Walking on the cobbled path, Barbara suddenly turned her head and looked at Ania.
"What's wrong? Lady Saint?"
Arnia, who was still surprised by Barbara's many performances before, was shocked, almost thinking that her mind had been seen through.
"Do you know... who are those children?"
Barbara's bright black eyes have a strong aboriginal style, but they are not obtrusive at all. Instead, they are full of a soft power that makes Ania want to get close.
"It should be refugees and escaped slaves from the Northland, right? This kind of situation has been very common in the past few decades. It is a good deed of Barbara to take them in!"
Of course Arnia knew the origins of these children.
Since the war in the northern border, there have been such refugees everywhere, as well as escaped slaves who could not stand the harsh treatment of the orc empire.
It's a pity that even here, they can't get any guaranteed treatment. It's almost common for them to die of freezing and starvation. There are white bones on the side of almost every road and among the grass.
This is true for adults, but it is even worse for children.
It can be said that without Barbara's rescue, these little ghosts would probably die of hunger and cold in the near future.
Therefore, Ania said that Barbara's behavior was an act of kindness, and there was nothing wrong with it.
"Hmm! Act of kindness!" Barbara had a mocking smile on her lips.
"Ania, do you know? As early as a hundred years ago, when the turmoil in the northern border just started, our Lord took in a group of refugee children and trained a large number of priests and scholars... But until now, the descendants of those priests When they came back, they found that their original homeland was still in the midst of war... and even worsened... "
"In the past, those big families, chambers of commerce, and churches would take in a certain number of children, but now... the market has been saturated... Lance and the others have nowhere to go, they can only be starved to death..."
Although it was just a simple statement, Arnia felt an unfathomable light shining in the eyes of the saint.
"Arnia!"
cried Barbara suddenly.
"Yes!" Ania stepped forward nervously.
"Are you willing to work with me to change everything in the Northland?"
"Get rid of the chaos of war and help civilians recover from suffering?" Ania was shocked, and she didn't expect the other party to have such a wish.
"Wait... With the status of the other party's saint, this kind of thing is likely to be inspired by the true god!"
Ania was instantly terrified.
"Could it be... God's war, which is more terrifying than ordinary war, will come to this land?"
In an instant, the emotion of extreme panic attacked Ania's heart in an instant.
But on the surface, she still nodded numbly.
"Very good! I believe in your loyalty to the Bane family, and your belief in our Lord!" Barbara seemed to be nodding with satisfaction.
"So... May I ask the saint, how does the church plan to end this war?"
Ana asked cautiously.
"First of all, it is the blood sacrifice transaction that your family is going to carry out with the Black Blood Tribe...the disposal of the blood essence..."
Barbara glanced at Arnia.
"Has the church already known everything?" Ania's voice was full of anxiety. After all, not all churches can tolerate such things.
"Slaughter civilians, buy slaves for slaughter, and flatter foreign evil gods..."
Barbara counted with her fingers, and a lot of cold sweat rolled down Ania's face.
"Any one of these charges is enough to destroy your family forever! But... fortunately, the current Bane family is still somewhat useful to our lord..."
In Barbara's words, the taste of beating is very obvious.
"Yes! Our family must make the things ordered by the church a top priority!" Knowing this, Ania immediately made a promise.
"Very good... First of all, the deal with the Black Blood Tribe must continue... It just needs to be taken over by our personnel..."
Barbara said with a smile, but Arnia didn't have the slightest right to resist.
"Everything is up to the adults... just..."
There was a rare hesitation in Ania's voice.
"Tell me, is there any difficulty?" The smile on Barbara's face did not diminish, but Ania felt the air around her turn cold.
"It's like this... Our family is only responsible for the collection and processing of blood essence in the mainland. The bulk of this trade is still in the hands of another large chamber of commerce. Even the other party is also responsible for helping us contact the black blood tribe and extract blood essence as a middleman. Remuneration…”
According to Ania, the smuggling trade with the orc empire has formed a huge gray industrial chain in the northern border.
What's ridiculous is that those upper-level figures who control the industry are often inextricably linked with the Silver Moon Alliance, and it is even rumored that they still have the shares of the Elminster Sage, and the priest of the Temple of Fortune is one of the guarantors.
