The wooden house of the body collector was very dilapidated and very dark. There were no windows in the whole house, and it smelled stale. Once the door was closed, it was dark inside. The cold wind blew outside, and the wooden boards of the house creaked, as if they were collapsing at any time.
There were no beds in the house, so a dozen body collectors slept on the cold ground. They spread hay in piles and crawled in to sleep, but the cold wind still blew in through the gaps in the wooden boards, making everyone stiff.
Banshee Castle's fuel generally relies on wood, but logging is hard physical work. For heating and daily life, the surrounding areas of the city are cut down bare, so fuel is particularly expensive.
The poor can't afford firewood, so they have to burn whatever they have. The cheapest thing is the dung of large animals, which is so smokey when burned that it can choke a person to death indoors. But as a corpse collector, there is no choice at all. Either freeze to death or
Smoked to death.
Adrian was so smoked in the corpse collector's hut that his eyes became astringent and he burst into tears. He thought to himself that he was not a delicate person in the past, so why couldn't he bear it?
After thinking for a moment, I can only conclude that the life in Cold Wind City has been greatly improved, while the bottom level of Banshee Castle is worse than a dog.
The corpse collector's lunch is a kind of batter, the cheapest food on the market. It's hard to tell what it is, and the taste is hard to describe.
Adrian has eaten a lot of unpleasant things in the past. But today's meal was definitely the most unpleasant.
"You guys are living too hard." Adrian put down the broken wooden bowl in his hand and took out a silver coin from his pocket, "Can we still buy food in the city now?"
"It's okay. You can find it at Mr. Butcher's grain store, but we have never been able to afford it. These batters are given to us by the city hall. They are a little bit unpalatable, but the advantage is that they are free."
The youngest of the corpse collectors spoke. He was only eleven or twelve years old, thin and small, and had already eaten clean the wooden bowl in his hand.
When the old corpse collector next to him saw Adrian's silver coins, he shook his head and said: "We usually only use copper coins. If we use silver coins to buy food, the sheriff will definitely think it is stolen. Unless... give him half."
.”
This situation is really not surprising at all, it is the normal operation of a noble bastard.
Adrian thought about what his lord did - whenever Sir Hugo was free, he would ride his mechanical Land Dragon around the city and outside the city.
Propaganda, education, purge, the lord single-handedly forcibly reformed the bureaucratic public service system. In order to show the difference from the past, the Sheriff of Cold Wind City even changed his name to police.
Looking at the condition of the Banshee Castle, Adrian could only shake his head, take out a few more coins from his pocket and give them to the corpse collector, asking them to exchange them for copper coins to buy some food.
"Take it. Only when you are full can you live, and then you can escape to Cold Wind City and live a good life."
A dozen body collectors were extremely grateful, carefully took the silver coins, and swore to do everything they could to be loyal to Sir Hugo. Adrian was smiling on his face, but shaking his head in his heart. He gave the body collectors a few words and left.
Cold Wind City does not want to go to war, but reality forces it to expand. In order to give the Butch family a blow in the back when the war breaks out, the erosion and infiltration of Banshee Castle officially started half a year ago.
Adrian is in charge of this matter and specializes in looking for potential allies within the enemy. From nobles and wealthy families to traffickers and pawns, any group that is dissatisfied with the Butcher family is his contact partner.
Cold Wind City has specially trained an espionage team, with hundreds of people sneaking into various cities in the North. There are more than 100 in Banshee Castle, which is the focus, and nearly 2,000 insiders of different levels have been developed.
Currently, there are more than a dozen safe houses and dozens of communication lines with different paths inside the Banshee Castle. The intelligence network is expanding in the city like mercury.
The corpse collector's hut is an intelligence point. It is not noticed here and is subject to discrimination. As long as there is a little publicity, the corpse collectors who live in extreme poverty will all turn to Cold Wind City. In fact, they only want to eat one bite and don't think much about anything else.
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Adrian established this intelligence point to complete the task assigned by the lord - to execute Baron Bishop who had committed war crimes.
Six months ago, Bishop led thousands of troops to invade the territory of Cold Wind City. While stationed in Dense Fog Town, many of his troops committed horrific massacres of villages.
Of the more than 2,000 people in Dense Fog Town, one-third died at the hands of Bishop's troops. Rapes, robberies, arson, massacres, and all kinds of heinous crimes were all related to him.
Victor Hugo issued a lord order in Cold Wind City, tried Bishop to death in absentia, and offered a reward of 10,000 gold coins for the baron's life.
This lord's order was published in the Coldwind City newspaper a few months ago. But unlike other policies that caused heated discussions, not many people paid attention to this order at all. Everyone thought it was Sir Hugo making a rant.
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Bishop himself is powerful, has many protections around him, and is still staying in the Banshee Castle. How can he kill him if he wants? Even the Northland adventurers who regard wealth as life are not interested.
But just because everyone doesn't take it seriously doesn't mean the order won't be implemented.
Adrian spent half a year weaving a web in Banshee Castle, not only to obtain intelligence and set up an underground front, but also to kill Bishop when the time came.
The Butcher family only exists in one city, and baronetship is the highest title the family can bestow. Eliminating Bishop in the enemy's lair will inevitably cause a huge psychological shock.
Bishop was known among the nobles for his brutality and brutality. He made many contributions to the Butch family. He suppressed riots, eliminated dissidents, and imposed exorbitant taxes. Every achievement meant a large number of deaths, and there were countless people who hated him.
Getting rid of such a target will help win people's hearts, but it will also inevitably suffer crazy revenge from the Butch family. Adrian has been planning to complete this matter for a long time, but he never decided to pay attention until he established contact with the corpse collector.
After leaving the corpse collector's hut, Adrian walked slowly through the streets of the city wrapped in a ragged robe. This city is much larger than Cold Wind City, and each district is relatively independent.
The Buchi family has always been very wealthy in the past, and the city construction is better than that of Cold Wind City. Most of the buildings on both sides of the street are made of stone, which is strong and durable, and its warmth retention is far better than that of wood.
In the past, people wanted to live in Banshee Castle, because the living conditions and job opportunities here were much better than those in Coldwind City, and there was a concentration of talents and funds. Now... things have changed slightly.
After walking around several commercial streets twice to make sure that no one was following him, Adrian arrived at the back door of a furniture store in the city. This was a private property owned by a small nobleman who made a lot of money by purchasing finished wood from the north.
The furniture store is three stories high, with a small attic on the roof of the back entrance. There are people watching behind the wooden windows of the attic at all times. When Adrian appears, the people in the store are prepared with a plan.
The back door opened, and two shop assistants came out and passed Adrian. The former would walk around the nearby streets to ensure that no one was watching, and at the same time be wary of any movement outside. The latter would go straight in without saying hello.
Since the Butch family had sealed the border, the store could not buy cheap materials from the north, and business was bleak. A few carpenter apprentices were chatting and did not look at outsiders much.
Adrian walked through the backyard, and there was a man in black robe waiting. He quickly exclaimed: "Master Mondino, are you here too?"
The man in black robe raised his head slightly, revealing half of his skull face, "The Lord received your action plan and approved it.
But considering that Bishop is not an ordinary target, I sent you support. Not only me, but also Old Bank, and..., Meow Meow."
Behind the Chief of the Undead is Old Bank, who has once again assumed the post of Chief Prophecy of Cold Wind City. There is a black cat licking its paws on the table behind Old Bank.
This team is quite luxurious and they are obviously going to cause a big stir.