Chapter 703: The Caravan's Random Trap Box and Trade Letters

Jier moved clumsily, picking up the broken metal small window from the Silver Metal Plate and putting it back into place to jam it. He opened and closed it twice, finding it still broken; it wasn't noticeable when closed, but it would fall off as soon as it was opened.

"Looks good but useless, over-engineered, yet they only learned the surface of furniture design." Jier muttered randomly, quickly finding someone else's fault to blame for his own clumsy hands.

He got more and more carried away as he spoke, even sounding reasonable: "Human wooden windows are made of wood and are lighter, so the hinges can support the weight of the entire wooden window. But this little thing, the wooden window is made entirely of metal, yet the hinge structure hasn't been reinforced or redesigned. Truly 'carving a mark on the boat to find the sword'."

Jier believed his own words, so after closing the metal small window again, it was roughly unnoticeable, and he quietly moved his butt away to sit by the Pond and eat.

After a while, the Spirit returned riding the Giant Snail Shell. Jier took a look and discovered that the snail shell was also carrying many wobbling mushroom 'people'; these were exactly those walking poisonous mushroom minions he had seen before.

The Spirit was very proud, riding the snail shell and circling its metal hut a few times, muttering something to its mushroom friends.

Those poisonous mushrooms had no faces or mouths, not even eyes. Although they had moving mycelium feet, Jier didn't know if they had any intelligence at all.

A few mushrooms wobbled their bodies, seemingly 'saying' something, and the Spirit shrieked with glee.

After parking the snail shell steadily, the group of 'people' got off. The mushrooms fell off the snail shell one by one, wobbling, but these mushrooms were quite sturdy; they shook their bodies, shuffled their little mycelium feet at the base, and climbed back up again.

Under the lead of the Spirit, they circled this metal hut a few times and soon ducked into the metal hut.

Jier lay outside the hut door, staring wide-eyed into the interior, and discovered that the happy Spirit had prepared a few plates of rotten wood shavings as a gourmet treat for its mushroom friends.

It must be said, this guy still had some skill when it came to taking care of mushrooms.

The poisonous mushrooms, big and small, liked the rotten wood shavings on the tiny metal plates very much; their mycelium wrapped around them, and after a while, they bundled them up and tied them to their stalks.

Probably eating while walking.

The Spirit led its friends and began to head to the second floor of the metal hut. At this moment, Jier held his breath and watched carefully.

The metal small window of the first room on the second floor was opened, and the Spirit introduced some incomprehensible words to the mushrooms. Immediately after, they walked to the second room on the second floor.

Squeak—Bang!

Just as the Spirit opened the window halfway, the metal window fell onto the Silver Plate outside with a bang.

The Spirit, who was halfway through muttering, stopped talking. The mushrooms wobbled, wanting to get closer to 'see' what had happened, but the Spirit shrieked and pushed its friends toward the third room.

It seemed as if nothing had happened just now.

Jier let out a breath, but as soon as he looked up, his glowing eyes met the Spirit's small eyes as it turned its head to look over.

Jier had good eyesight; he saw the confusion and the sudden realization in the Spirit's eyes, so he quickly said, "Wait, the design of this window of yours is problematic."

So Jier blurted out all his so-called assumptions and theories. At first, the Spirit was confused and felt it might be its own problem, but then it repeatedly opened and closed the metal small window in the third room, and this window remained steady after being opened and closed more than ten times.

Now it didn't believe Jier's nonsense anymore, jumping around in the room in a fit of anger. Jier laughed awkwardly, grabbed the removed Steel Helmet, and prepared to slip away.

Seeing the 'giant' Human about to slip away after breaking its new house, the Spirit's eyes rolled around a few times, wiped its hands on its mushroom friends, and then swung hard toward the Human's back.

A small cloud of shimmering powder flew out, flew far away to catch up, and landed all over Jier.

The Spirit giggled, while Jier felt a bit itchy behind his neck.

Jier crawled out of the carriage. Although in his dream he had watched the Spirit tinker with the house and invite mushroom friends to visit, and he had even eaten some tough Monster Meat Jerky, in reality, only a few breaths of time had passed in the outside world.

After coming out, Jier looked at the sky, then held a piece of Rope, shouldered the suspicious wooden box dug out from the Bandit lair's clearing, and walked toward the small stream to the south.

