Mercenaries and Adventurers

The carriage moved as Mr. Scott pulled the lanyard earlier.

First, he walked forward a little distance, as if he had reached the back door, and then there was the sound of the door opening, and the carriage continued to move.

Sitting in the small compartment, Kiel didn't know where the carriage would stop after going out from the back door of the Burning Furnace Chamber of Commerce, and then circle around Dorne town a few times. But he doesn't care about that either.

The air in the car was stagnant for a moment, or so Keel felt.

He opened his mouth: "The force that manages the underground black market, do you know which one it is?"

Hearing Keir ask this question, Mr. Scott, who was sitting and resting, chuckled: "Why do you ask this? Do you think those people are too cruel?"

"Isn't it cruel? If you cut out your tongue, you'll only be able to swallow some rotten porridge for the rest of your life. Large pieces of food are inconvenient to chew and swallow. Is there anything more inconvenient than this?"

Kiel sighed, he felt that the different world was already very cruel, but he didn't expect such a trivial matter to have such a cruel side.

Mr Scott sees it differently.

"What if, Knight Kiel. What if this coachman was raised like this? You know, many children never live to grow up. Farmers and women in the fields always give birth to too many children, and those children either Starve to death in a certain winter when there is no food, or get a serious illness, let those farmers set up a wooden statuette in their homes."

"A statuette?"

"It seems that you don't understand these things. Many children died young. There are no tombs or steles to bury the ashes. In most cases, there is only a small wooden statue that doesn't even have a name, and they or their appearance are roughly carved."

Keel fell silent.

"Therefore, there are always these and those people, walking in remote villages, begging for those children who are seriously ill or cannot support them from the parents of farmers whose children are about to die."

Kiel snorted coldly: "Then he cut off his tongue after being rescued? Didn't the kingdom follow the imperial decree and prohibit the trading of human beings and the slave trade?"

Mr. Scott stretched out his hand and pressed it, signaling to Keir to relax: "Young knight, look, in the story just now, is there a shadow of an iron coin? No?"

He waved his hand heavily: "Without coins, without buying and selling, naturally there will be no trade. This is adoption, it's giving away."

"It's just a sophistry. Although there is no currency, the logic behind it is still the same. Favors, permission, support, recommendations, similar non-material transactions, are still transactions. There is always another way to get children's organizations and influence' 'Return' to the farmer who gave the child."

Keir wasn't stupid either, he wouldn't be so easily persuaded.

"Maybe so, but this kind of thing is always inevitable and will always happen. Children will always die young for one reason or another, and many powerful organizations always need people trained from childhood."

"Not only that, who can guarantee that those children were brought up from a young age? They were not sacrificed to some evil thing."

Keir retorted: "As long as it keeps happening, Mr. Scott, don't you think the kind of thing I'm talking about won't happen? Evil creeps out of every crack and we're talking about this It’s not a gap anymore, it’s simply %￥% opening the door for the evil to take the initiative.”

Mr. Scott smiled wryly: "And this, isn't it time for you knights to show their skills? Besides, let's sit in the carriage and talk, those things will not disappear automatically, and they are even happening in other places. Does this make everyone so upset that they don't even eat or work?"

Words are such words, and principles are such principles, but words cannot be said in this way, and principles cannot be interpreted in this way.

Keir knows a lot of things about himself, and he can't control this point in front of him. So, he had no choice but to ask: "So, back to the topic at the beginning. Which force organization is managing your underground black market?"

Faced with this question, Mr. Scott said that he had no answer, or that he had some guesses, but did not dare to name the name.

It was a very scary name for businessmen, and it annoyed the people of that organization and the chamber of commerce. Often when they woke up, they couldn't even keep their own clothes. This is still light. Some people have heard that those who annoyed that organization would even sell themselves out.

Seeing Mr. Scott's faltering, Keir understood.

"Is that it?"

"Which one?"

"That's the one."

Keir made a movement of pulling out a money bag, and it was this movement that startled Mr. Scott and shuddered: "It's that one. You just need to understand which one it is."

"Don't you care? Besides, when dealing with those people, don't you feel that the coins in your pockets are secretly getting smaller without knowing it?"

Hearing Keel's ridiculous statement, Mr. Scott couldn't laugh or cry: "It's not that scary. After all, we are all human beings. For some interests, we can still cooperate in some places. At least the underground black market in Dorn Town is like this. .”

He explained: "Before Dorne Town was established, there were some black market-like places in the wild nearby, all of which were bandits who wanted to sell the stolen goods, and those who wanted to exchange cheap goods for expensive goods. Big merchants. But it was too messy back then, at least that’s what I heard. Back then, bandits were worried that they would be caught by bounty hunters taking their goods to the wild black market, and greedy merchants were worried that they would bring money and even people Take all the money and send it to Xiongkou."

"The previous generation of the Chamber of Commerce saw the advantages and business opportunities of this place. After all, you know, the border between the two provinces, the mountains separating the north and the south, the white stone city wall on the opposite side, and the prosperous city of Montoka. No The opposite side of the truth can be so prosperous, but the place under our feet cannot."

