A series of luxuriously decorated carriages drove out of the courtyard of the deep house and converged on the road in an endless stream. {Starter} Tonight the inner city of Eastalen was brightly lit and stayed all night. Walking down the street, you can hear the joyful songs played by bards everywhere, and the night breeze is filled with an intoxicating and passionate atmosphere.

Although there are no officially organized celebrations, the taverns in the ghetto are just as full of joyful smiles. Veterans returning from the battlefield never tire of boasting stories of their heroic battles, and the drinkers praise in unison. If two or three veterans can sit together to check each other's shortcomings, or coax each other to tear down the stage, that is everyone's favorite program.

Occasionally, a local tyrant with a lot of money will order a glass of ale for everyone in an excited mood, and he will immediately become the most popular guest. For the fierce Eastalen, every victory in war should be celebrated like a holiday. In the ancient customs of the Northlands, it is believed that the souls of the fallen comrades and brothers are still with them, that the dead are gone, and that the living should not grieve, but laugh and work hard to make their souls feel happy and fulfilled.

Jupiter's trading houses were also busy all night, with four-wheeled carriages carrying goods filling the courtyards, and torches filled the courtyard.

After selling all the aromatherapy wood tail goods, the old businessman's pocket was filled with circulating funds at once. If he still wants to continue doing business in the country, according to the unwritten rules, the money will eventually flow back to the hands of the Chincha-sama through the channels of the trade fair, and if he does not do so, even his peers will regard him as a scoundrel who does not follow the rules of the game and reject him.

But no matter what the rules are, they are based on the stability of the social order, and if tomorrow is the end of the world, then who cares about the rules? When the old merchant gets the news that the plague is coming, he immediately discards all tangible or intangible assets, such as the connections and reputation he has built up in Istalon.

After El left that morning, Jupiter gathered all the family's cash, even the daughter's dowry, which had been re-hidden, and began to buy grain in large quantities.

It was the end of summer, when the rice in the fields was about to ripen, and the grain reserves in the city warehouses were overstocked too quickly because the war was over, so it was the best opportunity to buy grain at a low price. If the truth is revealed, not only will no one believe it, but the supervision forces will immediately arrest and secretly deal with it on the charge of "spreading rumors", so that the commercial activities that follow the trend will not arouse the suspicion of others.

At the same time as buying grain, the old merchants were also rapidly selling off various properties under their names, and even the trading houses and shops were mortgaged for loans. The merchant has been a profit-seeking creature since ancient times, and there is no one to help him when he is in trouble, and there are even wicked people like Lord Bajar who come to the door to force debts. But when he recovered and started his career again, it became extremely easy to get a mortgage or a loan.

The news circulated fastest in the merchant circle, and Jupiter's crazy borrowing behavior fell into the eyes of those who were well-intentioned, and soon attracted the attention of other merchants. This kind of behavior is actually not uncommon in the business circle, generally speaking, a big businessman finds a rare big business opportunity, wants to swallow all the profits for himself, so he frantically raises funds and does not hesitate to fight against the water.

In fact, Jupiter, who had a complete caravan before, had made such a big deal, and the proceeds made anyone in the know couldn't help but blush. Now it seems that this old guy is not willing to be lonely, and wants to give full play to his residual heat!

In the face of all kinds of side knocks, Jupiter remained silent with a smile from beginning to end, and only in front of a very small number of "friends" who "knew the rules" did he reluctantly reveal a little bit of information. It is said that the lords of the south have also encountered the invasion of underground creatures, but the combat effectiveness of those fat guys is not as good as that of Istalen, and a large number of crops have been destroyed by the insect plague......

The eyes of the clever "friend" lit up as soon as he pondered it carefully. That's right, how could it be that only Isttalon was so unlucky to be invaded by underground creatures? The lords in other places may not have such a strong military strength as the White Lion Family, and the protracted war will definitely affect this year's autumn harvest, and the price of grain will definitely double at that time, this is a great business opportunity!

Just as the merchants turned their attention to the grain market, Jupiter quietly stopped the large-scale acquisitions and began to recruit mercenaries instead.

