Slime Immortal.

Chapter 140 Fog Bay Port Business Alliance

Chen Yu glanced at the man's missing ring finger; this guy really was Kane.

But wasn't he supposed to be returning to the kingdom? Why is he still lingering in the ruins of the outpost?

He jumped onto the man's hand and asked a question.

Kane relaxed completely upon hearing the familiar "voice." He glanced warily at the alley entrance and whispered, "Your Majesty, it's a long story. This isn't the place to talk. Please come back to our temporary base with me."

Then he looked at Arno, extended his hand, and introduced himself: "Kane, before... was a mercenary."

Arno grasped the man's hand and said, "Arno, a knight's squire."

Kane's eyes flashed with surprise upon hearing this.

Those who dare to call themselves knight squires have at least participated in the formal knight training of various kingdoms, and even those who fail the final knight trial are not ordinary people.

There are even knights from the human kingdom in the Slime Kingdom.

It seems he still lacks understanding of his own king and the kingdom.

He didn't rush to ask about Arno's identity, as that would be impolite; he simply suppressed his curiosity.

He carefully cradled His Majesty the Slime, leading Arno swiftly through the maze-like, dark alleyways. After changing directions several times and making sure with utmost care that there was no tail, he pushed open a back door deep within the alley, which looked like a storage room for miscellaneous items, and gestured for Arno to come in.

Inside the door was a small but fairly tidy room, filled with a faint scent of herbs and old wood.

"Uncle, you're back?"

A slightly childish voice rang out, and little John poked his head out from the inner room.

The other two believers tensed up instantly when they saw Kane bring in a stranger, and their hands instinctively reached for the weapons.

Kane immediately said, "Don't worry, he's one of us. This is Mr. Arno, a knight from the Kingdom of Slime, who came with His Majesty."

After saying that, he carefully placed the little slime on the wooden table in the center of the room.

The two of them breathed a sigh of relief and showed expressions of relief when they saw the familiar slime on the table.

After arranging for Arno to sit on the only empty wooden crate, Kane began to explain.

“Your Majesty, we did indeed plan to return to the kingdom immediately, but the situation is more complicated than we expected. Although most of the slaves in the Obsidian Mine were kidnapped from the White Horse Kingdom by Rusty Key, there are also mercenaries like us from the Fog Bay Port Merchant Alliance.”

He sighed: "The road back to the Merchant Alliance city-state almost crosses the edge of the Underdark, which is extremely risky."

"More importantly, the Goblin Legion spent a lot of money to put a bounty on us through the Black Fang Mercenary Group. Black Fang has a very good network of informants in the outpost ruins and even the surrounding smuggling routes."

"Until we can contact a smuggling caravan that is absolutely reliable and can avoid their sight, we dare not make any rash moves. We can only hide here for the time being to avoid exposing our whereabouts."

Seeing that his boss seemed unfamiliar with the "Foggy Bay Port Business Alliance," Arno took the initiative to explain.

"Boss, you may not know this, but the Fog Bay Port Merchant Alliance is not a kingdom in the traditional sense. It is a loose alliance of several coastal commercial city-states, located in the southwest of the Underdark, bordering the White Horse Kingdom."

"It's a paradise for merchants and adventurers, and a haven for exiles; it's a melting pot of all sorts..."

After listening to Arno's detailed description, Chen Yu quickly gained a concrete understanding of the Wuwan Port Business Alliance.

The Wuwan Port Business Alliance, a nation dominated by businessmen.

Its people are mainly Visages, who are good at business, as well as the Sea People who live among humans and are skilled in navigation and pearl fishing, and the Artisan Guild Dwarves who control the vast majority of the Alliance's high-quality weapons manufacturing and believe that "a good hammer is better than a bad treaty".

The diverse ethnic composition also brought about a rich religious culture. The mainstream beliefs of the Merchant Alliance included "Gildo," the god of trade and wealth; "Esera," the goddess of the sea and storms; and "Usca," the god of war and conquest, who was highly revered by mercenaries.

In addition, there are many other miscellaneous beliefs in gods.

In the Business Alliance, the largest city is Fog Bay Port itself—a true city that never sleeps.

The harbor is filled with sails, and exotic treasures from all over the world circulate here. The market is always bustling, and the air is filled with the salty smell of the sea, hot spices, and the metallic scent of gold coins.

Unlike the White Horse Kingdom, which emphasizes tradition and class distinctions, the Wuwan Port Business Alliance has a more open and flexible border policy, welcoming anyone who can bring business opportunities.

However, this openness is accompanied by high vigilance, especially towards mercenaries, wandering samurai, and the like.

All mercenaries who wish to enter the core city-state of the merchant alliance must belong to a legally registered mercenary group and have a reliable work record of more than three years.

This move was primarily to prevent the infiltration of large bandit gangs from the Rotten Mist Mountains.

Therefore, many mercenaries and wandering warriors with complex backgrounds like Kane, if they want to settle in a city-state, have to find specialized "smugglers" and spend a lot of money to forge a flawless civilian identity.

This process is not only tedious, but also quite risky.

