Chapter 175: Already Became the Midday Meal!

Hehehe!

Neo coughed and gasped in anger, while Gervas, unhurried, began searching his body!

"Secretary Neo, no need to thank me. After all, by then everyone will know the goblins were the ones who dealt with you. Even Minister Weilade won't be able to trouble me!"

Hehehe!

"Secretary Neo, do you know what the most painful thing in life is?"

Hehehe.

"Hmm, I know you don't know, so I'll be magnanimous and tell you: it's dying with money still unspent!"

As he spoke, Gervas had already gathered the remaining ninety gold coins and shook them before Neo.

Pfft!

Finally, Secretary Neo spat out a mouthful of old blood and could no longer hold himself up.

His head tilted sideways; he died right there on the spot.

Secretary Neo, deceased!

"My lord, these are the gold coins and money bags taken from that goblin leader!"

Half an hour later, Lei Meng, Knight Mi Gen, and others arrived on their Magic Swift Eagles to rendezvous with Gervas's group.

"What happened to that goblin leader?"

"My lord, we dealt with the goblin leader directly. Those goblins originally intended to surround and attack us, but with our Magic Swift Eagle basket, they could only watch helplessly as we departed!"

"After we left, that goblin troop retreated straight into the depths of the wasteland."

"Excellent!"

Gervas stored all the gold coins and money bags.

What a relief that sigh was today!

If that group led by Neo hadn't been so greedy, the silver and copper coins would have been enough for them to enjoy themselves properly for two days upon their return.

But now, except for those few cavalrymen, everyone else died at the hands of the goblins.

Moreover, to make the disguise convincing enough, the subsequent bodies of Neo and the others were all thrown into the wasteland by the Magic Swift Eagles.

Because after goblins kill their prey, they don't even spare the corpses of their own kind, let alone human corpses.

Boom! Boom!

At the edge of Lord Pa Ke's viscounty, an army galloped forward, led by Viscount Pa Ke himself.

Upon arriving at the previous battlefield, they found nothing but vast patches of dried blood; not a single other person was in sight.

Not a single person, not even corpses, weapons, or other scattered items were to be seen.

If not for tracking the bloodstains, no one would believe a battle had occurred here just half an hour ago.

"My lord, this is where we were surrounded by that group of goblins. Secretary Neo was stabbed to death right here; three or four bone spikes pierced his abdomen!"

"If we hadn't fought desperately to break through, we would have died here too!"

The Bronze Knight who had escaped earlier had only roughly bandaged his wounds; now he pointed at the battlefield and recounted the ambush to Viscount Pa Ke.

Of course, he did not mention the bone whistle.

For there is a significant difference between breaking out through brave combat and escaping while the enemy was lax.

"My lord, the area is covered with small footprints of goblins; the final direction was toward the Chaotic Wasteland. Aside from that, there are no corpses or weapons!"

Soon, the soldiers who had searched the surroundings reported the situation.

"Truly most unfortunate. It seems Viscount Neo has already become the goblins' midday meal!"

Viscount Pa Ke let out a sigh.

But in his heart, he cried out in relief.

That group of goblins had very likely intended to ambush his viscounty.

If they hadn't happened to encounter Neo's group, his losses tonight might have been considerable.

"Viscount Pa Ke, are the bodies of Secretary Neo and the others truly gone?" Although the cavalrymen had never encountered such a situation before.

"Indeed. The nature of goblins is well known; they are filthy creatures who are never picky. Any race, even including their own kind, is seen by them as delicious roasted meat!"

"Let us go, everyone. I will send people to escort you out of Viscount Pa Ke's territory, after all, this happened within my lands!"

"My lord, this is the mine!"

"Oh? So the mine is now directly connected to our territory?"

Although Gervas had purchased this iron mine, he actually never knew its location.

But now, upon seeing it, he discovered the iron mine was actually connected to Baron Kane's territory.

But the problem is, wasn't this previously that fellow Pa Ke's?

Shouldn't that kingdom's passage have been on the side of Baron Kane's territory?

"My lord, actually this iron mine originally did not belong to Viscount Pa Ke's family's territory..."

Seeing his lord's surprised expression, Old John wore a strange look.

Having spent a full seven hundred gold coins, his lord had not even visited the mine.

Only someone with such a carefree heart could be like that.

And Old John began to tell the origin of Viscount Pa Ke's family's iron mine.

Speaking of it, this iron mine had once been the subject of a considerable dispute.

That is, the ownership of this iron mine originally did indeed belong to the side of Baron Kane's territory, after all, one could see it from where the kingdom's main road passed through.

But several decades ago, before the iron mountain had been discovered, this border forest was utterly useless.

Until one day, Lord Pa Ke's father accidentally learned that this very mountain range actually contained an iron deposit.

Thus, Lord Pa Ke's grandfather concealed the situation and purchased this hill from the master of Baron Kane's fief at an extremely low price.

His excuse was that he wished to establish a high ground on this border to facilitate defense against invasions by the alien races of the Chaotic Wasteland.

At that time, the border was even more chaotic; when someone spent a "huge sum" to buy a useless hill, the master of Baron Kane's fief agreed without the slightest hesitation.

Of course, at that time this territory was not yet called Baron Kane's fief; as for what it was called, too much time had passed, and no one remembered.

In short, he was a baron born into a small family.

At first, this baron thought he had made a profit.

But until a year later, when he suddenly saw the Pa Ke family rise and heard it was due to the iron mine's production,

the baron finally realized the problem. After sending people to secretly investigate, he indeed discovered that the very hill Lord Pa Ke had deceived him into selling was the one producing the iron ore.

Since then, both sides engaged in a long drawn-out dispute and argument, even experiencing several private clashes.

But everything ended on a night two years later, when an alien race attacked Baron Kane's fief.

Since then, no one among the nobles of the iron mountain ever questioned it again.

Especially as Lord Pa Ke's family continued to rise, the new baron dared not mention the mine at all.

Even the current Baron Kane of these years was the same.

Good heavens! Gervas exclaimed, "Good heavens!"

It seems I have done a good deed after all; this can be considered returning the property to its rightful owner!

Afterwards, Gervas followed the crowd into the mine shaft himself and then designated the central direction to begin excavation.

"Baron Gervas! I have had a word weighing on my heart for a long time, but since you are so generous, I would feel guilty in my heart if I did not speak!"

The iron master brought from Iron Wolf City, after accepting the two silver coins in reward that Gervas had given extra, finally could not hold back and spoke.

"Speak!"

"My Lord Gervas, I am only speculating; if I am wrong, please do not blame me..."

"That is, through my investigation over these past days, I have always felt that this mine... this mine has some problems; that is, many of the ores inside the mine shaft are too loose..."

"As if... they were filled in by human hands..."