I was an apprentice in Ferren

Chapter 198: Suppress bandits!

The baron pondered for a long time in the warm night breeze, and finally put the wooden whistle back into his bag.

He didn't quite understand Mu Ge, but intuitively, he could tell that the other party's words were for his own benefit.

Although it had been a long time since they had fought, the Baron was still confident that he could shoot the jackals one by one, provided the terrain was favorable.

But the problem is that the jackals are not stupid goblins, and even if those little green monsters know they are no match, they will still run away. What results can I achieve by bringing these few guards with me?
Thinking of this, the Baron gave a self-deprecating smile.

I'm really getting old; I'm actually thinking about these kinds of things.
The guard beside him noticed that the baron hadn't moved for a long time, only looking at the sky as if he was thinking about something, and finally couldn't help but quietly remind him, "My lord...?"

"Oh, let's go." The baron snapped out of his reverie, mounting his horse as he posed a question: "Kreel, what do you do when you encounter a problem you can't understand?"

The guard was taken aback, thought for a moment, and replied, "Let's ask my family first. They certainly wouldn't betray me. Of course, we can also ask you, sir, or the captain. You are both experienced and treat me like a brother. You would definitely think of me."

"Looks like you're quite clever." The baron smiled after hearing this, realizing that he had indeed gone astray.

Although Irene is indeed younger, his family already has a renowned genius whose wisdom is highly praised even by the council. Why should he risk seeking out someone else instead of consulting with him?
Back home, the Baron was about to go upstairs to discuss matters when he found an elven guard standing at the door: "Excuse me, Your Excellency, the priest and Mr. Dupont have already gone to bed. Of course, if things are urgent, I can wake them up for you."

"Never mind, it's nothing." The baron shook his head, feeling somewhat strange.

The DuPont family has always been popular with women, even his brother-in-law is a notorious playboy, sometimes having to hide his romantic entanglements at home.

But in his memory, Irene was still a little boy about the same age as Victor. Although he had grown taller, he was only a little over 14 years old. How could they be so close that they were sleeping in the same bed?
I didn't agree to this engagement.

Although I'm pleased that my son is popular with women, the problem is that this elf isn't a normal person either.

Elves wearing priestly robes are quite rare, but he was certain that the other party was not a priest of the Lady of Mysteries, but rather an envoy from another church visiting Harua.

But DuPont should have spent most of his time studying at the academy, so how did he get to know these guys?

Could she really be being kept by a sugar daddy?
Thinking of this, the Baron couldn't help but feel a little worried.

In Faerûn, ordinary people might marry and have children as early as 16, but nobles usually come of age at 18, while adventurers generally don't consider marriage until after 25.

According to information previously published in newspapers, humans generally stop growing around the age of 18, reach their physical and mental peak around the age of 27, and then slowly decline after the age of 30.

At DuPont's age, his body hasn't fully developed yet. Being too fond of sex might affect his physical growth, and it would be troublesome if his talent couldn't be awakened.

I'll remind him tomorrow.

Just as the Baron was about to fall asleep, he heard a commotion coming from the courtyard. Sensing something was wrong, he picked up the sword beside his bedside table. There was a knock on the door, and a guard's voice came through: "My lord, there's been an unexpected incident."

The baron donned his chainmail, giving himself a powerful stride, and as he stepped outside, he saw the guards also armed: "What's going on? Does someone dare to cause trouble here?"

"It's not causing trouble, but it's not a pretty sight either." The guard said, leading the baron downstairs. When they reached the courtyard, the baron couldn't help but laugh in exasperation.

It was a hideous dog's head, still covered in blood.

The biggest enemy of Huangsha Town in recent years has been the Blue Dragon, which comes and goes freely and is difficult to control. But the Blue Dragon will obviously not leave so easily when it attacks. As soon as it comes, the alarm bells will ring, and the whole town will be plunged into chaos.

This approach is somewhat naive.

"Is this the jackals' way of showing their defiance by nailing their members to the ground?" The baron smiled as he looked at the dog's head on the ground. The guard beside him was also puzzled: "Sir, why would these jackals chop off a dog's head and throw it to us as a show of defiance?"

"That's what uncultured street thugs are like." The baron said, removing his armor and turning to go upstairs: "Tell the brothers to work hard tonight. Keep an eye on the corpses at the city gate. Shoot anyone who dares to come near. To reward them for their hard work, kill an extra fat sheep every day this week for their meals!"

When the Baron got up at 6 a.m. the next day to practice his sword, he found that DuPont had already arrived at the training ground.

There were even three elves training and fighting nearby.

"Awake so early?" The Baron was somewhat surprised; even Victor wasn't awake yet. "Not used to sleeping in?"

