So, Bandak, as instructed by Shen Mu, began to tour the entire Castle District and Town Area of Deherim with Lezalit and Bestour.
Of course, this also included settling the Kujit Steppe Bandit and Swadian Heavy Cavalry who had arrived with them.
Bandak was quite dedicated and responsible.
And just as Bandak was leading Lezalit and Bestour, focusing on introducing the Castle District, James also walked out from the Torch Tower of the Holy White Council.
Seeing Lezalit and Bestour, two not-so-unfamiliar but equally annoying individuals, he couldn't help but frown.
"Oh! Look who I see! It's my esteemed Doctor James!" Lezalit, at this moment, seemed quite surprised.
And equally delighted.
Looking at James, who was still standing on the second floor of the Torch Tower of the Holy White Council, at the entrance of the library, he respectfully placed a hand on his chest and gave a solemn bow: "Ever since I was injured last time and you treated me, I have always remembered and been grateful to you, Doctor James."
"Of course, Mr. Lezalit, if you hadn't held your knight's sword to my neck and forcibly demanded the best treatment from me, and then not only refused to pay but also threatened and extorted me, I would have remembered you fondly too."
James stood on the second floor of the Torch Tower, a look of irritation and disgust on his face.
"Oh, are you talking about what happened last time?" But Lezalit's face showed little embarrassment; instead, he maintained his cheerful smile and respectful demeanor: "That was merely an unexpected incident due to an urgent situation. I don't think you'd argue that the situation wasn't urgent at the time, would you?"
"The situation was indeed very urgent at the time. If I hadn't urgently stopped your bleeding, you would have been severely injured even if you hadn't died."
James snorted, looking at Lezalit's appearance, his tone filled with even more disdain: "But that's not why you robbed me of 1000 dinar!"
That was all his savings.
As a result, simply because he kindly saved Lezalit, all his belongings were plundered.
And it's worth noting that James had worked hard for two or three years to save those 1000 dinar in consultation fees, all for the purpose of opening his own small clinic in a city.
To avoid continued wandering and toil.
But he never expected that due to a minor accident, after saving Lezalit, all his savings would be plundered.
Even his dream was completely lost.
Before coming to Shen Mu, he was still wandering Calradia, making a living by treating people everywhere.
He couldn't even afford his own house.
Just thinking about it now, James still felt incredibly angry, an anger that came from the bottom of his heart.
"But in the future, Mr. James, we will all work together under Lord Shen Mu." Lezalit's tone softened slightly at this moment, looking at James. He knew how superb this doctor's medical skills were.
Therefore, he did not want to offend him; instead, he offered comforting words: "But no matter what, Mr. James, at least after coming here, I still want to get along well with you and compensate you."
"Then I truly hope your so-called compensation can make me happier." James, being a coach of the good alignment, didn't say much, merely grumbled in response.
This was considered to have settled the matter.
"Hey, Lezalit, I never thought you, who always claim to be a noble, would have done such a low-down thing." Bestour, on the side, grinned widely, looking like he was enjoying the show.
"That was just an accident." Lezalit explained at this moment, while also glancing at Bestour: "Besides, I don't believe a Khergit nomad would be unfamiliar with such things."
Khergit are natural nomads and natural plunderers.
Of course, this is a complimentary way of putting it.
If it's a derogatory way of putting it, then obviously, although Khergit also adhere relatively to order, in many cases, they are also natural Steppe Bandit.
Even high-ranking nobles sometimes disguise themselves as Steppe Bandit to plunder in other kingdoms, after all, they are highly mobile light cavalry.
They plunder and then immediately escape.
For the forces in other kingdoms, there's simply no time to react.
So, whenever they run out of money or want to acquire something, they do this. Moreover, it's not just Khergit; even nobles in other kingdoms will disguise themselves as Bandits or robbers to plunder other factions or enemy nations.
It's even because of Calradia's continuous wars that moral standards have been declining.
Acts like burning villages and plundering caravans have become relatively common.
