Black Iron’s Glory

Chapter 301: The Black Market in Avenasburg

From the three counties of the south to Fort Avenas, this time Claude took the highway of the former Principality of Limodera, rather than the temporary passage of the Picklet Mountains. In fact, time might have been saved a few days by sea, but several seaport cities in the former Principality of Eskirin and the former Principality of Rimodra have been damaged and attacked by the anti-Olympic coalition fleet, and shipping routes have still not been restored.

Despite the end of the war, the fleets of the three principalities that had formerly joined the Anti-Olympic Alliance did not surrender under the white flag, as envisaged by the Ministry of the Navy, some of which still followed the United Fleet, but only converted their nationality and joined the Principality of Kanas. The other part is scattered as birds and animals, divided into one of the countless groups of pirates in the eastern waters of the continent, attacking coastal towns and villages and occupying islands in the eastern seas to become self-reliant…

So Claude came home with Mike and the big three to visit their relatives, and if they met pirates at sea and they found themselves serving as the official captain officer of the Kingdom of Orvillas, they'd be dead. Fortunately, Claude had the money, bought three golden horses and two horses from the battalion at a low price, and walked home with the bags of three people.

If possible, Claude actually wants to take his ride home, which is an ambush on the enemy's captured Kanas horse. Unfortunately, the Kingdom does not allow war horses to flow to the civilian population, nor does it qualify as war horses on the rank of Claude. If you become a school officer, Claude can buy a so-called retired war horse. If you become a general, you can even apply for an escort with a small team of horseback riders.

The road was filled with troops returning from the front line, and the soldiers were very entertained, with occasional folklore and minor accents from all over the place, and sometimes a slightly straightforward tavern song about the interaction between men and women attracted a lot of praise and buzz. Basically, on the way to the Principality of Rimodra, the most frequently seen was the great red colour of the Royal Army uniform.

Claude would have liked to buy some specialties to take home in the Principality of Rimodra, but he was soon disappointed. The war has turned all the towns of the Principality of Rimodra into ruins, and no intact town has been seen along the national highway, full of broken walls and a numb, helpless and poor inhabitant.

Claude couldn't even find a tavern and asked McJackie how they settled their diet when they went to King's. McJackie said they couldn't do anything about it, either by eating the fresh water from the bottle of bread they were carrying, or by finding an army station and spending a little money on hot food. However, it is much better to reach the Principality of Siddins, where there are basically taverns on the side of the national highway, so long as you spend money and want to eat and sleep comfortably, it is still easy to do.

Claude, who appeared to be carrying heavy bags, apparently came home on vacation to visit his family and was therefore envied by a number of army officers in the march. At noon, the last part of the Principality of Rimodra, Claude used a second-line regiment rest camp to get himself some hot food. Several lieutenant officers of this second-line regiment chatted with Claude and learned that the three of them were indeed going home to visit their relatives. A captain officer recommended that Claude must go to Fort Ivana to see it. There is already the largest black market in the kingdom, where Claude might be able to buy some treasures worth taking home as a heirloom...

The captain said he went to Avenasburg last month to do business and found small stalls everywhere in the square, and many of the things sold on the stall were treasures you didn't expect. He interrogated, and someone who knew the details told him that many of the things here had come out of the homes of the nobles and rich people of the Principality. Of course, many of them had been stolen and taken back by the soldiers of the Kingdom in private, and they had been brought here to sell the stolen goods. He saw with his own eyes a fine tiny silver pot bearing the name of Evanson, famous maker of gold and silver 200 years ago, unfortunately shy in his bag, unable to buy it, and watched as the tiny silver pot was bought by a fat lady at a cheap price of only one seventh of the value of the tiny silver pot itself.

After the demise of the Principality of Siddins, the capital of the former Principality of Siddings, the capital of the Royal Army, the capital of the Royal Prince of Hamsburg commanded the Royal Army to attack the main battalion of the Principality of Rimodra. It was also the reserve centre for logistical supplies of the Royal Army and the first city to regain prosperity in the former Principality of Siddings. The troops now ordered to evacuate need to be rehabilitated in the military barracks of Fort Ivana and the fatigue of the soldiers marching long distances restored.

