Chapter 92 Westham Market
Supervisor Lowell, this stranger who does look like a noble young man, but whose temperament and aura are suspicious no matter how you look at him, is Charlie Rex... For the white-robed priest of the Church of the Blazing Sun, it is not important.
The important thing is that the Nightmare Butcher was sitting less than two meters away from him. Not only did he not show any signs of mental breakdown, but he was also energetic and full of energy. It was estimated that there would be no problem for him to take another day trip to the Holy Land of the Fiery Sun...
When you are in the tiger's mouth, you have to bow your head.
The white-robed priest lowered his head, and things became convenient for Yang Qiu... He could move freely in the city of Innadli.
It has been many years since his wanted posters were posted all over the world. If the Church of the Fiery Sun had not been like a dog-skin plaster that could not be shaken off, he could have made public appearances in many places - this is the comfort of being a spellcaster, while those who coveted the bounty have been dead for generations, while others are still living freely.
Without being exposed, Yang Qiu, a high-level spellcaster, could move around in human cities very easily... In less than an hour, he and Supervisor Lowell became guests of honor of Lord Adela III of Innadri.
According to the classification standard set by Yang Qiu, the mental power must be at least above 1,600, and the white-robed priest who allows players to use identification skills to see the sixth-level big BOSS...all fell under Yang Qiu's personal charm. "Persuading" Adela III, whose mental power is even lower than the average level of players and less than 30, is as easy as child's play.
Yang Qiu took out the transaction list with the seal of the city lord, claiming that as a Rhine man, Master Charles Rex could not allow Lord Westram, Baron So-and-So, to commit such cruel atrocities that blasphemed the Gold Coin Lady in the Rhine Kingdom, and demanded that the Lord of Innadli support Master Rex in launching a territorial war against Baron So-and-So. If Adela III refused, he would accompany Master Rex to the royal city with this evidence to find nobles who were willing to support him.
Westram County is also under the jurisdiction of Innader County. Although that Baron What What What has just embarrassed Adela III, he is also a beneficiary of Westram's overt and covert businesses. If someone else came to threaten him with this "evidence", Adela III would have to tie up such an ungrateful person and throw him into the coal mountain to dig coal until he died. After he died, he would have to bring back the body, process it, and sell it to people as a wall hanging.
But the people who came to him were a high-level spellcaster and an illegitimate nobleman who had the power to actually control the Westram Territory overnight and was only waiting to change his name on the documents to officially take office... Adela III was passive.
If it was only the latter, Adela III could still control the situation - first chop off the head of the liar who called himself Rex, and then send the city defense forces to retake Westram. Adela III didn't believe that this illegitimate son with no family resources could raise a strong army comparable to the one that the Bartles family had raised for generations.
A high-level spellcaster showed up, which was like a punch to Adra III's soft spot...
The biggest shortcoming of the Bartles family is that they have not trained a family spellcaster!
It stands to reason that emerging nobles with a heritage of more than three generations would find ways to collect some talented children and teenagers for training. After decades of effort, they would be able to raise at least one or two family spellcasters.
Many country nobles living in remote areas have similar adopted sons or foster sons. Large families with hundreds of years of heritage, deep roots and flourishing branches can even support high-level spellcasters.
However...the Bartles family, who became the lords, had only been in the position of lords for four generations, strictly speaking.
Their family really started to make a fortune more than a hundred years ago. By the time Adela I used all means to obtain the fiefdom of Innadri, their family had been lords for several generations, and the only things they could decide on were the few manors passed down from their ancestors.
When Adela I, the great-grandfather whom the III respected very much, came to rule Innadri, Innadri was not as prosperous as it is today... The horse thieves active in the Sorenson Mountains would come every few years, and the locals could not save much wealth at all.
My great-grandfather and grandfather worked hard and risked their lives to intercept taxes to support the army. After the city defense army was formed, the horse bandit group that used Innadeli as a free supply point was slightly curbed.
