Unknown Knight

The cave where Robin was located was a Y-shaped cave within a cave. The main cave outside was very high and wide, with some stone blocks and wooden benches placed around the campfire. It seemed to be a place where bandits held meetings and gatherings. One of the two branch caves inside was relatively clean, where Robin lived, and the other was a warehouse, where some food, mountain products, animal skins and other sundries were stored.

A large box was found under Robin's bed. Although the leather-covered box was covered with dust and looked old, it was a good item of this era. It was estimated that only nobles could afford such a box. Bandak saw this and ordered everyone to detain Robin, who was still unconscious, and his wife and daughter. The rest of the people were also driven out. Axe was extremely excited, rubbing his hands and muttering in a low voice:

"Open the box, open the box..."

He thought to himself that it was worth traveling through time as he could actually experience the joy of opening a treasure chest after defeating a boss in the game. Just when his hand was about to touch the chest, he suddenly retracted it. This was a kind of self-awareness engraved in his subconscious. In the original world, his favorite online game was World of Warcraft. He was notorious for his bad hands in the team. He was recognized as the guild's top bad hand who got garbage nine times out of ten when he opened the chest. Wouldn't it be a huge loss if he got a bunch of scrap copper and iron, torn cotton-padded jackets and smelly socks? In this world, he was not just poor. So he suppressed the impulse in his heart and turned his head to signal Bandak to open it.

Seeing Aix's signal, Bandak hurried over to open the box excitedly, and sure enough, a lot of good equipment burst out of the box:

Two sets of chain mail, one piece of striped mail, an elite scimitar, a heavy half-handed sword, three pairs of chain mail gloves, a bag of gold and silver jewelry and a purse containing about 300 silver coins. Aix didn't know much about the market for weapons and equipment. After Bandak's conversion, this box was valued at a minimum of copper coins, which means that together with the silver coins in the purse, this box was worth at least 700 silver coins.

The two red smock chainmails were standard chainmails lined with fine linen inside and outside, usually worn by the cavalry and lower-ranking nobles of the Kingdom of Swadia. Previously, Aix saw the city defense cavalry wearing this kind of chainmail in Suno City. It seemed that what Joey said was true. Robin really ambushed the king's ranger cavalry. Aix tried it on and it was a little small. The height of Swadians is generally between 155 and 170 cm. Aix's height of 175 cm was a little small. Bandak wore it just right, so he wore one.

The striped armor was a composite armor with a soft leather lining and rivet-studded hard leather on the outside. It looked gray and ordinary on the surface, not as dazzling as the two red chain mails. However, Bandak said that this armor was special. It was the exclusive armor worn by the strongest soldiers in the entire continent, the elite among the elites - the Nord Royal Guards. Each piece of this armor was well-made, had good defense and was not very heavy. Ax took off the Nord chain mail he had been wearing before and tried this one on. It was actually a little lighter. Ax's height was similar to that of the Nords, which was just the right size. It felt more fitted to the body overall, unlike the previous one, which felt blocked as soon as he moved, somewhat affecting his movements. Wearing this one made people seem more agile, which made Ax praise it.

The heavy half-handed sword was a bit difficult for Aix to lift, so Bandak, who was very strong, just gave it to him. Aix picked up the elite scimitar, which was just the right weight and easy to wield. It was a sharp weapon forged from Wootz steel, with smooth curved blade covered with feather patterns. It was extraordinary at first glance. Bandak said that the powerful Mamluk cavalry could use it to cut an armored body in half with one blow.

Aix and Laoban each got one pair of chain mail gloves, and as for the remaining equipment and gold and silver jewelry, the two discussed and decided to give each team member 10 silver coins first. This was a lot of money for everyone. Each caravan member could get a maximum of two silver coins a month, which was equivalent to half a year's earnings. The rest could be sold in the city to use as caravan funds.

After dividing the loot, the two men came out of the cave in fancy clothes. Aix called everyone together and gave each of them 10 silver coins on the spot. Everyone cheered and morale was high. Taking advantage of this momentum, he arranged personnel to take turns on duty, including two people at the valley entrance and two people in the detention room. There were four people in one shift, divided into three shifts, and they would take turns until dawn. At the same time, he repeatedly emphasized the importance of duty and duty discipline.

After finishing all these, Aix sat on a stone pier in front of the bonfire in the cave and chatted with Bandak for a while. As the warm bonfire warmed him, he felt tired and fell asleep leaning against a stone...

