Smuggled Goods Warehouse

Tom walked beside Ye Wei'an without a shred of suspicion, ready to go collect the money with him.

Fourteen hundred gold coins was no small sum; it weighed a full twelve kilograms.

As they walked, he suddenly remarked, "Tell me, Gray Crow, did Barker and Cress take the wrong medicine tonight? Why are they still wearing those iron cans this late at night? Is their neck not heavy enough?"

The few people behind them felt their hearts tighten at these words.

Only Ye Wei'an present knew how to use [Transformation], and Ailian didn't have the disguise skills that A-Zhu possessed. To prevent anyone from noticing anything amiss, they had no choice but to have Cain and the others wear helmets.

But wearing helmets in itself was a flaw.

Fortunately, Ye Wei'an had a contingency plan. He waved his hand impatiently, "The wind outside is fierce tonight, and the two of them had a bit to drink at the tavern earlier, so they've got a headache from the draft. Stop your nagging."

"Wind?" Todd was about to mock him, but then he saw "Gray Crow" casually flick his robe.

[Four Symbols Method · Wind]

A chilling gust of wind poured in from the main door without warning, causing the raw cowhide on the walls to flap and crackle, nearly extinguishing the oil lamp on the table.

"See? Why would I lie to you?" Ye Wei'an took the opportunity to tighten his cloak, feigning a look of being frozen to the bone. "Enough talk, hurry up and settle the payment so I can go to sleep."

Todd shrank his neck from the blast, his budding suspicions instantly dissolving. "Fine, fine, this damn weather."

He muttered to himself while walking toward the fake Barker, intending to pat him on the shoulder as usual—that was their way of greeting each other.

However, the moment Todd's gaze swept over the fake Barker's right hand, his sleepiness vanished completely.

Something was wrong there!

He suddenly remembered that when Barker was arguing with someone over a woman at the tavern last year, his right pinky finger had been partially severed by a halfling.

But the right pinky finger of the Barker in front of him was intact!

He retreated with lightning speed, his hand already pressing against the broadsword on his back, pointing at Cain and shouting sternly:

"You aren't Barker! Who exactly are you?!"

As a veteran of the Amarisk family, his reaction was undeniably fast.

But the three thugs were still standing there with blank expressions:

"How could Lord Barker be a fake?"

"Why is Brother Todd shouting about an enemy attack?"

"Isn't Lord Gray Crow still standing right there?"

It was Ye Wei'an who reacted first.

(Everyone, move!)

Ye Wei'an's voice echoed in his companions' minds.

The moment Todd drew his sword, Ailian, who had been keeping her head down and acting frail, moved.

She exerted force with the palms that had been tied behind her back, and the seemingly sturdy knots snapped instantly. The little maid slid behind one of the thugs in a flash, her fingers pressed together like a blade, striking precisely at the man's throat.

Cain didn't even draw his sword; he used his heavy gauntlet to clamp down on the second thug's face.

Renn and Harold moved left and right like a pair of iron pincers, neatly snapping the third thug's neck before he could even let out a cry for help.

The three thugs fell without even managing to utter a single word.

"Gray Crow! Get back! These people are trouble!" Todd retreated while shielding his "companion" behind him.

This was the perfect tactical opening Ye Wei'an had been waiting for.

"True Strike!"

The moment Todd approached, the "panicked" Gray Crow's eyes suddenly changed. The refined steel dagger hidden in his sleeve stabbed viciously into the bodyguard's rear ribs at a sinister angle.

"...You?" Todd's eyes bulged.

The sharp pain and absurdity of being stabbed in the back by his own people left him unable to think.

He staggered backward, looking at "Gray Crow" in disbelief, wanting to subdue him first.

"Silver Light Sharp Tongue!"

Ye Wei'an didn't give him a chance.

"Look at me, Todd. Look at the kind of scum you've been following."

Ye Wei'an's voice, bolstered by magic, took on an eerie, resonant quality that fell upon Todd's ears like an oracle.

Todd's consciousness instantly blurred, and the broadsword he was swinging toward Ye Wei'an slowed by half a beat.

Seizing this opportunity, Ye Wei'an released the dagger and grabbed at the air with his right hand, a cluster of shimmering spellfire forming in his palm.

"Spellfire Bolt!"

The arcane flames erupted at point-blank range, striking the bodyguard directly in the chest. Not only did it blast his chest into a bloody mess, but the brilliant flash of fire also blinded the man's eyes.

"My eyes! Aaaah!"

Todd let out a distorted scream, falling into a blinded state and swinging his broadsword wildly.

The heavy, powerful sword dance sent splinters of wooden stools and leather scraps flying everywhere, yet it couldn't even touch the hem of Ye Wei'an's robe.

Ye Wei'an maintained a calm expression as he put some distance between them.

"Spellfire Flame."

"Spellfire Flame."

"Spellfire Flame."

Blue-white flames flared up on Todd again and again, with a "Spellfire Bolt" added in between to refresh the blindness effect.

Todd's struggles grew weaker and weaker; he even attempted to use a warrior's "Second Wind" to restore his stamina, but he ultimately could not outlast the endless stream of cantrips.

Two minutes later, the warrior collapsed, his body left without a single patch of intact flesh.

[Killed Todd, Lv.3 Warrior, gained 450 experience points.]

A Lv.3 warrior, controlled to death by Ye Wei'an, without ever laying a finger on him from start to finish.

Ye Wei'an didn't spare him another glance, brushing some non-existent dust off his cloak.

"Renn, go gather the bodies. Everyone else, come with me to find the entrance to the cellar."

"Now, let's see just how many 'surprises' Lady Selina has prepared for us."

The location of the cellar was not hard to find; soon, Ailian discovered a trapdoor in the kitchen.

The group filed down the wooden ladder one by one, and as the halo of [Light] expanded, the underground warehouse was revealed before their eyes.

The warehouse was even larger than the storefront above ground; it was less of a cellar and more of a miniature smuggling transit station.

"My heavens..." Ailian held up the orb of light and stepped forward to examine the oilcloth-covered wooden crates stacked against the walls.

As expected of a business Lady Selina had operated for many years, every single item in this warehouse was extraordinary.

Anything here would cause a massive uproar if it flowed into the market:

Three bags of Blue Stone Powder mined from the Thunder Mountains—a material that could be crafted into healing and antitoxin potions with simple magical processing, and was a military-controlled substance in Cormyr;

Five crates of unstamped Thunder Tobacco, which had clearly evaded the massive taxes owed to the royal family;

And entire barrels of Shadowdale Red Ale, along with enough Warhorse Harnesses to equip a cavalry unit—all smuggled from the Dalelands.

Finally, they found a large bag of Gold Lion Coins in an iron chest; upon counting, there were over eighteen hundred of them, plus several heavy Trade Bars from the Dalelands—the total value of this wealth was at least twenty-four hundred gold coins.

"She built an underground smuggling station here." Ye Wei'an looked at the goods, his heart stirred.

If these items were reported to the Cormyr royal family, it would surely bring great trouble to Selina and the Amarisk Family behind her.

And even if he sold them himself, it would be a massive fortune.

"Young Master, how should we handle these things?" Cain asked as they left the cellar.

"Leave them here for now." Ye Wei'an said with some helplessness, "Find some furniture to weigh down the cellar door, hide it well, and we'll deal with it once the main force arrives in Firefall Town."

He only took the gold coins and trade bars with him on this trip.

In truth, the value of these goods far exceeded that of the gold coins and bars, but unfortunately, the system inventory had limited weight capacity. They couldn't possibly transport all of this by themselves, so they had to leave it here for the time being, praying that no one would break into the leather shop before they returned.