Chapter 37: Cash on Delivery

It was already deep into the night.

The pitch-black darkness enveloped the quiet village, with everything long since fallen into deep slumber.

A horse-drawn cart slowly moved along the muddy country road, not making a sound. The man sitting in the driver’s seat sneezed and wrapped his cloak tighter. He exhaled, reached for the flask at his waist, and took a small sip. Soon, the heat from the strong liquor dispelled the cold, making the man shiver comfortably.

How refreshing!

Gery waved the horse whip, urging the two old horses forward. He looked back at the “cargo” behind the cart. Thick felt blankets wrapped them, making them indistinguishable from ordinary goods from the outside. In fact, no guards had inspected these items labeled as “large timber”. As long as they were given enough gold coins, they wouldn’t care what was being transported under their noses.

However, when Gery turned his head back and saw the gradually clearing village ahead, he couldn’t help but sigh. After accepting this well-paid commission, he had already planned for the future – go home, buy a farm, and contentedly live as a wealthy man. At that time, he would finally have the life he had always dreamed of and hoped for… instead of living like now, hiding in dark, sunless houses, living a tense and dangerous life in fear. He was tired of dealing with tombs and the dead, “cleaning” valuable items from their rotting corpses and dried-up skeletons.

But compared to previous commissions, this one was relatively strange yet easy. After all, not everyone has enough money to provide burial goods for corpses. Poorer families more often just wrap the body, throw it into a grave, and stick in a tombstone, considering the burial task complete. But corpses are different. Even though the client’s requirements were very strict – corpses are still corpses. As long as you look, you can find them.

A flicker of light flashed at the village entrance.

Gery slowed down, vigilantly staring at that light. In their line of work, the most important thing was to be careful and cautious. They weren’t human traffickers, didn’t have such broad connections, nor were they as powerful as bandits, let alone like those smuggling merchants who could even have local garrison troops escort their goods of unknown origin. For small grave robbers like them, if they didn’t have some means to protect themselves, they would have been eaten alive long ago.

Gery took a deep breath, using the night’s chill to clear his head. He shook his head and set off again.

The cart stopped beside a warehouse at the edge of the village. Gery jumped down from the cart, cautiously and carefully approaching the warehouse. He knocked on the door rhythmically, and after a moment, another small dark figure silently opened the warehouse door.

“How is it?”

“It’s done.”

Driving the cart into the warehouse, Gery finally let out a long sigh of relief. He jumped down from the cart and pulled off the felt covering the back. Five black, simple coffins lay quietly there, without any abnormality.

“Let’s finish this quickly.”

Compared to Gery, the other dark figure was obviously a bit anxious. While complaining, he unconsciously looked back at the five coffins placed on the other side. Although these were the “goods” they had spent most of the night yesterday securing, it wasn’t such an easy task for the brothers. Although they often dealt with corpses in tombs, it was their first time trading corpses as commodities. It must be said, this was still somewhat nerve-wracking for them.

“Ten in total… finally done. What next?”

“How would I know? Didn’t that client say he would come himself? Did you tell him the transaction location?”

“I haven’t seen him since he left that day. Where can I find him?”

“I’m already here.”

A leisurely, comfortable voice suddenly sounded from behind the two brothers, causing the already nervous pair to almost jump up instantly. They opened their eyes wide, staring at the black figure slowly appearing at the doorway in the dim firelight. If it weren’t for years of “professional” experience making them accustomed to various sudden situations, screams would probably have echoed throughout the entire village.

How did he get in?

By the dim firelight, Gery looked back at the warehouse door. There was no gap at all, still tightly closed, and this warehouse had no windows. How did this ghost-like fellow appear here?

“Hello, customer,” However, questions aside, business had to be done. So Gery quickly put these questions aside and spoke.

“We have brought the goods you requested according to your instructions… Please take a look.”

“Very good,” Julian nodded, then slowly walked to the side of the cart. At this moment, the Gery brothers had already come forward to open the lids of those coffins for him, allowing Julian to directly inspect these corpses.