Chen Yu shifted his body thoughtfully. It seemed that Kane and the others were indeed stuck here because they had no other choice; the process was far more complicated than they had imagined.

He then asked Kane about his earlier inquiries about the swamp on the street.

Kane's expression turned serious. "That's exactly what I've been busy with lately. Ever since the Rusty Key was wiped out by that adventurer from the Kingdom named 'Miracle' Arno, the shady businesses here have been almost completely devoured by the Black Fang Mercenary Group."

“I recently learned that Black Fang seems to be in league with some mages deep in the Underdark who study forbidden knowledge, and may even be colluding with vampires.”

"They appear to be mass-producing and experimenting with a magical item called the 'Bloody Scroll'."

"I had a bad feeling, so I planned to gather as much information as possible about the scroll and Black Fang's movements before sending Little John back to the Merchant Alliance, and find a way to send it back to Anvil."

"But since Your Majesty has come in person, that's wonderful."

"A bloody scroll?" Chen Yu's expression betrayed his doubt. This didn't sound like a good thing.

“That’s right,” Kane affirmed. “I heard it’s an offensive scroll that’s easy to trigger yet quite powerful. Most importantly, it’s said to be very inexpensive to make.”

"The Black Fang Mercenary Group seems to want to make a fortune off this stuff while also arming their own people."

“I’m worried that if the entire Black Fang Mercenary Group were to be equipped with these magic scrolls on a large scale, their combat strength would increase to a rather troublesome level.”

Low-cost magic scrolls capable of mass destruction?
This sounds like an arms dumping operation.

I never expected to run into a business rival in another world.

Kane then asked, "So, Your Majesty, you and Mr. Arno came here to personally gather intelligence on Black Fang?"

Arno nodded and continued, "The boss plans to investigate the Black Fang Mercenary Group's outpost here and find out their background."

Upon hearing this, Kane fell into deep thought, his fingers unconsciously tapping the table.

After a long while, he slowly spoke: "If that's the case, Your Majesty, you may be disappointed."

"You may not be very familiar with these gray areas surrounding the Underdark."

He organized his thoughts and continued, “Places like the ruins of outposts are absolutely a nasty sore that the surrounding kingdoms find utterly repulsive yet impossible to eradicate.”

"The kingdom tolerates its existence for two reasons: first, it does not want to drive these lawless criminals to roam around and endanger the heartland; second, it is simply impossible to completely eliminate them."

"In reality, the camp we are in now is just the tip of the iceberg of the entire vast gray area, an open den of stolen goods and an intelligence market."

“Deeper still, in the intricate ancient tunnels and ruins of the Underdark, where even the undead do not wish to linger, there are many mobile, secretive temporary meeting points and small black markets. Those are the places where large-scale illegal transactions and conspiracies are truly carried out.”

"The Black Fang Mercenary Group's foundation and main strength are hidden in those places. Their tentacles extend along those sunless passages, reaching almost every corner of the Underworld, and even traversing those 'important passages' between the White Horse Kingdom and the Fog Bay Port Merchant Alliance that are not shown on official maps."

"The ruins of this outpost probably only consist of a few small garrisons they used for handling miscellaneous tasks and keeping watch."

Chen Yu's gel-like body swayed slightly.

"So, the Black Fang Mercenary Group is like cockroaches in the underworld, omnipresent."

Arno nodded in agreement: "That's right, these filthy rats are hiding everywhere, and their nests are interconnected, making it difficult to wipe them out in one go."

"If it weren't for the ancient ruins deep within the Underdark, which are guarded by undead that even they dare not easily provoke, forming a natural barrier."

"If the goblin army's influence were to spread completely and merge with the Black Fang Mercenary Group, even the White Horse Kingdom's border defense forces would probably have a major headache."

One of the believers, who had been listening quietly, couldn't help but add, "Brother Kane, do you remember the information we got from that drunken Blackfang fringe member yesterday?"

"They seem to have set up a heavily guarded temporary warehouse near the 'Skullcrusher Trail' in the northwest, which is said to contain a lot of newly arrived 'Bloody Scrolls'."

"I don't know if they're planning to stockpile them for resale, or... intend to use them against the kingdom."

Kane nodded thoughtfully: "Yes, that warehouse is indeed very strange. The number of guards far exceeds what an ordinary supply warehouse should have, and the checks are extremely strict."

Upon hearing this, Arno looked down at Chen Yu on the table and asked, "Boss, since we're already here, that warehouse sounds quite valuable, how about... we go take a look?"

Chen Yu bounced up and down decisively, indicating his agreement.

Kane looked at Arno, who spoke of "ambushing a heavily guarded Blacktooth warehouse" as casually as if it were an after-dinner stroll, and was somewhat surprised to see that His Majesty had agreed without hesitation.

Just who is this Mr. Arno?
Is it terrifyingly strong?
He suddenly remembered that the legendary adventurer who single-handedly wiped out the entire Rusty Key organization was named... Arno?

Could it be that……

Kane's gaze towards Arno changed completely the next time he looked at him.

(End of this chapter)