Jorien Wigg is a businessman at the Burton Chamber of Commerce, the largest chamber of commerce in the Kurt Empire.

Taking advantage of the opportunity of the Gondor Empire's pressure on Cold City, he came to a small border town of the Kurt Empire and prepared a large number of goods to be shipped to Cold City.

After careful calculations by his shrewd mind, this batch of goods costing less than five hundred gold coins was successfully transported to Cold City and then sold for several times the money!

One of the most important prerequisites for the successful delivery of goods to their destination is that there are sufficient escort forces.

Jolien was very distressed now, because just as the caravan was about to leave, two of the mercenary groups that were guarding suddenly offered to withdraw!

The reason for the mercenary group's withdrawal was vague: "We can't stand your chatter anymore!" The shrewd Jolien naturally saw that something was wrong, and I am afraid that this journey will not be peaceful!

But he has no good way to be a businessman with no combat effectiveness, so he can only call someone to the Mercenary Guild to step up the recruitment of other mercenary groups. The caravan is stranded here with hundreds of people, and the daily consumption has to be calculated in gold coins.

Two medium-sized mercenary groups withdrew, and now only a medium-sized mercenary group of fifty people was left to escort the caravan. According to Jolien's calculations, he still needs to hire about two hundred mercenaries with above average strength to ensure the safety of the caravan on the road and prevent uncertainties. It would be great if there were gold-level masters.

.......

Two days later

"No, I still haven't recruited a powerful mercenary group today. One of the caravan men sighed, "I don't think there will be any masters in this small city." ”

Jolien slowly touched his sparse beard and pondered, he was not the "chattering person" in the mouth of those mercenary groups who quit, but a person who would not talk nonsense when necessary.

In two days, they only recruited less than a hundred mercenary guards, and the people sent to the big city for help did not bring back any good news, as if an invisible hand was manipulating the fate of the caravan behind their backs.

In two days, the direct economic loss of the caravan had exceeded ten gold coins, and bad rumors had begun to circulate among his subordinates, and if this continued, the people's hearts would soon be dissipated.

Jolien instructed his men to gather the leaders of several mercenary regiments to discuss some matters.

The first to come was Kit, the leader of the B-class mercenary group "Hummer", one of the members of the former Fire Shield mercenary group that had appeared before, after thirty years, he has become a strong man at the peak of silver, with explosive muscles all over his body that make people look sideways, and although the wide giant sword behind his back is dim, no one will doubt its lethality.

Then there is Rita Vora, the leader of the C-class mercenary group "Flower of the Wind", I saw that this blonde and blue-eyed fully armed female mercenary has a good beauty, but the nickname of "Full Metal Slut" makes most people who know her name intimidating. Although her height is a head shorter than Kit, the blood on her body is not inferior to the other party.

Next is Jamieson Falks, the leader of the C-class mercenary group "Mad Rat", who looks like a thief and doesn't look like a good person.

The last to come was a dozen representatives of the lone mercenaries, Berwyn. This middle-aged man with some vicissitudes of life is wearing a very standard swordsman outfit, his speech and demeanor are very steady, and his temperament is very good, giving people an unfathomable feeling.

The not-so-formal meeting soon began, and Jolien said preconceivedly, "Guys, have you found any additional help?"

Jamieson, the leader of the Rat Mercenary Regiment, spoke first, "Yes, I informed a companion that he should be there soon with his men. Jamieson's voice was high-pitched, but rather like a mouse.

Kit glanced at him and said to Jolien, "I'm sorry, but my old friends aren't around here. ”

The cold female mercenary Rita didn't say anything but shook her head, and Berwyn, the representative of the lone mercenary, also shrugged her shoulders to show that she couldn't do anything.

At this point, this meeting can basically be declared over, Jolien glanced at everyone in the room, and suddenly smiled: "It's okay, you are all famous mercenaries, I believe in your strength." In that case, the caravan will depart tomorrow!"

Jolien smiled and sent the mercenary captains out of the house, watching them scatter.

"Are you going to Cold City and still lack mercenaries?" a cold voice sounded from Jolion's side.

The leader of the caravan was shocked, and when he turned to see that it was a red dragon leaning against the wall next to the door, and the red dragon wore an inconspicuous necklace around his neck.

Jolien is also a person who has experienced strong winds and waves, and he said calmly: "The Red Dragon... Your Excellency, the bank turns three hundred meters to the left on the third street ahead, and the residence of the Marquis of Bedouin, the richest man in the city, turns five hundred meters to the right at the fifth junction on the right. ”

The red dragon shook his head, and a puff of smoke erupted from his nostrils: "Well, I'm not here to rob, I'm a mercenary." As he spoke, he pulled out a delicate mercenary badge with his claws.

