Astral Apostle
chapter-84

“So it’s the grain collection team. It’s already the season?”

Barong understood.

All the villages under the rule of White Plains Town had to pay farm taxes. The grain collection team would visit each village every year and take away a portion of the food as taxes. The village would receive the protection of the town, and the lord would have the responsibility to deal with any mutant beasts that might attack the village.

Zhou Jing turned to look at Barong.

“Do we need to go and help?”

“There’s no need. The village chief will gather the villagers to transport the food. There’s no need for us.” Barong shook his head.

“Alright.”

Zhou Jing rolled his eyes and replied, but he still wanted to take a look and see the situation.

Barong did not take the grain collection team to heart. He paused for a while before going back to the topic.

“By the way, go to the town in two days. Weiss wants to share the money from selling his prey with us. You can go get it.”

“You’re not going?”

“I can’t be bothered to move. Anyway, you already know the way.” Barong waved his hand.

He only entered the town when he needed to do something. The rest of the time, he would rather stay in the village.

Some mutant beast hunters wandered on the line of life and death all year round and needed to vent. Many hunters liked to find hotel maids. Barong did not know if Zhou Jing had such a hobby. In any case, he was not interested and only liked to play with iron.

Therefore, Barong did not intend to follow him this time, in case “Jason” was too embarrassed to have fun.

“Alright, I’ll wait until tomorrow. By then, Weiss should have received the money.”

Zhou Jing nodded in agreement.

In the past three months, he had made several trips to White Plains Town. He was already familiar with the place and could go alone.

Barong’s visit this time was mainly to express his support for Zhou Jing’s decision to go out and explore the world. After he finished speaking, he bade farewell and left.

After watching Barong leave, Zhou Jing thought for a moment and walked to the village entrance.

At this moment, the entrance of the village was very lively. Beasts were pulling carts and stopping at the entrance of the village. More than ten White Plains soldiers guarded the side, and the tax collector of the grain collection team was negotiating with the villagers of Frostwood Village with his subordinates.

The atmosphere was rather peaceful, and the villagers did not seem to have much resistance.

The two sides quickly finished their discussion. The village chief organized the villagers to bring out bags of food from the mill to the village entrance, while the people brought by the tax collector were in charge of counting and loading the carts.

Zhou Jing looked around for a while and realized that there was no riot or dissatisfaction among the villagers.

When he checked the information of the various countries in the main world during the Middle Ages, he saw many records of grain collectors being stabbed to death by pitchforks. However, the villagers of the Mutant World were quite cooperative when it came to paying taxes.

“It seems that it’s also because of the threat of the mutant beasts. The village can’t do without the protection of the town, so they’re willing to pay taxes.”

Zhou Jing nodded. After confirming that there was no problem, he did not plan to stay here any longer.

Just as he was about to leave, his gaze swept across one of the members of the grain collection team and suddenly stopped.

In the crowd, a man with a goatee was calculating food on a list. Zhou Jing found him familiar as if he had seen him somewhere before.

“This person…”

Zhou Jing thought for a while and thought of where he last saw this person.

The first time he went to White Plains City, he had almost bumped into someone in the pharmacy. It was this goateed man.

If he remembered correctly, this person seemed to be a staff member of the pharmacy, but he was no longer wearing the rough uniform of the pharmacy.

However, although he looked familiar, he had only met him once. There was no need to go forward and talk to him.

Zhou Jing took a few more glances before walking away. He went to the training ground to start his day’s training.

...

It was soon afternoon.

Although the grain collection team had finished counting the food, they did not want to travel at night. They planned to stay in the village for the night and set off early tomorrow morning.

Although Frostwood Village was small, it also boasted a simple inn. At the last minute, he found a few villagers to help out in the kitchen and barely managed to receive the members of the grain collection team. There were more than ten tables in the open air to provide food for the grain collection team.

The people from the grain collection team chatted as they ate and drank, entertaining the villagers of Frostwood Village.

Reiner and a group of children from the village gathered around them and listened to the story outside, intoxicated.

When Zhou Jing returned with sweat all over his body, he saw a lively scene.

Looking at the dozens of grain collectors who were eating and drinking, Zhou Jing ignored them. The only thought in his mind was to fill his stomach, so he went straight to the back kitchen of the tavern to get two sets of freshly cooked dishes. They were something that looked like potatoes, and they were steaming hot.

When the chef saw that it was Zhou Jing, he did not stop him. The Mutant Beast Hunters had this privilege.

Zhou Jing returned to the house with the food and casually settled Ross’ portion. Then, he stayed in the house and guided Ross in learning the breathing technique.

This was something he had to do every night when he personally descended. It was simply as troublesome as tutoring a child.

The red glow faded, and the moonlight fell.

The grain collectors who came to visit were full and rested.

The night gradually deepened. Outside the house, it was no longer noisy and became as quiet as usual.

After a tiring night of tutoring, Zhou Jing angrily asked Ross to make the bed. He walked to the window and prepared to close the curtains and turn off the lights to sleep.

However, just as he was about to lower the curtains, Zhou Jing suddenly noticed a few suspicious figures through the window. They were moving in the village and had just turned a corner not far away, disappearing from his sight.

With a quick glance, he recognized one of them. It was the goateed man he had discovered that morning.

“Huh? Why aren’t they sleeping at night? What are they wandering around the village for?”

Zhou Jing’s heart skipped a beat.

He thought for a moment and called for Ross to follow him. The two of them climbed out of the window and quietly followed these people.

Zhou Jing’s agility was astonishing, and it was difficult for ordinary people to discover him. As for Ross, he had [Night Camouflage], [Light Steps], and other stealth characteristics. He was even better at tracking and hiding. Zhou Jing sometimes could not even sense his existence, let alone have problems.