Six men carrying bulging backpacks got off the ocean-going smuggling ship that had just docked. After walking around on the pier, they reluctantly walked towards the three-story stone building called the customs. This was the first time they arrived at the Tire Sea.
A must-go checkpoint for smugglers in the Port of Copicius, Mississippi.
"Name?" The customs official in blue and black uniform looked at the six tough men in front of him. It was obvious that he judged that this was another group of smugglers who came to purchase goods from overseas autonomous territories.
"My name is Grua Ferdi, and they are all my companions. His name is Mordani Giarazo, and his name is..." The big man in the lead said to the customs officer in front of him with a smile on his face.
Introduce yourself and your companions by name.
It's just that the customs officials were not interested in their self-introductions. They lowered their heads and registered the names of the first Hanbao in a form, and then continued to ask: "Where are you from? What is the name of the ship you are on?"
"We are from Crusua, coming on the Silver Cod." The big man at the head replied.
Crusuya is the abbreviation of the colony of the Kingdom of Resnia in the southern region of Farea continent on the Nubisian continent. Crusuya colony was developed relatively early among the colonies on the west coast, covering an area of about three to four
The state of Tilsim is as big as Tiersim and is home to nearly three million Resnians. It produces high-quality sheep wool and ostrich skins, and is rich in timber and mineral resources.
Hearing that the six big men in front of them came from Crusua and came on the Silver Cod, the customs officials confirmed their identities as smugglers. They no longer asked questions, but quickly recorded the answers of the first big man on the form.
, and then handed the completed form to a colleague next to him. The colleague copied the contents of the form onto another form paper, took out the customs seal and stamped the names on the two forms.
Then he handed the copied form back to the first customs official.
After checking that the content copied on the form was correct with what he had registered, the first customs official signed his name on it and stamped it. Then he handed the form in his hand to the leader in front of him.
Big man:
"The customs clearance fee is one riaso per person. Keep this form well. You can use it to prove your identity when the patrol police interrogate you. In addition, this form is valid for three months. If it expires, your affairs will
It hasn’t been completed yet, so you need to apply for an extension at the local patrol department and civil affairs office. But then the procedures will be more complicated and the fees will be higher..."
The leading man took out a silver coin from his pocket and put it on the table respectfully: "Thank you, no need to look for it."
"Wait a minute..." The customs officer checked the silver coins, then asked his colleague to type a receipt. He opened the drawer, put the silver coins in, and then counted out four banknotes and put them on the table.
: "This is the change, take it back. We are customs officials of the Dominion, not waiters in the tavern. We don't need your reward. Giving us a tip is an insult to our status!"
"Yes, yes, I'm sorry. Then thank you again." The big man at the head nodded embarrassedly to express his apology. He reached out and picked up the banknotes found on the table and looked at them curiously. There were two banknotes in total, dark silver.
There were three of them, with the large characters of one sunar on them. The bronze note was marked with five sunars, and there was only one.
"The low-denomination banknotes issued by our overseas dominions can be used as universal metal currency. If you meet a merchant in any state of the dominion who refuses to accept your banknotes, then congratulations, you will make a fortune immediately. As long as there is evidence to prove that he refuses to use the dominion
If you trade this kind of banknotes, you will be sure of it as soon as you report it, and you will get one-tenth of the defendant businessman's property. Unfortunately, the Dominion has not found such a fool businessman until now..."
The customs official, who was very relaxed at this time, joked about the big man in front of him. He had seen countless smugglers who were hesitant when they saw banknotes for the first time. However, most of the smugglers who put these banknotes in their arms took them as unusable.
The idea of taking a souvenir home is that the printing is beautiful and the value is not expensive.
But later, after the Dominion discovered the convenience of using these banknotes, these smugglers would go to the Overseas Minsheng Bank to exchange some banknotes and keep them with them, and would not exchange them again when they returned. It is said that these banknotes are now also commonly used in the colonies of various countries on the West Coast, so
The colonies of neighboring countries also lacked low-denomination metal currencies.
The leading man put the four banknotes in his hand back into his pocket, nodded to the customs officer again, turned around and prepared to lead his companions away. Perhaps his politeness impressed the customs officer, and he shouted at the back of the man: "Here."
A piece of advice for you, it is best to keep your weapons in the hotel and not take them with you. Our overseas autonomous territories are very safe and orderly. If you take weapons on the streets, you will easily become the focus of the patrol police...
"
The leading man quickly turned around and thanked him again and again before leaving the customs with his companions.
"Without weapons? Are you kidding? If we encounter the enemy or that despicable woman, wouldn't we be like toothless hunting dogs? What can we use to deal with the enemy and that woman!" A stout man next to the leader of the big man was dissatisfied.
Complained in a low voice.
"You are the only one who talks too much!" The leading man glared angrily at the stout man who complained: "That customs official is right, if the order here is good, it will be more conspicuous for us to take weapons on the streets. Don't forget the third team.
