Traveling through The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim

Lund has moved into the Bloody Throne and has successfully taken over the management of the quarry and the Tigerman Trading Post from Stein. Stein usually appears to be shy and dull, but in fact, compared to Sam, he is still a very scheming person. According to the information provided by Eddie, after Sam was arrested, Stein went to Helgen Town to use his connections to rescue him, but he never mentioned this to me. Although he has no evidence to prove that I framed Sam, my cold reaction to this matter undoubtedly shows my position. Stein has become more cautious since then, and he is very humble to people who have a relationship with me, even if the other party is a hated tiger man or Lund who is a civilian.

But the more he acted like this, the more I felt that he was up to something. He and Sam were just minions. Even though I had gotten rid of one of them, I still didn't know whether it was Danger or Sidger behind them. If it was the former, then this was part of our mutual trust building. If we drove Stein away, it would inevitably arouse the suspicion of the old fox, which would be detrimental to the sincere unity of both sides. If it was Sidger, then we should not alert the snake, but look for opportunities to follow the clues. At first, I thought this second-generation ancestor was just a prodigal son, but I didn't expect him to cause us such a big crisis, which made me more eager to completely eliminate his power. In short, I decided to keep this untrustworthy henchman by my side and wait for him to show his true colors.

Lund did not get involved in these intrigues and devoted himself to his work. At present, we are just quarrying, but the long-term goal is still to mine. After the financial crisis was resolved, Dad showed goodwill to this scapegoat and taught him all his knowledge and experience in the mine. In addition, more than a hundred captured soldiers were also sent here as free laborers. Lund began to improve the system and facilities of the quarry in full swing. He now spends all his daytime time in the mine, personally supervising the laborers to set up the supporting structure and ventilation holes under the mine, and also organized people to capture a few snow rats and bring them down. It is said that if poisonous gases are dug, the snow rats will be depressed due to difficulty in breathing, thus providing early warning. At night, he set up accounts in the fortress and calculated profits and losses. When he was in Helgen, he had Varga and Lucia to help, but in the Blood Throne, he had to do it himself.

"Lund, come with me to Whiterun in a couple of days. Let's go have a few drinks with Eric."

Lund put away the account book, took out a letter from the drawer and handed it to me.

"I won't go. There are a lot of things to do at the mine. If we don't lay a good foundation at the beginning, there will be big problems later. You can take this letter to Eric and say hello for me." He raised his hand to stop me from speaking. "You don't have to rush to persuade me. With Miss Angie here, how can that kid stay in Whiterun? We have plenty of opportunities to meet. Also, Aunt Donna can't live with him forever. You have to build a house on the land in Falkreath as soon as possible."

I told Rund that Nanya was currently only responsible for rebuilding civilians' houses, leaving the nobles to hire people to build their own houses, but he just smiled nonchalantly.

"Locke, don't you know how much money you have? Your retainer, Stein, is a very honest young man. Don't worry about this matter. I am your housekeeper now. Just leave small matters like building a house to me."

"I only treat you as a brother, not a servant."

Lund waved his hand, indicating that he was just joking, and then he took out another account book to study. After turning two pages, he looked up and said to me: "By the way, a tiger man came a few days ago and was waiting to see you at the inn. I don't think this should be the old cat who tricked you. He looks like a strong young man."

It was a half-long-haired calico cat, with a large patch of white hair on its muzzle, black on its head and ears, and yellow on its cheeks and forehead. The fluffy hair made him look fatter than short-haired tigers like Zenabi and Akali. This was also an old acquaintance, Hayou, the guard of the Akali caravan. In addition to delivering a batch of goods we ordered, he came here to express his gratitude for our retrieval of the Moon Amulet.

"Akali has contacted her relatives and friends in Elsweyr, and soon new people will join our caravan. My cousin also wrote to say that he wants to go to Skyrim for some training. They are excellent hunters and the pride of the family, much more promising than my cousin who drinks and gambles. I really envy them, they can roam freely without having to wander around with the caravan doing nothing every day."

Perhaps because he had lived in Cyrodiil for a long time, Hayou had no accent when he spoke, and he did not like to call himself by his name like other Khajiit. He seemed to regret his ridiculous behavior in the past few years in his chat. According to Hayou, when he was very young, he went out to explore the world like many of his people. Even though the two Khajiit kingdoms in Elsweyr had already seceded from the Empire and joined the Aldmeri in 115E , he still chose to try his luck in Cyrodiil. Although the Khajiit were looked down upon everywhere, compared to the Thalmor elves, humans were more tolerant of other races - as long as you could prove your worth.

