Chapter 251: News

Watching the young man leave his house without looking back, a doubt arose in Baal's heart. How come there wasn't even a process of haggling?

In the past few years, quite a few Rhovanion people had passed information to him. Although they also showed a certain degree of disgust, this was the first time Baal had seen someone as straightforward as this.

Once again cautiously looking at the emblem on the letter, it was a knight charging on a steed holding a long spear. Hmm, for Baal, this was very familiar. He hadn't seen it for the first time either.

And a seal with such an exquisite design was also rarely something people were willing to spend a lot of money to order from the Dwarves. Moreover, the Dwarves wouldn't casually sell this kind of thing to a second person.

After confirming that he hadn't been deceived, Baal's mood gradually became happy. He waved his hand to let his subordinates find the young man who was best at riding horses, while he himself sat at the dining table in the hall, poured himself a glass of red wine, and calculated that he was going to do a big deal this time.

Last year, what Baal traded to Fatis were nearly a hundred Northern humans and a dozen or so Easterling teenagers. These hundred-plus people exchanged for quite a few goods for him. His boss, Ashur, was very satisfied, the tribal leaders who had requests of him were very satisfied, and even Baal's own little brothers were very satisfied.

But Baal wasn't satisfied. He was the kind of person who never knew satisfaction, otherwise, he wouldn't have been begging to talk about "trade" after being driven away by Fatis, risking being killed.

And today, the order Baal obtained could bring him ten times the profit of last year. Although Dwarves indeed had a higher value than humans in the Easterling slave trade, there was absolutely no fivefold difference.

Now, Baal was going to use two hundred Dwarves to exchange for the benefits that could only be obtained by a thousand humans. This even exceeded all the wealth he had earned in these years, which made it impossible for this Easterling warlord not to put his heart into doing it.

Soon, under the leader's instructions, a dozen or so Easterling cavalry riding fast horses left Baal's camp in pairs, then dispersed and headed north.

Just as Brendon said, before a deal started, one always had to go and scout for information. Two hundred Dwarves were absolutely not a small number. Unless Baal had the guts to go and purchase them in the towns occupied by the leaders, otherwise, just gathering them from the surrounding small tribes would take a considerable amount of time.

And the departure of a dozen or so cavalry also startled the birds flying on the wilderness. They flew toward the higher sky, but then, inadvertently, followed the galloping cavalry. In a patch of withered yellow and dense grass in the distance, Allen was observing Baal's territory with binoculars, and those cavalry were also leaving under his nose.

Regardless of whether Baal was truly willing to serve him, Allen wouldn't completely hand over the decision-making power of this matter to an Easterling warlord. He had some kindness, some integrity, and sometimes some affectation, but he absolutely couldn't be counted as stupid. No matter what, he wouldn't truly trust Baal.

Of course, he wouldn't accept any form of extortion, such as the trade where the price doubled.

It was just that Allen didn't know yet that Baal had already asked for a lion's share from him. He came here just to confirm that this Easterling was truly working for him. In addition, he also brought two secret agents proficient in talking to birds, to master the first-hand information here.

And Holimion, who was only wearing a Noldor noble outfit, was cautiously observing everything around him. In this period, what was dangerous on the wilderness was not just humans. Due to the lack of food, hungry beasts were everywhere. Any tiny movement could expose the tracks of his group, which made Holimion's nerves tense all the time.

This place couldn't be counted as the hinterland of the Easterlings, but Allen only brought three subordinates this time: himself and two secret agents. It was still very dangerous if there was any movement.

Allen didn't have this worry. If he wanted to, he could immediately summon five hundred fully armed Swadian Knights who didn't know pain or fatigue. Not to mention anything else, slaughtering Baal's camp wouldn't be a problem at all, and the losses wouldn't even be particularly large.

It was just that doing so wouldn't bring him any benefits. And Allen wasn't someone who loved killing. In a sense, he particularly liked war, but that was only in the game. And in reality, he actually couldn't accept people around him dying on the battlefield, but he couldn't avoid experiencing such things again and again.

