CH 6

Fort Comoy.

Beavis Elliott received a letter from the knight sent by His Grace Bass Richards.

What the letter means is that there are huge benefits to be gained from drying salt in seawater.

Cogit Sea is like a gold mine waiting to be excavated in the Wissas Territory, but the “mining rights” of this gold mine is not in his hands.

There is currently only Xia Zuoyi Desinia left in the Desinia family. If something were to happen to him, Wissas will be taken back by the king, and then he can plan…

“I understand what His Grace meant, I will take care of it for him. But the plan is to let another earl…I’m taking a lot of risks.”

Beavis Elliott looks ordinary, with a wide forehead and a flat nose, but although he is in his prime, the hair volume on his head is very scarce, blue eyes, and his face is often tired because of insufficient sleep.

He is best known in Fort Comoy for the number of mistresses he has every year.

The knight who delivered the letter said, “After the matter is completed, His Grace will include Pal Mountain in the territory of Fort Comoy and promise Lord Earl 10% profit of the salt sales.”

Beavis Elliott was overjoyed, “His Grace is generous indeed.” 

After he assured once again that things would be done as His Grace wanted, the knight left Fort Comoy and returned to the royal city.

The butler said behind him, “My lord, the other party is an earl after all, in case…” 

Beavis Elliott scoffed, “Just a six-year-old child. Even if he is lucky enough to have a “treasure”, it depends on whether he has the ability to keep it.” 

“Old Desinia died too early, and I was kind enough to reunite the father and son in the arms of the God of Creation as soon as possible.”

Butler, “You are right, my lord.”

Beavis Elliott, “Let a small group of knights pretend to be robbers and lie in ambush in Pal Mountain. When it’s completed, I will give them half a box of gold coins as a reward.”

“Yes, my lord.”

The Desinia motorcade returned slowly and finally passed through Pal Mountain again.

After going over the mountain is Wissas.

Xia Zuoyi is lying on the window, looking at the gradually passing scenery outside.

Pal Mountain retains the characteristics of the primitive mountain forest—the trees are tall and lush, and there are many wild animals in the mountain forest.

The mountain in the southeast is between the two cities of Wissas and Fort Comoy. It is usually used as one of the livelihood sources of the civilians in the two cities, such as hunting and gathering firewood. It is also a hunting site for nobles.

There is a small lake on the mountain—Lake Pal.

Bypassing Lake Pal is the mountain on the northwest side. Few people go there. It is said that brown bears often haunt the mountain, and the mountain is complex.

The natural asphalt mine is buried in the valley in the northwest.

Xia Zuoyi is thinking about the preparations to be made before digging out the asphalt mine when suddenly he heard a startled scream from the knight in front of him. Then, the moving carriage suddenly stopped and shook violently.

If it hadn’t been for Udit quickly hugging him, he would’ve fallen out of the window.

“What’s going on?!” Xia Zuoyi held onto the car wall with one hand.

The coachman yelled in panic, “My lord, run away! The robbers are coming!” 

The sun is setting west, and the dusk gradually fell.

At this time, they are in the center of the mountain forest, the front road is cut off and the back road is blocked, the situation is not optimistic.

The “robbers” seemed to have received the news ahead of time, and when the convoy entered the already ambushed “encirclement”, they suddenly rushed out to harvest lives.

They are like death gods walking in the twilight, mixed in the heavy shadow sweeping by. They are extremely fast, almost killing the knight guarding the carriage in the blink of an eye, and then they are after the coachman who wants to escape.

Udit embarrassingly rolled down from the carriage with Xia Zuoyi in his arms.

Kelly screamed and fell to the ground but fortunately avoided the chopping blade.

The heads and faces of the “robbers” are all tightly wrapped in black cloth, with only a pair of eyes exposed. They are wearing thick defensive leather and the weapons in their hands are mostly swords and machetes.

Their actions were silent but tacitly cooperated with each other.

—They’re not robbers!

At least not ordinary robbers.

Xia Zuoyi is protected by the knights coming from the rear, and calmly analyzed in the gap between being hugged by Udit and dodging—who wants to kill him?

The “bandits” who besieged him were obviously more than the knights in his convoy, plus, it should have been premeditated because the team was scattered first.

Kelly tried to dodge the sword that stabbed her, but she slipped and rolled down the hill. Another sword stabbed at Xia Zuoyi.

Udit turned around with him in his arms, trying to cover him with his back.

Xia Zuoyi seems to be able to feel the unique sharpness and coldness of the iron weapon, the smooth sword surface reflects a blurred image, and the faint smell of blood went straight into the nose… 

At a critical moment.

Xia Zuoyi forcibly pushed Udit away.

He fell to the ground while Udit leaned away to avoid danger.

“My lord!” 

The “robber” hit the ground with a missed blow, mud splashing. He didn’t pause and the next moment, continued to mercilessly stab Xia Zuoyi.

“Bang”—there’s a loud noise.

The sharp weapon stabbing head-on was blocked by a big sword.

The reason why Fernandi Edwards can become a knight commander at a young age and obtain sufficient merits to be awarded with the title of nobility is by virtue of his unparalleled bravery and courage.

