The full name of the Orc Empire is Rose Rover. It was once led by Asadin, one of the Eight Holy Coffins, who holds the title of Beast King. It established the most glorious era, drove away the elves, and dominated the entire Western Continent. At that time,
The orc soldiers are brave and sturdy. Even if they only have one horse, they dare to charge towards the giant dragon.
Today's orc dynasty has become extremely depressed. The Sunset Prairie is nominally their territory, but with the current strength of the army, it is impossible to station them all. Only a few sentry towers are left to define the border.
"Tax?"
Downton frowned and looked up. Although he had been on the road for two days, this place was still a red pine forest belt. It was considered a buffer zone. How could a group of orcs collect tolls?
"Stop talking nonsense and don't blame me for being rude if you don't pay!"
A group of orcs surrounded the carriage in a fan shape, with evil expressions. The leader was a Bear Bear, who was tall and round, and quite domineering.
"How much do you have to pay?"
Downton joked that this is the only avenue into the Sunset Prairie that can accommodate two carriages in parallel. In addition, there are many business groups passing by recently. Setting up checkpoints here can actually earn a lot of tax money.
"Twenty, no, fifty gold coins per head!"
The bear man originally wanted to say twenty gold coins, but after being pulled by the porcupine man beside him, he quickly changed his mind. He saw his companion quietly pointing at the luxury carriage, indicating to him that it was a fat sheep.
"Um!"
Downton was noncommittal.
"This checkpoint is so shabby. It doesn't even have a tower. Are you guys pretending to be bandits?"
Hutao floated over on a flying skate. The checkpoint was just a horizontal log, and there was a simple temporary wooden house next to it. A bear woman was sitting in it, pretending to be flipping through an animal skin notebook.
"Did you see the emperor's medal? We can also issue a tax invoice to you!"
The bearman took out a blood-stained badge and waved it towards Downton as if to show off. They were really not bandits. The empire was hit by a snowstorm, and the army's salary had to be divided between aces and miscellaneous cards. As a border guard,
Army. Their treatment is naturally pitiful.
The dilemma of having no rice to cook made the border guards bold enough to go to the buffer zone and set up checkpoints. As for taxes, of course, it depends on who pays for the food. If they encounter a big business group, don't say anything and run away as early as possible.
Yes.
The merchants only go to the prairie to seek wealth, which is just a matter of dozens of gold coins. They don't bother to care about it. Besides, if the news gets back to the tribes in the prairie, they will be killed and there will be no need to do business in the future.
"never mind!"
Downton was going to the orc kingdom to negotiate, so he couldn't kill people in the street. Besides, there was a sage wolf sitting in the carriage. It was easy to kill a few trash fish, but if he pissed her off, the gain would outweigh the loss.
"Here, three hundred gold coins. I don't want the invoice."
Downton's five people plus a coachman didn't even have five hundred gold. He didn't bother to care about the orcs' excuses that were full of loopholes, so he just regarded it as charity.
"Tsk, tsk, these guys are so poor!"
Hutao pinched his nose and walked around the group of stinky orc soldiers. Their military uniforms were all pitch black and in tatters, and each of them had bruises on their nose and face from the cold, and they were shivering.
"Open the checkpoint!"
The Bear Man took the golden ticket and got out of the way. The Porcupine Man was the leader, and the other half stood still.
"What does it mean?"
Hu Tao was puzzled.
"What's in the carriage? Go and see a few people. Who knows if this damn human being has falsely reported the number?"
The porcupine man was cursing and ordering his subordinates. Downton's willingness to pay the money only made him full of evil thoughts, and he was ready to kill people and steal goods.
"Hey, don't go too far!"
Downton's expression darkened and he looked at the bear-man, "Is this quality a regular soldier?"
"what are you doing?"
The bear man looked very unhappy and yelled at the porcupine man, but it was only for Downton to see. The regular army often raided the grass and valleys, so he didn't feel any psychological pressure from killing a few humans.
"People on the carriage, listen, get down quickly!"
Several soldiers rushed to the carriage, eager to search for money, and the six horses were also coveted by them.
"Damn it!"
Downton cursed, and the golden dragon spear suddenly appeared, piercing the legs of several soldiers and pinning them to the ground. He could not let them disturb Elaine and his party.
"How dare you resist the law with violence!"
The porcupine man roared, pulled out his scimitar, and hit Downton's head with a long-prepared chop. A group of subordinates who got his hint rushed towards Little Walnut, preparing to capture her as a hostage.
Several orcs hiding behind also took out their hidden crossbows and pulled the trigger on Downton. This weapon was very expensive and difficult to maintain, so the border guards only had a few of them.
The bear man was very smart and didn't move. If his comrades couldn't handle it, it would be useless to have him as a peacemaker. He might as well be a peacemaker.
boom!
Before the porcupine man's scimitar could get close to Downton's body, it was deflected by the Wrath of the Lonely Mountain shield. The same was true for those crossbow arrows. Downton casually grabbed a saber and slashed at him.
Zhi!
