Volume 7: Doing Business with the World Chapter 222: The Courage of the Grassland People
The bearded adventurer calls himself von Aldoni and is from the Kingdom of Osmond.
"Oh? Isaac's fellow countryman." When Sail heard about the Kingdom of Osmond, he naturally responded with this sentence.
"Isaac? Isaac Robbins?" Bearded Feng looked surprised.
"Yes, he is also from your Osmond Kingdom." Saier nodded.
"..." Von Aldoni's expression was a little subtle, and he asked tentatively, "Mr. Searle, are you friends with Knight Robins?"
Saier's horse was crouching comfortably on one side of the bonfire, with von Aldoni on the other. Through the firelight, Saier could not see the subtle expression of the bearded von, nor could he notice the man's sudden tense demeanor. He nodded casually and said, "Yes, Isaac is Ayun's disciple and our friend."
Ayun... Ayun, the sage of the Snow Wolf tribe?
Von Aldoni was stunned for a moment, then he understood.
Most of the Centaurs live in the neighboring continent of Bradrick. The branch living in Bloomfield is the descendant of warriors who migrated to this continent due to racial fighting during the Age of Gods. Like the Tauren, they often live in the grasslands of the northern continent.
It is not surprising that the Snow Wolf Clan, which even brought the Snake Clan back to the grassland to raise, would also win over the Centaurs, the indigenous inhabitants of the grassland.
Isaac Robbins, a disciple of Sage Ayun, opened a port and built a territory in Valentine, so it doesn't seem strange that Centaurs appeared in the inland of the Kingdom of Kronin... No wonder!
Although von Aldoni is not from Kroning, to be honest, the nature of these countries in the Federation is really similar... What is the difference between a large group of orcs carrying a lot of goods walking around the Federation Kingdom and delivering meat to local nobles? !
This is the annoying part: these centaurs seem to be walking freely in the Kingdom of Kronin and even doing business with the locals!
Bearded Feng hesitated for a while, but couldn't control his curiosity, so he risked being suspected and exposed to ask Sai Er questions...
Saier had been asked about this more than once by the human nobles who had taken a ride with him. He never doubted the identity and intention of this adventurer, and introduced the business scope and partners of the express delivery team without reservation.
The express delivery team is not monopolized by the Centaurs, but is shared by two families, one is the Pope family, and the other is the Centaurs themselves.
The express team receives the goods from Robbins Knight and the payment is made in full in cash by the customers to the Fire Department, which is not included in the express team's income. The express team earns money from the freight. On the premise of providing delivery, after-sales maintenance and technical guidance, different fees are charged for each order of goods depending on factors such as the distance and total weight of the goods.
Viscount Pope did not take the money for nothing. He was responsible for handling the exchanges and communication with the aristocratic clients, arranging the "amulet" for the courier team on each trip, providing sufficiently sturdy carriages (the Pope family was one of the bigwigs in the shipbuilding industry after all, so building a carriage was a piece of cake). If the "amulet" did not work and there was a conflict between the courier team and the local nobles (that is, resolving the problem with violence), he would also be responsible for cleaning up the mess.
As for the extra income from giving humans a ride and charging for carriage and escort fees... that is the extra money the Centaurs earn themselves.
After introducing the main business, when talking about the "side business", Saier said frankly: "...We didn't expect that the Cronin people would have such a large demand for travel. When we sent the last batch of guests to XX town, many people came to ask if we passed by the place they wanted to go. Unfortunately, many of them were not on the way."
Bearded Feng: “…”
This guy who looked glamorous but actually had only a few gold coins in his entire fortune lowered his head and counted on his fingers the approximate income of the Centaurs' "ride-sharing business". The corners of his mouth began to twitch...
Needless to say, the Centaur's speed is very fast. It's like a piece of cake for him to pull a heavy carriage for hundreds of kilometers a day (Saier even showed him his steel alloy horseshoe). If the ride fee is one silver coin per person for every twenty kilometers, then it would be five gold coins for one hundred passengers, and ten gold coins for two hundred passengers...
