Chapter 23: The Bamboo Pole Was Smacked Loudly

On the way back to the camp after that, everyone looked rather gloomy, because no one could be happy after encountering such things. Although it could not be confirmed, if foreign power s really got involved, it was very likely that trouble would keep coming one after another. These troubles might not necessarily target George and his group, but since they had already gotten mixed up in it, it was probably impossible for them to completely extricate themselves. Most importantly, the shadow of war seemed to have covered the Duchy of Nohan. Although this possibility seemed small for now, the necessary plans and preparations still had to be made.

Sir Val pretended to be relaxed and said, “Do not worry. Problems between nations like this will naturally be taken care of by the big shots in Karada. We just need to do what we can do right now.”

“If it really turns into a war with Lucia, Mr. Val, what do you think our country’s chance of winning is? If we lose, what will happen to our Bolerum Territory?” George had developed this habit of planning for the worst before planning for the best after experiencing many failures since he transmigrated. The same failure, but the price paid in the two different worlds before and after transmigration was different. Always making plans for the worst-case scenario made it less likely to be crushed by a single failure.

“This is really hard to say. Just looking at the national strength of the two countries, it is impossible for us to win, but it is not easy for them to win either. Let me put it this way: they have a lot of cannon fodder, while our army is stronger. If the battle took place on an open plain, the result would likely be that Lucia used a large number of cannon fodder and a few elites to hold down our main army, leaving enough troops to invade our interior. Fortunately, the border between the two countries is mostly hilly, which greatly reduced the difficulty of our defense. However, if the threat from the Northern Barbarians disappeared, Lucia would launch attacks every year without hesitation. Within ten years, our Duchy would lose the strength to fight a decisive battle against them. After all, compared to the vast and populous Lucia, Nohan is a small country.” Sir Val’s words did not show too much worry. In his opinion, Lucia did not have the ability to completely defeat Nohan in the short term.

Hearing Sir Val’s answer, George could not help but fall into deep thought: “So, without the annual invasion of the Barbarians in winter, and if Lucia is willing to spend a lot of money to fight a war of attrition, then Nohan is doomed to lose? Should we make other plans and leave a way out for ourselves and our family?”

“Do not think about so many things! George.” Sir Val clearly saw through Hiren’s thoughts at a glance. “If we lose the war, the worst case is just going into exile abroad. Knights with inherited bloodlines are nobles wherever they go. And to defeat our Duchy of Nohan, they first have to ask our swords.”

“That’s right! They have to ask our swords first.” Hiren shouted loudly following his father’s words.

George looked at the father and son, lowered his head, shook it, and then shouted, “Then let them come and ask our Longswords!”

Thomas, watching the three enthusiastic people, began to lower his body and look for shadows around him. Suddenly, George and the others turned their heads and stared at Thomas with their eyes. Thomas trembled and stammered, “I—I—I don’t use a sword!”

“Haha—haha—haha—” Seeing Thomas like this, the three of them looked at each other and burst out laughing.

As soon as they arrived at the camp, Sir Val found Sir Bart to discuss the town guard duty for tonight.

“Do not go, Thomas, we have something to find you.” George grabbed Thomas, who wanted to run somewhere unknown.

Thomas trembled all over and answered stammeringly, “I—Is there anything? George.”

George made a gesture, and Hiren, understanding the meaning at a glance, walked to the place where the items were placed before. Then he turned back and said to Thomas, “There are a few things we do not know what they are. Are you not the Master of Appraisal in our Territory? Then please take a look.”

Thomas sighed in relief and muttered, “Oh, I see. I thought the caviar incident earlier had been discovered.”

Although the voice was small, how could it escape George’s ears? George’s expression immediately changed from a smiling face to a gloomy one. Then he asked in a chilling voice, “I was wondering what was going on! Half a month ago, I just received some caviar from the workshop, but for some unknown reason, one jar was missing. It turns out it was your doing! What should I do with you, Mr. Thief of Caviar?”

“Hehehe! That was just one jar of caviar. I will compensate you.” Thomas’s smile was obviously a bit stiff.

“That is the freshest and highest-grade salmon caviar available once a year. Although it is far from inferior to the Northern Sea Sturgeon caviar preserved by Magic, each jar is worth about one hundred and fifty to two hundred Gold Coins on the black market. Plus, your theft almost delayed the delivery of this year’s tribute. You tell me how you should compensate.” George’s words sounded to Thomas like the voice of an evil ghost demanding his life.

Thomas continued to answer in a stammering tone, “T-Then you tell me what to do.”

George grinned and said, “For this appraisal, you cannot make any demands.”

Thomas heard this and immediately let out a long sigh, but George’s next sentence made him hold his breath again.

“Plus three bottles of Minor Healing Potions.”

“Cough—cough—cough—What did you say? I did not hear clearly.” Thomas, who was choked, was unwilling to believe his ears.