The porcupine man's entire body was chopped into two pieces, and blood was flying everywhere. Little Walnut went crazy, wielding the Balrog's hand, and hit each one.
The bodies of any orcs who were hit were directly twisted and bent, turning into a pile of rotten flesh, and fell out like a tattered rag.
"How can this be?"
The bears were dumbfounded. They were not surprised that Downton could get this result, but why was that little loli so scary? When he killed people, it was as if he drank water, without any expression of fear.
"You have also seen that I have no choice but to do so!"
Downton turned back and shrugged helplessly towards the carriage, obviously telling Charlotte.
"Let's go!"
Xian Lang sighed, not blaming Downton for such a trivial matter.
"Step aside!"
Hutao held the Balrog's hand and pointed at the bear.
"Quick, quick!"
The bear man urged, and the blood on the war hammer dripped on the frozen soil, and soon became covered with ice slag, which also made his heart go cold.
Xia Luo was actually planning to give these soldiers some money, which she didn't need anyway, but the behavior of these soldiers made her disappointed.
"I misjudged this time. No wonder they are so confident. They are traveling without guards. I think that young man and the little girl are at least at the peak of judgment!"
"Come on, it must be dragon slaying!"
"Hey, three hundred gold coins is a lot, you are greedy!"
The orcs whispered. Looking at the dozens of dead comrades, they had no energy to sympathize. Even if they were in the same regiment, there were factions, and the bearmen obviously still had consciences.
After such an episode, Downton was in a bad mood, and when it got dark and the way was blocked, his mood became even worse.
"what happened?"
Downton roared, and a motorcade stopped, blocking the road.
"Are you blind? Didn't you see that the carriage in front was broken?"
Someone in the convoy responded angrily. They were also very annoyed, because there are regulations on how many miles to walk every day. If there is a delay or the plan is messed up, the crisis will increase greatly.
"Sorry. Sorry, our carriage is broken down!"
After waiting for a few minutes, a steward ran over with sweat on his face and smiled at Downton, "I will give way to you right now!"
The coachmen stopped working. It was such a winter. They all huddled around the fire and didn't want to move.
"Let him wait!"
The coachmen sneered, looking at Downton's clothes and carriage, he must be a nobleman, and they had no good impressions of such a person.
Common people can't afford to offend nobles. But they also have common people's cunning, which will cause trouble for you and leave you with nowhere to vent your frustration.
"Don't you want the wages anymore?"
The manager is impatient.
"That's just right. You pay us the money and we'll leave right now to save you the trouble!"
The coachmen shouted, not trying to show off their stewardship.
"These damn bastards!"
The steward cursed, these coachmen must have heard the news and knew that their business group was on the verge of bankruptcy, so they felt confident.
"Yes, Mr. Steward, the cold wave came so early this year. It can freeze people to death when they go to work. Won't you give us some extra money?"
"It doesn't have to be too much, just five more gold coins per person every day!"
"Let's do a better job with the food. No drinking allowed. At least one more meal of meat, right?"
The coachmen were talking and complaining incessantly.
"Are you taking advantage of the situation?" The steward said with a straight face, "Our master was not kind to you. He died. Is this how you repay our eldest daughter?"
We have been on the road for three days. If the coachman goes back at this time, he will be delayed a lot of time. And who can guarantee that the next batch of coachmen will not take the opportunity to increase the price?
In this trade, the eldest lady has already made a desperate move. She used her old house as a mortgage to borrow gold coins to purchase the goods. If she fails to succeed...
"No, I can't let the eldest lady become a female slave!"
When he thought of the eldest lady selling herself into slavery because she couldn't get a loan, the steward who had devoted his life to the family for twenty-five years gritted his teeth and smiled, "Okay, I agree to your request."
"Okay, the steward is indeed a quick talker. Ten gold coins for each person, no one can be bullied!"
A middle-aged coachman gave a thumbs up.
"What? Not five?"
The steward was shocked, he didn't expect these guys to be so unruly.
"Did you hear that correctly? I said ten, right?"
The leader of the coachmen turned around and asked, and the group of coachmen immediately nodded in agreement.
"You...you guys!"
The steward looked at those mocking smiling faces, and a surge of anger accumulated in his chest, causing him to spit out a mouthful of blood. He suddenly remembered that the carriage had been inspected before going out, and now it was broken. Maybe it was these carriage drivers who were there.
Make trouble.
"Brother, it seems like there is a fight within the family!"
Little Hutao poked Downton's waist, covered her mouth, and whispered a reminder.
"What's this called?"
Downton smiled bitterly, thinking that he was in trouble. With the attitude of these coachmen, they would definitely not let him move out of the way.
"These people are so shameless!"
Elaine opened the curtains and curled her lips, "Should we help the steward?"
"How can I help? Give me money?"
Downton shook his head. There is still such a long way to go. Who knows if these coachmen will be angry again? It can only be said that it is unlucky to pick these coachmen.
"Uncle, what's wrong?"
A girl walked over with her skirt in hand. Her face was full of exhaustion, but she was still holding on. (To be continued...)