Chapter 18: Aristocratic Behavior

Early the next morning.

“Bang!” The long-closed door of the Dock Military Management Office was kicked open. A handsome young man in crisp clothes with a haughty expression strode into the office, surrounded by a group of tall guards, and swaggered over to sit down in the soft-backed chair. Behind him followed a tall warrior carrying a huge two-handed sword on his back, who looked like his bodyguard. There was also a clerk and a personal attendant.

That’s right: the noble youth was Fred, the bodyguard was Carlson, the clerk was Hugh, and the cocky attendant was me.

The day before, after Fred had discovered the merchants’ trick, he offered to join the plan. He guaranteed that the cargo ship would sail out safely, on the condition that our squad be brought along. Naturally, no one objected. We found suitable clothes and equipment in the merchants’ cargo. And with the efforts of Dakla, who had once been a stonemason, we carved a seal onto a huge sapphire ring. By Fred’s aesthetic standards, this seal was hideously ugly. But it was already the last suitable ring—before this seal was finished, quite a lot of materials had already been ruined. The merchant who sold these gemstones could not bear the enormous pressure. He spat out blood on the spot and fainted. That night, we assigned roles and worked out the action plan for the next morning.

The office clerk, who held the rank of second lieutenant, had probably never seen such a show of force. Startled, he hurriedly stood up and saluted, personally served a cup of black tea respectfully, then stood at attention to the side and said respectfully:

“My lord, may I ask what…”

Fred waved his hand wearily as if shooing away a fly. I quickly stepped forward and said:

“This is Viscount Frederick Ka Guderian, staff officer of the Fourth Army. He has come to Kunlan City on official business to requisition a shipload of wartime supplies. These are the documents that were issued.”

“Very well, my lord. Wait a moment.” The second lieutenant bowed respectfully once more, then carried the forged document in both hands back to the desk to check it.

“I’m sorry, my lord, but your document does not have the seal of the Kunlan Supplies Management Office. I cannot let it pass.”

My heart skipped a beat. I thought to myself, this was the critical moment.

On this forged document, every seal and signature could be called flawless. Through all kinds of channels in the military camp, we had learned the list of officers in the Fourth Army’s staff without much difficulty. Also, all the army’s seals were carved in a uniform format, so we had no trouble copying them with fresh potatoes. More importantly, we had learned that the Fourth Army had been stationed, only two days earlier, at a place five days’ journey away from Kunlan City. Even if we made some mistake, there was no way to prove it. The only flaw was that none of us had ever seen the seal of the Supplies Management Office, so there was no way to imitate it. What was even worse, if something went wrong, the Dock Management Office could easily come over to verify. Therefore, we had no choice but to…

“Are you saying that when the Fourth Army requisitions supplies, we still need Kunlan City’s permission?” Fred crossed his legs and lounged sideways in the reclining chair, glancing at the second lieutenant out of the corner of his eye.

“My lord, that’s not what I meant. You also know that the City Lord has given orders that these are emergency times…”

“Don’t talk to me about emergency times. It’s precisely because of the emergency that I left the imperial capital and came to this godforsaken wilderness to eat these damn dry rations. You think I don’t know what an emergency is? We are the ones risking our lives on the battlefield, while you little bastards sit in your office and enjoy an easy life. Don’t try to suppress me with some City Lord. What does that Futal think he is? Here, I may call him City Lord, but if we were on the battlefield, if I told him to go east, he would not dare go west. If I wanted to cut off his left hand, I would never cut off his right ear.”

Overbearing. Extremely overbearing. Looking at this arrogant and reckless young noble, I really found it hard to link him to that brave and upright soldier, Fred.

“Please don’t be angry, my lord. Listen to me…” The second lieutenant in front of us was covered in cold sweat. He didn’t know what to do, so he just hurriedly apologized, yet he didn’t dare to take it upon himself to let us pass. He was so anxious he didn’t know how to handle it.