"No, I slept exceptionally well last night." DuPont wasn't just being polite. Although the baron's house looked somewhat dilapidated, the food and supplies they provided were far superior to what he had in his dormitory, not to mention he had even taken advantage of using the elven royal family's items: "Father, you practice swordsmanship too?"

"The jackals came by yesterday and even threatened us." The baron casually recounted the information he had gleaned from the female boss the previous night, causing the other elves nearby to perk up their ears: "Irene, what do you think we should do about them?"

"Of course we'll slaughter them all! Isn't this a ready-made achievement? Why wouldn't we take it?" DuPont replied without hesitation. "I think they're easier to deal with than the Blue Dragon. Those fifty or sixty people, if each of them averages out to at least 400 gold coins worth of magical items and props, right? That's 20,000 gold coins in total. Isn't this just picking up money?"

Upon hearing this, not only did the elf beside him take a half step back, but even the baron scratched his head: "But war costs money. If we don't deploy the army for these private operations, the city hall probably won't allocate much funding."

Yes, although the baron was the local lord, the town hall was directly governed by the council. He only had the right to recommend people, not appoint them, and his affairs were limited to the military.

After deducting the salaries of military personnel and administrative staff, there wasn't much money left for him to put into his slush fund, and he often ended up in debt.

The baron suspected more than once that these bastards had embezzled what was rightfully theirs, but he simply couldn't find any evidence.

"Who said we're going to have to fight bandits privately? I may be the lord's son, but I'm also a resident of Huangsha Town. I'm just one in tens of thousands of people in Huangsha Town. Why should the Du Bang family have to pay for the bandit suppression when I'm attacked?"

DuPont said with an air of righteous indignation: "These jackals are just as lawless as their name suggests. Huangsha Town must send out the army to send all these scumbags to their doom!"
To this end, the DuPont family spent a lot of money to find several powerful elf adventurers, all of whom were level 10. I think it's reasonable for Huangsha Town to pay them 100 gold a day as a commission, right?

The baron was stunned by DuPont's rhetoric for several seconds before he came to his senses: "...It seems to be about the same, and this is just the basics. You get paid extra based on the number of people you kill."

“That’s right, this is the first step.” DuPont said, taking out a large handful of scrolls: “Since we’re going out of the city to suppress bandits, we need sufficient military supplies. Do our local troops have mages stationed there?”

"Yes, he does, but he rarely comes to work. He's basically on leave every day to recuperate in his room and conduct his magical experiments."

"Look, our Huangsha Town is both backward and poor, but as a native of this place, I naturally have to stand up. I can do my part for Huangsha Town for free without any commission, but my strength is meager and I don't have many spell slots."

"I took out a loan to buy these spell scrolls just to quell the rebellion. The city hall can't possibly expect me to contribute both time and money without reimbursing me, can they?" The baron couldn't help but cover his mouth upon hearing this. How could his good son have become so bad after being away for two and a half years?

What kind of college is this? The professors there must be devils in human skin.

But then he realized that everything was legal and compliant, and his mind suddenly became clear: "Then we definitely have to reimburse them. Anyone who disagrees, I'll make those who dare to talk back come with us to fight bandits and let them eat sand in the desert with us."

"The Baron is indeed incredibly wise." DuPont clapped his hands, even pulling out the unsellable magical weapons and the bread as hard as bricks from his pocket.

"We can find sponsors for military supplies and provisions. What we need to do now is to do everything we can to suppress the bandits, get everyone mobilized, restore peace to Huangsha Town, and let everyone live and work in peace!"

The elves watched in stunned silence, and the Baron broke out in a sweat as he looked at the things DuPont had taken out.

The prices of magical items fluctuate slightly, but magic scrolls are hard currency whose prices can be checked directly in the magic shop. How come the supplies this kid brought out are almost worth 20,000 gold?

Is that elven priest really that rich?

"Wait a minute." The baron wiped the sweat from his brow. "With the income of our local city hall, we couldn't raise this amount of military funds even if we sold them all."

“The city hall has no money, which means tax revenue isn’t coming in.” DuPont clapped his hands. “Of course, I know we can’t change the temporary tax collection system, but we can still get everyone to donate!”

"Donations??" The baron felt this was a bit unreliable: "That won't work. Most people are poor. The wealthy shop owners and other nobles are extremely poor. They are unlikely to donate money."

"Not donating? If you don't donate, see if the jackals rob them or not. They dare to threaten and make things difficult for the baron's manor, but they won't dare to mess with them?" DuPont sneered: "Although there is a saying that when disaster strikes, everyone flies away, these guys still have to be able to fly away."

DuPont then revealed his plan, which sent chills down the Baron's spine.

This is something a human can do, isn't it?
However, after much deliberation, the Baron agreed with DuPont's point of view.

Although DuPont's methods were somewhat underhanded, both the purpose and the result were good. It also helped train troops and improve combat effectiveness, and incidentally dealt with those businessmen who used various methods to evade taxes but couldn't find a way to deal with them.

