My territory is filled with block creations.

Chapter 24 The Psychological Construction of Beasts

In that instant, Raymond realized something: the village chief in front of him was clearly not a normal person.

Moreover, there's an old saying that goes, "The task belongs to the boss, but your life is your own." The task Loren assigned him would definitely have to be discounted to some extent.

What was he telling me to do to complete the mission? The best outcome was to kill everyone in the village and kidnap the person who built the machine, then he could go and coerce or entice them.

Isn't that ridiculous?

Let that old bastard Loren come to this village and see for himself how he should take down this big guy with three axes and a tree!

As the old saying goes, what important matter can't be discussed properly?

Maybe if I say a few nice words, I can buy that kind of loom directly from the village chief?

As for murder and arson, as expected, I was too clever for my own good. Let him find some idiot or brute to do it.

Meanwhile, Thorne, noticing Raymond's unpredictable, as if he'd eaten something disgusting, asked in surprise, "What's with that expression?"

"Ah~ it's nothing, it's nothing. I was just awestruck by your powerful physique and steel-like strength..." Raymond immediately looked at Thorne with an expression as if he were looking at a god and replied.

The latter couldn't help but sigh inwardly, "No wonder they can be merchants; they just have such a way with words." He thought to himself, "When Lester and Doug return, I'll have to teach them how to speak nicely too."

Huh? I don't seem to have that talent.

Then we'll look into it later. But right now, I need to clear up some of the misunderstandings this traveling merchant has about me.

And so, he put on a very classic humble face, then handed the axe to Raymond and continued to boast in a very sincere sales pitch.

"Not at all, as you can probably tell, I'm physically weak and frail. The reason I'm so efficient at chopping wood is mainly due to the effectiveness of this axe."

After he finished speaking, he grabbed the axe and handed the handle to Raymond, wanting him to try it out for himself.

To Raymond, this scene was no less than encountering a bandit on the roadside who, in order to drag him into the water, handed him a knife and then stabbed the half-dead victim to finish him off.

Raymond looked at the axe in his hand. What could he say?

I dare not refuse.

"Then I'll give it a try." Raymond put on a silly grin, gripped the axe with both hands, and casually chopped at the trunk of a tree next to him.

With a loud bang, the axe pierced deep into the wood, cutting off more than a third of the tree trunk.

Oh! ! !

Watching the axe in his hand chop wood as smoothly as a hot knife through butter, Raymond raised an eyebrow in surprise, while also feeling a sense of relief.

The surprise stemmed from the sheer awesomeness of the axe in his hand! He had just seen similar axes piled up in the warehouse, filling almost half of it.

The reason he breathed a sigh of relief was that he realized Thorne was probably not as powerful as he had imagined. The saying "three axes to build a tree" was mostly due to the axes. Although his physical condition was obviously that of a strong person, even someone blind could tell, he was definitely not that ridiculously powerful.

At most, he's just a bit stronger. The Adventurers' Guild has no shortage of strong people, and he's quite strong himself! It's nothing serious. Besides, he's more curious about something else than strength.

"Where did you get such a powerful axe?"

"Ah, I made it myself. You might not believe it, but in my spare time I'm an alchemist, so it's quite reasonable that I make some strange little things."

After Thorne finished speaking with a sincere expression, Raymond immediately turned his head away, his mouth pursed, his eyes wide open, and after a moment of stunned silence, he suddenly realized and said, "My apologies."

As he sighed, he was also thinking to himself that Loren had really done something right this time. He had just given him a task, and he had managed to pick up two such great opportunities.

He originally thought this job would be a tough one involving kidnapping and silencing, but who would have thought that there would be such a pleasant surprise when he arrived in the village with an alchemist.

However, once he subdues the alchemist before him, he certainly cannot hand him over to Loren again; handing him over to Loren would be nothing more than earning a dead-end salary.

If you send an alchemist to the slave market, wow, you'd make two or three hundred gold coins, right?

As for how to subdue this two-meter-tall Thorne, that's simple. Just ask around the entire kingdom; everyone knows how ridiculously powerful alchemists are in combat.

They are all research talents who spend 360 out of 365 days a year in the alchemy laboratory. Even if they are tall, it is purely due to their parents' genes.

If being tall really equates to being strong in combat, then why be an adventurer? I might as well retire already.

Now my plan is very clear: buy first, then send troops.

"Let me be frank, these tools and such are secondary to me. What I'm really interested in are the fabrics in your warehouse. If I'm not mistaken, they're machine-woven, and I'd like to buy the entire machine," Raymond said sincerely.

Thorne remained sincere; did he not want to sell?

He neither wanted to sell nor could he: "I'm really sorry, that machine is truly unsellable, but if you sincerely want it, I can sell it to you at a very low cost price."

Raymond looked at Thorne with surprise: "Cost price? Then how are you making any money?"

Thorne then revealed a smile that was hard to ignore: "Just consider it making friends."

"Oh~ Let's be friends~" Raymond nodded in sudden realization, then decisively ruled out that answer in his mind. Make friends? Was he here to make friends?

I'm here to kill and set fires! I'm here to commit all sorts of evil and wipe out the entire village!

Then take the nuns from the Mechanicus to Old Man Loren to be corrupted by money, then sell this alchemist to the slave market, let Thorne be corrupted by money a few times, and finally let yourself be corrupted by money! A win-win-win situation!

Although this plan is a complete win-win-win situation, don't take it personally as a nice guy. When I have no bottom line, I can be quite difficult to deal with!

After Raymond had also experienced the three-axe-kill-a-tree challenge and realized that Thorne's fighting ability was actually just so-so and that he could handle it, he began to mentally prepare himself.

This was a step he had to take every time he acted like a beast, and every time he did this, a light drizzle would fall from the sky, as if the sky itself was condemning his behavior.

This time was no exception; the sky visibly darkened, and the first raindrop landed on his nose, but the second did not come.

Suddenly, an umbrella made of thin wood appeared above his head. He turned around and saw that Thorne had taken it out and was holding it steadily above his head.

His eyes also revealed a tangible respect, a feeling that was quite peculiar. Just think about how he was treated and what his status was in front of Mr. Loren.

Loren could say to his face that it was reasonable for Green to be paid more than him, without caring about his thoughts at all. But as soon as he changed environments, his treatment changed immediately.

Wow... You know what, you really have to believe it! So Green was living this kind of idyllic life before!