Chapter 12 : Level 4 【Mount Control】, Orc Meat Stall
Chapter 12: Level 4 【Mount Control】, Beastkin Meat Stall
Leo’s gaze lingered on the knight at the very front for several seconds—until two hands suddenly reached out from behind and covered his vision.
“Hey! Leo. Let’s hurry and buy some things.” Arthur patted Leo on the shoulder.
This was Leo’s first time seeing the Kingdom Merchant Caravan, as well as the legendary Golden Knight Order.
Because his hometown, Blackwater City, was too remote, it was not within the trading range of the Kingdom Merchant Caravan.
However, Leo had heard of the legends of the Golden Knight Order.
The Golden Knight Order was the royal knight order controlled by the Danlun Kingdom.
Their numbers were unknown, and their strength was unknown.
But it was widely rumored that the commander of the Golden Knight Order was a legendary knight standing at the pinnacle of all knights.
In this world, after the Quasi-Knight stage came the Formal Knight. Formal Knights were divided into low-tier, mid-tier, and high-tier. Above them were Great Knights, and beyond that were Legendary Knights.
As for people like them—Knight’s Squires—once they mastered the Knight Breathing Technique, they could be called Quasi-Knights, though they were not considered part of the Formal Knight ranks.
Most of them served as attendants to Formal Knights.
For example, Laforin of Blackstone City was a very famous high-tier knight.
As for the Golden Knight leading this squad guarding the caravan, it was said he possessed the strength of a Great Knight.
However, as members of the Golden Knight Order, they had no names or personal identities.
From the moment they joined the order, they had only one identity—that of a Golden Knight.
And their sole duty was to safeguard the interests of the kingdom.
Thus, this Golden Knight squad in front of them only protected the caravan’s safety and would not interfere in any matters of the various city territories.
It was said that previously, when a city encountered an attack by Beastkins during the caravan’s passage—
The Golden Knight Order did not intervene.
“So basically, these guys can be treated as powerful NPCs.”
And that was indeed the case. Almost no civilians would take the initiative to approach them.
They stood there like divine statues, completely motionless.
Seeing Leo still staring at the Golden Knights, Arthur had already plunged headfirst into the stalls set up behind the caravan.
“Wow! Such high-quality amber.”
“This is a preserved specimen of elven silver hair!”
“This is a dragon eggshell!”
Standing behind Arthur, Leo observed the stall in front of them—it sold gemstones and rare curiosities.
There were indeed many unusual items, but they were all decorative pieces for nobles to display status.
They had little practical value.
Arthur loved them, but Leo was not very interested.
“Arthur, I heard Burton will assess your Horsemanship at the stable tomorrow. You don’t seem nervous at all.”
“Ha, with you teaching me during this time, I’ve already graduated. Hogg shouldn’t have any issues either. The one who should be worried is Eddie.”
Leo nodded.
Indeed, in this Horsemanship assessment, Arthur and Hogg would pass without surprises.
As for Eddie—there was a one hundred percent chance he would fail.
The most important factor in the Horsemanship test was not their technique.
It was whether the horses cooperated.
Tonight, when feeding the horses their night grass, Leo would “communicate” properly with a few of them.
However, Leo’s attention was now drawn to another direction.
He looked not far away, his gaze locking onto the eyes of the nearest golden warhorse, and his brows twitched slightly.
Fragments of images surfaced in his mind.
In the vision, within a secluded forest, a man in a cloak approached a Golden Knight clad in golden armor.
Then, the Golden Knight removed his armor and longsword, handing them to the cloaked man to wear.
Immediately after, the newly disguised Golden Knight moved forward, leaped—and disappeared from sight.
What followed were scenes of a long journey, traveling through forests until reaching Blackstone City.
Leo shut his eyes tightly.
This was a new ability unlocked after his 【Mount Control】 skill reached Level 4.
【Mount Control (White) Level 4 12/100 (Spirit +0.4, able to connect minds with horses, greatly enhanced riding control ability, can read fragments of a horse’s memory; the content read is related to spiritual strength)】
This was the memory fragment he had just read from that warhorse.
From this fragment, he discovered a secret.
“So that means…the Golden Knight Order actually rotates shifts.”
It seemed these people secretly swapped places where no one could see.
This was actually easy to understand. It was impossible for a living person to act as an NPC forever.
Humans needed to eat, drink, and rest. Rotating shifts was the simplest solution.
Perhaps to maintain the authoritative image of the Golden Knight Order, they were deliberately shaped into statue-like figures of solemnity.
Leo felt like he had uncovered an interesting little secret.
Perhaps, with this ability, he could identify a Golden Knight hidden among the crowd.
Leo turned his attention to another horse.
The memory fragments of this horse were similar, only the people and the timing of the shifts were different.
Leo estimated that with his current spiritual strength, he could only view memory fragments going back about one hour.
Perhaps as his spiritual strength increased, this ability would continue to improve.
For now, he set aside this ability. Time was limited—he needed to purchase what he came for.
The caravan had lined up neatly with its wagons and set up rows of stalls.
There were stalls crowded with women selling jewelry and fabrics.
There were also stalls filled with men’s favorites—fine wine and tobacco.
These were all goods not usually available in Blackstone City, so many people were gathered, browsing and selecting.
Further back were couriers responsible for delivering items—Leo’s letter had been sent through them.
Leo did not linger. His gaze swept quickly across everything until he finally stopped in front of an old woman’s stall.
There were hardly any customers there.
On one side were various kinds of medicinal herbs.
On the other were several small cloth bags filled with dried meat.
“Looks like a young man who practices swordsmanship.” The old woman appeared very aged, her face full of deep wrinkles, yet her eyes were bright.
With a single glance, she seemed to see through Leo’s purpose.
“Looking for Beastkin meat, are you?” The old woman pointed to the cloth bags and began introducing them. “Rock Gnome meat, Swamp Crocodileman meat, and Centaur meat—all edible.”
Leo examined the dried meat in each bag. “How much for these?”
“Rock Gnomes and Swamp Crocodilemen are Tier 1 Beastkin meat—ten silver coins per pound. Centaur meat is Tier 3 Beastkin meat—one hundred silver coins per pound. Take a look, all dried, not a bit of moisture.”
As she spoke, the old woman grabbed a handful of Rock Gnome meat and rubbed it between her hands, producing a rustling sound.
They were indeed completely dry.
Centaur meat—one hundred silver coins per pound.
For Leo, that was an astronomical price.
And for ordinary civilians, it was simply unaffordable.
That was why this stall had little business.
“Do you have North Sea Merfolk meat?” Leo asked.