"These 3 are part of the guards I hired. There are 18 guards for this trip. Usually, it would be around 10, but since the beast attacks, all merchants have increased the guard count," Zhang Xie said.
"There are 5 in the front carriage and 10 in the final 2 carriages. Since this is the 2nd carriage, you should be relatively safe, little brother. Although I hope you will fight when the time comes," he said.
"Don't worry, senior Xie. I won't be a freeloader," Alex said.
"You hear that old man?" Zhang Xie said. "You can't be a freeloader either. You've promised to fight beasts and bandits in case we are attacked, we will leave you behind if you coward out of the fight."
The old man simply glared at Zhang Xie and Alex for a while and nodded in affirmation. The old man had gray hair and a mostly hobo look from what Alex could tell. His clothes were pretty dirty and it looked like he was out of money.
