80: Make a choice

"Value?"

Colt looked thoughtfully at Ryan.

"My Lord, what do you mean?"

Ryan softened his tone and said:

"Wandering in the wilderness isn't easy, is it?"

"I know, constantly moving and struggling to find a place to settle in the wilderness. You have to sleep with one eye open, always guarding against attacks from foreign races. Life is very difficult."

"Work for me from now on!"

"I will shelter you, provide you with safe housing and stable supplies. You won't have to live the hard life of struggling for your next meal every day like before."

"How about it?"

Before Ryan finished speaking, Colt hadn't reacted, but his subordinates responded first.

"Working for a noble?"

"Impossible. I won't work for a noble!"

A man with a full beard broke the silence and immediately voiced his opposition.

"Nobles are completely untrustworthy. Otherwise, we wouldn't be stranded in the wilderness. I will never work for a noble."

Before he could finish, a long arrow pierced his head, and his body fell to the ground with a thud.

Ross put down his longbow and looked menacingly at the remaining people. The other Magic Wolf Knights also gripped their weapons tightly.

Meanwhile, Ryan continued to stare at Colt without blinking, as if the recent killing had nothing to do with him.

"My noble Lord, I am willing to serve you!"

A voice came from behind Colt. Ryan shifted his gaze past Colt.

"My Lord, my name is Fermon. I was born in the Red River Valley, and I was forced into the wilderness after offending the former Baron of Rye Territory. I am willing to serve you."

Fermon dismounted and knelt on one knee, showing his submission to Ryan.

"Very good, you are a smart man."

Fermon was one of only two Bronze Rank warriors under Colt, and the strongest person in the team besides Colt himself.

His declaration solidified the choice for some of the more wavering members of Colt's team. Nearly a third of the team successively dismounted and knelt on one knee to show submission to Ryan.

The remaining people all turned their eyes to their leader, Colt.

"My Lord, I am willing to work for you."

Colt slowly knelt on one knee, showing his submission to Ryan. He now had no other choice.

As he chose to submit, everyone else remaining also dismounted and made the same choice.

"Only the wise submit to circumstances. You have made the correct choice."

Ryan took out two enchanted longswords from his spatial ring, giving one to Colt and one to Fermon.

"Take these; they are for you!"

"My Lord?"

Feeling the magic power contained within the longswords, Colt immediately recognized the preciousness of the enchanted longswords. He had only heard of such valuable magic items before, never seen them.

"Thank you, My Lord, for the reward."

Fermon happily held the enchanted longsword, stroking it gently.

"Work for me, and I won't treat you unfairly."

"Rise!"

Ryan glanced around at Colt's men, then took out some food from his spatial ring and distributed it to the Kobolds and Colt's team.

Neither the Kobolds led by Godo nor the team led by Colt had eaten a bite after running all this way; they were all starving.

Now that Ryan had given them food, they couldn't wait, sitting on the ground by the pond and eating ravenously.

Ryan called Colt, Fermon, and Godo forward to question them.

"Colt, are you familiar with the Blackstone Territory?"

"My Lord, I was born and raised in the Blackstone Territory, so I am quite familiar with it."

"That's excellent. Do you know where the blackstone ore veins in the Blackstone Territory are located?"

"blackstone ore veins?"

Colt immediately understood Ryan's intention.

"My Lord, the blackstone ore veins in the Blackstone Territory are widely distributed, but the best mining area is near Blackstone Fortress. Most of the others are small mines."

"Whether they are large or small, the exploitation of all blackstone ore is controlled by Viscount Black Stone. Every mining area is guarded by a Mine Guard Team."

"The Mine Guard Team reports directly to Viscount Black Stone. Generally, small mining areas have a garrison of one hundred guards, medium mining areas have two hundred, and large mining areas have five hundred."

"The Blackstone Territory has sixteen small mining areas, four medium mining areas, and only one large mining area, which is located a few kilometers outside Blackstone Fortress."

Colt told Ryan all the information he knew about the blackstone mining areas.

"You are quite familiar with these mining areas!"

"To be honest with you, I once led my brothers to try and strike these mining areas to make some money. I even attempted to raid small mining areas a few times, so I'm quite familiar with them."

"Oh?"

"Were there any gains?"

"A little, but very few. After spending a lot of effort to defeat the Mine Guard Team, I could harvest some blackstone ore, but the stuff is too heavy and difficult to transport. It was also hard to sell the small amount we managed to steal."

"The business was too much effort for too little reward, so I stopped targeting the mining areas later on."

Ryan listened to Colt talk about the blackstone mining areas, analyzing the information and refining the plan in his mind.

Fermon occasionally added a supplementary detail, while Godo stood silently beside Ryan like a guard, awaiting his orders.

"So, these mining areas transport their goods once every month, on the first?"

Ryan found a crucial piece of information in Colt's account.

"Yes, My Lord!"

"My Lord, are you interested in this blackstone ore?"

"Yes. Your next mission will be related to this blackstone ore, but there's no need to rush for now."

"For the next few days, find a suitable Temporary Camp nearby and wait for my message. When the time is right, I will come and inform you when to strike."

Ryan already had a preliminary plan in mind. He first asked Godo and Colt to find a Temporary Camp that met his requirements and await his orders.

After giving the instructions, Ryan distributed the supplies he had prepared beforehand from his spatial ring to Godo and Colt, and then left the camp.

As soon as Ryan left, Colt was immediately surrounded by his subordinates.

"Boss, are we really going to work for that little noble?"

"Boss, let's run! What's the point of being a noble's dog? We wander freely in the wilderness, doing whatever we want. Becoming a noble's dog means losing our freedom."

There were over a dozen people surrounding Colt, clamoring and inciting him to run away.

Colt ignored these dozen people and instead looked at the rest of the group.

The remaining members of the team were divided into four or five small groups gathered around Colt. They neither crowded him nor said anything.

Among these small groups, the one gathered around Fermon was the largest, numbering about twenty people.

"Fermon, are you going to betray Boss?"

Another Bronze Rank warrior in the team immediately questioned him loudly after seeing Colt look toward Fermon.

He was Colt's right-hand man. Because one of his eyes was blind, his nickname was Cyclops.

Hearing Cyclops's question, Fermon immediately retorted loudly:

"Cyclops, stop talking nonsense! When did I say I was going to betray Boss? You guys are crowding Boss so tightly. I was waiting for you all to finish before reporting to him."

"Stop bullshitting! If you weren't betraying him, why did you kneel so quickly just now and swear allegiance to that little noble? Isn't that betrayal?"

"Cyclops, didn't you see the situation just now? If I had knelt even a moment slower, everyone would have died! I knelt to save everyone's lives."

"Boss is our leader. Should I have let Boss kneel first by not kneeling then?"

"You brainless idiot, I can't be bothered to explain it to you."

Fermon looked at Colt.

"Boss, you tell us, should we stay or leave?"