Green Monster Epic

Chapter 298: Serendipitous Encounter (11,000 words, a burst of updates!)

“Chieftain, you've arrived!!”

The manager of the Cheng Nan Noodle Restaurant was a short, well-dressed middle-aged gnome. The hair on his head was not as thick as when he was a young gnome, and he looked very similar to a middle-aged nobleman among humans who was starting to bald.

At this moment, seeing a tall and slender bear-goblin standing in front of the door from the second-floor window, his eyes trembled, and he immediately ran downstairs, bowing humbly to Alan.

“You should have said something, and we could have greeted you at the city gate!”

“No need.”

The gnome in front of him cautiously peeked at Alan's expression, flattering him, and then was casually rejected by Alan.

“Your shop's business is good.”

Alan seemed to be just asking casually, but his words weighed heavily in the gnome's ears, and he forced a smile, saying, “It's okay, it's okay.”

“Recently, many human and beastmen refugees have come to Thornsburg, supposedly to escape demons or something. This has made the shop's business a little better than usual.”

The gnome, Von Bully, was uneasy, wondering why the chieftain was asking these questions, but he knew that every detail of his income and expenses was clear, so he didn't have to worry.

“What about the other shops? How is their business?”

Von Bully led the way, taking Alan through the shop to the inner courtyard in the back for a rest. Alan still seemed to have more questions and asked another.

“It should be about the same as us!”

Von Bully thought for a moment and replied uncertainly, “Our shops are all very busy. I rarely visit the other shops, but a few times when I passed by their stores, their business seemed to be doing well!”

“Oh.”

Alan responded softly, and then as if he thought of something, he asked: “In Thornsburg, have there been any merchants who have imitated our noodle restaurant recently?”

“Of course, there have been!”

Alan's question immediately made Von Bully smile proudly, “Since our noodle restaurant opened, there have been many people who have secretly tried to learn our skills and poach our shop's employees. As for those who bought our noodles, then went home to study them, and came up with a rough imitation to sell noodles, there are even more.”

“However, those guys don't have our skills, and they don't have our recipes for seasonings at all. Many of them close down after a month or two. Not many last long.”

Hearing this, Alan also felt proud. In order to make the noodle restaurant's skills an exclusive business in their village, he had racked his brains for many years. He had asked all the intelligent people around him, and finally, combined with some scenes from his dreams, he had today's harvest.

Of course, this was also thanks to the fact that the profits of the noodle shop were not that prominent, and most of the clansmen who were sent out to do business knew how to bide their time, so they did not attract the attention of those big merchants and forces. Otherwise, relying solely on secret methods such as special sauces and seasonings might not have really allowed their noodle business to be so exclusive for so long.

The magic of the Fayman World was too amazing. If there was a huge profit that could attract big forces, as long as they found a few high-level alchemists and mages, they could spend some time to copy Alan's secret recipes for seasonings and sauces.

“Have you ever tasted the craftsmanship of those vendors who have been setting up stalls for a long time and whose business is also good?”

Alan asked again, seemingly curious, his face appearing very calm.

Perhaps because Alan's face had always been calm, Von Bully, who felt less burdened, gradually became less restrained. Hearing Alan's question, he shook his head directly.

“How can their skills compare to the chefs in our shop? Why would I taste their skills?”

In any industry, after making some achievements, the members who have put in a lot of effort behind it will feel a sense of honor and pride in their hearts. The Von Bully in front of him was no exception. He believed that the chefs in the village had the best skills, so naturally, he would not focus his attention on the stall vendors who seemed somewhat lowly to him.

“If people can continue to do business and customers keep patronizing them, it means they have their own strengths.”

Alan frowned slightly, and his tone became a little serious. His cautious personality was revealed again.

“Don't look down on these vendors. If you have time, let the masters in our shop taste the famous dishes in the city. Learn to learn from others' strengths, don't despise weak opponents, and at the same time, you must continue to develop more and better dishes.”

“Yes, yes, yes.”

What else could Von Bully say? He could only nod his head like he was pounding garlic, echoing Alan's words.

