Unknown Knight

Hearing the word "Season of Death" from Bolcha's mouth, Aix and the others were all quite shocked. Not to mention that contemporary scholars like Velen and James had never heard of it, even those who had grown up in Sarandniza had never heard of it. They only knew that few people could cross the Death Desert, and those who easily entered the Death Desert basically never came back.

This is the so-called survivor bias. Perhaps only the Bedouins who have lived in the desert for generations can deeply understand the horror of this death season.

Aix also received an important piece of information from Borcha, that is, the locals would eat up all the outsiders trapped in Zion due to the Death Season, and eventually enslave them for their own use.

The specific practice is: whenever the Death Season comes, the five major families in control of the city will take the opportunity to raise the prices of food, water and accommodation until the last copper coin is squeezed out of the outsiders, forcing these outsiders to live on debt, and eventually being forced into desperation by the debts they cannot repay, and have no choice but to become slaves.

Their behavior was both an open conspiracy and extremely sinister. For outsiders without strength, there was almost no solution and they could not escape the fate of being slaves. However, Aix was very curious about how this sloppy Kugit man in front of him had survived until now and had not become a slave.

After Aix asked, Bolcha scratched his head in embarrassment, blushed and whispered:

"So that you know, sir, I was forced to make a living and learned some skills such as climbing walls and crawling through dog holes. When I was really thirsty and hungry, I went to the locals' homes to find some food. That's how I survived until now. It's a pity for my companions who came here with me. Those who survived have now become slaves of the five major families in the city."

It was only then that Aix and the others realized that this person was actually a thief who had survived by stealing. He was indeed very capable.

Borcha has been in Zion for nearly a year and is familiar with the situation inside and outside the city. Axe also asked him in detail about some specific conditions of the city, so that he had a general understanding of the situation here.

Since they cannot buy camels now, they have to stay and wait until the Death Season is over before they can cross the Death Desert and return to their territory. So the biggest problem they are facing now is how to survive until the Death Season under the exploitation of the locals, and they also have to find a way to collect enough camels during this period.

It's just that the locals have reached a consensus that they are teaming up to cheat outsiders, and the method they use is an open conspiracy. Since it is an open conspiracy, it is a strategy that is difficult to break under normal circumstances. Everyone discussed it for a long time, but couldn't come up with any good way to break the deadlock. Aix had to let everyone eat and rest first, and slowly deal with it later.

After dinner, Aix was worried and couldn't sleep, so he called Bolcha over to chat. He mainly wanted him to talk about what he saw and heard during his time in Zion City. It was a disguised investigation. Niza and Bestur also accompanied him.

Ran Ying poured the local beer for the few people, Ai Su brought a plate of nuts and a plate of dried meat to go with the beer, and then the two women went back to rest. The men chatted and got off the topic, and it was inconvenient for the two women to stay any longer.

At the beginning, Borcha was still very reserved. Through their contact, he also knew Aix's status among these people. But after a few drinks, he became confused due to his poor alcohol tolerance, exposing his big mouth nature, and began to speak without restraint, saying everything that could and could not be said.

But Axe didn't take it seriously, just listened to it for fun, and he quite liked his honest and straightforward character. However, as the topic went further and further, Axe unexpectedly got some useful information.

One of them is that the Ogbai family, who sells slaves in the city, seems to rarely interfere in the affairs of the city. They focus on their own business and do not interfere with other families' measures against outsiders. They are a relatively neutral family.

Although Aix had a bad impression of slave traders after what happened to Ramon, the current situation forced him to put aside his previous prejudices.

He felt that the Ogebai family was a force that could be befriended, and that he should communicate with them at an appropriate time to see if there was any possibility of cooperation, which might be the key to breaking the current impasse.

In addition, Bolcha, who loves drinking, often hangs out in taverns and knows some gossip. For example, in addition to the largest Rattlesnake Mercenary Group in the city, there are four or five other mercenary groups ranging from more than ten to more than thirty people. These people are not very strong, but they do not belong to other forces, and they only care about money, not people, so they can be bribed with money at critical moments.

In addition to these mercenaries, there are several other forces and gangs in the city, such as the Thieves Gang, the Craftsmen's Guild, the Fish Market Gang, the Coolie Union, etc. The number of people in these forces varies, and they all have their own businesses and spheres of influence. From what Bolcha said, every alley and even every house in the city of Zion belongs to a force. It is really a mixed bag and extremely chaotic, like a big pot of hodgepodge.

Later, Bolcha talked about the stupid things their caravan did. After they were trapped in the city for a month due to the Death Season, the locals deliberately raised the prices of rent, water and food, which had almost wiped out all their money. So the caravan, led by their leader, decided to take the risk and cross the Death Desert.

Although they had been warned by the locals in advance about how dangerous the desert was during the Death Season, the caravan leader still decided to take the risk after discussing with everyone else. After all, no one wanted to end up selling themselves into slavery.

In the end, they still underestimated the power of nature. Although they hid during the day and went out at night, trying to avoid the time when the sun was the hottest and the temperature was the highest, the tent for avoiding the high temperature during the day was like a steamer, and the three weak companions were burned to death.

There was no choice but for them to retreat after only two days, otherwise they would all be left in the desert and become giant dumplings for a thousand years.

Even so, they were almost killed by the heat on their way back to Zion. If it weren't for the good eyesight of Bolcha who discovered a naturally formed cave on a mound, everyone would have gone in to rest and hide for a day. In the end, the remaining members of the caravan were able to save their lives and return to Zion, which they could not escape.

Aix was very inspired after hearing this. The harsh environment of the Death Desert is indeed difficult for people to survive. Even if they stay in the city with shade, food and water, it is so hot at noon that everyone doubts life. Although the houses built of mud and stones are many times more effective in keeping out the heat than tents, it is still as hot as a steamer to live in them.