Chapter 276: The Wind Rises in Snow Bird Harbor
Early morning.
The morning sun had just risen amidst the residual coldness of night.
The ice-cold daybreak wind brushed across the Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps’ flag, fluttering it.
A ship plank clacked down, and the dragonman youngster disembarked his ship.
Unlike yesterday, the dragonman youngster did not have just Lan Zao following behind, but also Chi Lai and Men Shi, two silver levels.
The three people sensed many eyes just as they got off the ship.
Following one’s perception of these eyes, one would see some were brazenly staring, while others were hiding in some unremarkable corners.
Chi Lai slightly detected the aura of these people; there were at least 5 silver levels.
Things had shifted greatly.
This was because the dragonman youngster challenged two of the Bayonet Gang’s ringleaders yesterday.
During those battles, he had shown his unique graceful bearing.
Yesterday, the dragonman youngster had just begun his public challenge, this sudden matter had been followed by many ordinary onlookers and not many transcendents.
Then after a day and night of simmering, especially last night, Snow Bird Harbor’s taverns large and small had circulated the dragonman youngster’s story.
It could be said that the conflict between the Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps and the Bayonet Gang had already become a gale that had spread through the entirety of Snow Bird Harbor.
Snow Bird Harbor’s mainstay powerhouses were 4 famous gold levels. The city lord, the Seabird God bishop, the Clam Cloth Merchant Alliance branch head, and the Bayonet Gang’s leader.
The dragonman youngster challenging the Bayonet Gang’s leader, Teng Dong Lang to a heroic duel was undoubtably destabilizing Teng Dong Lang’s authority. If the latter didn’t deal with this matter well, the dragonman youngster would affect the equilibrium standoff between the upper levels of Snow Bird Harbor.
It wasn’t that no one challenged Teng Dong Lang before.
But the dragonman youngster was a rare powerful challenger, one other people considered capable of rattling Teng Dong Lang’s position.
Seeing the dragonman youngster slowly leaving the dock, four silver levels gathered on an open balcony and talked with each other.
They were all highly respected people in Snow Bird Harbor, like a mercenary commander, a large shop owner, and a fishing ship captain.
A bearded dwarf watched the dragonman youngster with envy, “He has a dragonman bloodline, his body is far stronger than that of humans, snow elves, and dwarfs. At the silver level, he is able to challenge a gold level’s things!”
The dragon race was a higher race; this was reflected in the creation myth and ever race related to the dragons was mostly not found lacking.
An old human man, with forlorn features, saw himself in the dragonman youngster, smoky clouds flashing in his memories, “It isn’t easy to make a living in Snow Bird Harbor.”
“This place already has a stable authority and social classes; there isn’t any space for foreigners.”
“Thinking back to those years, when I led my mercenary corps here, I had to pay visits to everyone, cut relationships, and build a network. In the end, I still had to spar with my rivals to be acknowledged.”
“Now the Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps is doing what I did back then. Only by proving their power will the surrounding people acknowledge them. Only by proving oneself a ferocious beast will the other beasts concede a hunting ground for you.”
The longbeard dwarf shook his head, “The Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps is only a small power, and it wanting to use a heroic duel to become famous and prove their strength is a good move. But they didn’t poke the right opponent, why did they go against the Bayonet Gang? In fact, as long as they challenge another small power, that will be able to obtain the same approval and have the qualifications to live in Snow Bird Harbor.”
Someone laughed at those words.
It was a silver level female snow elf.
The female snow elf wore black frame spectacles. Her eyes narrowed, “It seems that you haven’t gathered enough information, and you don’t know how things stand with the Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps. They are not as simple as they appear to be, I have gathered many rumors and learned they are actually a front for a gang of arms smugglers.”
“It is merely happenstance that they established the Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps, to make selling weapons easier. They being a small power is true, but we cannot look at just that because of their patron behind them.”
The longbeard dwarf became slightly discolored, he knew a patron capable of selling weapons was clearly remarkable.
He couldn’t help but suddenly realize, “It’s no wonder Long Fu seems so rash, it seems he’s very confident.”
The snow elf with the black glasses continued to analyze, “Not only that, I believe that the Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps has an even deeper interest they are demanding for with this move.”
The old human paused to comprehend the truth, “Are you saying that they want to sell their weapons in the Ice Sculpture Kingdom?”
The snow elf nodded, “That should be it, otherwise why would they challenge the Bayonet Gang? Also, only by fighting such an opponent will they be able to win enough space and tolerance, allowing them to establish their arms business smoothly afterwards.”
“So that’s how it is.” The longbeard dwarf muttered.
“Everything is about business!” The old human sighed ruefully.
The longbeard dwarf clapped his hands together, “Now that I recall, the conflict between the Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps and Bing Xiao is actually rather complex!”
“Who normally want a giant-type intelligence potion? Also, only Bing Xiao trains giant slaves, and has a strong demand for gold level potions of that type, such a demand is very easy to learn about.”
“In that case, the Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps must have deliberately manufactured this conflict into being.”
The other silver level snow elf felt perplexed, “If it was purposely manufactured, how could they be certain of their success? Was Bing Xiao guaranteed to find trouble with them? If Bing Xiao exercise a step of forbearance, wouldn’t their plan come to nothing?”
The glasses wearing snow elf smiled, “If that plan failed, then they could implement another one. The Bayonet Gang has dominated the dark side of Snow Bird Harbor for many years; it is actually quite easy to provoke such a colossus.”
