But Linley was in no rush.
His younger brother was in school at the O’Brien Academy. Why the need to rush over there? Right now, the most important thing for him was training and raising his own strength as much as possible.
“Protect you? For how long?” Linley asked with a laugh.
“Not too long,” Jenne hurriedly said. “The City of Cerre is in the Northwest Administrative Province. From here to there, it should only take us around ten days or half a month or so. When we get there, I will definitely thank you and reward you heavily.”
“Thank and reward me?”
Linley was sighing to himself. Based on Linley’s experience, he knew very well, how could the position of city governor of a prefectural city be so easily taken by a pair of innocent siblings who had no powerful backers at all?
“We’ll give you lots of gold coins.” Jenne looked hopefully at Linley.
Jokingly, Linley said, “Oh? How many gold coins?”
Jenne gritted her teeth. “Ten thousand gold coins? What do you think?” Jenne had been living in the village since she was ten. Normally speaking, one or two gold coins could last for quite a while in a place like that. She knew that the prefectural city was a wealthy place, and she believed that although ten thousand gold coins was an astronomical figure, the prefectural city should be able to support it.
“Ten thousand gold coins?”
That previous night, the mercenary captain had wanted to offer Linley ten thousand gold coins as a token of his thanks as well. But frankly, even aside from the wealth in Linley’s interspatial ring, each of Linley’s sculptures, given his status as a master sculptor, would be worth over a hundred thousand gold coins.
“Is that not enough?” Jenne stuttered.
Linley looked at Jenne. “Miss Jenne, generally speaking, how much did you and Keane spend each year in the village?”
“In the village?” Jenne was startled. Lambert had just instructed her repeatedly not to say that in the past she had lived in a village, but Linley had already known about it.
Jenne said honestly, “A few dozen gold coins each year. After all, we had to pay for my mother’s medical treatment. Right. Lord Ley, I don’t have that much money on me right now, but in the future, I will.”
Linley had to admit that she really was an innocent girl.
“So, um, actually, you know, it should be fairly safe inside the empire’s borders. Grandpa Lambert probably was just over-thinking things. Um. I should leave.” Jenne felt rather awkward, and began to just blurt out random things.
“No. I just wanted to ask, right now, how many gold coins can you pay up front?” Linley asked.
After hearing that her prefectural city was in the Northwest Administrative Province, Linley had already made up his mind to help them, as it was on the way for him. After all, he was going to pass through the Northwest Administrative Province en route to the O’Brien Administrative Province.
“Right now? I have around ten gold coins on me.” Jenne withdrew a small pouch in her purse. “Uncle Lambert has a few more coins on him also.”
Linley accepted the pouch, retrieving a single gold coin from it.
“Done.” Linley placed this gold coin into his own pouch. “From this moment forward, I’ve accepted this escort mission. But of course, this gold coin is just your down payment. When your younger brother becomes the city governor, I’ll collect the remaining 9999 gold coins.”
Jenne was wildly overjoyed at her success.
“Thank you, thank you.” Jenne was so excited that her little face turned pure scarlet.
The caravan began to move forward once more, and the Blackcloud Panther once more began to lope alongside Linley’s cart. At the same time, Haeru looked suspiciously at Bebe and growled, “Bebe. Master accepted an escort mission for just ten thousand gold coins?”
Even a hundred thousand gold coins wouldn’t be enough to invite an expert like Linley to help out.
Just by killing a magical beast of the eighth rank, Linley would be able to procure a magicite core of the eighth rank that was worth five hundred thousand gold coins. Generally speaking, it was difficult for combatants of the eighth rank to kill magical beasts of the eighth rank. Only combatants of the ninth rank were able to kill magical beasts with confidence.
“Haeru, what do you know? The Boss is being benevolent, get it?” Bebe growled back to the Blackcloud Panther.
Growling to each other, the two magical beasts conversed in the language of magical beasts. Seeing them chatting to each other, Linley chuckled, continuing to sit quietly in the cart.
“Squeak, squeak.”
The cart’s wheels rhythmically squeaked, constantly moving forward. By the time the sun went down past the mountains, this caravan finally arrived at a border city of the O’Brien Empire.
Riding on the cart, Linley’s body swayed back and forth as he watched the distant city grow closer.
This was a pitch-black city that looked as if it were an enormous magical beast that had taken the land for itself. The walls of the cities were over thirty meters tall. Only powerful combatants would be able to scale such heights.
“Blackrock City. The ‘wall’ of the O’Brien Empire in the Northwest Administrative Province.” Linley had long since heard of this famous city.
Historically, there were quite a few major battles that had been fought at Blackrock City. Although many years had passed by, when they drew near Blackrock City, they could still see the dark red color staining many of the enormous black stones making up the walls of the city. These were dried bloodstains that had accumulated over countless years and battles.
“Everyone, we’ll part ways here,” Malone shouted loudly from outside the city walls.
Based on their mission requirements, their mercenary company was only responsible for delivering the caravan to this location. Immediately, the various merchants and travelers began to drive their carriages or carry their bags towards the city gates.
“Big brother Ley!” Keane called out from his carriage.
