Cthulhu Gonfalons

Chapter 25

Gerrard ran faster than a horse, and it took only half an hour for him to catch up with the marching commercial troops.

When he threw the corpses of the Ruhr leader and the Burke vice leader onto the truck, everyone shouted in great delight.

Entrepreneurs are surprised and happy, and they examine both bodies carefully to make sure their identities are correct. Some of them even took out a copied gift paper, and compared the two dead people with portraits!

Yes, these two filthy and ugly Orcs were the leaders of a ruthless and cunning criminal gang that led many bandits, and had plagued four villages in the northwest all this time, attacking villagers and businessmen.

The cavalry of Orcs and Wolves has been destroyed!

The businessman was cheerful like a bunch of larks. They stood in a circle and expressed their gratitude to Gerrard, who was standing in the middle of the circle. Later, they collected a large sum of money as a reward to Gerrard.

Of course, Sui Xiong did not want to take this money, because he thought that it was natural to exterminate the entire gang. Moreover, the Orcs were forming a group to ambush him from the very beginning. He did not understand why these businessmen gave him money. To be honest, if Sui Xiong wanted to receive money, he would only go to the city and get a reward from the Thief Association.

But this time he was persuaded by Gerrard. Gerrard tells him that in the civilized world, it is justified for the businessman to give him a gift when he exterminates the bandits. If he didn't receive the money, they wouldn't be happy. Sui Xiong was not a stubborn fuddy-duddy, so he would not reject the money he got legally.

There is more than one benefit besides receiving money. Many valuable war booty were found with two corpses. As both of them were afraid of dying, they had no chance to use the thing they were carrying. All of this stuff is intact. Take the magic leather armor and the Bloody Hands magic machete, for example; they are worth a month's salary for a normal businessman.

Not to mention other things. For example, in the Space Pocket owned by the Ruhr, there was nothing but money and potions. He had changed all his money for various clothes, so that he could increase his combat effectiveness. But inside the old Shaman space pocket, there were over a thousand gold coins, all kinds of gemstones, and many advanced potions and scrolls.

Old Soth believed that the objects in the two space bags, the clothes of the two Orcs, and the gifts they were entitled to, were worth more than 20,000 gold coins.

20,000 gold coins! When he heard the number, Gerrard was completely stunned.

Think of it this way: the villagers in White Leaf Village make a living by cutting down and burning bark, as well as planting Golden Vine. Wine does not taste good, but it can be used to withstand negative energy, and is a staple food of residents in the Ashes Forest. The average family can only store three to five, or six to seven gold coins in a full year. Moreover, they had to hand over at least seventy percent of their income to the Wu Mian God Church to pay taxes. This left them with only one or two gold coins.

“Wait, seventy percent of their income is taxed? This is too cruel! ”Sui Xiong exclaims. “Why did the villagers not rebel!?”

“Your Honor, the tax is not heavy at all.” Gerrard looked surprised, and began to explain. “The church collects their taxes on the condition that farmers have enough food to eat. In other words, they collect their taxes from the surplus. You don't care if the farmer has money or not.

Sui Xiong now realized that he was wrong. Obviously, no one wants to live in a village where skeletons will appear at night if their basic needs are not met.

As written in the story of the snake catcher (by Chinese thinker Liu Zongyuan), although catching a snake is a dangerous business, it is much better than being taxed heavily, or being a slave!

Wherever we go, government orders are sometimes scarier than tigers! Sui Xiong thought, and sighed deeply.

Gerrard had no idea what Sui Xiong was thinking, and said, “The entire White Leaf Village can save up to 200 gold coins in taxes per year; 20,000 gold coins are comparable to a 100-year tax. Or think of it this way: when I was an adventurer, the team I was on could store, at most, 1,000 gold coins. And that was while everyone on the team was very strong and competent. We are a very good team.

“Your Majesty, we can receive 5,000 gold coins or less by killing evil dragons; about 1,000 gold coins by killing a criminal who killed an aristocracy; and about 2,000 gold coins by wiping out the infamous gang of bandits, the Orc Cavalry and the Wolves. So you can really feel that 20,000 gold coins is really a huge sum of money! ”

Sui Xiong nodded, finally understanding the value of the 20,000 gold coins.

“We can build a temple with that money. Your Highness, I think we should find the village and make it our follower. Even though it was only one village, we didn't need to risk anything, and it was quite safe. And two years later, when the village is under good control, we can start looking for more villages and make the people there our followers. Then we can even build a city .. “Gerrard's imagination drifts. “After a century or two, at least we can have several cities, more than ten villages, and thousands of loyal followers.”