“Okay, you go down and get busy. I'll go out for a walk myself.”

After putting the few pieces of luggage he had in the room that had been cleaned up for him, seeing that the others looked tired, Alan casually dismissed Von Bully and called Bush, the young man, to go north with him.

Alan was not surprised that he couldn't get anything out of Von Bully's mouth. Perhaps the four managers had a tacit understanding with each other.

Everything had to be explored and some clues had to be found in person.

Camellia's clues were too subtle to fully prove that the shop manager in Thornsburg, whose income had suddenly plummeted, had really had some crooked thoughts and done something he shouldn't have done. Alan hoped even more that the problem really was with the business itself in the past few months, rather than the clansmen doing something else.

Of course, after developing in Thornsburg for so many years, Alan also had some of his own sources of information, but these sources of information were mostly expensive, and they didn't care about the embezzlement of a small shop.

“Let's go, uncle will take you to eat all over Thornsburg today!”

Several major battles had kept Alan's nerves on edge. This time, bringing Bush and the others to Thornsburg was also Alan taking a small vacation for himself. It was rare to have such a time when he didn't need to worry about too many trivial matters, and with Bush, the young man who looked more and more like Stone, Alan's face was radiant and very comfortable.

“Ah? Oh!”

Bush's personality was very similar to Stone's back then. Hearing what Alan said at this time, he smiled honestly and scratched his head, involuntarily swallowing a few mouthfuls of saliva.

No sooner said than done, Alan took Bush and the two of them on a random stroll in this not-so-small Thornsburg. Whenever they found a stall or snack stall that looked like it was doing good business, they would walk over and order some food to taste.

Unknowingly, the two of them had visited all the stalls in the southern part of the city that were slightly lively and slowly turned to the west of the city. Along the way, Alan had spent more than a dozen silver coins, but there was not a single stall that had food with a similar taste to Alan's noodle restaurant.

However, these snacks were really just desserts before the main course for a bear-goblin's appetite, and there was no way to fill Alan and Bush. Seeing that the sky was almost dark, Alan was too lazy to take them back for dinner, so he simply walked into a restaurant that looked pretty good, with a few bright windows on the second floor.

“Hello, sir, is it just the two of you? Do you need to dine or…?”

As soon as they entered, an attentive human waiter came forward to greet them, his face very enthusiastic, which was different from the way Alan's noodle restaurant did things.

“We're here for dinner. Find us a quiet place.”

The problem of not communicating with the outside world for a long time made Alan not like dining in public, under the eyes of everyone. His thin body was rare even among bear-goblins, so he could easily attract some attention.

“Okay, this way, please.”

Led by the human waiter, Alan and Bush went up to the second floor and chose a seat near the window, where they could see the street with pedestrians coming and going from time to time.

“You order the dishes. See what you like to eat.”

Alan was consciously training the horizons of the new generation of goblins, so since Cole and the others could act independently, the teams returning to Green Lake Village and Thornsburg always had the faces of these young people. Things like dealing with people and contacting Priest Clay at the temple, these daily things, are now mostly handled by the young people, which is considered to be slowly cultivating the abilities of the young people.

“Oh.”

Bush didn't know how to decline, and then he turned his attention to the waiter next to him. He wasn't the first bear-goblin teenager to enter and exit Thornsburg. Although he hadn't been to this restaurant and didn't know the specialties of this restaurant, he had his own way of ordering, completely unlike when Alan took the clansmen to Thornsburg for the first time, when they had to bring a guide even when going out.

Alan ignored how Bush was ordering the dishes next to him. His eyes had already drifted out the window. The entire Thornsburg turned into a golden city in the setting sun. In the flowerbeds opened in the empty spaces along the road, countless flowers and plants grew naturally, and some vines were still blooming with beautiful flower buds.

There were many pedestrians on both sides of the road, with the most elves, walking gracefully and pleasing to the eye; there were also many humans, perhaps affected by the Demon Tide, many of the humans here were always dragging their families along, hurrying and anxiously.

