black market
Early in the morning, a group of five quietly left the camp. Locke, Kane, Hans, Gulas, and Korby went in the opposite direction of the troops.
It was already late autumn. Be it Faustian or Shalor, autumn and winter were always freezing cold, and summer was unbearably hot. So, the army marched from noon to dusk.
Fortunately, the two barons had decided to hurry on with their journey, so it would only take them less than two days to reach Bimore, where the corps headquarters was located.
Locke and Korby took advantage of the fact that the troops weren't marching in the morning to do some business in Shalor.
Wallier was a small city that used to have two thousand residents. There was nothing special about the small city except for the fact that its city walls were almost ten metres tall, comparable to those of a medium-sized city.
It was said that the previous mayor of the city, Baron Eibik, put in all his effort to build it. This had caused quite a commotion among the local nobles of Shalor. What was the point of building such a tall wall for a small city like this?
At this time, the nobles who used to laugh at Baron Eibik were now regretting that they hadn't thought of repairing the wall in the first place. It was precisely because of this nearly ten-metre tall wall that the Shalorians in the city were temporarily spared from the flames of war.
It was also because of this that Wallier became a port of refuge for the rich and wealthy Shalorian merchants. It also became a place for Shalorian refugees to return to.
Locke and the others' destination was Wallier.
This time, Locke didn't come to Wallier to kill or rob, but to trade. They had indeed caught a few smugglers and peddlers in the small town, but their goods were all ordinary food and Shalorian coins, which weren't worth much. Knowing that there was no hope of being released, Korby suggested that they go to Wallier to participate in the trade fair there.
Every city had a group of merchants who lived in the shadows. Some of them were bandits, some were smugglers, and some were gangsters. They could buy things that couldn't be bought in the market, but the prices were a little high. This was the black market.
Korby had done business in the black market before. There was also a black market in Farlans when it was prosperous, but after the Faustian army invaded the city, the black market disappeared. Korby knew very well how much wealth and resources these shadowy merchants possessed. He had instigated Locke to bring his men here not to buy, but to sell.
"Shalor is finished. Everyone knows it now." Korby walked in the middle of the group and spoke with fervor and assurance. Locke and the others ignored him. "Thalers are hard currency now. Those black market merchants will definitely buy them regardless of the cost."
This was Korby's suggestion to exchange thalers for Shalorian coins. In the Faustian caravans, the exchange rate of thalers to coins was 2: 1, but in Shalor, it was 5: 1. This was the way to make a fortune.
Not only did he exchange the loot from the town for silver thalers, but he also borrowed a large sum of money from Yoshk. With 400 silver thalers, both Hans and Gulas had a lot of money on their backs.
After some consideration, Locke felt that the deal was feasible, but he brought three of his best men with him to play it safe. Not to mention that there was no one in the black market who could stop Locke, Hans and the others could easily take on seven or eight ordinary gangsters at once.
They didn't waste any time and hurried to Wallier after leaving the barracks. Before the frost of the morning faded, they had already arrived outside the city.
The difference between Wallier and Farlans was not huge. The only obvious difference was that the city walls were a few metres taller. However, no matter how tall the slightly dilapidated walls were, they were still vulnerable in the eyes of Locke and the others.
There were a few guards standing on the walls in twos and threes, and there was a huge stone crater on the western wall. It was a warning that Baron Cashel's caster had given them when their troops passed by the city yesterday.
The stone crater gave the Shalorians endless fear and worry, but it also gave Locke and the others confidence.
There were already many people gathered outside the city gates. They were all refugees who wanted to enter the city. However, the pressure from the troops who hadn't gone far yesterday was too great. The city gates that usually allowed people to pass through were now only slightly ajar.
Although it was still early, Locke and the others had already lined up tens of metres away. At this tortoise's pace, it would be good if they could even enter the city, let alone make it back before noon.
Locke frowned and glanced at Korby. Korby puffed out his chest and promised, "Leave it to me!" After saying that, Korby strode to the entrance of the city gates and exchanged a few words with the guards. He discreetly used his left hand to swipe at the pocket of one of the guards' trousers. The guard felt that his pocket had become much heavier. He gave his comrades a look and patted Korby's shoulder. It was done.
