Amy's first stop for debt collection is a small town called Talboya, just north of Mount Goddess.

Talboa has a small population and a small area. There is only one street in the whole town, and there are no fields around, and even the trees are sparsely grown, so it doesn't look like a habitable place.

In fact, the town is very quiet, and it is located inland away from the war, so it is safe and secure, and it is supposed that there are quite a few people willing to settle here.

But that's not the case.

Talboa has been known for a hundred years as a backcountry.

This is mainly due to the fact that the land in this area is relatively barren and the harvest is quite low.

The reason why the land is barren is mainly because of the abundance of minerals in the ground here.

In fact, most mineral-rich places tend to be wealthy, but Talboa is an exception.

Because although there are abundant coal seams here, it is not very worth mining......

It's not that people don't know the value of coal, the people of Pander Continent have recognized the great role of coal as early as the end of the Pander Kingdom, and coal is used in many places, and places with a large number of coal seams usually become feng shui treasures that nobles compete for.

And more than a hundred years ago, when the town of Talboa first discovered a large number of coal seams, the nobles did exactly that.

At that time, there was a small civil war in order to compete for the control of the town, and many people were killed and injured.

But the original Baron Leoferine, who eventually defeated all his opponents to get the town, almost went bankrupt......

Because the soil in Talboa is only half a meter thick, and below that there is a thick layer of gravel - this is why the land is barren and cannot grow anything, the soil is too thin to be fertile, and most crops except grass do not grow well.

And the coal seams here are almost all buried under the gravel layer, which is buried relatively deep.

It doesn't matter if you just bury it a little deeper, you can actually dig the mine deeper. The problem is that if you dig a deep well under the gravel layer, you will inevitably face accidents such as landslides and water seepage that can occur at any time.

Very few people are willing to go into such mines, and the locals are certainly not happy to go into the mines anyway......

However, after paying a huge price to get this territory, Baron Leofevan was naturally unwilling, so he bought a lot of slaves from Zingal, filled it with human life, and finally built the mine.

In the first few days, the mine did succeed in digging up a lot of good quality coal, so the scale of the mine was expanded again - the upfront cost was relatively high, and the scale had to be increased, otherwise it would be difficult to make it back.

But after the scale-up, when the second batch of coal was mined in large quantities, Baron Leofevan died on the spot with a heart hangout......

Because the mined coal is mixed with a large amount of coal gangue, the gangue accounts for eighty percent, and the coal is less than two percent......

The coal seam below the gravel layer is like this, there is a lot of gangue, but it is difficult to distinguish in the mines of this era, it is all black anyway.

In this era, there was no coal washing method, and it was difficult to separate gangue and slag, and this kind of coal mine was naturally doomed to lose money, and even if it was mined, it could not be sold.

A baron was to death, and the news of it quickly spread everywhere.

As a result, the town of Talboya suddenly became a dilapidated place that no one cared about, and almost no one wanted to stop except for passing merchants.

But this territory has been passed down by the Leofwan family to this day - this kind of place that once made the lords angry to death, even if they wanted to, they couldn't sell it, and it was unlucky......

Besides, no matter how poor a place is, you have to pay taxes to the king, and the tax collector doesn't care whether you lose or gain.

So in the town of Talboa today, the lords are still called Leofovan - this is their clan name, and the family leaders have used the same name for generations.

And now Talboa has a new industry.

The Leofwan family has been operating here for a hundred years, and they have indeed found a way to make money.

This path actually comes from the gravel layer that they have always ignored or regarded as a nuisance - the stone here can already create a good industry in itself, so why risk your life to dig coal?

So now Talboa is full of quarries.

The people here no longer have the idea of mining coal, they will collect stones directly from the gravel layer and sift them into stones of various sizes.

Large stones are used to make medium-to-large sculptures, others are made into walls and floor tiles, and small stones are used to pave roads in various towns.

Although the profits of these stones were not too high, they were a stable and inexhaustible industry, and the Leofwan family was able to climb back from the brink of bankruptcy.

Talboa, with its large number of quarries and stone processing factories, became a place for stonemasons to gather.

However, it is still considered a backcountry by people in other places - because there are almost only quarries and stone processing yards, and the whole town is like a big factory.

