Chapter 26: The Second Target

Watching the merchants swarming around, Dean silently recalled his memories.

According to his memory, the deceased Ferrchelen Knight Order Regiment Commander would soon instigate battles between several caravans, resulting in a great harvest.

Of course, this plan was not thought up by the other party, but by his partner—

“Hello, two carriages, four people, a total of one Silver Horn!”

After the Tax Officer had the guards check the carriages in front of him, he spoke thus, pointing at the money bag held in the arms of two soldiers.

This money bag was made from a sack, filled with Copper Coins and a few Silver Horns—the tax for merchants in the Tier Territory was not high, one Copper Coin per person and three Copper Coins per carriage; compared to the prices calculated in Silver Horns in the Capital of Emerald, it was pitifully low here.

However, even so, merchants would still complain.

“My Lord, last year two carriages only required five Copper Coins!”

The merchant paying the money expressed his dissatisfaction as he placed the money into the money bag in front of him.

“This is Lord Baron’s order… After all, Tier Town needs to repair the roads and walls next year. Although Lord Baron has tried his best to save, he still needs everyone’s help!”

With an apologetic smile, the Tax Officer bowed slightly; such a friendly attitude immediately made the merchant feel flattered and wave his hands, stuttering, “M-Mold, My Lord, p-please forgive my rude questioning!”

“Answering tax questions for everyone is my duty!”

Mold said, bowing again.

His friendly attitude once again not only made the merchant in front of the Tax Officer pay with gratitude, but even the merchants after him did the same; even the stingiest merchant would not say much when facing such a Tax Officer; after all, for a Baron’s Tax Officer to explain things to them merchants was a great honor, let alone with such a polite attitude.

A merchant’s status was determined by money, and the merchants coming to a place like the Tier Territory to collect furs, with very few exceptions, were obviously not very wealthy, in other words, they had no status.

The merchants in front of Dean paid their taxes and entered the town one by one, and soon it was Dean’s turn—

“Just one person?”

The Tax Officer glanced at Dean suspiciously.

“Yes, My Lord, I come from the South and am looking for some opportunities!”

Speaking with an accent from the Three Southern Counties, Dean bowed very humbly.

Perhaps others might be deceived by the Mold in front of them, but Dean absolutely would not be; he knew very clearly what the other party did.

After all, the partner of the deceased Ferrchelen Knight Order Regiment Commander was this Tax Officer here named Mold.

Dean remembered very clearly that when he first received this news from the spy under that Grand Duke, he was surprised in his heart; if the evidence had not been conclusive, Dean would never have believed that Mold would be that bastard Potts’ partner; however, after reading the materials obtained from the spy, he mocked his own ignorance.

Mold, the Tax Officer of the Tier Territory, was originally the knight’s Guard of the current Baron Tier, and became the Tax Officer of the Tier Territory due to his diligence and loyalty; later, he underwent ‘Baptism’ to become a Knight; and he distinguished himself in the Blood Moon War; thus, he married the Baron’s daughter, and after Baron Tier and the Baron’s son ‘died in battle’, he inherited the Baron title.

Of course, this was only the information known to the general public; according to the real information, the ‘deaths in battle’ of Baron Tier and his son were naturally the work of this Tax Officer, and even the death of the Baron’s eldest daughter a year later was his doing; and even his Knight’s Baptism was nothing more than first colluding with the Ferrchelen Knight Order to obtain money, and then using the money to grease the wheels to obtain the opportunity for the Knight’s ‘Baptism’.

And this Tax Officer’s end was not much better; thinking himself clever, he wanted to use some means to lay a hand on that Grand Duchess, but was ultimately killed by the prepared Grand Duchess.

Thinking about everything regarding the Mold in front of him in his mind, Dean’s face still maintained that humble look; after Mold nodded and signaled to pay the tax, he immediately took out a Copper Coin and walked towards the money bag.

Every year, quite a few merchants from the Three Southern Counties came to this border town near the Snowplains Dense Forest, looking for opportunities to make a fortune; there were even several in the line in front of him.

Therefore, Mold would not find it strange.

“If you need anything, please come find me here; as the Tax Officer of Tier Town, I am happy to serve you who have come from afar!”