"Later, several major chambers of commerce jointly persuaded the local aristocratic lord to entrust this piece of wild land on the east side of the mountain range, which is a large piece of land near the current town of Dorne, to the chamber of commerce. It was not the current chamber of commerce at that time, I heard that only the 'Golden Scythe' and the 'Treasure House' were the first to plan to do so. Later, other big chambers of commerce gradually joined in."

"Others are fine. The Union of Chambers of Commerce has always wanted to control the black market. Tsk tsk, but after trying a few times, it all ended in disastrous failure."

"how to say?"

"What else? It's a simple matter that murders happen every day. The most troublesome thing is that once the black market prospers, it will greatly affect the normal trade of Dorne Town."

"Nobody does business well, right?"

Keel guessed.

His words brought back a roll of Mr. Scott's eyes, and the hood on the cloak can just expose the eyes: "Everyone wants to get a cheap low-priced item in the black market and make a difference, so everyone tries their best to entrap the normal Chambers of Commerce and caravans. Everyone in the town may be the eyeliner of the hostile chamber of commerce or the hidden stake of the bandits. When each caravan sets off, the horseshoes have not left the town, and the bandits outside the town can know the caravan The number of goods transported and the number of guards. You can even know whether the person leading the team has an illegitimate child."

Mr. Scott shook his head: "What's worse, some bandits are changing to chambers of commerce after they grow bigger. Some small chambers of commerce are changing to gangs of bandits. The bandits counted the investment and harvest of each robbery, and even Find someone to borrow for an operation that is too risky, use the harvest of the operation as collateral, and borrow money to buy weapons and manpower."

"Well."

Keel didn't know what to say.

"And some small chambers of commerce turned into gangs of bandits disguised as merchants. They organized caravans to follow other caravans. It was originally a measure for everyone to gather together to resist the attacks of foreign bandits, but it turned out that there was no light. At night, they bared their fangs, hissed, poisoned the dinner, set fire to attack while asleep, took the initiative to undertake the sentry, and finally joined the bandits to rob the caravan."

Keel was speechless, it was such a mess.

In the final analysis, it is because of the goods plundered from the caravan, which can be traded in the black market without rules and quantities. The more you do, the more you will gain, and the risk is not high. Who wouldn't do it?

And the Union of Chambers of Commerce couldn't control the underground black market at that time.

"So, you invited that organization?"

Keel asked with a smirk.

Mr. Scott leaned on the back of the chair weakly and waved his hands: "Hey, I heard that the other party came here. Such a big bite of meat naturally attracted a real carnivorous beast."

"Aren't you afraid that it even ate the underground black market and Dorne Town? After all, beasts generally have a good appetite."

"Hmph, this is the difference between some ancient organizations and ordinary organizations. Those old organizations are like our chamber of commerce union, a large chamber of commerce, and a large organization. Only then do we know how to maximize our benefits—cooperation and long-term operation. "

"Of course a big meal can fill you up, but if you want to eat a full meal, you need patience and restraint."

Having said that, the carriage stopped with a jingle of bells.

Keel knew the place had come.

-

When he opened the car door and went out, Keir was a little dazed, because the scene outside was exactly the same as the building he stayed in before getting in the car. They were all rooms where carriages could walk right in, walls hung with black cloaks, and small tables with extra linen gloves.

At the same time, the lighting here is completely dependent on indoor lights, rather than natural light from the outside.

"Did the carriage go around and come back?"

Gere questioned Mr. Scott.

This made Mr. Scott at a loss as to how to answer: "Uh, how is it possible. You may not be familiar with Dorne Town, but I can assure you that it is impossible to go back to my place based on the turning and carriage time just now."

"Haha, just kidding."

Kiel's words were met with a blank stare.

After walking a few steps in this building and taking a closer look, Kiel realized that he had thought too much just now.

At this time, this building was much larger than the previous one. The back door of the Burning Furnace Chamber of Commerce led to the building of the underground black market, which could only accommodate a carriage. And I don't know if it's underground or not, there are a total of eleven carriages parked in their respective positions, and there are still many vacancies. It seems that people don't go to the underground black market every day to trade.

"Remember the location of our carriage."

Mr. Scott said something in a low voice. Keel looked around and determined the position of their carriage from the position of the walls and pillars built with stone bricks. Then he followed Mr. Scott and walked towards the building.

Even going down the stairs to go underground.

"The underground black market is really underground."

Kiel sighed so much.

"Nonsense, think about it, Keel, which building on the ground can be made so large and so cheap at the same time? Compared with building tall stone buildings on the ground, it is much easier to dig underground. Generally, you only need to ask A dwarf builder or two, and even on a smaller scale, dwarven artisans. They are best at digging down into the earth, or sideways into mountains."

"You said, what if we take the wrong car when we go back and go to another place?"

Keel rolled his eyes again.

Mr. Scott was speechless: "I can't do anything. Which chamber of commerce does not have a carriage leading to the underground black market at the back door? There are all of them. In other places in the town, some medium-sized chambers of commerce also have their own carriages, and smaller Some are behind hotels or taverns, where there is a lot of traffic. Heh, even the place where the town manages affairs, there is a place for carriages at the back."