On the journey over, Keane had learned that Linley was going to escort them. Immediately, he grew even closer to Linley, and Linley, in turn, told Keane to just address him as ‘big brother’. After all, Linley was only 21 years old.
“Let’s go together.”
Linley led his two-meter-tall, four-meter-long black panther directly towards the city gates. The previously lazy-looking guard, seeing Linley’s black panther, was so scared that he immediately took a few steps back.
Panther-type, tiger-type, and lion-type magical beasts were all high-class magical beasts. Even the weakest panther-type magical beasts and lion-type magical beasts were generally of the seventh rank.
Right now, in a time of peace, the security at the gates wasn’t too strict.
The gate guards didn’t even inspect Linley, directly allowing him entrance.
“My heavens, what rank of magical beast is that black panther? When it looked at me, my heart almost stopped from fear,” a gate guard cried out loudly in fear.
An older gate guard next to him lowered his voice and said, “Lower your voice. From what I know, the weakest type of panther, the Golden Tattooed Panther, is a magical beast of the seventh rank. This black panther is at least a magical beast of the eighth rank.”
“Wow! Blackrock City is so developed!” Keane’s eyes were shining.
On the main streets of Blackrock City, Linley, Keane, and Jenne were walking side by side. Jenne was wearing a peaked cap on her head, pressed down firmly and with a veil in front of her face. After all, Jenne’s beauty could cause a great deal of trouble.
“He thinks THIS is developed?” Bebe squeaked on Linley’s shoulders.
Blackrock City was a city meant for war. Although it was fairly developed due to traders, there was no way it could compare to the now-lost Holy Capital, Fenlai City. Even when compared to Hess City, the capital of a kingdom, there was quite a big difference.
“Careful.�
� Linley’s body suddenly turned into a blur as he flashed in front of Jenne and Keane.
“Swish.” “Swish.”
With a wave of his right hand, Linley snatched two arrows out of the air.
“You think you can run?” With a wave of his hands, Linley sent the two arrows going back the way they came, piercing through the throats of the two distant men who were preparing to flee.
“Urk…”
Those two men clutched their throats in shock, and then collapsed, dead.
“Ah!” The previously calm street became filled with screams, and many people began to run about in a panic.
“Let’s go,” Linley said to the stunned Jenne and Keane.
102
Persuasion
“Move, now!” That old servant, Lambert, reacted quickly as well, immediately urging them to leave.
Totally baffled and confused, Jenne and Keane were tugged by Lambert and Linley away from this area. After all, given that people had just been killed on the streets, the city guard would soon arrive.
Linley wasn’t afraid of the guards, but dealing with guards while also escorting Jenne was an extremely annoying task.
Aside from Linley and his group, many others around them were running away and fleeing wildly as well.
It was nightfall, and it should have been the most bustling time for this major road in Blackrock City, but in the blink of an eye, this part of the road became totally deserted. Nobody was within a hundred meters of those two corpses.
“Captain, what should we do?”
Seated next to a window within a private room in a hotel, two men were staring down at the scene below. One of them had long red hair, with a face that looked as though it had been carved with a knife. But right now, he had a sinister look on his face as he listened to the nearby subordinate query him.
“I didn’t expect these two country bumpkin siblings to have such a powerful helper,” the red-haired man said coldly.
“Captain, that man even has a black panther. Panthers are all high-class magical beasts. For the likes of us to deal with such a powerful combatant… will be difficult,” a burly, broad-chested man beside the captain said in a quiet voice.
The red-haired man was frustrated as well.
Per the orders of the senior madame, they came to kill these two bumpkin siblings. Per their intelligence, only the old servant with these two bumpkins posed any threat. But he was only a warrior of the sixth rank. In the O’Brien Empire, which was filled with experts, a combatant of the sixth rank was nothing.
Perhaps in some villages, a warrior of the sixth rank was powerful. But the leader of this squad, which had been sent out per the senior madame’s orders, was himself a warrior of the seventh rank.
“A black panther… why haven’t I ever seen this type of panther before?” The red-haired man was frowning. As an expert of the seventh level, he knew quite a bit about magical beasts.
Panther-type magical beasts included the Golden Tattooed Panther, the Blackstripe Panther, and others.
But this black panther with wavy black stripes was something he had never seen.
“That brown-haired man is clearly the master of this black panther. He is, at the very least, a combatant of the eighth rank.” The red-haired man thought back to the scene of Linley suddenly snatching the arrows out of the air, and as he did, he shivered.
Arrows moved at an extremely high speed.
To be able to react and immediately move in front of Jenne and Keane, and then snatch the two arrows out of the air was something even most warriors of the eighth rank couldn’t do.
“Captain?” the burly man next to him asked quietly.
The red-haired man turned to look at him. In a cold voice, he said, “Hmph. That brown-haired man is extremely powerful. For this mission, we can’t fight them head on. Arrange for some people to keep watch on them secretly. I refuse to believe that expert will neither eat nor sleep. He can’t always be together with those two siblings.”
“As soon as that brown-haired man and those two are separated, immediately have our men kill the two,” the red-haired man issued his order.
