Hawke sat at the door of the ore warehouse, which was located at the entrance of a mountain road into the Black Mountain. The road had just been repaired and was wide enough for oxcarts to pass through easily. A tributary of the Kalma River was about 20 meters outside the warehouse. The miners in Camp No. 3 transported the mined ore down the mountain road and then transported it to the smelter downstream by flat-bottomed boats.
Since the transport teams did not come and go frequently, the fleet only came once every three days, and the inventory statistics were quite simple, Hawke, the warehouse manager, actually had a pretty leisurely time.
At this time, he was pressing a bunch of dry yellow leaves with his fingers and rolling them into a long strip. This was homemade tobacco. The tobacco he used was not real tobacco, but a broad-leaved plant called "Chong'erpa" that is a specialty of Montenegro. In border towns like Frollo, there are very few real tobacco leaves. Locals often dry these pungent leaves to satisfy their addiction. This trick soon spread to the resettlement camp. Hawke is not very old, but he is addicted to smoking. When he was in the south in his early years, most of the little property he had left was used to buy good tobacco and good wine. After accidentally becoming a slave, he never ate meat. When he arrived here, the camp did not have much tobacco supply, so he also learned to be self-reliant like the Montenegrins.
Soon, a burnt yellow cigarette was rolled. Hawke picked up three thin grass stems and tied the cigarette in the front, middle and back. This is also a traditional method in Montenegro. When the fire burns the grass stems, the compressed leaves will suddenly loosen, and from the front it looks like a burning flower blooming. Therefore, the locals call smoking a cigarette "blowing three flowers".
However, Hawke lit up the cigarette and blew a flower when he was interrupted unexpectedly. Lorenzo covered his nose and flashed into the warehouse. With a look of disgust on his face, he threw two cigarettes produced in the camp on the table.
"Hurry up and kill that garbage. It's choking me to death."
Hawke took a deep breath, then reluctantly threw the cigarette on the ground and stamped it out with his foot. Then he put the two cigarettes Lorenzo gave him into his pocket and said with a smile, "You don't understand. This is what we call a good flavor."
Lorenzo was in no mood to joke with him. He waved his hand to disperse the smoke in front of him and asked directly, "How is the recruitment of personnel for Camp No. 3?"
"It's hard to find people in the camp now." Hawk pulled a chair and asked Lorenzo to sit down and talk. "Apart from anything else, these Black Mountain people are still very good at managing people. The lives of those peasants are much better than before they were slaves. What else can they be dissatisfied with? It's a dream to persuade them to go against the magician. If there are dissatisfied people, most of them are people like us, but people like us are mostly knowledgeable, and it's not easy to persuade them to make trouble."
"How many people did you find down there?"
"More than twenty."
"It's still too few. We need at least fifty people."
"I know that a small group of people won't have much momentum, but..." Hawke gestured with his hands empty, "There are always people who like to have visible benefits now."
Lorenzo sighed, pulled out a purse from his pocket and threw it to Hawke.
Hawke took the purse, opened it and looked inside, and couldn't help whistling.
"Thirty silver coins. Enough for you to do something big." Lorenzo's eyes lingered on the money bag for a long time and said, "This is the last sum of money. Use it sparingly!"
"I've been waiting for this. No one can resist money. One silver coin can make a farmer work hard, and two silver coins can make a soldier bend his back. Don't worry, I guarantee that there will be so many people on the day of the incident that the Montenegrins will be shocked."
Lorenzo nodded and said, "When this is done, the benefits you will receive will surprise you."
"But you are willing to spend so much money." Hawke hesitated again while weighing his money bag. "Will it really cause any danger?"
"How could that be? We are just fighting for the treatment we deserve. Nobles, mages and warriors certainly shouldn't waste their days on these trivial matters and do the same things as those untouchables. This is not only a matter of situation, but also a matter of honor! You must not back down when the time comes. Aren't you tired of being a warehouse manager?" Lorenzo asked back.
Hawke glanced at his warehouse and laughed at himself, "The longer I stay here, the more lazy I become."
"Hawke. I heard that your ancestors were awarded the title because of their military achievements?"
"During the defense of Coconut City, my great-great-great-grandfather went down to the city in the dark, ran hundreds of kilometers on foot, brought in reinforcements, and was awarded the title of baron. Later, generations of family heads worked hard for the city lord and earned the title of viscount." Hawke looked at the mountains in the distance outside the warehouse door and said with emotion: "But since I lost my family and became a slave, I don't think about these face-saving things. Lorenzo, we can discuss the matter of recruiting people to make money, and it's okay to make a fuss and fight for some benefits, but don't come to me for risking your life. I'm not a desperate berserker."