It can be said that it killed many birds with one stone; it was simply perfect.

The process and its origins are truly ruthless.

"What you're saying seems feasible, but the question is, how do we get started?"

"Let's put the proposal up first and see how many are our friends and how many are our enemies. Then we can make a plan to deal with whoever we need to deal with." DuPont clapped his hands as he spoke. "Dad, do you have any smooth-talking playboys in your household? Anyone with good connections who can find a few friends? Hey, why are you pointing this out to me? I've been gone for years. How many people would still give me face? Besides, if something happens to me, wouldn't they be suspicious?"

The baron thought about it and agreed. Just as he was racking his brains to find a target, a handsome man with several whip marks on his body and disheveled clothes ran over and shouted, "Brother-in-law, brother-in-law, someone hit me! You have to stand up for me!"

DuPont and the Baron exchanged a glance and, seeing the other nod silently, understood.

My uncle's return was really timely.
-
Huangsha Town is exceptionally lively today.

First, yesterday, the young master of the Baron family, Irene Dupont, returned from his studies at the mage academy. It is said that his grades and talent were quite amazing. In order to protect him on his return, several elven bodyguards were even hired.

It must be said that the old master was indeed prescient. As expected, Little Dupont encountered the infamous sand bandits upon his return. Thanks to the protection of these elven adventurers, he was not seriously injured. The baron was furious and ordered the sand bandits to be nailed to the ground as a deterrent. However, the sand bandits threw dog heads at him as a threat and even stole several of the sand bandits' corpses. They were simply lawless.

However, before this matter was resolved, the baron's brother-in-law, a bard, was beaten up again for allegedly cheating on someone else's wife. The assailant was a vegetable vendor on the street, whom everyone called Old Vegetable, and he was still causing trouble at the manor.

"What do you mean I stole your wife? It was clearly your wife who seduced me!" The baron's brother-in-law, Franklin, was also furious. He pulled a gold necklace out of his pocket: "Your wife is 36 years old. Not to mention her sagging breasts, her waist is thicker than mine. I must be out of my mind to seduce her!"

The baron sat there, covering his head.

This guy does nothing productive all day long; he's either owing debts or can't control his lewd behavior: "So, did you sleep with her or not?"

"I don't even know if I slept or not!" Franklin said thoughtfully. "Last night, that woman was buying me drinks and giving me things at the tavern. I can't hold my liquor, so I ended up sleeping with her all night. But who knows how you can do that when you're drunk? Before I even woke up, this guy grabbed a whip and started yelling that he'd caught me in the act. I think he planned this all along to blackmail me!"

"Me, blackmailing you?" The cuckolded man was furious. "Everyone knows you, Franklin, don't even have a single gold coin left in your pocket until the next morning. Even if I were after money, I wouldn't let my wife blackmail you, you poor bastard! Baron, I have no other demands, just let me whip him ten times and kick his genitals once, otherwise this matter won't be over!"

Franklin knew he was in trouble upon hearing this and tried to run away, but his brother-in-law grabbed him: "Your request is reasonable, so let's do it this way."

"Hey brother-in-law, stop! I rely on this thing to make a living, ah!!"

After a series of whip cracks, Franklin collapsed to the ground, clutching his groin and foaming at the mouth. Old Cai wiped his sweat with satisfaction and was about to leave when the Baron reminded him, "Is that necklace your wife's? If so, take it."

Old Cai shook his head: "I feel disgusted just looking at that bitch's stuff. We don't need it anymore, consider it as this guy's medical expenses. Baron, I'm sorry, I have some things to take care of at home, I'm leaving!"

The market vendor said goodbye and left, while DuPont bent down to look at his uncle, using a healing spell: "Feeling better?"

After being healed, Franklin's body, which had been ripped and torn, slowly healed. He quietly cast a healing spell on himself and patted DuPont on the shoulder: "My nephew still has a heart. Hey, didn't you go to study magic? How come you know this spell?"

"I also awakened the talent of a bard, but I haven't studied it much."

"I always said DuPont was best suited to be a bard. Our combination would definitely charm countless young women and married women. You, your unreasonable father, insisted on sending you to be a mage, a complete waste of time. Otherwise, you would at least be a silver medalist by now, and you might even be able to cast second-circle spells."

Franklin clearly didn't read newspapers much. After his injury healed, he changed into a nice new outfit and put the necklace he had just worn in his pocket.

"I was supposed to talk to you about the experiences of a bard, but I'm a bit short on cash lately and have some debts to take care of. I'll talk to you about these things when I get back tonight."

Franklin turned and left, and DuPont and his father exchanged a glance and nodded in tacit agreement.

This person is indeed a perfect fit for their plan.

(End of this chapter)