Chapter 27: Robbery

When winter comes, only merchants walk on the muddy road with all kinds of goods on the road. Their destination is Mark, where the lords built a residence for merchants. There is also a warm fireplace in the two-story residence. After a long journey in the cold wind, it is great to drink a glass of ale in the unique residence of the merchants.

"This is really cold weather." A traveling businessman lifted the backpack behind him. Although it was just some valuable linen bunches and some things to coax children, it was his entire family.

"It's almost done, you will be treated well after you arrive at Mark." Another businessman said, rubbing his frozen hands.

"Is there really a lord there who entertains merchants?" The traveler asked curiously. Although the nobles needed goods provided by merchants, in their eyes, merchants were like lice in this society. In addition to the local merchant guilds in the territory, they would be favored by local lords, merchants from other places would be bullied by local merchant guilds on the one hand, and exploited by nobles. Among the merchants, there is a joke that no more than 50% of the goods would be good nobles.

"It seems you have never been to Mark." A middle-aged businessman patted the shoulders of the traveling businessman and said with a smile.

"Yes, this is my first time in Mark, because it has always been a relatively remote territory."

"Marke is different now than before. The remote territory in the past has begun to flourish under the leadership of the new lord, and there is a specialty there that is not available anywhere else."

"Oh, what kind of goods is it?" asked the traveler quickly. As a merchant, information is more important than anything else, and the merchant next to him also raised his ears.

"Mark paper." The middle-aged businessman said proudly. It felt great to have exclusive information.

"What paper is it?"

"That's a luxury that is completely different from parchment." The middle-aged businessman looked like a country bumpkin. Mark paper was a thing that became popular among the northern nobles. Because Schwab's secret to controlling output and formula made Mark paper very rare and expensive.

"Then you have no chance of getting a businessman like us." The traveler said frustrated. The output of luxury goods is generally controlled by the local merchant guild. As a traveler, it is impossible to share the goods quota.

"Well, it seems that there is a merchant named Rubert controlled by the Hanrowe. He often goes to and from the court of Lord Mark. However, even if he cannot get the quota for Mark Paper, he has a rest place specifically for merchants in Mark, and the tax on doing business in Mark is very low."

"Really?" asked the merchants who had never been to Mark with interest.

"Yes, it's true."

"But even so, Mark is a little knight after all, and we can sell too few things."

"Haha, you're all old news. You don't know. Recently, the lord of Mark Fort was granted the title of Earl of Stettin by Duke Hanrowe. In other words, if you can obtain the privilege of entering and leaving the palace of Mark Fort, it is not impossible for you to become one of the top merchants in Stockingshire in the future." The middle-aged merchant said excitedly.

"Is that true?" The merchants spoke enthusiastically to each other, and the cold journey became much easier.

"Stop." Just as the merchants were exchanging information with each other on the road, suddenly a group of people wearing leather armor and holding sharp swords rushed out of the jungle beside the road. They surrounded the merchants. Seeing that their movements were well-trained, most of them were soldiers. Although the merchants picked up the sticks in their hands as weapons due to conditioning reflexes, the civilians who were forbidden to use swords could only use some labor tools as weapons when facing danger.

"Put down the weapons in your hands, you smelly parasites." A man in a chain armor and covered with a hoodie outside the chain armor said to the merchants. To him, these merchants who were trying to resist were so ridiculous.

"It's a noble robber, unlucky, how could he encounter such a thing?" The merchant said in a low voice. The man's shirt and the soldiers grinning all showed that this was a trap for merchants.

"I wouldn't have known it would have been Mark." The traveling merchant had a pale face. He grabbed his bag with his hands. Those were all his savings. If he was robbed, he would starve to death. However, if he resisted these lawless nobles, they would only be chopped and killed on the spot.

"Why are you going to resist us? Use the broken wooden stick in your hand, huh?" The young nobleman pointed at these merchants with disdain. It is easy for the nobles who have been trained in weapons to deal with these merchants since childhood. The merchants sadly knew that today was hard to escape the disaster.

"If you fight with them, how can you let these damn guys take away our savings?" The young businessmen in the team raised the wooden stick in their hands angrily. They would not be robbed like this, so they decided to make a final try.

"Damn guys, can't you let us save some energy?" the noble sneered.

"Sir, we are merchants protected by Lord Mark. Please let us go." The more mature merchant tried to use Schwab's name to make these arrogant nobles retreat, but this not only did not work, but instead angered these nobles.

"Bah, what Lord Mark is just a lowly embryo with the Duke. Just because of his lowly slut, he dared to recruit you damn merchants from this noble noble family. If he is here, I will use the sword in my hand to split him in half and use his head to build my toilet." The young nobleman waved the sword in his hand and suddenly cut off the mature merchant. The sharp sword cut off the merchant's head in the blink of an eye, and blood spurted out from the broken neck of the merchant. The other merchants were frightened when they saw the noble's crazy actions.

"What are you doing? Why attack us?" the merchants shouted in panic, but the young nobles calmly wiped the sword against the killed merchants. The other soldiers gradually moved closer to the merchants. The merchants felt an unprecedented threat, as if they had fallen into a pack of wolves.

"I will teach you the rules of this world that despise the noble members of the Viclode family, and kill them all, and then leave the goods. Although their blood is very dirty and low, the money is what I need, haha." The young nobleman inserted his sword to the ground and laughed. In his eyes, these merchants who fell into the trap were like a group of sheep, waiting to be slaughtered by him.
Chapter completed!