Seeing Hawke's face slowly getting darker, Lorenzo raised his lips and snorted, "When have I ever put you in danger? Just do what you promised us. Let's not talk about this anymore. Tell me, what's the latest news about Camp No. 3?"
"The biggest thing is definitely the explosion a few days ago..."
Lorenzo chatted with Hawke for about a quarter of an hour, then hurriedly left the warehouse. He followed the forest road into the mountain, walked for about twenty minutes and turned onto a small road. He walked up a little further and came to a plain mountain wall on the side of the road. Seeing that there was no one around, he reached out and groped on the stone wall for a while, then took out a round piece of iron from the inside pocket of his jacket and pressed it on a specific position on the stone wall.
After a moment, a complicated magic circle appeared on the stone wall. When the light between the magic circle started to move, the magic circle gradually disappeared. Instead, a layer of light film appeared on the stone wall. Lorenzo walked into the light film, and the light film gradually disappeared.
When Lorenzo walked out from the other end of the light film, the light around him dimmed. After taking a few seconds to adapt to the surrounding environment, he found that this was a wooden house. There were several fully armed warriors and mages in the room, holding weapons, looking at him in a serious manner.
Neither side spoke until the light film behind Lorenzo dissipated and the men relaxed.
"Galdo, don't be nervous. I have no one following me." Lorenzo looked around and asked curiously, "Why did you change your base again? Isn't it tiring to move the teleportation array every day?"
"I heard that the false god's spies are also targeting the Black Mountain Mage. We have to be careful." The leading warrior Gardo sheathed his sword and answered seriously. If Xiao Chen was here, he would definitely recognize this "bard" who he had met on the road.
"There are indeed such rumors, but we are all very careful, so there is no need to be too nervous. If we change our base rashly, it will also attract the attention of those who are interested." Lorenzo said.
"This is what the third-level priestess Sophia meant." Galdo did not intend to explain further.
"Lady Sofia is here?" Lorenzo's face tensed up and his attitude suddenly became serious. "Okay, just pretend I didn't say anything."
"Lady Sophia is waiting for you next door." said a man dressed as a wizard. He was another bard, Letona.
Lorenzo followed Letona to the next room, where a bald, white-haired old man, a freckled teenage girl and the third-level priest Sophia were sitting around a round table. All three of them were wearing ordinary peasant clothes and had very ordinary temperaments.
The old man was the second-level priest Russell, who was the creator and operator of the beacon. The one who appeared in the guise of a young girl was the high-level assassin Dara, who, like Lorenzo, had already infiltrated the slave camp, but acted alone and was not under his jurisdiction.
Seeing Lorenzo coming in, Sophia smiled and said, "Wisdom comes first, Lorenzo, come and sit down. This time you sneaked into the camp of these foreign magicians yourself, which is commendable. What did you get?"
"Wisdom is supreme, Lady Sophia. That is not my courage. Everything is calculated by the God of Wisdom." Lorenzo saluted Sophia, nodded to the other two, and then sat on the remaining chair.
"Lorenzo, ever since we parted in the temple, I have been looking forward to your progress. Now that the time for our action is approaching, I have personally brought all the people involved in the action here. Now, tell me the details. Have the signposts been placed?" Although Priest Sophia looked ordinary, a closer look at her expression revealed that she was in control of everything. Her eyes were like blue gems, giving people a feeling of seeing through everything.
"Yes. I managed to sneak into the castle and placed the beacon in a very inconspicuous warehouse. As for the personnel, we have developed about two hundred dissatisfied people in five camps. These people will be the main force of our uprising. They will at least cause a riot of more than five hundred people. This will create enough opportunities for our breakthrough." Lorenzo replied respectfully.
"How many of our people are involved? I mean people who are completely under our control and can complete the mission at any cost."
"This... about ten." Fearing that the High Priest would be dissatisfied, Lorenzo explained, "But these people are the real elite. I have already revealed our cover identities to a limited extent."
"What do you mean?" asked Priest Sophia.
"The Repulse Bay Mercenary Group. It is most convenient for us to use the southern city-state as a cover. These places are already chaotic, and it is difficult to find out the truth."
Priest Sophia hummed noncommittally, then asked, "Are you prepared enough now?"
“How many people did you end up bringing?”
"Two teams of temple warriors, one can be led by Galdo and the other by Juan."
A team consists of ten people, and each temple warrior has at least mastered low-level fighting spirit. Lorenzo thought about it and said, "I think we need to prepare for a few more days."