Great Thief Jero

Ever since taking part in the Elk War, Zhou Ming had become an old hand at the several major battles that had broken out around the territory over the following two years.

At their core, these wars were still wars between noble knights and had nothing whatsoever to do with farmers like him.

Besides, these lords and knights who spent all day cooped up training in their castles had long since been bored stiff. They might as well fight the neighboring lords a few times and stretch their limbs.

As for the farmers sent onto the field, one purpose was to make the battlefield look livelier, while the other was to give the knights some heads to rack up. The deaths of a few or a dozen farmers were of no consequence at all.

What was truly dangerous for farmers, just as Uncle O'Neil had said, were the bandits who had long operated in the mountains and forests, skilled in all kinds of traps and poisons.

Zhou Ming had once joined a campaign against bandits. There had only been eight or nine of them, yet Baron Connor had led over a thousand men in pursuit for more than ten days. Only after suffering over twenty casualties had they driven the bandits out of the territory, killing merely three of them.

During that campaign, Zhou Ming had nearly stepped into empty air and fallen into a trap filled with sharpened wooden stakes.

Still, Zhou Ming had not come away from that campaign empty-handed.

Among those crafty bandits was one unlucky fellow whom Edward had shot in the thigh. Unable to run quickly, he had been abandoned by his companions.

Following the faint blood trail, Zhou Ming discovered the unlucky man hiding in a patch of bushes within an inconspicuous gully.

"Come out. Stop hiding."

Zhou Ming pointed his spear at the bushes.

"Whoosh!"

A blue-glinting dagger flew straight at Zhou Ming's face!

Already on alert, Zhou Ming tilted his head. The dagger grazed past his face and buried itself in the dirt slope behind him.

"I'll count to three. If you don't come out, I'll stab right through there! One, two..."

Before he could count to three, a self-mocking voice came from the bushes. "I never thought that I, Great Thief Jero, would die at the hands of an unknown brat today. Lucky brat, hand me over to Earl William of the Earl Mason Territory, and you can collect a reward of five hundred gold coins from him."

Zhou Ming sneered. "By the time I collect that five-hundred-gold-coin reward, I suppose it'll also be the moment I meet my end and have those coins taken from me, right?"

Even with death at his doorstep, this sly bandit was still trying to pull this trick.

Great Thief Jero froze slightly, then laughed. "Smart brat. So you intend to kill me outright?"

Zhou Ming put away his spear. "If I wanted to kill you, would I be wasting so many words? I would've thrust the spear in already."

Great Thief Jero was even more surprised. "You don't plan to kill me? My head can earn you quite a reward from your lord."

"That little reward means nothing to me. Keeping you alive will be far more useful to me!"

Zhou Ming tossed his spear aside, crouched down, and carried the bandit to a safe place. The man was around thirty, with blond hair, brown eyes, and a lean build, looking much like one of the western barbarians. Zhou Ming treated his wound and fed him some dried meat and cheese.

"Hey, kid, why did you save me?"

More than ten days later, when his wound had mostly healed, Great Thief Jero finally could not hold back his confusion and asked.

He had traveled far and wide and met all sorts of people, yet he had never seen a sixteen-year-old boy with so much hidden in his heart, doing so many things he found impossible to understand.

"I saved your life because I wanted to leave myself a way out in the future."

While changing the dressing on his wound, Zhou Ming looked up and spoke bluntly.

"A way out? What way out? You want to become a bandit like me? Kid, I'll admit you're good material, but being a bandit isn't fun and games. Once the bounty on your head exceeds five hundred gold coins, you'd better watch out for companions who might turn on you at any time... This line of work isn't easy."

Great Thief Jero shook his head. Bandits might seem carefree, but who could truly know the risks behind that freedom?

Zhou Ming explained, "You've misunderstood me. By a way out, I don't necessarily mean joining you and becoming a bandit. I mean that when I run into trouble in the future, I hope to have someone I can turn to for help. I saved your life, so you owe me a favor. That's why I want you to help me."

"Kid, it's true that you saved my life, but I never agreed to help you with anything—especially if that favor might cost me my life. Don't get ahead of yourself!"

Great Thief Jero shook his head. Among the people he knew were those who had drawn blades on their teammates over a hundred gold coins, and those who had stabbed their brothers twice over a good-looking prostitute. He had truly encountered few who, after having their lives saved, would repay that debt with their own lives.

"Don't worry. I know where to draw the line. I won't throw your little life away. Besides, you have a brain of your own. Even if someone forced you to do something dangerous, you wouldn't do it..."

Zhou Ming then dangled another bait. "And you bandits, before you murder, set fires, and rob homes, don't you know how to use your brains? You enter a territory you know nothing about, see valuables and rush to seize them, see pretty women and pounce on them. You don't even send scouts to gather information—find out whose house has the most money hidden away, whose women are the prettiest, whose defenses are the weakest and easiest to rob... Are all so-called great thieves like you?"

"Cough, cough! Shut your mouth, brat! We always scout things out before making a move. Of the dozen or so territories nearby, Glan Territory is the richest. Why else would we have come here?"

Great Thief Jero coughed violently twice, his old face reddening. This brat made it sound so convincing. Could he possibly understand more than a man who had roamed the world for over a decade?

In truth, this had something to do with Zhou Ming. Over the past decade or so, Glan Territory had developed the habit of collecting manure in centralized locations and regularly using it as fertilizer. Crop yields had risen, plague outbreaks had become less frequent, and although some population had been lost to war, Glan Territory truly had the largest population and the most abundant goods compared with many of the surrounding territories.

"The King's treasury has money too. Why don't you rob that... I'd say you simply don't value intelligence work enough. Otherwise, you wouldn't have failed to get any money while suffering such heavy losses instead."

Being lectured like this by a brat nearly a generation younger than him, Great Thief Jero understood that the boy had a point, but he still said indignantly, "You brat can only talk big. I've roamed the world for over a decade. What treasures and women haven't I taken? This time, there was only a small accident. You're not even a bandit—what do you know?"

"You're right, I don't have the standing to criticize you... How about this? Once you've recovered, call over your remaining companions. I'll scout the way for you, and we'll rob Rose Town once more. If we succeed, all the treasure is yours. If we fail, I'll let you deal with me however you please, and the favor you owe me will be wiped clean as well. How does that sound?"

Zhou Ming felt that unless he produced some real results, Great Thief Jero probably would not obey him so readily.

"Brat, you said that yourself?"

Great Thief Jero was tempted. The brat's tone might have been a little too big, but his proposal was indeed appealing. And as the brat had said, they truly placed far too little importance on intelligence. They only knew there was money here, then came to rob it. Who knew the knight squad here would be so formidable...

If they relied on this boy to investigate the route and targets clearly, then grabbed what they could and left, the risk would definitely be much lower than last time.

Let's give this a try, just as the brat said!