It was not until the time of the III's father that Innadri truly became a land trade hub.
The father of the third generation sent him to the royal city to study, hoping that his son would be able to find a talented but poor wizard apprentice in the royal city, a place where elites from all over the country gather...
But the third generation was only obsessed with the glamorous world of the royal city, and didn't take his father's expectations seriously. When his father passed away unexpectedly, he was urgently called back to take over. Not only did he come back empty-handed, but he also found fault with the several adopted sons that his father had "collected" during his lifetime. If it weren't for the old housekeeper's persuasion, he might have sent them all away...
In short... the Bartles family has no ready-made spellcasters available. They only have a few mage apprentices who need to be trained for decades and whose grandchildren may not benefit from them until three generations later. They are living in the mage tower in other people's territories.
The Third Emperor had a stern face and his lips trembled with humiliation, but he still had to take the list of "evidence" with trembling hands - I'm sorry, Baron What-What, you have lost your own territory anyway, and your people have caused such a big mess for me, and such important things have fallen into the hands of others... I will not cause trouble for you, which will be a reward for the tributes I and my father have received from you for so many years!
On this side, while Yang Qiu dragged the desperate Lowell and seized the Westam territory by force, on the other side, Hal, who also had a desperate face, led his brothers and rode four tricycles to the Westam market.
Originally they thought that guarding prisoners was the lowest level of "humiliation" for these former Sorenson thieves, but they didn't expect that this level was even higher... That bastard Rex assigned the task of guarding the prisoners to the undead, and sent the three of them to be street vendors.
"If I had known earlier, I would have found a way to get all the brothers out." Tattle sighed to the sky. If it weren't for those brothers who were held hostage in Exile Town, they would have taken the goods and ran away without saying a word.
Tuttle originally thought that these goods would be sold to local merchants at once, but he never expected that Rex, the bastard, would force them to retail them themselves...
The townspeople's market in Westham is actually a wider street in the west city area.
Before the expansion of Westham forty years ago, this street called "Martin Street" was the real commercial street of Westham town. The twelve-meter-wide road that could accommodate three horse-drawn carriages running side by side was flanked by stalls agreed upon by local residents. It was occupied by vegetable vendors from two to five in the afternoon on weekdays. Farmers who had to work in the fields in the morning when the sun was not too high would carry their vegetables into the town to sell during this period of time, and buy some salt, black bread, cloth scraps, woven bags and the like to take back with them.
On weekends, grocers from Innadri, farmers from all directions, and people from manors would gather on this street. Everything from cattle, horses, pigs, sheep to needles and thread could be seen on this street.
Of course, Westham's red-light district has become a local feature, and Martin Street is still bustling at certain times. After all, both townspeople and villagers need to replenish daily necessities, especially salt, soybean oil and butter, which are three necessities of life. New supplies need to be added every week. The unit price of these three commodities is too expensive, so even townspeople can only buy them in small quantities and multiple times.
Today is not a weekend, and the people who come to the town for the market are mainly farmers. At around two o'clock in the afternoon, when the sun is not as bright as at noon, farmers from nearby villages come to the town in groups of three or five, carrying baskets on their backs and carrying baskets on their shoulders.
The prosperity of the red-light district also affects the lives of nearby villagers to a certain extent. On the one hand, local prices are affected and farmers have less and less money in their hands; on the other hand, seasonal fruits, fresh vegetables, tools such as hand-woven bamboo baskets, and even rabbits caught with wild fruits picked from the mountains, all sell better than before the red-light district appeared.
The farmers, some carrying vegetables and some carrying mountain products, were walking along the town road, chatting and laughing. They were discussing what they would buy after selling their products. Some of them brought scissors and sickles from home and wanted to find the craftsmen in the town to sharpen them.
When this group of people were still a hundred meters away from the town gate... they found that there were many people gathered at the town gate.
These people were either carrying loads and backpacks like them, or pushing wooden-wheeled carts or the like. They were obviously farmers who came to the town to sell vegetables like them.