“Yes, Captain!” The burly man nodded and immediately left the room.
The red-haired man turned his head back, once more staring below through the window. Those two corpses still lay on the street with the arrows through their throats. The mounted city guards were just now rushing over.
On the second floor of an ordinary hotel in Blackstone City, Linley, Jenne, Keane, and Lambert were seated in a private room. Even Bebe had a seat of his own. As for Haeru, he was lying down on the ground, his eyes contentedly half-shut.
Right now, Jenne and Keane’s faces were both still rather pale.
“Just… just now, I was so scared.” Keane’s eyes were still filled with terror.
Ever since he was young, Keane had lived in a countryside village. The most violent struggles he had ever seen were just some of the young men getting into serious fights with each other. How could he ever have experienced something like what he just saw?
Although on the road here, they had suffered a bandit attack, the bandits were fighting against the mercenaries, and hadn’t harmed them yet. But this time, the opponents had come for his life and his sister’s life.
Jenne’s eyes were filled with a hint of terror as well.
“Jenne, Keane, don’t be afraid.” Linley laughed as he consoled them.
To Linley, a small event like this couldn’t even impact his mood at all. In the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts, he was constantly on guard for magical beasts laying in ambush for him.
And thus, within the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts, Linley learned how to keep his heart as tranquil as water, come what may. How could a small event like this disturb him?
“Young master, young miss,” Lambert consoled as well. “We’re fine now. Don’t worry. Fortunately, we had Lord Ley with us today. Otherwise, things would have been terrible. Young master, young miss, you absolutely must offer your thanks to Lord Ley.”
Only now did Jenne and Keane recover from their panic.
“Big brother Ley, we really owe you our thanks this time,” Keane said gratefully, and his eyes were glowing. “Big brother Ley, just now, you waved your hand and snatched the two arrows out of the air, and then with another wave… those two guys were dead.” Keane was indeed a child. In his excitement, he had totally forgotten his fear.
Jenne looked gratefully at Linley as well. “Thank you, big brother Ley.”
Towards Linley, Jenne felt gratitude from the bottom of her heart.
That first time she had seen Linley, Jenne had felt that he was a mysterious, powerful expert, an amazing person who commanded a mighty magical beast as well.
In particular, when Linley had agreed to escort and protect them, he had only taken a single gold coin. Although Linley said that he would collect the other 9999 when Keane became the city governor, Jenne, being an eighteen-year-old adult, knew when someone was acting out of kindness.
“No need for thanks. I agreed to protect you. This is nothing more than what I’m supposed to do.” Linley frowned. “What’s going on though? As soon as you entered Blackrock City, people tried to assassinate you? Who exactly have you offended?”
Keane was instantly baffled.
Jenne was confused as well. “I… I haven’t offended anyone.”
“Then who has enmity with you two?” Linley continued to ask.
Jenne was quiet for a moment, then said, “Right, if we talk about enmity, perhaps the only one with enmity towards us is my aunt.” Right at this moment, the old servant, Lambert, immediately interrupted their conversation. Laughing towards Linley, he said, “We don’t have any enemies. Their aunt just has some disagreements with them, that’s all. Lord Ley, no need to worry about these annoying things. Let’s all eat.”
Linley glanced at Lambert, then laughed and nodded. “Fine, let’s all eat.”
In truth, ever since Keane had told
Linley about himself and his sister, Linley had a rough idea as to what was going on. This assassination attempt showed that clearly, it was because the main wife of the departed city governor didn’t wish for Jenne and Keane to assume the position of city governor.
But Linley didn’t say these things openly.
That very night, the two siblings, Lambert, and Linley each retired to their own rooms. They had reserved a private, stand-alone villa.
Darkness descended.
Linley’s room was totally dark. Linley sat cross-legged on his bed, his heart totally calm as he quietly attuned with the throbbing pulse of the world and the flows of the wind.
Occasionally, when Linley had some insights, he would rise to his feet and casually swing his heavy sword.
“Squeak.” Dressed in her sleeping clothes and her long hair unbound, Jenne walked towards the room of her old servant, Lambert. “Grandpa Lambert, are you sleeping yet?”
The door opened very quickly.
“Miss, quick, come in.” Lambert immediately opened the door for Jenne, then closed it after Jenne entered his room.
“Miss, what is it?” Lambert asked.
Jenne stared at Lambert. “Grandpa Lambert, tell me. Why does someone want to kill me and my younger brother? Is it my aunt?”
“Why would you think such a thing?” Lambert’s heart trembled.
Jenne said stubbornly, “Grandpa Lambert, don’t treat me like a little kid. The day my younger brother and I left the village, I thought we would be making a joyful return as we went to assume the position of city governor. But now, I understand. Aunt and her people won’t allow us to take the position over. The people who tried to kill us just now definitely were acting on her behalf. I can’t think of anyone else.”
Lambert looked at Jenne and let out a long sigh.
“Fine, miss. I admit, your suspicions are correct,” Lambert said resignedly.
Dragonblood: Book 2 of the Coiling Dragon Saga Page 80