“Stand at attention!” Fred suddenly bellowed. The second lieutenant reflexively snapped to attention and saluted. “Look at yourself—all sloppy. Tighten your belt, button your buttons, stick out your chest, lift your head. You don’t look like a soldier at all. You’re dragging around like a woman. If you were a soldier under my command, I would cut off your head just for being improperly dressed!” Under Fred’s orders, the second lieutenant scrambled around in a panic. He barely managed to straighten his uniform, and he completely lost the ability to think.

“My pass.” Fred’s face was grave.

“But, mister…”

“Call me sir! Didn’t anyone teach you that when you were in the army?”

“Sir, I can’t…”

“If you keep dawdling, I’ll send you to the battlefield and let you see whether those Winstons have tempers as good as mine…” Fred reached out and slapped the second lieutenant twice across the face.

Hugh, standing nearby, was stunned. The merchants had suffered at the hands of this cold, indifferent second lieutenant more than once for the sake of setting sail. When had any of them ever seen him get taught a lesson like this?

“Please, sir…” The second lieutenant wailed in a tearful voice.

“Brothers, tear this shabby place apart for me! I just don’t believe that requisitioning one boatload of goods has to be this troublesome.”

Just as we had rehearsed, the soldiers swarmed forward. Some smashed the desks, some threw the benches. Riley, right on schedule, snatched our forged documents from the second lieutenant’s hands, mixed them into a large pile of documents, and threw them into the air. This move had been specially arranged by Fred beforehand. This was what they meant by “no evidence, no proof.”

The second lieutenant’s face turned green with fright, but Carlson was holding him by the neck, so he couldn’t move. He could only watch helplessly as this pack of ferocious soldiers smashed and looted. I threw one drawer out the window while playing my not-so-honorable role, shouting: “Young master, please stop causing trouble. If the old master finds out, you’ll be punished again. This boy doesn’t know any better. Just teach him a lesson. Whatever you do, don’t end up killing anyone…” With a wave of my hand, another drawer flew at the second lieutenant. It hit him right on the chin, knocking him dizzy and senseless. He passed out immediately.

Just when we, a gang of hooligans in military uniforms, were smashing things with great pleasure and had almost forgotten why we had even come to this office, a balding middle-aged man with a captain’s rank on his shoulders rushed in through the doorway—the place where a door used to be—in a panic. The moment he entered, he cried out loudly:

“My lord, stop smashing! Please, stop smashing! I beg you…” With snot and tears streaming down his face, he hurried to Fred’s side. Fred glanced at his rank and gave me a wink. I knew the man we had been waiting for had arrived.

Fred turned his head away, ignoring the man completely, and shouted again with a deliberate pose: “Smash it hard! Burn this shabby place to the ground!”

The captain who had just come in turned deathly pale and hurriedly begged for mercy. I saw the timing was about right, so I stepped in again and said: “Young master, please stop. Don’t go back and let the old master punish you again.”

“Stop bothering me with that old man all the time.” Fred’s tone softened a bit, and he put on an expression of deep thought.

The captain saw that my words seemed useful, so he quickly pulled me aside and said with a fawning smile: “Little brother, please persuade your master. We serve in this small place and don’t know what we’re doing. If we have offended him, please beg him to forgive us.”

“You are…”

“I am the person in charge of the Dock Management Office. My name is…”

I had no interest in learning this wretched officer’s name. I patted the shoulder of this officer, who outranked me by who knew how many ranks, and interrupted him: “Don’t take this the wrong way, but you people really don’t know how to handle things. Our young master is somebody in the imperial capital. He gets whatever he wants. This is his first time going out to the battlefield, and this subordinate of yours didn’t show him any respect. Serves you right. Let me tell you, smashing your office is a small matter. Even killing one or two people is nothing in our young master’s eyes.”

“What… what is going on here?”