A series of noises accompanied by a few high-pitched screams from a woman woke Aix from his deep sleep. It was already early morning. Several caravan men in the valley were chasing a ragged woman. Aix knew her. She was Robin's woman. Judging from her appearance, she must have received special care. There were also restricted mixed voices of men and women coming from the wooden house next to her. It seemed that the men were quite good at enjoying themselves. However, there was nothing he could do about it. As a modern man, Aix wanted to do it but was ashamed of it. However, in the Middle Ages, such things were not a big deal. If they were too strict, people would think it was against common sense and lose the support of the people. He could only educate and guide them slowly in the future. Fortunately, the four sentries were still there. It seemed that yesterday's lecture and 10 silver coins had worked. The men still had a bottom line for discipline and could consciously execute the orders they issued.

After walking around the valley, he didn't see Bandak. He heard from a fellow that he had left the valley early in the morning with someone to pick up Catherine who stayed in the forest to watch the truck. He checked the surroundings carefully and found no safety hazards. Aix returned to the cave. There was something he found last night, something that made him feel familiar and happy, a big iron pot, to be precise, it was almost the same iron pot as the one in Aix's original world, the kind on the stove in his hometown. This was the first time Aix had seen this kind of cooking utensils here. Usually, people here use ceramic pots and jars, except for making porridge. Aix's mouth was already full of porridge.

Just now, while patrolling the valley, he discovered that several small plots of land scattered in the valley were planted with cabbage, potatoes, radishes and other crops. He ordered two people to collect some, and asked two people to carry the iron pot to the stream to wash it clean. After the preparations were done, our Chef Ai made a brilliant appearance. Today's dish was the Northeastern stew that he had been thinking about day and night.

Chef Ai started to refine the chopped dried fat into oil in a wok, then put the chopped cabbage, potatoes and radishes into the wok and stir-fried them. When they were half cooked, he poured water, and gradually added salt, beer, wild chives, mountain mushrooms, dried meat, native chickens from the valley and other ingredients. After the wok boiled, he put a circle of pot stickers made of whole wheat on the pot. When the pot stickers were cooked, the whole valley was filled with an aroma that Aix deeply missed and that the rest of the people had "never heard of". All the natives couldn't help but wonder that food could taste so good.

Just at this time, Bandak, Catherine and others, who were enjoying a good meal, also rushed over. Smelling the aroma, they joined the team waiting for the food to cook without even unharnessing their pack horses.

Lifting the lid of the pot, Aix scooped up a little soup with a large spoon and tasted it. It was okay, with just the right amount of saltiness and a mellow aroma. The taste almost made him cry. He could finally have a decent meal after coming to this world. The only regret was that there was no vermicelli, otherwise this Northeastern stew would have been even more perfect.

Aix served everyone a bowl of stew and a potsticker. The whole cave was immediately filled with the sound of chewing. By the time he had served himself, before he could even take a bite, the four or five people who had served earlier had already finished their meal and were staring at him eagerly. He couldn't help but curse in his heart: "A bunch of country bumpkins who have never eaten."

Apparently, the rice cooked in the big pot with a diameter of about 80 cm was not enough for 14 or 5 people, so Chef Ai had to pick up the spoon again. Fortunately, he had Catherine to help him. It was estimated that she also wanted to learn from him. Considering that she was the cook in the team, Axe also took the initiative to teach her the essentials. After all, the caravan needed him to lead it, and he had the buff of a "noble". It would be too inappropriate if he had to surround himself with pots and pans every day in the future.

With Catherine's help, Aix cooked two large pots of Northeastern hotpot before he stopped. Everyone who ate it had a big belly, and some even leaned against the wall of the cave and couldn't get up.

After a short rest, it was almost noon. Thinking that there were still many supplies in the valley that needed to be sorted out, Aix decided to just take a day off today and check and count the harvest at the same time.

The search was mainly divided into two parts. The first was to interrogate the surviving elderly, weak, women and children to see if there was any private property that had been missed. These days, many people dig pits to bury valuable gold and silver underground. Bandak volunteered for this job. He said that he had experience as a mercenary before. Aix thought about it and gave him a suggestion, asking him to interrogate these people one by one, asking each person one question separately, and then verifying each other. The second was to clean up every corner of the valley again, gather all the materials that could be sold, and count the specific number. This work was taken over by Aix. Both of these tasks were not small and were not completed until the afternoon.

