Bold Angler

Ian couldn't make sense of it. He couldn't speak for the other starting classes, but a Sellsword Knight with armor and a trained horse should have been able to deal with a merchant caravan like this without question, provided he was at full strength.

It was only because Ian was currently unarmored that he didn't dare take the risk.

While Ian was considering, the player exchanged a few words with his servants. The lean fake merchant then approached Ian. Pretending not to notice their little maneuver, Ian said nothing.

"I'm Damon, a Traveling Merchant from Brightwater City in The Reach."

"I don't care who you are," Ian cut him off. "I only care about this batch of salt."

"May I ask who you are?"

"Ser Ian Hill." Ian smiled. Unlike when he had faced the stablehand, he didn't pretend to be a legitimate Lannister in front of another player. After all, maintaining that lie would be far more troublesome than pretending to be a bastard.

The benefits of posing as a bastard were immediately obvious. Unless the other side wanted to offend you beyond repair, they wouldn't pry any further.

"Perhaps you haven't heard of me, but this shipment is wanted by Ser Kevan—brother to Tywin Lannister, Duke of Casterly Rock. I suggest you don't get any ideas." Ian borrowed a little prestige to issue his warning.

"Uh..." The skinny merchant was clearly bluffed again. This was plainly beyond what his leader had told him to say, so he looked back at the fat servant.

The fat man was starting to panic inside. He could only hurry forward and explain, "My lord, my name is Harui. My cousin isn't very sharp, so I'm usually the one making decisions for the caravan."

A very reasonable explanation. Ian sneered inwardly. If I really were some noble's bastard, you might actually have fooled me.

"I'm no lord. I'm merely a knight." Ian stiffly rejected the merchant's flattery—or perhaps it had merely been a slip of the tongue. "In any case, you'll speak with me. Hand this shipment over. What compensation do you want? I can personally authorize three times its price. Even if you shipped it south and sold it off in batches, your profit wouldn't exceed that."

"Unless you intended to evade taxes. Oh, right—you weren't planning to evade taxes, were you?" Ian spun nonsense while calculating whether he could safely escape if he drew his sword and killed this merchant now.

The answer was no. Judging by the unhurried pace of those salt miners, Ian couldn't rule out the possibility that their foreman had been bought off.

If it were just a matter of killing the merchant among a few worthless servants and escaping, he might have had a chance. But if these miners had also been bribed, it would be difficult for him to get away.

After all, miners in this era had always formed gangs with something of an underworld nature. It took some real capability to keep control of such a profitable operation. To a miner, cracking open your skull wasn't much harder than cracking open the stone in a shaft.

Moreover, the merchant's caravan was parked right across the entrance to the mine. To leave, he would have to circle around the caravan just as he had when entering, which undoubtedly increased the risk of being brought down by the salt miners.

Across from Ian, Harui's thoughts were racing as well. He hadn't come here to earn the meager profits from this salt. He was here for the enormous reward of 3,000 Gold Dragons and the S-Class NPCs. Who could have expected some idiot bastard to appear out of nowhere?

If he gave up this opportunity to hunt here and went back to Salt Town to make new arrangements, there simply wouldn't be enough time. A hundred players were now thinking about how to claim first blood. Time was everything.

"Of course not. We're lawful merchants. For three generations, my family has been honest folk. We would never do anything illegal." Harui lowered his head respectfully.

"Oh? So four generations ago, your family committed crimes? Otherwise, you should have said your family had been honest folk for generations."

"No, no, no." Harui hurriedly waved his hands. "I've never even met my great-grandfather. I'm an honest man—I don't make claims about things I'm not sure of."

Fuck! You're an honest man? Then Tajai Village is a goddamn model village! "I don't have time to listen to your jokes. Just tell me—do we have a deal or not?"

"No, no, no, that won't be necessary." Harui shook his head again. "Just have the salt mine return the principal we've already paid. Please give Ser Kevan my regards."

"Enough! What do you think you are? Since when did Ser Kevan need the regards of a lowborn nobody?" Ian couldn't help sneering. In the haughty tone of a Lannister, he said, "I said I'd pay you three times the price, so take it. Don't try to use this opportunity to curry favor."

Harui's expression froze. He had merely added that out of habit, completely forgetting that, in his current identity as a merchant, he had no standing to attach himself to House Lannister. Only after Ian scolded him did he realize it, and he could only force out an awkward smile.

He didn't dare feel any anger. He knew that nobles in this era considered such an attitude toward commoners perfectly natural, even if the man in front of him was only a bastard.

Ian watched Harui, suppressing the tension in his heart. I've ruined your fishing plan. Whatever other tricks you have, bring them out.

Very soon, Ian sharply noticed Harui give the salt pit foreman a look. His guess had been right! The other side had bought off the foreman long ago! Good thing he hadn't acted rashly just now.

"Then, Ser Ian, please rest in town first. We'll begin taking inventory now, and by tomorrow morning, you can haul away all the goods," the foreman said respectfully as he approached Ian.

So they wanted to lure me away so they could keep waiting here for prey. Ian's eyes flickered. "Show me the goods first. My family's transport convoy will arrive soon. When they get here, my men can help as well. Let's try to finish loading everything before tonight."

"Oh, and Harui, move your caravan first. Don't let it block our space later." Ian looked at Harui and finally revealed his true objective.

Harui's caravan happened to be blocking the entrance to the salt works. As long as he moved those carts aside, Ian could immediately spur his horse out after killing him.

"Of course, Ser. I would be happy to be of service." Harui bowed.

Upon hearing that House Lannister's transport convoy was on its way, he gave up on the idea of testing himself against this bastard. In any case, this group of Lannisters would leave once they hauled away the salt today. At worst, tomorrow he could fill some sacks with sand and continue fishing here.

Thus, Harui began ordering his servants to move the carts.

At the sight, every nerve in Ian's body tightened as he prepared to strike like thunder.

No one here suspected him now. He only needed to use the moment of confusion after killing Harui to rush out. With the speed of his horse, no one here would be able to catch him.

Yet just as he watched Harui's carts nearly finish moving away, the sound of an arrow slicing through the air and a low, miserable cry suddenly rang out.