Chapter 176 - Mysterious Mission
Everyone’s eyes fell on Lin Li at his words. The dozen of Silver Hand members had the same thought in their hearts.
This fellow has hit the jackpot…
Who was Thuzadin? He was the only Necromancer in Alanna’s many mercenary corps; he also had a strength close to an Archmage. It was no exaggeration to say that the half of the success of the Rising Sun Mercenary Corp at present could be attributed to Thuzadin. If it hadn’t been for Thuzadin’s existence, how could they have squeezed their way into one of Alanna’s top ten mercenary corps?
But, just a while ago, the famous Necromancer had died in the hands of a low-level warrior…
No one could have imagined that the battle would end in such a dramatic way. Just when everyone had lost all hope, a low-level warrior had raised his crossbow, and using a bolt that possessed the Divine Power, he easily shot and killed a figure close to the level of an Archmage…
This guy was extremely lucky…
It happened exactly when Thuzadin failed to cast his spell and was at his weakest, and it just so happened that the other fellow was in possession of a bolt that contained Divine Power. As a result of these coincidences that had happened in succession, Thuzadin was sent on a road to ruin, and this fellow was also sent to the position of man of the moment in the Silver Hand.
“Thank heavens for sending these guys away…” Watching the billowing dusts and smoke from the carriage, the middle-aged man’s face revealed an expression of relief.
However, the inn soon gave him a headache. These guys had left enough compensation before they left, but could the second floor, which had been ravaged by the serial Corpse Explosion, be cleaned up in two days? It seemed that he would be busy for a period of time…
“What a bane…” The middle-aged man sighed, and was about to go up to the second floor to tidy up when he suddenly heard the sound of horses’ hooves coming from a distance.
Then, he saw a few carriages approaching from the curtain of night. At first, he thought that the adventurers who had just left returned. But when he saw the crest on the carriages, his face turned white in horror…
Painting the family crest on the carriage was the privilege of the nobles. The middle-aged man had been running the inn in Blackhills Town for a long time, and had seen many nobles. But he’d never expected the carriages to be painted with a golden hammer!
“Men from the Marathon Family!”
Just as the innkeeper’s face paled, the carriages had slowly come to a stop at the door of the inn.
A young man, who looked less than 30 years of age, stepped down from the carriage. His long, golden hair looked extremely dazzling even in the dark. His handsome face and ruby eyes, in addition to his lengthy black robe, filled him with a devilish charm. When he pulled up the corners of his mouth and smiled, it reminded people of a phrase—a smile like the devil’s!
“What a backwater…” The young man seemed to complain in a low voice when he got out of the carriage. Then, he turned around, and waved to the innkeeper. “You, come here.”
“Honorable Sir, I’m at your disposal.” This was a member of the Marathon Family. As soon as he saw the young man waving at him, the innkeeper hurried forward, and greeted him with a bow.
“Did someone create a ruckus here tonight?”
“How do you know?” The innkeeper started in astonishment.
After all, he was only a businessman. Even if he was knowledgeable and experienced, he could never understand that a mage could infer innumerable pieces of information with only a trace of residual magical wave.
“You don’t need to worry about how I know; you just have to answer my question. Take a good look at this. Was there a person like this who checked into your inn?” After speaking, the young man took out a picture from his pocket and handed it to the innkeeper, who was still hunched.
The picture showed a young man, similarly in a long black robe. He looked to be in his twenties; he had short black hair and dark pupils. His face was handsome, and his smile gentle—he looked very likeable at first sight.
The innkeeper took the picture and looked at it with furrowed brows for a long while before he nodded, though somewhat uncertain. “It seems that there was such a person…”
“Where is he now?”
“He just left.”
“Left?”
“Yes, about half an hour ago. He left in a horse carriage.”
“Half an hour ago…” The young man thought about it, and took out a bag of gold coins from his pocket. The bag was heavy—there were over 100 gold coins in it. The young man held it in his hand, shaking it in front of the innkeeper. “Think about where this man went in the carriage. If you can recall, this bag of gold coins is yours.
“Right, let me remind you. If you dare to lie to me…”
“I dare not…” The innkeeper hastened to clarify that he was telling the truth. This person was from the Marathon Family. He would not dare to deceive the Marathon Family for a bag of gold coins even if he was given a hundred times more nerve.
The innkeeper frowned tightly, and after a long period of contemplation, he finally recalled it. “Yes, I remember, the adventurers with him seemed to have said that they are going to the Fire Plume Ridge!”
“The Fire Plume Ridge?” The young man put the gold coin in the hands of the innkeeper, then quickly walked to the carriage. He whispered a few words to someone in the carriage. After some time, he raised his head and ordered the other carriages, “We must get to the Fire Plume Ridge before dawn!”
…
It was only a two hours’ journey from Blackhills Town to the Fire Plume Ridge. Lin Li lay in the carriage; he had barely shut his eyes for a moment when he felt the unique temperature of the Fire Plume Ridge.
“Mr Felic, we’re here.” Hank halted the carriage, and cautiously woke Lin Li up.
“So fast?” Lin Li rubbed his eyes, still sleepy. When he came halfway out of the carriage, he suddenly stopped. “Hank, my name is Felic, not Mr Felic. Also, I’m a level-five warrior, not a mage. You might be having a little problem if you mistake me again…”
“…”
Six mercenary corps had pitched six camps at the foot of the Fire Plume Ridge. Among them, the Silver Hand’s camp was on the outskirts. After Lin Li got out of the carriage, he saw hundreds of tents closely linked together, which meant that there were at least thousands of adventurers…
For a while, Lin Li couldn’t help wondering what kind of mission it was to attract six powerful mercenary corps at the same time.
