Chapter 187: The Original Caravan

Under the scorching sun, Old Xie, the Old Mage, and Lan Fake, who came to help, scrambled around the sculpture, checking every crack on its body, but found nothing. Helplessly, the Old Mage brought the Mithril sculpture over to compare and even carefully checked the Fine Gold scroll, but still found nothing. In the end, the two had no choice but to give up. The Old Mage had a pile of experiments to do and naturally didn’t have time to waste here with Old Xie. So he simply threw the sculpture and scroll to Old Xie, told him to research it himself, and then ran off.

Old Xie had no choice either, so he placed the sculpture in his bedroom in the Castle and went about his business.

Early the next morning, after finishing his boxing practice, Old Xie began to guide the Imps with Pars in carving Magic Arrays. After some time of teaching and practice, the Imps’ skills became increasingly exquisite. Their large eyes and dexterous fingers gave them a greater advantage than humans when carving fine Magic Array lines. After seeing their work, even a professional Mage like Pars had to helplessly admit that his level was no longer a match for these Imps.

Just as Old Xie was looking smug about this, Lan Fake ran in again and shouted to Old Xie, “Hey, hey, little guy, the Wyvern sent news, another Caravan is coming this way!”

“Haha, someone is sending money!” Old Xie immediately perked up hearing this, hurriedly rushed out, and asked with a smile, “How many people came this time? How much cargo do they have?”

“The cargo isn’t much, just twenty or thirty carts, but there are really a lot of people, a full seven or eight hundred. They are all riding warhorses, and they look like they’re not easy to mess with!” Lan Fake said.

“Have you seen them?” Old Xie asked suddenly.

“Mhm!” Lan Fake nodded and said, “I just went to scout the situation. Although these people are dressed like an ordinary Caravan, I can see that they are clearly a well-trained army. Ordinary caravans would never have such strict discipline. Hundreds of them marched, yet no one whispered to each other, and the spacing between the horses was very neat, just like a guard of honor doing a parade. Moreover, they were all staring at the surroundings with full concentration, without a trace of slackness, obviously all very responsible people. Such a unit, other than the Regular Army, I can’t think of which Mercenary Group could train them!”

“Mhm?” Old Xie was stunned hearing this and asked hurriedly, “That old guy in my family said the Kingdom is about to send the Champion Knights to deal with me, but that’s at least two or three months away? Where did these people pop out from?”

“They are not from the Griffin Kingdom!” Lan Fake said with certainty. “I felt surging Holy Power of Light from them. They are obviously troops from the Empire of Light. There are definitely a large number of Knights of Light! And they are escorting several carriages. Maybe there are Priests of Light or Mages hiding inside.”

“Speaking of this, I must remind you of one thing. Among the military forces of the Empire of Light, the most annoying thing is the combination of Priests, Mages, and Warriors, known as the Iron Triangle. They usually let Warriors protect the Mages and Priests first, then the Mages use powerful Spells frantically to output and kill a large number of opponents. If the opponent attacks, the Warriors assisted by Priests of Light are like a hard bone, extremely difficult to gnaw on. Even if you finally injure the opponent’s Warriors, one Healing Spell from them, and they are lively and vigorous men again. So this Iron Triangle is extremely difficult to deal with. If the opponent really has this setup, then you have to treat this team of seven or eight hundred people as one or two thousand!” Lan Fake said solemnly.

“That arrogant?” Old Xie scratched his scalp, then said, “An ordinary transport mission wouldn’t dispatch so many experts, right? After all, the Priests of Light who can be taken to the battlefield are their treasures. The Empire of Light wouldn’t easily dispatch them, so why would they come here? Do you think they might be the family of Pars’s employer, here specifically for revenge?”

You know, when Old Xie first came here, he met Pars and his employer with more than 30 Cyclops captives. As a result, Old Xie couldn’t stand them abusing and killing the females of the Wolf Race, so he wiped them all out, leaving only Pars as a slave. Counting the time, that was already half a year ago. Presumably, Pars’s employer’s family should have received the news. According to Pars, his employer had a significant background. After losing his news, his family would very likely send someone to investigate.

Lan Fake had also heard about the past events, but he shook his head very directly, “It’s definitely not Pars’s employer’s family coming to the door!”

“Why are you so sure?” Old Xie immediately asked curiously.

