Chapter 927
Chapter 927: Your Speed Is Quite Good, Ain’t It?
The Golden Sun City had an additional batch of refugees, whereas the Hei Ling City welcomed an additional group of guests.
These guests were a little strange.
They were different.
In front of them was a sharp-eyed pathfinder thief that rode a Dromaeosaur. There were dozens of mercenaries in the middle of the team, holding a dozen criminals who had been tortured and had their flesh cut off and teeth shattered. The captives’ bodies almost turned into skeletons as they were bound in the prison cart, gradually wheeled into town. At the end of the line, there was even a huge ‘big-footed ground dragon’. Along the road covered with bones, the dragon walked slowly while it carried a luxurious golden seat on its back.
On the golden throne, in addition to two silver-armored warriors dressed alike each other, there was also a female slave and a little girl holding a baby.
Unlike ordinary caravans, this team resembled a slave-catching team.
But it was rare to see that a slave-catching team flaunt as luxuriously as they did. They obtained a quasi-heaven Ranked ‘big-footed ground dragon’ that was usually only qualified to be steered by a City Lord or a higher rank, even getting a golden throne that was incomparably precious and conspicuous. The most surprising part was that there was not a single noble person with a particularly distinguished status in sight; only two warriors, a lowly female slave and a little girl who looked like a starving person. Even if they were sitting at the feet of the two silver-armoured warriors, sitting on the incomparably luxurious golden throne while looking down at their surroundings did nothing to mask the timidity and the anxiousness in their eyes. Anyone with a little discernment could tell at a glance that they were definitely not nobles. On the contrary, these should be outcasts— the starved among the outcasts!
When did a mere outcast obtain the qualifications to sit on the golden throne?
The Captain of the guard, who was in charge of collecting taxes at the city gate, was surprised by this.
“The stench of wine and meat is evident, yet the road is full of frozen bones[1]…” He vaguely heard the silver-armoured warrior on the left side of the golden seat say this to the silver-armoured warrior on the right.
T/L Note:[1] Means the wealthy or the people in charge can watch others suffer while they enjoy in abundance. The idiom here is very sarcastic but written in a beautiful way.
“Don’t drop idioms here, now is not the time to be hung up on emotions. We have to hurry up and do our business because we don’t have much time. We still have to pass through the Wind-Stopping Swamp. Let’s hurry up and take out the outer ones,” The Captain of the guard at the city gates heard the silver one on the right speak again. Although he could not hear it clearly as the distance was a bit far and their surroundings were a bit noisy, he deduced that the one who just spoke was a woman based on her tone of voice.
“What is your business here?” The guard stepped forward to stop the pathfinder thief walking at the forefront as he shouted loudly. No matter the status or rank, if anyone ever wanted to gain entry into the Hei Ling City, tax evasion was not possible; it was a rule set up by the Feudal Lord.
The Feudal Lord in the Hei Ling City was the younger brother of the Country Lord.
They didn’t have to mention the Hei Ling Territory. Even the entire Zhi Feng Country would not be able to deny the will of the Feudal Lord.
Here, the Feudal Lord wielded the power of command; no matter who it was, as long as one remained in the boundaries of the Hei Ling Territory, there was only one ruler!
The bright-eyed pathfinder thief turned down the back Dromaeosaur with a smile on his face, as if an old friend had not seen him for a long time. He came forward to say hello, but very skillfully stuffed a small purse to the guard and put it in the guard’s hands as he whispered a few things into his ears. He pointed back to the ground dragon and said something in a low voice. In the tax payment with a smile… This was all normal as almost all the caravans or slave-catching teams do this.
Bribing the guards was the most common action of every pathfinder thief, but paying taxes was also in line with the laws of each region.
But this originally bland exchange now made the Captain of the guard twitch nervously.
He didn’t know what he felt, but it was uncomfortable.
The Captain of the guard felt that the pathfinder thief’s laugh was not one of flattery, but an indescribable mockery.
As if he was indicating that the guard who took the money would be led to an unlucky fate very soon… But there was no problem with the gold coins. When the Captain of the guard watched the guards open the purse to register the tax, he found that the gold coins were real. There was no deception and the number was large, far exceeding ordinary slave hunters and even caravans of a larger scale.
What? Did these people earn that much money that they have nowhere to squander it?