Mold’s words immediately made several Southern merchants, including Dean, feel fearful and flattered; of course, Dean was pretending, but he pretended very well, so much so that even Mold in front of him did not notice anything; and Dean, having entered Tier Town, did not linger at the entrance, but began to look for an inn—although his target was Mold, and he knew the location of the only inn in Tier Town that included a tavern and restaurant functions, Dean still acted like those Southern merchants visiting Tier Town for the first time, spending some effort before entering the inn.

Phew!

After pushing open the inn’s door, a wave of heat immediately rushed towards him, driving away the cold on his body; Dean and those Southern merchants walked towards the large brazier placed in the center of the inn hall, where the charcoal blocks were already burning red, emitting waves of heat, providing a comfortable temperature for the entire hall alongside the fireplace.

“I am Huck, welcome to Snow Bear’s Home, what do you need?”

A tall, middle-aged man missing his right hand asked in a hearty voice.

“Are there rooms here?”

a Southern merchant asked.

“A single room is five Copper Coins a day, while a bed is one Copper Coin a day, and food requires extra payment from you!”

Huck reported the prices extremely quickly; after all, there would be unfamiliar guests several times a year, and he had long since memorized this speech.

“Give me a single room!”

Dean spoke up first.

“And me!”

“Me too!”

Just after Dean’s voice fell, those Southern merchants immediately reacted and spoke up; however, Huck waved his hand, pointed at Dean, and said: “Except for this gentleman, you only have beds!”

“I can pay extra…”

a Southern merchant said, but before he could finish, Huck grabbed his collar with his left hand, lifted him in front of himself, stared at him with eyes the size of copper bells, and roared: “The rules of Snow Bear’s Home are decided by me, not by a guy like you! You are not welcome here!”

As he spoke, the tall inn owner threw this Southern merchant out the door as if he were carrying a kitten.

Such actions won the jeers of the merchants sitting idly in the tavern—

“Huck, well done!”

“As expected of ‘Principled Huck’!”

“Everyone, a toast to Huck!”

…

The fierceness of the inn owner and the jeers of the merchants in the tavern made the Southern merchants look at each other in dismay, and finally, they chose to compromise.

Although the single rooms were comfortable and safe, facing such a ‘principled’ owner, they were clearly helpless.

Dean, who knew about this beforehand, maintained a smile—Huck, the owner of Snow Bear’s Home; however, ten years ago, he was the Vice Regiment Commander of the Ferrchelen Knight Order; if he hadn’t failed his first Knight’s ‘Baptism’, been unable to save enough Gold Pulton for the second ‘Baptism’, and lost his right hand in a battle with bandits, completely cutting off the Path of a Knight, the Ferrchelen Knight Order would never have been controlled by a scum like Potts.

Compared to a scum like Potts, the stubborn Huck, despite having flaws like a bad temper, was undoubtedly a qualified Knight; even though he had no formal Knight status and thus no fief, and could only be an inn owner, his character was guaranteed—in his original memories, Dean, who had fought alongside him, trusted him completely.

That was why he chose this place as his temporary foothold in Tier Town.

Of course, a greater reason was that because Huck had served as the Guard for the previous Baron Tier and was once the Vice Regiment Commander of the Ferrchelen Knight Order, if anything happened, except for the Baron appearing, ordinary guards in the town would absolutely not dare to act wildly here.

After all, many of them were personally trained by Huck back in the day.

And this was exactly what Dean needed—although he had made enough backup plans, if a real accident occurred, he could undoubtedly get a buffer here, giving him more time to prepare; one must know that the Tax Officer was not as easy to deal with as the deceased Ferrchelen Knight Order Regiment Commander.

Even though the Tax Officer had not reached his peak at this moment, Dean did not slight him in the slightest; after all, he had not returned to his peak state either, not to mention that from beginning to end, the Tax Officer relied on his own ‘wisdom’, rarely relying on Strength.

Although such ‘wisdom’ was evaluated by that Grand Duchess as ‘petty cleverness’, Dean would not look down on such petty cleverness—because, that was only relative; at the very least, before being exposed by the Grand Duchess, the Tax Officer had quite promising prospects.

Of course, that was just the past!

As for now?

In the hallway leading to the room, Dean, walking behind Huck, let out a soft cold snort.