Korby waved at Locke and the others who were still queuing up, and they walked towards the city gates. The surrounding refugees glared at the fellows who had cut the queue angrily. One or two of them looked like they wanted to beat them up, but Hans just glared at them and they didn't dare to say anything. Only then did the crowd realise that these people were not easy to bully.
Hans was nearly two metres tall, and none of the sallow and emaciated refugees could compare to him, not to mention Gulas, who was just as strong as Hans. Even Locke and Kane, who were slightly 'skinny' among them, were about 1.8 metres tall. In the eyes of others, they were strong men.
Gulas crossed his arms and snorted coldly at the group of refugees. The refugees retreated in fear, as if they had seen some dreadful beast.
When Locke and the others reached the city gates, the guards immediately tightened their grip on their spears when they saw their faces, as though they were about to face a formidable enemy. Korby hurriedly explained. Of course, the guards could sense that these people were different. Anyone who had killed before would exude a murderous aura. Anyone who had served in the army before could sense it.
As the cream of the crop in the army, Locke and the others' murderous auras were naturally quite frightening. Seeing that the guards were still unmoved, Korby waved his right hand again, and a few more items appeared in the pockets of the soldier from before. The soldier looked hesitant.
Seeing that it was effective, Korby stuffed the few coins he had left into the soldier's hands. Finally, the soldier put away his weapon and nodded to the other soldiers around him. Only then did the other soldiers put away their spears, but the tip of the spear was still pointed at Locke and the others.
"Don't cause trouble!" The soldier threatened Locke and the others, but Gulas only rolled his eyes in response.
After the group entered the city, Gulas patted Korby's shoulder. "Bam." Korby's small frame would have probably been shattered by that slap. "Not bad. You're quite quick-witted. Why didn't I feel anything when I caught you?"
Korby smiled flatteringly. "You must be joking, Sir. The guards at this time are all cannon fodder chosen by the city. How can they know anything? A few dozen coppers is more than enough to get rid of them."
Wallier was not much different from Farlans. In fact, it was even more impoverished. The streets were littered with refugees lying on the ground, and not a single shop was still open.
Locke was in a hurry and had no interest in admiring the city. He said to Korby, "Lead the way."
"Sir, the black market in every city must be in the most chaotic areas," Korby explained as he led the way. "There's no place more chaotic than the slums these days."
The group walked through a complex of huts. The people around them were all covered in rags that barely covered their bodies. Their hair was messy, their faces ashen, and their eyes were lifeless as they looked at the group of uninvited guests.
Locke and the others didn't pay much attention to the refugees. Suddenly, a man with messy hair covering his face and no shoes rushed up to Locke and the others. "Sir, please do me a favor. I haven't eaten for three days..." Before the man could get close to Locke, he was blocked by Kane and stopped by the side of the road.
It was just a small interlude along the way, and they forgot about it in the blink of an eye. However, Locke noticed that the reason the man stopped was because he was clutching a copper coin that suddenly appeared in his hand. At that time, only Kane was close to him.
They stopped in front of a black wooden hut. There were four gangsters at the entrance, armed with wooden sticks and pickaxes. Although the weapons in their hands looked funny, they were the only weapons allowed in the city. The merchants and the rich were scared out of their wits. They wouldn't allow regular weapons to appear in the hands of civilians.
If the four gangsters were more conspicuous than the rest of the refugees, Locke and the others stood out like cranes among chickens. They didn't look like ordinary citizens at all.
Gulas and Hans' bulging muscles were the entrance tickets. The four guards didn't even bother to stop them and let them in. This made Locke and the others a little puzzled.
Although the wooden hut was about two hundred square meters in size, it was obviously not big enough to serve as a city's black market. Sure enough, after entering, they saw a flight of stairs leading downwards.
"What's this?" Locke saw the way down for the first time.
"This is the basement, Sir," Korby explained. "It's said that it was originally built by a caster."
This was the second thing Locke had seen built by a caster. The first was the sofa in Solon's tent.
"There's also a black market on the street, but it's bigger," Korby explained. "But it's not good for us to show our faces in public, so we came to this basement. Although it's a little smaller, it's all high-quality goods. The people who come here are not ordinary people who come to the black market to buy things."
"That's right. It's just a currency exchange. We don't need to go to a big trading place." Locke nodded in agreement.
Torches were hung on both sides of the stairs. The stairs leading downwards weren't long, but because they were underground, it was especially dark. Fortunately, they were all brave men and didn't feel much of a chill.
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