Lord of the Oasis

Borg’s face was ashen.

He squatted in the damp and cold corner of the wall, his eyes filled with anxiety.

He had finally discovered this secret.

Looking up at the small cell made of rocks, Borg’s heart trembled at the discovery of this secret.

If possible, he really did not want to appear in the Nahrin Desert. He did not want to be curious because he saw the watchtower that reached into the clouds. He also did not want to come to the nearby dune, and observed the castle that almost made him dumbstruck on the spot. He wanted to see what was going on here!

If he hadn’t been curious, perhaps he wouldn’t have been locked in this prison in a dungeon. There wouldn’t have been fierce and ferocious guards holding leather whips made of cow skin walking back and forth.

The fierce and vicious gaze that seemed to want to eat him alive made his heart tremble even more.

Borg had never thought of himself as a heroic man.

No, he willing to become a shy girl, then perhaps he could still use his body and beauty to flatter and live humbly in front of these terrifying guards or the owner of the castle.

It was better than being hanged, beheaded, strangled, buried alive, and been through a series of cruel methods.

Thinking of this…

Borg’s tears could not help but flow out again.

“Great God of War, Edmund, please save me. I just want to find a trade route for my family.”, Borg knelt on the cold stone slab with his eyes closed and tears flowing down. He kept praying for the protection of the God of War.

Thinking of his family’s business in East County was about to fall, his tears flowed even more.

However, pleading was obviously useless.

The group of dutiful guards outside would not let him off easily.

However, someone responded to Borg’s prayer.

“You might have made a mistake.”

Light footsteps could be heard from the corridor outside the door as well as a response. “The God of War, Edmund, protects warriors who can die gloriously on the battlefield, not captives who surrender out of fear.”

Borg instantly opened his eyes.

Just outside the iron fence, Kant walked over slowly with a calm face. “Am I wrong?”

“You… You are…”, Borg looked at Kant.

However, his expression was extremely terrified. He subconsciously fell to the ground and leaned back against the cold stone wall. His tone was somewhat abnormal, “You are… Baron Kant!”

“You know me?”, Kant stood outside the fence, and his tone was somewhat curious.

There were many people in the Dukedom of Leo who knew his name.

After all, the eldest son of the Grand Duke who was exiled to the Nahrin Desert was practically a funny joke after a meal.

However, there were clearly not many people who knew Kant’s face and recognized him directly. Even the noble families of the Dukedom of Leo might not be able to recognize him when they met in an unfamiliar environment.

Kant was very sure that the captive looked at him as if he knew him.

“Baron Kant… Lord Kant!”

Borg seemed to have discovered a possibility to live. He knelt on the ground and kowtowed heavily, he said sorrowfully, “You are merciful. Please let me go. I came to the Nahrin Desert to save my family’s business. I only came to save my family. Please let me go!”

Kant did not answer. Instead, he looked calmly at Borg in the dungeon.

This kind of begging had no effect on him.

He knocked on the iron fence with the horsewhip in his hand. The handle was gold-plated tail and inlaid with emeralds, it made a soft sound. Kant turned his head and walked out. “Take him to the interrogation room. I want to interrogate him personally.”. Kant paused and then instructed the guards, “Also, write down the statements recorded previously and give me a copy.”

“Understood.”, the two guards who followed him immediately nodded. After they entered the prison to work, they understood their duties and the tasks they needed to do. They did not just torture them. They also summarized the key points that each prisoner had said when they begged for mercy. It was also a key task to write down the key points.

Borg was not the only one imprisoned in the cell.

The guards of the trade caravan he brought from the East County were now all imprisoned in small cells as well.

This was a large-scale prison at the castle level.

Not to mention to imprison more than ten people, even more than a hundred people would not be a problem.

In order to prevent this group of people from colluding with each other, they were imprisoned separately. The dungeon, the water prison, the cage, and the ground cell were all locked up separately. There were also temporary peasant guards with long scythe and long whip patrolling, they were waiting for Lord Kant’s interrogation later.

In the interrogation room, Kant sat on the main seat, while Firentis, Rolf, and Bunduk sat around him.

The prepared document had been sent over.

It recorded in detail about who these people were and why they appeared near the Oasis Lookout.

As for the authenticity, there was no way to guarantee it.

Kant put down the document in his hand, his tone was a little strange. “The son of a merchant from the East County wants to come to the Oasis Lookout to trade fine white salt with me in order to save his family that is on the verge of bankruptcy. If this is true, then I have to admire this young man called Borg for being so desperate.”

“A young man whose family is on the verge of bankruptcy and try hard save his family’s business. Not a bad young man.”, Bunduk shrugged. It seemed that this story was very good, at least it suited his taste.

