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Chapter 376 Tell the truth
The old steward's words made Lu Yan laugh. With a hint of disdain, Lu Yan looked the old steward up and down and asked, "You? The second-in-command?"
What kind of bandit gang is this? A bunch of old, weak, sick, and disabled people, robbing others along the way, hoping people will take pity on you and leave you their spare change?!

Before you start lying, don't you take a piss and look at yourself in the mirror, listen to how outrageous your lies are!

"Gentlemen, even if I had two more lives, I wouldn't dare to joke with you like this!" The old steward said with a bitter face, almost crying. "I used to be the second-in-command of the mountain stronghold!"

Back then, I was a local ruffian. Because I got into trouble and was afraid of being arrested by the government, I ran away and became an outlaw. At that time, I was not yet over forty and was considered young and strong.

In that village, I also made some windfall gains with my brothers, so I worked my way up to the position of second-in-command. I didn't have any ambition to be the leader, so being the second-in-command meant that if the sky fell, the leader would hold it up, which was fine.

Unexpectedly, those bastards betrayed me. I was getting old, and they saw that I was no longer useful, so they kicked me out. I had been in the village for so many years, and after being kicked out, I was desperate and almost starved to death. Then, by chance, the village chief took me in.

He said he could take me in to work at Fairy Castle and help him manage things there, since I had been the second-in-command before and had some experience.

Our lord rarely stays in the fortress; he's very mysterious, and I've never even seen what he looks like.

At first, I was also hesitant, but there was really no other way to leave here, and I didn't have any other way to survive, so I could only stay with gratitude.

So, my fellow heroes, I'm just trying to make a living and survive. I have no grudge against you and absolutely no intention of causing you any trouble!
If there was anything in the past at Fairy Fortress that cut off your sources of income, it was all an unintentional mistake on my part. I am just doing what people pay for, so please forgive me no matter what!
Every wrong has its perpetrator, and every debt its debtor. These things were all ordered by the lord of the fortress. If you heroes really can't swallow this, then go and settle accounts with the lord of the fortress...

This really has nothing to do with me; I can't possibly make such a big decision..."

The old manager begged for mercy, crying and pleading. After waiting for a while without receiving a response from Lu Qing and the others, he couldn't help but say, "You all saw it too, didn't you? These past few days, apart from arranging for people to deliver food and drinks, I haven't talked to you about anything else. Because who we do business with and who we don't do business with is none of my business!"

Although the lord of the fortress gave me a considerable sum of money, he only allowed me to do what he instructed me to do, to manage the people in the fortress, and forbade me from inquiring about anything else!

"Then tell me, where did all those people in and around this Immortal Fortress come from?" Seeing that the old steward was really impatiently begging for mercy, Lu Qing finally asked him a question.

Seeing that Lu Qing was willing to ask him, the old steward dared not hesitate for a moment and hurriedly replied in a solicitous tone: "The guards in the fort are almost all brothers from the mountain stronghold that originally kicked me out."

The lord of the fortress said that he needed some guards in the fortress. They needed to be ruthless and vicious, not afraid to kill without blinking an eye, as long as they could keep the people in the fortress in check. He also said that he would pay them quite a lot.

When I heard that, I thought it was much better than robbing people on the road in the mountains; at least it was a safe job.

So I ran back to the old mountain stronghold and found a few brothers who had treated me fairly well in the past. It wasn't their fault that I was kicked out, and they couldn't make that decision. So I first persuaded them to come to the stronghold. Later, seeing that the stronghold lord was really generous and that they were short of manpower, I helped him go back to the stronghold to recruit more people to work for him.

Later, the brothers in the village all felt that this was a good way out, and they rushed to come and join me. The chief who had driven me out saw that the situation was not right and tried to stop them, but he was also killed by the brothers.

After that, everyone in the village followed me to Fairy Castle.

"Your original stronghold only had that few people at most?" Zhu Yu thought it was unreliable. Although she hadn't gone with them to deal with the guards, she had heard Lu Qing and the others mention that the stronghold only had a dozen or so guards at most.

If a mountain stronghold only has a dozen or so people, it doesn't seem to deserve the name "mountain stronghold".

The old steward shook his head: "Of course it's more than that."

Those who can stay in the fortress and enjoy a leisurely life are all brothers who had a special relationship with me and were the first to come and join the fortress lord.

Later, seeing that we were eating and drinking well here and didn't have to worry about being arrested by the government, they started to think about coming to join us. None of them were in the fort.

The lord of the fortress gave them clothes and weapons, and ordered them to rob merchants along the way in an area far from Immortal Fortress, roughly the same territory as their original mountain stronghold.

After saying that, he suddenly realized that the people in front of him who had come seeking revenge might be because of this incident, so he quickly added, "Those brothers didn't really rob any money!"
"These are all the lord's orders. They're to wear those clothes, carry the weapons he issued, and make a show of force in the area. They don't actually need to rob anyone. Even if they kill someone, they must remember to leave them alive. They need to make those they stop think they've been robbed by Jie bandits—ouch—!"

Just as the old steward was eager to clear himself of blame and attribute everything to the lord's orders, a slender whip suddenly lashed out at him, striking him with a sharp crack before anyone could react or stop it.

The old steward was tightly bound to the tree trunk with rope, unable to move or dodge. Caught off guard, he was struck squarely. Although he was wearing clothes, the pain still made him scream, and a bloodstain appeared on his clothes.

"Pah! Despicable and shameless! Filthy and filthy!" Yan Shu gripped the whip in her hand, her eyes almost spitting fire, and pointed at the old steward, angrily rebuking him.

Zhu Yu quickly went to her and raised his hand to press down her whip, lest the girl get angrier and angrier and beat the old steward to death before she could ask all the questions she wanted to know. That would be terrible.

Judging from Yan Shu's gritted teeth, she felt that this possibility was still very high.

Thank you Minako Tanaka, Book Friend 20240624195117135, S20170823x4, and Yaoyao's Happy Monthly Ticket!
I'll release the bonus chapter for monthly pass winners on the 30th! Mwah!