This was very helpless, but it was also very tempering. At least Allen now didn't have such intense emotional fluctuations when facing death. At least he could cover it up.

"Let's go." Seeing that Baal arranged for messengers to complete his order immediately, Allen put away the monocular, then patted the weeds on his body, and walked toward a dirt slope not far away. There were two Elven horses left there.

The two "Animal Friends," who were not particularly old, nodded and followed. Their partners knew where to find them, so they didn't need to wait here. And the last one to leave was Holimion. At this time, his tense heart gradually relaxed.

Suddenly, the group approaching the dirt slope heard the somewhat restless neighing of the Elven horses. Allen immediately reached out to stop the two young people beside him. After exchanging a look with Holimion, he drew the silver-shimmering longsword from his waist with a "swish," then circled toward the left side of the dirt slope at his fastest speed, while Holimion rushed toward the right side.

And just after the two rushed to the vicinity of the dirt slope, the neighing of the Elven horses had stopped, but a howl belonging to a human rang out. After the two saw everything that happened, they felt a bit funny.

It turned out that an Elven horse was pressing an Easterling who was dressed relatively decently with its two front hooves, while the other horse was circling around the person and the horse, as if it were guarding. Very obviously, this was an accident where a horse thief was beaten to the ground by two horses that were extremely human-like.

"Ah!

You damn beast, take away your hooves that deserve to be cut off." The man who was struggling desperately on the ground roared with anger to the extreme. It was just that after being flipped to the ground, he was like a turtle that had been flipped over, unable to stand up at all under the suppression of the Elven horse.

"Bring the two of them over." Seeing that there was no danger at the scene, Allen let Holimion bring the two children left in place over, while he himself prepared to interrogate this unlucky horse thief on the ground.

Why steal any horse, but come to steal an Elven horse? If they fought with full force, ordinary elite warriors might not necessarily be able to beat these two, not to mention a stranger who knew nothing.

"Speak, which tribe are you from?" Sensing Allen's arrival, the Elven horse moved its two front hooves away from the Easterling's back, but before the person on the ground could turn over, Allen's longsword, which was shimmering with cold light, was already resting on his neck.

Sensing all this, the Easterling stopped his movements immediately. In this region of Rune, if one was caught on the spot while stealing, then being executed was already a good outcome. The worst was to become a slave, living a life without hope forever.

Unless someone paid a sufficient price to redeem you, and the ransom was usually related to the stolen items.

"I am Lavar, a subordinate of Lord Ashur. You had better let me go. I can take out the wealth to redeem myself."

Actually, Lavar, who said this, had no bottom in his heart. Although he also had some property as someone serving Ashur, it couldn't compare to these two divine horses before him at all. Otherwise, he wouldn't have risked being caught to do this kind of sordid thing. You have to know, he hadn't stolen anything for more than ten years.

It was just that Lavar now heard very authentic Rune language, subconsciously thinking that the one interrogating him should be someone from Baal's tribe. Then, using Ashur's name, this could be discussed. If operated well, perhaps he wouldn't have to pay much money at all.

"What are you doing here? Delivering a letter to Baal?"

In fact, Allen, who was interrogating him, of course wouldn't care about Lavar's compensation. He also wasn't particularly interested in these customs of the Easterlings. At first, Allen was just purely interested in this Easterling. Now, he was also interested in Ashur's letter.

"You are not Baal's man. Who are you? Ashur's affairs are not something you can inquire about. Don't seek death."

From Allen's words, Lavar immediately understood that things were not as simple as he thought. He also just used Ashur's reputation to deter the person who caught him, but Allen had already started searching his body, and Holimion, who brought the children back, stood before Lavar's eyes.

Of course, the Easterling lying on the ground couldn't see much. Before his eyes, there was only a pair of leather boots with an exquisite design and inlaid with silver rivets, but this still made his mood even heavier.

Baal couldn't afford such expensive boots. Even his master, Ashur, probably didn't have them.

Soon, Allen searched a strip of cloth from Lavar's body, on which some words were written crookedly with black pigment. These symbols, which didn't know what they meant, didn't look like the beauty of words at all, but instead revealed a sense of savagery.