"Why are you blocking the door? Why don't you go in to do business?" A skinny farmer carrying a basket full of mountain products asked curiously.
"Will they charge a fee at the town gate today?"
"No way. I haven't heard of anyone having to pay entrance fees to go to the market in all these years."
"Yes, yes. If we are not allowed to go in and sell vegetables, what will the people in the town eat?"
While they were wondering, the farmers who were about a hundred meters away saw some people squeezing out from the crowd. The loads they were carrying were empty and they looked very panicked. They kept looking back while trying to get out.
This frightened the farmers who were still traveling on the town road. They all stopped where they were and dared not move forward.
“My things were stolen and no one paid?” The skinny farmer carrying a basket on his back gasped.
"No, we can't. There are so many people still surrounding there. If someone really wants to steal things without paying, why don't they leave?" another farmer who was carrying a full load of goods said nervously.
As if to confirm the farmer's guess, the man who came out with the empty basket... did not run away immediately, but stopped outside the crowd, turned around, and stood on tiptoe to look inside...
The few farmers who had just arrived looked at each other in confusion.
Their village is neither far nor near to the town. It takes more than an hour to walk there under the scorching sun. If they were asked to give up going to the town to do business and turn back home... they would definitely not be willing to do that.
After a moment's hesitation, the farmers decided to go over and see what was going on. There were so many people at the town gate in broad daylight. If someone really robbed them without paying, wouldn't they run away? With so many people, could they all be stopped ?
The farmers nervously walked the last hundred meters and got to the outside of the crowd. Before they could ask someone about the situation, they heard a strong and slightly impatient man's voice: "Thirty-two catties of cabbage are one copper coin per catty, isn't that thirty-two copper coins? Three ten-copper coins, two one-copper coins, you can't even count them?"
"Add this eleven-pound pumpkin, and that's thirty-six copper coins!"
"Pumpkins are always one copper coin for two pounds, and even three pounds! Don't be unreasonable! If you don't want to, pick some and sell them at the market. We won't accept them!"
"That's enough green peppers! No more green peppers!"
"Take the tomatoes over there and weigh them!"
"No more greens! Enough greens!"
The man who was shouting had a very rude and impolite voice, and it sounded like he was going to hit someone...but the farmers who had just arrived were actually relieved.
Some big bosses in the town would occasionally collect vegetables at the town gate like this, and the vegetable farmers did prefer to sell their vegetables to these wealthy people... Although they were very impolite and rude, they were not picky and paid promptly, and they would not be like the townspeople who would always pick a few leaves when buying a bunch of green vegetables.
The goods they brought included other varieties besides green peppers and vegetables, so they also joined the crowd blocking the town gate... Some of them were very clever and tried their best to squeeze in despite the complaints of those around them.
A skinny farmer carrying a basket of mountain products squeezed to the front row under the angry gazes of many people... and then he was dumbfounded.
The boss who was collecting the things did not block the door. The place where they purchased the things was actually on the side of the town gate, leaving a large open space.
Farmers and farmwomen from all over the country blocked the town gate but refused to enter through the vacated area. The reason was... among these buyers, there were many skeletons that could move freely even under the sun!
They were not the kind of scary dead skeletons that did not move and were exposed when a grave was occasionally washed open by floods, but living skeletons that could move and jump like humans!
The skinny farmer who had just squeezed forward saw two skeletons "diligently" moving the radishes sold to them by a vegetable farmer into a tricycle parked nearby...
The skinny farmer opened his mouth wide, staring blankly at this strange scene. It took him a long time to come back to his senses and swallow his saliva.
He was in a strange state of splitting, wanting to turn around and run home without saying anything, but also wanting to stay and watch the strange scene...
It is indeed more efficient to wait in advance at the town gate to buy directly than to walk around the market slowly. In just half an hour, the five tricycles brought by Mia and Ben were loaded with three full carts of vegetables.
