Chapter 108 Encountering Robbers on the Road
We were not robbed when we were in the wilderness, so how come we encountered robbers when we were on a smooth road and approaching a big city?
Ilio released Shu Li and explained, "Daoto is a large city west of the Dalia Empire. The nearby mountains are rich in crystal ore, and the city has many excellent miners and refiners. With frequent merchants, it naturally attracts robbers."
The robbers were clever.
While the risks in the wild mountains and forests are low, the rewards are slim. Even if you wait for ten days or half a month, you may not be able to find any valuable treasures. The risk outweighs the gain.
On the other hand, the routes to major cities are heavily traveled, allowing businesses to open daily and generate ample profits. The only drawback is the high risk and the potential for loss of life. If a successful operation yields wealth, jewelry, and beautiful women, and then resells them, one can live a carefree life for a year or two, enjoying the bliss of immortality.
"The robbers are so arrogant, is there no one to do anything?" Shu Li frowned.
"Are you talking about the city of Daoto?" Ilio pushed open the back door of the carriage and jumped down easily.
"Yes!" Shu Li took his hand, jumped to the ground, and looked around.
After all, it happened around their own city, so they should have stepped in to manage it. Otherwise, the bandits would run rampant, and in the end it would be the city’s own interests that would be damaged.
After a day of observation, Shu Li roughly understood the production level of the other world, which was similar to the ancient times of his original world.
Also in ancient times, the government of the original world would send troops to suppress bandits, but here they were allowed to develop and grow to a large scale, causing harm to travelers.
Is the management ability too poor?
Ilio looked down at the goblin's innocent face and said, "The Dalia Empire is an ancient nation with a history of over two thousand years. It's one of the great powers. Elsa should have told you that the larger the nation, the more corruption there is. The rich get richer, the poor get poorer. For the sake of money and profit, those in power are ruthless and exploit the lower classes without any bottom line. Some people accept their fate and numbly endure the pain. Some, unwilling to resign themselves to it, would rather degenerate into banditry and associate with darkness than return to a life of oppression and misery."
"Even if the Lord of Daoto City wanted to change the status quo, he doesn't have the ability or power to do so."
"In a country where the king is supreme, the city lord is just a figurehead. Unless there is an enemy attack, deploying the city's troops is tantamount to rebellion."
Shu Li was surprised after hearing what he said.
Although Aisha would mention the history of various countries on the continent when teaching them common sense, the content was limited and not explored in depth, and it was not as real as personal experience.
After a day of observation, Shu Li discovered that ordinary humans had a hard time.
The village was poor and backward, with food shortages and difficult living conditions. The song and dance troupe, earning money through performing, was highly mobile, and if no one invited them to perform, their future was uncertain.
The most important thing is that when traveling across the continent and between cities, you will encounter bandits who want to rob you.
For example, now.
Shu Li followed Ilio into the crowd of the chorus and faced more than twenty robbers with them.
The robbers, both men and women, were armed. The middle-aged man in the lead was a tall, muscular man with a dark, muscular build. He carried a large hammer on his shoulder, and with a fierce expression and cold eyes, he stared intently at the troupe leader.
Ximu was still wearing a dark red tight skirt, showing off her proud figure. She was not afraid at all in the face of the robber's explicit gaze.
Two burly men stood on each side of her, confronting the robbers with great momentum.
"Boss, we've made a fortune, we've made a fortune!" The thin man next to the robber leader looked at the troupe greedily. "Their carriage looks nice, there must be treasures hidden inside, and there are also these beautiful women! One, two, three, four... Twelve! Boss, there are twelve beauties! And children, young musicians, wow, wow, wow, wow, if we sell them all, we can have six months of freedom!"
The robber leader snorted coldly. "Thin guy, don't be too happy too soon. Didn't you see those four strong men?"
The thin man laughed arrogantly, completely ignoring the four strong men. "Boss, look at what you said. What good are these four strong men? There are twenty-five of us. Half of us can kill these four."
