Chapter 30: Viscount Beckett's Painful Loss of the Treasure!

"Lord Drake!"

"What is it, Neil?"

"Lord Drake, I just saw a peculiar piece of iron in the town and bought it. I wanted you to see what kind of iron it is!"

The male servant had now returned to the castle.

However, to be safe, he decided to first show it to the castle's chief blacksmith to determine its value before deciding whether to present it to the Viscount.

"What peculiar iron? Show it to me!" Drake was distracted; what good iron could one buy in a small town?

After all, any precious iron was something even nobles flocked to.

"Lord Drake, look!"

A piece of iron the size of an infant's fist was handed to him. Drake took it, glanced casually, and froze the next instant.

"This... this... Scaled Starfall Meteoric Iron!" Drake's eyes widened. He spoke two words in a row before suddenly standing up. "Speak! Where did you get this Scaled Starfall Meteoric Iron?"

"T-t-the town, Lord Drake. Is it very valuable?" The male servant was also overcome with excitement, light flashing in his eyes.

"Valuable? Very valuable. This small piece alone is worth at least three gold coins!"

"T-three gold coins? Good heavens, I bought it for only one silver coin!" The male servant felt the world spin.

"Are there more Scaled Starfall Meteoric Iron pieces left in the town? Or find the person who sold it to you and ask where they found it. We'll go look for more!"

"Oh, and those vendors have more of this Starfall Iron, and there are five pieces the size of ostrich eggs!"

"The size of ostrich eggs? Then isn't each piece worth thirty gold coins? Quickly, go tell the Viscount... no, I'll go myself!" Chief Blacksmith Drake ignored the furnace fire nearby, dropped his hammer, and rushed out the door...

"My lord, look, this is Redstone Town in Viscount Beckett's territory!"

Gervas sighed as he finally arrived, looking at the three characters carved on wooden poles and signs at the town entrance.

Although the Fire Stallion beneath him had no trouble with such a long ride.

Gervas himself could not endure it.

Even riding a motorcycle for long periods in his past life caused backside pain; let alone galloping on horseback, where his backside felt like it was about to split open.

"Let's go, enter the town!"

To avoid trouble from lingering too long, Gervas did not mind enduring a bit more fatigue and immediately led his subordinates into the town on horseback.

This town in the Viscount's territory was nothing compared to Wheatfield Town in the Storm Territory.

Judging by the scale seen from a distance, this was a town with at least twenty thousand residents, a number already exceeding the total of a normal Barony.

Of course, this was still a border region; if it were a wealthy area in the kingdom's interior, a small city with thirty or fifty thousand people under a Viscount's rule would be normal.

Although the population was dense, the serfs, seeing Gervas and his party in fine clothes riding spirited horses, sensibly moved to the sides, leaving the originally bustling road completely unobstructed.

Five minutes later, Gervas and his party arrived at the town square.

The square in Redstone Town was paved with bluestone slabs, unlike the shabby Storm Territory, which still had dirt ground.

"Storm Territory will surely have this in the future!"

Gervas muttered, his gaze quickly drawn to the crowd on the left.

The area around the square was filled with street vendors, but the foot traffic was not heavy, so the goods on the stalls were immediately visible.

Only one spot had dozens of serfs gathered, with words like 'beautiful iron blocks' and 'expensive price' faintly drifting from the crowd.

Gervas immediately turned his horse and headed toward the crowd.

At first, the crowd did not notice the tall figures approaching from behind, but as the Fire Stallion's nostrils kept flaring, the onlookers finally realized something was wrong.

"N-n-noble lord, greetings!"

"Noble lord, greetings!"

With trembling voices, the pale-faced serfs parted the way, revealing the vendor's stall that had been surrounded by the crowd.

The fish-scale patterned iron blocks instantly caught Gervas's eye under the sunlight.

He immediately dismounted and approached the stall.

"Excellent! Excellent!" Gervas nodded repeatedly. Such meteoric iron was absolutely precious in both his past life and this one.

"How much for this iron?"

"N-n-noble lord, these iron pieces are ten silver coins each!"

The aura of Gervas and his group was nothing a mere servant could match; the two-and-a-half-meter-tall Fire Stallion alone proved the ferocity of Gervas's party, and the five refugees spoke with trembling voices.

Clatter!

"Here are fifty silver coins; I'll buy all these iron pieces!"

To the refugees' surprise, this noble lord was even easier to deal with than the servant.

A money bag flew forward, completing the transaction instantly, without even haggling over the price!

Could the money bag be short on silver coins?

While the noble lord had taken the iron and was remounting his horse to leave, the five refugees quickly opened the money bag.

After a quick count, they immediately discovered that not a single silver coin was missing.

"By the way!" Just as they were relieved, the noble lord suddenly turned back. "You had better leave immediately; otherwise, such a large sum of money will easily put you in danger!"

"Yes, noble lord! Thank you for your mercy!" The five refugees were instantly filled with shame and repeatedly kowtowed to Gervas in gratitude.

Gervas did not stay any longer; he mounted his horse with Lei Meng and others and rode away!

Not long after Gervas and his party rode out of the town, a caravan burst out of Viscount Beckett's castle.

Leading it was Viscount Beckett himself.

"My lord, Scaled Starfall Meteoric Iron is considered one of the finest materials among meteoric irons. For forging weapons and equipment, its sharpness or durability is at least three times stronger than that of other ordinary iron."

"Moreover, if appropriate mithril is added to this Scaled Starfall Meteoric Iron, it may even allow alchemists to inscribe runes upon it in the future, becoming a runic weapon!"

Viscount Beckett nodded. "Neil, are you certain there are five more identical pieces of Starfall Meteoric Iron?"

"Yes, my lord, I only bought the smallest piece at the time!"

"Very well, everyone, speed up!"

Thus, the convoy arrived at the town square five or six minutes later.

"Neil, where are the five serfs you mentioned?"

"This..." Neil stared at the now completely empty iron stall and was stunned for a moment. "My lord, those five people were selling right here just now."

"There was a huge crowd back then; the surrounding merchants and the people can all testify!"

Neil was so anxious that his face turned deathly pale.

"Go ask what exactly happened and where those serfs who sold the Star Iron went." Viscount Beckett's face was grim and terrifying.

And very quickly, several guards reported what had happened in the square earlier.

"An outsider noble bought all the iron in advance? This... this is Scale-Pattern Starfall Meteoric Iron!" Drake the blacksmith immediately cried out in anguish.

"Quick, chase them!" Beckett ground his teeth.

However, the subsequent situation was obvious.

The group Gervas led rode Fire Steeds that could travel a thousand li a day; although Viscount Beckett's were also warhorses, they were merely ordinary warhorses, and their speed could not keep up at all.

Moreover, hindered by his subordinates, they did not even catch a glimpse of Gervas's group.

In fact, thanks to Gervas's warning, the five fugitives were extremely alert, took a small path, and safely left Viscount Beckett's territory as well.