Chapter 254, The Tongueless Groom and the Underground Tavern

The carriage moved as Mr. Scott pulled the lanyard earlier.

First, they walked forward a little distance and seemed to have arrived at the back door. Then there was the sound of the door opening, and the carriage continued to move.

Kiel, who was sitting in the small carriage, didn't know where the carriage would go out from the back door of the Burning Furnace Chamber of Commerce, then circle around the town of Dorne several times, and finally stop. But he doesn't care about that either.

The air in the car was dull for a while, at least that's what Kiel felt.

He spoke: "Do you know who the force that manages the underground black market is?"

Hearing Keir ask this question, Mr. Scott, who was sitting and resting, chuckled: "Why do you ask this? Do you think those people did it too cruelly?"

"Isn't it cruel? If you dig out your tongue, you'll have to eat rotten porridge for the rest of your life. It's hard to chew and swallow large pieces of food. Is there anything more inconvenient than this?"

Kil sighed. He felt that the other world was already very cruel, but he didn't expect that such a small thing could be so cruel.

Mr. Scott sees things differently.

"What if, Knight Kiel, what if this coachman was originally raised this way? You know, many children never live to grow up. Farmers and women in the fields always have too many children, and those children are either Starved to death in a winter when food was scarce, or suffered a serious illness, so those farmers had to erect an extra wooden statue in their homes."

"Statue?"

"It seems you don't understand this. Many children die in infancy, and there are no tombs or stone tablets to bury their ashes. In most cases, there is only a small wooden statue without a name, which roughly depicts their appearance."

Keir fell silent.

"So, there are always these people walking in remote villages, begging the parents of farmers who are dying for children who are seriously ill or unable to feed themselves."

Kil snorted coldly: "Then he cut off his tongue after resuscitation? Didn't the kingdom follow the imperial decree and prohibit the sale of humans and slave trade?"

Mr. Scott stretched out his hand and pressed it, signaling for Keir to relax: "Young knight, look, did the shadow of an iron coin appear in the story just now? No, right?"

He waved his hand heavily: "Without coins and without sales, there is naturally no trade. This is adoption, it is foster care."

"It's just a quibble. Although there is no money, the logic behind it is still the same. Favor, permission, support, recommendation, similar non-physical transactions are still transactions. To obtain children's organization and power, there will always be another method.' Return 'to the farmer who gave the child."

Keir is not stupid and will not be easily convinced like this.

"That may be true, but this kind of thing is always inevitable and will always happen. Children will always die for one reason or another, and many powerful organizations always need people who have been trained since childhood."

"More than that, who can guarantee that those children were raised from an early age and were not sacrificed to something evil?"

Keir retorted: "As long as something like this happens again and again, Mr. Scott, do you think the thing I'm talking about won't happen? Evil always spreads out from all kinds of cracks, and this topic we are talking about has already It’s not a gap anymore, it’s simply a %￥% door open for the evil ones to take the initiative.”

Mr. Scott smiled bitterly: "And isn't this the time when you knights show off your skills? Besides, if we sit in the carriage and talk, those things will not disappear on their own initiative, and are even happening in other places. Doesn’t this mean that everyone is so worried about it that they don’t even eat or do their work?”

The words are like this, and the reason is like this, but the words cannot be said in this way, and the reason cannot be understood in this way.

Keir knew that he had a lot of things going on, and he couldn't control the situation in front of him. So, he had no choice but to ask: "So, back to the original topic. Which organization is managing this underground black market of yours?"

Faced with this question, Mr. Scott said he had no answer, or that he had a guess, but did not dare to name it.

That was a very scary name for businessmen. It offended the people of that organization and the chamber of commerce, and they often couldn't even save their own clothes after sleeping. This is still minor. Some people have heard that people who offend that organization will even be punished and sell themselves out.

Seeing Mr. Scott hesitating, Keir understood.

"Is that that one?"

"Which one?"

"That's the one."