In addition, the soil layer is too thin, and the trees are difficult to grow and cannot block the wind and sand, so when the wind blows, stone dust is everywhere.

Of course, this kind of environment is not very good, so people who are unwilling or unable to work with stone will not come here.

There are now few women in the town except for quarrymen, stonemasons and their apprentices.

Therefore, when Amy came here with the female soldiers, it quickly caused a sensation, and the whole town was boiling.

Amy didn't expect that after she entered Talboa with a large group of well-equipped and murderous female soldiers, she would encounter not the denial of a liar or the protection of a lord, but a large group of workers who were covered in ashes but had bright eyes.

The quarrymen here probably don't see beautiful women all year round, and they are all hungry and thirsty, and they heard that a large group of female cavalry has come, so they put down their work and run out to see the beautiful women......

At first, Amy thought that these people were here to fight, and almost ordered the female knights to lead the charge.

Fortunately, she found that these people were unarmed in time, and they only surrounded the troops for a few dozen meters and did not get closer, which did not cause any tragedy.

But of course the experience of being watched by people is quite embarrassing - many quarrymen are even whistling, frolicking and talking, and there are bold ones who ask loudly: "Pretty young lady, would you like to get to know the strong macho man?" ”

This is, of course, extremely rude, especially for an aristocratic girl like Amy.

Of course, this kind of behavior is quite normal for these quarrymen to behave - the quarrymen are not stonemasons, they are not even commoners, but sinners or servants, many of whom have committed crimes and sent here to work as coolies, and are not a group of people with vision or quality.

But Amy was in a rather bad mood at the moment - first a liar, then a rude onlooker and a provocation, and she felt that the people in this place of Talboa really didn't take her seriously.

So, when she saw Baron Leofervan, Lord of Talboa, Amy's face was quite ugly.

Baron Leofwan was young, in his twenties, but he had two large beards—the kind that stretched all the way to his cheeks and curled in an arc on the sides of his face.

His red hair was oily and smooth, and he looked like a playboy.

In fact, this is a very popular dress for the Lion Knights lately, and Baron Leofevine is indeed a member of the Lion Knights now, and he is also a squadron leader - a new addition when the King added the Lion Knights.

"Miss Amy, I recognize your flag...... This is the flag that both your father and brother used to use. In case you didn't know, I'm friends with my brother Andrew—I served in the Royal City Guard two years ago. ”

There were a large number of troops coming to his territory, of course Baron Leofwan had to come forward to understand the situation, and seeing Amy, who was not very good-looking, he could naturally realize that this was definitely not to buy stones, so he quickly began to build relations.

"Baron Leofovan, don't be polite, I'm here to find a knight named 'Lines', who owes me a hundred and fifty stonemasons."

Amy said with a gloomy face.

Her first stop here was, of course, because the crook named Lines had the most masons in his hands - even after being cheated to collect debts, Amy still had a priority.

However, the Leofwan relationship did work - since she was a friend of her brother, Amy really didn't do it directly.

If this is a change without this relationship, Amy may directly let the female soldiers arrest people.

"Lines? One hundred and fifty stonemasons? ”

Leofwan was immediately stunned: "There is no knight named Lines in my territory...... And one hundred and fifty stonemasons, that would be equal to all the stonemasons in the whole of Talboa...... Amy, are you mistaken? ”

A stonemason does not mean a person, but usually includes a stonemason's apprentice and family.

There are about 150 stonemasons, in fact, there are about 1,000 people - in addition to the quarrymen, there are only a thousand people in the stone processing yard in Talboa.

"Oh? In other words, you intend to shield that liar......"

Amy thinks that Leofwan is probably cheating, because she has seen those contract documents, all of them are true, the name of the person who signed the contract is 'Lines', and the territory where the payment is made is indeed Talboa.

"Liars? Amy...... Why don't you tell me what's going on? I don't think you're looking for someone from me......"

Baron Leofwan was still polite.

Of course, anyone who faced four hundred cavalrymen armed to the teeth had to be polite, even if they were women.

"Leofo, I don't care if you know my brother or not, anyway, that's what the agreement says - Administrator of Talboa, Knight of Oath Lines, subordinate to Baron Leofovan......"

