Ch. 18 - Passing Off Inferior Goods as Quality
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"So, we're just letting them go like this?"
In the clearing, they watched the robed kobold 'Kuru' directing the others to carry the miscellaneous items from the alcove, including the eggs of their young.
Now they were moving deeper into the cave, as if relocating. Tang Qi hesitated.
"A full set of plate armor—that's not something you see every day. If you took it to Longgold City, even selling it at half price, you could get at least a hundred gold coins. This trip has already paid for itself. Kobold scales are much harder than human skin. Using their lives to dull my 'Snake's Kiss' wouldn't be worth it."
Jackal was a mercenary—his loss didn't really matter. Guarding an orchard was a cushy retirement job; there would be people lining up to pledge their loyalty to Lord Merle.
Black Snake kicked open another wooden crate lid. After confirming that all twenty standard-sized crates had intact starberries inside, he finally breathed a sigh of relief.
"Most importantly, we've recovered the starberries."
"All of them?"
"One crate isn't full—they probably ate some. We can cover it up by saying the harvest wasn't good. That'll be enough."
Tang Qi frowned. The robed kobold's shouting was getting more frantic, sounding like it was urging them to hurry.
Suspicion rising in his heart, he couldn't help but step forward to inspect.
He only found twenty open crates of starberries, glimmering faintly in the dim cave. The fruit fragrance overflowed, entering his nostrils—very similar to the berry wine he'd drunk last night.
They really were intact starberries.
Thinking of Tang Qi's remarkably keen perception throughout this entire incident, Black Snake asked uneasily:
"Is there something wrong with these starberries?"
"No, there's not a single thing wrong with them."
"That's good."
"But starberries only stay fresh for three days."
To be precise, after three days they would definitely rot.
Tang Qi hesitantly, then plunged both hands into the pile of berries.
What his fingertips first felt was the smooth, cool skin of fruit stored in a cellar. As he went deeper, his palms began to feel somewhat sticky.
All the way to the bottom, the hard, rough texture of stone was transmitted to him.
The moment he realized the starberries were rotten on the inside, a slight sour stench of decay invaded Tang Qi's nostrils.
He directly scraped away the outer layer of berries.
He discovered that what seemed to be a full crate of fruit flesh was actually only spread in a shallow surface layer.
The middle section of starberries had begun to rot, their sugary frost turning a dirty yellow, breeding mold.
The bottom layer was even filled with stones for weight!
"How can this be?"
Stonecrusher was shocked, not yet catching on:
"It smelled fine just now! How does it now smell like boots that someone vomited into while drunk and then didn't clean for a month?!"
"Magic. There's a spellcaster among these kobolds—"
The moment Tang Qi made his determination, Black Snake's curved blade was already unsheathed.
The robed kobold on the other side had obviously been closely watching their situation. Seeing its trick exposed, it shrieked:
"Rua!"
A string of melodious language then burst from its throat.
Tang Qi reacted: "It's casting!"
A blue-white halo flickered at the tip of the long staff the kobold held as it chanted.
At the same moment, several kobolds hastily drew their inferior short bows.
The bone arrows were crude, unable to reflect the firelight on the stone walls, thus tracing a dim trajectory through the gloomy cave.
The "swoosh" was faint, the force not heavy, but it happened to block Black Snake's path halfway!
Black Snake saw the direction clearly. He bent his spine, reducing resistance, his footsteps shifting as he dodged the arrows sideways.
His form was ghostly, almost melting into the darkness.
"Rua!"
The arrows bought Kuru a moment to complete its incantation.
Its voice was hoarse and heavy. As it roared, the tip of its staff shot out a snow-white ice spike—
Trailing a line of deep blue cold light, it stabbed straight toward Black Snake's forehead!
Black Snake didn't try to dodge. The pitch-black curved blade was nearly invisible in the darkness, its edge scraping against the intangible air, tearing a shrill wind sound.
Only when approaching that ray of light did it reveal a bit of its outline.
"Pop!"
That ice crystal was cleanly cut, the ray splitting in two before the kobold's eyes.
"Kuru!"
The kobold was shocked, hurriedly rolling away to escape.
The curved blade had already scraped against its throat!
