Maregof’s Methods

The trading location wasn’t far, so it took Serea and the group over two hours to get there.

Ahead lay the wetlands in the woods. The Lizardmen tribe lived deep within those wetlands, but now the scattered ponds nearby were already frozen over, their appearance no longer that of wetlands in the past.

“Queen!”

From a distance, they saw the Black Knight. Under his guidance, Serea led the medical team to the site of the attack.

They saw that one small wooden cart after another had been blown apart, with some food scattered on the ground. Most of the food had been destroyed by explosions and fire. Worse, quite a number of the Lizardmen tribespeople had been wounded in the blast; they were now settled by the roadside, waiting in pain.

Seeing Serea arrive, avril hurriedly stepped forward to greet her.

“Your Majesty, I’m sorry for making you come in person. I ask that you help treat these Lizardmen, and I’ll cover all treatment expenses.”

“We can discuss that later. Let’s treat them first.”

As Serea spoke, Lola and the others stepped up to heal the wounded Lizardmen tribe members.

Looking at this miserable scene, Serea had Little Black and the others spread out to stand guard, while she turned to Avril.

“What happened here?”

“We came to trade with the Lizardmen tribe, but since the wetlands ahead were impassable for the caravan, we changed the trading spot to the outskirts of the wetlands in the jungle. But just as we completed the transaction and were heading back, there was a huge explosion from afar. When we rushed over, we saw the food had been destroyed and the Lizardmen were injured.”

As Avril spoke, her brows furrowed tightly—someone was obviously behind this in secret!

“Chief, you’re awake!”

At this moment, a voice came from the Lizardmen group. Hearing it, Serea looked over. An elderly member of the Lizardmen tribe was just recovering from unconsciousness.

He was a level 19 bronze elite.

“Their chief is awake. Let’s go ask him.”

Serea walked up to the Lizardman elder.

“Are you the chief of the Lizardmen tribe?”

Serea asked. Seeing elves and humans helping heal his people, the elder replied gratefully,

“Yes, I’m called Tifya Jawfang, chief of the ‘Jawfang’ Lizardmen tribe. Thank you for your help, my lord.”

“I’m here on behalf of the Xiyun Merchant Guild. My name is Serea Darkmoon, queen of the Darkmoon Elf Clan. I’d like to ask you what happened here at the time.”

Serea inquired. At first, the elder opened his mouth as if to speak, but hesitated and said nothing. After hesitating for a while, he finally continued,

“We had finished trading with the Xiyun Merchant Guild and were taking the food back, but suddenly, there was an explosion in our caravan. After that, I fainted and remember nothing.”

“Sudden explosion…”

Serea murmured, then turned to ask Aruka nearby,

“Did you search the area? Any sign of suspicious attackers?”

“There’s no one else nearby, and the explosion happened inside the cart. Normally, that wouldn’t be the work of an outside attacker, and Avril had previously inspected the goods—not likely a problem with them either.”

Aruka said no more, but anyone clever could understand the implication.

The problem was on the Lizardmen’s side!

At this, tifya looked at the destroyed food and let out a long sigh.

“It’s over, it’s all over…”

His words were full of helplessness and grief. Serea immediately understood why. Winter was here, and a blizzard was coming soon. Without enough food, the approaching blizzard would spell life or death for the tribe.

While Tifya was lamenting, another team of Lizardmen hurried over from the distance—ten in total, led by a tall male Lizardman.

The moment he saw Tifya, the man’s eyes widened, and he ran toward them faster.

“Father!”

Following the sound, Serea looked at the Lizardman…

Level 27, silver elite!

The Lizardman rushed to Tifya’s side, threw down his spear, and helped Tifya up.

“Are you alright, father?”

Tifya did not answer his son immediately. Instead, he asked anxiously,

“Digue, my good son, did you manage to borrow food from the beastmen tribe?”

“I… I…”

The Lizardman called Digue lowered his head.

“Those guys are in league with Maregof…”

Digue didn’t answer directly, but hearing his words, tifya’s hands fell limp.

Seeing this, avril stepped forward.

“I am truly sorry for what happened.”

“It’s not your fault. You delivered the goods to us safely. We failed to protect the food.”

Tifya replied. Avril added,

“I’ll have Headquarters send in emergency food, free of charge.”

Avril said, as to why she asked Serea to help the Lizardmen and was now giving them food for free…

There was only one reason: she couldn’t afford to lose any more customers in the jungle. If so, the Xiyun Merchant Guild would have no foothold left in the Corrupted Jungle.

But despite Avril’s appeals, tifya shook his head.

“It’s too late. The blizzard’s nearly here, and I know your goods can never make it through. We want to trust the Xiyun Merchant Guild, but things aren’t like before.”

He refused the Xiyun Merchant Guild, because anyone could see that someone wanted to deal with them. Continued trading with their goods would only bring trouble.

“Thank you for your generosity and help. I’ll visit personally to show my gratitude, but for now I have to figure out how to gather food.”

With that, tifya prepared to leave with his people, looking as if they were fleeing from something, not even bothering to gather the scattered food from the ground.

Watching the group go, avril was helpless. She never imagined the other side would go this far.

But suddenly, Serea spoke.

“Chief Tifya, is your plan for ‘gathering food’ to buy it from Maregof at triple the price?”

Hearing this, tifya shook violently.

“You know what I’m thinking?”

“It’s just a simple logical deduction.”

“Your deduction is spot on.”

“But judging from your son’s tone, your tribe’s relationship with Maregof doesn’t seem too harmonious.”

“It’s true, we’re at odds with Maregof—even enemies. That’s why we chose the Xiyun Merchant Guild. But now, for the sake of survival, old grudges are a burden. Maregof’s food is expensive and our remaining specialty, ‘black pearls,’ aren’t abundant, but at least what we can exchange from him will help us get through the blizzard. That’s better than not being able to buy anything at all.”

Tifya spoke, his tone containing a hint of blame for the Xiyun Merchant Guild.

And for Tifya to say such things meant Maregof had succeeded; he had used his methods to “win over” a key client from the Xiyun Merchant Guild.

And facing such a leaving “customer,”

Avril could only sigh in resignation.

“Who says you can’t buy it? Little Black, move the requested food for Chief Tifya over—all of it—and personally deliver it to their tribe.”

Serea gave the order. As Maregof’s enemy, Serea couldn’t just stand by as he grew stronger. She decided to do what she could to help her “ally,” the Xiyun Merchant Guild.

Tifya turned around in shock.

“Queen Serea, you…”

“We took on the task of escorting the caravan. Since the goods didn’t reach your hands, that’s our responsibility too, so let’s do it this way.”

Serea said. She did so to draw the Xiyun Merchant Guild closer; after all, she depended on them for outside supplies and development. Helping them now was helping herself.

Besides, it was just some food, and she had already taken a lot from Shortie anyway. Giving it away was no big deal.

As for Maregof, their mutual enemy, it was time to make him behave himself.

(To be continued…)

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