When their eyes lit up, a space of nearly four hundred square meters appeared in front of them. There were torches all around the space, so it wasn't dark at all. There were no houses, only stalls selling everything from food, weapons, slaves...
A group of gangsters stood around the entrance. They all had their arms exposed, revealing all kinds of tattoos. It was obvious that they were the bad guys. These people were the guards of the black market, similar to bodyguards. If anything happened, they would be the ones to solve it.
Locke looked around. Other than two or three people with bright eyes and slightly raised shoulder armors, the rest were just cannon fodder to him.
"Those two guys have the strength of third-rate soldiers," Hans said in a low voice. Everyone could tell, so they didn't say much.
"It's just a black market. That's not bad," Kane said casually. Kane said carelessly. This guy had recently been stimulated by Hans being promoted to squad leader and second-class soldier. He had been training hard, and now he had almost the strength of a second-class soldier. He was qualified to say such big words.
Gulas didn't say anything, but he looked at the gangsters with interest. He was probably itching to get his hands on them.
Korby knew what kind of people these people were after getting along with them recently. He quickly led the way to the center of the black market, where the biggest sellers were. They were the only ones who could buy their silver thalers without getting into trouble.
The group of hoodlums had been waiting here all day. Apart from idling around and waiting for death, they had also developed a keen eye for people. The way Gulas, Hans, and the others looked at them as if they were prey pissed them off. If it weren't for the two leading hoodlums holding them back, they would have already gone up to pick a fight with them.
The two leaders were smart people. They could tell at a glance that these people were not to be trifled with. None of them were stupid enough to survive in the war-torn era. They quickly restrained their subordinates. "Whoever causes trouble for me won't be able to see the moon tonight," one of the leaders with a scar on his face said fiercely to his subordinates.
When Locke and the others walked into the center of the black market, they found that there was only one house in the underground space. It was only thirty square meters, and it seemed especially crowded after Locke and the others entered.
"Do you have any requests?" While Locke and the rest were still looking around the small house, a gloomy and dry voice sounded. An old man in his sixties or seventies sat behind the only counter in the room and asked.
This house was very strange. There were no goods, only shelves and slips of paper. There was a slip of paper on each shelf with a list of goods written on it. At a glance, there were twenty to thirty racks. It seemed like this family was quite powerful. However, most of the racks were food and a few daily necessities. There were only a few weapons, such as daggers and short swords. There was not a single piece of armor.
Korby was naturally adept at dealing with such matters. "Old man, I've brought you a big deal this time. Let's see if you can stomach it." After that, he winked at Hans and Gulas, and the two of them took out their money pouches from their waists and threw them on the counter. The few of them had previously discussed that Korby would be the one to conduct the transaction, while the rest of them would play the role of followers.
At first, the old man didn't take Korby's words seriously and showed a look of disdain, but he paid more attention to Locke and the rest. But then, he was woken up by the sound of the two money pouches. Having lived for decades, he could naturally tell that it was the sound of money, not coins.
The old man stretched out his shriveled palm and peeled open the money pouch. The silver thalers inside dazzled his eyes. He took out a few of them and couldn't wait to bite them to see if they were real. Shalorian coins had a ratio of silver to other metals of 6: 3, with ten percent of impurities. Although Faustian's silver thalers had a ratio of 5: 5, there were fewer impurities, so it was harder. It was easy for an expert to tell the difference.
"May I know if you want to..." After the old man verified the authenticity of the silver thalers, he turned to Locke and the rest and started asking about the terms of the transaction.
"We want silver coins, all of them. If it's gold coins, it'll be even higher." Korby stated his request. Of course, silver coins were Shalorian currency. Just like silver thalers in Faustian, they were the highest grade of currency that commoners could come into contact with.
"Gold coins? Hehe, this old man isn't that capable." The old man let out a strange laugh. Although 100 silver thalers was officially equivalent to 1 gold thaler, no one would be willing to exchange for it. It was the same for Shalor. The actual ratio of gold to silver coins was about 1: 12, or even higher.
If the old man had the means to get his hands on gold coins, these silver thalers could probably be exchanged for 2000 silver coins, which was equivalent to 20 gold coins. Even if it was 18 gold coins, Locke would still make the deal. This was a profitable deal. Unlike silver coins, gold coins had a limited depreciation rate. If the logistics department collected the 18 gold coins, Locke wouldn't let them go without 2000 silver thalers. This trip would net him a net profit of 1600 silver thalers. There was no faster way to make money than this.
"I don't have gold coins, but silver coins are not a problem." The old man chuckled and clapped his hands. An attendant in a black robe entered the room and walked out after listening to the old man's instructions.
Not long after, an even bigger bag was sent in by four burly men. It seemed that these people were hired by this shop in the black market. After the four guards put down the bag, they went out to guard the door and didn't leave.
Korby stepped forward and peeled open the bag. It was filled with silver coins.
Locke and the rest didn't stay in Wallier for long and hurried back to camp. They'd brought Gulas, Hans and the others with them because they were worried that they'd be caught red-handed. They didn't expect it to be a false alarm as no one bothered them along the way.
This time, they'd exchanged nearly 2000 silver coins. It would be too conspicuous to leave the money in the logistics department, so Locke took out 700 silver coins and asked Hans to send it to Yoshk. The value of the 700 silver coins was almost double that of the 200 silver thalers Yoshk had lent him. It was the best way to repay the favour.
The rest of the money would be sold off in the coming days. Locke didn't have much ambition. He'd only wanted to survive in the past and live a better life now. This sum of money was only the first step. He wanted to earn enough money for his and his family's retirement after the war was over, and then buy a manor under the baron's domain. This was his dream. The more than 1000 silver coins brought him one step closer to his dream.
In the evening, the troops stopped by a forest.
"Set up camp!" yelled the patrolling officer. The soldiers began to organize themselves in an orderly manner.
Locke was riding on a horse with a dried branch in his mouth and looked at the forest not far away.
To be honest, Locke was very curious about monsters and major monsters. He wondered if there would be monsters in the forest.
"We're now in the southwest of the Bering Mountains. This forest should be part of the Bering Mountains." Yoshk rode up to Locke. "I know you want to find monsters to improve your strength, but I still have to advise you to train properly for now. You can think about other things when your impetus capacity increases.
"Got it, Uncle." Locke nodded.
Yoshk didn't know that Solon had given Locke redsea flowers. Locke wasn't a blabbermouth, so of course he wouldn't tell anyone. After a month of diligent training and two redsea flowers, Locke's impetus capacity was close to two-thirds of Yoshk's.
Of course, only Locke knew about this.
"The Bering Mountains are only part of Morphey Forest. We should arrive at Bimore City in the northwest of the Bering Mountains by the afternoon after tomorrow," said Yoshk as he rode on.
"There's going to be another tough battle this time," said Locke as he clamped his legs on the horse and followed.
"It's almost winter. If the war drags on for another year, even the strongest soldiers won't be able to hold on." Yoshk was old and understood a lot of things. He already had a hunch that the kingdom's internal affairs were about to be exhausted.
"We're in a hurry this time. Maybe we'll be the first to reach the division headquarters." Locke waved his whip and rode into the camp.
"Maybe. I know you've made a fortune. When we reach the division headquarters, find some connections. There's a lot of good stuff there!" Yoshk laughed and rode into the camp.
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