Furthermore, continuous wars have led to more and more people losing their homes or going bankrupt, forcing them to join the ranks of Bandits, robbers, and plunderers, which in turn has strengthened these Bandit groups.
This has also led to increasingly deteriorating public security.
The moral standards across the entire continent of Calradia have become lower and worse.
This is also why Bestour can now say such seemingly joking words to Lezalit, and Lezalit is not angry, nor even enraged.
This has already become a common joke, like a playful remark.
It doesn't create any moral burden at all.
Moreover, for these evil-aligned generals, a moral burden is like a burp after a full meal, something that can be easily expelled.
There's no need to care about it at all.
Therefore, Lezalit would also counter Bestour with a joke.
Neither of them had any moral burden, nor did they care about moral perception, or even how others viewed them.
Especially when facing these good-aligned coaches, they only needed to be selfish, make themselves stronger, enjoy more of life, and have more delicious food, fine wine, and dinar—that was enough.
Of course, now they also need to consider Lord Shen Mu's important task of protecting world security.
Because, subtly, they could also feel that without the existence of Lord Shen Mu, a legendary figure, it would be impossible for them to truly appear in this world; it was as if their very lives were dependent on Shen Mu as the core.
If Shen Mu died, they would also die.
It was that simple.
"Bestour!" And at this moment, Manid, who had just walked out of the castle, let out an extremely astonished and angry sound.
"Oh, who's calling me? Such a familiar voice." Bestour subconsciously turned his head and saw Manid, his eyebrows raising involuntarily: "Oh no, this time it's my enemy." He said this to Lezalit beside him.
"Manid, that very talented but always unlucky merchant?" Lezalit also raised an eyebrow, recognizing Manid.
"Uh-huh, that's him." Bestour's expression was a bit strange at this moment: "I never thought Manid would also come to Deherim, to this other world, and serve Lord Shen Mu together."
"So, it seems you've led the Steppe Bandit to rob this unfortunate merchant?" Lezalit's lips curved into a smile.
He had been put in a difficult position just now, so seeing Bestour also in a bind made him quite happy.
"Yes, but I feel it was all a misunderstanding." Bestour reached up and touched his forehead, but still raised his hand and greeted Manid, who was striding over with a face full of anger: "Hello, Mr. Manid, I never thought I'd see you again in Lord Shen Mu's Deherim."
Saying this, Bestour added a suffix: "My friend."
But Manid grew even more furious at that suffix.
His face twisted.
"Who's your friend, you damn horse thief! Steppe Bandit! Bandit!" Manid roared directly.
And he loudly rebuked Lezalit, James, and Bandak, who were looking their way: "I used to be a somewhat famous merchant, full of confidence, wanting to make a fortune, but I never thought that every time I gathered a caravan, this damned guy, with his Steppe Bandit and Bandits, would plunder all my goods!"
Manid pointed directly at Bestour and furiously shouted: "To the point that in the end, I even mortgaged my house, wanting to turn things around, but failed! The last time, he still led Bandits and plundered all my goods!"
"Wow." Lezalit looked at Bestour beside him and couldn't help but sigh a few times: "You truly live up to your reputation as a professional Steppe Bandit. It's truly extraordinary that you could rob Mr. Manid every single time."
After all, to consistently rob a specific caravan, one must have done extremely meticulous work in reconnaissance and other areas.
"That's all in the past." Bestour shrugged at this moment, looking at Manid with some helplessness: "Mr. Manid, I think in the past, you must have offended other caravans, and then they told me your whereabouts. After all, it's very difficult to catch your caravan just by reconnaissance and tracking, but if someone tipped me off, that's another matter."
Bestour made it very clear that it was because other caravans had given him specific information about Manid's caravan.
This made Manid slightly stunned.
Then he tightly clenched his fists. Although his face was still full of anger and unwillingness, he understood very well in his heart.
It was precisely because his business talent was too good that he could rise rapidly and become a somewhat famous merchant in a short period of time.
But precisely because of this, he blocked the financial paths of other merchants.
After all, business is often like this: if you eat a bite more, then I eat a bite less.