“The reason is simple. If my child went missing, I would first send someone to investigate the cause of the disappearance. At the very least, I would find out the identity of the murderer before talking about revenge. Who gathers a large army to crusade right away without even knowing who the murderer is? Unless he already knew Pars was killed by you, he would do this!” Lan Fake said, “Did you let a living witness go back then?”

“Impossible!” Old Xie immediately shook his head and said, “I did it together with the Old Mage. Do you think anyone could escape our eyes and ears?”

“That’s right. As long as no living witness went back to report, who can know it was you who killed that Caravan? So the troops in front of us don’t look like they’re here to avenge you!” Lan Fake said, “Besides, I can see that they seem to be protecting something very important, more like they really want to do business!”

“I hope so!” Old Xie nodded, then sneered, “However, we still have to be on guard against them! And I still have to collect the toll, because our rules cannot be broken! But considering they have some strength, we can give them a discounted price of one Gold Coin per person. If they dare not agree, hum, don’t blame me for being ruthless!”

“No way? You kid really have the guts to provoke even such a strong team?” Lan Fake couldn’t help but smile bitterly, “Aren’t you choosing money over your life? Let me tell you, the madmen of the Empire of Light are very vindictive, and their Mages also have ways to transmit messages back instantly. You’d better not look for trouble!”

“What is there to be afraid of?” Old Xie said disdainfully, “The Empire of Light is far away. Their main force can’t get over here!”

“Then do as you please. Anyway, I won’t make a move. If they recognize me, that old guy the Pope will definitely send the madmen from the Heresy Inquisition to deal with me. I want to live a few more days!” Lan Fake said with a bitter smile.

“Is the Heresy Inquisition very powerful?” Old Xie immediately asked curiously.

“Nonsense, that is the darkest and most powerful force in the Empire of Light. It is much more brilliant than the Royal Secret Agents of your Griffin Kingdom. It’s just to maintain the superficial image of the Empire of Light, so they generally won’t easily dispatch them. But if someone dares to kill their senior Priests, heh, even if it’s a Saint Domain Expert, they will hunt them down across the continent!” Lan Fake shook his head helplessly, “Perhaps one-on-one, I’m not afraid of anyone in the Heresy Inquisition, but the problem is, there are too many hidden monsters inside. I really can’t withstand their group attack alone!”

“Forget it then!” Old Xie said disdainfully, “You just stay here, I’ll deal with them!”

After saying that, Old Xie couldn’t be bothered to pay attention to Lan Fake. He walked directly outside and shouted to start gathering people. Soon, more than 200 Imps, more than 20 Cyclops, as well as the Savage Bull King, Wyvern King, and Demon Explosive Spider all arrived.

Old Xie looked at his group of fierce Underlings, and his mood suddenly improved a lot. He couldn’t help but feel a surge of heroic spirit, as if the Old Demon Lord who used to command the wind and clouds had returned. He thought to himself, hum, damn Priest, Mage, Warrior Iron Triangle, if you don’t leave the toll today, I will turn you into a dead triangle.

Thinking of this, Old Xie immediately raised his head and said directly to everyone, “Little ones, a Caravan is coming. Should we ask them for a toll?”

“Yes!” the Imps and Cyclops shouted in unison. As for those who couldn’t speak, they also roared a few times to show support.

“But what if they don’t give it to us?” Old Xie asked again.

“Kill!” the Imps and Cyclops roared together. Obviously, under Old Xie’s indoctrination, the usually timid Imps and the originally honest Cyclops had been trained to be almost like robbers. As for the other Underlings, they were originally fiercer than robbers, and now they used extremely loud roars as an answer to Old Xie.

“Haha! Right, that’s how it should be done!” The performance of the crowd and beasts made Old Xie extremely satisfied. He immediately began to order, “Alright, now listen to my command. Imps, go bury Landmines for me immediately. Do it according to what I taught you before, don’t get the positions wrong!”

“Yes!” the Imps agreed in unison, then they immediately scattered and started to do what Old Xie ordered.

“Little Black!” Old Xie then said to the Demon Explosive Spider, “You take your children and ambush in the depths of the dense forest. Listen to my command. Once I give the signal, you immediately attack those idiots from behind. Remember, prioritize eating the ones wearing robes, their meat is fragrant!” Old Xie didn’t forget to boost morale even at this time.

However, his words obviously stimulated the Demon Explosive Spider greatly. Hearing the meat was fragrant, that guy actually dripped a drop of saliva, which immediately corroded a pit in the bluestone ground, but it was completely unaware. It just twisted its big butt excitedly at Old Xie, then ran away jumping and bouncing!