Of course, this place still has its share of various wilderness races. Everyone gets along quite well. For example, among the group of four people slowly walking towards this tavern in the distance, there are handsome elves and short dwarves, chatting and laughing playfully by the roadside. Their frivolous appearance suggests they are not very old.

"Hey, you! Are you blind?!"

Although dwarves are short, they seem to have quite the temper. It seems that one of them accidentally bumped into a fellow dwarf walking in the opposite direction, and he immediately became somewhat embarrassed and angry.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!"

The dwarf who bumped into him was carrying a wooden bucket and quickly bowed to apologize, his attitude very sincere.

Alan's eyes were sharp. He saw that the fierce dwarf below was wearing a grass-green robe, a look that was somewhat familiar. Upon closer inspection, he quickly recognized that this young dwarf was actually Linnaeus, the only one in the clan to possess spellcasting talent so far.

"Is sorry useful? Huh?"

The dwarf seemed to feel that he had lost face in front of his companions. The slop bucket carried by this fellow clansman had almost brushed against him, so he continued to be unrelenting, looking disgusted.

Not only was his tone still rude, but Linnaeus also frowned and patted the spot on his body that had been bumped, making a cleaning motion, even though there were no stains left on that spot.

"Hey Linnaeus, are you deliberately stalling for time? Didn't we agree that you'd treat us to dinner today?"

A male elf with an equally youthful face watched the show for a long time, then said jokingly.

"No way, aren't we already at Wilke's Restaurant?"

Hearing the elf's teasing, Linnaeus's expression immediately changed one hundred and eighty degrees, his face full of smiles, with no trace of the anger he had shown earlier.

"Get lost!!"

His companion helped the dwarf out of the situation, and Linnaeus reluctantly let him go.

"What bad luck! This is a new robe I bought a few days ago for 15 silver coins."

The four people continued to move forward, but it seemed that their destination was the same restaurant that Alan and Bush had chosen. This caused Alan, who had been about to get up and grab Linnaeus, to sit back down in his seat, his face turning from clear to gloomy as he stared at the people below the window with a somewhat depressed mood.

Alan had high expectations for Linnaeus.

Most of the magically enhanced plants that had been successfully cultivated in the village in recent years, as well as the low-level gems harvested from the mines, had been sent to Linnaeus, hoping that he could achieve something in the druid school of the Oak Temple in Thornwood Fortress. Having witnessed the abilities of Bonecrusher, Richard, and others, Alan also hoped that his clan could have a powerful spellcaster to take charge, so as to fill a major gap in the clan.

After Linnaeus turned six, Alan sent him to the Oak Temple to study with the students of the druid school. In order not to delay his studies, Alan did not allow the boy to return to the village easily, but instead spent money to hire a servant to take care of his food and daily life.

Over the years, Linnaeus's living standards have been the highest of anyone in the clan. In addition to the various materials prepared for him, he also received a monthly living allowance of one gold coin, for fear that the boy would have a hard time in Thornwood Fortress.

You should know that the monthly salary of the four store managers in Thornwood Fortress was only 60 silver coins, and the underlings only received 30 silver coins per month. In an era when one silver coin could buy more than ten pounds of oat flour, Linnaeus's expenses were simply the envy of the entire Greenwood Tribe, even more generous than those of Alan, the clan leader.

Moreover, because the Greenwood Tribe had been unable to mine or harvest the magically enhanced plants growing in the wilderness for several months, Linnaeus's living expenses had risen sharply during this period. He could withdraw 20 gold coins per month from Alan's noodle restaurant account to purchase various spellcasting materials.

Training a spellcaster was really too expensive. Alan had long been prepared for this, so he didn't care too much about these material things. Alan was often stingy with himself and outsiders, but he always seemed very generous when it came to cultivating young people in the clan and attracting talented people.

"What would everyone like to eat today? Order whatever you want!"

"Waiter, first, the usual, bring us a few plates of pastries."