Xueya Site was curious about what Jier was doing, so he followed.

"I originally thought this thing might be some kind of treasure, but at the time I felt it was highly likely that this thing was just a trap to trick people."

Jier briefly explained to Xueya Site what had happened before.

"Then why did you bring this thing back? Wouldn't it be better to leave it where it was and let it be forgotten?"

Xueya Site was a bit puzzled. Jier shrugged and explained, "The metal box with the lethal mechanism before also really contained coins inside. This box is much larger, so it shouldn't be completely devoid of anything valuable, right? Looking at that Bandit Leader's cunning mind, he would set up emergency escape routes even in trap areas, and pack coins in boxes with mechanisms, so what about this one?"

The implication was self-evident; the cunning Bandit Leader wouldn't go too far with such cunning mechanical traps; he always had to leave room for himself to quibble.

That is, he left the trap, but also left room for himself, or other confidants who knew about it, to quibble.

Regarding this complex mindset, Xueya Site was speechless and could only curse the weirdo a few times.

"It's dead people, haha, how could I care about so much? I can't trust such an insidious guy. After asking him questions, I twisted his neck. Hmph, that guy even wanted to take his old lover with him to die before he died. However, the price offered by that Ms. Feiniya was not low."

Jier told how the two were at odds. Xueya Site gritted his teeth: "This lady doesn't sound like a good person either. Why did you bring her back?"

Jier waved his hand: "It doesn't matter, she can't harm us. People like this can't do evil alone; they must be paired with other simple-minded people to be controlled by them to cause harm. At least we won't have any intersection with her afterward."

"Fine, if you think it's no problem, then so be it."

The two arrived at the small riverbank that still had a large amount of blood and high-temperature flame scorch marks.

Finding a place far away from the clearing, not directly facing it, Jier put down the wooden box, fiddled with it for a while, removed the Metal Lock on top, and then tied the Rope to the lid of the wooden box. Afterward, he held the rope and moved away from this thing step by step.

"Find a place to hide!"

Calling out to his companion, Jier took off his Elven Metal Shield and held it in front of him.

"Ready yet? I'm going to open it!"

Jier asked Xueya Site, who was not far behind him. He himself stood closer because of his full-body Metal Armor and shield.

Xueya Site found a Stone on the riverbank and crouched behind it: "Alright, I'm ready, open it."

"Then open! Go!"

Jier repeatedly pulled the rope in his right hand. Soon the rope on the ground pulled taut, and then as he tugged it, it pulled the upper lid of the wooden box open backward.

Creak—Bang! Clang-clang-clang-clang!!!

First came a loud explosion, followed by a sound of metal colliding and scattering.

Jier had sharp eyes and saw a large pile of deadly Metal Spikes spraying upward from the top of the opened wooden box. These Metal Spikes first flew upward, then scattered and fell over a large area around them.

This thing was designed insidiously; the bottom of the falling Metal Spikes was heavy, so the sharp parts stabbed fiercely downward. Shrubs, grass, stream water, soil, and Stones were all pierced and struck by these spikes.

Jier quickly put the shield over his head, followed by a series of tapping sounds from above. He turned his head to look at Xueya Site and found that this guy had already sensed the danger, rolled backward a few times, and had timely moved away from the falling range of the Metal Spikes.

"Good fellow, not to mention the complex and insidious design, just the production cost of this thing, I estimate it's not low."

Jier's left-hand shield shook, and he shook off the dozen or so Metal Spikes on the shield to the side.

And Xueya Site, with the help of the light from the glowing Magic pendant on Jier's body, recognized this thing.

"Jier, I know what this is." He didn't dare to approach the range where the Metal Spikes fell, and said from several meters away: "I've heard friends from other Caravan guards mention this thing. It seems to be a cargo trap specifically prepared by some wealthy Merchant Guilds for their large batches of goods."

"Oh? Tell me more."

Jier did not first attend to the contents of the wooden box; after all, the thing was sitting right there and would not grow legs and run away.

He had just wanted to walk a few steps toward Xueya Site to get closer and speak, when he felt his soles step on something sharp. Fortunately, his combat boots were also crafted from metal; the soles were not only reinforced with steel plates but also featured metal spikes to ensure a firm grip on the ground.

