Wizard: I am a goblin

Chapter 99 The Mantis of Justice

After going through his business plan in his mind, Geb reorganized his thoughts.

Getting three recommendation letters is one thing, earning 5000 gold coins is another.

Although the initial profit from selling cocktails may not reach the goal of earning 5000 gold coins in the short term, the idea itself is valuable!

We need an investor!

If you can prove to investors your earning potential, you may be able to borrow 5000 gold coins as seed money.

Who is this investor? Geb thought for a moment and realized that there was only one person who could come up with this amount of money and was willing to invest in a business plan that had not yet taken shape.

Lady Stoneheart!

Although she said that dwarves find it difficult to trust people of other races, she did give herself a chance to prove herself.

If Geb can secure three letters of recommendation in a short period and present her with a perfect business plan, then perhaps, just perhaps, that bearded dwarf will lend him 5000 gold coins as start-up capital.

For Lady Stoneheart, there was little risk involved: the 5000 gold coins would ultimately remain with the guild and wouldn't magically disappear. Even if Gebu breached the contract, he couldn't simply abscond with the money.

This difficult task finally showed a glimmer of hope, and Gebu was overjoyed, his face beaming with delight. The hostage, watching strangely from the side, wondered what Gebu was laughing about and asked:

What are you grinning about?

"I've got a way to make big money... Go to the tavern and the pink house first thing tomorrow morning and find out who their owners are, what kind of people they are, and what their preferences are."

"Oh." The child nodded, hesitated for a moment, and then asked, "What are you going to do tomorrow?"

"I need to study the formula."

"The formula, the medicine?" the child asked.

"No, it's alcohol," Geb said, his eyes shining. "Cocktails!"

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The next day, in the town square.

The female mercenary, Daphne, emerged from the blacksmith's shop, carrying a bag of javelins and short spears on her back.

This place is in the heart of the Old Kingdom, and there has been no fighting for a long time. The blacksmiths' skills in forging weapons are mediocre, and it took them two days to repair a few javelins.

Even so, the javelin's balance was still off... Daphne sighed, realizing he was far inferior to the weapon makers of the kingdoms of his homeland.

Her fighting style puts too much strain on her weapons—this is unavoidable; women are not as strong as men, and to fight them, each strike requires using her entire body as a lever, putting all her strength into the weapon. If the weapon's metal is not tough enough, it often breaks.

Therefore, Dove chose javelins and short spears as his primary weapons. They weren't as versatile as longswords, but they were cheap!

A decent longsword costs fifteen gold coins—once broken, it's worthless. A javelin costs only five silver coins; if it cracks or breaks, you can just replace the shaft.

At this point, the woman turned around and glared at the blacksmith shop owner with displeasure: This guy wants to charge her 2 gold coins for this little job? Is he crazy? Does he think I'm new to this business?

Dove and her boss had a huge argument over the difference of a few silver coins. Ah, back in the day, she wouldn't have cared about such a small amount of money… The mercenary didn't fall on the battlefield, but ultimately, life defeated him, turning him into the very thing he hated…

However, since she was still earning her living through her skills, she still retained her dignity. She did not dishonor the name of a knight.

The woman glanced sideways at the pink building on the side of the street and wrinkled her nose in disdain.

Several heavily made-up women were flaunting their beauty in front of the small building. When they saw the female mercenary passing by, they sized her up and down and sneered.

The female mercenary glared at them, about to say something—

The door to the little pink building suddenly opened.

The little girl ticket hopped and skipped out of the pink building, holding a candy stick in her hand.

The prostitute at the door saw the child and pinched her little face affectionately.

"Come again, little one—you're so cute."

"Mmm!" the hostage replied, licking the candy as he walked out.

Dove's face turned green. She grabbed the hostage and pulled her to her side, dragging her two blocks away without a word.

"Huh—huh?" The little girl was being dragged along by the female mercenary, her feet barely touching the ground, looking completely bewildered.

Only after the brothel had completely disappeared from sight did Dove put the child down, his face ashen, and asked:

"What are you doing in a place like that?! That's not a place for children!"

"Ah, oh... my sisters are so kind to me, they all praise me for being smart and clever..." The child saw the mercenary's expression and thought he had done something wrong, so he said timidly.

"You..." Dove realized he'd spoken too harshly, lowered his eyebrows, and asked with concern, "You're not short of money, are you...? Didn't I find you a job at the hotel? What's wrong? Is the boss treating you badly? I'm going to confront him!"

After saying that, the female mercenary pulled the girl away. The hostage quickly grabbed her sleeve.

"I don't work at the inn anymore," the child said. "I'm Gebu's assistant! I get two silver coins a day!"

"Huh?!" The female mercenary stopped and turned back to look at the child in surprise, seemingly unable to believe what she had just heard.

Her gaze lingered for a moment, then she suddenly frowned.

"Did Gebu send you to the brothel... the powder house?"

The child nodded.

"That bastard..." Doffin's eyelid twitched, "...Even that guy wouldn't be this disgusting. What did he ask you to do there?"

"Gebu told me to sell..." the little girl blurted out, then suddenly swallowed her words, as if realizing she had said something she shouldn't have. The hostage avoided Dove's gaze and muttered softly:

"No...it's nothing."

When Dove saw the little girl stammering, his veins bulged and his fists clenched white.

She grabbed the little girl's arm and rushed towards the hotel.

"Hey! Sister Dove, what are you doing?!"

"Gangbu! That halfling must die today!" the swordswoman roared with overwhelming fury!

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The hotel lobby was somewhat desolate at midday. In the lobby, a dwarf, two humans, and a halfling sat around a round table, with an empty wine glass in front of each person. There was a whole row of wine containers on the table, numbering in the dozens.

Big and small, from goblets to large jugs, even basins—Gebu had rummaged through every container in the hotel that could be called a wine container.

"I called you all here to try my new drink..." Gebu said to the three people.

"Hiccup—didn't you say there was wine to drink? Where's the wine!" An old drunkard in the middle of the three interrupted the half-man's words, and a breath of stale alcohol almost made Gebu faint.

The hotel waitress, who had been dragged along to make up the numbers, covered her nose and moved aside. "Drinking like this in the middle of the day... who is this person?"

"What did I drink? I didn't drink anything—this is last night's wine coming back up to greet me—burp!"

"Please say less, or I'll have to come back for breakfast too," Gebu said to the old drunkard.

The only dwarf who hadn't spoken yet, Dulin, finally broke through and said, "Brother Gebu, you're having people test the wine recipe. As a dwarf, I'm not your target group, so it's not appropriate, is it? I still need to adjust the equipment. If there's nothing else, I'm going back."

"...I need to get back to work..." the waitress chimed in. "I have to get this drunk out of here, otherwise I'll have to clean up his mess."

"Don't rush, don't rush—" Seeing that the three people he had finally managed to gather were about to leave, Gebu quickly said, "Dulin, you are the control group, you are very important—these two, don't leave either, I'm getting paid for this experiment. You just need to…"

Before Gebu could finish speaking, bang! The hotel door was kicked open!

Geb jumped up from his chair and turned around to see—

A long, dark shadow, resembling a mantis, charged straight towards him!

"You beast!!! Prepare to die!"