"These are enough for today." Ben Da took a quick look at the food in the truck and said to Mia.
Mia, who was in charge of paying, wiped her sweat and said, "Let's stop here first, and then we'll go to the market to have a look." After a pause, she waved to the farmers who were blocking the town gate, "We have enough food for today, we'll come back tomorrow, everyone please go into the town by yourselves, don't block the gate."
In the past, Mia would have had to spend a lot of time telling these farmers that the Tarantan Undead were all good undead and would never harm them, but she was still carrying out a task assigned by Rex and did not have the time to waste. She just said goodbye and left with Ben and the undead who helped her.
The purchasing team turned into the alley and headed for the market in Xicheng District. After walking a long way and no longer seeing the town gate, a group of farmers and women who had seen enough of the strange things began to "buzz" and speak in various accents...
Many of them would go to town to sell vegetables the next day. When did Westram change so much that even the undead that they had only heard of in rumors appeared? !
These undead ghosts still mingle with humans and even buy their food!
The skinny farmer, who had successfully squeezed into the front row and sold most of his mountain products in time to catch up with the load of the tricycle, ran to the back in surprise and pride to find his fellow villagers, and shouted loudly: "You don't know how scary those skeletons in clothes and armor are. I was scared to death when they approached my backpack! They can also talk, but I can't understand them. It's all KABAKABA!"
"Did they really give you money?" the villagers asked curiously.
"Here you go." The skinny farmer showed his companion the copper coins he had just collected with some pride. "Look, I exchanged these wild plums I picked on the mountain this morning for this money."
Seeing the money, the villagers were envious:
"Those bitter plums can be exchanged for so much? These people are really generous."
"I would have squeezed in earlier. My eggplants are grown very well. Maybe they can harvest them too."
"Is it true that they said they would come tomorrow?"
The farmers were talking and exclaiming, putting aside their thoughts of returning home after watching the excitement, and moving in groups towards the Xicheng District market...
There are undead ghosts walking around in the town, which is really scary.
But since these undead spirits don’t harm the living and will pay for things… then let them exist as long as there are undead spirits.
After all, the vegetables we picked still need to be sold, and the family still needs to buy daily necessities; if the oil tank is empty, at most we can eat a few vegetarian meals, but if the salt tank is empty, it is not okay...
For the lower-class townspeople and villagers, nothing is more difficult than just trying to survive.
The skinny farmer and his fellow villagers came to the market and found that it was much quieter than usual. On the whole street, only small shops where the whole family would go without food if they closed for a day were open. The big bakeries, clothing stores, grain stores, etc., where the clerks were usually very arrogant, were all closed.
Not only are there fewer shops open, but there are also fewer pedestrians... There are fewer townspeople who used to come early at market time to buy the freshest vegetables.
This deserted scene made a group of farmers who were used to going to the market worried...the vegetables that had been sold out needed to be purchased, and the unsold vegetables needed to be sold. With so few people, is it still possible to do business?
What’s even more shocking is that… the farmers also saw the group of people who had purchased vegetables not long ago dismantling the door of a grain store.
The farmers who were originally scattered all over the street instinctively...quickly gathered together and huddled together tightly as if they were blocking the town gate.
After the store door was demolished, the farmers who were gathered together heard screams that did not sound like human voices coming from inside the store from a distance of dozens of meters...
The sharp-eyed farmer also saw someone climbing out of the window of the grain store, screaming and running into the alley...
The farmers huddled together more closely, their eyes widening as they watched the excitement.
Then… those terrifying ghosts entered the store, dragged out the old couple who hadn’t escaped, and moved the grain store’s large scales and flour bags to the store door, weighed them in the street, paid for them, and loaded the whole bags of flour onto the truck…
This strange purchasing team took away more than 200 kilograms of flour and walked to the door of the next store to knock and knock down the door. The old store owner and his wife who received a small bag of coins were still standing there in a daze...