George repeated what he had just said, “Three bottles of Minor Healing Potions.”

“This is extortion! Absolutely not.” Thomas bristled like a cat whose tail had been stepped on.

George, with a gloomy face and a heavy tone, said, “So, do you want me to handle this officially, Thomas?”

“Officially it is!” Thomas jumped up and shouted resentfully.

“Then okay, let us calculate what price you need to pay if we handle this officially. First, compensation for the caviar you ate. Since it was theft, you need to pay double the original price, meaning you must pay three hundred to four hundred Gold Coins for this. Let us take the middle value and say three hundred and fifty Gold Coins.” George paused and continued, “Also, what you stole this time was tribute for our Liege Lord, Duke of Nohan. So, according to the minimum standard, you also have to pay a fine of one hundred Gold Coins or work in the Quarry for three months as punishment.”

Thomas gritted his teeth and played the cheat, “I will not admit it.”

“I should ask Mr. Val if he prepared a Lie Detection spell today. If not, remind him to hold a public trial in the camp tomorrow. So he can prepare early.” George’s expression returned to normal, and even his tone sounded like he was talking about something unrelated.

Seeing George turn around as if to leave, Thomas quickly grabbed his sleeve and compromised, “Okay, okay, you won. Three bottles, three bottles.”

Hearing Thomas compromise, George turned around and stretched out his right hand: “Give it!”

Thomas was startled: “Give what?”

“Are you pretending to be stupid or are you really stupid? Of course, it is the healing potions.” Saying this, George even rolled his eyes at Thomas.

Thomas protested while his left hand subconsciously slid down, “How can you do this? I do not have these things on me now. When we get to Karada, I will find an Alchemy laboratory to brew them and give them to you.”

“Hmph! Do not say when we get to Karada. Even after today, you will definitely drag your feet if you can. Besides, if you do not have healing potions, then what are you hiding with your left hand?” Saying this, George pointed at Thomas’s left hand.

Exposed, Thomas reluctantly took out his potion belt from under his clothes. He pulled out three glass tubes the size of test tubes, but held them in his hand and refused to hand them over to George.

Seeing this, George had to shout loudly, “Hurry up!”

“I am not refusing to give them to you, why are you so fierce!” Saying this, Thomas handed the potions to George, “It is agreed! The caviar incident never happened. Do you hear me? I do not want a third person to know.”

George pointed behind Thomas: “There is already a third person who knows.”

Thomas was so scared that he quickly turned around. It turned out that Hiren had already brought the items needing appraisal and stood behind him. Because of the light, Thomas’s shadow was dragged behind him. Plus, since all his attention was focused on George, he did not notice that Hiren had already arrived by his side.

“Hiren, this one is for you.” Saying this, George took one out of the three healing potions and handed it to Hiren. Then he turned to Thomas and said, “Now there will definitely be no fourth person who knows.”

“All the items needing appraisal are here.” Saying this, Hiren put down the sack and handed the wooden staff in his hand to Thomas, while casually taking the potion George had handed over.

Thomas, after taking the wooden staff, first looked at it back and forth, then took out a crystal convex lens from his space bag to observe it carefully. Finally, he cast a spell with light on the wooden staff.

“Okay! You are lucky. This is a high-quality Precision Totem, mainly used to increase the counter-effect of Divine Arts. With it, Divine Arts with negative effects are more likely to take effect on the enemy.” Thomas touched the totem and continued, “The market price of this item is probably between five thousand five hundred and six thousand five hundred Gold Coins. Given that it is not easy to sell, you had better find an acquaintance to trade it at a Temple of the War God or the Night Goddess, who are good at destruction or negative effects. In that case, you can probably sell it for about seventy to eighty percent of the market price. Okay, the appraisal is finished. The fee is about…”

“Did you not say it was free?” George asked.

Thomas scratched his head, “Oh! I almost forgot. It has become a professional habit.”

Then Thomas proceeded to appraise a series of miscellaneous items in the sack one by one.

“Finally done. It really made me sweat all over.” Thomas sorted the items inside and said one by one, “This spellcasting material pack has not been used many times. It is only for Evil Divine Arts, so it can only be sold by taking it apart. It is worth about fifty Gold Coins. What is truly valuable are these gems; three Garnets are worth about three hundred Gold Coins, one Moonstone is worth about sixty Gold Coins, and one more Garnet is worth about one hundred and twenty Gold Coins. Also, these five pounds of silver powder are worth about twenty-five Gold Coins, but I think it is better to give this silver powder to Isolde, as he needs it for spellcasting. The other scattered things are not worth five Gold Coins.”

When hearing the price of the totem, both George and Hiren were stunned. Fortunately, they calmed down later and did not make a fool of themselves.

“Thank you so much, Thomas. How about we go find Craig together and tell him this good news?”

“Let us not bother. I need to go comfort my injured heart now.”