He can single out a small team of knights and he is stronger than most people.

The moment the “robbers” encircled and attacked them, Fernandi Edwards seized the opponent’s weapon and succeeded in fighting back. His unstoppable attack, to a certain extent, provided the knights and craftsmen in the rear with a chance to breathe.

Fernandi Edwards saw Xia Zuoyi push Udit away and heard Udit’s panic and frightened shouts.

He rushed quickly over and fended off the long sword.

“Find a safe place to hide, quick!” Fernandi Edwards shouted.

Xia Zuoyi also wanted to find a place to hide.

But the main target of this gang of “robbers” is him. Almost every moment, these people attack him in turn. How can he have a chance to escape…

This group of “robbers” is determined to kill them all In Pal Mountain. Blood had dyed the ground red, the night was approaching, and the smell of killing in the air became more and more intense.

No one knows if Kelly is dead or alive, half the craftsmen and knights died, and Udit’s left arm was stabbed…

Xia Zuoyi gritted his teeth and couldn’t go on like this.

He took advantage of the remaining faint light to observe the surroundings…

“Fernandi Edwards! Please be sure to save them!” 

The tender voice seemed to be coming across the night sky.

Fernandi Edwards was stunned. When he turned his head, he saw the small figure drilling through the gap, dodge the machete in a thrilling manner, and then stumbled and rolled down the steep slope…

“My lord!” 

The last thing Xia Zuoyi heard was Udit’s anxious and hoarse cry.

He tried his best to tighten his small body, firmly protected his head with his hands, endured the pain of grass and gravel cutting his skin, and tried his best to control the direction of his fall.

Xia Zuoyi deliberately jumped down.

The mountain roads of Pal Mountain are mostly winding steep slopes. It’s late and it’s dark below, and you can’t see anything clearly.

He took the initiative to jump down, wanting to gamble on the chance to survive.

The world in Xia Zuoyi’s eyes is constantly spinning, and when his head is dizzy and nauseous, the speed of rolling down slowly stops.

He was lying on the grass, panting faintly. His bare hands and feet aching, covered with scratches from grass leaves and bruises from crushed stones.

Especially his right arm, as if hit by something, some slight dislocation, and now can’t be lifted up.

Fortunately, it’s not the legs.

Xia Zuoyi tried to find joy in hardship, otherwise he wouldn’t be able to get up the next moment, let alone escape.

After taking two deep breaths.

Xia Zuoyi propped an arm to stand up, blacking out momentarily. After a little while, he found a direction and limped away.

However, he’s still young.

He soon felt his physical strength gradually losing, and his vision began to become blurred.

No, you can’t fall down.

Run a little further.

Xia Zuoyi kept repeating in his heart, but he tripped, and fell to the ground.

“…Little noble?”

Before he fell unconscious, he heard the surprised and suspicious voice of a young man.

Gibran Keno and his younger brother Toby Keno depended on each other, living on the fringe of the poorest place in Wissas.

His younger brother Toby is nine years younger than him.

For the sake of their lives, food, and clothing, Gibran Keno not only confirms money every ten days in the market, but also sets some traps on Pal Mountain to catch small animals such as hares.

He’s been out of luck since this morning.

The hoe he brought with him broke, the trap he finally set up failed, and the hare ran away. After that, he hadn’t hunted any more prey.

Gibran Keno is anxious. If he has no prey to sell, he has no money to sustain them. They would have to endure starvation for a few days and be frugal until the market reopened.

After all, it’s not easy to come to Pal Mountain.

He temporarily entrusted Toby to Aunt Tana next door and walked into the mountain with plenty of dry food and water. He had been on the mountain for two days and one night.

Today is the last night, all the dry food is eaten, if he can’t catch any prey, he will go back in vain tomorrow.

So, Gibran Keno went a little deeper into Pal Mountain, but still got nothing.

But when he was planning to find a safe cave or rest in a tree for a night, he unexpectedly met the little nobleman he had seen in the market.

The little child should be only a little older than Toby.

Now he was covered with scars and fell pitifully in front of him.

Gibran Keno quickly walked over and picked up the little nobleman, guessing that something bad had happened to him. His round face was covered with dirt, and he passed out with his eyes closed.

There was no one nearby, it was dark, even the way down the mountain could not be clearly seen.

Gibran Keno muttered to himself, “…We can only go back to Wissas at dawn tomorrow.”

He looked down at the little nobleman in his arms and sighed, “I hope you can make it through tonight.”

Before leaving, Gibran Keno covered up the traces of the little nobleman.

He found a safe cave and covered it with wattle grass and dry branches as a cover and camouflage.

Except for a broken hoe, there was only water on Gibran Keno’s person. After gently laying the little nobleman on the ground, he fed him a few sips of water. Thinking of the cold night in the mountains, he took off his thin coat and covered the other’s small body.

Gibran Keno rubbed his hands and breathed.

He stayed at the entrance of the cave, and from time to time he had to pay attention to the situation of the little nobleman, so he dazedly persisted until dawn.

The author has something to say:

Xia Zuoyi: I’m a ball, and the grunting round ball rolls down…