"Kill them! Kill them!"
The other robbers raised their weapons and made a lot of noise in an attempt to scare the people in the troupe.
If it were any other dance troupe, they would probably be trembling with fear, but everyone in the Milia Dance Troupe looked calm and composed.
Shu Li gently tugged at the corner of Ilio's clothes and silently asked if they would help him if he couldn't beat the robbers.
Ilio patted his shoulder and signaled him to wait and see.
Judging from the qualifications of the troupe leader Ximu, the song and dance troupe has been established for at least ten years. If he had not been able to protect himself by traveling around with so many young and beautiful girls, he would have disbanded long ago.
The leader of the robbers raised his hand, and the shouting robbers immediately stopped shouting.
"Women, I advise you to surrender, otherwise—I will let you taste the power of my big hammer."
Sim ignored his threat, scratched his ear with his slender fingers, and said disdainfully, "You idiots, you think you can take advantage of me? Why don't you take a piss and look at it!"
Without waiting for the robber leader to respond, she shouted, "Bart, show these clueless guys how powerful you are!"
"Yes, Captain!" Bart took a step forward and approached the leader of the robbers. Every step he took left a deep footprint on the ground, which made the robber frown.
"You - don't come over here! I'm going to be rude to you!" He bluffed.
Bart stopped when he was one meter away from him. The robber breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that his threat had worked. However, the next second, his eyes widened in horror.
“Ouch—”
Bart raised his head and howled, and his burly body suddenly changed.
His body became bigger and taller, with bulging muscles in his upper body. He hissed several times, and his clothes were torn. What was shocking was that a thick layer of animal hair emerged from the surface of his skin, his forehead was tilted, his lower jaw protruded, sharp fangs were exposed in his mouth, his ears became longer and pointed, a thick tail emerged from behind him, and his fingers turned into sharp claws.
The ferocious beast eyes as big as copper bells glared at the robber leader, opened its bloody mouth and roared at him.
The robber leader felt a terrible pressure coming towards him, his chest ached and he spat out a mouthful of blood. The big hammer in his hand fell to the ground and hit his foot. He howled in pain and retreated on one leg, holding his foot.
The thin man beside him was already trembling with fear, screaming in panic: "Ah ...
The other robbers were so frightened that they couldn't even hold their weapons. They didn't even care about their boss and fled in all directions, saving their own lives first.
Shu Li was stunned.
The bearded uncle turned out to be an orc!
Half-orcs are children born from forced mating between orcs and females from other tribes. They often have miserable life stories. Humans do not welcome them, and orcs do not like them. They are expelled from the tribe when they reach adulthood.
In order to survive, orcs can only rely on their strong physique and super combat power to earn generous commissions.
Captain Simu hired orcs as bodyguards. No wonder he was so arrogant that he dared to take a beautiful girl to the distant royal city.
The robbers were so scared that they were pissing their pants and running away in all directions before the fight even started. The orcs didn't give them any chance to escape.
The other three burly men roared wildly and simultaneously reverted to their half-orc form. They moved as fast as lightning, popped out their sharp claws, and ruthlessly chased the robbers.
“Ahhhhhh—”
The robbers let out shrill screams.
The one-sided massacre shocked Shu Li.
Most of the robbers were ordinary humans. Except for a few who were strong and resisted to the death, the others were killed instantly by the orcs.
The bloody scene was horrific.
A big hand covered Shu Li's eyes.
"Don't look." Ilio blocked the goblin's view.
Fairies and elves are both peace-loving races and will never hurt anyone unless absolutely necessary.
The cruelty of the human world is not something a ten-year-old goblin can endure.
Shu Li turned around, buried her face in Ilio's arms, and raised her hands to cover her ears.
No matter whether he was a human or a fairy, he had never faced such cruel killing at such close range, with people’s stomachs ripped open, hands and feet cut off, heads chopped off and bodies torn apart... It was too bloody.