So many soldiers choose to sell their hidden trophies here, and for them, the golden gold coins are worth bringing home. And some officers who didn't have a chance to go to war came to buy trophies worth taking home and bragging about their bravery, and many traders from all over the kingdom came to pick up cheaps, forming the biggest black market in the kingdom. The reason they call it the black market is because Fort Ivana is now under military control, and the dealers in these stalls are only required to pay a little management fee, not commercial taxes.

Claude was intrigued by what this captain officer said. For more than four years in this war, he didn't have much loot to share. Last time, he was given a fine set of silver cutlery for four, but the cutlery was left at Sheila's. And that time, after defeating the alliance of the territorial nobles of the two principalities in Squirrel Village, he got a very sharp, gorgeous sword, which Sheila also took. Besides, Claude broke up with most of the wine, and now he has six bottles in his bag. This can be a gift when he goes back. Everything else has been drunk...

Looks like you'll have to turn around to Fort Avenas to buy some fine items to take home, say you've got your own trophy, so that you can show off your guests in the future, at least you won't have to use regular glassware to entertain your distinguished guests.

After thanking the lieutenants, Claude decided to take a look at Fort Avenas. The last time McJackie and Big Gemmy went to King's, they took another road straight to Amis City, without passing Fort Ivanos, because that would take almost half a day. Claude couldn't rush home to visit his family this time. The first was a long vacation, five and a half months. Second, go to Avenasburg and see what's available on the black market. Ask around, Bok Al isn't here yet.

After another day and a half away, the three Claudes finally arrived at Fort Avenas in the evening and asked the guard battalion soldiers guarding the gates. Claude took Maggie and Big Grimes to stay in a more upscale tavern in the city. Claude fell asleep early after a nice dinner and a hot bath in the bathroom restored the fatigue of the next journey.

The next morning, Claude was woken up by a call from outside the window, and he got up and looked out, and found that there were countless stalls on both sides of the empty street last night, turning a spacious street that could accommodate six carriages into four lanes in parallel. People are crowded, very crowded, from time to time there are dealers pushing twin scooters into these lines of stalls on both sides of the street...

It's less than 8: 00, and it's getting so lively out there. McJackie and Big Grimes are up, too, and Claude took them downstairs for breakfast. Listening to the pub's buddies, these streets to Central Square are all like this, and Central Square is filled with tiny stalls, only two roads across Central Square are still accessible to carriages, and you need to walk elsewhere to see the merchandise on those stalls.

After breakfast, I read several newspapers and drank a cup of honey black tea. Looking around 8: 30, Claude decided to go to the logistics headquarters to find out about Boquer. I met Villicro last year at the Medal Conference, and Villicro said he had met Boquer in Fort Ivana. I don't know if he's still here, after all, it's been almost two years since Villicro said he saw him.

Claude, the three of them are not riding horses, they're walking, that's advice from the tavern guys. He said there are small stalls on both sides of the street, and if you don't pay attention, it's easy to let the ride damage things. Once a lieutenant colonel and a trader were bargaining, and as a result, his riding chewed up some of the famous flowers and flowers in the next stall, causing the colonel to lose a lot of money, which he saw with his own eyes.

Claude decided to walk away from the good, but it wasn't far enough to get to the General Logistics Department in Fort Ivana in a few minutes. Only when Claude arrived, he asked several officers of the Department of Logistics, and no one knew where the Bongilia City guard battalion where Boquer was being transferred, or what the serial number of the Bongilia local guard battalion was, which left Claude unable to find out but to return.

After the outbreak of the war, the local guard battalions to which the Kingdom was redeployed from the rear to the front were attributed as guard units, replacing the original local names with serial numbers. This is said to be primarily to prevent covert reprisals by the enemy, after all, the role of these local guard battalions is to suppress the resistance and uprisings of the indigenous peoples of the newly occupied territories, sometimes with very harsh repression, which can easily avenge the death of the indigenous people there.