"All transactions with the Dark Forest are under the control of the Black Moon Chamber of Commerce at this time, and our Nien Chamber of Commerce can only act as a mid-level merchant..."
There was a wry smile on the corner of Ania's mouth.
"Black Moon Merchant Guild? It doesn't seem to be well-known in the northern border?" Barbara's eyes flashed a trace of doubt.
"The other party is a large-scale chamber of commerce established in secret. It is the sub-chamber and white gloves of those large-scale chambers of commerce on the bright side, controlling more than 60% of the black market transactions in the Northland..."
There was obvious sarcasm in Arnia's eyes.
"How courageous... Also, that Silver Moon Queen is really pitiful..."
Barbara shook her head. Although she had never seen such a despicable behavior when she grew up on Banks Island, her long life experience had taught her a lot.
"So... who is the person who hinders us?"
asked Barbara.
"The head of the Black Moon Merchant Guild—Glover the Shadow Dog!" Arnia took a deep breath and spat out the name.
"Shadowed dog? Funny nickname..." Barbara laughed.
"This nickname means that the other party is always hidden in the dark, like a hungry dog, and will not let go of any meat, even if it is rotten... In the dark world, Glover's greed and cruelty are enough to make barbarians People are terrified of it…”
Arnia's shoulders trembled, as if thinking of something terrible.
"Interesting, make an appointment with him for me..."
The smile on Barbara's face became more and more obvious...
For black chambers of commerce like Nien and Heiyue that have a dark network, even though they have been blocked and wanted on the surface, the exchange of information behind the scenes is still very convenient.
Soon, Arnia received a reply from Glover agreeing to meet.
The location chosen by the two parties was the basement of a bar. The owner here was obviously a very smart person and avoided places where paladins might appear.
The smell of inferior alcohol, mixed with the pungent smell of tobacco leaves and cheap perfume, made Ania's face wrinkle tightly.
And after seeing Glover's true face, even Barbara's eyes couldn't help showing a hint of surprise, and Arnia even exclaimed directly.
This is really because the appearance of the other party is too individual-the bones around the mouth protrude forward, with sharp fangs, black and spotted nose, and the red light inside and outside the eyes like a beast, like a Shar Pei dog The same skin is layered together, revealing the fat and muscle underneath.
"Is it a hybrid? And it's an extremely rare hybrid..."
Ania thought to herself.
This kind of baby will be directly disposed of when it is born, and there are very few who can survive, and climbing to a high position like Glover is a rare exception, not one out of tens of thousands.
"Um... two beautiful ladies, please!"
Grumbling and vague syllables came out from the other party's throat, as if talking with his tongue out on purpose, and it took Ania a long time to figure out what the other party wanted to say.
"Thank you!"
Arnia saluted and sat down, but then felt a disgusting gaze patrolling her body.
That greedy and longing feeling even gave her goosebumps.
"Shadow fills the dog, the king of scavengers... This nickname is really not wrong at all..."
"Why, two ladies, it seems that you are not satisfied with my hospitality?"
Glover swallowed the quail that was roasted brown in front of him and stuffed with small mushrooms and spices in one bite, and licked it with his scarlet tongue, which made Arnia sick.
"About contacting the Dark Forest..."
Arnia suppressed the discomfort and went directly to the topic.
"About this..."
Glover was stuffing something ferociously into his mouth as a servant flipped a large dark notebook in front of it.
"Currently we don't have this demand here, so your Chamber of Commerce needs to wait..."
"Is there no other way? Regarding the profit distribution, we can still make some concessions?" Ania asked tentatively.
"It's not about profit!"
Glover seemed very decisive. It had wiped out the food in front of it at this time, and a few maids of the fox clan beside it were already wiping its mouth with white napkins.
"However... if Ms. Arnia insists, we can talk in detail in private... haha..."
The red light in Glover's eyes suddenly flourished...
"Damn... this stupid dog, pig..."
After a bad breakup, Ania and Barbara walked out of the bar and began to complain on the road.
"I think the other party is very smart..."
Barbara lifted off the black cloak, revealing a seductive face.
"My lord, do you want me to..."
Arnia's mouth was filled with bitterness for a moment, and then she nodded with difficulty: "If it's for the church, I am willing..."