Chapter 151

"That's true..."

Although he ordered it reluctantly, Zanze still felt unhappy.

He couldn't understand what this kid was thinking about. He could only touch her head and take her to the tavern where they often gathered in Lansen's memory.

It was a tavern located at a T-shaped intersection, with two simple tables and a few chairs without backrests outside.

Due to the needs of his profession, although it is a tavern, it is located in a corner of the city where few people go.

The tavern itself is not very big, and the geographical conditions are not very good. There are really no customers this early in the morning.

And... the tense situation has made the business of the entire imperial capital not very good. Even if you go to the bustling commercial street, you can't find many passers-by.

".....Here?" Zanze stood at a street corner not far away, his eyes seemed to see through the wall and the stained glass installed on the window for the secret meeting, and whispered: "There are two people inside, and they both look like warriors."

"There is also a drunken beautiful mercenary outside, who should be keeping watch for them?"

Compared to the warrior detected by magic, Ash's sight fell on the single-tailed female mercenary who was sitting by the door, holding a large bottle of wine and a long sword beside her.

The mercenary seemed to be in a half-awake state of drunkenness, but he didn't care about it. He walked up and squatted in front of her, laughing:

"I say, Miss Mercenary, you are sitting here like this, aren't you afraid of encountering bad people?"

"Haha~ Brother, you really like to joke." The mercenary opened his eyes in a daze, smiled and waved his hand: "Who would go to trouble a mercenary?"

"That's not necessarily true, can I ask your name?"

"What, do you want to hire me?" Drunk in front of the tavern, but there was still a strange boy chatting up , which made the mercenary, Xiu Lit, look at the boy in front of him with a surprised expression: "Let's make it clear in advance, my asking price is not low."

"It doesn't matter, I have plenty of money, as long as you can help me, everything is fine."

"Really? Really? Then you are really a big customer... Then, tell me first, what's the matter?"

"How about going in and killing the two people inside, and as for the reward... How about two gold coins plus your life?"

Ash said his thoughts expressionlessly and threatened directly.

But as soon as he said this, the mercenary's playful smile froze instantly, and his lazy drunken state disappeared. His eyes immediately became sharp, and his tone became low: "Who are you?"

"Don't always ask this kind of question. It doesn't matter who I am. What's important is... If you don't do this, you will die here. After all - I must congratulate you, haven't you met a bad guy now?" Compared with the tenseness of the mercenary, the smile on Ash's face did not change, but he just teased: "Of course this is a joke, who is the bad guy is actually hard to say, but these are actually not important."

"... What do you want to say? What is important?" The mercenary's hand unconsciously reached for the sword beside him.

"I have seen you in Lanson's memory. Your special team is not a group of shadow warriors trained from childhood, but a group of talented people gathered in the later period. Their loyalty is not as high as that of normal shadow warriors, right?"

"....Lanson's memory?" The words that are hard to ignore made the mercenary repeat in a low voice unconsciously, but he had a bad premonition in his heart, and his eyes became sharp and terrifying: "——Who are you? What happened to Lanson?"

"I told him at the beginning that I don't want to brandish a sword with acquaintances. Although I didn't brandish a sword, it's a pity... During the sparring, I accidentally crushed his head."

As he said at the beginning, he didn't use any weapons and killed Lanson with his bare hands. With a trace of unspeakable regret, Ash put his hand on her head that she couldn't dodge in time, and whispered: "I really don't want to crush other people's heads again. Please don't let me do bad things. Let's solve this problem peacefully?"

"——?!"

Xu Lit wanted to dodge, but her body... was not so controlled.

Although she wanted to deny the words of the boy in front of her, the atmosphere of Ash gradually changed from harmless to terrifying, and she was even bound by fear and couldn't move at all.

When he stroked her head as if he were a pet, she could clearly feel the cold and fear as if she was thrown into the Arctic Ocean.

She couldn't help but doubt... This guy really killed Lansen.

And it was not the same as they imagined. There was no loss of both sides, and no death. Lansen was just very simply killed by a stronger monster.

"What's wrong? Miss Shulit, are you not going to tell me your answer?"

"No... I'm a mercenary. Since you want to hire me, of course I will listen to you, but..."

"No matter how much the Empire pays, I will pay double."

Although the loyalty of these shadow warriors was scattered, and Mio was not that stable to the Empire, Ash was not afraid of the other party's rebellion at all, and smiled and stretched out his hand to the mercenary.

The mercenary hesitated for a moment, then grabbed his hand with a smile.

The two seemed to have reached an employment relationship at this moment, but... no one knew what the mercenary was thinking.

.............................

.............................

Members of this special shadow warrior team often gather together in the tavern.

At this moment, not even the waitress was there, only the store manager and the long-lost street vendor who had successfully made a fortune off the magician.

Although they are shadow warriors behind the scenes, in fact, except for some rewards for performing tasks, they all calculate their daily expenses separately.