However, Manid came from the game's core, and this destined him to become a very famous business genius, someone who would always succeed as long as he persisted, which was a dimension-reducing blow to other merchants.
After all, this was predetermined by fate.
But that was predetermined by the game; in the real world, other merchants could use various means to make Manid rise again and again, and then go bankrupt again and again due to various accidents.
And Bestour was one of the ways to make Manid go bankrupt.
Manid understood this clearly.
It was the almost simple and unadorned business tactics used by his competitors.
“So, Mr. Manid, sometimes you can’t blame me; you can only blame your competitors for being too cruel to you.” Bestour shrugged at this, his expression a little helpless.
Although he did rob them, he wasn't specifically robbing them for Manid.
As a plunderer,
he would rob any caravan; of course, he wouldn't rob Kujit caravans, because Kujit caravans were inextricably linked to the Kujit Khan, basically equivalent to the Khan's private treasury. If he really robbed them, the consequences would be quite serious.
Although he seemed to have betrayed the Kujit Khanate and become a wandering Khergit and leader of some Kujit Steppe Bandits, this was only in secret.
On the surface, he was still a noble of the Kujit Khanate.
He still had to obey the orders of the Kujit Khanate.
After all, Bestour had never truly said that he had betrayed the Kujit Khanate or the Kujit Khan.
Nor had he explicitly stated that he had given up his noble status and become a Steppe Bandit.
Therefore, as long as this matter did not slide into a worse situation, he was still a noble of the Kujit Khanate.
He was also an excellent light cavalry command expert.
“It seems Mr. Lezalit and Mr. Bestour are both innocent people.” At this moment, Bandak looked at these two evil-aligned generals, both with smiles in their eyes, and couldn't help but roll his eyes.
He, of course, understood that these two evil-aligned generals didn't really take Manid's and James's words to heart.
Nor did they truly mean their apologies to the two of them from the bottom of their hearts.
It was just a casual remark.
After all, they didn't even have morals; they were extremely selfish evil-aligned generals. Even if they apologized verbally and lost face, it didn't matter.
Face and honor were just that; if they wanted them, they were gold; if they didn't want them, then they were like common stones, nothing to be surprised about.
“Hmph!” Manid also understood what these two guys meant now.
So he just snorted coldly, turned his head, and quickly walked towards the Noble Residence.
After all, Shen Mu was still there, and he needed to specifically introduce to Shen Mu the work he had done in the Town Area of Deherim during the two or three days he was away.
“Alright, now I will lead you to continue visiting the Rodok Castle in front of us.”
Bandak snorted coldly and waved to Lezalit and Bestour, leading them towards the castle, continuing to explain the castle and some key points about its defense.
Anyway, there was nothing to say between these good-aligned generals and these evil-aligned generals.
Normally, it was all just for work.
Since true friendship could not be established,
then focusing both sides on protecting Lord Shen Mu and leading troops in battle was clearly a good idea.
Lezalit and Bestour were well aware of this.
It wasn’t that they didn’t admire these good-aligned generals, but they felt that these people were too naive and idealistic, and simply did not conform to the true rules.
They were somewhat unrealistic idealists.
So, there was nothing to talk about with this group of naive guys.
Maintaining focus on work was enough.
And when Bandak earnestly introduced the castle and the key defensive points of the Castle District, Lezalit and Bestour also listened attentively.
After all, in the upcoming battles, if it came to the Castle District, then they really should learn how to defend and how to deploy troops to block the enemy's attack.
And just then,
Manid had already arrived at Shen Mu's Noble Residence.
After being searched by the Swadian Sergeants at the entrance, he arrived at the meeting room on the first floor of the residence.
Shen Mu was already seated at the head of the table.
And on both sides of the long table, the Blue Star Humans, led by Zhang Caidong, who had once been spies, were respectfully seated there.
Also present was Zhang Bo.
All 17 people had arrived.
“Hmm, you all did well.” Shen Mu did not stint on his praise at this moment.
