Chapter 304 I'll kill you!

The rain dripped onto the roofs of the Tata village, sliding down the logs and thatch from the eaves.

At the door of a spacious wooden house in the center of the village, Grush shook his wet raincoat, leaving a puddle of water.

Pushing open the door, we saw Boss "Bloodfoot" DeFord sitting in front of the fireplace, warming himself by the fire, his messy beard still covered with grease from last night's meal.

Boss "Black Scar" Blackska stood by the window, his cheekbones so high that they could almost hold a kettle, his hair stuck to his pale forehead by the rain.

"Brother Grush is here. I just heated up the butterbeer. Come on." Xuezu raised the iron kettle high in his hand, as if he couldn't feel the boiling heat.

The "Orc" Grush did not refuse. He took off his leather gloves, took the butterbeer from Bloodfoot and drank it all.

His body warmed up immediately.

Grush found a place to sit down, and when he saw that all the leaders from the caves and forests had arrived, he spoke:

"Now that everyone is here, let's not waste time and talk about business."

The rain outside the window made a rustling sound. Several little leaders looked at each other, but no one said a word.

"I know you are embarrassed to say it, so I will do it." Grush turned sideways and looked at Deford in front of him. "Boss Deford, we would like to ask you to lend us some money and food."

"Yeah yeah……"

"The damn Salvation Army forced the church to close the roads and impose martial law everywhere. No one is paying tribute to us anymore."

Contrary to what most people in the empire think, the bandits do not usually stay in the mountain strongholds and go down the mountain to rob whenever they have time.

It is true that they have strongholds and villages in the mountains, but most of them do not live there.

Most of these bandits are rogues and thugs from the surrounding areas near the caves and dense forests. They go down the mountain when they have money and go up the mountain when they don’t.

The main daily business is to set up checkpoints privately, rob merchants, rob shops and workshops, extort villages, smuggle and kidnap.

They gather every year and divide the money in late autumn. After the money is divided, except for a few people who stay on the mountain to guard the stronghold, the rest return to the villages and towns.

That’s why those lords are so difficult to wipe out, and they have spies everywhere around the caves and dense forests.

Some refugees who cannot find jobs and are desperate will look for someone to help them join the gang.

In a sense, being bandits is just like doing temporary work.

At its peak, there were nearly a thousand bandits hiding in the caves and dense forests, but the money they robbed was just enough to feed and clothe them. Only the bandit leaders and a few core fighters had a good life.

But since the rise of the Salvation Army, life has become difficult.

Because they were able to share the land, many refugees and cannon fodder became good citizens. Even if they were not among those who received the land, they could still go to the Holy Hoe Monastery or work as helpers in a workshop.

The Papal Palace issued a large number of orders, and workshops everywhere finally had the money to hire migrant workers.

This resulted in a significant reduction in the bandits' manpower. Only 500 people from Kasha County and Lower River County were still there, and the rest had almost all fled.

Also due to the emergence of the Salvation Army, the bandits in the cave jungle were also subject to economic blockade.

Having lost their source of income, they were almost destitute, so they rushed to the meeting.

"I have some food and money, but not much." DeFord's voice was drunken. "Why don't we kidnap a woman from the Salvation Army? They have destroyed so many monasteries, so they must have money."

"Boss Deford, this..." Grush was stunned. "It's not like we haven't tried it before. The cavalry of the Savior Army knows magic and killed people from a distance of 20 meters."

"They're not angels descending from the sky." DeFord pointed his thumb back. "Didn't we kill several of their monks?"

Grush didn't know what to say for a moment. Could they contend against an army that could defeat the Imperial Order Company?

Sure enough, before Grush could speak, the little leaders began to murmur.

"If it weren't for Boss Grush saving you last time, you would have been beaten down by the knights of the Savior Army."

"You can bully the unarmed monks."

"Hey, hey, what are you talking about? Do you think I didn't hear you?" Perhaps he couldn't hold it in any longer, so DeFord hesitated for a few seconds before saying, "How about this, I can provide 1200 dinars, which can buy 1000 gallons of grain. Is that good enough?"

What does this mean? Even the good-tempered Grush almost cursed out loud.

1200 dinars to buy 1000 gallons of food is the normal price of food, and there is a famine now!
"when!"

Turning around suddenly, Blackscar Blackska raised his fist high, looked ferocious, and swung it on the table.