Jolien couldn't help but scold when he saw a big "D" printed on the red dragon's claws, a genuine mercenary badge on it, and he didn't know which unlucky guy touched it. However, he said, "Ah, Lord Red Dragon, do you have any requirements? ”

"This badge is really mine, but it's rarely used. The red dragon said impatiently, "Your caravan seems to lack the strength to protect it, how many gold are you willing to spend to hire me?"

"How about a hundred gold coins?" Jolien finally answered the Red Dragon's question.

......

A few days ago, after feeling that he was fully prepared, Ember Mei Mei slept beautifully, reluctantly glanced at the gold coin bed and left Dragon Island.

The red dragon, who thought that he was ready for everything, felt slightly hungry in his stomach after flying to the mainland, and planned to go to the city to buy something to fill his stomach, but when he touched the space ring, he found that he didn't have half a silver coin with him, and he threw it all to his hometown.

The red dragon, who adheres to the principle of being a good person, did not do anything like eating overlord meals or robbing, but ran into the wild and grabbed a few unlucky beasts and filled them in his stomach.

Breaking off a pleasing branch, the red dragon flared while picking his teeth while thinking about how he should make money now, and when he saw a small town passing below, he launched the most basic version of the "Seventy-two Changes", shrunk his body to the size of a horse thirty years ago and then fell.

Ember found the mercenary guild in the city, saw the large notice on the bulletin board outside, "Recruit guards for a lot of money", and quickly found Jolien along the address after jotting it down.

Taking the red dragon to the house and withdrawing a hundred gold coins, Jolien looked at the red dragon who was happily counting the gold coins with some doubts, and couldn't help but say, "Your Excellency the red dragon, can you leave?"

"Leave?" the red dragon looked at the merchant as he weighed a handful of gold coins, "I took your honorarium, so naturally I have to abide by the agreement to escort the caravan to Leng Yan City safely." ”

"Are you serious?" Jolien was still not convinced.

"Dragons never tell lies!" said the red dragon, snorting as he put the gold coins away.

"Yes, yes......" Looking at the businessman's complicated expression, the red dragon knew that he still had some disbelief in his heart. But Ember didn't want to waste her words anymore and stood up and walked out.

......

Early the next morning, Jolion's caravan left the small frontier town.

This large caravan had hundreds of heavy wagons, most of which were loaded with daily necessities and food, and some of them carried some mercenaries and some passengers.

It is a long distance of thousands of miles to reach Cold City from here, and it would take more than half a month for this convoy with only human trotting speed to reach its destination.

On the national highway, two or three carriages can be parallel, and the convoy is not too long, but most of the roads are not enough for the carriages to run in parallel, so the head and tail of the convoy are stretched by hundreds of meters, and only more than a hundred escort mercenaries are distributed on both sides of the caravan on horseback, which seems to be weak.

Everything went smoothly in the first few days, but it rained a lot, and the mercenaries who were not bathed in the rain had long been accustomed to it, only a certain dragon flying in the air felt very unhappy.

In the evening, when Jolien was sitting by the campfire and looking at the map, a big head red by the firelight came over: "Hey, what about the Lorisk Empire?"

The leader of the caravan was startled, and then remembered the somewhat elusive red dragon, and he said stupidly: "Lord Red Dragon must have not been to the mainland for a long time, right? However, there was no large-scale war in the process of its demise, but a family named Tyrkontai overthrew the royal family with the mysterious help of the current Gondor Empire. ”

"Huh?" the red dragon's eyes froze: "Then what happened to the guardian dragon of the original Lorisk Empire?"

"Not so much. Jolien smiled slightly, "Now it's the guardian dragon of the Gondor Empire." ”

"Oh. The red dragon nodded, and then took the barbecue food from the fire under the blank eyes of a few guys.

The two roast chickens were scorched on the outside and raw on the inside, and the red dragon asked casually, "What about the original nobles of Loriysk, have they been cleaned up?"

Jolien, who had adapted to the dragon, gradually relaxed: "It turns out that some of the nobles of Lorisk have defected to the Terkantai family, so they have been retained, and most of the remaining nobles who are loyal to the original royal family have been purged. ”

"Mostly?"

"Yes, the Terkantai family seems to have no fear, and have not completely eradicated all opposing voices. ”

"Interesting, did you know there was a guy named Stan?" asked the red dragon as he took a bite of the fourth roast chicken.

"I don't seem to be impressed, the great nobles in the Gondor Empire don't seem to have this name. ”

Red Dragon nodded humanely, thought for a while, and said, "Then tell me about the recent situation in Cold City." ”

The caravan leader cleared his throat: "This has to start from five years ago......"