More than a hundred years ago, there was a serial murder in a place that shocked the kingdom, and more than a dozen families were wiped out. In the end, it was discovered that the families who had been exterminated were ex-combatants of the former local guard battalion, who had participated in the Kingdom's war on foreign expansion 20 years earlier and who had carried out brutal repressive actions against a riot in a newly occupied native town, reportedly killing more people, leaving no survivors, mostly the elderly and children.

As a result, more than two decades later, the surviving children grew up, remembering the name of the local guard battalion, and turned to that place in various ways to earn a living, keeping an eye on the soldiers and soldiers of the former retired guard battalion who had participated in that repressive riot, and making friends with them. Then, on the twenty-fifth anniversary of that riot, a bloody act of reprisal was carried out, wiping out more than a dozen former guard battalion officers and soldiers.

The case was solved and shocked the entire kingdom. A total of seven murderers were captured, all children who survived that year. They said they had seen their loved ones killed alive in front of their young selves, a nightmare that had been happening for more than two decades, while also reminding them of the name of the local guard camp. When they grow up, they try to make a living in this place in retaliation for the murderers of their loved ones. Now, finally, everyone is free...

Since then, local guard battalions in the rear of the Kingdom's foreign war requisition have been placed on the front lines to stabilize order in the newly occupied territories and to suppress local riots, all of which will be given new serial numbers at the outset to replace the original local names. For example, Captain Duriolo's local guard battalion, formerly known as the Lester local guard battalion, has now been changed to the rank of the guard force, the 0378 Cross Mountain Lane local guard battalion...

Claude did not know that the Bongilia local guard battalion had been reordered after it had reached the front line to be numbered several dozen, without which he could not have traced the movement of the Bongilia local guard battalion here at the logistics headquarters. Because the Logistics Headquarters is registered here with all the maintenance serial numbers of these local guard battalions, such as the 0125 local guard battalion being relocated from one location to another, how many items of heavy military materiel need to be replenished, etc. …

I haven't heard anything useful in the majority of the day, and Claude can only sincerely wish the local guard in Banguilia, where Boquer is. Then he walked around the small stall market in Central Square with Mike and Big Grimes.

The three Claudes encountered several second-line officers on the black market who also came to Avenasburg to buy some souvenirs and trophies during the evening while eating in the pub, and heard these officers complain several times on the black market, as if the sale price of goods on the black market had risen by one third during this period, most likely because the massive withdrawal of the Royal Army had affected the black market, and the traders were making more money from those who wanted to buy souvenir trophies during this period of great withdrawal, instead of raising the same price.

Worst of all, there has been an increase in counterfeit treasures on the market, many of which are said to have come from a well-known aristocratic family, in fact counterfeit goods. Merchants have worked hard to make up a compelling story after story about these counterfeit treasures, and to convince customers who want to buy them that the object in front of them is authentic.

An officer said that the Black Flame pipe that exiled to the Grand Duke of Siddins in the northern part of the continent, he had found more than fifty in the market, and every dealer selling the pipe said that he had the pipe from the real Grand Duke of Siddins. He listened to seven legendary stories this afternoon about how this black flashstone pipe got from Grand Duke Siddins to this stall in front of him. Best of all, the seven legendary stories were different and very reasonable...

Claude also remembered that he seemed to have been sold this pipe in the afternoon, but he wasn't interested. If his father, Mr. Morsan, were still alive, Claude might have remembered to buy him a pipe, but his father was gone, and Claude had to buy some gifts for his mother, his sister and his brother.

At the black market in Fort Avenas, Claude spent two days visiting the market, purchasing a lot of things, spending about 500 gold kroner, and finally ending his purchasing action with a reminder from McJackie. Too much stuff forced me to buy another passenger and cargo wagon and stuffed all my purchases in the trunk, which led me to start over and embark on my way home.