Like the west coast, although it is more prosperous and developed, the nights and wilderness of the east coast are also places filled with all kinds of scary stories.
As mercenaries and adventurers, people who travel around the world all year round can understand to some extent that although monsters do exist, they rarely provoke humans. Including beasts like dragon lizards, most predatory creatures with a little bit of intelligence will understand the horror of humans. They will understand through blood lessons that if these small, soft-skinned creatures without claws or fangs have an individual, Being killed will bring about hordes of revenge, making you miserable.
Since the expansion of human society, countless terrifying beasts and monsters have been killed by torches and swords. If they are too aggressive and live too close to humans, the only result will be destruction. The few individuals who can survive and know how to seek advantages and avoid disadvantages have also deeply engraved this fear into their genes, so that their descendants know how to avoid these cruel creatures and live far away from humans. A life without any worries.
This is why the category of mercenaries who specialize in dealing with creatures other than humans is called "hunting mercenaries" rather than the so-called "demon slayer mercenaries" or "monster slayer mercenaries" - compared with these, they are just for survival. Humans are the only animals that will kill their own kind over trivial matters such as quarrels.
In terms of the degree of horror, these rare and rare creatures far away from the realm of human existence are far from comparable to us - but it is precisely because of this rarity that they have become a hot topic in the field of literature.
On the truly chaotic west coast, farmers living on the edge of the forest are indeed afraid of all kinds of ferocious beasts and bloodthirsty monsters, but they are extremely popular here. This phenomenon is unique to the prosperous Padrosi Empire on the east coast.
In the final analysis, all this can be summed up as "distance creates beauty" - precisely because of prosperity, peace and good public security, those terrible murderous monsters are far away from the areas where these people live, and people are not actually threatened by these creatures, so Instead, I became interested in them and wanted to understand and read the stories related to them.
The literary world of Padrosi uses "shocking beauty" and "terrifying beauty" as general terms for such paintings and novels. Thanks to the printing and papermaking industry, which is far more developed than the West Coast, the circulation of books with drawings is very large. And these novels and pictures involving monsters and monsters have become very popular.
People watch and read the adventures of the protagonists in the text and pictures, and are immersed in the thrill of being chased by terrifying creatures, but they do not really fall into that kind of danger.
This feeling of reading adventure novels in a safe environment and getting goosebumps all over the body due to the excitement is fascinating. Therefore, similar weird stories have a large audience whether they are passed down orally among the people or in books in the upper class——
There is a saying that the forest is big and there are all kinds of birds. When one of these people in the upper class wants to go on a real adventure because he has read too many adventure novels, to experience and witness those terrible murderous monsters, This rather troublesome commission naturally fell on the head of a professional organization like the Mercenary Guild.
——But what does this have to do with our Mr. Sage and Little Mira?
Well, this is because this task was "taken" by them.
The reason why I put it in quotation marks is because it was not taken by them on their own initiative, but was assigned to them.
As we have said before, after entering the blue card level, register with the local mercenary guild. When there are tasks that match their situation, the front desk staff will give priority to those with higher levels.
The reason why this task that has been hanging on the board for two months fell on Henry and Mira ultimately lies in the special identity of the person who issued the task.
"A noble lady who longs for adventure."
"I hope the mercenary who takes over the mission has good skills and is a lovely woman."
Looking at the friendly smile of the front desk girl Tanya, Mira held her forehead and sighed repeatedly, just wanting to find a place to sit and be quiet.
Female adventurers are already rare, even in a prosperous city like Parnilla. And there are very few people like our white-haired girl who already have a blue card at a young age. Therefore, when the two of them reported in the local area and then recorded it, they naturally became the one who had already been hung on the wooden board. The perfect choice for a task that has taken too long.
If the task hangs for too long and no one can complete it, it is a loss of reputation for the mercenary guild. In addition, the publisher obviously has a certain identity, so the trouble fell on the two of them.
It is difficult enough to escort a helpless noble lady from one place to another, but the trouble with this task is that the client actively "wants to take risks" - —There is no need to elaborate on how troublesome this completion condition is. Accepting such a task to accompany a young lady to commit suicide, except for those young men who think that they can rely on the suspension bridge effect to have a spark of love with others, most of them Anyone with any sense would avoid it.
——But that’s not all.
Since the eldest lady's family members are people with normal IQs, they will definitely not allow her to take such an unprecedented risk-taking behavior.
Therefore, after confirming acceptance of the task, our Mr. Sage and Little Mira still need to do one more thing.
They want it.
Kidnapping the client.
Mira sighed more times this day than she usually did in the entire month.
...
The moon was dark and the wind was high, and except for a few taverns that were still brightly lit, there were only patrols wearing half-body armor and holding spears on the streets.
