The rain fell heavily.
Bits and pieces tapped on the gray earthy ground of the afternoon courtyard.
Mira looked through the huge floor-to-ceiling glass window with a brown-black window frame that was taller than her entire body. She quietly just stared at the rain curtain outside the window, in a daze.
This was the second time she had seen glass in twelve years. Although the church had disclosed the method of making it more than a century ago, it was still only a luxury item exclusive to some wealthy families.
The windows of civilian residences, chambers of commerce, and hotels are mostly made of solid wood. The vertical boards are arranged neatly and then the horizontal boards are placed and fixed with nails. This thick window, which is the same as the shield, is even used by servants. The branch of the Military Association is also using it - not really.
It's not because they can't afford glass windows. In fact, in terms of money alone, glass cannot be compared with precious metals such as gold and silver. After the church disclosed the production method, this unique gem-like material that can transmit light has been reduced from a top-notch treasure to a high-priced product that people with a little money can afford.
——Its meaning of luxury cannot be measured simply by money. Fragile and translucent glass does not have as good defense capabilities as thick wood. Choosing it not only obtains light and beautiful scenery, it also means that your home The secrets inside are revealed.
Therefore, people who can afford glass windows either live in a peaceful, prosperous city with extremely good public security; or they have the absolute status of a dominant family and are not afraid of any provocation. The former reflects the extremely high level of civilization of the country in which it exists, and its citizens have a level of development that can dwarf other countries around them. The latter is the calmness of the powerful - no matter which one, it is "luxury" on the spiritual level with confidence.
And this may seem ironic to outsiders.
——The more developed it is, the more civilized it is. The more I like things, the more fragile they are.
Long dresses that are inconvenient for movement, luxurious and delicate but heavy and fragile gold and silver ornaments, and dazzling gems. Delicate silk folding fans, as well as these marble floors brought from unknown sources and animal skin carpets covered on them.
Although Mira could understand that they chose these things because they had the ability to do these things that the nobles liked, she could not understand this mode of thinking.
At least not yet.
The rain is still falling. Mira turned around. There were three people including her, Henry and Ferry in this large guest room. As for why they were here, we have to start from the beginning.
After discovering the deceased yesterday afternoon, Henry deduced that there were two "magicians" who used interference spells to kill people in the city. Afterwards, Vega and the others returned to the security post to look through the scrolls and unexpectedly found several things that they had never noticed in the past. Distinguish details.
Although the vast majority of the dead are still believed to be the work of the Duke's eldest son, the more skillful party. But there were a few corpses that had obvious signs of violent destruction scrawled on them, which looked like the techniques of the second murderer.
After solving a key problem, looking back on the dusty scrolls, and following the clues to distinguish the two types through murderous techniques, everyone easily discovered the regular characteristics of the second "magician".
Mixed among the many cases where the previous one committed indiscriminate cold-blooded murders, ranging from children to the elderly, civilians to soldiers, the targets chosen by the second magician had many things in common.
Prostitutes, drunkards, vagrants, bandits, and mercenaries who do not do their job properly.
When all the dead were mixed together, no one was able to discover this fact because the coverage area was too wide. After they were separated, the Sheriff's uncle, who suddenly realized it, scratched his head and sighed helplessly and said.
"This guy is not so much a magician who uses mysterious techniques to kill people, but rather thinks of himself as a security officer."
The bottleneck that had been stuck for a long time was solved after Henry arrived. After repeated deliberation, everyone decided to divide their troops into two groups.
Weijia led a group of temporary workers and began to investigate the locations where the corpses were found as described a year ago. However, due to the vandalism of the mercenaries in the past year, Beicheng District has long been transformed. Even if the residents who found the corpses were known, It's also possible that the person named has moved out of the North End or left Monroe directly.
The search was like finding a needle in a haystack, but things were progressing. Seeing the hope of sweeping away the lifeless air in the city and giving the residents an explanation, Vega seemed to have suddenly become more than ten years younger. Not only did he lead his men on another road, After investigation, this side also filed an application with the Duke's Palace.
Henry saw his desperate efforts, which caused the sage to think a little. No matter how good and kind a person is, they can still maintain this enthusiasm despite insufficient funds and many obstacles. So most of this matter is mixed with his personal feelings.
The conjecture that it was connected to the long sword with the mark erased by the Sheriff was more solid, but Vega did not intend to say anything, and Henry, who had always disliked inquiring, remained silent.