“Our young master was ordered to come to Kunlan City to requisition a shipload of supplies. And you know, while he was at it, he also took a fancy to some local specialties of Kunlan, so he brought a little back on the side. These things are not worth much, but it’s still better that the Supplies Management Office doesn’t know about them, right? But this subordinate of yours was too ungrateful. He insisted on the office’s seal. Isn’t that asking for trouble? So what do you think we should do about this…”

“Easy. This is easy. I’ll issue the pass right away. I’ll issue it right now!” The bald man’s head bobbed like a fishing float when a fish bites.

“Now it’s no longer a question of whether to issue the pass. You’ve already stirred up our young master’s temper, and I can’t hold him back.” When you put on a show, you have to go all the way. I rubbed my fingers together as if without thinking, and looked at the captain with greed on my face.

“Little brother, please think of something. This is just a small token for you to buy some tea…” A thick stack of gold coins fell into my pocket.

“Well, you’re just too kind. Keeping the young master happy and stopping him from getting into trouble is also my duty, right? I’ll think of something for you…” While the bald captain thanked me again and again, I pulled Fred over to him and said:

“Young master, all you wanted was a pass, right? This gentleman has already handled it for you. How about…?”

Fred frowned. “If he says come, I come, and if he says go, I go? What does he take me for?”

“Young master, don’t be too angry. The sooner we leave, the sooner we get back to camp. Didn’t General Fatt promise that you’d be made a Colonel as soon as you got back? And…” I winked and deliberately lowered my voice. “Those two Misses on the ship must be getting impatient waiting.”

A lewd smile that had never been seen before suddenly appeared on Fred’s handsome face. His acting was so good that even I, a genius bartender raised in a tavern, felt I was no match for him. He swallowed his saliva with a lecherous look. “Hehe, it would be too rude to keep ladies waiting, wouldn’t it?”

“Yes, yes. You’re absolutely right.” I held back my disgust and agreed.

“Brothers, let’s go!” Fred waved his hand, stopping the scene that was nearly out of control. He turned to the captain and said, “You got lucky today, kid. Remember, I don’t like waiting for people.”

As the bald captain wiped his sweat and bowed again and again, we walked toward the merchant ship with our just-issued pass. As we were leaving, I heard the clerk who had been cruelly beaten for sticking to his principles getting a stern lecture from his superior:

“Of all the people you could provoke, you had to provoke a fearless spoiled brat like that. You’ve made such a big mess for me. I’m giving you one day to fix the doors, windows, desks, and chairs in my office. The repair costs will be deducted from your allowance. And…”

…

Back on the merchant ship, Hugh was still shaken. His legs gave way and he collapsed onto the deck.

“You… you really dared to make such a scene! You scared me to death…”

“Now do you know what a noble is? Nobles solve problems differently from merchants. They don’t smooth things over—they stir things up. The louder the better. The bigger the matter, the more face they gain. Once it gets big enough, someone will naturally come along to settle it. Got it?”

That arrogant, lewd young noble instantly “transformed” back into the calm and experienced Fred. Looking at his clear, bright eyes, who could have imagined that this young man with no power or influence had just led a group of people on a rampage through a government office?

“Jeff, you performed very well. Especially when you extorted that bald officer—it was a stroke of genius. Even I didn’t think of it.”

“Of course!” I had made a windfall, so I accepted Fred’s praise with a clear conscience.

“But what was that about the two Misses? I don’t remember that line when we rehearsed…” Fred’s face suddenly changed, and he walked over with a malicious grin.

“Ah, cough, cough… this… that was a stroke of inspiration too. But really, Fred, you’re something. You can play along with such a difficult new act. Especially that lewd smile of yours—even I almost thought you really had two beauties hidden on the ship. Hey, don’t draw your sword! That sword is too sharp. It’ll hurt someone. Listen to me… Help! Help!”

“Jeff, say one more word and I’ll turn you into a beauty right here on the spot…”

Just as everyone was excited beyond measure about being able to leave Kunlan and was cracking all kinds of jokes, a strange voice suddenly came from the bow:

“Hey, I heard this ship is about to leave. Can I hitch a ride?”