"La la la..."
"I am a hunting expert..."
On a road in the forest, a dozen or so teenagers, looking to be sixteen or seventeen years old, were lined up in two rows, carrying seven huge beasts far larger than themselves on their heads, singing and smiling as they walked.
Taiwan Novel Network provides a great and powerful experience.
Just then.
Swish, swish, swish... The rustling sound coming from the bushes in front of the group caused the singing to stop abruptly.
The teenager walking in the front stopped, looking wary, and the others behind him stopped as well.
"Boss, there seems to be some movement ahead!"
Weston Lagrange stepped forward, glanced at the bushes, and said, "Team Two, attack the bushes ahead!"
"Yes!"
Several teenagers behind him received the order and immediately responded, raising their hands and aiming at the bushes.
Dang, dang, dang—
Four or five magic circles, some purple, some black, some white, lit up in front of these teenagers at the same time.
Inside the magic circles, stones, flames, water currents, and wind blades slowly took shape, ready to be launched.
"Wait, please don't attack!"
A voice suddenly rang out from the bushes: "We mean no harm, we'll come out now!"
Hearing the voice, the teenagers became even more vigilant.
Weston Lagrange's lips curled up slightly, but he quickly suppressed it, and continued to shout loudly: "Come out wearing only your underwear, raise your hands, and squat down, or we'll attack!"
There was silence in the bushes for two seconds.
The previous voice sounded again: "Um... can you let us wear an extra pair of pants?"
"Don't worry, the climate on Tenrou Island is warm, you won't freeze even if you wear one less pair of pants."
"But... but that's too embarrassing..."
At this time, Hughde, who was Weston Lagrange's right-hand man, came up and suggested, "Boss, judging from the voice, they should be men. It would be too unpleasant to look at if they only wear underwear, why not agree?"
Weston Lagrange pretended to ponder for two seconds before nodding: "Well... since even you said so, then okay."
Then he shouted towards the bushes: "I'll give you ten seconds to come out!"
"Coming, coming..."
Soon, three sturdy young men with bare chests squatted on the ground, raised their hands high, and carefully 'moved' out of the bushes.
The three seemed to have experienced some kind of disaster, their faces were full of fatigue and weakness.
And a bit of shyness.
Their appearance overlapped with his memory by ninety-nine percent, it really was them!
He was originally thinking of taking them back first, and then meeting with these three, but he didn't expect to meet them on the road. It seems their actions were quite fast... Weston Lagrange felt certain in his heart, signaled everyone to be on guard, but his face remained unchanged: "Who are you people?"
"My name is Yuri, and the two behind me are Precht and Warrod. We are merchants engaged in maritime trade."
"Yesterday, our ship encountered a shipwreck, and the fleet and cargo were all lost. Afterwards, we relied on driftwood to drift, and finally swam to this island with great difficulty..."
Shipwrecked maritime merchants?
Heh... their minds are working fast!
Weston Lagrange raised an eyebrow, and immediately guessed what these three were planning.
"Maritime merchants?"
"Yes... yes!"
"What kind of goods do you sell? Where do you get them from, and where do you sell them to?"
"Uh... this..."
Yuri's smile instantly froze on his face.
He had previously come up with the idea of disguising himself as a shipwrecked sea merchant to sneak onto the island, gain the trust of the islanders, and then take the opportunity to steal the tenrou jade.
But he hadn't thought about these details!
Fortunately, Precht behind him spoke up.
"We transport meat, animal furs, and perfumes from the inland to the coastal areas, and then transport seafood, flowers, and fruits from the coastal areas to the inland, making a profit from it."
"Hmm... so that's how it is?"
"Yes, yes... that's how it is..."
"Which of these goods you just mentioned has the biggest profit?"
"Seafood."
"What kind of seafood?"
"Sea fish, especially canned herring, is very popular in the inland."
Weston Lagrange asked four or five more questions in a row, and Precht answered them all fluently, and his expression remained unchanged throughout the whole process, which made Yuri and Warrod next to him feel awed.
After a long while, Weston Lagrange pretended to be convinced, and a warm smile reappeared on his face: "It's a pity that you encountered a shipwreck. Why don't you come back to the village with us first to settle down, and then find a way to go back later?"
"That's really very grateful!"
Weston Lagrange nodded, turned around and gave Hughde and Sword a look, and ordered, "You guys go back to the village first, I'll stay here and take them."
"Understood."
"As for the three of you... go back and put on your clothes first."
"Ah... right."
Back in the bushes, Yuri and Warrod finally breathed a sigh of relief.
"Precht, when did you become so familiar with maritime trade?"
They had been friends with Precht for many years, and only knew that he was always silent, intelligent, and meticulous, but they never thought that he would be so familiar with commerce.
What the two didn't know was that Precht's heart was not calm at the moment.
"Idiot, can't you tell that I was just saying it randomly?"
"My knowledge of commerce is about the same as you two. Those words just now were completely made up based on intuition."
"Eh? Randomly said?"
Yuri and Warrod instantly turned into bean-eyed faces, looking completely dumbfounded.
"I can't tell at all!"
"I thought you had already prepared a strategy, and were planning to break up after this trip and switch careers to do business..."
"That's not right, then how are you so familiar with seafood, herring, and the like?"
Precht rolled his eyes again: "Are you confused from sleeping at sea? Isn't that what we ate yesterday?!"
"In that kind of situation, I could only gamble."
"Gamble that this group of children who have lived on overseas islands for many years don't know the outside market."
"Fortunately, I guessed right..."
A happy smile finally appeared on Yuri's face: "Hahaha... you're really something!"
"You're still laughing!"
Precht put on his clothes and pushed Yuri's hand away with dissatisfaction: "Look at the terrible idea you came up with!"
"You said you wanted to disguise yourself as a maritime merchant, but you were exposed as soon as you were asked a question, and I had to save the day in the end..."
"This... uh... anyway, the first step of the plan was successful, don't worry so much about it!"
Warrod interjected: "Did you guys see it just now?"
"Those children, who look much younger than us, were already able to hunt down seven large beasts, and they also mentioned a village..."
"If the children are like this, then what are the adults in the village like?"
"If we really want to take the tenrou jade later, we may have to fight these people. From this point of view, Yuri's judgment of 'infiltration' may be correct."
This time, Precht didn't refute.