Alan watched as the few people went up to the second floor and were led by the waiter into a private room on the side. Alan had asked before, and such private rooms had a minimum consumption fee, which seemed to be at least one gold coin or more.

Linnaeus did not see Alan sitting by the window. The setting sun was shining in through their window, interfering with Linnaeus's vision. Of course, Linnaeus could not have imagined that he would meet Clan Leader Alan, who should have been in the distant Greenwood Tribe, here.

"Okay, Mr. Linnaeus."

The human waiter was obviously very familiar with Linnaeus and his companions, responding warmly. After closing the door of the private room, he went downstairs.

"Hehe, I heard that your wallet is bulging recently, Linnaeus. We have to fleece you well today. Otherwise, in a few more days, all the gold coins in your wallet will be used to curry favor with those girls like Alera and the others."

"Tsk tsk, I say, Linnaeus, tell us, what stage have you reached with Alera recently? Have you held her little hand yet?"

The topics of young and restless males often quickly lead to a direction related to the relationship between the sexes. However, Alan, who was standing outside the window with a pair of pointed ears, listening intently, did not expect that the protagonists of the conversation among the four young people in the private room would be Linnaeus from the village.

"Sigh, don't mention it. That little slut Alera always eats and takes the things I give her for free, but she just won't let me kiss her. Until now, I haven't even hugged her waist! Every time I'm with her, my treatment is not as good as that of my pet gluttonous Xiaobai, it's driving me crazy!!"

Linnaeus's voice, full of anger and a bit of lewdness, reached Alan's ears and made him feel very disgusted.

Although Alan didn't know who Alera was, he had sent Linnaeus to Thornwood Fortress to learn knowledge, but now it sounded like he was putting more effort into how to hook up with females, which made Alan uncomfortable.

You should know that this kid Linnaeus is only 14 years old this year, and even if he wants to reproduce, it will be at least after he turns 16.

Moreover, some of the things contained in Linnaeus's eyes in the scene downstairs made Alan feel really uncomfortable.

Wilderness people never care about other people's opinions, so even though Alan had ventured into the civilized world many times and had come into contact with many outsiders, most of these outsiders never concealed their contempt, disdain, and other attitudes when looking at them, the so-called green-skinned people.

Other people's attitudes are their own, and Alan felt that it wouldn't cost him a piece of meat, so it wasn't a big deal. Once they got to the wilderness, he didn't care what their attitudes were. As long as they dared to have a conflict of interest with their Greenwood Tribe, Alan's Bonecleaver would make them realize their mistake.

However, this did not mean that Alan liked such gazes. The more Alan learned, the clearer he became about why the so-called civilized world looked at them, the wilderness natives, in this way.

Over the years, Alan had been slowly changing the rules of the clan. In addition to the needs of the tribe's development, wasn't it also hoping that the clansmen could one day walk out of the Greenwood Plain and no longer be subjected to such gazes?

But before, Alan had actually seen Linnaeus, this bastard, using such a gaze to look at a member of the same clan, as if he was no longer a member of the Greenwood Plain, but a member of this so-called civilized world.

This was not a good sign, because it meant that this kid Linnaeus was gradually losing his sense of identity and belonging to the Greenwood Tribe. If his strength became even stronger, wouldn't it mean that he might one day abandon his identity as a Greenwood clansman and become a member of this outside world?

In that case, Alan's expectations would not only be in vain, but also the resources that had been invested in this kid over the years would directly turn into bubbles, without even a little interest being recovered.

This was definitely something that Alan was unwilling to see and would never allow to happen.

It seemed that it was necessary to consider the arrangements for this bastard Linnaeus.

"Sir, your dishes have all been served."

The steaming dishes were brought to Alan and Bush. Bush looked at Alan eagerly, waiting for Alan to speak before he could start eating.

Looking at the young man in front of him, and then thinking about the dwarf who was enjoying himself in that private room, Alan felt a bit of irony.

"You eat first."

Alan pointed to the food on the table and said to Bush, then turned around and grabbed the human waiter.

"Friend, can I ask you something?"

