Mercenaries and Adventurers

The two stopped chatting on the streets that were gradually becoming cleaner and tidier, and walked quickly towards the best jewelry store in the town.

In less than a minute, the jewelry store near the central square of the town appeared in front of Keir.

It was almost getting dark at this time. If other shops were not operating night business, there would be very few customers coming and going. There were not many people in the previous 'Good Clothes' clothing store.

But this jewelry store is different. From far away, you can see horses and an open soft sedan riding a lady waiting at the door of the store. And with the bright candlelight inside the store, the sparkling light inside the store can be seen clearly from a distance.

"There are quite a lot of people." Kil complained.

The boy from the chamber of commerce who was trotting next to him and leading the way slowed down and said, "This 'Flash Bracelet' store always has a lot of people."

Kil snorted twice and accepted the other party's answer.

The name of the store is ‘Flash Bracelet’, and on the signboard there is a silver-white bracelet made of special materials and inlaid with colored glass as a ostentatious means of solicitation.

But for the town of Dorne, this ‘swagger’ is very suitable for people living or visiting here, regardless of gender.

The gradually chaotic regional situation has obviously not affected the business of jewelry stores like other industries. After all, they specialize in the business of wealthy people.

When he came to the store, Kil jumped off his horse and handed the blood-licking grass to the store's thug who came up. After watching the other party tie the blood-licking grass's reins to the hitching post, he stepped up and followed a few stone sections. Walk up the stairs into a jewelry store with shops on both sides of the building.

Keir was happy as soon as he came in. He didn't expect that a jewelry store in another world would be so interesting.

If he hadn't known that he was walking into a jewelry store, he would have thought it was a shop where some kind of pet animals were raised and sold. Because as soon as he entered, he saw that the open shop was dotted with small cages attached to the walls and stone pillars. Thin metal cage nets that can only penetrate one finger deep are all installed on the front of each small cage. It is unlikely that customers who come to buy will try to snatch them away.

At the same time, as soon as Keir entered the store door, he felt something. He turned around and looked up, and found a metal gate similar to a city gate gate on the inside of the store entrance.

Needless to say, this thing is obviously a direct means of blocking internal and external gangsters when they occur.

Once the metal gate falls, it is obvious that the metal gate, which weighs hundreds of kilograms or even one ton, cannot be lifted without the help of a mechanism or four or five people.

"The store's security is pretty good."

Hearing Knight Kiel's complaints, the chamber of commerce clerk explained: "Sir, this is because there are so many people in this town. Places like jewelry stores were afraid of being robbed in the past, so they were specially made. But it's much better now. , I heard that when the town was first built a few years ago, bandits on the west commercial road often appeared boldly in the town and robbed many people."

Keir raised his eyebrows and asked, "What happened next? How did you solve it?"

The knight's words, "You guys," immediately touched the heart of the chamber of commerce clerk, making his face light up and he said proudly: "We have used several methods. One is to let the shops in the town that are often robbed and robbed increase themselves. Anti-theft and anti-robbery measures.”

The shop assistant who came over to greet him rolled his eyes when he heard this and curled his lips secretly.

"Secondly, by spreading the transaction tax, a large amount of the town's tax money was used to build security guards. You must have seen that the number and strength of the security guards in the town are actually very strong! Haha, let me tell you something. A little secret, many security guards are actually strong thugs in various shops and bandits from other places who have switched jobs. They are all guys who have seen blood, and outside thugs will not dare to show off their violence in the town."

Kil was confused: "Are they so powerful? Then why don't they cause harm to themselves? Don't tell me about loyalty. We all know that this kind of people don't have such a thing, and the town of Dorne doesn't seem to care about it. "

The guy from the Chamber of Commerce laughed and said: "When a wolf pack gives birth to a baby, it wins a mountain. We only recruit people who have a family to join the security guards. If they don't get a family, we will help them get a family. And no matter how cruel the guy is, once he gets a family, there will be many The town of Dorne has its own people, and they have been rooted here all their lives. Besides, unlike other towns, the salary of our security guards in Dorne town is not low."

Keir nodded, and the discussion between the two came to an end. He turned to the shop assistant who had been waiting but did not interrupt and said: "I need a thin necklace of gold or silver to help me hang this jewelry. Lead the way."

As he spoke, he took out the wooden sculpture of a large black bird hanging on a string around his neck from under the cover of his clothes and displayed it.

The store clerk responded, then lowered his head and stretched out his hand to guide the two of them into the store. The clerk from the Chamber of Commerce squinted his eyes and took a deep look at the knight's jewelry.

Is it jewelry?

It looks strange, probably not an ordinary thing.

He lowered his head and followed Knight Kiel while recalling his memories in his mind, trying to find relevant impressions similar to that thing in his memory.

But unfortunately, there are several similar things, but none of them are wood carvings of black birds.

He wanted to ask Knight Kiel, so he could take advantage of the familiar conversation between the two, but he couldn't bring himself to ask. Before he came, the steward told him to get close to him to get information about the Kiel Knights, but at the same time he also gave him another task to try to make good friends with him.