Keir made a gesture of taking out his money bag. This action startled Mr. Scott and made him shudder: "That's the one. You just need to understand which one it is."

"Don't you care? Besides, when you're dealing with those people, don't you feel that the money in your pocket is secretly decreasing without even realizing it?"

Hearing Keir's ridiculous statement, Mr. Scott couldn't laugh or cry: "It's not that scary. After all, we are all human beings. For some benefits, everyone can still cooperate in some places. At least this is the case with the underground black market in Dorne Town. .”

He explained: "Before the town of Dorne was established, there were some black market-like places in the wild nearby. They were bandits who wanted to sell stolen goods, and there were also those who wanted to exchange expensive goods at low prices. Big businessman. But it was too chaotic at that time, at least that's what I heard. At that time, bandits were worried that they would be caught by bounty hunters when they went to the wild black market with their goods, while greedy businessmen were worried that they would be caught with their money if they went there. Bring all the money to the bear's mouth."

"The previous generation of the Chamber of Commerce saw the advantages and business opportunities of this place. After all, you know, the border between the two provinces, the mountains separating the north and the south, the white stone city wall pass opposite, and the prosperous city of Montoka. No The opposite side of the truth can be so prosperous, but the place under our feet cannot."

"Later, several major chambers of commerce jointly persuaded the local noble lords to trust this wilderness land on the east side of the mountain range, which is a large piece of land near the current town of Dorne, to the Chamber of Commerce Federation. At that time, it was not the current Chamber of Commerce Federation. I heard that only the 'Golden Scythe' and the 'Treasure House' were the first to start the business. Later, other large chambers of commerce gradually joined in."

"Others are fine. The Federation of Chambers of Commerce has always wanted to take control of the black market. But after trying it several times, it all ended in disastrous failure."

"how to say?"

"What else can we do? Murders happening every day are just a trivial matter. The most troublesome thing is that once the black market flourishes, it will greatly affect the normal trade of Dorne Town."

"No one does business properly anymore, right?"

Gere guessed.

His words brought back Mr. Scott's eyes. The hood on his cloak was just enough to expose his eyes: "Everyone wants to get a cheap bargain in the black market and earn the price difference, so everyone tries their best to trick normal people." Chambers of commerce and caravans doing business. Everyone in the town may be an informant of a hostile chamber of commerce or a backbone of bandits. When every caravan sets out, the bandits outside the town will know about the caravan before the horse has even left the town. The goods transported and the number of guards. You can even know whether the person leading the team has an illegitimate child."

Mr. Scott shook his head: "What's even worse is that after some bandits become big, they are turning into chambers of commerce. And some small chambers of commerce are turning into bandit gangs. The bandits calculate the investment and gain of each robbery, and even pay for For an operation that is too risky, we find someone to borrow money, use the harvest from the operation as collateral, and borrow money to purchase weapons, equipment and manpower.”

"Well."

Keir didn't know what to say.

"And some small chambers of commerce turned into bandit gangs disguised as merchants. They organized caravans to follow other caravans. Originally, this was a measure for everyone to come together to resist the attacks of foreign bandits. However, it turned out to be cloudy and dull. At night, they bared their fangs. Hissing, poisoning their dinners, setting fires and attacks while they were sleeping, taking the initiative to serve as sentries, and finally teaming up with bandits to rob the caravan."

Kil was speechless, this was really messy.

In the final analysis, it is because the goods from the plundered caravans can be traded on the black market without rules or quantities. The more you do, the greater the rewards, and the risks are not high. Who wouldn't do it?

The Federation of Chambers of Commerce was unable to control the underground black market at that time.

"So, you invited that organization?"

Kil asked with a snicker.

Mr. Scott leaned back weakly on the chair and waved his hands: "Hey, I heard that the other party came here. Such a big mouthful of meat would naturally attract a real carnivorous beast."

"Aren't you afraid that it will eat up the entire underground black market and the town of Dorne? After all, beasts generally have a good appetite."

