They don't want me to work harder

We have only known each other for a little over a day!

I understand, it depends on your age...you are also older!

On the other side, Zoe immediately pricked up her ears and narrowed her eyes.

Hum, the succubus tail is leaking out!

Finally, Katyusha, a maid, broke the deadlock. She came over with a wet towel to help Richard wipe his face.

"Your Highness, it's getting dark."

"Ahem, you're right, let's go back to the city today."

In the next few days, Richard and others repeated their same tricks in different areas.

With the help of a few enthusiastic fungus beasts who were willing to dress up as women, they lured thousands of fungus beasts from the forest to the open space and held a grand bonfire banquet.

It turns out...

The taste of the roasted mushroom beast is really a bit like mushrooms. I don't wonder that the previous scholar would try it in his diary.

Of course, Richard wouldn't eat it.

On this day, they came to the forest to clean up the beasts again, and unexpectedly discovered that there was a particularly big one. After devouring several companions in the flames, it transformed into the shape of a wild wolf and ran away in a flash.

Presumably this is the special case that Bishop Benjamin mentioned?

Can't let go!

Richard immediately chased him out with his friends, but...

Just lost in the woods.

"Uh……"

Richard scratched his head in shame, then released the falcon to find a way high in the sky.

Fortunately, they found a village nearby.

But unfortunately, when they arrived at the entrance of the village, they were met by...

It was the undisguised rejection of the villagers.

One child even threw stones at them: "This is the place for mountain people, you bastard with gophers, get out!"

Chapter 55 Guide from the Mountains

This was the second time Richard heard the word gopher. The last time was in the bandit's den.

But the people in front of me are not bandits, just villagers...

Could it be said that describing people as rats is a consistent tradition in Abaranya?

He tried to explain politely: "I didn't mean any harm, I just wanted to ask for directions."

However, most of the villagers remained the same, and a few timid ones, such as the mother of the boy who threw the stones, simply took the child away and hid in the house.

After a long time, an old man came over, bowed and spoke: "Masters, please forgive their rudeness. They are just a group of ignorant mountain people. If you have any request, just give me a direct order."

"..."

Richard raised his eyebrows slightly. He didn't like the atmosphere where people in Ximu Village watched chicken murderers, but he was also a little confused and helpless.

He could only say: "Old man, you don't need to call me master, we are just students here to eliminate the fungus beasts... If possible, can you help us find a guide? We will pay you."

He took out a silver coin, and this time, the faces of the nearby villagers finally had a different color.

Well, the first law of the universe applies - money always comes in handy.

However, the villagers were a little resistant after all. They looked left and right for a while, but no one moved their legs first.

Just when Richard was thinking about whether to practice another law of the universe - he had to add money, a loud voice sounded in the village.

"There's no reason not to make money if you have money. Besides, this gentleman is here to get rid of germs and is doing a good deed."

A tall man walked out of the village carrying a shotgun and a hatchet. He said to Richard, "I'll take this job!"

"Grateful!"

"You're welcome."

Ah no, you're welcome, you saved me a silver coin in time, of course I will never tell you this.

The corners of Richard's mouth curled up slightly, and then he felt something was wrong.

This man's accent seems to have a hint of Connaught... Wait, could he be the other group of people who proposed to release Melissa in the bandit camp that day?

Although I couldn't see my face at the time because of the mask, this figure...

Richard narrowed his eyes slightly and had some thoughts in his mind.

The man didn't notice Richard's change. After receiving the silver coins, he walked forward calmly and said loudly:

"My name is David. I am a hunter in the village. I can take you wherever you want, sir."

"Let us track down a fungus beast first..."

With someone who was familiar with the mountains and forests leading them, the efficiency of Richard and his team immediately improved.

They followed the traces of the fungus beast, circled around, and actually returned to the open space where the fire was first set - good guy, that fungus beast came back to kill it!

What, you also think that the most dangerous place is the safest place?

Or do you want to be together with your family?

Finally, Richard found the fungus beast that was close to the size of a tiger under the pile of corpses.

Its lower body is lying flat, and its upper body is stuck together with layers of silk threads and stands upright, as if it is kneeling to worship something.

