After ending the mental communication, Jose felt rather unhappy. This was the first time a follower tried tricks on him.
After pondering for a moment, he was relieved. It was normal for merchants to seek profits. Furthermore, the boarman merchant was not a lesser dragonkin who worshiped dragons, nor was he a harpy who needed his help. He became a follower because of his earlier circumstances.
However, this incident also reminded him that the Follower Contract was not absolute. To a large extent, it could ensure that the follower would not betray him, but it could not guarantee that they would wholeheartedly work for him.
In order to prevent his followers from getting complacent, he had to rely on the reward and punishment mechanism, combining the stick and the carrot, to form an enthusiastic atmosphere within his followers and to maximize the value of each one of them.
Jose gradually developed an idea.
…
Three days later.
The boarman merchant, escorted by a harpy aerial-reconnaissance team, led the reassembled caravan safely across the Triangle Plains and into the Modo Peak Forest. Powerful boarman merchants pushed wooden monogrammed carts through the forest in long lines, their heavy wheels creating trails on the soft forest ground.
At the forefront of the group, boarman merchant Hulk looked back at the convoy of carts loaded with grains before turning to the seven tauren blacksmiths who were twice the size of the boarmen. He was pleased with himself and turned to the kobold who was charged with leading the way.
“Sir Ergou, these wheelbarrows are filled with high-quality barley that I specially bought as a gift to Mas… the Lord.” The boarman suddenly remembered that Jose had told him not to expose his dragon existence and quickly changed his words.
“This batch of food is enough for a hundred kobolds to survive the winter. Can we make up for the lack of food in your tribe?”
“Hehe.” Ergou continued walking, not even looking back.
If it was in the past, such a large amount of food would have made him wild with joy, and he would have been grateful to the boarman merchant, but now… this was just a minor addition to their reserves.
At this thought, Ergou’s heart was filled with endless respect and gratitude toward Jose because all of this had been brought about by the Red Dragon.
“Thank you for your kindness, Sir Hulk, but the blood-tooth tribe does not lack food.”
There was a pause as he remembered that the boarman merchant was, after all, being kind, so he added, “But barley is something we don’t have here. Master is sure to welcome it.”
The boarman was doubtful of the kobold’s words.
It had to be known that while the Great Plains was primitive, it still had business practices at least. The natives would trade animal furs and other specialties for human food. Although they might get hungry in the winter, it was rare for them to starve.
However, the Dark Forest was a truly primitive place. The dangerous supernatural beasts, savage native tribes, and complicated natural environment made most merchants avoid it.
Every winter, there were many monsters that froze or starved to death in the forest. When it was serious, there would even be war. Regardless of the outcome, there would always be something cooking in the pot after the war.
Was the kobold bragging?
Hulk stole a glance and frowned when he saw the kobold’s calm expression. It did not seem like he was bragging.
He had a bad feeling as the gift he had brought was not as precious as he had imagined.
The reason why he had spent so much effort to prepare these gifts was because he knew that he had made his master unhappy last time. He was uneasy about this meeting and was afraid of being punished. Therefore, he was trying his best to please Jose.
He turned back and looked at the moving groups behind. In the middle of them, there was a unique wheelbarrow. The uniqueness did not refer to the wheelbarrow itself, but the goods on the wheelbarrow instead. It was different from the other conveyors that contained food. This wheelbarrow had a large box on it.
Seeing the wooden box, Hulk became more confident in himself.
“This is a special product from the depths of the Dark Forest. No Red Dragon will dislike it.”
Under Ergou’s lead, the boarman merchant and his group came to the blood-tooth mine and arrived before the expanded cave.
As the boarmen were unable to see in the dark, Ergou ordered his men to plant a brazier at intervals along the wall. In the flickering light, the boarman caravan moved deeper into the blood-tooth mine.
Smelling a peculiar fragrance, the boarman Hulk sniffed and exclaimed, “It smells so good! What kind of oil is in this brazier? Why haven’t I smelled it before?”
“As expected of an experienced merchant. This is pine oil. We just started using it recently.”
“Pine oil?” The boarman merchant was puzzled as he had never heard of pine oil before. He asked, “What is pine oil? Is it a new crop?”
“It’s difficult for me to answer your question. I can only tell you that these changes were brought about by that great existence.”
“I see.”
All these strange things were easily accepted when associated with the Red Dragon.
Soon, they arrived at the first living area. The goods were left aside while the caravan members received the hospitality of the kobolds, but Hulk and the tauren blacksmiths followed Ergou deeper into the mine.
After passing through the deep, dark tunnel, the team arrived at the fourth living area.
After passing through an undetectable magical barrier, Hulk heard the warriors’ battle cries. In the vast cave, hundreds of kobolds were fighting with their weapons.
It was not practice! It was real fighting!
Seeing a kobold being hit in the mouth by his opponent’s stick and spitting out a broken tooth with blood in his mouth, the newcomers’ brows twitched.
“Bleeding now is better than losing your life on the battlefield!”
“…”
“You! Haven’t you eaten? Hit harder!”
Slam!
A muscular kobold walked around the training ground and whipped anyone who was caught lazing around.
The two brothers nodded slightly at each other as a greeting when they passed each other.
After the training grounds of the normal warriors, the guests saw a team that was obviously stronger than the average kobold. The sound of their weapons whistling through the air was terrifying.
“They are all official warriors!”
“There… there are nearly twenty of them here!”
“I didn’t expect the kobolds to be so powerful! No wonder they hired us!”
The tauren blacksmiths whispered among themselves.
Hulk was even more shocked. His evaluation of the strength of the kobolds had increased by a lot.
As a businessman who had traveled far and wide, Hulk was experienced and knowledgeable. He understood the prerequisites for the birth of a warrior on a large scale. There had to be sufficient food for them, and it would be best if they ate meat during this period of training.
In this era where most of the commoners did not have enough to eat, only the ruling forces of a certain region could satisfy this condition. The kobolds relied on harvesting and hunting to survive. How could there be so much food?!
After walking for a long time, the team arrived at the eighth living area. They were dumbfounded when they saw the kobold servants feeding the petrification lizards with meat.
It should be known that the petrification lizards were comparable to intermediate-level fighters as soon as they reached adulthood, and they also had the innate spell, petrification ray. If the kobolds could tame them, the blood-tooth tribe would be invincible in the Triangle Plains in a few years.
Stepping into the tunnel that led to the ninth living area, everyone smelled a burning sulfuric odor. For some reason, the burly tauren blacksmith apprentice — Bee — felt uneasy, his heart beating intensely, like a rat had sensed a cat approaching.
“Master Hebul, I have an ominous feeling…”