When the three Hal brothers arrived at the market with their four tricycles , the purchasing team had just left and the once bustling market had regained about 40% of its vitality - although the number of farmers selling vegetables, open shops and townspeople buying things had decreased by more than half, at least it was not as deserted as other places in the town.
They found a place with relatively dry ground and less garbage to stop the car. Jerome, the youngest and most experienced knight instructor among the three, took the initiative to shake out the waterproof tent cloth in the bed and spread it flat on the side of the street. He then quickly took the goods out of the tricycle and arranged them in categories.
Rex, who knew very well what kind of products the lower classes were easily attracted to, arranged for the three of them to bring out as the first batch of goods to sell... which were two carts of cloth, a cart of plastic cups, bowls and colorful sewing boxes, plastic buttons, plastic rain boots and other plastic products, and a cart of towels.
Not to mention the grocery towels, the curtain fabrics printed with various bright patterns, dense and thick yarns, and particularly eye-catching (super in line with the rural aesthetic) were displayed by manufacturers to clear their inventory (the average backlog is more than five years). Whether it was the townspeople, farmers, or the owners and clerks of the small shops that were open for business, their eyes were wide open...
The leader of the textile industry in the Napalm continent is the Kenya Empire. At least 30% of the urban residents in the continent must have textiles from the Kenya Empire in their homes.
Why don’t the other 70% of urban residents and the even larger number of rural population use it?
Because I can't afford it.
Poor road infrastructure makes the cost of land transportation at least five times higher than that of sea transportation. A printed shirt that ordinary citizens in the Kenyan Empire can afford will cost at least ten times more to be shipped to inland countries.
Not to mention Westham, even in Innaderi, only people living in the wealthy areas can afford to wear clothes made of this kind of fabric that is finely woven, dyed with bright colors, and printed with intricate and exquisite patterns... Most people can only wear rough plain linen clothes.
Hal and Tuttle, two young masters from good families, would definitely not help. The reason they stayed where they were was because they were worried that if something happened after they ran away, they would be caught and held accountable by Yang... If the goods were robbed or the accounts were not right, that bastard Yang would definitely hold them accountable.
Jerome, who was sweating profusely from counting the goods, did not dare to expect them to make a move. Seeing that the goods were displayed but no one came up to ask the price, they all hid far away and saluted. He had to take the initiative to shout out to attract customers as Rex asked: "The new lord has specially supplied new goods to Westram. Come and have a look. All daily necessities are super cheap. A meter of brand new printed cloth is only ten copper coins--"
Before he finished shouting the words Rex prescribed, he felt a blur in front of his eyes.
A woman who was originally buying green vegetables across the street teleported to the stall in an instant with a movement speed that absolutely exceeded the mobility limit of an ordinary person.
"How much?" The woman, who looked like an ordinary housewife, stared at Jerome behind the stall with a basket in her hand. "Sir, how much do you think this cloth costs per meter? Can you repeat it again?"
Jerome, a relatively transparent young man among the mentor NPCs, who relies on growing a big beard to hide his real age so as not to be looked down upon, also comes from a lower class background.
Although he was asked by Yang to be a knight mentor, Jerome was not actually a real knight - before he was driven away by his original master and lived on the streets, he was just a knight's squire.
It sounds nice, but in fact it means being a servant following the master's horse. When the master goes to the battlefield, he has to help carry the armor and weapons. When the master loses the battle, he has to risk his life to cover the master's retreat.
A knight often has several squires, and he would not really train all of them to be regular knights. If a squire is older and has enough experience, and the knight does not want to have a rival to compete with him for his job, he will find an excuse to drive him away and replace him with a more obedient boy.
In short... Jerome knew the sufferings of the world, and he knew very well what these products, which were incredibly cheap and of incredibly high quality, meant to ordinary people.
"Ten copper coins per meter, ma'am." Jerome slowed down his speech and said patiently, "The ones with single-sided printing are thicker, and the ones with double-sided printing are thinner. They are all ten copper coins per meter."