He had no sympathy for the robbers.
After all, people like them who rob people on the road every day probably have murders on their hands and deserve to be put to death.
The dance troupe was robbed today. If the orcs hadn't been there and they weren't present, one can imagine what would have happened to those beautiful girls.
He just felt sad for the world.
Backward, poor, barbaric, cruel, extreme...
Compared to other places on the continent, the Fairy Forest and the Elf Kingdom are simply fairyland.
No wonder there are always adventurers coveting it, tirelessly breaking into the Fairy Forest with the intention of snatching the rich resources.
The screams gradually subsided and the one-sided killing stopped.
The members of the chorus cheered in triumph. Even the most fragile girl was accustomed to such bloody scenes.
Bart returned to his human form and walked up to Sim. "Captain, kill all twenty-five robbers."
Sim patted his hard chest and praised, "Well done."
Bart's face flushed slightly beneath his beard.
Boone rushed over like a monkey, climbed onto Bart's back nimbly, and shouted excitedly: "Bart, you are awesome!"
Bart let him climb.
Boone leaned close to Bart's ear and said with a pout, "Amo is a coward. He was just trembling in his brother's arms. Tsk tsk tsk!"
Bart patted his butt. "Don't talk nonsense."
Only those who often walk on the edge of life and death can remain calm when seeing bloody scenes.
It was obviously the first time for little Amo to travel far away, so it was understandable that he was afraid.
Boone stuck out his tongue.
Shu Li had sharp hearing and heard Boone's words clearly, sighing helplessly.
He had indeed been hiding in Ilio's arms just now, but he wasn't trembling or afraid. He just couldn't stand the bloody scene.
Elio stroked the goblin's soft hair soothingly.
If it weren't for the curse, how could the little guy see the cruel side of the world so early?
The ten-year-old little elf is at an innocent age and should live a carefree life.
The song and dance troupe won a great victory. Simu shouted and robbed the robbers of their belongings. He asked Bart to clear the road and throw the bodies on the side of the road. He clapped his hands and called on everyone to get on the carriage and speed up to the city of Daoto.
We were delayed by the robbers for a long time and had to reach the city of Daoto before dark, otherwise we would not be able to enter the city gate and would have to sleep outside the city at night.
The carriage was moving too fast and was shaking violently. Shu Li gave up reading, leaned on Ilio's shoulder, and closed his eyes to rest.
Elio considerately covered him with a blanket.
The road ahead was unobstructed and there were no more robbers blocking the way. Finally, before sunset, the chorus' carriage successfully arrived at the city gate.
In front of the city gate built with huge stones, there were soldiers in iron armor standing there, and everyone entering the city was subject to strict inspection.
Sim, who was sitting in the first carriage, frowned at the scene.
"Mary, was there such an inspection the last time we came to Daoto City?"
Mary shook her head: "No, Captain, there were only two guards at the city gate last time."
Sim narrowed his eyes, remembering the Knights who hunted down wanted criminals.
A long line formed in front of the city gate, moving slowly, stopping and starting. Those in the back row grumbled with discontent, especially the adventurers and mercenaries, who couldn't wait any longer and began to force their way into the line. Ordinary humans, seeing the swords and magic wands in their hands, dared not speak out and could only retreat.
Shu Li leaned against the car window, observing the world, feeling a little disappointed. After watching for a while, he felt it was boring, so he lowered the curtains and held his chin in his hand, staring blankly.
Elio looked at his bewildered expression and said nothing to comfort him.
There are some things that children need to figure out on their own.
He stretched his limbs and leaned lazily against the carriage.
"Snap! Crack!"
Suddenly, the carriage door was pried open from the outside, and then two dark shadows rushed in and closed the door with a "bang".
Ilio was quick to protect Shu Li behind him.
"Don't move!"
A cold sword was placed across his neck, and a stranger's low warning voice rang in his ears.
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