"Outsiders can't understand it, but everyone inside knows it. The so-called underground black market is just such a thing. It is a place for people to come and go and trade. Although there are some barriers to entry, that's all. It doesn't reject people who want to come here. But Be careful too, 'that' organization that manages the underground black market is watching everyone who comes here in the dark."

Mr. Scott said a lot in one breath, and he seemed to say it often to newcomers.

Keel looked left and right, but he didn't feel that someone was watching from the dark on the spiraling downward stairs.

-

The downward spiral staircase is long and quiet.

The lighting here is provided by glowing plants. They are quietly planted in flower pots without patterns, and these flower pots are placed in the concave space on the right outer edge of the spiral staircase.

Luminous plants are not expensive, but they are not cheap either. They are at least 30 meters high, and these number of plants cost a lot.

But it's also a cheap solution compared to using magic lighting.

When the two of them reached the bottom, the quiet environment was finally broken, and what appeared in front of them surprised Keir extremely.

It turned out to be a tavern.

Yes, a tavern. It is located at a depth of at least 30 meters underground.

Keir whispered to Mr. Scott: "What do you mean by setting up a tavern here?"

"Shall we have a drink before we come? Or a place for the entourage to wait?" Mr. Scott obviously didn't pay attention to this before, so he didn't know.

But Keel doesn't think so.

The tavern is semicircular, like a bowl upside down on the ground. One end is connected to the spiral staircase, and the other end is a half-open wooden door. Brighter light and noise come from the wooden door. It made the black cloaks drinking silently in this strange tavern a little more alive.

Yes, the drinkers in the tavern, even the waiter who served the wine, were dressed in black cloaks.

The difference was that the waiters who poured and served wine all wore wooden masks, not only could they not see their faces, even men and women were covered by large black cloaks.

It is estimated that only the voice of the money payable when you check out can tell whether the waiter serving you is a man or a woman.

Neither of them had any intention of drinking in this weird place, so they walked past more than a dozen small round wine tables. Keel took a closer look at the people around him as he walked through.

Although they are all black cloaks, and they are tightly covered. But Keel is only from the sitting position of a small number of drinkers, and there are also sitting positions. The identities of these people were simply judged.

People who can come to such a strange place to drink early in the morning are of course unlikely to be black merchants or businessmen who come to the underground black market. If he guessed correctly, these people should be 'that' organization, that is, the management and maintenance personnel arranged here by the Thieves Guild.

Considering the result of the last official thieves fight between Kiel and the Thieves Guild, Kiel felt that it would be better not to provoke them.

This is a group of daring guys who dare to fight with fully armed knights. Until now, Keir didn't think he could last long under the lord of Grass Rat Town - Knight Anvina, let alone defeat him.

At that time, the thief dared to use the potion that blocked a large area of ​​vision to fight against the knight for several rounds. Although he was also defeated afterwards, at least he retreated alive.

And the way the thief died together, until now, still makes Kiel's scalp tingle.

If the guys sitting and drinking in this tavern are all thieves of the same level, then it will be really troublesome. Of course, Keir didn't think that the people present were at the same level as the thief at that time.

After all, the elite personnel who can be sent out to expand the sphere of influence are obviously far stronger than the idle personnel who are arranged in prosperity but underground with nothing to do.

Among these people, being able to have the level of the thief they met at that time has already shown how much the Thieves Guild attaches importance to this place.

Scott casually pushed open the half-closed wooden door, then turned sideways and said to Keir in a specially changed voice: "Welcome, welcome to the underground black market in Dorn Town, please choose whatever you want later. Little On-site transactions of large items, once the transaction is completed, cannot be reversed. And large-scale items will be notarized by the manager of the black market to ensure the safety of both parties and the normal completion of the transaction~www.readwn.com~ Kiel smiled: "This said Have you done it many times? to different people? "

Mr. Scott also laughed, still speaking in a specially changed voice: "But everyone who comes here will leave satisfied. I believe you are no exception."

Keir raised his eyebrows: "Oh, let me see then."

Then the two walked through the wooden door and came to a relatively open underground area.

At first glance, here is a long strip space that can accommodate two heavy-duty carriages driving side by side, but after a closer look, you can find that there is actually another space on the left and right every little distance.

On the whole, it is a place in the shape of [Feng].

Kiel estimated the straight-line distance of the main road, which is roughly less than 50 meters long. Counting the other six extended passages on the left and right, the total length will not exceed 120 meters.

The ones selling things here are wooden stalls one by one. The small things sold are placed on the inclined wooden stalls. The owner of the stall is sitting on the side or behind, looking at the book in his hand boredly.

With a lighted oil lamp, or a specially bred bright glowing plant or two.

Considering that each stall is several meters long, the total number of stalls in the entire underground black market is no more than a few dozen.

But quantity is not a problem, as long as the quality is decent. But what made Keir curious was that, except for some large items or living things, which were replaced by painted wooden boards, other small items were placed directly on the inclined wooden booths.

"No, the things are just laid out like this, aren't you afraid of being stolen?"

Keel asked Mr. Scott.

And Mr. Scott looked at Keir with a weird face, as if Knight Keir asked a silly question.