Lying in the coffins, just as Julian had requested, were all beautiful young girls in their teens. Their skin colors and races were different, but all were very beautiful. The Gery brothers also introduced the origins of these corpses to Julian. Some had died from accidental drowning, while others had died from serious illnesses without money for treatment. Their beauty hadn’t been able to save their lives; on the contrary, for some, it had become the reason for these girls’ deaths.

“This is a female militia member from Buka Village in the west,” When introducing the corpse of a fit, pretty-faced young girl to Julian, Gery’s tone was somewhat hesitant.

“To be honest with you, customer, I had seen her a few times. She was really a pretty girl, and quite spirited too. Unfortunately, she caught the eye of a guard captain, who said he wanted to take her as a concubine. As a result, this girl refused and hanged herself before the captain’s men came… Luckily, she’s only been dead for four or five days…”

It was currently early spring, and the cold to some extent could preserve these corpses, preventing them from rotting and deteriorating too quickly. It was precisely because he had considered this season that Julian had made the request to purchase corpses. This was also within his calculations.

Following the Gery brothers’ introduction, Julian examined the corpses of the young girls lying in the coffins one by one. He ignored the obvious pinch marks and ligature marks on their necks. This wasn’t what Julian needed to pay attention to. As long as the internal organs were intact without any damage, there would be no problem. And from the current situation, the appearance of these young girls’ corpses seemed to meet his requirements.

Just as Julian was moving his gaze to check the next corpse, he suddenly narrowed his eyes and stopped.

“This is?”

Placed before Julian was the corpse of a petite, cute young girl. Although after death, there were no longer any differences, that wasn’t entirely true. From the silk burial clothes on her body, it was clear that this young girl was definitely not from a poor family like the previous ones. In fact, if just looking at her appearance, she looked more like a sleeping princess waiting for a prince to awaken her.

A noble’s daughter?

Julian frowned slightly. He didn’t mind purchasing corpses from poor backgrounds, but noble corpses were something to consider carefully. After all, compared to ordinary people without much fame, nobles weren’t so easily overlooked. Just like Ophariel, who almost always had to cover her face with a cloak in front of others. Although she had been dead for thirty years, she still couldn’t explain to others why a young girl with royal characteristics would appear in such a remote castle – at least not before finding a suitable excuse.

“Oh, this is the daughter of Lord Backmar,” Gery looked carefully at the young girl, then answered.

“I heard this young lady was poisoned, then died because the rescue was ineffective. Because of this incident, Lord Backmar was furious, not only executing several healers but even putting to death two maids by the young lady’s side. As for what kind of poison it was, I’m not too clear.”

By the way, those two maids were also among the traded goods. Otherwise, it wouldn’t have been easy to gather ten corpses within three days.

“Very good,” After carefully inspecting the “goods”, Julian nodded. These “goods” before him had no obvious external injuries and shouldn’t have defects like damaged internal organs. This way, his plan would have no problems.

After confirming the goods were correct, Julian reached into his bosom and took out a money bag. Hearing the crisp collision of coins inside, the Gery brothers’ eyes immediately lit up, emitting a dazzling, greedy light even in this dim warehouse.

“Thank you for your hard work. This is the payment…” At this point, Julian paused. He looked at the two, the corner of his mouth curling up intentionally or unintentionally, revealing a sly smile – but under the cover of shadows, no one saw it.

“So, how do you plan to divide it?”

“Eh?” Hearing this unexpected question, the Gery brothers were stunned. How to divide? They seemed to have never considered this question.

“There are five bags of gold coins here,” Julian’s hand seemed to perform magic, and then five red money bags appeared in his hand, then were steadily placed on the wooden table nearby.

“Each bag contains two hundred gold coins… Don’t you think you should clarify the division beforehand to complete the transaction with peace of mind?”

“This doesn’t seem to be a problem you should worry about, customer,” Gery frowned, while involuntarily glancing at his brother. To be honest, if Julian hadn’t “reminded” them, he would have forgotten that this money didn’t belong to just one person.

“I know,” Julian shrugged, then stepped back a few paces.

“I’m just making a suggestion. As the saying goes, even close brothers should keep clear accounts… Maybe I’m overthinking it.”

Saying this, Julian extended his right hand, making a gesture.

“Well then, pleasure doing business with you.”