Chapter 108: Surprising Discovery
Translator: Wuxia Dog Editor: Wuxia Dog
In the morning, when a trade caravan made up of more than sixty wagons approached the south gate, Moxinke stepped out from a bar at the roadside. His eyes were red, and a whiff of an alcoholic smell wafted out from his body. He looked like he had stayed up the whole night.
“Lord Moxinke. You really are trustworthy.” Justin peeped his head from one of the carriages and smiled flatteringly.
“Of course! Did you forget who I am!” Moxinke said arrogantly. He looked at the caravan and exclaimed, “So many wagons! Your caravan is quite sizable.”
“Haha… In Ninth Town, maybe.” Justin said smilingly. “But it is, at best, a second-rate trade caravan outside this town.”
“Don’t be so modest. I have heard of Morgan Commercial Corp. If this is second-rate, then there is no first-rate on this continent.” This said, Moxinke mounted the carriage. “But I have also heard that Dismark is jealous of Morgan Commercial Corp and ordered for all of its properties to be confiscated. Is this news credible?”
“This…” Justin hesitated and cracked a bitter smile. “This is an internal affair of the corp. I… please excuse me, but I cannot release this information.”
“Of course. I understand.” Moxinke laughed and changed the subject, “By the way, what goods are you transporting?”
“Food and clothing,” Justin said very seriously. “The vampires have killed many civilians and destroyed lots of villages in Beitman! West City is now full of refugees. Lord Winston has ordered for food and clothes to be purchased at a very high price to help them. Since this is an order from Lord Winston himself, we merchants will, of course, try our best to support him.”
“Aren’t you going to send the goods to Twelfth Town?”
“Yes, we are. These goods are from us, one of the branches. There are many other branches purchasing food and clothing. Twelfth Town is our assembly point. We only need to deliver the goods there. There will be others who will transport them to West City.”
“If only all the merchants on the continent were as righteous as you…” Moxinke sighed.
“People look down upon us merchants. They believe we only care about money.” Justin revealed a helpless look. “They are too narrow-minded. All we do is buy at low prices and sell at higher prices, and make money from the difference. How can we feed ourselves if we have no profit? Who will feel pity for us if we starve to death?”
“Yes, you are right,” Moxinke responded.
“They do not understand our sufferings at all! We get up earlier than them, and go to bed later. We constantly travel everywhere, but also endure all kinds of pressures and risks.” Justin smiled bitterly. “You know very well, my Lord, how chaotic this continent is. Sometimes, our trade caravan has to cross several territories. Any accident will bring us disastrous consequences. We must have backers to coordinate with us and take care of us. Otherwise, our goods would be confiscated, and our guards would be killed. Such kind of things happen all the time, yet what can we do?”
“If you put it like that… I feel kind of worried.” Moxinke lifted up the curtain and looked outside. “The caravan is so long. I am afraid I can’t take care of all the carriages. How about this: I’ll go get some of my friends to go with me.”
“Nothing you need to worry about, my Lord. You just need to escort us to Merlin New Village which is governed by Ninth Town, which is under the jurisdiction of the Riptide Regiment. Who would dare make trouble for you?”
“Well…” Moxinke shrugged. His expression was calm, but his mind was cursing Justin. “The guy is making a fool of me!!” he thought.
It requires wits to insult others, because, at the least, the insulter should find the shortcomings of the insulted. If someone called Han Jin an ugly man and Moxinke a dwarf, would they feel insulted? Of course not. They would only think that they had met a lunatic.
When Moxinke had told Han Jin and Sunier about this last night, they had all laughed silently. The merchant hadn’t asked anyone else, but had found Moxinke and had discouraged him from bringing any companions, knowingly or unknowingly. His intention was very obvious: he thought Moxinke was the most stupid one among them – the one that was the easiest to fool.
Now, Moxinke had wanted to prove that Han Jin was wrong, but had failed. Thus, Moxinke was quite angry, and the consequences would be fire!
The trade caravan had approached the town outpost. Shouts of the soldiers came from outside. Justin said with a smile. “They are going to check our goods, my Lord. Let’s go outside to have a look. Otherwise, they will make trouble for us.”
“All right,” Moxinke replied in a muffled voice. He lifted up the curtain and stood on the shaft, looking at the soldiers. “Who is the man responsible today?” he yelled.
“It’s you, Lord Moxinke!” Some of the knights came up quickly. “What brings you here?”
The day when Reg had come to kill Rudolph, the man who had stood behind him the whole time was Moxinke. In the eyes of these knights, Moxinke was one of the best friends of their young marshal. Even the senior officers who had been personally promoted by Reg dared not be rude to Moxinke, let alone these low ranking knights who were guarding the town gate.