The search was not in vain. Bandak used coercion and inducement to pry out 300 silver coins from Robin who had woken up. He buried the money outside the valley. Bandak and his men took him and dug out a pottery jar full of silver coins under a stone.

Moreover, through interrogating Robin, Bandak also obtained an important piece of information, which confirmed Aix's previous guess that the attack by the green forest bandits was indeed instigated by Butler Grans behind the scenes. This guy offered 300 silver coins to buy the lives of all the caravan members. This made Aix worry about Yamila and her daughter who stayed in Suno.

The interrogation of other people was also fruitful. Bandak led his men to gradually find more than 100 silver coins in front of and behind houses and in cracks of rocks under trees in the valley.

Aix collected some furs, food, dried meat and other supplies. Together with the supplies in the cave warehouse yesterday, there were 22 bundles of furs, 30 bags of food, 15 pieces of dried meat, 12 pieces of flax, 12 sets of cotton-lined leather armor, and some ropes, metal tools, olive oil cans, etc. The most valuable of these things was fur. According to Bandak, the Nord Kingdom had developed shipping, and these pirates who were both pirates and merchants liked to wear leather armor made of fur the most. It could keep warm and isolate the sea breeze, and it had good protection. In addition, the highly corrosive salt environment would accelerate the loss of leather armor, so the sales of furs were very large, and each bundle could be sold for 4 or 5 silver coins.

After a whole day of searching, Aix made a rough estimate and found that he had earned nearly 700 silver coins. It was really easier to make money by robbery than by killing and setting fire to others. Bandak said that the caravan's annual profit used to be at most 500 silver coins. This battle meant that the caravan had made more than two years' work.

Before dark, Aix directed everyone to load all the supplies onto the trucks. The four trucks they brought were full of space. Fortunately, there were two damaged trucks in the valley. They were apparently left behind by the bandits when they robbed other caravans. They could be repaired and used. These two trucks were almost full. In line with the principle of never wasting anything, Aix dug up all the cabbages, potatoes, radishes and other crops grown in the valley and loaded them all onto the trucks and took them away.

As for how to deal with the 16 captives (including 10 surviving elderly, weak, women and children, Robin's family, and Joey and the other two captives outside), Axe was in a dilemma. He couldn't bring himself to kill them all, mainly because as a modern civilized man he couldn't get over the hurdle in his heart, but he was afraid of leaving troubles if he let them go, especially the three injured Joeys and the four young and strong Robin. Among them, Robin was the most threatening. He would sneak glances at Axe and Bandak from time to time, which made people feel extremely uncomfortable, as if he wanted to engrave the appearance of the two caravan leaders firmly in his mind.

As a last resort, Aix, who was unsure, had to ask Bandak for advice. It was obvious that Bandak had already made a plan. He secretly dragged Aix into the cave and said without thinking:

"We can't keep Robin. As long as his wounds get better, he could attack and hurt others at any time. He's so strong that two or three people may not be able to control him. If he escapes, he will definitely seek revenge on us. The same goes for Joey's three. They are all young and strong. If they get together, they will do evil. The remaining old, weak, women and children are not a big threat. They can be taken to Tiha. I heard that there are slave traders there who specialize in collecting ship slaves. As long as they are alive and not infected with the disease, they will be taken. Moreover, these ship slaves will be shackled as soon as they get on the ship and locked in the cabin to row until they die. They will never see the light of day and will not leave any future troubles."

After hearing Bandak's words that he would row until he died and never see the light of day again, Aix couldn't help but tremble in his heart. He felt really sorry for it, so he said:

"Isn't that too cruel? After all, they are all old, weak, women and children, and they didn't participate in the attack on us."

Bandak didn't know whether to be happy or amused by Aix's kindness, so he had to enlighten him:

"Sir, they did not participate in the attack on us, but their relatives died at our hands. This hatred cannot be resolved. The throats of the elderly, the weak, women and children can be cut with a dagger. Moreover, they should be prepared to be killed and sold as slaves if they enjoy the benefits of these bandits' murders and robberies."

After listening to Bandak's words, it made sense. Even if these old, weak, women and children had not killed anyone, they had in disguised form been stained with the blood of others. Moreover, they should never have come to provoke the caravan. If the caravan was destroyed, wouldn't the dozens of old, weak, women and children left in the Suno City caravan also be miserable? It's their own bad luck. Thinking of this, Aix couldn't help but sighed and said:

"Well..., you decide."

After this sigh, the fate of the elderly, the weak, women and children can only be described in two words - miserable.