Of the two tasks, the latter one is obviously more important to the Chamber of Commerce and the town.

After all, he is a knight, and he has hundreds of people under his command. If he offends the other party, not to mention other things, if the other party leads people to block several trade routes in and out of the town from a distance, the town will inevitably suffer huge losses.

Even if there are only a few large chambers of commerce on the trade road leading teams to do business during these days, it is the same.

As a member of the 'Fortune Fruit' Chamber of Commerce, one of the town's management chambers of commerce, he knows very well what is the real key to maintaining the town of Dorne, which is the merchants of the small and medium-sized chambers of commerce who account for the majority of the town's population and trade volume.

Their confidence is what matters.

That's why they dealt with the hundreds of refugees today and the hundreds of northern troops a few days ago with caution. A dedicated open space was opened and some material support was provided.

The other party is not a relevant local force. What these big chambers of commerce fear most is that after irritating the other party, the other party will act recklessly without giving any face, and there is no chance for mediation or peacemaking.

-

The store clerk was a young man in his late thirties. Although his age was a bit old for a salesman, he was well-dressed and neatly dressed, and even powdered himself. He looked more like a decent person than Kiel.

When Gere noticed that the store was dealing with female customers, he sent a rare female waiter to deal with it, and when he was a male customer, he sent a male waiter to deal with it.

This saves some shops from the most unwanted trouble. Obviously, people in such a small place have suffered a lot in the past.

There were a few other customers in the store, but they were probably choosing different things to buy from Kiel. The other customers were in other directions in the store.

The store clerk guided the two of them to a place dedicated to selling necklaces and jewelry. This is located on the right side of the entrance to the spacious store. As the main body is a reception area. There are several animal skin back chairs for guests to sit down, rest and talk. In the middle of the chairs facing each other, there is a small round table with a There are empty trays, fragrant scented tea, and colorful snacks that I don’t know whether they were made by myself or customized.

The store clerk asked Kil to sit down first, and then Kil took off his cloak and asked the chamber of commerce clerk behind him to hold it temporarily, and then sat on a single chair with a backrest covered with animal skins.

The single chair with a backrest was designed to be quite low. When Kil reached out to touch the animal skin on it, he discovered that it was a luxurious fur sewn together with many strips of brown-red fox fur.

After the store clerk waited for Keir to sit down, he did not start the business first. Instead, he stretched out his hand to indicate to Keel to take the untouched delicate colorful snacks on the round table. The shop assistant went to the side and brought a clean silver tea cup. He first poured a cup of floral tea for the customer Keir using a teapot with a narrow mouth. Standing next to him, he softly asked Keir about his specific requirements.

Because he was in a hurry, Kil didn't have tea or snacks. He took off the thing from his neck, pulled his fingers, and broke the knotted string: "Please find a similar one to it." A thick or thin necklace, gold or silver is fine, but it should be strong and beautiful."

The store clerk stretched out his hand and pinched the string. After feeling the thickness of the string, he nodded and said, "Please wait a moment. We will bring you the necklace lanyards to choose from right away."

Afterwards, the shop assistant walked to the side behind the main counter near the wall. He should be the shop steward responsible for the necklace affairs, and whispered a few words to him.

Then the little steward took out a key, picked one out, opened the metal alley next to the counter, and took out more than a dozen necklace straps of various materials without pendants.

Put these gold and silver necklace straps mixed with other expensive materials on a wooden tray. After counting a few, the steward asked the shop assistant to take away the small tray.

At the same time, the little steward's eyes have been staring at his subordinate, and his eyes have not left.

The store clerk seemed to be used to being stared at by his boss when holding things, so he walked over without any discomfort and placed the tray filled with necklace straps on the small round table in front of Keir.

Under the light of the surrounding oil lamps and candles, more than a dozen sparkling and reflective necklaces appeared in front of Kil's eyes.

"Tell me about it. What are the prices and what materials are they made of?"

Keer couldn't pick out any of them. He thought every one of them was pretty good-looking, so he asked the store clerk to help him choose and introduce them.

Shop clerk, please cough to clear your throat, and then start from the first introduction.

"Guest, the necklace on the far left is the most common gold necklace, and it is also the most commonly used necklace material in Dorne Town. According to your request, I chose this necklace size. It weighs about fifty grams and sells for Five gold and five silver coins.” (The weights have been directly replaced for the convenience of everyone’s understanding.)

Seeing that Keir had no reaction, he then introduced the next one: "This one is made of silver, especially suitable for reserved and educated gentlemen and ladies. This thick necklace weighs about twenty-five grams, and the price is much cheaper. It only costs five dollars." One silver coin is enough."

Keir shrugged and motioned for the other party to continue the introduction.

"This necklace looks like it is made of copper, but it is not. After all, we are a jewelry store here. It is difficult to sell ordinary copper jewelry and works of art as commodities. So as you can imagine, it is made of a Made of a precious special metal material.”

"Magic material?"

Kil raised his eyebrows and asked.