As his palm crossed paths with the human waiter, a silver coin was placed in the human waiter's palm.

The human waiter was used to this. His eyes lit up, and he replied with a smile, "Sir, please ask. I will definitely not hide anything I know."

"Um, those guys who just went into the private room, what are their backgrounds?"

The human fellow, upon hearing Allen's question, showed a hint of hesitation in his eyes, which were also filled with wariness as he looked at Allen.

There was no helping it; recently, with the arrival of many human and orc refugees, the security situation in Thornsburg had become increasingly serious, especially since the wilderness natives and orcs were mostly unruly and unwilling to settle down.

At this moment, Allen was sporting a bear nose and was not dressed in particularly fancy clothes, with a weathered look about him, making it clear that he had not been in the wilderness for long. Now he was asking the human fellow about the situation of those wealthy patrons inside, which, at least in the human fellow's mind, couldn't be anything good.

"Don't worry, I'm not looking for trouble with them. I just noticed they're wearing robes, so they must be spellcasters."

Seeing the look in the other's eyes, Allen knew he had probably misunderstood, so he quickly explained.

Fiddling with the silver coin in his hand, the human finally began to tell Allen about them with some skepticism: "Sir, you have a good eye. Those four young people inside are all students from the Oak Temple's druid school."

"Among those three elves, one of their fathers is the second son of a commander in Thornsburg's garrison; another is the eldest son of the city's tax collector. Their families are quite influential in our city, so it's best not to provoke them."

"What about that gnome?"

Allen wasn't interested in asking about the elves' backgrounds; he was most concerned about Linnaeus.

"That guy? He's just a rich fool. Those elves are only using him as a follower and a moneybag because of his money."

Hearing that Allen wasn't asking about the elves but was focused on the gnome, the human's expression immediately relaxed a lot.

"I wonder which native tribe in the wilderness sent this sucker. He has a lot of gold coins in his wallet, and he spends money like there's no tomorrow."

"You probably can't guess, but this guy comes to our restaurant at least ten times a month, either with those elf companions or with one or two female elves, and he always pays the bill. I don't know where he gets so much money."

The more Allen listened, the angrier he became, with rage burning in his chest, but he couldn't vent it in front of the human fellow.

After the human fellow had finished telling him everything he knew, Allen dismissed him, then couldn't suppress his anger any longer, stood up, and slowly walked towards the private room.

"Bang!!"

The door of the private room, which wasn't very sturdy, was kicked open by Allen, flying to the side and slamming into the wall, making a loud noise that startled the young people inside who were chatting and seemed to be enjoying themselves.

"Who are you? What do you want?"

One of the elves was very impatient and immediately turned hostile, glaring at Allen. When he saw the bear nose on the other's face, he became even less restrained and was about to step forward to reprimand the uninvited outsider.

"Who am I? Ask Mr. Linnaeus next to you."

Allen was already trying hard to restrain his emotions, but the aura of a strong person emanating from him and his icy gaze immediately made the elf, who was about to make trouble for him, gradually slow down and eventually stop.

Allen wasn't the naive newbie he used to be. Now, he had some understanding of the social customs of the outside world. If it weren't for the fact that those elves seemed to have considerable backgrounds and that Thornsburg was primarily an elven city, Allen would have been suppressing himself all along. Otherwise, if it were in the wilderness, those three elves would have been taught a lesson by Allen's anger long ago.

It wasn't as easy as it seemed for Allen's noodle shop to gain a foothold in Thornsburg. Under Old Philok's guidance, Allen had given a lot of money to officials, big and small, in Thornsburg, and also shared a small portion of the profits every month to maintain relationships, which was how they had managed to secure their peace in the elven city today.

"Oh, Mr. Linnaeus, why are you hiding?"

Allen's gloomy and icy tone immediately plunged the private room into a chill. Under Allen's murderous gaze, the three elves dared not make any big moves and cleverly left the private room after saying a few words.

"You're here to find Linnaeus, right? Then we won't disturb you!"

