Although the blood-colored Eagle Virtuous Phantasms couldn’t talk, they could still understand Zhao Hai’s words. As such, it took Zhao Hai a few days to teach them simple ways to pass him information like changing their posture in flight and through the sounds they made.
As if following a flight ratio, executing several spins in the air would tell the number of people while with a few cries it would report the number of cavalrymen, and so on. In the end, these blood-colored Eagle Virtuous Phantasms could now act as the simplest of airborne scouts.
Zhao Hai carefully watched the blood-colored eagle until it flew away, then turned to Laura and said, “The eastern area has a situation. There’s a thousand cavalrymen approaching us, and they aren’t beastfolk.”
Laura gawked and her complexion changed as she said, “I understand that the Benniu Guards would leave the walls of Ironwall Fortress every two weeks to patrol the area. It seems we were unfortunate to have crossed them today.”
Zhao Hai wrinkled his brow and asked, “Then what should we do? Should we go back into the Space and hide?”
Laura shook her head. “We shouldn’t do that. We can just give them some money and let them go. After all, everyone is aware that the beastfolk buy food here. Moreover, the Purcell Duchy also hopes that everybody can go and sell food to the beastfolk. For the beastfolk, as long as they have food and drink, they wouldn’t move. The main purpose of the cavalry patrol is to check whether or not some beastfolk tribes had ventured here[1].”
Zhao Hai nodded. “Since you have experience on these sorts of things, how much do you think we should pay in order to cross the border successfully?”
Laura smiled faintly. “For this, I fear we will need a thousand gold coins. Moreover, I can’t just go there and pay it myself. It’s better for Grandpa Green to do it. After all, he’s a Rank Eight expert so those knights wouldn’t make it too difficult for him. If I go and they see that I’m a woman, then they will make it difficult for me.”
Zhao Hai’s complexion changed. “How come? Do they dare be so rude?”
Laura forced a smile and said, “Don’t forget, if they really want to be impolite to us, then they could just kill us all. Like that, they could just explain that we were killed by beastfolk. This place isn’t that deep into the Beastfolk Prairie, nor is it a part of Ironwall Fortress. Those elite Benniu Guards could easily become robbers here.”
Zhao Hai sighed. “Does Grand Duke Evan not have any control over this?”
Laura smiled. “Control? How could he control them? The soldiers here in Ironwall Fortress must maintain their wildness since they’re situated on the border adjacent to the Beastfolk Prairie. This is a place lacking in commodities. Adding in the fact that they’ve been here for a number of years, their hearts are probably low and would need a way to vent. Therefore, even if they see it, this matter has become something that those in power would turn a blind eye towards. As I was saying, a merchant wanting to do business here in the Beastfolk Prairie would, to put it bluntly, smuggle as they are supporting the enemy. This is illegal, so even if the soldiers killed them no one would say anything[2].”
Zhao Hai nodded and he shifted into the Space. He then went to Fort Iron Mountain and called for Green and explained the matter to him.
He then took an ordinary pouch and placed a thousand gold coins in it and gave it to Green. Then he appeared with Green on the carriage.
Zhao Hai released a wind-chasing horse and let Green ride it, but the caravan didn’t stop and continued on. He knew they couldn’t move faster than those elite Benniu Guards. This place was too open and those elite Benniu Guards[3] weren’t that far. Soon they would be approaching them.
Sure enough, in less than an hour, a light rumbling sound could be heard approaching from the east. Experienced soldiers would know that this was a brigade of cavalrymen in action. Zhao Hai and the others turned their heads to take a look and saw a team of a thousand cavalrymen coming in from the eastern area at a fast pace.
Zhao Hai’s caravan immediately stopped. They didn’t, however, move normally like a caravan should and into a circle formation as it was irrelevant.
Laura and the other two ladies didn’t come out. Those three were rare beauties. If they came out, then it would attract the attention of those cavalrymen and cause trouble[4].
Zhao Hai had heard of a few stories from Earth. When the soldiers in the army were serving for three years and suddenly saw Diaochan[5], they would compete to get her. Those cavalrymen may have been stationed there for longer than three years. If they saw Laura and the other two ladies, then while their might couldn’t add up to Diaochan, whether it would be enough to hinder their trip to the Beastfolk Prairie was hard to say[6]