Don't move, it's a robbery!

"Are you buying a wanted criminal?"

"What?"

"I asked you if you wanted to buy a wanted criminal?"

The blond, short-haired mercenary in front of me looked rather dim-witted, with half a loaf of bread stuffed in his mouth; he was clearly a glutton.

The reason I sought him out was because this guy was wearing a full suit of plate armor, which is not cheap. I heard that if you dismantle it and sell it, you can get several acres of land, or even several houses in the city.

These knights who come to work as mercenaries are either nobles or have real skills; either way, they must be rich.

"This guy and the two heads he's holding are worth 1300 gold coins. I don't want 1300, not even 1000, just 998, just 998! I can take the wanted criminal home, oh no, I mean take him back to exchange for the bounty."

"what?"

"What do you mean, 'ah'? Just tell me if you want it or not."

"Well, I'll take it, but I only have a few dozen gold coins on me. Besides, who in their right mind would carry that much money?"

What he said makes a lot of sense. I've traded with other mercenaries before, but those were all pre-arranged. It's rare for a client you find on the spot to carry so much cash.

The gold coins were still quite heavy.

"Do you have anything valuable?"

"I need all the equipment I have on me. So, wait here for a bit. My partner who's in charge of the money will be here soon and will pay you then."

I hesitated, not because I wanted to wait with him or worry about an ambush, but because I was considering whether I should just rob him of his money.

Earning a lot or a little is still earning!

"Hey, why do I feel a chill on my head? Why are you staring at the back of my head?"

Wow, you're pretty perceptive.

I gave up on taking action, mainly because I only rob people of money, and this guy didn't have any money on him at all. It wouldn't be worth it to make another enemy for no reason.

"Okay, I'll wait with you."

"Hmm, would you like some bread? I just bought some, it tastes really good, I heard the recipe came from the East."

I don't eat food from strangers because I can't tell if it's been poisoned, so I just handed the bread to the big guy who was tied up.

"Come on, stop crying, have something to eat, we're on our way."

The big guy was crying very sadly, perhaps because it was the first time he had been sold, or perhaps because he was still holding the heads of his two brothers in his hands.

Before long, the person my client was waiting for arrived; she was a rather robust female warrior. Although she was a bit overweight, she was quite attractive, and had a large bottom, which made her look like she was good at bearing children.

The moment this guy saw me, he became very nervous and even reached for his weapon.

"Hey, hey, hey, what are you doing? Trying to start a fight? Do you guys even want to do business?"

I quickly stopped her to prevent her from needlessly endangering her life in a moment of impulsiveness.

"Business? Leos, what's going on here?"

"Oh, this guy said he's going to sell us some wanted criminals. Look at this man, and the head he's holding, isn't he a wanted criminal?"

The female warrior was skeptical, but carefully examined the big man's appearance before her eyes widened.

"Aren't these the three Kelly brothers?!"

"So that means it's true, these three are worth 1300 gold coins, but this guy is willing to sell them to us for 900 gold coins. We'll make a profit!"

"Hey! I said 998, not 900!"

"We recently took on a quest and just happened to earn 900 gold coins. Isn't that a great coincidence?"

The knight chuckled as he took the money bag from his companion and then handed it directly to me.

I stared wide-eyed. This guy didn't say anything beforehand, deliberately making me wait with him. When we finally got there, he told me we didn't have enough money, and then 98 gold coins were gone without a word.

Damn, he looks so handsome, but I didn't expect him to be such a good negotiator.

Forget it, it's not worth arguing over such a small amount. Finding someone else who can afford it will probably be quite difficult.

I silently took the money, then backed away until I was out of their sight before turning around.

More than 900 gold coins, quite heavy, but I don't mind the weight at all. No one can dislike these little cuties.

Now that I have money, I should get down to business.

First, I went to the place where I bought food and bought a lot of grain, then stuffed it all into the gourd.

The gourd that 'Xitong' gave me is so magical. It can fit any edible item, no matter how much you put in it. If you put grain in it, the pills made from it won't taste particularly bad. Most importantly, the pills made from it are much smaller than normal grains, making them easy to carry and keeping for a very long time. As long as they don't get damp, you don't have to worry about them spoiling.

After spending more than an hour, I finally managed to convert a truckload of grain into a small bag of compressed pills. I also kept two sacks of grain, which I can cook and eat in the near future.

Of course, the food itself didn't cost much; the bulk of the expense was actually the various monster body parts.

I once robbed a dark wizard and stole some strange recipes from him. By mixing special parts of certain monsters, you can make magical potions that make your body stronger the more you drink them.

Of course, these are his exact words, but judging from his inhuman and ghostly appearance, I think he's probably talking nonsense.