After all, they were elves who mingled in high society. Although they were a bit lazy and arrogant, they were very sensitive to the aura of strong people. And seeing Linnaeus's embarrassed appearance, almost hiding under the table, everyone could roughly guess what was going on.

"…Chieftain."

Linnaeus slowly straightened up from the table, his little face pale green, his whole body trembling as he dared not face Allen's gaze, and even the two words he uttered were filled with intense tremors.

Allen kicked out, sending Linnaeus's small body flying from the front of the private room door to the corner of the wall several meters away, making a dull thud.

The human fellow, who had come upon hearing the commotion, saw the appearance of the two gnomes in the private room and originally wanted to say a few more words, but after Allen gave him a fierce glare, he obediently went downstairs, no longer getting involved in the matter.

"Uncle…"

When Allen stood up, Bush had focused his attention on him. Now, seeing Allen's actions, he didn't care about anything else and pulled out the heavy hammer he had been carrying on his back, raised it, and rushed over. After seeing Linnaeus, his childhood friend, his eyes froze for a moment, and then he turned his gaze to Allen.

"Close the door and don't let anyone in."

Allen didn't turn his head, and after his icy voice reached Bush's ears, he looked at Linnaeus, who was lying on the ground with a pair of large, watery eyes and a look of pain, with some worry. However, he didn't disobey Allen's order, creaked the door shut, and stood in front of the door like a guardian.

Afterward, a series of screams, louder and louder, came from the private room, causing the faces of the few scattered guests on the second floor to change, and they hurriedly ate a few mouthfuls of the food on the table and then rushed downstairs.

In the lobby, the restaurant owner wrung his hands, listened to the human fellow's report, and then paced back and forth at the bottom of the stairs leading to the second floor, but he hesitated to go up.

At least, from the human fellow's words, the experienced boss seemed to have guessed the relationship between Allen and Linnaeus, the young patron, so he didn't want to interfere too much in the affairs between elders and juniors. Moreover, the skinny bear gnome had sharp eyes that went straight to the depths of people's hearts and didn't look like an ordinary person. The restaurant owner thought about it again and again and decided to endure it for now, thinking that it wouldn't take long for the elders to teach the juniors a lesson.

Indeed, with Linnaeus's small druid apprentice body, he naturally couldn't withstand Allen's, a high-level peak warrior, head-on beating. Although Allen had tried hard to control his strength, after more than ten minutes, Allen couldn't bring himself to continue. Linnaeus, lying on the wooden floor, had no part of his exposed body that appeared in a normal color.

Allen was afraid that if he wasn't careful, he would end this bastard's life with his next punch!

Linnaeus trembled constantly, emitting howls from his mouth, looking miserable, but in Allen's eyes, burning with anger, it was not worthy of sympathy at all. If it weren't for the fact that his talent was precious and the clan had spent too much time and wealth to cultivate him, Linnaeus would probably be a corpse radiating residual warmth at this time.

"Get up for me!!"

Allen's eyes were full of disappointment, and after barely suppressing the urge to continue beating him, he scolded sharply.

Although Linnaeus's whole body was sore and every bone seemed to be torn apart, after hearing Chieftain Allen's order, he struggled to get up from the ground without thinking, standing unsteadily in front of Allen, his pair of watery eyes making him look very pitiful.

"Get back and pack your luggage. This time, come back to the village with me!!"

"…Ah?? Oh!!"

Linnaeus was unwilling in every possible way, with refusal and pleading in his eyes, but seeing the unquestionable attitude in Allen's eyes and his icy expression, he could only obediently agree.

"Get out!! Go to the noodle shop in the south of the city tonight and join Bush and the others!!"

Allen slammed the door and left, no longer in the mood to stay in this seemingly high-end restaurant, and didn't even taste the dishes that Bush had ordered on the table.

Until Allen's figure disappeared at the staircase, Linnaeus slumped his little face and tried to gather his spirit to cast a minor healing spell, so that the injuries on his body were not so miserable and could also reduce the pain in his body, and then he limped downstairs.

