Chapter 70 Investigation from the Temple
As the flames caused by magic continued to spread around, the entire house was soon enveloped in the sky-high flames.
Some nearby residents were alarmed by the fire and woke up from their sleep, carrying buckets of water and trying to put out the fire.
But unfortunately, it was too late.
They could only do their best to dig fire trenches to prevent the flames from igniting other surrounding houses.
Looking at the panicked crowd on the street not far away, Zuo Si, standing in the darkness, immediately asked without looking back: "Have all the valuable commodities and goods in the underground warehouse been shipped out?"
"Don't worry! Everything has been shipped out before the fire spread. Most of them are relatively valuable spices, silk and sugar. According to my estimate, the value is probably between 48,000 and 60,000 gold coins. If it is shipped to Amn Or Baldur's Gate further north can make at least four times the profit, and Waterdeep City and Neverwinter City further north may even reach eight times."
Bernard is indeed a man. A shrewd businessman can probably tell the value of the goods stored in Muke's warehouse at a glance.
The most important thing is that these in-demand goods are all for free. You don’t need to spend money to purchase them, and you don’t need to worry about price fluctuations caused by large-volume purchases.
At the same time, after witnessing with his own eyes a secret pirate stronghold occupied by a large number of armed men, which was easily removed by Zuo Si, his confidence in reaching Ascatla safely increased.
"That's right! I'll leave these goods to you." Zuo Si gave the merchant an approving look.
As everyone knows, he is complaining crazily in his heart at the moment, so a lot of goods are only worth fifty or sixty thousand gold coins in the end?
Not as valuable as the "trade notes" and magic items put into the dimensional bag.
No wonder some people say that the world in the eyes of a spell caster and the world in the eyes of ordinary people are completely different.
In the eyes of most people, the "huge" wealth that is enough to allow them to live comfortably for a lifetime, for spell casters, especially high-level spell casters, may only be a few flimsy pieces of nothing. A high-level spell scroll, a magic item, materials to make a golem or construct, or the consumption of several experiments.
Bernard hurriedly put his hand on his chest and saluted: "Thank you for your trust. I will make a list of these goods later for easy reference at any time."
"You two, I must remind you , in about ten minutes, the city guards should be arriving
If they find a large number of burnt and desecrated corpses in the house, they will definitely commission the temple to investigate. Once those nosy paladins come, they will inevitably interrogate and search around."
A thief wearing leather armor and covered in a gray cloak couldn't help but intervene. Mouth.
As the person Epke transferred from the guild to help with surveillance, the last thing he wanted to encounter was the paladin.
Because these brainless guys are naturally hostile to crime and all people and organizations related to crime.
"Let's go. After working most of the night, it's time to go back and rest."
After saying that, Zuo Si glanced at Yelnia who was hiding in his shadow, and those who were hidden by her. The guy who transformed into a shadow creature disappeared at the end of the complicated streets of Calimport in a short time.
……
About two hours later, when the fire was completely extinguished, two paladins wearing the holy symbol of Ilmat, the God of Suffering, finally appeared near the ruins.
They first learned about the situation with the soldiers.
Then one of the men, about forty years old, immediately inspected the severity of the burning of the main body of the building, and then squatted down to look at the remains that were burned beyond recognition.
After several minutes, he said with a solemn expression: "There are traces of negative energy! Although it has become very faint after being burned by the fire, this corpse has definitely been desecrated. ”
“Blasphemy? You mean... the involvement of undead creatures, necromancers and demons from the lower planes”
Another young woman who looked to be in her early twenties widened her eyes in surprise.
An older, experienced paladin leads an inexperienced younger paladin, a practice widely practiced by many temples of the Good God and paladin groups.
Because the young paladin performs tasks alone, it is easy to make some irreparable mistakes due to his impulsive personality.
Or maybe they are plotted by the evil camp and eventually fall due to various reasons and temptations.
But if it is paired with an experienced senior, the situation will be much better.
Through words and deeds, young paladins will quickly grow up to become a strong shield that protects the innocent and the weak.
“I don’t know! But I think this matter deserves in-depth investigation.
First of all, what we need to do is to find out the background and origin of this chamber of commerce. Secondly, we need to pay attention to the market .
Especially in the black market that specializes in purchasing goods of unknown origin, are there people selling stolen goods in large quantities? ”
The older paladin quickly made his own judgment.
Because he had already learned from the guards that the valuable things in the house had been almost wiped out.
Especially the warehouse in the basement is cleaner than a mouse licking it.
This means that the attacker is most likely seeking money.
“Understood! I will go around to find out information about this chamber of commerce.”
The young female paladin seemed eager to express herself. Without saying a word, she started knocking on the door from door to door, taking the trouble to ask for clues from the merchants, clerks, servants and slaves.
It must be said that as a representative of lawful good, she behaved quite restrained.
Even if he saw the existence of slaves, which was completely contrary to the doctrine, he did not immediately draw his sword and kill people, or ask the slave owner to release the slaves.
Just the opposite!
She only maintained a minimum of sympathy and pity.
After all, this is Port Calim, the place where the slave trade flourishes most.
And in addition to being kind, paladins also have lawful attributes.
Lawliness means that you cannot easily destroy the existing order and must abide by local laws and regulations.
A paladin cannot do anything illegal unless the law is hopelessly broken.
This naturally includes forcing slave owners to hand over their "property" - slaves.
After an hour and a half of investigation, the young paladin lady quickly ran back to the older paladin and said excitedly: "Agor! I got some unusual clues."
"Oh? What is it?"
The older paladin known as Agor raised his head.
"Is the number of armed men.
According to figures obtained from several neighbors, there are more than sixty armed men stationed in this house.
There are even spellcasters for hire among them.
Maintaining this quantity and quality of armed personnel all year round obviously requires a large investment of money.
This is diametrically opposed to the profit-seeking approach of most businessmen who seek to save costs as much as possible. "
Miss Paladin stated the suspicious things she found in one breath.
After hearing this, Agor immediately smiled with relief and praised softly: "A very beautiful investigation. and inferences.
He is truly worthy of being the chief apprentice who completed basic training in first place.
It seems that we are going to talk to the merchants who have business dealings with this chamber of commerce to see if they know anything. "
"Now? "
Miss Paladin raised her head and glanced at the night sky full of stars.
"No, of course not now, at least until dawn.
Remember, Ellen, be patient no matter what.
Don't let impulse dominate your reason, otherwise the consequences will be serious. "Agor warned solemnly.
In this way, after the two paladins who were invited to investigate the arson case got hold of some clues, they quickly returned to the temple to report.
(End of this chapter)