Tragic experience. In Laziode, they were treated as robbing horse bandits by the local garrison, and a fierce gun battle broke out. In the end, they all died heroically on the street because they ran out of ammunition. Isn't this a profound lesson?
Our top priority now is to first find the whereabouts of that humble woman. She has been out of our sight for nearly half a month. She has been dealing with us for two or three years in the Falea continent and the west coast colony. We
We swore a blood oath to kill her to avenge our Majesty. Unless we all die, we will go to the ends of the earth to find her and kill her..."
The leader's face became ferocious as he spoke. He would never forget that bloody night. They only thought that His Majesty wanted to have a one-night stand with that beautiful woman, so in order to avoid suspicion, they deliberately relaxed their personal guards.
, the warning distance was set too far, and as a result, the despicable woman found an opportunity to assassinate His Majesty. Only then did the guards realize that the woman was actually a deeply hidden magic
Master, she easily broke out of the encirclement and escaped.
This is the biggest dereliction of duty of these personal guards from the kingdom's special department. No one will forgive them for their fault. Because they were originally members of the kingdom's special department that dealt with those magicians, but it was their negligence that led to His Majesty's death.
Assassinated. Just as many angry officers said to the guards kneeling in front of His Majesty's soul: "How come you losers are still alive? If I were you, I would have committed suicide in shame!"
It's not that they don't want to commit suicide, but they want to find that despicable woman and the conspirators who instigated this woman to assassinate His Majesty, bring her head and theirs back to His Majesty's tomb for a memorial ceremony, and then commit suicide. But that woman is really serious
It was too cunning. They spent two or three years fighting that woman several times, but they never got what they wanted. On the contrary, the more than 40 people who hunted this woman lost half of their lives due to various accidents.
There are still more, and now there are only about twenty people left.
"Boss, don't get excited yet." The round-faced man next to the leader of the big man, who looked kind and approachable, advised: "That despicable woman couldn't hide in the Farea continent, so we chased her to the west coast of the Nubisia continent.
Although we have suffered a lot of losses in the past two years, we have forced her to have nowhere to hide, and she had to flee overseas to be brought under direct jurisdiction. This should be the last place she can hide. Once we find her, she will have nowhere else to hide.
But if she escapes, we will definitely catch her and ask her about the truth behind the assassination of His Majesty and the instigator..."
The leading man took a deep breath, slowly calmed down, and the expression on his face became calm again: "Thank you, Egg, it's my fault. You know, as long as I think of that night and your Majesty's
The corpse was placed in front of me, and I couldn't control my emotions... Now let's find a place to stay, and you can mark it for our companions behind.
By the way, Egg, I remember that there used to be hidden spies arranged by our special department in the overseas territories. I don’t know if they are still there. You can take two people to try and see if we can still contact you. I don’t know who they are.
Wasn't it taken back by the kingdom's current special department? If we can contact them, maybe they can help us a lot..."
The round-faced man nodded: "Okay, when we find a place to live, I will take someone to check it out. Head, look at the patrol policemen over there, keeping an eye on us. If we weren't standing at the customs gate, they would
Maybe they’ll come to us, so it’s better to find a place to settle down first..."
"It's okay, it's up to me." The big man in the lead had returned to his shrewd nature, and walked towards the patrol policemen across the street with a smile on his face, holding the form given to him by the customs official in his hand. When he arrived at the patrol policemen's
In front of him, he half-bowed first, then handed the forms in his hands to the patrol policemen to look at, talked with a smile, and then waved goodbye to the patrol policemen.
"Hey, boss, how did you do it? Those patrolmen ignored us." The round-faced man asked in surprise.
The leading man sighed: "This place is really safe, just as the customs official said. Those patrol officers paid attention to us because the large backpacks we were carrying behind us looked like weapons.
It's clear. I just handed this form to them for review and said it was our first time here, but they didn't take it seriously. They just warned us not to carry long-range and heavy weapons in the city to avoid being rushed by the patrol police in case of disputes.
Accidental injury..."
"So it's okay to carry short weapons?" the round-faced man asked.
The leader nodded: "You can carry swords and knives, but don't carry muskets and crossbows with you. Look, we are registered as smugglers on this form. No one carries muskets and crossbows on the ship."
I agree, but if you carry these weapons in the city, you will easily be misunderstood as having evil intentions. Just remember this when you go out and take a sword with you for self-defense. There is no need to bring all your special muskets."
"We understand." The five big men around him nodded.
"Well, let's call a carriage." The leading man said: "Just now, two patrolmen recommended the Red Stone Flower Tavern in Nancheng, saying that the food there is delicious, the maids are also very cute and considerate, the service is attentive, and the prices are relatively affordable. We will
Let’s go and stay at the Red Stone Flower Tavern, where we will wait for the arrival of our subsequent companions..."
The round-faced man led two companions out of the Red Stone Flower Tavern, called a carriage and drove towards the city gate. When they arrived near the city gate, they got off the carriage and paid the fare, and started to circle around the houses in the area.