After leaving the restaurant door, Allen took a step first, leaving Bush to check on Linnaeus's condition and whether he could still move.

After seeing that Linnaeus was moving slowly but was not seriously injured, Bush gave Linnaeus an apologetic expression and chased after Allen's figure and left.

Not to mention how Linnaeus would explain to the academy instructor after returning, Allen had no mood to play at this time and directly took Bush to Allen's noodle shop in the west of the city.

Not far from the noodle shop, Alan suddenly stopped and squatted down, refusing to go any further. Bush thought Alan was just sulking and was trying to think of something to say to comfort Linnaeus, but unfortunately, his clumsy and honest nature left him unable to come up with a good excuse after thinking for a long time. Although Alan's anger hadn't subsided at this moment, he was clear about what he really needed to do this time.

This pause lasted for a magical hour, until many shops on the street began to close down. Only then did Alan get up and lead Bush towards his own noodle shop.

"Chieftain!!"

The manager of the West City Noodle Shop was a female Bear Goblin born and raised in the Green Field Tribe. Because of her good cooking skills and relatively clever mind, she was sent to Thornsburg to serve as the manager of the West City Noodle Shop.

In the wilderness, strength is the unchanging truth. Due to the physical strength disparity, females have always been at a relative disadvantage in various tribes. However, when it comes to managing shops, strength is not as important. Females, due to their meticulous nature and relatively clear minds, are more advantageous than males.

Alan gave full play to the strengths of the tribesmen and did not discriminate too much because of their gender. Even the shortcoming of looking down on Gnomes, which he had in the past, has now been gradually corrected. The Gnomes, who are the most numerous in the tribe, are sharing more and more power in the middle levels of the tribe.

Because the clerks of the several noodle shops often visited each other, Alan's arrival had already been known by the clerks and managers of the other shops in the past half-day. At this time, the female Bear Goblin, Lacy, was not surprised at all by Alan's sudden appearance in the shop under her jurisdiction. Instead, she greeted Alan with a flattering smile.

"Have you eaten? If not, should I have the people below make you something?"

Besides Lacy, Lacy's partner, a Earth Goblin who was relatively thin compared to others of his kind but still full of muscles, also stood by with a flattering smile.

This Earth Goblin was a newcomer who had joined the Green Field Tribe for only 4-5 years. At that time, Lacy's former partner had gone out hunting and unfortunately encountered a family of four Berserk Lions acting together, and eventually died in the mouths of the Berserk Lions, thus Lacy became a widow in the tribe.

There are not many rules in the wilderness. After Lacy became a widow, life was naturally a little harder with two children. Then, Earth Goblin Hanji happened to be newly attached to the tribe and had no partner, so the two hit it off and soon became partners again.

Hanji's individual strength was not too strong, but fortunately, he was good at learning and knew how to capitalize on his strengths and avoid his weaknesses. After discovering that the Green Field Tribe had the opportunity to learn cooking, he asked Lacy for advice while also following the tribe's special training master. In two years, he became a qualified noodle master.

Later, Lacy was sent to Thornsburg, and Hanji happened to have cooking skills, so he went with Lacy. The couple took their newly born Earth Goblin child to Thornsburg, leaving two half-grown children in the village to help with education and upbringing.

"No need, I've eaten."

Alan was welcomed into the inner hall. Without concealing his inner thoughts, his faint reply revealed a kind of icy coldness, causing all the Green Field tribesmen present to restrain their emotions and become somewhat silent.

"Who is that?"

Alan suddenly discovered that among the busy clerks in the shop, there was actually a human figure. He asked curiously.

In the four noodle shops in Thornsburg, the clerks and managers of each noodle shop were dispatched from the village. After all, the kitchen of the noodle shop itself is considered an important place, and outsiders cannot be allowed to enter to avoid leaking cooking skills, secret seasonings, and other secrets. In comparison, the tribesmen in the village are more reassuring. Moreover, as the population of Gnomes in the village gradually increased, the positions that could be arranged for them in the village gradually decreased. The surplus labor always needed to be properly arranged, so they were sent to Thornsburg to do odd jobs and work as cooks.

