Rather than a city, White Wolf Town is more akin to a rather large village.
On the way from the town gate to White Wolf Fort, Murphy and his party passed through the market area, civilian area, and finally arrived at the center of the town.
Observing the ordinary people who passed by the roadside carefully, Murphy found that this did not match his idea of a border area. Perhaps due to the long-standing peace, there was hardly any solemn killing atmosphere in White Wolf Town.
Murphy silently considered that if he wanted to find a solid foothold in the human world under a pseudonym, this fief would actually be a good choice.
Under the escort of the Viscount's personal guards, the group entered the Baker family's White Wolf Fort. Compared to the low wooden structures in the town, this aristocratic mansion built of off-white stone stood out among the flock, towering over the surroundings.
Murphy didn't find a similar external toilet like he had seen in the western medieval castles of his old hometown. The town was also much better than the medieval times he'd heard about, where waste flowed freely in the streets.
Thanks to Charlene's endorsement, Murphy and Tyre were predictably invited to dine with the Viscount. As for Byron, he was still busy pretending to be a simple, quiet stable hand.
When Murphy and Tyre walked into the banquet hall, Byron was feeding the good grass fodder from the Viscount's house to the pull-horse skeletons, which digest their food speedily.
The Baker family was overjoyed by the return of their long-lost daughter. The gloomy atmosphere that had risen due to Charlene's disappearance instantly dissipated. After waiting a while, the Viscount's family and Murphy smoothly entered the stage of toasting and changing cups.
Along with a few drinks, old Baker gradually became familiar with the two men, endlessly praising them for their courage. In reality, he was indirectly attempting to uncover the true master they were loyal to.
The wine of an ordinary noble tasted like watered-down iced tea for a top-tier demon and an advanced demon like them; it had some taste, but actually not really. With the aid of their superb acting skills, the two young men ruthlessly deceived old comrade Baker.
The pair feigned intoxication quickly under the grape's influence. Tyre started pretending to be asleep first, whilst Murphy fell onto the table unconscious after downing the last cup of wine. A golden family emblem “accidentally” slid from Murphy's sleeve onto the floor, emitting a crisp, pleasing sound.
Old Baker had just been exclaiming that he hadn’t gotten any information out of them and was praising his own tolerance for alcohol, claiming it hadn’t decreased with age, when he heard the clear metallic collision. The old man stumbled up and groped on the ground, eventually successfully grabbing the family emblem with a ferocious scratch mark.
Looking at the family emblem, old Baker instantly sobered up. As one of the human nobles closest to the border, the Baker family did not hold the title of Border Guardian. Their rank was indeed a bit low, so naturally, this title went to the top superior of the Baker family: The family of the Count Reed.
As a nouveau riche that came into prominence ninety years ago, the title of Baker was earned by old Baker's grandfather on the battlefield with real swords and guns. If it weren't for the old old Baker, who was incredibly fierce on the battlefield, the Baker family might still be kneading bread dough in the bakery.
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Back in the day, old old Baker served as the exclusive baker for the Count's house of Reed, essentially serving as a part of the logistics team on the battlefield. Unexpectedly, he discovered his real talent late in life, fighting the demons on the battlefield with the Viscount Reed. After the war, at the award ceremony, old Reed was elevated to count. As for his dear comrade-in-arms who had saved him several times, upon returning to his own territory, old Rid instantly promoted the old baker to the leading small aristocrat under his command. The two houses maintained cordial relations until the two old guys were buried.
However, over the past several decades, their relationship had no longer been as close under the influence of the peaceful atmosphere. At this point, only a nominal relationship of dependency remained.
Holding this badge, Old Baker had mixed feelings. A new war was coming in ten years. Looking at the current relationship between the two houses, when White Wolf Town, this small Viscount domain, was attacked by the demon army, this generation of Reed would surely watch idly.
Old Baker contemplated whether now was a good time to repair relations with the Reed family. It was an irresistible temptation for him, as nothing was more important than the survival of his family in the face of the demons. However, it was rumored that this generation's Rid was rather short-sighted. Based on his character, the likelihood of him making amicable overtures was similar to the demons surrendering immediately.
Old Baker pondered, what if this was simply a freak incident? This small Reed family caravan had accidentally rescued his own granddaughter in the process of smuggling with the demons, this gave him a rare golden opportunity. This seemed like a reasonable explanation. As for Murphy's claim of delivering a wagon of wood to the barren hills, it sounded no different than a fart to the old man.
After much deliberation, Old Baker decided to seize this straw. Since these two young men came to White Wolf Town willingly, it showed that they, the younger generation, were not aware of the current tense relationship between the two houses. For the Baker family, this was a good deal.
The following morning, Murphy woke up in the guest room and reached into his pocket, discovering the emblem was quietly resting inside. He admired how the old guy left no stone unturned.
After breakfast, Murphy, the leader of the merchants, was invited by Old Baker to meet in his study. After some meaningless cordial exchanges, the old Viscount took out a reward of two hundred gold coins and insisted Murphy accept it.
Murphy firmly expressed his position as an ordinary merchant with no backing should stick to honesty-first and only accept his due part as per the bill: the publicly-quoted price of one hundred gold coins for rescuing the female knight, and the accumulated expenses of thirty gold coins and twenty-five silver coins from the additional three days' of journey.
Listening to this, the old Viscount revealed a "youngsters are so tricky" smile and insisted Murphy take the money. This meeting was anticipated by Murphy since, given the dignity of the nobility, talking money over dinner was not something to brag about.
Murphy had been estimating the probable price to be around a hundred and fifty gold coins, though he didn't comprehend why seeing a badge would cause such an increase. However, this was the other party's own price increase. For Murphy right now, gold was nothing but icing on the cake; what he seriously needed was intelligence, and more intelligence.Therefore, after several rounds of fruitless negotiations, both sides reached an agreement.
Murphy only took his share of gold coins as per the bill, the remaining gold was converted to buying the two bundles of monster skins, providing various business information of the viscount's domain, along with transaction into raw crystal ores.
Naturally, Old Baker fully accepted this agreement, but he didn’t understand why a young merchant from the wealthy Reed domain, with its crystal mines, wished to purchase crystals in the Baker domain. Old Baker could only explain this as the youth being rebellious, and wanting to make his own way in the world.
The Viscount’s housekeeper expressed that it would take about half a day to gather related news and gather raw crystal ores. Therefore, Murphy and Tyre were roaming around the main street of the Viscount's domain under the morning sun. As for Byron, he was napping alongside the two skeleton horses in the cool depths of the horse-stable.