Bearded Feng wiped his sweat silently. This was just a part-time job. These Centaurs were only willing to take along passengers who were passing by. If they were allowed to do this business freely, would it be a problem for these Centaurs to transport a thousand people?
"With the speed you are traveling, if you don't do 'express delivery' and focus on transporting people, wouldn't you be able to earn a baron's territory in a year or two?" Bearded Feng said half enviously and half jokingly.
Sai Er thought about it seriously and shook his head: "It's better to deliver the goods. The environment here is different from our grassland. It's not just about speed."
"The delivery routes are relatively fixed. If you make a couple of trips to get used to it, you can speed up a bit and shorten the time. For people, firstly, the routes are complicated and we can't guarantee that there won't be any accidents. Secondly, we don't have enough people to cover so many routes."
Bearded Feng was stunned and thought for a few seconds before he understood what the centaur meant.
First, the route planned by Viscount Pope of the Pope family for the Centaurs is a "safe route", which means that if there is any real problem, it can be solved with the background of the Pope family.
Second, even if the Pope family can solve all border crossing problems, the escort team on each line cannot be too small... otherwise, there is still a high possibility of being robbed along the way.
"...It's dangerous to go out!" Bearded Feng couldn't help but sigh. He didn't mind the implication of the centaur's words... After all, this is indeed the situation in the human territory. It is hard to guard against the open and hidden attacks of mountain bandits and bullies.
After chatting about road safety, Bearded Feng pretended to be nonchalant and changed the subject to Isaac: "My fellow countryman of Osmond, Knight Isaac Robbins, although I have not had the chance to meet him in person, I have long admired him. I wonder what kind of person this Knight Robbins is?"
Saier said: "I don't have much contact with Isaac. I listen more to what Ayun says. Ayun said that he is a caring and soft-hearted person."
"To be able to write a play like Cinderella, I think Knight Robbins must have a soft heart," echoed Bearded Feng.
Sayre hasn't had the chance to watch the Cinderella movie, mainly because their presence in theaters or in large crowds would have too much of an impact...
But he had heard the plot before, and the huge difference between the story in the tribe did touch him. He nodded and said, "Yes, even Cinderella's stepmother can be forgiven. This is very similar to Isaac's character. I have never heard of Isaac arguing with anyone. He is always good-tempered and tolerant of others."
"You are truly respectable." Bearded Feng laughed in agreement, and then he carefully changed the subject to what he really cared about. "Ayun, the sage of the Snow Wolf Clan, is the teacher of Knight Robbins. To be able to teach such a disciple, Ayun must be a tolerant and kind wise man, right?"
This time, Sayre was silent for a long time...
Bearded Feng thought that he was too impatient and reckless and had aroused the other party's vigilance. He was hesitating whether to just laugh it off, when Sail spoke.
"Ayun is certainly a wise man, and he is indeed tolerant and kind... But how should I put it, Ayun's temper is different from Isaac's." Saier looked tangled, "If you do something wrong, you will be scolded by Ayun... Well, if you are just scolded, it's actually okay. In Ayun's words, there is still hope. If Ayun doesn't scold people, that would be really bad."
Bearded Feng: “Uh——”
This was not what he wanted to ask. Whether Sage Ayun was a kind and friendly patriarch to the orcs had nothing to do with him. But asking a centaur Sage Ayun about his attitude towards humans was a bit stupid...
There was no other way, so Bearded Feng could only save the country in a roundabout way and pretended to be curious: "So that's how it is, Sage Ayun is a kind and strict elder."
"Elder? No, Ayun is not yet an adult." Saier shook his head.
Bearded Feng: “Huh?”
"Ayun is indeed very reliable, but he is still seven years away from adulthood, so he cannot be considered an elder," Sail explained.
Bearded Feng calculated the age of adulthood of the orcs and gasped, "You mean, Sage Ayun is only twenty-three years old?!"
