Chapter 9: Exchange Needs
Half an hour later, everyone returned to the Night’s Watch camp.
Compared to before their departure, the camp was undoubtedly much emptier now, but the atmosphere was more tense and solemn.
Among the Night’s Watch knights who had returned, those with minor injuries were bandaging themselves, while those with serious injuries were being rushed to the emergency tent.
On the open space outside the emergency tent, more than a dozen body bags were neatly arranged, covered with the Night’s Watch banner.
In undead anomaly incidents involving Black Knights, even official Night’s Watch knights could suffer casualties.
The Night’s Watch knights of the Morningstar Third Squad saluted the body bags solemnly as they passed by the open space.
Then they found the quartermaster by the supply warehouse and displayed all their harvest.
“More than a hundred ghouls? And a Black Knight?” Looking at the pile of mutated pituitary glands and the high-value components removed from the Black Knight’s powered armor on the table, the quartermaster’s eyes widened in surprise.
“You, the Morningstar Third Squad? No casualties?” He looked up incredulously. “Not even injured?”
“What?” Knight Commander Quasimodo’s face immediately darkened. “Would you only be satisfied if we had casualties?”
“That’s not what I meant.” The quartermaster hurriedly denied, becoming even more puzzled.
The three combat branches of the Night’s Watch, in order of strength, were Sun, Moon, and Morningstar.
The knights had other names for their three branches: Combat Branch, Support Branch, and Odd Jobs Branch.
Morningstar was the so-called Odd Jobs Branch.
When encountering difficult super undead (such as bone dragons, liches, etc.), the Sun Branch was responsible for the frontal assault, the Moon Branch was responsible for support and assistance, and the Morningstar Branch was responsible for setting up the perimeter defense line and preventing unrelated personnel from entering (specializing in odd jobs).
Because of this, in this undead anomaly incident, the Morningstar knights had the least gains and the most casualties.
Seeing that there were only 7 knights in the Morningstar Third Squad, but they had managed to kill more than 100 ghouls and 1 Black Knight without any injuries, the quartermaster naturally found it unbelievable.
Before Quasimodo could speak, Lorant next to him started bragging:
“See? This is the strength of our Morningstar Third Squad! Strength, do you understand? Strength is returning alive!”
“Returning alive?” A sneer came from inside the warehouse. Another Night’s Watch knight walked out, his gaze sweeping contemptuously over the Morningstar Third Squad. “Could it be that you didn’t fire a single shot, turned around and ran away when you saw the Black Knight, and returned alive with your tail between your legs?”
His gaze finally fell on the table, and he suddenly seemed to understand something, his face darkening.
Not firing a single shot was, of course, just his casual guess, thinking that the other party probably couldn’t produce any evidence…
As a result, the evidence was all piled up on the table. The ghouls’ mutated pituitary glands and the Black Knight’s armor components were like an invisible slap in the face.
“Hehe.” The Night’s Watch knights of the Morningstar Third Squad, led by Quasimodo, all sneered without saying a word.
Although strictly speaking, these materials were “bought” from Azure Longsword, not obtained by the team themselves.
But the other party obviously didn’t know this, so they were happy to let the other party misunderstand and be slapped in the face.
“These… these materials…” The Night’s Watch knight’s eyes twitched. He pointed at the sneering Quasimodo and asked the quartermaster incredulously, “Are these the spoils of their Third Squad?”
“Yes.” The quartermaster said, feeling his face burning for him.
“That’s impossible!” The Night’s Watch knight exclaimed. “How many knights are there in the Third Squad? How could they get so much loot! And not even a single injury!”
Quasimodo’s anger flared up: “What do you mean, Claude?”
“I mean, you must have used some underhanded methods!” Claude, the Knight Commander of the Morningstar Second Squad, said angrily. “For example, you happened to encounter the death of another Night’s Watch knight squad and took their loot and belongings!”
“Then tell me, whose legacy did I steal?” Quasimodo sneered back.
Claude: …
“How would I know? But I can be sure that with the strength of your Third Squad, it’s impossible to achieve such results!” Claude said aggressively. “I’m going to find Commander Phoebus and report this matter to him!”
Phoebus Chateaupers was the overall commander of the Morningstar Branch. Hearing that Claude was going to find Commander Phoebus, the knights of the Morningstar Third Squad were shocked and apprehensive.
If it were really their achievements, then they would let Commander Phoebus come over and slap Claude of the Second Squad in the face.
The problem was that these materials were not the spoils of their Morningstar Third Squad! They belonged to the Azure Longsword mercenary group!
Seeing the strange expressions on these knights’ faces, Claude immediately guessed that something was fishy and walked out with a sneer.
“This… Quasimodo, what do we do?” Knight Roger asked hurriedly.
“Don’t panic!” Quasimodo said calmly. “Did we say that these were the spoils of our Morningstar Third Squad?”
Thud! The quartermaster next to him almost fell off his stool.
“These are not your spoils?” He widened his eyes and asked incredulously. “Then whose are they? Could it really be the legacy of some comrade?”
“Of course not.” Quasimodo sighed. “It’s from outside help… I was just about to report this matter to Commander Bryce.”
“Oh.” The quartermaster nodded. As long as it wasn’t the legacy of other fallen comrades, as for outside help, it had nothing to do with him, the quartermaster.