Amy pulled out a transfer agreement from her saddle bag and threw it over: "See for yourself!" ”

Leofwan swallowed, picked up the protocol and looked at it, then frowned deeply.

"Amy, I know who this Lane is...... But this guy isn't my subordinate at all, he's not even from the Lion Kingdom! This bastard is actually planning to sell my property to you! ”

As he spoke, Leofwan gritted his teeth, as if he was making up his mind: "In this way, I'll take you to him, come with me!" ”

In this way, Leofouan is also a victim.

Amy is still reasonable, in fact, she now vaguely feels that this scam may not be aimed at herself, maybe it is aimed at Leofo.

……

Fox Town.

This is a large town belonging to the Lion Lake City, which is also close to the Lion Lake Inland Sea.

The town of Fox is a prosperous and prosperous place, with a large commercial street in the center of the town, and taverns and inns are everywhere.

Leofwan took Amy into the largest tavern in Fox Town at this time.

This tavern is no longer called the Adventurer's Tavern, it is called the 'Fox Hotel'.

The tavern is doing very well and is full of drinkers.

"Are you sure that Rains is here?"

Amy led eight female knights into the tavern like prisoners around Baron Leoferine.

The smell of wine and sweat made her cough - and she looked at Leofwan even more unkindly.

"Sure. You see if it's the person...... He is indeed a nobleman, but he is a nobleman of the Raven Realm! I can remember him, but it's because of his work......"

Leofouine gestured to a tall man in the tavern.

It was indeed the same Rains that Amy had seen, tall and handsome, and very good-looking, and Amy did remember it.

But the guy wasn't on the drinking side - he was standing inside the bar, wiping his glass.

"Bartender? A nobleman who actually works as a bartender here? ”

Amy looked at Lines in disbelief, and then at Leofo, "Are the nobles of the Raven Realm so worthless?" ”

"Ahem...... I've asked for things like that, too. He was once a member of the Silver Mist Rangers, and was convicted of adultery for having a relationship with the wife of their Grand Master, and was stripped of his nobility - he had escaped from the Raven Realm, or else he would have been cut off and fed to the dogs......"

Leofwan explained with a strange expression.

"You know that...... It makes me wonder if you're in league with him......"

Amy glanced at Leofwan and motioned for him to come forward and grab the Raines: "You go and catch him, I'll believe you have nothing to do with it, or I'll have to take those stonemasons, and you can do it yourself." ”

"Wait, Amy......"

Leofwan stopped and exited the tavern, "I hate that guy more than you do, because he's cheating you with my inheritance, obviously trying to get me into trouble too...... But I can't arrest people here. ”

"Why? You're a lion knight, Leofouvan, when did a lion knight cringe when he caught someone? ”

Amy's brow furrowed.

"Because this tavern is the property of Prince Aranrik. And ......"

Leofwan pointed to the iris coat of arms on Amy's body: "If no one instructs you, how dare a guy like Lines, who is a fugitive on the surface, lie to you in this way!" And after lying to you, you didn't run? ”

This is also true, Lines is a fugitive from the Raven Kingdom, and he finally escaped to the Lion Kingdom, and now he has offended two big lords, so I am afraid that it will be difficult to survive.

But he didn't run away, but still worked here as a bartender?

"On the surface? So what is his identity? ”

Amy also realizes that this Lines has a background.

"He's now Prince Aranrik's intelligence officer."

Leofovan gritted his teeth and said, "It is true that he was appointed by Prince Aranrik as the administrator of Talboa, but it was Aranrik who forced me to serve him - so I got rid of him...... I think he's going to use Talboa's stonemasons to trick you this time, probably because of that......"

That is to say...... Is Aranrike looking for trouble? ”

Amy nodded indifferently: "What about the prince?" Whoever owes me a debt must pay ......"

Regardless, Amy was always a princess, and she really didn't care about Prince Aranrik's status.

So Amy walked directly into the tavern door with the female knights and pointed at Lines: "Clear the field!" Everybody out! Tie up this liar! ”

However, just as Amy was arresting, outside the tavern, a strange smile appeared on Baron Leofo's face.

(End of chapter)