After all, compared to other shadow warriors, they are more of a hired company and have their own main business... The proportion of them relying on their main business to disguise themselves and make a living will be even greater.

"...You actually paid off all the credit accounts." The store manager with a middle parted hair looked at the four silver coins placed on the table and sighed in surprise:

"It's really strange. I really hope the drunk at the door can imitate you."

"I want to pay off the debt I owe you while there is still time." The young vendor drank a large glass of draft beer and replied without thinking: "After all, we may all be dead in two days, and I don't want to end up... Still owe money.”

"Don't say such unlucky words." The store manager stared at the four coins with a serious look on his face and preached:

"Gazzela, most of your life is made up of daily life; although the current situation is very serious, if you are not prepared in case of death, your life in the future may become very troublesome ….At least I’ve had that experience several times.”

"But this time, the situation is much more difficult than before. In the past, we could still rely on cooperation to solve it. The current enemy is not at the same level as the previous one. Our strongest Lansen has probably been killed... ”

"But now, isn't there a monster stronger than Lansen on our side?"

"Levi?" The vendor thought of the holy staff in the arms of the mercenary outside the door.

Ordinary shadow warriors are trained entirely as dead warriors. Those who are trained from childhood to adulthood don't even have names, and the possibility of betrayal is very low.

The village chief whom Ash met before was just a temporary pseudonym to pretend to be on a mission. Under normal circumstances, it shouldn't take long... But he was probably forgotten. He has been there as the village chief all his life, and the pseudonym All became real names.

And these shadow warriors are different from what Ash originally imagined, because they must have loyalty, but more of a sense of employment.

If you just refuse the order, you may be hunted down.

The hero of the past like Lan Sen was different. He had a brainwashed loyalty to the empire. As for what was going on... Ash didn't understand, and neither did the rest of the team.

After all, it's impossible for Ash to be fine and just look at a person's life... After all, it's too long, and he can't even read it, so he can only cut out some important parts.

In order to maintain the loyalty of this group of people, Levi, who they said was the strongest combat power, gave the trophy of the great magician that he once killed, the Holy Scepter that Frilian also carried with him, to temporarily give it to Xiulit for safekeeping and use it as a gift. This proves the feasibility of the mission and his own strength... After all, if this were not the case, these people would probably want to escape when they heard that they were going to kill Celie.

But even though this vendor had seen the Holy Rod Certificate, he still looked suspicious:

"Even if Levi has the certificate of the Holy Staff, it doesn't mean that he is really the one who killed the great magician, right?"

"——It's meaningless even if you kill the great magician. You don't know much about magic, so you may not know the situation of Celie. She is not the strongest magician you know. She is a living fossil that existed in the mythical era. Just looking at the amount of magic power, it is at least five times greater than that of the Great Magician. The Great Magician cannot be used as a reference at all. "

Before the store manager could say anything, the door was pushed open, and a strange boy stepped into the room with a short long-haired lolita and a drunken mercenary outside the door. It was very natural. inserted into the conversation.

.............................

The two people who were able to talk with peace of mind because of the mercenaries outside, suddenly changed the atmosphere in the tavern when two uninvited guests appeared in the store.

Suppression turned into tension.

The merchant also subconsciously touched the dagger at his waist, while the store manager touched the bow and arrow from under the counter, but a businessman's smile appeared on his face:

"What's wrong, guest, we are just discussing some legends and stories, why are you still telling the truth?"

"Zanze, close the door." Ya Xiu asked Zanze to close the door without looking back, then sat down at the bar, and with a smile, he reached out and patted the vendor on the shoulder: "Let's talk first. ...peaceful."

"....How is it peaceful?"

"How about taking your hands off the dagger anyway? I'm unarmed, so it's not a good idea for you to use a weapon, right?"

"....How about you remove your hands from my shoulders first? I don't like being touched by men." The vendor frowned and expressed his refusal in a cold voice.

This made him feel a little distressed, and he said calmly:

"I think it's better not to be stubborn. After all... you are still young. You will meet many people in the future, experience many things, gain a lot, and lose a lot. But no matter what, there are two things that you must never abandon - conscience and ideals. If you must add, there is also a life, because if you die here now, everything will be meaningless."

"... That's a nice thing to say. Do you have that kind of thing?"

"Some of it is, otherwise you wouldn't be sitting and talking to me now." Ash smiled and finally let go of the vendor's shoulder, took the bottle of wine handed by the mercenary, and drank it in a big gulp, then smiled:

"I sincerely hope that you two can listen to me carefully and choose the path that suits you."

"You are..." The store manager just started to speak, and before he even finished speaking, Ash interrupted: "My name is Ash, you should have some impression of this name more or less... If the shadow warrior can get some information."

"Ash..." Hearing this, the store manager who always felt that he had seen this person somewhere at the beginning finally remembered that he had seen the existence of this boy in the information.

More than eighty years ago, he had a brief relationship with the brave and his party, and seemed to have a good relationship with the neighboring kingdom, but there was no conclusive information to prove this.