“By the way, there’s one more thing.” Quasimodo said seriously. “The outside help wants to trade with us. In this regard, as the captain of the Morningstar Third Squad, I can act as their guarantor.”
“Then follow the organization’s regulations and go through the reporting process first.” The quartermaster nodded and took out a document from the drawer.
Quasimodo took the pen and paper and started writing on it. The quartermaster, seeing what he wrote in the “External Personnel” column, read it out curiously:
“Azure… Longsword?”
“Yes.” Quasimodo replied. “That’s the name of the mercenary group.”
“This name reminds me of a children’s book my youngest son has, also called ‘Azure Longsword’.” The quartermaster said.
“Oh, what’s it about?” Quasimodo casually made small talk.
“It’s just the most cliché adventure fairy tale.” The quartermaster said with a smile. “An adventure team composed of a warrior, a mage, and a priest, after going through all kinds of hardships, finally defeats the evil dragon entrenched in the mountains.”
“It’s always good for children to have dreams.” Quasimodo said, “Unlike my daughter, who only plays with her phone and watches dramas all day at home.”
“He’s just not old enough yet.” The quartermaster said.
“I’m done writing, take a look.” Quasimodo handed over the document. “If there are no problems, I’ll call them over.”
A few minutes later, Asker, who had received the news, came over with Nuo and Medea.
“Generally speaking, our Night’s Watch supply warehouse is not open to the public.” The quartermaster explained to the three of them. “But since Quasimodo is willing to be your guarantor, you have been granted temporary permission to submit an order.”
“Of course, it’s just submitting an order. As for whether the transaction can be carried out in the end, it depends on whether Commander Bryce is willing to approve your application.”
“Assuming all the procedures go smoothly, we can settle the bill according to the order. The purchase of materials or potion formulas is limited to Sequence I, and the total value cannot exceed 7,000 pounds.”
“These are our rules.” Quasimodo shrugged and said, “Only official Night’s Watch members can purchase Sequence II transcendental items. For Sequence III and above, you need to apply to our headquarters in Florence.”
“No problem. Thank you very much, Commander Quasimodo.” Asker nodded. “Then let’s take a look at the inventory list first.”
So the Night’s Watch brought up the inventory list on the computer. The dazzling array of various material entries made Nuo’s eyes spin.
Medea was even more overjoyed. She wished she could mind control the quartermaster and directly rob the warehouse, just like she did with the Grand Arena of Constantinople last time.
“I’ll look at the inventory list and read out the names, you fill out the order.” Asker took the order form and pen from the quartermaster and handed them to Nuo next to him.
“Okay.” Nuo, accustomed to taking notes, immediately nodded in agreement.
“PETER-7310: Plague I formula.” Asker read.
This is Peggy’s level 3 potion formula, Nuo thought as she wrote, and couldn’t help but feel happy for her.
“SAFE-1147: Will I potion.”
Eleanor’s potion… Nuo quickly wrote it down.
“SAFE-1144: Resilience I potion.”
Whose is this? Nuo wondered.
“Will I? Resilience I?” Quasimodo was also a little curious now. “The bloodline path of this member of yours is very similar to our Night’s Watch.”
Asker smiled but didn’t answer. He knew that the Night’s Watch’s transcendental bloodline was “Death-Resisting Crusader,” while Eleanor’s transcendental bloodline was “War Crusader.” Although both contained the Resilience and Will sequences, they were not exactly the same.
There was no need to explain the secrets of his team members to Quasimodo.
“SAFE-1151, Intuition I potion, two bottles.”
Tsk, tsk, tsk, Quasimodo clicked his tongue, thinking that there must be a “Death-Resisting Crusader” in Azure Longsword. He just didn’t know whether it was the girl with the spear and shield or the girl with the double axes.
“SAFE-622, Vision I formula.”
This must be for Miel. The Vision formula was exclusive to the Gunman Sequence.
“EUCLID-771, Ancient X formula.”
This is… Sidlipha’s? Nuo thought uncertainly.
“Then there are the transcendental materials.” Asker opened another worksheet and read, “Purified Ectoplasm, Hector’s Blood, Ephemera Seeds.”
My Spirit I potion materials! Nuo couldn’t help but feel excited, a joyful expression appearing on her face.
That’s right, the potion materials for Spirit I basically all came from the undead, especially supernatural creatures related to ghosts, and hunting undead was the Night’s Watch’s specialty. It was only natural that they had these materials.
She suppressed her excitement and continued writing quickly.
“Tentacles of Crystalline Gembeetle, Pituitary of Shadow Insects.” Asker scrolled to the bottom and said to the quartermaster, “That’s all for now. After the transaction is approved and we get the formulas, we’ll add more materials to the order.”
“Okay. I’ll start the approval process for you.” The quartermaster glanced at the pivot table and said, “The total price is 3100 pounds.”
That’s not the right price! Nuo frowned.
She estimated the order. Based on the market price of ordinary Sequence I related potions, formulas, and materials, it should only be around 2800 pounds.
In other words, it was 10% more expensive.
Of course, if they were to purchase them at the supernatural gatherings outside, it would take more time and effort, so paying 10% more was still acceptable.
Nuo calculated it one last time and found that it was only 300 pounds more, so she decided to pay it.
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