The Embers of King's Teyvat Journey

"What do you think?" The soldier crossed his arms, practically writing "I" on his face.

“That’s true. Guilong isn’t an animal. We have to pay him for his intelligence and ships. We need to settle accounts.” Yu Jin nodded in agreement with the scattered soldiers’ idea.

Guilong is not like the Fools. The Fools are pure beasts of burden. If you don't want to do it? We'll put a knife to your throat and see if you'll do it or not.

But Guilong is different; he's a respectable person, so Yu Jin can't treat him so roughly. Using his ship and data costs money.

And so, without the young master saying a word, the person to stay at Meishida Beach was decided.

With the strength of Yu Jin and the others, the ship wreckage outside Gui Long's camp was practically nonexistent.

Before long, the three of them arrived at the large ship where Guilong was.

The deck was still bustling, but this time Yu Jin didn't take a close look. He could finish his business first and then look at it later.

"boom!"

"Guilong, I've come to find you!"

Pushing open the cabin door, Yu Jin saw Gui Long bent over the counter doing accounts.

The combination of his full samurai armor and the pen and paper in his hand looked utterly incongruous.

"Hmm? Ember? Where's your shikigami?"

Guilong looked up and the first thing he noticed was Menggete's disappearance.

"I don't know, maybe he went home." Yu Jin waved his hand, not caring at all.

He then ran to Guilong's counter, slammed his hand on the table, and declared with boundless pride, "How many ships do you have? I'll buy them all..."

"Cough, cough, cough!"

Both the young master and the stragglers coughed. Although the Fools were indeed wealthy now, they couldn't keep up with Ember's extravagant spending.

From what I just saw, the pirates here are quite numerous. Buying all their ships would be a huge sum of money.

"Rent, rent a boat!"

Left with no other choice, Yu Jin had to change his tune and say he was renting it.

"Rent? What are you going to do with so many ships?" Gui Long asked upon hearing Yu Jin's request.

Ordinary people probably don't need that many boats, right?

"Transporting grain! By the way, I heard your smuggling business is quite large, you must know the locations of many villages, can I borrow them?"

"Ember said without hesitation."

However, his honesty was met with Guilong's silence and hesitation.

Just as Yu Jin was wondering, he felt someone pat him on the back. He turned around and saw that it was the young master and the stragglers.

"It's really impressive that you can tell people so frankly, 'Your business is over!'"

"Exactly, you don't know a principle that even I know?"

The young master nodded, echoing the words of the scattered soldiers.

"You two are..."

"The Fools' Enforcer, Sixth Seat, Scout."

"The Eleventh Seat of the Fools' Executive Officer, Young Master."

"Is this how an executive officer does his job? Even fraudsters don't operate like this!"

With just one sentence, Gui Long broke the guard of the posing young master and the scattered soldiers.

"What do you mean by 'doing this work'? Were we not forced to do this?"

The stragglers pointed at the embers beside them, their aura slightly leaking out. He used to be the one looking down on others; he never expected to be looked down upon by others today.

However, the mere aura emanating from him was enough to suffocate Gui Long. The strength of the person before him, even if not as great as the Executive Officer, was certainly not far off!

"Hey! Why are we helping him?" Just as the aura of the scattered soldiers was leaking out, the young master leaned over and whispered something to him.

Although the young master had just been posing with the soldiers, he really didn't understand why the soldiers were helping Yu Jin.

Wouldn't it be more beneficial for the Fools to thwart his plan?

Upon hearing this, the soldier remained silent for a moment, then said with a bitter face, "Because if there are no boats, he really will make us work in three shifts!"

Chapter 446 Big Business

2024-01-26

"Could you two please keep your voices down when you're whispering? If I hear you, I don't know whether to hit you or not. Are you deliberately trying to make things difficult for me?"

Yu Jin picked at his ear. The actions of the soldiers and the young master perfectly demonstrated what it meant to "conspire loudly," making it impossible for Yu Jin not to hear.

"Then don't beat them up." The young master separated from the scattered soldiers and, pretending it was none of his business, looked up at the map behind Gui Long.

"This business of yours isn't just yours alone, is it?" Ignoring Ember, Sanbing walked to the counter and stared intently at Guilong.

Sensing the sharp gazes of the scattered soldiers, Guilong only stared at them for a short while before looking away.

"That's natural. So many trade routes and so many ships are not just my achievement."

