crossing a stone bridge with heavy human and carriage traffic in the southern part of Mengtuoka City, and after crossing a river with abundant water, they continued to move east.

They kept moving close to Mengtuoka City, and when the tall city walls finally stopped blocking the view of the eastern part of the city, Jier saw a shimmering, hazy light on the horizon in the distance.

"That, that must be the Baishi Chengqiang Guanka you mentioned, right?"

Although Jier was asking, his tone was certain.

The other two confirmed Jier's judgment: "That's right, we should be able to arrive before dark, and we'll be able to pass through soon. Once we cross the checkpoint, we'll find an inn to spend the night."

"The supplies in the carriage also need to be sorted out. By the way, Jier, should we get some thick canvas to reinforce the carriage's shed? I'm afraid someone will cut the shed open and steal our things."

Jier's carriage not only held his own things, but also some of Xueya Site's luggage, and at this moment, Bata'er Jiaoshi's travel luggage was all together as well.

"Right, they sell those things at the checkpoint, don't they? The three of us will work together tonight to reinforce the carriage. We don't need anything else; the supplies are sufficient, and we can travel quickly all the way."

After deciding on the subsequent actions, the three continued to advance along the wide road leading to the Baishi Chengqiang Guanka.

All around were large fields, the terrain slightly undulating, but compared to the continuous mountain ranges stretching north and south in the distance, they were nothing more than ripples in a pond.

Beside the fields, countless Farmer families were sitting under large trees at the edge of the fields to shade themselves and rest. Farmers near the road saw Bata'er Jiaoshi riding past on his horse and waved to greet him from far away.

Bata'er Jiaoshi was exceptionally excited at this moment; he frequently raised the Amber Metal Long Staff in his hand to signal back, back and forth, without feeling any fatigue at all.

Jier was not interested in these things. He looked at the vast expanse of white buildings in the distance that were gradually approaching and becoming brighter. The northern and southern mountain ranges dived into the earth slightly there, just like snakes, revealing a mountain pass that was not very wide, allowing the Western Province to have a natural passage to the Southern Province.

However, during the period of Dwarf rule, it is said that those alien races did not have the provincial divisions of the Human Kingdom, but rather distinguished regions by family clans with long histories. Then, what were they using such a magnificent building for when they built it?

It couldn't just be a simple defensive city wall fortress built at a strategic transportation hub, could it?