This is also the reason why the four noodle shops are basically tribesmen sent from Green Lake Village, and most of the clerks are Gnomes.

However, Alan remembered that the village had never arranged for humans to work in Thornsburg, so the origin of the human figure working in the noodle shop at this moment was a bit problematic.

"…Ah, that, that, he is a clerk who was hired to our noodle shop half a year ago."

Lacy's face flickered, her mood was uneasy, and her tone was a bit stumbling: "Some time ago…our noodle shop was a bit too busy, so, so I thought about hiring a clerk to help with the shop's business."

"Is that so?"

Alan's tone was very casual, but he took out a ledger belonging to their West City Noodle Shop from the dimensional bag and threw it directly on the table.

"But I see that your noodle shop's income has been declining very sharply in recent months!!"

"You are now saying that business was very good some time ago, but the accounts show that since the Blooming Flower Month, your shop's business has had 20% less income than before. How do you explain this?"

"Ah?? This, this, it's like this, Chieftain, you, you listen to me."

Lacy panicked all of a sudden. She never expected that Alan had come back to question her, which caught her completely unprepared.

Moreover, after the Linnaeus incident, Alan's emotions had been fluctuating, and he no longer had any gradual ideas, directly throwing out a heavy question all at once.

"It, it…indeed, actually, actually our shop's business really hasn't been very good recently. Many customers have run to other, noodle shops to eat, eat."

"This human, is, is because he was, too pitiful at the time, I, I softened my heart for a moment and kept, kept him here. I lied about this matter, I was wrong!"

"…"

Alan listened calmly to Lacy and her partner Hanji, echoing each other's explanations, until they stopped talking and looked at Alan with sweat all over their faces.

"I just stayed at your shop entrance for a magical hour, and then carefully counted the number of customers entering and leaving the shop, about 30-35 people. This kind of customer flow is basically not much different from the customer flow of the other three noodle shops in the city during this time period."

"The accounts of the other three shops are all the same as before."

"Then please tell me, you said that your shop's business has declined, do you think I will believe this reason?"

"Let me remind you again, if the sales of your inventory of seasonings and sauces have really decreased as you said, then their consumption should also be reduced, but I haven't seen their remaining quantity from the accounts!!"

The more Alan spoke, the colder his tone became. By the time the last word fell, his tiger eyes were already radiating killing intent when he looked at Lacy in front of him, causing the temperature in the small room to drop a few degrees.

"…Chieftain, I was wrong, I was blinded, I…"

"Bang!!!!"

Alan slapped her directly, knocking out half of Lacy's life on the spot, and she fell to the ground with a muffled sound.

Hanji, on the other side, didn't dare to make any big movements at this time, but knelt on the ground and didn't dare to raise his head. As Alan stepped down, his spine made a cracking sound, and half of his old life was also lost.

"Lock them up for me. I'll take a look at the shop's accounts first, and then I'll interrogate these two damned bastards later!!!"

Alan hadn't used any means yet. Lacy, whose mental quality hadn't become much stronger with her greed, directly softened her body, tears in her eyes and a look of fear and panic on her face, as Alan had exposed the problem she was most worried about. Beside her, Hanji, who had committed embezzlement with her, didn't show much backbone either, and at this time stood blankly to the side, as if he had lost his soul.

"Yes."

The clerks were all in awe, and their hearts were full of anxiety. Some people knew what the shop manager had done, and some were confused, but since the chieftain had become so angry, the days of the shop manager and his wife would probably not be good. And they, the clerks who had worked in the shop with the shop manager for several years, would probably also be subjected to some investigation.

Some of them must have colluded with Lacy and the others, and at this time their minds were also greatly impacted, but they had to pretend to be like the other companions. The mood in the entire shop suddenly became very strange.

"Wait!"

"Leave Lacy here first, and bring me all the shop's account books."

"Which one is the accountant, call him in together."

"…"

Alan had already made a plan in his mind. At this time, every order was issued with confidence, without any signs of chaos.