——To return to the original point, the application sent by Vega to the Duke's Palace, excluding the formal and polite terms required, is roughly as follows: A murderer named "Magician" has appeared again recently. Since it is close to the Duke's Palace, in order to check whether the defenses are complete, we requested that three mercenaries with certain abilities be sent to stay at the Duke's Palace for two days and one night to conduct inspections.
This reason may seem high-sounding, but the wily Duke must be able to understand that the drunkard is not interested in drinking, so no matter who it is, he is prepared to be rejected. Vega took this as his first move and planned to send security team members to ambush near the Duke's Palace for security patrols after being rejected. He wanted to wait until the Duke's eldest son went out to commit murder again to follow him and catch him.
The rhetoric and action plans have been prepared. All that is waiting for is rejection from the other party. But just a moment later, two soldiers wearing broad-shouldered half-armor that were no different from the soldiers guarding the north city gate brought another news.
——The Duke agreed.
Even Henry couldn't figure out what the other party had in mind. Are you so confident that you won't expose any illusions if you let yourself in, or will you take certain obstructive measures to hinder the investigation or give the wrong direction after entering?
The situation of the game once again became complicated and confusing. The sage and the Sheriff looked at each other, then nodded, and decided to wait calmly for now - and this is what happened this morning.
After being led into the Duke's Palace, the soldiers who saw them off left on their own, and the maid in exquisite black and white clothing led the three of them directly to the room assigned to them.
The interior of the mansion is spacious and luxurious. The T-shaped corridor on the right after entering from the main entrance hall is where the guest rooms are. The financial resources of Duke Monroe of the wealthy city-state are evident here. Even the guest rooms that have been vacant all year round have luxurious floors, crystal lamp holders, and teak furniture. After the maid led the three of them to arrive, they served drinks made of fruit, and then told them to be there if anything happened. After passing the middle hall on the left, retreat. The three of them were left to roam freely.
The sweet-smelling mango juice and lemon leaf tea served in exquisite glassware attracted the wary eyes of Feli and Mira, but the sage picked up the glass without caring and took a big sip, and then After giving the two of them a "stay here and don't run around" look, he walked out of the room on his own.
He did not take off his sword, and was marching inside the Duke's Palace fully armed.
"..." The passing maids and lower-level male servants were carrying various cleaning tools, clothing and sheets. When they saw Henry, they all stopped and bowed slightly, as if he were some distinguished guest.
'In other words, I can go wherever I want. 'This detail made the sage narrow his eyes slightly - he became more and more curious about what the Duke of Monroe was planning, so without stopping, Henry started wandering around the entire mansion. .
The overall shape of Monroe's Duke's Palace can be seen as a large circle wrapping a small circle. The two ends of the T-shaped horizontal line are the guest rooms and the servants' rooms, while the end of the straight line is the huge atrium, with a A wide staircase that allows ten people to walk up at the same time leads to the second floor of the mansion.
Behind the stairs is the door to the backyard. The vast backyard enclosed by the outer "big circle" - that is, walls and buildings such as woodsheds and warehouses - also contains some training equipment. If you walk to the right side of the backyard, you can see Mira and the others in the guest room through the glass window.
Several soldiers who had just finished training, wearing the standard large shoulder half-body armor, walked by on the right side. They noticed the presence of the sage, but they just walked by indifferently.
"Do you really want to let me investigate at will? Aren't you afraid that I will really discover something?" Henry murmured to himself in a low voice. He took the initiative to test and came to the conclusion that the other party did not intend to restrict his behavior. This move The sage didn't know what the deep meaning was - so he decided to stop it first and not to act too hastily.
"Forget it, it's okay to come first." After recalling the sweet and cloying taste of the juice in his mouth, Henry turned around and started to walk back.
Feli who stayed in the room looked a little frizzy. After all, the whole thing was quite personal to him. For a boy who is still young and impulsive, it is obviously impossible for him to control his emotions. So he was still wet, doing nothing but pacing back and forth, sitting up and down from the chair, sometimes holding his arms and sometimes scratching his short hair, looking very restless.
Mira next to her took a sip of lemon leaf tea and continued reading. She initially tried to chat with Ferri, but the young mercenary seemed restless since arriving at the Duke's residence, so the girl silently sat on the edge alone.
After Henry returned, the two of them naturally asked him about the results of the investigation, but the sage shook his head and just said: "Just wait and wait."
Ferry, who had just met Henry and was not familiar with Henry's style of doing things, was obviously not convinced by this answer. He picked up a glass of juice and drank it in one gulp. Then he sat down on the chair with his arms folded and began to feel unhappy.
Mira glanced at him, then shook her head, and then read quietly. Later, as if she was tired of reading, she walked to the window and looked at the heavy rain and began to think about some problems.