However, on a whim, I put the monster's body parts into the gourd according to the recipe, and the resulting pills were indeed a bit different. Although these things tasted terrible, they really could make people stronger, and there were absolutely no side effects.

So later on, whenever I had free time, I would go looking for trouble with all sorts of monsters.

To make it easier to find traces of these monsters, I would often go to some local villagers and force them to say whether there were any traces of monsters nearby. Over time, I became a well-known chivalrous thief in the area.

Haha, a bunch of idiots, they don't even realize their treasure has been stolen.

Relying solely on hunting yields too little, and the types of prey are often limited. In order to complete the recipes, I have to spend money to buy them from others.

I have to say, this thing is really expensive.

I've heard that some perverted nobles enjoy collecting these rare items, which has driven up the prices of parts from these monsters.

I don't quite agree with this statement, because I've searched through many noble homes and found that while they do have a lot of collectibles, they don't actually have that many monster parts. They usually just collect things like scales, claws, and heads—things that look nice but aren't edible.

My prescription, on the other hand, requires strange things like the heart, gallbladder, and blood.

Perhaps I should go and cause more trouble for the dark wizard.

"Do you have any holy water? Give me some."

"No, the church members have all left. Who can still make holy water? And those who have reserves wouldn't sell their prepared holy water."

I was somewhat disappointed. Without holy water, I wasn't confident I could control my female neighbor at night. It seemed my only option was to kill her.

Oh, what a pity about that villa where I kept my money. So many cute little coins, why couldn't they just run into my pocket on their own?

I shook my head regretfully, then left the shop with the goods I had purchased. When I reached a secluded spot, I took out 'West Copper' and asked him to check if there were any problems with the items I had bought.

"Hey, Xitong, check if the medicinal herbs I bought this time are genuine. Did I get ripped off?"

(ﾟωﾟ): "No, it's authentic, all parts are taken from monsters."

When someone said "Xi Tong" was the authentic one, I realized I'd been ripped off.

'West Copper' is very honest. Whenever it encounters something poisonous, it will tell me that it's okay to eat.

I immediately decided to go back, find the shop that sold me the item, and have a serious talk with them, to reason with them.

I returned an hour later.

Reasoning with them worked. The merchant not only compensated me with 10 times the amount of genuine goods, but also gave me an extra 10 bottles of holy water. They even wanted to return the money I paid them.

I didn't accept it because I'm a principled person. Buying things means spending money. I went there to reason, not to rob. Besides, we've already negotiated peacefully, and they've compensated me for my losses, so I should pay them some medical expenses.

My stick is a bit dirty, I need to clean it, otherwise the smell of blood will easily attract attention and make it difficult to sneak around.

Besides, this amount of holy water isn't enough, so I've decided to make some more myself, just in case.

Making holy water is very difficult; I heard that you have to believe in God and become a pastor first. I used to believe, but God never responded to me, so I stopped believing, and life has gotten better and better ever since.

However, there is another way to make holy water, which a dwarf taught me.

I was planning to rob him, but I found that he was even poorer than me. I was very young at the time, and in a moment of excitement, I gave him all the money I had on me. In return, he taught me how to make food, identify ingredients, how to survive in the wild, and even how to make holy water.

By the way, the holy water this person makes is edible and very delicious, much better than what the church makes!

Considering that it's hard to buy holy water right now, I went to the market to buy the raw materials to make it myself. Because Linde City is in such a mess right now, all the raw materials for making holy water are ridiculously expensive.

Although most of them are just ordinary ingredients, such as sugar and salt.

The prices of sugar and refined salt are outrageous, as expensive as gold. But I'm not short of money, so I just waved my hand and bought a whole sack of sugar.

I've loved sweets since I was little, but I could never have them; instead, I ate a lot of bitter things. Now that I have sweets, I don't like them anymore. After paying, I realized I couldn't possibly finish them all.

Damn, another waste.

As I was carrying the sack back, I encountered a group of young beggars begging. Seeing them reminded me of my own childhood.

For them, money will only bring death or trigger their greed. If you really want to help them, the most useful thing is to find them a way to survive. If that's not possible, giving them some food is also a good idea.

Finding a way to survive is beyond my capabilities. I'm just a robber; I can't do anything to save all living beings, but giving them some food isn't difficult.

So I went to the corner and poured the sugar and the remaining grain into the gourd. After the sugar and grain were mixed, the resulting pills were not only very filling, but also sweet and not so bitter.

I poured the newly prepared pills into the original sack, then gave them to the little beggars, and beat up a few of the guys who tried to snatch them.

"Eat up, eat up, you bunch of unwanted little things."

"Grow up quickly."

"Once you grow up, you'll be able to find a way to survive."

I composed myself and returned to my lodgings. The gold coins I had just earned were all gone again; it was time to earn more money.