“I accepted a task to escort this trade caravan to Merlin New Village,” Moxinke said. “Better be quick. I have to get back by today.”
“Open the gate!” one of the knights shouted, smiling flatteringly at Moxinke. “You may leave now, my Lord.”
“That’s it?” Moxinke was stunned and shook his head afterwards. “Do check according to the rules. This is your right and your obligation. Don’t stir up any trouble because of me. Otherwise, it won’t look good for either of us.”
“There are dozens of carriages here, my Lord. We have only several guards. If we check each of the carriages carefully, it would take us until noon.” The knight smiled. “In this case, it’s usually enough to check one or two of the carriages at random.”
“I see…” Moxinke paused. “You guys, why not go to the young widow tonight. All drinks are on me. You know which one I’m talking about!”
“Of course. Ha ha…” The knights laughed.
The outpost was opened, and the trade caravan slowly left Ninth Town. “You are indeed respected, my Lord. Normally, they would toss about for hours,” Justin exclaimed.
“One hundred golden coins well spent, huh?” Moxinke said suddenly.
“Yes, yes!” Justin laughed. It might be because he had looked down upon Moxinke so much that he hadn’t even realized it was a pun.
But Moxinke immediately realized that he was being impatient. He laughed loudly to cover up his mistake. Who could blame him? No one enjoyed being played like a fool.The fact that he hadn’t cut the merchant in two with his greatsword demonstrated Moxinke’s remarkable self control.
When the trade caravan had disappeared in the distance, several figures suddenly showed near the outpost. Reg, Han Jin, and Sunier were all there.
“Young Marshal! We quickly examined four of the carriages. We found only food and clothes; nothing else,” a knight respectfully reported.
“Are you sure you checked all of them carefully?” Reg frowned slightly.
“Yes, Young Marshal!” The knight nodded. “The load-bearing of the carriages, the expressions of the carters, and the guards are all normal.”
“There must be a trap,” Han Jin said in a low voice. “How much is a whole carriage of food worth? And how much for ten carriages in total? Hiring Moxinke with one hundred gold coins to guard that… It’s too wasteful!”
“But what’s the problem?” Sunier asked.
“How about… we follow them? I am worried about Moxinke,” suggested Reg.
They gaped at each other. As the young marshal of all the soldiers, Reg lacked the calmness and vision of the overall situation that he should have. He showed no interest in military affairs at all. Every time Ronning reported anything military related to him, Reg would ask Ronning to make the decision by himself. But now, he showed strong curiosity about this incident concerning Moxinke and had even suggested following the trade caravan… As the uncrowned king of Ninth Town, should he stay in the town to manage the military, as well as political affairs, or should he tail a suspicious trade caravan? The answer was so obvious that even most commoners could give the right answer.
“You’d better stay here. We can handle this,” Sunier said.
“Did you forget about my profession? No one is more suitable than me for this.”
Han Jin and Sunier looked at each other, speechless. It was true that Reg was the most suitable one to tail after the caravan, but how would they explain it to Ronning?
Since one side was acting dumb, while the other tried to curry, Moxinke and Justin soon became good ‘friends’. Nothing dangerous happened on their way. Even if some thieves targeted the food and the clothes, they would not be foolish enough to stir up trouble in an area governed by the Riptide Regiment unless they were sick of living.
But the two had completely different emotions. One thought time had passed too quickly, while the other thought it quite the opposite. As Moxinke was going to turn crazy, the caravan approached Merlin New Village at last.
“It was a great pleasure talking with you, Lord Moxinke.” Justin looked around and smiled. “Unfortunately, we have to part.”
Moxinke lazily looked at Justin. “You bastards are safe for now!” he thought in his heart.
“This is your reward. Please check.”
“Is there anything else I can do for you?” Moxinke weighed the money bag in his palm and said. “If not, may I leave now?”
“Of course. I hope we will have more opportunities to work together in the future.”
Moxinke felt a bit disappointed. He had disturbed all the others, including Han Jin and Reg, about this. Now everything had suddenly ended! It was totally different from what he had expected!
Noticing the abnormal look on Moxinke’s face, Justin turned around and asked when he was going to dismount, “Do you need anything else?”
“Nothing, nothing.” Moxinke laughed. “I just feel… it is so easy to make money.” He cast a glance around and saw a familiar jade pendant at Justin’s waist, but immediately shifted his eyes away.
“Ha ha! Nothing is difficult for a great man like you.” Justin also laughed.