Henry and Mira, wearing only light clothes and carrying knives, walked towards the mansion that had been visited in advance.
The client gave detailed schematic diagrams during subsequent contacts. Detailed descriptions of the structural blueprint of her mansion and the approximate location of the guards showed her delicate and calm way of thinking, but she easily gave strangers this kind of connection. The important information related to her own home makes people think she is a little naive.
He comes from an upper-class background and has received a strict education, but he is still young, so his judgment on some issues is still biased toward idealism. Although he has not met him in person, he can still imagine what this client is like. But then again, if it weren't for such a eldest lady, I'm afraid I wouldn't have put forward such a commission from the beginning.
--and.
When Henry and Mira actually arrived at this huge mansion next to the upper street of the business district, even if the sage did not explain it, Mira could easily tell that the other party was not worried that the drawings and guard instructions would be used by people with ulterior motives. reasons to harm them.
Because even if they have "inside agents", it will still be difficult for them to sneak in.
There are almost no blind spots for the three shifts of manor guards, and because it is adjacent to the wide commercial street, the intensity and density of the patrols here must be doubled. If you want to gather a number of people to attack them, you will only be caught in the middle by the manor guards and city patrols, unable to move. The only ones who can really take action are a streamlined few, but with less than half a dozen people, you have to be there. Five groups of 15 heavily armed patrol squadrons and more than 40 manor guards "kidnapped" their young lady right under their noses. If they were tricked, they might not even have a chance to resist.
"No wonder the reward for this mission is so high." Milady sighed several times and then said this, while Henry next to her shrugged, noncommittal.
This mission was their first since arriving on the East Coast, and it had now been about a week since they were originally assigned. During this period of time, they obtained a lot of information through the middleman of the mercenary guild, and at the same time, they actually went to locations near the manor to conduct on-site investigations. After figuring out all this, I agreed on a time with the client and was well prepared, and then I really got into action.
But even though she had made adequate preparations in advance, Mira was still very nervous when it came time to actually take action.
"Let's go." Henry said softly. The alley where the two of them were hiding was located between the two dessert shops at the end of the upper street. Padrosi people only eat sweets during the day, so the dessert shop always closes early in the evening, so the two of them came here in the evening to lurk and wait for nightfall.
The five patrol teams on the avenue are handed over in a T-shape, and three of them are responsible for patrolling the vast commercial areas of the upper and lower streets. This road is very long and covers a wide area. It will take a lot of time to walk from one end to the other. The remaining two groups are the horizontal part of the T-shape, going from the main road to the aristocratic residential area here, and then go straight to the central square and turn back.
Although the coverage area and patrol interval are already high, if you observe carefully, you can still figure out the pattern, find an open window, and seize the time to run through the deserted streets.
The real trouble lies in the fixed guards inside the manor, but the eldest lady has already helped solve these problems in advance.
She found some random excuse and asked the guards on this side to walk indoors from the balcony where the wall could be seen from outside. Therefore, after Henry and Mira escaped the security patrol, they walked to the outside of the house's wall in a dignified manner.
"Shasha——" It was quiet in the night, and the slightest sound could travel far away, so the two of them moved quietly. The sage squatted down and crossed his palms as a platform, and Mira stepped on his hands, using Henry's strength to lift her body straight up.
The manor's wall was only two and a half meters high, but it was protected by an iron spearhead. Although it didn't have a sharp edge, it was still quite sharp and piercing. The white-haired Luoan girl climbed to the top of the fence with the help of the sage, but before climbing over, she first spread a prepared blanket sewn together with leather-grade thick cowhide on the fence. on the head to avoid being stabbed and scratched by the spear tip.
"Huh -" Mira raised two fingers and waved lightly at Henry, then grabbed the guardrail and climbed over.
After Henry climbed over, in order to avoid the patrol's attention, he took off the blanket and placed it next to the corner of the manor.
Although they were very careful, the subtle insects in the garden around the wall were still quiet because of their movements. To be on the safe side, they stayed where they were for a while, making sure that no one noticed the strangeness, and then they quietly approached.
They crouched in the shadow of the bushes.
"clatter"
The client's room was on the second floor on this side. As agreed, Henry picked up a small stone and threw it on the free balcony.
They waited quietly for a while. The glass wooden door of the balcony was opened quietly, and a girl with black curly hair and light pajamas came out. Her eyes lit up when she saw the two people below, and her face was filled with excitement and joy. His expression couldn't be hidden, and he had obviously been looking forward to this for a long time.
"'Wait a minute, I'll be right here.'" She mouthed to the two of them, and then ran back to her room with her bare feet, and after a while, she was gone. Just like what is described in some romance novels, a rope made of sheets tied together hung down from the balcony.
"'Here I come!'" The client with curly black hair changed into light clothes and carried a small leather bag that looked bulging. However, Henry below frowned. Mira beside him held her forehead and sighed again, then waved her hands desperately.