"Humph, this is the difference between some ancient organizations and ordinary organizational forces. Those old organizations are like our Chamber of Commerce United, large chambers of commerce, and large organizations. Only we know how to maximize benefits-cooperation and long-term operations. .”

"Of course you can be full after eating a big meal, but if you want to be full every time, you need patience and restraint."

As he said this, the carriage stopped as a bell rang.

Keir knew the place had come.

-

When he opened the car door and went out, Kil was in a daze because the scene outside was exactly the same as the building where he stayed before getting in the car. They are all indoors that can be walked directly into by carriages, with black cloaks hanging on the walls and small tables with extra linen gloves on them.

At the same time, the lighting here relies entirely on indoor lighting, rather than natural light from the outside.

"Did the carriage go around in a circle and come back again?"

Keir asked Mr. Scott.

This left Mr. Scott at a loss as to how to answer: "Well, how is that possible? You may not be familiar with the town of Dorne, but I can guarantee that the turn just now and the travel time of the carriage, it is impossible to go back to my place."

"Haha, just a joke."

Keir's words were met with a blank stare.

After taking a few steps inside this building and taking a closer look, Kil realized that he had just thought too much.

At this time, this building is larger than the previous one. The building whose back door leads to the underground black market of the Burning Furnace Chamber of Commerce can only accommodate one carriage. I don't know if it is underground here, but there are a total of eleven carriages parked in their respective locations, and there are many empty seats. It seems that it is not every day that people go to the underground black market to trade.

"Remember the location of our carriage."

Mr. Scott whispered something, and Kil looked around, determined the position of their carriage from the walls and pillars made of stone bricks, and then followed Mr. Scott towards the end of the building.

He actually still went underground along the downward stairs.

"The underground black market is really underground."

Keir sighed.

"Nonsense, Kiel, think about it, which of the above-ground buildings can be so big and so economical at the same time? Compared with building tall stone buildings on the ground, it is much simpler to dig underground. Generally, you only need to hire One or two dwarf architects, or even on a smaller scale, dwarf craftsmen can do it. They are best at digging down into the earth, or digging across mountains."

"Tell me, what if we take the wrong car when we go back and end up in another place?"

Keir got another eye roll.

Mr. Scott was speechless: "I can't do anything. Which chamber of commerce has no back door that leads to the underground black market? There are all of them. In other parts of the town, some medium-sized chambers of commerce also have their own carriages, and smaller ones also have their own carriages. Some are behind hotels or taverns, which are places with a lot of traffic. Hum, even the place where the town manages affairs has a place for carriages behind it."

"Outsiders can't understand it, but we all know it. The so-called underground black market is just that. It is a place for people to come and do transactions. Although there are some barriers to entry, that's all. It does not reject people who want to come here. But Also be careful, 'that' organization that manages the underground black market is scrutinizing everyone who comes here in the dark."

Mr. Scott said a lot in one breath, and it seemed that he often said this to people who were new to the place.

Keir looked around and didn't feel that anyone was watching in the dark on the spiraling stairs.

-

The spiral staircase down is long and quiet.

The lighting here is provided by glowing plants. They are quietly planted in flower pots without patterns, and these flower pots are placed in the recessed space on the outer edge of the right side of the spiral staircase.

Luminous plants are not expensive, but they are not cheap either. They go down at least thirty meters, and these number of plants cost a lot.

But this is also a cheaper solution than using magic means to illuminate.

When the two of them reached the bottom, the quiet environment was finally broken, and what appeared in front of them surprised Kil.

It turned out to be a tavern.

Yes, it's a tavern. Located at least thirty meters deep underground.

Keir quietly said to Mr. Scott: "What do you mean by arranging a tavern here?"

"Let us have a drink before we come? Or is it a place for the entourage to wait?" Mr. Scott obviously hadn't paid attention to this before, so he didn't know.