Hayou soon achieved success. The empire was very weak after the world war. The lords with their own ulterior motives raised private armed forces to rule their own territories. The emperor's will was not so effective even in the imperial capital. In order to deal with the rampant bandits, mercenaries became popular and made a lot of money. Money comes too easily, and people are inevitably corrupted quickly. Hayou soon became addicted to strong alcohol and gambling, as well as some purer entertainment methods derived from biological genetics. However, he still had a trace of rationality and did not try the chemical bliss brought by Skooma. Even so, he soon had more expenses than he earned. As a tiger man, he inevitably thought of using his racial talents to change the dominance of Septim while avoiding unnecessary contact with its theoretical owner.

Hayou is not a thief. Although all tiger people are indeed good at stealth and theft, their talents actually vary depending on the moon phase when they are born. If we use tigers as an analogy, the tall and strong Siberian tigers are well suited to fighting large prey in cold habitats. Although they are also masters of ambushes, they are obviously better at sneaking in the dense forests of Southeast Asia than the smaller Sumatran tigers. Hayou is a Siberian tiger. When he raised his gambling capital from other people's pockets, he was unable to completely avoid the other party's attention, so the two sides had a dispute over the ownership of the funds. Finally, after arbitration by a third party, Hayou was given an uncomfortable hard bed behind the iron bars.

Here, Hayu lived a life far from all kinds of decadence. After the hard work and poor food rubbed off the fat given to him by hangovers and staying up late, it began to scrape his self-esteem. When Akari paid for his freedom, Hayu decided to turn over a new leaf, picked up sword and shield again, and came to Skyrim as a caravan guard.

The caravan was put together temporarily. In addition to Akari's own niece Zenabi, Hayo and Dro Maras were all helpers she hastily found in Cyrodiil. After Ulfric provoked the civil war, the cunning old cat Ressard keenly sensed the business opportunity. He funded Madelan and Akari and jointly established the Khajiiti trade network. They walked between the black and white worlds, laundering dirty money, or providing decent-looking people with things that were not suitable to be directly placed on the stalls, such as skooma. This thing is not just a bottle of addictive happy water in the underworld, but also a hard currency called liquid gold. In dangerous places like the Reach Territory, a small bottle of skooma can be sold for two or three hundred Septim on the black market.

Now that the tigers have established a trading post, the scale of trade can be further expanded, and several leaders have begun to invite their direct descendants from their hometowns to join. This gave Hayou a chance to redeem himself. Originally, Akari said that he had to work for a full year before he could decide whether to leave or stay, but now he said that as long as he paid 300 Septim as ransom, he would be free. Hayou naturally had no money, and he didn't know any rich people, so he waited for me at the Blood Throne for two days, hoping that I could lend a hand.

"But if you borrow money from me to redeem yourself, doesn't that mean you're in debt to me again? How is this different from you following Akari?"

I don't understand borrowing new debts to pay off old debts. Besides, Hayu has been with Akari for more than half a year, but he couldn't stick with it in the last few months? How annoying must Akari be?

"This..." Hayou scratched his ears, seeming embarrassed.

"It's okay. If you don't want to talk about it, forget it. Everyone has privacy."

Hayou hurried to thank me, but I stopped him with my hand.

"You're welcome. I'm not going to lend you the money. I don't think you can pay it back."

"Stop it! I'm telling you! My cousin is coming. If they knew that I was just a caravan guard and had been to jail for gambling, my dad would be too embarrassed to see anyone in Elsweyr!"

Hayou said that his mother was a rich lady from Elswell, but his father was just a soldier. His mother insisted on marrying his father despite the opposition of the whole family, and his father also worked hard to make a name for himself in the army. But even so, his father was still looked down upon by several uncles, and this contemptuous attitude was passed on to the next generation. Hayou left his hometown at a young age, and the bad relationship with his uncles was the most important reason.

"You are a knight. Being your bodyguard is much more respectable than being a guard for a caravan. I am willing to work for you for a year..."

The guy became more and more guilty as he spoke, and he mumbled the last half of his sentence for a long time, and it was unclear what he said. Seeing that I still didn't make a comment, he turned to Zenabi, as if he wanted to ask her to help him intercede. The female cat turned around and slowly walked towards the warehouse, but her pair of pointed ears turned half a circle and trembled slightly on the top of her head, capturing the movements in the house.

"Okay, I agree to hire you as a guard and give you fifty Septim every month, but I will advance you a whole year's salary, so you still have to follow me for a year before making other plans. And I hope you think clearly, the person I am dealing with is one of the two most powerful people in the entire Skyrim Province. He is much more dangerous than the bandits you met before. Being a guard for me is not an easy job."

Hayou thanked me profusely, saying that as long as the contract was within the period, he would never flinch even if he had to face a dragon, and that he would definitely make me feel that the cat was worth it. Zenabi, who had already walked to the end of the room, shook his ears without saying a word and went into the warehouse. I patted Hayou on the shoulder to interrupt his boasting, and nodded in the direction where the female cat disappeared.

Both cats disappeared. I yawned and prepared to discuss with Rund how to strengthen the sound insulation inside the castle.

Spring is coming.

Cats can meow.