Chapter 424: 399 Iron City_2
But they still chose to gather here because there were guards and patrolling knights, and at least they didn’t have to worry about being attacked by wild monsters and thieves.
"Liz."
Reiger didn’t comment on the situation but instead spoke to Liz, who was in the driver’s seat.
"Is there any monster meat left?"
Upon hearing this, Liz answered Reiger from the driver’s seat.
"Yes, there’s quite a bit left."
A magic pig weighing over ten thousand pounds couldn’t possibly be eaten up overnight.
Liz and Gel had already processed the remaining monster pig meat, cutting it into pieces, and now it was stacked on the cargo rack of the carriage.
Reiger had also used "Preservation" magic on the monster pig meat, which kept the freshness of the food or ingredients from the moment the magic was cast, preventing it from changing over time.
Thanks to this, the pieces of monster pig meat were still steaming as if they had just been roasted.
"Good," Reiger nodded, "distribute the meat."
"Yes, master."
Liz found nothing strange about this order and immediately began to carry it out.
Unsurprisingly, Gel immediately got out of the car to help.
"I-I’ll help too!"
Fannie seemed unable to sit still anymore and mustered the courage to get out of the carriage to help Liz and Gel distribute the food.
Reiger closed his eyes to rest for a while before stepping out of the carriage.
By this time, the world outside the carriage had changed, busting with activity, a stark contrast to its prior stillness.
"Please, enjoy your meal slowly!"
"Here you go, don’t push, there’s enough for everyone!"
"Uh...I-I have some here too!"
Liz, Gel, and Fannie were distributing the monster pig meat around the avenue, causing masses of refugees, like sharks that had smelled blood, all scrambling over each other to get there.
This commotion naturally attracted the attention of the gatekeepers.
...
In fact, Vite had noticed Reiger and his group early on.
As the captain of the gatekeepers, Vite wasn’t maintaining order at the city gate like the other gatekeepers, but rather stood off to the side, arms crossed, watching the surroundings attentively.
The gatekeepers stationed here were tasked not only with guarding the gate but sometimes also had to fight monsters approaching the area. If refugees gathered here fought over food or other reasons, they also had to step in to stop them and maintain order.
Especially when nobles or merchant caravans were preparing to enter or exit the city, if sightless refugees tried to crowd around to beg and obstructed traffic, causing congestion, they were obliged to discipline those sightless refugees to deter them.
That was why the refugees just now hadn’t dared to block the caravan’s path and beg from them.
Without the deterrence of the guard squad, refugees driven to extreme hunger could potentially do anything—blocking the road to beg was one thing but outright becoming robbers and attacking passing caravans were also entirely possible.
To avoid such scenarios, Vite usually paid close attention to the surroundings like this whenever it was his turn to guard the gate.
Thus, when Reiger and his group appeared on the main road leading into the city riding the carriage, Vite immediately noticed them and was surprised.
The reason for his surprise was simple.
There was a large group of tied-up people and horses dragging behind the carriage.
These people and horses were bound with ropes and bridles, lined up in a row, tied to the back of the carriage, being dragged along.
Vite almost immediately recognized the identities of those people.
"Thieves?"
From their faces and clothes, Vite discerned this.
Defeated the thieves who attacked them, planning to sell them as slaves?
This wasn’t anything unusual.
Such incidents, with Vite being responsible for guarding the gate, typically happened several times a day.
Thieves attacked travelers, and if the travelers were capable of defeating them, they usually did just this, treating those thieves as their spoils of war, taking them to be sold in the slave markets of large cities.
Thus, Vite had long been accustomed to strange occurrences.
However, when he saw that carriage, Vite couldn’t help but be surprised for a few seconds.
"No guards, no accompanying knights, probably not a merchant group or a traveling noble, yet they’ve captured so many thieves with just one carriage?"
Vite was startled by this fact.
The number of thieves being dragged by that luxurious carriage was immense, far more than Vite had ever seen before, which was the first thing that surprised him.
The second thing was that there was only one carriage, driven by a girl so beautiful that even he was stunned, yet she managed to capture a large group of thieves and bring them safely into the city.
"It seems the owner of that carriage must be extraordinary."
Vite muttered to himself, his expression gradually becoming more solemn.
He felt he was about to welcome a distinguished guest and must be cautious and careful not to offend the other party.
As Vite was pondering this, an even more surprising event occurred.
The luxurious carriage, laden with many thieves and horses, suddenly stopped and began to distribute food to the nearby refugees.
This scene not only surprised Vite but also caused a slight stir among the surrounding gate guards.
"They are distributing food to the refugees, right?"
"Truly surprising."
"It’s my first time seeing someone aid these refugees."
"Are they that wealthy? Can they really manage to take care of so many refugees here?"
"The food they are handing out doesn’t seem to be cheap bread, but freshly cooked meat."
"What kind of meat is that?"
"Pork, perhaps?"
"Tsk tsk, truly generous to directly hand out meat to so many refugees, the owner of that carriage must definitely be a very rich and noble person."
"Could it be someone from a noble family?"
The guards began to discuss spiritedly.
Vite did not join the discussion but instead started speculating about the other’s identity in his mind.
Soon, they saw Reiger coming out of the carriage.
"Indeed a young master."
This was the first thought that came to the minds of everyone including Vite upon seeing Reiger.
The other party was casually dressed but adorned with various accessories like an emerald pendant, exquisite rings, a black mono-glove, and a semi-visible amulet at his waist, all of which clearly were of great value.
The person’s appearance still carried a hint of youthfulness, lacked any distinct charisma, and wasn’t very noticeable, yet for some reason, there was an inexplicable sense of mystery, making one feel that it’s not appropriate to underestimate such a presence.
These traits, in the eyes of Vite and others, were clearly those of a young master from a large noble family.
"Captain, should we stop them?"
Someone asked Vite, eliciting from him a look as if he were looking at an idiot.
"Aren’t you afraid of offending that young master?"
Vite asked back.
"But not stopping them doesn’t seem quite right either, does it?" another hesitantly said, "All the refugees are gathering there, the road is getting blocked, and if a riot breaks out later due to looting, it could turn into a serious disturbance. If we just stand by, it will be troublesome."
This made Vite hesitate.
Just then, inside the city gates, a carriage surrounded by many knights emerged from the crowds.
"What’s happening?"
A displeased voice came from the carriage.
"It’s so noisy, the road is even blocked, how am I supposed to get through?"
Hearing this voice, Vite knew, he was in trouble.
Simply because, the newcomer was the most tyrannical and toughest person to deal with in all of Iron City.