Saier nodded: "Yes, twelve years younger than me."
Bearded Feng no longer cared about pretending, his jaw almost dropped to the ground...
——This is unreasonable!
Even if the two travel notes published by Sage Ayun in "Continental Games" were ghostwritten by someone else and the real author was the forest elf Evelyn, what about the disciples he brought up? !
What's with the old friend Alman praising and admiring the sage Ayun in his letter ? !
Before Bearded Feng could recover from his shock, Sayre looked at him with that straightforward look and said directly, "Mr. Aldoni, do you want to visit Ayun?"
The bearded Feng Hu's body trembled.
Shock again.
——Wait, where did I get exposed?!
Saier didn't mind the shock of bearded Feng, and said calmly: "Many customers have curiously asked about the situation of our express delivery team, and also asked us about Isaac's preferences and personality. They are very interested in Isaac. But you are the only one who mentioned Ayun."
Bearded Feng: “…”
No wonder this guy is so fluent when talking about other things, but he has to think about it before mentioning the sage Ayun...
But think about it carefully... The Centaurs are from the Snow Wolf Tribe, and the people from "J" came out of the mountains to target Ayun, the sage of the Snow Wolf Tribe. It seems that there is no need to worry about being discovered by this Centaur...
Of course, out of caution, Bearded Feng still did not intend to reveal his identity. He immediately pretended to smile awkwardly and tactfully told a passable lie: "You saw through it. Indeed, we are planning to go to the grassland to visit the sage Ayun. Knight Robbins was originally an adventurer. After receiving the guidance of the sage Ayun, his fame even spread back to Osmond. Although it is a bit presumptuous, I, an Osmondian, am quite tempted by this."
"That's right." Sayre immediately found the human adventurer pleasing to his eyes and said enthusiastically, "This is a good idea. If you want to get something done, it's always a good idea to go to Ayun. Regardless of whether you can succeed like Isaac, it will definitely be better than before."
"On the grassland, everyone agrees on one thing: there are no truly incompetent people, it's just that many people's talents are not used in the right place and have not been given the opportunity to display them. If we want to live a better life, we must work hard to create an environment where as many people as possible can display their talents and allow capable people to come to the fore."
"I dare not say that there are many benefits and opportunities on the grassland, but if you go there, Mr. Aldoni, as long as you are willing to work hard, Ayun and everyone will work hard to find a suitable way out for you."
These words of Sayre came from the heart and from the bottom of his heart.
In the Fire Tribe where everyone is working hard and trying to shine, the Centaurs who are not suitable for farming and cannot do delicate work must feel very frustrated.
Even the work that the disabled cats, gray dwarves, Ayi's people and others can do, the centaurs can't do... Their horses are too tall and the centaurs can't bend down at all, let alone taking care of greenhouse crops, it's difficult for them to help take care of children - wolf cubs under three years old can't sit steadily on their backs.
It was not until the express delivery business was developed that Sai'er found that he and his people had their "place" and were needed by others, and he became increasingly cheerful. Sai'er, who was a complete unknown in the tribe, was quite gloomy and not as talkative as he is now.
As for before he entered the Fire Department, Cell's personality was quite cold...
Bearded Feng stared blankly at the centaur brother with a long horse face, who looked ugly at first glance and ugly and funny when he looked closely.
The orcs were not as violent, cruel and unreasonable as fools thought. Von Aldoni was very clear about this. The range of activities of the condemned was not as large as that of serious adventurers, but they had also dealt with alien races.
Of course, the lifespan of Orcs is only a few decades longer than that of humans, so to say that their intelligence is higher than that of humans... is not the case.
The long-lived dwarves, elves, and sea people only have a little more experience than humans and orcs, but there is no such thing as an IQ crush.
The Centaur in front of him, judging from his self-proclaimed age, should be less than 40 years old. Perhaps due to his lack of experience, he was not sufficiently wary of people. In von Aldoni's opinion, he seemed a little naive.
