The first floor of the town hall had been damaged by the battle between Arya, Monroe, and the pirates, and when Finn led Lilith, Arroyo, and Raymond into the core of the Azur Harbor, the four of them saw not the neat interior of the office buildings, but a scene of ruin and more than twenty corpses scattered everywhere.

Among those who had already fallen to the ground and stopped breathing, some were pirates, some were wearing the busts of patrol guards, and three others were dressed in unusual costumes that looked like adventurers. The scarred corpses were thus exposed to everyone's eyes, and Finn shifted his gaze to look around, quickly realizing that there had been a battle here not long ago.

"Look there, sir." Suddenly, Arroyo slung the machete to his back, pulled his usual pair of daggers from his waist, and then lifted his head to the second floor landing, which should have been connected by a staircase.

Arroyo pointed the tip of his dagger at the spot he saw, and Finn, Lilith, and Raymond's attention was drawn to the young thief's words, and then they noticed that where the thief was looking, there were several hooks and ropes that seemed to have not had time to be taken away still hanging from the railing of the second-floor platform.

"Finn, someone has been here." Lilith blinked her eyes and whispered to the young paladin beside her.

"Well, I can see that." Finn nodded, then bypassed the wreckage of the staircase not far in front of him, which was still filled with sparks and a few wisps of black smoke, ran to the bottom of the second-floor platform, grabbed a hook rope hanging from above, and pulled it to make sure that the rope was still strong, and then turned back to the three behind him and said, "These ropes still work." ”

Raymond walked over with his curved sword, and the future Juggernaut looked around with a wary gaze as he asked Finn with concern, "What do you want to do?" ”

To this, Fein replied, "Of course, climb up to the second floor from here, and then go to the rooftop of the building." ”

With that, he put the greatsword back on his back, grabbed the long rope of the hook rope, and climbed up to the second-floor platform of the town hall.

……

After seeing the four young men of Finn, Lilith, Arroyo and Raymond enter the town hall, the veteran mercenary uncle Cornush, who is known as the iron wall, and Dukel, the mercenary leader of the Bobcat mercenary group, temporarily become the commander of the cavalry team.

Although Konush and Dukel, two veterans with rich combat experience, promised Fein to firmly guard the entrance to the city hall, the two of them did not dismount and block the main entrance of the city hall, but took over Finn's command and continued to lead more than 20 mercenaries and several militia refugees under his command to use the advantage of horses to rush the pirate group in the small square in front of the city hall.

The most exciting aspect of the cavalry on the battlefield was the invincible and unstoppable thrill of the charge, and Konush and Ducker understood that an attack was the best defense for a cavalry team, so they thought that as long as they completely demoralized the pirates in the small square, the bandits from the sea would not have the courage to risk their lives to run into the town hall to find Finn's trouble.

And that's exactly what happened.

As Konush lifted the chains above his head and let the shield charge into the crowd like a spinning meat grinder, he and the many pirates around Ducker and the other knights had already begun to turn around and flee.

After another charge, Duke pulled the reins and commanded his horse to kick a pirate who had been picked at him with one hoof, and then came to Konush's side.

The mature mercenary leader turned his neck to look around, and saw that their men were still sitting safely on horseback, the only damage was a few minor wounds, and the pirates had been completely routed by them.

Konush let his chain shield stop spinning back into his hand, looked around at the corpses and the backs of a dozen pirates fleeing in embarrassment, then turned his head and asked his fellow mercenaries next to him, "Commander Dukel, what do you think of that young man?" ”

"The young paladin?"

"Yes. I remember his name was Finn. ”

“…… It's outstanding. Ducker lifted his head and exhaled, "At least I'm much more capable than my age, both in combat and in intelligence." ”

"Looks like he made a good impression on you." Konush smiled, "And a little bit of a psychological shadow." ”

"Pretty much." The mercenary leader shrugged his shoulders and admitted, "But ......"

"But what?" Konush asked.

"He's not the same as the traditional paladin." "He seems to be too adaptable, not at all like the wooden heads we remember." ”

As he spoke, the mercenary leader closed his eyes, and his mind recalled the memory of about ten minutes ago.

Ten minutes ago, when Finn and the rest of them ran to the stable in the pouring rain to steal horses, he almost thought that the paladin badge that Finn wore on his chest was stolen.

After all, the Paladin's code of conduct clearly stated that they were not allowed to steal, and that young paladin dared to ignore this precept and take them to steal horses?

Although this act seems to be the right decision now, the paladin is a paladin after all, and Duke had never seen a paladin dare to do anything that might violate the precepts before he met Finn.

And when he stole the horse in the stable, he popularized the art of riding a horse to Finn at his request, and before he could finish his sentence, Finn found a strong black horse and turned over and rode on it, and the action of getting on the horse seemed to be more standard than some of the scouts in the army.

Unbeknownst to him, when he mentioned the skill of horseback riding to Finn, Finn's mind popped up with a system prompt that he was teaching him the skill, and the latter paid 50 XP to acquire this skill, which was very useful for both traveling adventures and charging into battle.

At that time, the mercenary group leader, who was capable of leading more than twenty mercenaries, thought that Finn was making a joke on him before the battle, intending to ease the tension in the air.

……

Time goes back to when Finn, Lilith, Arroyo, and Raymond entered the first floor of the town hall, and Konush and Duke led the cavalry on a rampage through the pirate pile.

The scene pans to the rooftop of the City Hall, where Arya and Monro confront a pirate squad led by Mogordo with their backs to a row of guardrails at the edge of the roof.

The elven girl pursed her lips and took the scimitar and crossbow in her hands, and the old city lord was ready to fight to the death, and held the spear that had been picked up from the corpses of the guards tightly with both hands, as if no amount of force could knock down the weapon in his hand.

Arya and Monro stood in place and prepared to meet the attack from a dozen pirates in front of them, and the pirate wizard Mogordo, who was standing opposite the two of them, began to show a sad and uneasy look on his face, as if the people who were in a desperate situation now were not the elf girl and the old city lord in his eyes, but the pirate subordinates around him and himself.

"Everybody give it to me!" The hunchbacked pirate wizard suddenly raised the wooden staff in his hand, pointed at Arya and Monroe not far away, and ordered the dozen pirates beside him, "You can cut the two of them into sticks, but I want to live those two people!" ”

"All want to live?" One of the pirates was stunned for a moment, then turned to look at the pirate wizard's scarred face, "Lord Mogodo, you...... Are you sure? ”

"Nonsense, I'm much smarter than you!" Mogordo glared at the pirate subordinate who dared to question his decision.

In the next second, the hunchbacked pirate wizard Ping raised his wooden staff and aimed it at the elf girl and the old city lord in his field of vision, intending to chant a spell.

Before he was about to chant and cast a spell, he didn't forget to shout at the pirates around him, shouting: "You idiots better hurry up, the movement downstairs in the city hall is not right, we need hostages!" ”