Boiling Beast Bloodline
Chapter 266 - 48 - Calling a Deer a Horse_2

Chapter 266: Chapter 48 - Calling a Deer a Horse_2

"Are you intentionally causing trouble?" Old Liu scooped up the impish little creature.

"I made a toy for Guoguo!" Gude ran over like the wind, his thick hand holding two pieces of bamboo.

"What’s this?" Liu Zhenhan took it curiously. Upon studying it, he found it to be a pair of bamboo boards, with a hole carved out of each. A magic crystal was embedded in one of them.

"A magical pet should also have a musical instrument! Otherwise, it wouldn’t match your status, boss." Gude chuckled.

"I didn’t expect you, of all people, to know how to flatter." Gortani glanced back at Gude.

Gude’s face flushed at the comment.

"Not bad!" Liu Zhenhan tapped the bamboo boards rhythmically, creating a crisp clattering sound as the two magic crystals collided.

Guoguo snatched the bamboo boards, her eyes twinkling with delight.

"Master...." A timid voice echoed.

A tall and skinny musketeer stood uneasily not far away, his nose covered in sweat. He was either hot from the beast skin he was wearing, or from nerves.

"Are you their leader?" Setting Guoguo on his shoulder to play with the bamboo boards, Liu Zhenhan asked.

"The slave of the Deer Tribe greets Master Piegel." The musketeer Ardu bowed deeply.

"His name is Ardu, the former leader of the vassal musketeer clan under my command." Vieri introduced to Liu Zhenhan.

"I’ve heard your Deer Tribe Musketeers are born with excellent archery skills. The character ’Shooting’ is even in your name! Could you demonstrate your skills?" Liu Zhenhan rummaged through the cart for a strong bow and quiver of a human mercenary and tossed them to Ardu.

This bow, made from red cedar and wrapped in copper wire in the shape of wisteria blossoms, was a fine human longbow.

"I cannot, Master!" Ardu recoiled in horror, "The kingdom has forever deprived us, the head Musketeers of the Deer Tribe, of the right to use bows and arrows. We are slaves. Violating this is punishable by death."

"Boss, the kingdom does have this kind of rule!" Afraid the lord might not believe, Vieri quickly chimed in.

"Enough, my dear Vieri," Liu Zhenhan snorted, "Within the Fei Lengcui territory, I am the kingdom’s sole representative. I now, on behalf of the kingdom, order Ardu the Musketeer to demonstrate your archery skills for me to see what a born divine marksman looks like."

"Shoot when I say shoot!" Seeing Vieri and Ardu dumbfoundedly exchanging glances, Liu Zhenhan became furious.

Ardu, tilting his head in consideration, seemed to think Liu Zhenhan had a point, pulling an arrow from the quiver, placed it on the string, and showed nimble fingers as he adjusted the arrow.

"See the flock of wild geese?" Liu Zhenhan pointed to the flock flying in a "Y" formation in the azure sky, "Shoot me two with one arrow to do justice to your Musketeer name."

A crowd circled around, each face filled with curiosity, eager to see what the legendary divine marksman Schachin looked like.

Ardu, struggling slightly, drew the bowstring back and aimed at the flock in the sky.

The entire crowd held their breath.

"Snap," the bowstring twanged as an arrow streaked across the sky, leaving a slight trail.

The arrow missed the geese entirely and helplessly fell back to the ground.

"Damn!" The crowd quickly stepped back to avoid being accidentally injured by the falling arrow.

Guoguo sprung from Liu Zhenhan’s shoulder, her little foot kicking the falling arrow away. Nearby, Karu, who was crouching low with a wine barrel over his head to avoid the arrow, saw it embedded in the ground next to him.

Karu nearly fainted from terror.

"So this is the Beamon marksman, a rival to the elves and centaurs? And you, Deer Tribe Musketeer, have the word ’shooting’ inherently in your name?" Liu Zhenhan laughed heartily.

"Boss, Ardu and my musketeers from the vassal tribe all hunt using slingshots and their shots are very accurate..." Vieri argued.

Ardu’s face turned bright red.