"The power difference is way too lopsided..."
Tang Qi blinked. To him, all this had taken only a few breaths.
Yet Black Snake had already crossed over a hundred feet of distance and was about to sever the kobold's head.
Walking forward with Stonecrusher, who seemed to have foreseen the outcome from the start, Tang Qi finally saw that a layer of web-like frost had attached itself to the pitch-black curved blade, extending to the handle, freezing Black Snake's fingertips purple.
[Ray of Frost]—like Tang Qi's Friendship, it was also a 0-level cantrip that didn't occupy spell slots. After hitting, the cold air would freeze the opponent's limbs, slowing their movements.
But even slowed down, Black Snake's speed was still too much for the kobold to handle.
He and the Jackal clearly weren't on the same level.
Why would adventurers of their caliber be holed up in a backwater like Starberry Town?
Suppressing his doubts, he heard Black Snake coldly demand:
"Where are the rest of the starberries?"
The kobold wailed, this time not only kneeling but also kowtowing more than ten times in succession:
"Fruit—rotted—could only eat!
Afraid—killed—could only deceive!
Surrender—spare life!"
Black Snake finally realized that nothing could be salvaged anymore.
Feeling frustrated, he spat coldly and raised his blade to slice open the kobold's throat—
"Wait!"
Tang Qi quickly grabbed his wrist. The cold air made him shiver.
"If you kill it, there'll be absolutely no way to explain this to the lord."
"What other explanation is there? Tomorrow is the Harvest Festival. The caravan will definitely arrive at the town. The tribute amount is insufficient. Are you saying that keeping it alive will let it conjure up the shortfall for you?"
"Of course it can."
Tang Qi wanted to record today's events in his journal.
If the kobold died, he would lose the possibility of understanding the full story.
Moreover, he had accepted that military order—
If he didn't recover all the starberries, he would have to be taken away to confess his crimes.
From either angle, he couldn't let the kobold die here:
"It's a spellcaster, isn't it? Since it could deceive our eyes, why can't it use magic to deceive the caravan?"
Black Snake sneered:
"That fat pig Merle—the employer—will arrange for professionals to arrive with the caravan. They'll inspect the quality of the starberries one by one. Its tricks couldn't even fool you. Do you think you're more professional than they are?"
"Of course not. The reason we discovered the problem with these starberries is because some of them had already rotted. Once you see through the illusion, those smells can't be covered up no matter what. But I can pass off inferior goods as quality, can't I?"
Tang Qi hastily explained:
"When you submit the starberries, you should sign documents certifying that the goods are intact, right?"
"Of course. To prevent any trouble during transport—losing starberries and having the caravan shift the blame onto us."
"Ordinary starberries differ from 'Starshine' only in slight taste differences and color variations. Place them at the very bottom and use magic to mask their true color. If you don't know from the start that they're 'inferior goods,' it's very difficult to see through the illusion. And as long as we deceive them and get those documents signed, even if they discover the goods don't match when they reach Longgold City, they can only try to bear the loss themselves."
"But they'll still know the problem came from my end."
"You say that as if not deceiving them means they won't know there's already been a problem. The problem has already occurred. What matters is how to shift the blame. Pushing some of the risk onto them—even if the caravan complains about you, it's still better than bearing all the responsibility yourself."
The kobold had already squeezed its eyes shut, preparing to be executed.
Who would have expected such a dramatic reversal—a human actually 'pleading' on its behalf.
It crudely understood Tang Qi's plan, nodding repeatedly, kneeling on the ground and gesturing continuously:
"Kuru—use—Silent Image!"
[Silent Image].
A first-level spell. Within a circular area no larger than 15 feet, it creates a movable image that cannot be perceived by hearing, smell, or other senses.
Any physical interaction with the image will reveal its illusory nature.
Tang Qi guessed that Kuru had used Silent Image to cover up the stolen starberries.
Then, relying on the [Prestidigitation] cantrip, it had transformed the smell of rot into fruit fragrance, thus deceiving their eyes.
They could certainly repeat the trick to deceive tomorrow's caravan.
After hearing Tang Qi's plan, Black Snake fell silent in contemplation.
He was weighing the pros and cons.