"Papa, papa, are we not going to buy food?"
Leah looked at me with surprise. I shook my head and explained, "We can't afford it and the price he asked for is honestly too expensive. He's too much. Furthermore, I think there's a problem with the food. If they have food to sell daily then they must have food remaining. But if they refuse to admit it then we can't help it. Consequently, I need to come up with a way to find out if they do have food in their warehouse of not."
Veirya nodded and then said, "Where's their warehouse? We can just go straight there."
"Don't, don't, don't. Veirya, you're no longer a warrior. Even if you were, you can't just go and barge into a legitimate merchant's warehouse."
This isn't the 21st century's Chinese Paladin where you can take your girl to other people's places and take things from their places while NPCs don't care. Do that here in front of the guards and they'll hack you to death. Veirya might not be some villain, but if she kicks the door to someone's warehouse open and takes their stuff, she might not get killed by the guards, but as a consequence, she'll be on every merchant's blacklist. Merchants are tightly connected with each other. This scenario is similar to the one with that young girl. The merchants possess everything people want in this world, and that is money. If the merchants don't have the power to protect themselves, then they'll be robbed.
That's why merchants usually have their organisation and news will travel extremely fast. In a world ruled by money, merchants could influence an entire nation, even.
Without merchants, there will never be money and Veirya's territory would never develop.
We definitely can't kill the goose that lays the golden egg and you can't force the other party to the edge of the cliff in a negotiation. A dead man never needs a negotiation. It will only make sense to negotiate with a man before he dies. At that point in time, the other party still wants to plead for their life, which is why I don't need to open the warehouse directly. I just need to prove that there is indeed food stored within.
But I need to know where the warehouse is located, first. I can't just go there now.
"Where can food be found?"
Veirya frowned and pondered it. She looked at me and then asked "Is there nowhere else we can buy from?"
"Most likely not because this city isn't exporting food. Finding a merchant will be unlikely too. Our only choice is to procure food from elsewhere."
I bit down on my lips and softly continued, "In this city, only the army has food now. The only place we can procure food from is the military. Of course, I feel that the chapel must have food. However, there's a big problem with trying to get good from the chapel in this city."
"Chapel…."
I looked at Veirya with a strange look after she quietly muttered that, but then she didn't continue. I think that we shouldn't find trouble with the chapel of this city.
'But then can we just take army rations…? Moreover, in the event that we could procure army rations through some means, would the current chief officer let us take some? If I was going to give him a "gift", would the money I currently have suffice?'
'But even if that's the case, do we have a way out? If I return now, the entire town will starve to death. Or shall I buy give bags of food that are borderline scams and take them back?'
Let's say I did take five bags back. That still wouldn't be close to enough. As such, I have no path to back down to. I must bring food back from this town. Now, that means that I have to go to the army camp to try and procure enough food.
Since the army took all the food, they must have sufficient food.
I haven't got any information on the army. I don't know the name of their leader and I haven't got the slightest hint as to what the army needs. But I need to go and do something which could take me to guillotine, and that is to buy army rations. Normally, I would need to spend lots of time preparing supposed needed gifts and money as well as a way out. Unfortunately, I don't have anything on me now.
'No intel and no news. No money, no presents and no plan. Just how am I going to bring food out from there?'
"Veirya, where's the military camp?"
Veirya pointed in their direction and added, "If they haven't moved, they're over there."
"Do you know who the chief is?"
"I did know the one in the past, but not the current one."
I nodded. I guess we do have one piece of good news. What the previous chief liked will influence the current chief. And I can approach the people who used to be with the previous chief.
"How was the previous chief?"
"He got chopped in half by a demon in the last battle, and then his intestines were dragged half way down the street."
Veirya was expressionless. If it wasn't Veirya who was telling me that, I'd suspect the speaker to be deliberately messing with me… But coming from Veirya, it was a legitimate answer to my question… I sighed hopelessly. I thought there'd be some information, but it doesn't look like it now.
"Papa…"
Leah tucked herself in at my side a little frightened. It's best if I don't let Leah listen to such a bloody story. Veirya looked at me and then asked, "You want to go to the army camp?"
"Uhm."
"Let's go then."
Veirya nodded and then walked its direction. I nodded and followed after. Under normal circumstances, an army camp wouldn't be situated within a city. In this sort of ancient city however, army camps were situated inside the city. That made it convenient for the army to defend the city as well. This city was once attacked by demons so there must be a large army defending this place. The refugees outside have all gathered here. It's like the city has been surrounded. Therefore, the army is fully geared up to protect the city.
The further we went in this direction, the more soldiers we came across. All of them wore completely different uniforms to us. Veirya practically couldn't recognise any of them, while little Leah attracted the attention of lots of people. We soon arrived at the entrance to a massive courtyard. A few soldiers armed with long spears went up to us when they saw us. They salute firmly and called, "Lord Veirya!"
"Uhm."
Veirya saluted them and then led us into the camp. The soldiers didn't mind us. They did look at us, however, they didn't say anything, since we were with Veirya. Leah got a little scared when she saw the sharp tips of the spears and the swords at their belt so she leaned on my back. I held her hand tightly. These soldiers exist to fight demons and Leah happens to be a succubus. If they discover that, we're in the army camp…
Fortunately, it isn't easy to identify a succubus in reality. Succubi are virtually the same as humans. The only difference being that they don't have belly buttons.
I don't think anybody would strip Leah down here to check her, right…?
The entrance of the camp appeared to be a rest station. It was just a small room. Inside, however, were seated and standing countless soldiers. Swords and spears were placed on the weaponry shelf outside. The soldiers were talking about something on the grounds with relaxed smiles. Leah got scared when we passed by, since the soldiers gathered around and looked at us with shock. As she was scared, Leah hid herself behind me.
Wherever Veirya went, all of the soldiers would straighten up and salute her. I suddenly realised that while this wasn't within the range of what I could interfere with, Veirya was the boss here. I might not know anything here, but Veirya is alike a fish to water here. I'm no expert at living here, but Veirya is the ruler of the military world.
"All right."
I grabbed hold of Veirya who was about to walk into a large magnificent building. Veirya turned her head to look at me and tilted her head with confusion. I shook my head and then explained, "Here will do. Veirya, it's pointless even if we do see the chief here. We just need to know this location."
"Uhm."
While Veirya didn't quite understand, she nodded, nevertheless, and left the camp with me. The atmosphere in the camp didn't quite suit Leah. Leah was very tense the entire time. While we were standing outside the camp, Veirya looked at me and asked, "Where to next?"
"To where we're staying." I gave a simple response before telling her, "Veirya, come here with me at night."
"Uhm."
"Why?! Why?! Why do you want to go out with her at night, Papa?!! Leah wants to come, too! Leah wants to come too!!"
"Leah… it's better if you don't come out at night…"
"No! No!! I want to come too! I want to come too!! I want to go with you, papa! I want to do with you, papa!!"
Leah grabbed my arm and shouted. I sighed hopelessly. I squat down to look at Leah's eyes and seriously explain, "Leah, papa isn't worried about you causing trouble. It's just that what we're doing at night will be very dangerous. Papa won't have time to look after you, but papa promises that papa will be back soon after midnight. So Leah, stay in your room and wait for papa to return without a worry, okay? Papa will be back soon."
Leah looked at my face. She pouted and then responded unhappily, "Papa… Can Leah really not come with…? No…? Leah… wants to go with you, papa…"
"No, Leah. I'm very sorry, but not this time."
Glossary
*Chinese Paladin is a Chinese PC game series in the 21st century
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