Sui Xiong showed no agreement or disapproval at Gerrard's suggestion. He thought Gerrard was thinking too much. Even the Chinese people, who always talk about ‘Two Hundred Years China’, just spend time by mentioning the project. No one can really make plans for the next century or two and try to carry them out.

But in retrospect, Sui Xiong began to see the feeling of Gerrard's wild imagination.

Sui Xiong and Gerrard were both immortal. For them, a century or two isn't too long. They may only need to see a few more winters and summers to see the foliage grow in the spring and fall in the fall, or to see a villager live his or her entire life.

Being immortal was not a fantasy in this world, but a reality.

“Your Highness, what do you think of the plan?” Gerrard asked.

“Good; the intelligence of a God is far superior to the intelligence of a human. I'm very confident that you'll soon think of a better plan, and build and improve a faith system that belongs only to you. ”Gerrard nodded faithfully. “Stay alone, I think it is safe enough to turn some villages into our own village ..”

Sui Xiong began to communicate with Gerrard through telepathy.

Seeing Gerrard standing still and thinking, Old Soth could not help but say, “Brother White, we are not done yet. There is a lot of money waiting for you! ”

Old Soth managed to distract Gerrard from the conversation, which was a great relief for Sui Xiong. The topic changed from village establishment to accepting money.

“Usually, the leader of a certain group of bandits will have a place where they hide their treasures, so that they can bounce back after they have setbacks, or live their lives in retirement with money. The Orc and Wolf cavalry have disrupted four cities in the northwest in the past five or six years, and their leader “Blood Hands” clearly has a place to hide the treasure, the source said, “kata Old Soth's. “If we can find that place, we can really get a lot of money!”

Speaking of great wealth, the face of Old Soth shone, as did his eyes, which became dim due to his age.

Sui Xiong finally knew why Old Soth called its commercial corps a lucky ‘’ gold coin. He's a real money-monger!

“How much money are we talking about?” Palin asked curiously.

“At least 10,000 gold coins!” Old Soth gave a clever answer. This made Sui Xiong feel curious about how he made this conclusion.

Clearly, Palin was neither interested nor surprised by the money, as he had 20,000 gold coins. He nodded casually, returned to the campfire, and began to read his magic book.

Gerrard nodded. “Bby too. I'll try to find him. ”

“If you do, please bring me souvenirs! A whole gold coin! “Old Soth said firmly, in a low voice. “Consider that as my compensation to give you this information. We are good friends, but these are the rules, and we cannot break them! ”

Gold coins !?

Sui Xiong found this funny and annoying. He could tell that Old Soth was not joking, and could not understand why asking for just one gold coin.

How strange is the way people think in this world!

However, Gerrard seems to be able to understand the strange thoughts of Old Soth. He solemnly promised her that he would choose the most special souvenir and bring it into his hands.

Old Soth was quite satisfied. He smiled and left.

“Gerrard, what are you talking about? Is the souvenir really important, ”Sui Xiong asked.

“Your Majesty, this is a tradition followed by us adventurers.” Gerrard knew that his God did not have a clear understanding of this world, so he explained patiently to him. “We adventurers often get clues about some other treasured possessions or objects, but for some reason, there are many clues that we cannot even prove useful. Therefore, when we meet a young adventurer we like, we give it to him. If he managed to find the treasure with the help of clues, no matter how much they got, he would have to bring some of the treasure to the older adventurers. It's about us showing respect for tradition, and inheriting a culture that has been passed down from generation to generation. ”

I saw!

Hearing this, Sui Xiong suddenly felt Old Soth's hunchback body look much taller.

An old adventurer who gives the experience to the young adventurer, and the dream he hopes the young man will achieve, asks him to bring a souvenir to him when the young succeed. That way he can also feel the happiness of being successful when he is too old to adventure. He can also prove the hard work he did in the past was not in vain. The love and passion for adventure is truly touching!

It's like an ex-electronic sports professional; even if they retire, even if they are beaten by amateurs, they still love the game and stand by their duties as commentators. They try to get viewers to like the game in the form of cross talk, and share their happiness with others. They will never regret it if they become a laughing stock or are considered a comedian.

Although the world that Sui Xiong possessed was different from this world, this spirit remained the same!

“Old Soth, I will help rebuild your body, and revive you after you die. I'll make a very strong body for you. It's OK that your parents have both short and short legs; I'll make sure that you won't be harmed by knives, swords, water, fire, electricity or ice. I'll also give you the ability to remove any obstacles. All you need to do is roll over, with your face facing the ground. You can continue your adventurous career! ”

A large, highly touched jellyfish lives underground and scratches its jaws with its tentacles. It smiled, and did not feel anything strange with its way of thinking …