Richard frowned slightly, feeling a little strange.

Can this thing be integrated to this extent?A synthetic watermelon, right?

It seems that he is not as weak as I thought before, and his behavior is also very strange... Forget it, I am just here for an internship, I'd better leave this kind of in-depth research to the scholar.

He recorded this scene at the end of his diary, and then ended today's battle with a fire.

When David came here, he looked at the scorched corpses on the ground and smelled the mushroom fragrance in the air. His eyes widened and his face was full of shock.

"Master, these...were all destroyed by you?"

"Ah, yes."

For a moment, David looked at Richard with the same respect as a street writer looks at a businessman.

"I thought you just killed a few fungus beasts casually, just like the old men before..."

"Killing a few is not enough."

Richard waved his hand and said with a smile: "It's not enough for me right now. By the way, if you want to know how we do it, I can also teach you the secret."

"...You are so generous."

David said sincerely: "These fungus beasts kill several children every year, and we hate them very much... Thank you very much."

"You're welcome, but if possible, I would like to ask you something."

Richard blinked: "Why are we so rejected by the village? And, what does gopher mean?"

David hesitated for a moment, recalling Richard's kindness and peace along the way, and finally sighed and said, "It's hard to explain this matter clearly in one sentence or two. If you really want to know, why don't you come with me?"

"I am glad to."

Richard and his party turned around, climbed over the ridge, and came further east.

And then what appeared in front of me...

There are seven or eight huge pits that line up from the feet to the sky... It's like a wound where the blood has drained out of the ground after it was hit by a bullet.

"This is……"

“What was once good farmland and homes are now just coal pits that have been completely dug up.”

David explained: "Gophers refer to those people hired by coal mining companies to mine. In the past ten years, they have been coming here continuously."

"They rent our land at very low prices, sometimes with a few pigs, sometimes with a few guns, and then dig holes on it to mine."

"When the lease expires and the mines are dry, they take all the profits and return the land to us that has not been filled with cinder pits...but the land is no longer able to be cultivated."

"Later, when we no longer wanted to rent land, they would hire thugs and use dirty tricks. In the end, we always had to rent it, and sometimes even sell it for a few copper coins. Unknowingly, the land in the nearby mountains was sold out seven out of ten times. Eight of them belong to the coal mining company."

"So, you should be able to understand why we hate gophers..."

Richard nodded and asked in a deep voice: "If they do this, no one will care?"

If he remembered correctly, although all aspects of the empire's system seemed reactionary and decadent to those who traveled through it, there were still serious regulations on land issues - especially the land in the mountains, which was despised by the aristocratic landowners and was recognized as belonging to the yeoman farmers.

David smiled playfully: "You said you were introduced by Bishop Benjamin, so you should have seen who the boss of Nyon's largest coal mining company is, right?"

Oh, Daniel...the Baron's brother, right?

OK, no problem now.

"It's good that you can understand. In fact, even if the company does not belong to that gentleman, the result will be the same... We Abalanians have always been regarded as second-class citizens, country bumpkins, and bandit reserves. No one will support us. We are all used to it..."

Well, let me tell you this, you are indeed a robber...

Richard couldn't help but complain.

However, he also understood why Abaranya would continue to contribute its specialty bandits to the empire.

Inland mountainous areas are generally poor and have strong folk customs. They are places where the central government has weak governance. The past and present are basically the same at home and abroad.Nowadays, the mountain people here are still being bullied on the issue of their fundamental interests. It would be strange if they don't make trouble.

There is nothing wrong with digging coal to develop industry, but robbing poor families of their land and leaving no food for them to drink is a European without Germans—a bit immoral.

No wonder Teacher Arnold didn't like the tone of Linda's voice.

But then again, this David’s accent is not that of an Abalanian native by any stretch of the imagination, but he speaks so clearly on related issues...

Who is this person?

Richard couldn't help but feel a little more curious about the man in front of him.

As it happens, it's noon.

"We'll go back to Nyon from here and don't talk for a long time. If you don't mind, can you treat us to a meal? I'll pay."