“I believe that if Bing Xiao is provoked, he will inevitably issue a response. Because as the Bayonet Gang’s former leader, he is in an awkward spot.”
“After being the Bayonet Gang’s leader for many years, he has definitely offended many people. Therefore, after he retired from leadership, he still retained a portion of devoted underlings and also his gold level giant slave, and still to this day continues to train new giant slaves.”
“For one, he has to pay attention to his own strength and restrain his growth. If his strength expands to surpass some line, it will break his mutual understanding with the current gang leader, and the first person to deal with him would be said gang leader, Teng Dong Lang.”
“After Bing Xiao was provoked, he didn’t act himself, rather he asked the Bayonet Gang Leader Teng Dong Lang for help. This was precisely caused by his awkward situation, because he both needed to display his strength while also being worried that his strength would arouse Teng Dong Lang’s disdain and fear. Therefore, he directly asked Teng Dong Lang for help, to both reassure himself and also show outwardly that he and the Bayonet Gang had an inseparably close connection.”
“Teng Dong Lang also clearly knows why Bing Xiao is asking for help and is very willing to preserve his common understanding with Bing Xiao.”
“Therefore, the current situation exists, where a conflict undoubtably happened between Bing Xiao and the Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps. But the Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps tried to find trouble with the Bayonet Gang directly. And so, the Bayonet Gang is also willing to take on the Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps.”
When the glasses wearing snow elf’s analysis reached this point, the other people sank into silence.
In their silence, they sensed the ripples of the treacherous games of power underpinning this battle.
After a good while, the old man broke the silence first, “Actually, I will be happier if the Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps won.”
“You know my mercenary corps has clashed many times with the Bayonet Gang.”
“This gang is too big, and takes up too much space, I don’t believe you don’t think the same.”
“Another important thing: I hope I can buy better weapons; the current arms market really isn’t worth looking at.”
Those words immediately solicitated a strong resonance from the others.
The longbeard dwarf grumbled, “Yes, also I don’t know what happened to the arms black market, what happened to it? A good few big arms dealers suddenly went missing and there is no stock.”
“Arms smuggling is illegal, and every nation cracks down on it. Arms merchants that suddenly run out of stock means they have been eliminated. But for so many arms merchants to collectively run out of stock and vanish without a trace is quite rare.”
“Wasn’t there news that the Sheng Ming Empire was responsible for this crack down?”
“That has been stated, but there is no evidence.”
“Who needs proof? Doing this is to the Sheng Ming Empire’s advantage. They are invading the Beastman Continent, and their weapons and equipment outclass the beastmen’s, they really hold a massive advantage there. Of course, they are very worried that arms smugglers and merchants will sell large quantities of excellent weapons to the beastmen, therefore, they mopped them up in advance.”
“The Sheng Ming Empire is too overbearing, they can invade wherever and whenever they want! This time they are encroaching on the Beastman Continent, and the official justification for it makes me sick. This human empire also wants to turn our Ice Sculpture Kingdom into a vassal state, such rapacious designs. I really hope they faceplant in the Beastman Continent. Historically, those who launch an ocean spanning expedition usually aren’t victorious.”
The silver levels discussed amongst themselves.
The survivors could actually answer their questions about the arms market.
The answer was that War Merchant was dead.
War Merchant held a comparatively large share of the arms market, and he played many roles in it.
These roles was War Merchant pretending to be different merchants to guard against attracting too much attention to himself.
With War Merchant’s death, both he and his various identities died together, and naturally could no longer do business.
It had already been two months since Mystifying Monster Island had been destroyed.
The arms market had been greatly affected. Especially powers in the Ice Sculpture Kingdom, which was quite close to Mystifying Monster Island.
As the silver levels continued to converse, one of the bespectacled woman’s subordinates came over to the elf and whispered a report to them.
Then the subordinate quietly withdrew.
The glasses wearing woman got up, “The breakfast ends here.”
“I have received the latest news; the Bayonet Gang has dispatched Xiong Ju to meet Long Fu head on.”
When the other silver levels heard that, they showed different expressions.
The old human muttered to himself, “Of the Bayonet Gang’s six bosses, the strongest is Xiong Ju, that is publicly known.”
The longbeard dwarf laughed, “Yesterday I said that Xiong Ju getting involved was a certainty! Through the last two fights yesterday, Long Fu has already revealed his strength. If he was allowed to run roughshod over the six ringleaders, then the Bayonet Gang’s name would suffer immensely. Then even if Teng Dong Lang beat Long Fu, the people would still believe that only the Bayonet Gang’s leader was the only one who could fight. Based on Teng Dong Lang’s disposition, he will surely regain the initiative.”
The other snow elf looked interested, “Xiong Ju was chosen by them to stop Long Fu, he must have come prepared. Today’s fight is certain to be a spectacle.”
“Xiong Ju is also considered to be one of the strongest silver levels in Snow Bird Harbor.”
“Long Fu…he hasn’t shown his true strength yet. Despite his outstanding defense, don’t forget, Xiong Ju’s weapon is the gold level Gold Flower Hacksaw!”
“All I know is that today, we can see a good show. Let’s go together.” The black glasses wearing woman left first, “The Bayonet Gang has already made arrangements, Xiong Ju is currently at Snow Bird Dueling Arena. Long Fu and his people are going there right now.”