Before Vieri’s words could fall, another twang of a bowstring was heard. A small dot in the sky grew larger as it fell from above, crashing onto the branches of the Slat Banana tree and fell to the ground with a clatter.

It was a chunky grey goose whose belly and wings were pierced by an arrow, and it was still struggling on the ground.

Gortani held a hard bow in her hand. Standing with one foot on the carriage and maintaining the posture of an arrow ready to launch, her bowstring quivered.

"An archer must be strictly trained. It’s been forbidden for the musketeers from the Deer Tribe to use bows and arrows for many years now. Even an ordinary knight like me is not comparable. How could they possibly reach the level of the centaurs?" Gortani smirked, throwing a glance at O’Neal.

"Our archer ’God’s Arrow Jecheon’ from the Haus tribe can even hold four arrows between his fingers and release four in one breath, that’s a real archer!" Hippopotamus O’Neal also shook his head and wiggled his body.

"I saved them not because I wanted to get some archers, don’t get it wrong," O’Neal looked at the Swan Knight and said.

Gortani seemed too tired to listen to his bullshits and walked away.

"Vieri, these musketeers used to be your vassal tribes, and now I am returning them to you," O’Neal called out to the bear man.

"Boss, I have a favour to ask of you. The musketeers have been allocated to other Bimon aristocrats, these Bimon aristocrats sold them to human traders. The slave brand is for life, what if next year, those human trade delegations want to buy them back?" Vieri wiped the honey off his mouth with the back of his hand.

"Just don’t sell them?"

"Ah, it’s not possible, the kingdom’s slaves always belong to one master. If they are runaway slaves, and other aristocrats catch them, the master of the slaves can buy them back at a low price. This is stipulated in the kingdom law." Vieri said.

"What kind of bullshit rule is this?" O’Neal wondered why his rights to the slaves taken away from the Green Demon robbers originally don’t belong to him.

"This rule is set to prevent slaves from escaping, and it’s quite normal for aristocrats to capture runaway slaves. Slave branding comes from this; the family emblem of the master will be branded on the slaves. Some slaves have been sold exclusively many times and their bodies are branded all over, slaves don’t have registered residence, so the brand has become a way to check the identity of slaves, calculated by the latest brand." Helen explained.

"So, these musketeers don’t actually belong to me? They still belong to the human slave traders? If they want to buy them back, I can’t refuse?" The more O’Neal heard, the more ridiculous it seemed.

"Richard, legally speaking, it is indeed the case." Helen said.

Vieri and the musketeers all stared at O’Neal eagerly.

"Fuck!" O’Neal swore.

"We need to think of a solution, humans have always been drooling over the musks on musketeers, a hundred musketeers mean countless gold coins to them," Vieri said.

"The kingdom is currently at war with the desert people, and the arms workshops of the Shalba Trade Group are in urgent need by the kingdom. We need to take these factors into account," Helen said.

"From now on, if someone asks about the musketeers, just tell them they are the centaurs of the Haus tribe." O’Neal said: "Cover the slave brand on their foreheads with tattoos, and imprint my skull pig head symbol. If anyone questions their origin, let them ask me."

"Boss..." Vieri was moved deeply.

"Enough with the nonsense, Vieri, you have to toil a bit and interrogate those three Green Demon Shamans right away. Find out how many bandits have gathered in Razor Mountain and when they’ll attack us. Don’t kill these three Green Demons, I have a use for them. Ah, I’m going to sleep for a while, the rest of the militia should also take the time to sleep. Four Kunk sentinels on the lookout tower, closely monitor the surroundings, and report to me immediately if there’s any robbers approaching. As of all these spoils of war, move them all to my cave," O’Neal clapped his hands.

"Give us the honey, sir," a few halflings ran up to him excitedly.

"Take them all." O’Neal burst into laughter and gestured with his hand.

"Give me the magical beast blood, master," Nochadamas the witch-doctor also came over after seeing it.

"Buzz off."

The witch-doctor’s neck contracted as he was insulted, looking at O’Neal’s retreating figure, he couldn’t figure out where he had offended the overlord.

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