With a flick of his foot, Jier looked down and saw the metal spike from the trap that had fallen to the ground. It was a shuttle-shaped object with two sharp ends, though one end was heavier and the other thinner. This ensured that when the object fell, it could effectively injure the unprotected heads of people within a certain range. Furthermore, once it hit the ground, as long as the terrain was not particularly hard soil or rock, the soft ground would cause the heavy end to bury itself, leaving the light end pointing upward to trap the enemy once more.

Muttering a word of praise, Jier shuffled his feet along the ground, awkwardly moving to a spot outside the trap's attack range.

At this moment, Xueya Site was carefully using a shrub branch to pick up a metal spike, pointing at it as he said to Jier, "This thing seems to be called 'Death Nail Rain.' It is something that some wealthy, large Merchant Guilds with many caravans and high cargo volumes specifically commission Craftsmen to make. The purpose is to randomly mix trap boxes containing this lethal mechanism into a batch of goods, so that after the Bandits who rob the caravan are eliminated by accidentally triggering it, they won't dare to target their Merchant Guild again in the future."

After observing for a while, Xueya Site seemed to have determined something, then gently pinched the metal spike with his gloved fingers and examined it closely: "I heard that to increase its lethality, this kind of spike is specifically coated with poison before being set. However, the toxicity of this one seems to have already worn off; I don't see any signs of venom or poisonous powder on it."

Jier raised his eyebrows: "So insidious?"

"Of course. The purpose of those large Merchant Guilds doing this is to use this kind of thing, which they declare in advance, to deter the Bandits on the road who have designs on them. They don't even need to prepare many; a few are enough. The secret is mixed in with ordinary cargo, and apart from the Steward in charge of the caravan, no one knows whether a batch of goods contains this kind of deadly mechanism capable of killing a dozen or even dozens of people at once."

Xueya Site even said mockingly: "A few years ago, this thing was popular for a while. A fellow caravan guard who used to drink with me even sadly declared that our jobs were gone and that we were about to be replaced by this thing."

He shook his head.

Jier, however, said with a smile: "But that didn't happen, right? Long-distance freight is complicated; how could it be handled just by relying on a few inanimate objects? For example, the Harpy Monsters we encountered on the Strange Wind Grassland earlier. Those Monsters don't understand whether there are lethal mechanisms in the cargo, and they don't care either; they only care about eating people."

"It's even possible that human cargo is simply abandoned in the vast grassland to rot."

Xueya Site laughed at himself: "At the time, I wasn't able to think of it on that level like you. Everyone was terrified. For a year or two, the hiring price for guards was pushed very low by those merchants, but since everyone was worried about losing their jobs, no one felt anything was wrong."

"And then?" Jier pressed.

"And then? Then, haha, it's very simple. I heard that after the Bandits took down a caravan with reduced guards, they simply made the captured Shop Assistants and Merchant Guild Stewards go and open every single box of cargo they were carrying one by one. Meanwhile, the Bandits aimed at the people opening the boxes from afar with bows and Throwing Spears. Heh, it was just that simple; the problem was solved."

Jier was stunned, then burst into uncontrollable laughter.

After a good while, he recovered from the amusement, took the metal spike from Xueya Site's hand, examined it, and said: "Do you think this thing could be used later against the defeated troops who are plundering the population? As a means of mass lethality?"

Xueya Site rubbed his chin: "Not sure. This thing doesn't seem cheap, whether it's the crafting cost or the reloading after use. And, for such a complex mechanism, the Craftsmen who reload it seem to only exist in places with many Merchant Guilds in large towns, right? Like the previous Montoka City?"

"We certainly won't go back just for this one thing," Jier said, pointing to the six hundred or so young Refugees in the open space: "Besides, these people still need to be settled."

Speaking of this, Xueya Site had a question he had to ask, so he said to Jier: "So, why exactly do you want to take on these burdens? These are just one after another of endless troubles."

Jier knew his companion would have this doubt, so he quietly told him the thoughts he hadn't mentioned before.

"Hmm, is it for the Changmai Village people you rescued? And your and Bata'er Jiaoshi's overflowing compassion? Fine, although it's not that I can't understand it, if you ask me, you will regret it sooner or later. Food, drinking water, hygiene, movement, outdoor accommodation, warmth, and it's spring now—look at the sky, it's raining. A light drizzle is fine, but if it gets a bit heavier, they are so weak that they will all fall ill one after another."