Especially after learning that Zhang Caidong and these core executives had already organized the nearly 25,000 Blue Star Humans outside, divided them into groups, arranged them in apartments outside Deherim, and had also relocated the key personnel among them to the Town Area of Deherim first.
He was also very satisfied.
After all, for him, these were his Faith Power providers.
Previously, when he was in Su Family Village, he was still worried about how to organize so many Blue Star Humans here.
And how to distribute them.
He was afraid that he would not do well and cause these Blue Star Humans to have the idea of leaving, which would lead to him losing the Faith Power produced daily.
But he didn't expect that after he returned, Zhang Caidong and these core executives had already completed the organizational work, and they did it quite perfectly, gathering all the Blue Star Humans inside and outside his Deherim, forming a system similar to the Diesel Company of the past.
This naturally made Shen Mu very happy.
Although he hadn't yet gone to the Dragon Flag fragment to see how much Faith Power there was now,
Shen Mu could already perceive the help that the continuously emerging Faith Power was bringing him.
After all, as long as there was reasonable planning and successful organization, then Faith Power would be continuously obtained, allowing these Blue Star Humans to continuously provide him with Faith Power.
These were all complementary.
“Thank you for your praise, Lord Shen Mu! We will do our best to serve you.”
Zhang Caidong and the other senior managers all stood up respectfully and loudly expressed their gratitude to Shen Mu.
Although these words indeed carried a hint of gratitude,
this was also a common way of showing loyalty in the workplace.
Of course, the most crucial thing was that they had now become part of the management of the official employees of the former Diesel Company.
Their status had risen considerably.
And there was hope for the future.
That's why they so solemnly expressed their gratitude to Shen Mu, to show their loyalty.
Sincerity aside,
at least a formalized system had already been established.
That is, the superior-subordinate relationship.
“Hmm, very good, I hope you can continue to work hard. I will not be stingy with my praise.” Shen Mu nodded at this moment, praised them a few more times, and then turned his gaze to Zhang Bo, who was behind Zhang Caidong.
He also showed considerable respect for this Prophecy-type Mage.
As if sensing Shen Mu's gaze, Zhang Bo's face showed some remorse as he said, “I'm very sorry, Lord Shen Mu, I am still actively repairing my Magic Crystal Ball, but it will still take some time to recover. If there is enough mental energy, perhaps the repair time can be accelerated.”
Zhang Bo had previously explained the effect of the Magic Crystal Ball he possessed, and also stated that it was currently in a damaged state.
Shen Mu understood this.
“It’s alright.” Shen Mu pondered for a moment and then said, “Next, I will allocate a portion of mental energy to repair your Magic Crystal Ball.”
After all, a miraculous item that could detect special spiritual realm fluctuations within the surrounding area was indeed very important.
“Thank you for your trust and support.” Zhang Bo bowed his head again, appearing extremely humble and deferential.
“Lord Shen Mu, please believe me, Zhang Bo is indeed a very capable Prophecy-type Mage.” Zhang Caidong also praised him at this moment, “In the past, the reason why the Diesel Company could accurately find some spiritual realm marks was thanks to Mr. Zhang Bo, who mastered the Magic Crystal Ball.”
“Hmm, that’s why I also value Mr. Zhang Bo greatly.” Shen Mu smiled and agreed with Zhang Caidong’s statement.
However, thinking about it, it was indeed understandable.
From the memories of his predecessor, he could perceive that whenever a spiritual realm mark was discovered, people from the Diesel Company would appear.
They arrived very skillfully and promptly.
It made people very suspicious.
Now, thinking about Zhang Bo and his Magic Crystal Ball, one could understand why this was happening and why the Diesel Company used to value Zhang Bo so much.
After all, the combination of a Prophecy-type Mage who could first discover spiritual realm marks and a Magic Crystal Ball was truly an invincible spiritual realm mark collector.
“No wonder the spiritual realm marks my predecessor discovered were precisely found by the Diesel Company.”
Shen Mu couldn't help but show a wry smile at this moment.
So, the root of it was here all along.
A new book from a great friend, nothing more to say!