Gui Long carefully put away the ledgers in front of the counter and spoke slowly.

"I'm not asking you that, I'm asking about the person behind you." The soldier's gaze remained fixed on Gui Long, as if trying to see right through him.

Seeing that Guilong remained silent, the scattered soldiers nodded and began pacing back and forth.

"Let me think... How can a pirate build such a large force while keeping his hands clean..."

"Did he become some big shot's lackey?"

The stragglers stopped in their tracks, then suddenly turned around and gave Guilong an exaggerated smile.

His mouth almost stretched to his ears, startling the young master and Yu Jin beside him.

"Are you fools out of your minds? Why do you need so many strange functions to create a puppet?"

Seeing the "ferocious" smile of the stragglers, Yu Jin turned to the young master who was patting his chest and asked.

Upon hearing this, the young master rolled his eyes. "As far as I know, the skirmisher wasn't created by us Fools. Even the Doctor is envious of its structure."

The whispers between Ember and the young master behind him caused the smile on the soldier's face to vanish, instantly turning into a blank expression.

If you can't scare anyone, why bother with those exaggerated movements?

Gui Long performed much better than Yu Jin and Gongzi. He was only startled for a moment before quickly returning to normal.

Having built a power base from scratch during the war, Oni Ryu still possesses basic facial expression control skills.

"Say what you will, as long as we get the goods and protection, that's fine."

Guilong did not deny the claim of being a stragglers; he nodded frankly.

For him, this wasn't something to be ashamed of. It was normal for him to be weak and subservient to others.

"In that case, how about switching partners?" The soldier spread his hands, his tone full of temptation.

"Let me think... those big shots in Inazuma must look down on you, right?"

"Not only that, they probably took the lion's share of your profits. Don't you feel a little resentful?"

Seeing that Guilong remained unmoved, the scattered soldiers continued to shake their heads and speak.

Based on his understanding of Inazuma, those aristocratic families would probably look down on Guilong, a peasant.

Although those are old impressions from hundreds of years ago, the soldiers are still so certain.

After all, Thor seeks eternity, and these aristocratic families are unlikely to change much.

A hint of resentment appeared in Guilong's expression; the words of the scattered soldiers had stirred up some unpleasant memories for him.

The days when he was forced to become a pirate were also the period when Oni Ryudo bowed in prayer the most.

"That's well said, but are you as strong as the Imperial Envoy?"

Gui Long loosened his clenched fist and said dejectedly.

The investigation and implementation of the plan is one of the three mandates.

"Oh? It seems some of the goods collected from the outlying islands ended up in your hands." The soldier stroked his chin and shook his head as he spoke.

The Fools also had dealings with the remote islands, and most of the crystallized bone marrow there ended up in their hands.

But for now, let the Imperial Envoy take those crystallized bone marrows back and play with them himself.

"The money earned from reselling may not be as much as that from cooperating with the Fools, not to mention that our strength is far greater than that of the 'Kantoku Envoy'!"

The skirmisher crossed his arms, exuding an unmistakable air of confidence.

“And what we’re going to do is purely good.” With that, the skirmisher extended his hand.

After a moment's hesitation, Guilong finally shook hands with the scattered soldiers.

Gui Long seemed to breathe a sigh of relief as he released his grip, but then he reminded him, "Since we've agreed to cooperate, I need to explain the risks to you clearly."

"First, although our stronghold is well hidden, the Shogunate army has not yet wiped us out, largely because the Kansei Magistrate is protecting us."

"Don't worry about that. I'll stay here and help you. In addition, I'll gather all the Fools in the area to help."

"If the Shogunate army is blind, then let them try!"

As if recalling his rampage in the Shogunate army, the soldier's usually expressionless face broke into a wicked smile.

"Secondly, the resistance..."

"Don't worry about that, we've already reached an agreement with the resistance."

Guilong was interrupted by the scattered soldiers before he could finish speaking.

The soldier waved his hand and said, "Give us the locations of all the villages you've accumulated, whether they're in Kannazuka or Hachiyū Island!"

Gui Long was taken aback at first, then he came to his senses and nodded: "Of course, that's no problem, but if I may be frank, why are you Fools doing so much?"

Gui Long's words were like an arrow piercing the heart, directly cutting through the spirited stragglers and turning them into immobile stone statues.

Yes, why would the Fools do something so thankless and exhausting?

"Of course the Fools wouldn't be so kind! It's all because of me!"