But it was this orc brother who should have spent most of his life (horse life) on a closed grassland, who could actually say such words and show such an open-minded spirit - and he didn't just memorize it by rote. From Searle's expression and tone, Bearded Feng could tell that this guy really understood and agreed with this passage - this couldn't help but shock him.
"...The appearance of the wise man Ayun has such a great impact on the grassland tribes?"
This thought popped up in von Aldoni's mind, and he felt both excited and expectant.
He was only willing to make this trip out of trust in Alman. As for how much he was looking forward to it... Bearded Feng was reserved about it.
But now, just encountering a centaur from the grassland was so surprising that he couldn't help but have more expectations.
The Snow Wolf Clan, or in other words, the grassland tribe surrounded by three powerful enemies: the Forest Elves, the Snow Elves, and the Orc Empire, cannot get around these three mountains above their heads if they want to develop.
The tiger tribe tried to fight hard, but ended up being thrown into the underground world to fight with the dwarf kingdom. Others didn't care, but the condemned ones watched silently.
Others may forget at whose hands Melville died, but the descendants of "J" will never forget!
They fought to the death in the southern continent and did not dare to show their fangs, but the gap between the two sides was simply too big and the ants were not qualified to challenge the tigers!
The enemy of my enemy is my friend. If the grassland tribes united by the wise Ayun can confront those powerful and hopeless forces that they can only look up to, then it goes without saying that this friend "J" is a sure thing...
Half a month after von Aldoni and his disciples "joined forces" with the Centaur Express Brigade, and one month after Master and Apprentice Alman were taken away by Xiao Yun, many new faces appeared in Knight Robins' territory.
Isaac accompanied Viscount Pope to deal with Prince Maurice for the whole morning (yes, this guy hasn't left yet, which is really despairing). After leaving the hotel, he didn't even have time to eat lunch, and hurried back to the Knight's House to meet today's... wanted criminals with huge rewards from multiple royal families.
Today, there were three groups of wanted criminals who came to "report". Isaac returned to the house, closed the door, and turned around to see three groups of people squatting in his house with calm expressions...
The first group was two pairs of masters and apprentices who arrived yesterday at midnight, looking exhausted. It was said that they were neighbors who, like Alman and his apprentice, lived in the dense forest at the junction of the Western Continent and the Southern Continent. They trusted Alman quite a bit and "reported" to the Knights' Mansion as soon as they arrived.
It was unknown when the second group arrived. I guess they squatted and observed for a while after arriving at the Knights' Territory, then contacted their own people, and then squatted for a few more days before showing up. There were about ten people in total, and all of them had their shoes stained with... the old yellow mud from the construction site in District 3.
The third group consisted of the six masters and apprentices who arrived with Sayre’s express team in the morning… The arrival of the express team was also the reason why Isaac had to take time out to deal with Prince Maurice all morning.
As soon as Isaac, the host, appeared, the group of wanted criminals who were chatting with each other all looked over...
"..." Isaac felt a lot of pressure. Whether he was a carefree young master in the Kingdom of Osmond, or later became an adventurer, or was sent by his teacher as a spy, Isaac had never been in the same room with so many serious criminals in his life...
Trying his best to calm his pounding heart, Isaac smiled reservedly but cordially at the wanted criminals in this room whose combined bounty could buy an earldom:
"Everyone... I won't ask your names. The Fire Department's ship will arrive tomorrow, so please get ready and board the ship before tomorrow night at the latest. Once on the ship, please continue to keep a low profile... The crew on the ship are hired, and not all of them can be trusted."
None of the wanted criminals were vicious, violent, and violent, and they all responded with a smile.
"Knight Robbins, since we still have time, can we go to the grand theater in your territory to watch a play?" A young man who looked very lively was even eager to try.
Isaac: “Uh…”
"I heard that Sayer and the others haven't watched the performance in person. Why not invite them to join us? It shouldn't be a problem for you to have one more show, right?" the young man Aisha said bluntly.