Look at the fugitive slaves they captured, all of them were tortured to the point where they couldn’t live any longer; they were completely worthless. Was it really worth paying nearly a thousand gold coins in taxes for these fugitive slaves? Besides, it would already be hard for the other teams to pay a hundred gold as tax, but this pathfinder thief paid nearly a thousand gold, with a face full of smiles.
It was so weird!
When the team entered the city, the Captain of the guard still couldn’t understand why he felt uneasy in his heart?
Obviously, I have received a heavy tax and I have more shares, so I should be happy. So why do I still feel uncomfortable? What is the problem?
“Greyhound, what did he say just now?” the Captain of the guard called his subordinate over to ask him.
“Head, that’s a slave-hunting team that hunts down fugitive slaves. They have travelled between Zhi Feng Country and the Hurricane Country for a long time and this time, they are just passing by. It is said that they are usually mainly responsible for smuggling, so the slaves are only a part-time gig. I guess they obtained a large amount of goods this time as their offer to pay more than 800 yuan in taxes was surprising. Boss, we’re going to have so much fun this month! Even after cutting the highest limit of taxes at 200 yuan, us brothers can finally have a good celebration with the remaining 600! In this poor and rotten place, how long has it been since we received such income. Even working for another half a month, no, half a year, wouldn’t even guarantee us such high raises!” The guard danced with excitement and smiled as he reported the good news to the Captain.
The Captain of the guard nodded, indicating that he knew sd well.
Although there was a chance to line his private pockets, he was not happy. There was even a kind of fear that remained floating in the shadows of his mind.
Impossible… This slave-hunting team would pay 800 gold as tax? Even if smuggling made things easy to earn, it was impossible to pay such taxes when entering the city as it was simply the behaviour of a fool. Who would throw money at others for no reason?
If this slave-hunting team did this on purpose, what was it for?
Why did they bribe their way into the city with a lot of money?
How could that pathfinder thief reveal a mocking smile in the depths of his eyes? How could the lowly female slave and the starving little girl have the right to sit on the golden seat? The most puzzling thing was that the two silver-armoured warriors dressed in the same clothes and seemed obviously very weak, yet how could they be capable of making me feel frightened?
The Captain of the guard in charge of taxation at the entrance of the city couldn’t understand his own thoughts.
After a moment.
In the faraway distance, a griffin flew up to him, carrying a flying messenger covered in blood on its back. Before he could enter the city, the messenger fell down.
When the Captain of the guard rushed forward to rescue the flying messenger, he found that he had been seriously injured and was dying as his final breaths were weak. At the last moment of his death, the flying messenger regained some of his energy and held the hand of the Captain of the guard tightly, “Hurry up, hurry up and report to the Feudal Lord. Yang Ti City, Sha Yan City, Ge Bi City, the City of Thorns, Hu Tao City— they have been destroyed and conquered. I just escaped from Buffalo City… I- I, I was the only one who escaped… Please inform the Feudal Lord and let him know that… Please plead to the Country Lord as well, ahh…”
The messenger seemed to have something to say, but he couldn’t hold it any longer.
With a tilt of his head, he died as he failed to take another breath.
“Immediately, I will…” When the Captain of the guard heard the news, he jumped up immediately— the entire Hei Ling Territory was breached. He didn’t know who it was, but the territory of the non-war zone had also been invaded. Did the war spread to the rear of the Wind-Stopping Swamp area already?
He was preparing to use the fastest speed to rush to the Feudal Lord’s mansion to report the bad news to the Feudal Lord of Hei Ling.
But the fugitive slaves who were bound to the prison carts and the bloody horror of their tortured forms flashed through the Captain of the guard’s head.
Yang Ti City, Sha Yan City, Ge Bi City, City of Thorns, Hu Tao City, and Buffalo City were all overrun by the enemy, so were the City Lords and Garrison Generals all captured?
Could it be… theCaptain of the guard suddenly shivered in fear.
He remembered the face of the pathfinder thief who paid the heavy amounts of tax and still had a smile on his face, the outcast who had no explanation although she sat on the throne, the fugitive slaves who were tortured in their prison carts and the conversation between the similarly dressed man and woman. The Captain of the guard trembled with fright and sweat soaked his whole body like it started to rain.
“What’s the matter? Captain?” Several guards looked at the captain inexplicably.