Time passed by quietly like this, and the only person who came into contact with them throughout the day was the maid who delivered meals. Lunch and dinner were both sumptuous, and were delivered by several maids. Feli, who had been restless all day, lay down on the carpet and dozed off after eating and drinking. Mira was still reading, and Henry sat leisurely as if waiting for something.
"Button." At about seven o'clock, there was a knock on the door. Mira staggered and tried to get up, but Henry raised his hand to stop her. The sage personally walked forward and opened the door. This time the person who came was not a maid, but it was the person Henry was waiting for.
"I am Medlow Miller. Knight of Monroe." The man with brown hair, who was still wearing long sleeves despite the sultry weather, said this, and then he looked at the group of three people with sharp eyes.
"The Duchess wants me to have a go at it with you mercenaries who are here to investigate to confirm your strength." His tone was calm, but the expression on his face didn't look like he was just going to have a go at it.
"Sigh. Sure enough, you nobles only know this one trick." The sage held his forehead with some disappointment. The other party's intention did not exceed his expectation. He had previously speculated whether they had any deep meaning or could play one or two special tricks. I had some expectations, but in the end it came to an end. No matter where the nobles are, they will only make the same choice.
If you want to figure out what they want to do, it's easy as long as you understand the thinking mode of the nobles.
These guys who were born with a golden key and have been taught since childhood that they are born to rule will never regard mercenaries or civilians as equals to themselves. In their eyes, they are "noble", just like human beings looking down at the insects and ants at their feet. To the nobles, ordinary people are humble things that they don't even need to work hard to deal with seriously.
When they are in a good mood, they may give a little charity to make the other person feel grateful to them, but when these humble bugs dare to offend themselves.
Precaution, intrigue, misdirection—no, these things were reserved for equal nobles.
No matter where you are, there has been only one choice for dealing with mortal nobles who threaten you, and that is to crush them.
Two blue-label mercenaries and a green-label mercenary died accidentally while practicing fighting. The Duke's family paid monetary compensation to the mercenary guild and stated that they would severely punish the elite soldiers who killed them.
Then there is no more.
"Huh..." Henry let out a long breath, and then took the big sword that was leaning on the chair next to him.
Mira, who was sitting on a chair reading a book, tilted her neck. Ferry, who was lying on the carpet, breathed evenly together.
"You are so unlucky. If you had slept obediently, there would have been no pain." Medello pulled away and revealed a group of fully armed elite soldiers behind him. A "click" sound sounded, and the glass window on the side of the guest room leading to the backyard It was opened from the outside, and the night wind blowing in caused the candlelight to sway. Three soldiers came in through the window and walked around behind Henry.
"Qiang——" They drew their weapons, and the sage also held the hilt of the sword.
"Ah, wait."
"I know what you are thinking." He was surrounded by three soldiers in half-armor on each side. There were more people in the corridor outside the door who couldn't get in. It was said that he was heavily surrounded. But the sage spoke calmly as always.
"You are thinking that you have the numerical advantage, and this person still has to protect two sleeping companions. And now he is probably using his willpower to hold on. I don't know if he can swing a sword."
"Right?" Henry slowly pulled out the sword. The space inside the guest room was extremely small. There was a wolf in front of him and a tiger in the back. The situation was not optimistic, but he was as leisurely as if he was chatting with his friends.
"To be honest with you, I don't know either." Henry shrugged: "Because as you secretly observed, I also took those drugged things."
"But this-"
"This is a Claymore that can split a man in half perfectly from the ground up."
"And you are just within its attack range."
"So you should ask yourselves a question. Young man!" A soldier behind him didn't want to listen to his nonsense anymore. He directly raised his sword and stabbed Ferry who was lying on the ground. Henry didn't even look at his hands. Holding the sword, he turned around like lightning.
"Bang-bang-!!" The broken half of the steel sword spun and flew out, piercing deeply into the back of the teak chair. The warm arm pulled a trail of blood into the sky, and the soldier's face was twisted. The upper mouth opened widely, but before the whine could be heard, it was stopped forever with Henry's next movement.
"Dang Dang - Gululu" The head wearing a steel helmet fell heavily on the marble floor with a loud sound, and the dead soldier still had his mouth wide open.
"Ugh..." The strike that ended like lightning caused the remaining five people to immediately stop and distance themselves. Medello at the door retreated further, allowing the elite soldiers of the reserve team to move forward. The tip of the drooped sword was dripping with warm blood. Henry was breathless, turned his head to look at Medello and finished his warning.
"Do you want to try your luck?" (To be continued.)