"Yes, yes, you understand, so there is no need for me to explain. Yes, it is made of a piece of ordinary copper metal mixed with a rare copper magical material. You see, because of the addition of a magical material called copper, Its surface has a special luster and reflection, and when illuminated by light, it is as luxurious as gold. Moreover, it naturally has a noble purple color, so it is very popular among the big shots."

"price?"

The store clerk smiled slightly: "Because rare magic materials are added to this, this slender necklace strap weighing 150 grams costs fifteen gold coins."

Kil gasped, not because of the price, but because of the other party's dark heart.

Because when he was authorized to purchase magic materials in Kendall City, the common magic materials were only a small pile, a few hundred grams only cost a few gold coins, or even silver coins.

This copper is so expensive just because it reflects purple under light, right?

It's too dark.

And you haven’t introduced the magic material, the special feature of this copper.

Kil then thought about it and realized that this person probably didn't know. After all, it was a jewelry store. Except for the magical jewelry that was placed directly opposite the door and was heavily protected as soon as he entered, the other places were probably just ordinary jewelry mixed with magic materials. There is nothing more advanced.

He estimated that buying this necklace solely for the purpose of purchasing magic materials would be a huge loss, so he shrugged and asked the other party to continue introducing the next one.

Seeing that this customer, Kiel, was not interested in copper necklaces, the shop assistant was quite sorry and went on to introduce necklace straps made of other materials.

In addition to other necklace straps made of traditional metal materials, there are also some necklaces made of other materials. Including but not limited to bone chains, fragrant wood chains, exquisite necklaces made of crystal, and necklaces made of mixed materials.

There was even a necklace made of metallic lead, which surprised Kil. This thing is poisonous and affects the development of the human brain and body nerves. Don't they know?

But as soon as Kil thought about it, he stopped asking questions. People still don’t know whether necklaces made of lead are poisonous. If they can be sold, there is obviously a demand for them.

As for who will buy it and which enemy's child it will be used on, this is not something that the store can control.

In the end, Keir chose an exquisite necklace that was made of silver and gold. The price was much cheaper than a pure gold necklace, but due to the production craftsmanship, the price was not much cheaper.

This necklace cost him two gold coins. This feeling of spending money like water made Keir cry for his wallet.

When you make money, you have to fight hard and fight hard. When you spend money, you wave your hand casually, and the coins fly away with wings.

He unwrapped the necklace in a straight line and passed it through the gaps in the wood carving, and then fastened the metal ring of the opened necklace. Without the help of the shop assistant using special tools, he pressed his fingers lightly and pressed the gold into a ring with his bare hands, holding the entire necklace firmly in place.

The store clerk raised his eyebrows and glanced at the Fortune Fruit Chamber of Commerce clerk who was standing behind Kiel. The clerk shrugged, and the meaning was self-explanatory.

After leaving the jewelry store, Keel discovered that it was already dark outside at this time.

He adjusted the slightly heavier wood carving hanging around his neck, turned around and said to the chamber of commerce guy: "Now, take me to the place where the banquet is held!"

"As you wish, Lord Knight."

The clerk from the Chamber of Commerce handed over Keer's newly purchased gorgeous cloak. Keir put it on and mounted his horse.

The clerk from the Chamber of Commerce then walked ahead and led the way, moving towards the central square of the town. Keir felt strange and asked, "Why, isn't the banquet held in the center of the most prosperous town? Outside?"

"Yes, sir, because banquets need to be held frequently, and the dancing and performances at the banquets are very noisy, the priests of the God of Wealth Church felt it was inappropriate, so just a few years ago, the only venue in the town that could hold large banquets was The restaurant was placed in a place between the urban area and the slums. The original place became an exchange for debtors."

"That's right." Kil nodded. Suddenly he remembered something and said, "Is it a tall, square building made of stone bricks? It looks like a small castle? There is also faint music coming from the top? "

The guy from the Chamber of Commerce nodded quickly: "Yes, yes, that's right there, you know?"

Keir smiled: "I noticed a building like that before, and I was curious about what it was for. It turned out to be a place for eating and playing."

Slightly dissatisfied with Knight Kiel's simple view, the chamber of commerce clerk explained: "Eating and having fun is not as unbearable as you think. After all, only in a harmonious and relaxed environment can businessmen ignore the plots and fights between each other in the past. , reaching some unexpected profitable cooperation! This is all a necessary part! Very important. The steward who led me to the Chamber of Commerce often said that in a place where trade is prosperous, if there are no places for enjoyment, it can only mean that the place is going to be ruined. ”

"Besides, in our Kingdom of Saint Holes, isn't His Majesty the King a legendary bard? That gentleman can even sing for the gods, win the victory among the tribes, and bring glory to us humans. This is also a great thing. That’s a good thing.”

Kil touched his nose and laughed: "You are right, I have preconceived assumptions and restrictions. Everything is not good and bad, up and down, light and dark, good and evil. Ha, hurry up and lead the way, I hope I’m not late.”

The guy from the Chamber of Commerce had to trot up to lead the way. He felt that what he just said must have slightly annoyed the Lord Knight, and he regretted that he should have said too much in rebuttal.