“I have something very important to report to the Country Lord, but you guys should stay here. By the way, I don’t want the share of the tax; you lot can just split it amongst yourselves! Remember to have a good time at night!” The Captain of the guard wiped his sweat and endured the fear and apprehension that gnawed at his heart as he gave them the orders.
“Understood. Captain, you should go early and return early!” Several guards were so happy when they heard that the Captain would be forfeiting his share of the profits when he was going to handle an issue with the Country Lord.
“The Griffin is ready!” The smart Greyhound even quickly held the flying messenger’s mount for the captain and waited for the Captain to go off.
“Goodbye, brothers,” The Captain of the guard turned the Griffin around and said this intentionally.
Then, he frantically urged the Griffin and made it go as fast as possible.
Two days later.
The Griffin, who was overworked by flying at high speeds both day and night, fell to the ground unsupported and had already been abandoned by the Captain of the guard.
The Captain of the guard used all his strength to rush his journey desperately. What he desired the most was not to report to the Country Lord— news like this probably already reached the Country Lord’s side long ago, so there was no need to do something pointless. What he had to do was to save his own life, and that was by desperately fleeing to the Capital where the Country Lord was stationed as that would be the safest place.
The Green Willow City, the capital of the Zhi Feng Country.
He already caught the faintest glimpse of the tall spire that was located in the capital.
Green Willow City, a peaceful place where no war ever broke out.
Due to the powerful strength of the Country Lord of Zhi Feng, it was also located in the rear of the war zone of the Heavenly Splendour Territory. Here, thousands of miles of fertile soil were prosperous. No army nor mob could ever launch their attack here… The Captain of the guard only sighed and relaxed slightly when he faintly saw the Green Willow City becoming vividly clearer.
It’s done— he was safe now that he was able to get to this point.
He took off theCaptain’s clothes and threw them all away. Then, he put on some deerskin he obtained from hunting and disguised as a hunter who had lived in the forest area for a long time. Although he didn’t know how the war progressed, he had already abandoned his previous identity as the Captain of the city gate’s guard and decided to change his identity. He would infiltrate Green Willow City and live anew in this peaceful city. Having a certain amount of strength also meant that he would not need to worry about going hungry. As long as his place of residency was safe enough, he wasn’t going to worry about ranks or positions at all.
After checking himself high and low, he couldn’t find a flaw with his disguise at all.
The former Captain of the guard just flew out of the forest area and landed at the city gates of Green Willow City. He handed the guard the identity certificate and tax that he had prepared earlier, accompanied by a smile as he said that he needed to enter the city to buy some furs.
“Poor bastard!” The guard snorted with disgust as he forcibly extorted two more gold coins out of his pockets before he waved him towards the gates, “Scram!”
“Wow, look! Look over there! There is a luxurious slave-catching team coming ove. Oh my God, this slave-catching team seems to have obtained a lot of profits! The back of the big-footed dragon is actually carrying a golden throne; which slave-catching team is this?” Several guards discussed the sight in surprise.
Hearing this, the former Captain of the guards of Hei Ling City stiffened.
He looked back in disbelief.
In desolution, he found that the slave-hunting team that he had seen in Hei Ling City before was slowly approaching Green Willow City.
Their team seems to have grown a bit bigger; there were more than a dozen mercenaries in charge of being escorts and there were also a few more prison carts. The only thing that remains unchanged was the Dromaeosaur-riding pathfinder thief. His eyes were still bright and his face was still smiling cheekily… And on the base of the golden throne was none other than the same slave girl and the girl who carried a baby in her arms. On the peak of the golden throne sat the two identically-dressed silver-armoured warriors as well.
The former Captain of the guard was so frightened that his face turned pale and he nearly collapsed on the ground.
He knew the distance between Hei Ling City and Green Willow City.
Even the flying Griffin took about ten days to get here, let alone relying on a mere big-footed earth dragon!
The reason why he was able to get here in three days was because he discovered an unknown space rift. Passing through the space rift, he shortened at least 70% of his journey to get here.
This slave-hunting team could catch up with him from Heiling City to the Green Wilow City with a leisurely pace… The former Captain of the guard dared not think about it nor did he dare to look at it as he found a bloody shadow in one of the prison carts rather familiar. The sharp-eyed pathfinder thief rolled over and jumped down before he stuffed a purse to one of the guards with a smile on his face. Then, he said with a smile to the former Captain of the Hei Ling City guards, “Your speed is good, ain’t it? I didn’t expect you to be ahead of us!”