He could understand the speech, but Allen couldn't recognize the words. He placed the strip of cloth before Lavar's eyes.

"Tell me what is written on this, and you won't have to give me any compensation. I will also let you go. But I need to cut off one of your hands as the price for offending me. If you don't say it, then what you lose might be two hands, or something else very important to you. Do you understand?"

Allen's voice was very calm, even a bit gentle, but the content made Lavar's hair stand on end. The sharp blade resting on his neck had already cut the skin on his neck, and a trace of blood seeped out. The pain also made his heart completely chaotic.

Lavar, who had always lived in the Rune region, naturally knew the style of the Easterlings. He had no doubt about Allen's words, and even felt that this punishment wasn't unacceptable. But he was still hesitating whether to betray his master.

And after a few breaths of time, Holimion lifted his feet and left Lavar's field of vision. Actually, the Twilight Knight just went to check on his horse and didn't do anything, but this made the nervous Lavar quickly make a decision.

"Please leave me my right hand that can hold a knife, my lord. I am willing to say, willing to say."

A person who lost both hands was a cripple, and a cripple had no value to Ashur. A person without value, even if they offered loyalty, no Easterling leader would be willing to accept, because you would just be a cripple who wasted food.

"Read it. Don't think about lying to me. In this world, there are many powers you don't know that can distinguish whether you are lying."

As he spoke, Allen placed the strip of cloth on the ground, and his fingers also flashed with a trace of dazzling electric light at the appropriate time, stinging Lavar's eyes until tears flowed in the sun-drenched daytime.

The Easterling, who could no longer suppress the fear in his heart, opened his mouth and read tremblingly. Now he only had one thought in his heart: what kind of person did he run into today?!

"Baal, you stupid fellow, don't keep your eyes full of eye boogers on those goods all the time. Where is the topographic map I want? Where is the information on those warships? Where is the enemy's troop strength? If you keep using some useless news to fool me, soon, I will personally go to your territory, take off your head and make it into a wine cup, and pour wine for your son to drink. Do you understand?"

"That... that's all." After speaking, Lavar lowered his head in resignation, bit his collar hard, and waited for the severe pain that could come at any time.

Was Allen really going to cut off one of Lavar's hands? He could cut it. If this Easterling didn't cooperate at all, pain was an inevitable result.

However, there was no need now. If it were in war, Allen would take the life of this Easterling on the ground without hesitation. But at this moment, Allen felt that ensuring Lavar's integrity might be more in line with his interests.

If, as Allen promised, he cut off one hand, then Lavar, as a messenger, would certainly have to explain everything that happened today. And this was near Baal's territory, very close to the Red River, which would easily arouse Ashur's suspicion.

Perhaps, Allen could use this news to do something. He had never thought about letting Ashur off. On that list of must-kill names, there was the name of this Easterling leader. This was for those Northern humans who could have originally become his subordinates.

That was a full ten thousand people.

"You know what? My idea has changed. You have never seen me, and I don't know any news about Ashur. Your hand is saved. Of course, you can also report to your master and see if he dares to come and find trouble with me. Alright, I'm leaving, but I don't want you to see what I look like. Do you understand?"

As he spoke, Allen took away the longsword resting on Lavar's neck, flipped onto the back of the "Pursuit," and after a whistle, the sound of rapid hoofbeats rang out.

Until there was no sound at all, Lavar dared to lift his head. After cautiously looking at the situation around him, he picked up the strip of cloth and folded it according to the previous appearance.

The strip of cloth used to transmit information naturally had different aspects. It wasn't just a simple folding. There was a pattern inside. Lavar had discovered this very early. He could indeed restore it, and this also helped him. If it were discovered by Baal, I'm afraid his days to come would be worse than death.

After completing all this, Lavar walked toward the horse he had tied up with a staggering pace. At this moment, he regretted infinitely why he had raised greed.

But Lavar himself also understood that even if it came again, his decision wouldn't have any changes. ===== CHAPTER 252 =====