The people around were so frightened that the cutlery, pottery jars, oil lamps and candlesticks on the table jumped up and rolled to the ground.

"What are you doing?" After being shocked, DeFord stood up and slammed the table in anger, "Are you possessed by the devil?!"

"Will I kill you?" Blackska's lips turned up, revealing his blood-red gums. "Selecting targets, settling accounts and selling stolen goods, which one of them is not done by me! Risking life and death, robbing merchants, which one of them is not done by Brother Grush!

What do you do besides sitting in your room drinking beer every day? What do you have besides having a good papa and a bishop as your grandfather?

"Fuck you, you want to challenge me?" Deford walked around the table and pointed his finger directly at the tip of Blackska's nose.

Blackska slapped his hand away, raised his chin and sneered: "Now that the bishop has fallen, we have to find a new backer.

I have a way to get in touch with the Earl of Lower River, but it will cost money.

When the money was divided, you took so much, but now you don't take a single copper coin?"

"Can money alone guarantee anything? I am different from you. My daughter is 16 years old this year. I will give her to the bishop of Jinhe Township as a lover. I have made preparations on both sides."

"The bishop of Jinhe Township is already 70 years old, and you are willing to do so." Blackska said sarcastically.

DeFort said bluntly: "Do you have a daughter? Your old hens don't lay eggs, what do you have?"

"Brother Deford, stop talking." Grush immediately wanted to run up and prepare to stop Blackska, but he was still a step too slow.

Hearing Deford's words, Blackska was stunned at first, and then his whole head turned red to the roots of his hair.

He looked left and right, picked up the iron candlestick on the table, aimed at Deford's head, and smashed it down.

"Ouch! Ouch!"

After all, DeFord was a bandit by birth, so he raised his head and dodged awkwardly.

"You dare to take action?!"

He looked at Blackska in disbelief, turned and threw himself against the wall, pulling out a saber from the hanging weapons: "Grooved, I'll kill you!"

"Stop him, stop him!" Grush, crossing Blackska, put his head against Deford's chest, hugged his waist, and shouted with difficulty.

Several bewildered bandit leaders rushed forward, one on the left and one on the right, pulling apart the two bandit leaders who were about to fight.

After there were some pottery fragments on the table and some sawdust on the ground, the few of them sat down calmly.

Touching the tapestry with a missing corner distressed, DeFord plugged his bleeding nose with a handkerchief: "I know you want money and food, but I also tell you, I have money, but the food is only enough for my own family.

No, look at how much I am worth, chop off my head and take it to the Salvation Army to exchange for food."

"Tsk!" Blackska snorted coldly and turned to look at the rain scene outside the window.

DeFord coughed lightly and said, "Don't think the Salvation Army is too strong. I have investigated and found that they won the battle by using tricks.

I got the news that they are mobilizing horse and ox carts recently, most likely to exchange for food from the El Ancient Road in the cave forest.

Let's first think of a solution and see who is in charge of this matter.

I pay for it and let them share some with us. This won't make them think I'm stingy, right?"

"What if they say no? Or ask for too much?" Blackska asked.

DeFord sneered: "Is the knife in your hand just for show? The jungle is so big, we harass them every day, can they still defend themselves every day?
At worst, just go home. By then, you won't have any complaints about telling those bastards to go home, right?"

The organizational model between bandit leaders and bandits is somewhat similar to the Five Dynasties' feudal lords.

Most of the time, bandit leaders are very satisfied with the profits they have obtained, but the "entourage" are dissatisfied.

If the bandit leaders cannot satisfy the interests of the "tooth soldiers", they will also be replaced by their subordinates.

The leaders, both big and small, looked at each other and felt that this seemed to be the truth.

Besides, since Deford had already mentioned the money, they naturally would not force him anymore. So they all said nice things and left.

Looking at Blackska who walked out the door first, and then looking at Deford who was sitting alone in the room sulking, Grush sighed.

He picked up the raincoat and was about to put it on, but his eyes suddenly focused on an abandoned hut not far away.

He walked in the rain without an umbrella. He looked at a puddle of water on the wall and frowned.

He put his nose close to it and sniffed it, confirming that it was not urine, then Grush began to grope around on the ground nearby.

Soon, he found a twisted footprint beside the bushes, but it didn't look like an adult's foot.

Look at the depth of this footprint, this method of hiding it...

"Demon Hunter?" Grush muttered to himself in doubt.

(End of this chapter)