He knew that it was inappropriate for so many condemned people to sit together with ordinary audiences...
The female traveler next to him had veins on her forehead and stared at the stupid junior with dangerous eyes.
Isaac: “…”
No, just, the legendary "Condemner", even people with this style of painting exist...
"Of course... no problem." Isaac reluctantly said. The main reason was that the other party had brought up the centaurs of Sayre, and for the sake of the centaurs, Isaac could not refuse. "The troupe is rehearsing a new play. It will be a great honor if I can invite you to come and watch the preview rehearsal in the Grand Theater tonight."
"Okay, okay!" Aisha rubbed his hands happily, "We will definitely give you this favor, right, teacher?"
Veins instantly popped out on Bearded Feng's forehead, and his entire face turned red with shame - this little bastard, bringing shame upon himself in front of so many people!
Isaac looked at this little brother with a rather sympathetic look. It wasn't that he felt sorry for this guy because he would be beaten up by his master later, but if a person with this kind of personality fell into the hands of Teacher Ayun, he would definitely lose a layer of skin.
Isaac's prediction was correct. When he saw Aisha again, the young man had become much stronger, and every red and white muscle was soaked with sadness, blood and tears... Ahem, of course, that's a story for later.
After meeting and recognizing their hosts, the condemned ones said goodbye one after another and skillfully split up into small groups to blend into the crowd.
Isaac went to the theater to preview the new play in advance...
That night, after nightfall, the streets of the Knights' Territory became quiet, and most people fell asleep.
The Centaur warriors who were still staying in the most secluded warehouse area in the Third District helped each other wrap the horses' hooves with cotton cloth (they couldn't reach them by themselves), and happily went to the theater in the center of the First District.
The centaurs who were not fit to go out on the streets during the day could not experience the hustle and bustle of the Knights' Territory during the day, but fortunately they did not mind; Isaac opened the preview for them so that they could also enjoy the performance, which was already worth the centaurs' happiness.
...Well, it's a bit sad to say this, but at least it's much better than the goblins...
Some merchants living on the second floor of the shops heard the noise on the street, got up with sleepy eyes, opened the window and looked out; they found a large group of monsters with human heads and centaurs walking silently in the dark street, and fainted without being able to scream...
After that, the legend of "a hundred ghosts parading at night" gradually spread in the Knight Territory. Although most people did not believe it, some people were still scared to the point of not daring to go out at night. Even the number of thieves who sneaked into houses and picked locks decreased - but that is a story for later.
The Centaurs entered through the side door of the Grand Theater. The Condemned had already arrived. In addition to the people Isaac had met at noon, there were also some people who had "reported" to the Knight's Mansion earlier.
The centaurs could not sit on the chairs that humans sat on, so a space was cleared in the theater and covered with straw mats so that the centaurs could kneel down and watch the show.
Bearded Feng led his disciples to the cleared half of the field to greet the Centaurs. Sail looked at Aisha, whose face was bruised and swollen, curiously for several times, but was kind enough not to ask how she got hurt.
In addition to the Condemned, there were many of Isaac's subordinates in the seats, such as the knight brothers, Alex and others; the VIP area on the second floor was not empty either, and the sea creatures and elf warriors who were still squatting under the knights all ran over.
Since it was a welfare benefit, Isaac also took care of his own people and foreign guests.
Fifteen minutes before the show started, Isaac ran backstage again to remind the actors in the troupe not to make a fuss about the Centaur audience and to ensure that the quality of the performance was on par with the official performance, otherwise even the protagonists would be removed to play villains... This scared the actors and made them nervous.
Coming out from the backstage, Isaac was about to accompany the Earl Winston and his son, who were of the most important status, when he saw Edward coming towards him with sweat all over his forehead.
Edward, who was rarely seen in such a panic, immediately dropped a bombshell: "Prince Maurice is here too, and he has brought Viscount Pope with him."
Isaac: “…”