After each war, a group of disabled veterans are discharged from the army, and by virtue of their accumulated military achievements, they usually receive a salary sufficient to live for the rest of their lives, but most of them can only survive to the extent of food and clothing. If you want to save a family business for your children and grandchildren, you have to work hard for more than ten years. Most of these professional soldiers have never learned the skills to earn a living, so they join mercenary guilds and exchange what they do best for gold.

In addition to the veterans who have been discharged from the army, Jupiter is also open to young rookies, whether they are creeks, mountain people, or barbarians, as long as they are healthy and have the strength to come. The young people of these minorities can be found everywhere in the mercenary guilds, and there are as many as they are. Just because he is young and vigorous, he has no combat experience, and he can't receive high-level tasks at all. Even when he was hired, like the young men in Jupiter's family, he spent most of his time doing the work of men.

Under the bounty of double the salary of the old businessman and the co-optation and abduction of George and others, the trading house gathered a team of nearly 200 people overnight. Looking at this formation, the other merchants realized that the old merchant was really going to play a big deal this time.

The mass gathering of mercenaries also attracted the attention of the security forces, but it was Detachment 57 that was in charge of the city, and after the death of the bearded Captain Corson, it was the deputy captain Romney. During the chase that night, El almost hung up after him, which made him feel that he owed El his life.

The friendship between men is never said with words, let alone a lifelong friendship that has been on the battlefield together. El approached him and mentioned the matter of his mercenaries, and Romney patted his chest and said that there was no problem, not only did he take the risk of being investigated by the supervision forces to suppress the matter and did not report it, but also personally sent two squad leaders to the trading house to help train these rookies who had never seen blood.

The security forces themselves are subordinate to the regular army, and the most basic work on weekdays consists of restraining and training mercenaries on the streets. Coupled with the help of the veterans in the team, the atmosphere of the team has changed greatly after a few days.

While the old merchant was working all night sorting through his possessions, Tika slipped quietly into the attic of the merchant's warehouse with a basket of food and water.

The attic was originally a place to store aromatherapy wood, and after the goods were out of his hands, Jupiter was so anxious to move that he didn't have the heart to dump other goods, so he temporarily vacated the place.

Tika cautiously climbed up to the attic with the candle in his hand, looked around, and was relieved to find that there was no sign of anyone else. She put down the candle and walked to the middle of the pile of straw in the corner of the attic and crouched down, smiling happily.

Inside the straw pile was a white-bearded old man, or half of it, so to speak. The old man's legs had been cut off at the knees, one of his arms had been lost somewhere, and there was a huge scar on his chest that had almost split him in half. All the wounds on his body were abnormally dead gray, basically indistinguishable from corpses, but he still survived.

Although El repeatedly warned Tika not to pick up strange things casually, the little maid was kind and a little loving, and after finding the half-dead old man in the alley, she hesitated to bring him back. It was only for fear that El would blame him, so he hid him in the attic and told no one.

Hearing the footsteps, the old man opened his eyes alertly, and only cracked his mouth and laughed when he saw that it was Tika.

"Grandpa, how are your injuries?" Tika asked with concern, blinking his eyes, "I bought you some more medicine for your injuries, but I don't know if it's useful, I really don't know what to do with your injuries." ”

"Out of the way, out of the way, the old man should have died a long time ago, and now it's luck to live one more day. The old man's expression was very calm, and he didn't care about the wounds on his body at all.

"Kind little girl, I heard the voices of a lot of people in the yard, are the soldiers coming to search?"

"No, it's Mr. Jupiter who has recruited a lot of mercenaries and is now training. Tika took his basket and put it in front of the old man: "I heard that we are going to the south, but I have never been to the south." These days, we have to pack our bags and bring more food first, so that we don't get busy and can't take care of you. ”

"It doesn't matter. The old man didn't pay attention to the food in the basket, but looked at Tika fixedly: "Do you want to go to the south? ”

"Don't worry, I'll take you with me even if I have to leave. Tika patted the old man on the straw mat under him and said with a grin.

"You're a good boy. The old man smiled and said, "A good boy will be rewarded." ”

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