“Huh? A little bastard from a rundown family?”. However, Rolf was somewhat disappointed.

Rolf stroke his chin that he had carelessly shaved, the stubble was a little prickly, but he could not help but shake his head and say, “I bet I won’t be able to squeeze much out of him.”. He paused for a moment, he said to Kant, “If he was the son of a large family, I would be able to earn a large sum of ransom for Lord Kant. It’s a pity now that he’s not of much use.”

“Hmph.”, Bunduk snorted in response, using his own actions to express his displeasure towards Rolf.

Even Firentis looked at Rolf with displeasure.

But Rolf did not seem to notice.

Instead, he said proudly, “You are bunch of swollen headed and self-proclaimed decent men. This isn’t Caradia. I’m accumulating wealth for Lord Kant. I’m not the same as you guys!”

“Alright, bring this Borg guy up.”

Kant instructed Rolf, “Be gentle. If he is really as described in the document, perhaps we can use him as a springboard to extend our forces to the East County and develop other subordinates. We will not be completely controlled by Baron Dylan at the Stone Pass.”

Kant had already told Rolf and Bunduk about the detailed information of this world, especially the distribution of power in the Dukedom of Leo. It was an important matter that they had carefully communicated with each other.

Rolf and Bunduk knew about the three counties in the dukedom of Leo.

They also knew what kind of crisis the Oasis Lookout was facing.

“Understood.”

Rolf nodded and quickly brought Borg into the interrogation room.

This young man in his twenties had cold sweat all over his face. His legs were weak, and he was almost trembling when he walked.

He was obviously extremely afraid.

“Relax.”

Kant sat on the main seat and said to Bunduk beside him, “Bring him a chair.”

Bunduk stood up and placed the chair in front of Borg.

It seemed that this handsome middle-aged man made Borg feel ease a bit, so he gulped and sat on the chair shakily. He looked at Kant with great desire. His lips trembled, but he did not dare to say anything.

Beside him were the guards.

Especially the two heavily armored Swadian knights, who gave him the worst deterrence.

“Are you from the East County?”, Kant asked him.

“Yes… Yes.”, Borg nodded and gulped, with a trembling voice, he said, “My family is a slightly famous merchant family in the Winter City. We mainly sell goods from various countries. Once, we had our own fleet on the Resniston River. But because of those damn corrupted river patrol team, they slandered our fleet for being involved with the river bandits, so they confiscated all of our fleet and fined us a large amount of money!”

Kant nodded slightly. “This is really a tragedy.”

The capital of the East County was a Winter City. Its status was comparable to Lionheart City in the South County. It was also a river trading port.

Ten years ago, it was even the largest trading port of the Dukedom of Leo.

However, because Kant’s aunt, the biological sister of the Grand Duke of Leo, Countess Agatha, who was conferred with the title of Lord of the Eastern County, fell out with the Grand Duke, and both sides fell into a cold war. After that, the East County was sealed off and basically did not communicate with the southern and northern counties. As a result, Lionheart City had seized the opportunity to seize the position of trade overlord on the river.

This was not a secret. It had even been openly recorded in the books of the Academy. Kant naturally had some understanding of Borg’s words. He even knew why the river patrol team of Lionheart City would target the Borg family’s fleet.

“It was all about the struggle of power.”

Kant shook his head. The river patrol team of Lionheart City was naturally the hunting dogs worshipped by the merchants of Lionheart City. They naturally were not happy with their competitor, the merchant fleet of Winter City.

Before the conflict between the two high-level officials broke out, there were already some subtle quarrels and fighting as well.

Otherwise, Kant’s aunt, Countess Agatha, would not have changed the name of Winter County to East County.

One had to know that East County was located in the west.

And the name of Winter County originated from the land of this county. One could feel the freezing cold current blowing from the west, and one could even see polar-white heavy snow in winter. It was not like the Direct South County, where the impact of winter was less, and the overall climate was warmer, it was like the tropics, allowing the vegetation to mature four times a year!

This was also why the South County was a direct territory, and the large amount of rich crop output, as well as the output of various surplus livestock production. These were the reasons why many human countries had to send merchant ships over there to import food.

The grain and dried meat of the South County were top-grade products. They were high quality and cheap, and were widely sold in other kingdoms!

Kant understood everything.

But looking at Borg in front of him, he did not think that this was a real spy.

Bunduk might be a peacemaker, but Firentis and Rolf were both elites from the noble family.

Especially Rolf who dared to fight alone. He had his own way of identifying spies. As the interrogation continued, he whispered his thoughts to Kant.