Xueya Site added: "Not to mention whether Bata'er Jiaoshi can handle it alone; if he can't, the Herb powder and Herb water to treat diseases are not a small sum of money. Don't tell me you haven't thought of any of this."

Jier waved his hand, brushing it off: "Alright, tonight's harvest is actually quite significant. Although we lost many men, the supplies and looted goods obtained from the Bandits, not counting the coins, are enough to support them for a long time."

"You're the boss, you call the shots."

In the end, Xueya Site's reminder and advice stopped there. As long as Jier, this young Knight, knew what he was doing, he, a caravan guard in his thirties, didn't need to repeat himself until he annoyed the other party.

Since Jier had the intention to reload and use this seemingly decent anti-theft killing mechanism, he asked Xueya Site to find a group of careful young Refugees in the open space to pick up the metal spikes scattered around.

As for himself, he waded across the ground to the opened wooden box to see what was inside the trap box that Shanlang Bani had obtained but never opened.

The opened box revealed a complex composite mechanism made of metal and wood facing the sky. He even saw traces of scorching similar to what remains after gunpowder burns in the space at the bottom of the mechanism.

He didn't know if this other world had gunpowder or something similar, but this thing certainly looked like it.

Carefully moving aside the sturdy upper mechanism of the wooden box, there was indeed a storage area underneath that took up nearly half the space of the box. But to Jier's disappointment, there were no valuable Gold Coins or precious goods inside; instead, there were only some yellowed letters kept in a small Wooden box.

When he opened the small Wooden box, he had hoped in his heart that it would be full of precious jewelry or Gems, but the result was only delicate yellowed letters or rolled-up parchment.

What left Jier even more speechless was that when he casually unfolded the letters, he couldn't even recognize the characters inside.

It was not the text of the Empire Common Language, but letters written in the High Noble Language.

He opened the rolled-up parchment and found that it was also written in these characters.

This made him very discouraged. Jier was unwilling to give up and checked them one by one.

Finally, he found a letter in the corner that was not written in the High Noble Language, and he could finally understand it.

"Let me see what this is."

He used the illumination from his Magic pendant to carefully read the text above.

【Trade Request to the Huorong Cotton Chamber of Commerce】

【Our Merchant Guild urgently needs a batch of high-quality fine-spun Huorong Cotton cloth; the quantity should be two thousand rolls, and the quality should not be significantly lower than the sample your honorable Merchant Guild sent last time.】

【Regarding these Huorong Cotton cloths, last month, at the time of writing this trade request, we specifically used the sample provided by your Merchant Guild to make a set of winter thermal underwear exclusively for the wealthy class in the town.】

【I have to say, this special cotton cloth that can automatically absorb heat generated during activity and automatically and evenly release heat when inactive is truly too shocking; everyone who tried it on praised it. We never imagined that the Southern Kingdom would have such fabric that people living in the cold Northern regions urgently need.】

【Their range of application is very wide; not only for human thermal clothing, but our good friends, the Nobles, will have an even greater demand for them as insulation layers for their manors outside the town, and these gentlemen can also afford a higher price.】

【Not only that, we have connections; we heard that the Mage gentlemen also need this special cotton cloth to provide natural automatic thermal insulation for their expensive mysterious devices.】

【Therefore, regarding the Northern exclusive franchise rights for this Huorong Cotton cloth, can we find a time to discuss this matter specifically?】

【Even if the road is long, it is worth a trip for this. After receiving the letter, please send this batch of fine-spun Huorong Cotton cloth to our Merchant Guild through a secure channel. As for the payment, it has been deposited into the Kingdom Treasury; please use this letter to withdraw 20% of the purchase payment every month. You can withdraw for two months, i. e., 40% of the funds, before we receive this batch of ordered goods.】

【The remaining funds will be collected immediately after we receive this batch of goods. This trade transfer is guaranteed and handled by the Kingdom Treasury throughout. Please ship as soon as possible after receiving the letter.】

Jier was speechless after reading this. The 40% payment that could be withdrawn directly with the letter was probably not a small number. If these yellowed letters had been opened and read by Shanlang Bani, that guy would probably have taken Feiniya and stopped working as a Bandit long ago.

And now, looking at the date on the letter, Jier knew that no matter who it was, they had missed this deal.

Missed this money.