"'Your rope! The rope!'" The white-haired Luoan girl waved her hands vigorously to remind the other party, but because she and Henry were hiding in the dark, the other party could not see clearly the shape of Mira's mouth. The young noble The eldest lady only saw the gesture of waving. For a moment, she thought that the white-haired girl had the same mood as her, so she looked at Mira with a sweet smile, then grabbed the rope with both hands and pushed hard.
Ever since, this "adventure", which had been planned in detail and had not attracted anyone's attention up to this point, was suddenly interrupted by a "pop--" sound of the rope being improvised by an amateur being broken, and a short but sharp " Ah——", it ended early.
"Pa--" The grayness rose slightly, and the curly-haired client, who was caught in the arms of a sage who rushed out, blinked her big eyes that reflected the bright moonlight several times, but she didn't have time to stop. Reacting to the current situation, because of this scream, there was a commotion on the other side.
"Hurry up." Henry put down the client who was still in a daze, and Mira behind him came over, grabbed the other party's arm and pulled him towards the wall.
"That, that--" The curly-haired noble lady still looked dumbfounded. Although she had been planning for this for a long time and even stayed up all night in anticipation, she felt clumsy and confused when she actually started to take action.
"The patrol will return in about 7 minutes, hurry up!" The girl kept tapping the time and silently recorded the approximate time in her mind. She neatly laid the blanket on the fence again, and then followed what Henry had done before. Squat down with your back against the wall and cross your arms as a stepping platform.
"Okay, okay -" the noble lady responded. Her feet in small leather boots stepped on Mira's hands, and then with the help of the white-haired girl, she grabbed the railing of the wall.
"Wu--Help, help me!" But the client, with weak hands, tried desperately to kick the wall and failed to climb up. The white-haired girl let out a long sigh again and straightened up, holding the soles of the other person's feet and pushing up hard. He helped her climb up, and at the same time, a manor guard holding a spear ran over from a corner of the mansion holding a torch.
"What -" "Boom -" Before he could finish his sentence, he saw a surge of air, and then his eyes went dark and he fell to the ground.
"Crack--" Henry stepped on the torch and rolled it back and forth on the mud to extinguish it and let the surroundings return to darkness, but more people had already ran here.
He turned around and ran back to the wall, and Mira had already climbed up. The white-haired Luoan girl jumped down first, and the client who was holding on to the blanket until the sage also climbed up quickly and jumped down, but his legs were still weak and he did not dare to jump down.
"Hurry up!" Mira urged, the noisy voice behind her had already started, and the light of the torch turned the walls of the mansion into golden yellow. The client with curly black hair looked back for a while, swallowed hesitantly, and then finally made up his mind - he closed his eyes tightly and let out a small "ah" before jumping down.
"Pa—" Henry caught her again.
"Do you want to throw yourself to death? It depends on the road." Mira whispered to her, and the client smiled sheepishly. "Over there!" The blanket was seen by the guards of the manor. One of them shouted. There was no time to hesitate. The three of them quickly ran towards the quiet lower street.
"Huh...huh..."
The escape route has been planned early on, just go straight to the lower streets where the patrol team will not go deep if the terrain is more complicated.
Ironically, this kind of place is the place where nobles do not come and are usually warned not to get close. The patrol team always speeds up their pace when passing here, but now it becomes an excellent cover for them.
Just like when they arrived, Henry and Mira led the client quickly through the deserted corners. The beggars and homeless people hiding in the lower streets and alleys stayed away from them knowingly. After finally entering the brightly lit hotel area, the three of them slowed down and walked slowly towards the hotel where they were staying.
"You, you are really, like, the adventurers described in the book, so powerful!!" The white hands were clenched into fists, and the panting noble lady's face was red and excited, and her excitement was beyond words.
"Be quiet and don't attract unnecessary attention." Mira turned around and said to her. The client nodded vigorously, but still looked very energetic.
"What are your names? I haven't introduced myself before." She said, "My name is Margaret."
Although she was speaking in popular Lamani language, the lady's rhetoric still revealed a strong upper-class atmosphere, so Mira hesitated for a while before she realized that the other party was introducing herself.
"My name is Mira, and this is my teacher Henry."
The white-haired girl extended her hand to the other party.
"Please give me more advice."
"OK!"
And the other person responded with a warm smile.
————
Two flowers bloom, one on each side.
After the riot ended, a certain figure wearing slim-fitting clothes and with white hair combed back in a big back. He looked like a butler at first glance, but in fact he was indeed a butler. He looked at the traces of the surrounding scene and held the mag in his hand. Li Te looked up at the bright starry sky in the letter she left behind in Juan Xiu's handwriting.
A long sigh.
"What a troublesome young lady."