But Keir doesn't think so.

The tavern is semicircular, like a bowl upside down in the ground. One end was connected to the spiral staircase leading in and out, and the other end was a half-open wooden door. Brighter light and noise came from the wooden door. The black cloaks drinking silently in this strange tavern gave the people in black cloaks a sense of life.

Yes, the drinkers in the tavern, and even the waiters who served the drinks, were all dressed in black cloaks.

The difference was that the waiters who poured the wine all wore wooden masks. Not only could their faces not be seen, but even the men and women were hidden by their wide black cloaks.

It is estimated that you can tell whether the waiter serving you is a man or a woman only by the sound of saying the amount due when checking out.

Neither of them had any intention of drinking in this weird place, so they walked past the dozen or so small round wine tables. As Keir walked through, he carefully observed the people around him.

Although they are all black cloaks, and they are well covered. But Keir only looked at the sitting postures of a few drinkers and the sitting positions. The identities of these people were simply determined.

Of course, the people who come to such a weird place to drink early in the morning are unlikely to be black traders or businessmen who come to trade in the underground black market. If he guessed correctly, these people should be the management and maintenance personnel arranged here by 'that' organization, the Thieves Guild.

Considering the result of the last battle between Kil and the official thieves from the Thieves Guild, Kil thought it would be better not to provoke them.

This is a group of daring guys who dare to fight a heavily armed knight. Kil still doesn't think he can last long under the lord of Grass Rat Town, the Knight of Anvina, let alone defeat him.

At that time, the thief dared to use the potion that blocked a large field of vision to fight the knight for several rounds. Although he was defeated later, at least he retreated alive.

And the thief's method of killing each other before his death still makes Keir feel numb to this day.

If the guys sitting and drinking in this tavern were all thieves of the same level, it would be really troublesome. Of course, Keir didn't think that the people present were at the level of the thief at that time.

After all, the elite manpower that can be sent out to expand the sphere of influence is obviously far stronger than the idle manpower that is arranged in a prosperous but underground place with nothing to do.

The fact that one of these people is as good as the thief they met at that time shows how much the Thieves Guild attaches importance to this place.

Scott casually pushed open the half-open wooden door, then turned sideways and said to Keir in a specially changed voice: "Welcome, welcome to the underground black market in Dorne Town, please feel free to pick out what you want. Little Large-scale items are traded on-site. Once the transaction is completed, there is no regret. Large-scale items will be notarized by the managers of the black market to ensure the safety of both parties and the normal completion of the transaction. "

Keir smiled: "Have you said this many times? To different people?"

Mr. Scott also laughed and spoke in a specially changed voice: "But everyone who comes here will leave satisfied. I believe you are no exception."

Keir raised his eyebrows: "Oh, let me take a look."

The two then walked through the wooden door and came to a relatively open underground area.

At first glance, it looks like a long space that can accommodate two heavy-duty carriages traveling side by side. But if you look more closely, you can find that there is actually another space every other distance, on the left and right.

On the whole, it is a place shaped like the character [Feng].

Keir estimated that the straight-line distance as the main road would be less than fifty meters long. Counting the other six extending passages on the left and right, the total length would not exceed one hundred and twenty meters.

The things sold here are wooden stalls. The small items for sale are placed on the sloping wooden stalls. The owner of the stall is sitting on the side or behind, looking at the book in his hand boredly.

By means of a lighted oil lamp, or one or two specially bred brightly glowing plants.

Considering that each stall is several meters long, the total number of stalls in the entire underground black market is only a few dozen.

But quantity is not an issue, as long as the quality is decent. But what makes Keir curious is that except for some large items or living animals, which are replaced by wooden boards with patterns, other small goods are placed directly on the sloping wooden stalls.

"No, just leave the things like this. Aren't you afraid of being stolen?"

Keel asked Mr. Scott.

Mr. Scott looked at Kiel with a strange expression, as if Knight Kiel had asked a stupid question.