Chapter 50: Must Be Brought to Justice!

"Don't... don't hit me anymore, my lord noble! I was wrong, I truly know I was wrong!"

Beaten until golden light sparkled in his eyes, Carlo begged for mercy and admitted his faults to Gervas.

Only then did Gervas stop, "Where is the mithril? And tell me, how many people are in your Scorpion Bandit Gang in total!"

"I'll say... I'll say, my lord noble. The mithril is in the soil beneath the stone on the left side of the cave. Our Scorpion Bandit Gang has a total of..."

Carlo now only wished for death, because living was too much suffering.

Soon, Gervas found the mithril according to the instructions of Boss Carlo.

Besides that, Boss Carlo also revealed some details about the Scorpion Bandit Gang.

Including that the core of the Scorpion Bandit Gang totals over two hundred people, but on ordinary days, if a big deal arises, they can still gather two or three hundred common fugitives and bandits to assist.

So the total force amounts to five hundred people.

For a situation where a small lord's few dozen or over a hundred men could be called a battle, this is absolutely a significant force.

More importantly, besides Boss Carlo, the Scorpion Bandit Gang has a Second Leader and a First Leader above him, and the two are even stronger.

As for Kuntuo, who previously attempted to assassinate him intentionally, he can only rank fourth, considered the Fourth Leader.

"This is somewhat unexpected; a bandit gang actually has such strength!"

Although the matter of the mithril should not be exposed, Kuntuo's death means the Scorpion Brotherhood will surely investigate easily, or perhaps they already know.

Then, such a bandit gang that commits every evil act still has a certain probability of retaliating against Storm Territory.

Of course, talk is just talk; Gervas was not too worried. As long as he was given enough time, not long from now, he would no longer need to fear the Scorpion Bandit Gang.

"My lord, there is also a letter here!"

At this moment, a knight pulled a letter from the chest of Boss Carlo, who had just been sent to hell for repentance.

Gervas opened it directly to check and found it was written by someone from the Count Quake family to a leader named the Blood Wolf Gathering.

The letter stated that if this mithril trade succeeded, then in the future he would find ways to steal mithril from the family to trade with them.

Stealing mithril from the family?

Could it not be Count Quake himself?

Gervas suddenly remembered that count's younger brother who had united to falsely accuse the blacksmith Luca.

"This mithril is probably the lost batch!"

Now, holding it, Gervas felt even more at ease; after all, it was stolen goods!

Afterwards, after cleaning up the traces around, Gervas led Lei Meng and others straight away.

Although there were still ordinary goods lost by the Quake caravan in these mountains, the target was too big and not worth much money, so Gervas had no need to be greedy.

"My lord, this Daven is Count Quake's younger brother; it was him who, together with that blacksmith, falsely accused me!" Back at the castle, Gervas told Luca the signature on the envelope, and Luca the Hammer immediately became overwhelmingly excited.

This was the evidence proving his innocence.

"Luca, I, Gervas, swear by the God of Glory that I will hand this evidence to Count Quake within three years at the latest, to clear your injustice!"

"This... My Lord, you do not need to do this!" The rough Chief Blacksmith Luca looked at Gervas in disbelief, his eyes full of emotion.

This concerned five hundred gold coins; he originally did not expect Gervas to help him clear his injustice.

But now, Gervas had actually voluntarily sworn by the God of Glory.

Five hundred gold coins; let alone three years, even six years, he probably could not help the other party earn so much!

"Luca, I can feel the pain you suffered after being falsely accused, so I must do this thing. If I did not so desperately need this mithril right now, I would not have let you wait three years!"

"Lord Gervas, I am willing to wait! Luca thanks you for your benevolence!"

Luca was so moved he fell to his knees with a thud, and Gervas immediately humbly stepped forward to help him up, staging a scene of deep master-servant affection.

Of course, Luca probably did not know.

With the power of the intelligence system, Gervas might not need three years to possess a foundation no worse than the Count Quake family.

So by then, five hundred gold coins would be nothing but a drop in the bucket.

And by then, would Luca still be willing to leave the golden nest of Storm Territory under Gervas?

"My lord, then I will start work immediately and begin forging long swords!"

"No problem, are these materials enough to forge ten long swords?"

"My lord, it is already enough; by then, I might even save some materials to make a shield!"

"Good, Luca, then I leave it to you!" Gervas nodded and left the blacksmith shop with a peaceful mind.

When he arrived at the front courtyard, he happened to meet Knight Mi Gen, covered in sweat, and another knight.

"My lord!"

"How is it, Mi Gen?"

"My lord, it was truly guessed by you; that group of hunters really did enter our Storm Territory!" Mi Gen was somewhat excited.

Gervas understood, "Let's go to the conference hall; let Lei Meng and others come listen too!"

Immediately, Gervas gathered the other knights and went to the grand conference hall, and Mi Gen began to recount the events of this afternoon.

After they returned to Kane Town, they waited only a little over an hour before the Tulip Caravan sent a group to the southern wilderness.

Then, the group of hunters who had agreed in advance appeared.

There were over twenty of them in total, all carrying longbows; judging by their figures, they were not thin, meaning they usually ate their fill.

And after the two sides traded smoothly, that group exchanged wheat, cloth, needles, thread, farming tools, and other supplies before heading east to return.

Mi Gen and others, having Gervas's instructions, dared not follow too closely, but their traces were too obvious, so they were still trailed by Mi Gen and others all the way into Storm Territory.

Finally, Mi Gen and others tracked them more than ten li further east than the previous capture of the Iron-Shell Fire Salamander before losing their trail.

Because that area had already entered the dense forest and mountains appeared ahead, Mi Gen and others decided it was enough to return.

"My lord, it seems this is a group of thieves hiding on the territory who do not want to pay taxes!" Lei Meng immediately defined this group of hunters.

"Knight Commander Lei Meng is correct, my lord. We observed from a distance; the animal skins they sold were at least two or three hundred pieces, from which we can see they poached too many prey!" Mi Gen immediately agreed.

"My lord, this must be stopped—those thieves who have stolen your wealth must be brought to justice!"

As Gervas's subordinates, it was the duty of these knights to protect Gervas's interests.

Thus, whether it was Knight Lei Meng or Mi Gen and the others, all were filled with righteous indignation.

Of course, in daily life, they also hoped their lord would treat the serfs more kindly.

But that was predicated on the serfs fulfilling their tax and labor obligations.

"Rest assured, now that we've clearly located them, I will not allow tax evasion to exist within my domain!"

"Knight Lei Meng, go notify Captain Laurent to assemble fifty soldiers. Mi Gen, you and your men prepare your gear—we depart in half an hour!"

"Yes, my lord!"