Because the information about Ash was basically only circulated among the upper class of the kingdom, but it was very vague, and few people knew the details. Those who knew would be strictly monitored, and those who leaked Ash's information would almost always be assassinated, or directly sent to kill them openly.

This made it difficult to confirm the information about Ash, and there were only some limited rumors, making it unclear what this person did.

After all, Ash often ran around, and occasionally wandered alone in the north of the continent. In the past, he also appeared in the central and southern countries, and seemed to have certain connections and connections with forces such as the Holy City and the Kingdom.

The store manager was just as confused about his father's lack of understanding of the death of this man, but he was puzzled by the fact that his father was still young despite being over a hundred years old according to intelligence. He stroked the poison arrow in his hand calmly: "What do you want to do?"

"Don't worry, I don't have any bad intentions. I just want you to make a choice."

"Choice?"

"Live and die here - such a simple choice, you should understand it as an assassin, right?"

When he came here and (insert their conversation), he mentioned the matter of Sai Li and Ai Ai, and said it to this point, which was enough to show his position.

It was hard for both of them to understand what the last words meant.

But after Ash finished speaking, he was drinking happily at the bar as if nothing had happened. This look clearly gave people the illusion that he was defenseless and there was an opportunity to take advantage of.

But the instinctive warnings from his gestures made them dare not act rashly.

...............................

Although Ash gave people the impression that he was a very powerful type, it was really hard to do nothing and just surrender.

The vendor who was sitting next to Ash could not stand the humiliation of being forced to surrender even though he seemed to have an opportunity to take advantage of it.

Therefore, in this oppressive atmosphere, the vendor silently clenched the dagger.

This guy is very strong no matter how you look at it... But! As long as he is a human, there will be times when he will relax. At this distance, as long as he takes action first, I still have a chance! There should be a chance...! ——The vendor tried to convince himself to take action, and with the humiliation of being despised, he gritted his teeth and suddenly pulled out the dagger, stabbing him in the chest without warning.

The silent dagger broke through the wind.

But before it reached the target, a white light slashed down from behind.

With a sound of breaking wind, the mercenary who had been prepared swung his sword, and the merchant's arm and dagger fell to the ground.

The hot blood splashed on Ash's face.

The merchant stared blankly, looking at the broken arm spurting blood. It took him a while to come back to his senses, and he screamed in horror:

"Ah, ah ah ah-ah ah!!"

He tried to cover his arm to stop the surging blood, but the broken arm that was cut off by Jiuqi continued to spurt blood.

"Xu Lit!? You actually...!"

The store manager who had originally wanted to join in the fight and even accumulated strength to eject the poison arrow, stood there in a daze, looking at the mercenary behind Ash in disbelief, but he couldn't say a word.

Ash was also a little surprised. He didn't expect this guy... to attack his companion directly?

But he didn't care too much. He just shook his head with regret and sighed, "Too noisy." Then he waved his hand.

The strong repulsive force was like an invisible tsunami, surging away like a rotten wood.

——Bang! ! With a sound, part of the bar that was affected was instantly turned into broken wood chips, and was smashed and blown away along with the floor decorations.

The merchant with a broken arm flew straight out and smashed through the wall, and fell into another room. He rolled several times and was covered in blood. He just fell to the ground motionless and his life and death were unknown. Only the broken arm was still alive. bleed.

But his body was already incredibly soft, as if all the bones in his body were shattered by the repulsive force at this moment.

At this moment, he realized that the other party might be the magician. He immediately seized this opportunity and flicked the end of the poisonous arrow with his finger, causing the poisonous arrow to penetrate the bar in an instant. He stabbed him with lightning speed. go.

But the poisonous arrow had just popped out, and before he heard the sound of the arrow entering his flesh, he felt the world spinning.

Even the mercenary didn't know what was going on. The angry store manager ejected the arrow, but before he could touch anyone, Ash slapped him on the head and knocked him down. On the bar, a big hole was created in the bar, and the wine glasses on it were shattered to the ground.

If it were an ordinary person, pressing down at such a speed would not only make his head bear it, but also break his neck. At this moment, he would only have a broken head and bleeding, and the poisonous arrow that flew out was also flying out. In an instant, Ash was caught in his hand, and his backhand was inserted into the back of his hand, leaving him only whimpering in pain.

"Actually, I don't like killing people, let alone killing good people. Lanson was originally a good guy, but he didn't want to listen to me. I'm really sorry."

Ash grabbed the store manager's hair, pulled his head up, and shook his head regretfully: "For you, I also sincerely hope to give you a chance to continue living, but... you don't seem to be able to Don’t you want to continue living?”

Of course, even though I say this, I really think so.

But Ash mainly wanted to use them to assassinate the empire's nobles and lure out the empire's possible backhand.

After all, now that I am in the dark, I naturally have to make full use of this advantage to avoid the unpredictable risk of extreme happiness and misery. It is safer to let others explore the path for me.