Chapter 40.1: Brave Jean

Chapter 40.1: Brave Jean

"Anyway... You two are Bennetts."

Yang Qiu pointed at the man who had brought up the grievance. Then, after a short pause, he pointed at the gloomy fatty. "And you guys are from the Eugenes."

As if recalling something, Yang Qiu smiled and said, "Speaking of the family name Eugene, it reminds me of someone. The last time I passed through Camore, there was a little girl who left quite an impression on me, Rebecca Eugene."

A strange look appeared on the chubby man's face. "Th-that's my great-grandmother's name."

"Oh, what a coincidence." Yang Qiu raised an eyebrow. "It looks like Rebecca got her wish."

The chubby man's face froze, and the two gentlemen from the Bennett family also wore peculiar expressions.

"It seems that this town has seen quite a few stories." Yang Qiu didn't have the intention to delve deeper. He sat back on the sofa and waved his hand to release the restraints on these people. "Have a seat, gentlemen."

The three men looked at each other, adjusted themselves, and each pulled a chair to sit down. They didn't dare to approach the sofa where Yang Qiu was sitting, let alone the bloodied figure lying on the other end of the sofa with shattered arms.

"I'll be frank. I need to take in a group of people who are struggling to survive here and have nothing but their lives," Yang Qiu bluntly stated. "Your families oversee the local weaver unions, and you guys should be well aware of where to find such individuals."

The three men from the two families were taken aback.

"M-Mr. Yang, I don't quite get your point," one of the men from the Bennett family mustered the courage to speak. "If you could, could you please explain in more detail?"

"Allow me to rephrase it, then," Yang Qiu spoke even more bluntly. "I know more about how Camore's weaver union operates than you do. Four hundred years ago, the steamships of the Kenyan Empire conquered the endless sea and brought back cotton seeds from the Outer Continent. These 'man-eating' cotton seeds were later brought to the Duchy of Shiga by merchant caravans.

"The affluent in Camore saw this as an excellent opportunity to grow their wealth and solidify the status of their own families. Using various means, they seized the land from free people and dedicated them to cotton cultivation while coercing the farmers to work as cotton growers on their own plantations. After all, unlike grain, cotton doesn't become stale, infested, rotten, or moldy within a year, so it doesn't devalue easily.

"But soon, the affluent class realized that it wasn't profitable to turn all the farmers into cotton growers. There wasn't a need for so much manpower in the cotton fields except during the harvest season.

"Thus, they came up with a solution. They selected the more obedient ones among the cotton growers and instructed them to lead the rebellious ones to demand 'freedom,' causing a few 'peaceful, non-violent, not so intense' conflicts. Following that, the noblemen 'relented.' They liberated all the cotton growers, granting them the status of free people.

"Black Mage Yang, the Nightmare Butcher!" Harvey exclaimed. "When I was young, there used to be a wanted poster of him on the sheriff's board, with a bounty of 90,000 gold coins!"

The clamoring men and crying women in the room fell silent instantly.

"Great-grandmother once pointed at the wanted poster on the notice board and told me that she had seen this black mage when she was young," Harvey said grimly. "The last time this black mage, who was wanted by multiple nations, came to Camore, he invaded Sir Hans's mansion.

"In front of Sir Hans's family and many guests attending a party, he immobilized Sir Hans and kidnapped the mayor's young son. He then hung the young master on the city wall for three days and even forced a baron to ride naked on a horse through town—great-grandmother said it was because of the chaos the black mage caused among the upper class on the main streets that she had a chance to seize the union for the Eugene family!"

Life in a small town was rather dull, and any rumors would be passed down by word of mouth for many generations. When Yang Qiu caused a disturbance in the town of Camore, the events on the main streets naturally became lifelong fables for the elders in town.

Descartes's father, Harvey's uncle, had also heard these legendary tales. He broke out in a cold sweat upon hearing Harvey's words. "Y-you said... Wait a minute! You said the last time this black mage came to Camore. What's that supposed to mean?!"

Harvey gulped hard, still trembling as he explained, "Jimmy Bennett tried using his sister's situation to pressurize our family into giving up the casino on East Street, and when we were in a deadlock, th-th-this black mage suddenly appeared... claiming that 'he couldn't tolerate the violation of young boys and girls' and personally crippled Descartes..."

Everyone in the Eugene family was dumbfounded.

"O Goddess of Prosperity!" Descartes's mother, Harvey's aunt, pressed her hands against her chest, wailing in despair. "The Nightmare Butcher was only targeting the people on the main streets, why would he be so cruel to our Descartes?!"

Descartes's wife couldn't help but chime in, "It was clearly one of those Bennetts bitches seducing Descartes. Why should Descartes be the unlucky one?!"

"That's right!" another woman from the Eugenes said. "That slut couldn't control herself, what has that got to do with one of us?"

"Enough!" The head of the Eugene family stopped the women and grabbed Harvey's arm. Beads of perspiration glistened on his forehead as he asked anxiously, "Tell me, Harvey, what does this black mage want?!"

Harvey quickly conveyed Yang Qiu's request... Of course, he deliberately avoided mentioning the Weaver Union's unsavory origins.

"He has given us only five hours to choose the right people as quickly as possible." Harvey gulped nervously and said anxiously, "If we cannot provide him with the desired number of people... he threatened to take away all of the union members along with the Bennetts!"

As soon as these words came out, the previously angry crowd, who were furious about Descartes's ordeal, shuddered.

"Give him what he wants! Find people for him!" Harvey's aunt immediately shrieked at her husband. "Quickly send this plague away!"

"Watch your words!" the head of the Eugene family berated furiously.