Alanna’s three major mercenary corps were no joke. Although Lin Li was not very clear about the strength of the other two, he knew more or less about the Silver Hand because of Ina. Even without mentioning the famous Silver Storm, the Silver Hand alone had thousands of adventurers of all levels, of which there were at least hundreds of people over level-ten.
If he hadn’t seen it with his own eyes, Lin Li would have hardly believed that there was a mission the Silver Hand could not accomplish alone, forcing them to collaborate with other mercenary corps.
Collaboration was not common for mercenary corps…
As the saying goes, “two of a trade could never agree”. It was particularly so for heavyweights such as the three major mercenary corps—they were each other’s ultimate foes. The three major Alanna mercenary corps each controlled thousands of adventurers. With such a large number of them, contradictions and conflicts were natural in daily life. When it came to conflicts of interest, this kind of contradiction would become particularly more intense. It would be harder to get them to cooperate than to reach for the sky…
But, this time, the mission had really brought them together, and it seemed that they were cooperating well. At least they did not fight as soon as they met when they were pitching their tents together.
With some doubts in mind, Lin Li followed Serena and the gang, heading towards the Silver Hand’s camp.
The Silver Hand’s camp was well laid out. More than 100 tents occupied a large stretch of the open space. Around the tents, temporary posts were erected; several sharp-eyed archers were standing guard on the posts. Below the posts, a group of fully armed warriors was patrolling the camp.
Good vigilance… This was Lin Li’s evaluation of the Silver Hand.
That was why he was puzzled—how could the vigilant Silver Hand let their captain be trapped in the inn and almost killed by a group of adventurers with lackluster strength?
Unfortunately, before he figured it out, he noticed a familiar figure…
The tent in the center was the largest one in the whole camp. It was undoubtedly the temporary headquarters of the Silver Hand. The familiar figure that came out of the tent looked to be in his twenties, and was dressed up as a warrior; his blond hair was particularly dazzling in the early morning sunshine.
F*ck, how come it’s this fella! Lin Li jumped in surprise. It was Elijah who came out of the tent!
Lin Li hadn’t seen this fellow after they had visited the black market together the other day. Lin Li was bewildered initially; he clearly told him to come to the Guild of Magic the next day to collect the Bull’s Strength Potion, but the fellow was nowhere in sight. Lin Li then realized that this fellow had come to the Fire Plume Ridge one step ahead of himself…
It made sense on the second thought too. This fellow was also a captain of one of the top ten mercenary corps. It was not surprising that he had a share in such missions.
He had come on his own, but why did he have to pick such a time to appear…
Lin Li’s head pounded. It was not a good thing to bump into Elijah at this moment. If this fellow was insensible, and revealed his background in a word, he’d be in big trouble…
“Captain Serena, you’re back…” Elijah saw the men from the Silver Hand coming from afar, and went up to greet them anxiously. However, Elijah’s face froze halfway mid-stride, for he found Lin Li among the group of people. “Ma—”
“Captain Elijah, is it really you?” How would Lin Li dare to give him the chance to speak? In case he called out “Mage Felic”, how was he going to explain it? Just as the expression on Elijah’s face froze, Lin Li went up and greeted Elijah with a face full of surprise, hugging him enthusiastically. “When are you going to pay me back?”
“…” Elijah almost bit his tongue. He thought, Aren’t you the one who owes me three bottles of Bull’s Strength Potion? Why did it suddenly become me owing you money?
Fortunately, Elijah was smart. When he saw the weird expression on Lin Li’s face, he knew that the young mage had to have something he wanted to hide. He dared not treat the matter slightly, and immediately picked up the conversation. “This… Can we put it off for a while?
“Again? You’ve been holding off on it for months…” Seizing the chance of pressing for debt, Lin Li said to Elijah in a low voice, “Remember, you don’t know anything except that you owe me money, do you understand?”
“I understand…” Elijah nodded, but the look on his face was exceptionally embarrassed. He was the captain of one of the ten most impressive mercenary corps, but was pressed to pay debt in public. If this were to spread, he didn’t know where he could put his face.
“Captain Elijah, what’s the matter?” Fortunately, Serena spoke in time to save Elijah from the embarrassment.
“Well, Captain Serena, I’ve done what you asked me to do yesterday. The drawings are in your tent now. Would you like to go and take a look at them now?”
“I’ll go right now.” Serena nodded, and called Hank over to help Lin Li and others find a place to settle down.
At the beginning, Lin Li actually wanted to call Elijah over. One reason was to standardize their versions, and another was to inquire about the mission. It didn’t matter if Serena refused to say it; Elijah wouldn’t not say, would he? Unfortunately, Serena did not give him a chance to. Before entering the tent, she stopped Elijah, and said that she had something to discuss with him.
So, Lin Li had no choice but to follow Hank. They found two tents near the campfire in the north of the camp, and settled down.
“Hank, come in and have a chat.” Lin Li had dozed off in the carriage earlier on, and had forgotten to ask many questions. He had plenty of time now, anyway, so he was not in a rush to rest. He made Hank stay, and asked the question that he had failed to figure out an answer to on the way here. “Tell me, how did you all get surrounded by the Rising Sun Mercenary Corp last night?”
The reason why Lin Li wanted to know was not because he was interested in gossip.
Thuzadin’s last words had left a deep impression on him.
“So… So it’s you…” Whoever listened to these words—that were uttered by a Necromancer—would be horrified. What was the difference between being remembered by a Necromancer and being targeted by a venomous snake?
Hence, Lin Li urgently wanted to know what was hidden behind it…