MMORPG: Crowd Control

After being reminded by Lei Zhen, hesitation began to show on the merchant's face.

'Impossible… How could other merchants know about the importance of this merchandise? But what if there is? Wouldn't I be making a huge loss in that case?' The merchant pondered silently and began to walk around unconsciously.

When one is in deep thought, they would not be able to detect what other movements they are doing.

Hence, the merchant was mindlessly walking around in a circle while Lei Zhen had his arms crossed.

He was not a bit worried at all about getting rejected. After all, he had calculated the flow of traffic in here and not many adventurers are low-level like him enough to accept such a petty sum.

Unlike him who had no choice but to make his way toward Yors Castle, other players had numerous options and choices to explore. Not to mention, some of them are even players that had deleted their character previously and restarted.

'Let's see how much longer you can endure. If a merchant knows his profit is losing every second, then they must be going insane right now.' Lei Zhen thought.

No matter the era, a merchant is akin to a businessman, and knowingly losing money was the biggest taboo for them.

"Ugh, brat, you got me good." The merchant cried aloud, raised his finger, and pointed at Lei Zhen shakingly.

"You better be confident in protecting my merchandise. Otherwise, I'm going to have you blacklisted in all of the East Continent."

Lei Zhen nodded his head. "Rest assured, as long as you follow my instructions on the way, then I can say with 90 percent that the merchandise will be safe."

When he was still in the private room in the inn, he had studied the map thoroughly. And with the process of elimination, he had figured out the safest route possible.

The only reason why he needed the merchant's help is that he had two mounts for transportation and the travel time would be reduced drastically compared to walking.

Of course, he could try to purchase a mount himself, but the Town of Wales was just a beginner town.

How could a beginner town offer something like a mount for new players?

"Hmph, you best hope that the journey is safe." The merchant clicked his tongue in anger. Being checkmated like this by a newbie as an experienced merchant was a humiliation to him.

"Of course, why wouldn't I hope the journey is safe when I'm traveling alongside you. By the way, my name is Lei Zhen, so you don't need to call me a brat all the time." Lei Zhen smiled and introduced himself.

"Christopher Rhombus," The merchant merely replied, unwilling to converse with him further.

'Rhombus? As in the parallelogram shape?' Lei Zhen tried his best to hold his laughter for such an amusing last name.

Naturally, Christopher Rhombus could tell Lei Zhen was holding his laughter but he could care less. He had been laughed at for a long time and was used to it.

"Just call me Chris in short, and if you continue to laugh, then I don't mind risking the merchandise to travel alone." Chris snorted once he finished packing up his merchandise for the carriage. At the same time, he patted his two lazy mounts that were dozing off from the start.

The mounts seemed to be a breed of lizard and had an appearance similar to a camel. Their necks were long and had quite a nice beak, and two long legs that are suitable for pulling heavy objects.

Being a curious person, Lei Zhen couldn't help himself and ask, "What kind of mounts are these?"

Despite being annoyed by him, Chris still replied, "They are from a breed called Rizardle, and mainly used in transporting goods."

"Gizzle, and Mizzle, wake up, it's time to travel." Chris patted the two Rizardle's heads.

Gizzle and Mizzle made a screeching noise before opening their eyes. Their eyes were filled with fury, but when they noticed it was their owner that awakened them, they could only slowly stand up and prepare to move.

And when Lei Zhen was moving closer to the carriage, Gizzle and Mizzle were ready to attack him, thinking it was an intruder.

"Halt, he's a person I hired." Chris came in between and pacified them.

"Heh, were you frightened by the two of them?" Once he settled the two, he turned around and asked Lei Zhen in a laughing tone, hoping it would be enough to teach him a small lesson for checkmating him.

Alas, he was disappointed to see no reactions from him.

"If your two mounts were to really attack me, then I would have immobilized them in under a second." Lei Zhen calmly replied.

"It was a good thing you managed to stop them in time to avoid unnecessary damage." He then boarded the carriage and found a nearby corner to sit, leaving Chris speechless.

'Hmph, we'll find out when we begin traveling. You better be serious about your words. Otherwise, I won't rest until you suffer.' Chris thought to himself.

Sometime later, Chris boarded at the rider's spot and commanded Gizzle and Mizzle to start walking.

Since they are still in the town, having the two mounts run is illegal and would result in him receiving a penalty. There was no way he would commit such an amateur mistake and risk losing money.

"So which route are we taking?" Chris asked while harnessing the two mounts to walk straight.

"We are taking route 43. It might be a bit further than the normal route you'll take, but it's safer. Of course, you can risk it and take route 32." Lei Zhen said, giving him two options to choose from.

Route 43 was a newly constructed path, and it deviated from the main path, making it a detour instead. However, the benefit of doing so is that the route is much safer and would not have a higher risk of encountering fierce beasts.

As for route 32, it's like a straight line toward Yors Castle, but it goes through a dangerous forest and has a high chance of encountering monsters that are lurking around.

And with the personality of Chris, Lei Zhen deduced he would choose route 43. For a cowardly and stingy man like him, there was no way he would risk his life.

"Hmph, my Gizzle and Mizzle had not walked for a long time and needed some exercise. Going route 43 can be considered their form of exercise to be in shape." Chris said, trying to sound righteous and honorable.