After working for half an hour, he finally found two intersecting triangular figures on the bluestone foundation of a shop along the street. This figure looked like a naughty boy's drawing on the surface of the stone, but if you look closely, you can find that this figure was carved on the bluestone.
.
"Let's go to the store to see if he is the contact person we are looking for." The round-faced man entered the store with his two companions, and they came out after about ten minutes. It was obvious that whether it was the owner of the store or the contact person,
None of the clerks in the store were the contacts they were looking for.
"We asked around here and said that we were interested in this shop and wanted to find out where the owner lives." The only result they found out was that the shop was rented and the owner did not live here. It seemed that
I have another residence in the city.
In the evening, a round-faced man and two companions appeared in an alley in Xicheng. They looked at a small door inside and knocked on it.
"Who is it?" came a voice from inside.
"Does Mr. McBroom live here?" the round-faced man asked.
The sound inside suddenly disappeared. After a while, the sound of hurried footsteps came, the small door was opened, and an old man in his fifties came out of the door. He looked at the round-faced man and the other three people suspiciously: "Mai."
Mr. Brome does not live here, but his cousin Mr. Dumblerius and his family do."
The round-faced man laughed: "Does Mr. Dumblerius have a younger brother named Kenryak, who is the steward of Viscount Murillot in the royal capital?"
The old man breathed a sigh of relief: "Yes, he lives in the Baron's Baiqiu Mountain Castle. You are delivering a letter to him, right... Then come in first and then talk about it."
The three round-faced men entered the small door. Inside was a large courtyard and a two-story, three-bay bluestone brick building.
The old man closed the door and looked back at the three round-faced men: "Are you from the capital? The special department has been reorganized?"
The round-faced man shook his head with difficulty, and the old man suddenly became alert: "Then who are you, and how do you know this secret order from ten years ago?"
"We, we haven't been back to the capital for several years, and we don't know what's going on in the capital now." The round-faced man took out a dark iron plate from his arms and handed it to the old man: "This is our identity certificate.
There are two of them too, we are members of the SWAT team..."
The old man was very knowledgeable. He could tell the origins of the three round-faced men just by looking at the metal plates: "You are just reserve members of the special service team. Official special service members all have silver number plates. What big thing happens requires the reserve members of the special service team to join forces."
Are they all going to be dispatched?"
"Let's talk inside the house. We've been looking for you all afternoon. We're exhausted. Get us some water." The round-faced man asked tiredly and curiously: "Why can a lurking spy like you leave?"
The contact point moved here, is it possible that the magician you were monitoring died?"
The old man led the three people into the house and sighed: "I don't know whether he is dead or not. The problem is that I don't know where the magician I want to monitor has gone. A few years ago, the ash disaster on Shigros Island occurred in the overseas territories.
The Tower Mage came to assassinate several generals in the war zone. Subsequently, the war zone carried out a large-scale purge in all the directly-administered territories, and all the reclusive magicians were arrested and taken away.
The magician I was ordered to monitor was no exception, and he never came back. I also reported him missing to the patrol team in the name of a neighbor, but I got a scolding, saying that it was a war zone secret and I was not allowed to pry around.
.I was worried that I would be arrested if I continued to investigate. So I wrote a report and sent it back to the capital, but there was no reply from the capital.
Then the civil war broke out in the kingdom, and the kingdom's mainland and overseas territories were cut off from each other. A few years later, even this overseas territory has declared autonomy. My house next to the city gate was noticed by someone who was wealthy and powerful.
, I had no choice but to rent it to them as a shop. You were the first group of people to come and contact us using the secret joint order from the special department ten years ago. I thought you were from the royal capital and wanted to rewire the place and arrange for spies to come here.
of......"
The round-faced man felt a little disappointed: "When Prince Hansback escaped from the royal capital, more than half of the people in the special department chose to follow the prince. Later, the prince made a surprise attack on the royal capital from the sea and regained control of the royal capital.
, we discovered that the kingdom’s special department was almost gone. The remaining people were either working as bodyguards for powerful people or were scattered without a trace. Things in the warehouse were looted, and we don’t know who did it.
During the civil war, we suffered a lot of casualties, and we lost many of them to protect the eldest prince from assassination. Later, when the eldest prince ascended the throne in the royal capital, our special department had less than 60 people. Later, His Majesty was defeated.
, evacuated Bailu City and returned to the newly occupied territory. Then they were assassinated. From then to now, we only have about twenty left."
"Then what do you want to do when you come to me this time? Don't tell us that you want to assassinate several generals in this Dominion Military Region? That is simply not something you can do. I don't want to get involved in such a thing...
...." The old man said with a wary look.
"No..." The round-faced man shook his head and took out a small portrait from his arms: "Although these generals from overseas territories also betrayed our Majesty, we did not want to find him.
They mean trouble. We came here this time to find the woman in the portrait. She should have arrived here half a month ago, and her current whereabouts are unknown.
She is the murderer of His Majesty. We have been looking for her for three years. She has been evading our pursuit, from the west coast to the direct territory. We must find her and kill her to avenge His Majesty. By the way, there are still people around her