According to information given by Caterina, Girolamo Lilao joined the Templar Order at a young age, unlike his neutral papal uncle.

When Rodrigo launched the plot against Florence, Girolamo was also part of the plan.

However, due to the Brotherhood's knowledge of part of the conspiracy, the Templars had to advance the launch of the plan considerably, resulting in Girolamo, who had not yet been ordered by the Lord, to be directly involved in the plan.

Having been instilled with Templar ideas from an early age, Girolamo was determined to continue his fight against the Medici family even as Rodrigo focused most of his attention on intrigues with other cardinals.

Unfortunately, as Caterina mocked, Girolamo does not have the talent to lead troops into battle.

Under the attack of the well-armed army of Florence, Romagna's army was quickly routed, and Girolamo fled from the battlefield in a hurry, fleeing in the direction of Romagna with a small group of guards.

Leaving Leonardo da Vinci waiting patiently in the hotel, Lu Xiao rode a horse he had purchased temporarily and left the city, quietly entering a wetland forest in the harsh ground conditions of the Romagna region.

The retreat route of Girolamo's rout army was not far from the woods, Lu Xiao wrapped his thorn and hood tightly, and spent the night in the wetland woods full of mosquitoes, and finally waited for Girolamo's arrival at about 5 o'clock in the morning.

The army, of less than fifty men, looked miserable, their weapons mostly worn, and the soldiers were wrapped in many blood-oozing bandages.

The morale of the entire team, including the leader on the horse, was very low, and it would not be an exaggeration to say that they had lost their armor.

Is that Girolamo Lirao? ’

Lu Xiao narrowed his eyes and led the knight with a large number of eyes, and the messy beard on the other party's face made Lu Xiao unable to tell his actual age, but at least he could be sure that he was more than 20 years old.

'Three years to start, the highest death penalty, young man. ’

After popping out the Hidden Blade and the blade of the boot repaired by Da Vinci, Lu Xiao said sarcastically in his heart, "Your death penalty will be carried out by me, I hope you will not be an alchemist again in the next life." ’

Due to the dense trees in the forest, it was not easy for the bow and arrow to hit the target, Lu Xiaomao jumped forward above the low bushes, and the dejected rout army did not expect that the lair near Romagna would ambush the enemy.

Walking with Leonardo da Vinci requires patience with his whimsical thinking and almost never-ending fragmented thoughts, but Lu Xiao has not gained nothing along the way.

In communication with Leonardo da Vinci, the two jointly developed a small folding hand crossbow.

The idea of this crossbow came from the Assassin's Creed Revolution, which was conceived by Lu Xiao and perfected by Leonardo da Vinci, who was extremely hands-on.

At this time, Lu Xiao unfolded the crossbow on the inside of the armor of his left arm, and aimed the arrow glowing with green light at Girolamo, who lowered his head and looked suspicious.

Before departing from Florence, Federico sent back from Siena a Codex describing Altaïr's use of plant extracts, commonly known as high-performance poisons.

"Whoosh!"

With the blessing of the clairvoyant skill, the small poison arrow fired from the crossbow grazed the back of Girolamo's neck and sank into the ground in the distance, and the surrounding soldiers did not react to the pocket crossbow arrow.

Under the paralyzing effect of the poison, Girolamo could only feel a slight tingling sensation in the back of his neck, which he thought was just bitten by the ferocious mosquitoes in the swamp area, and did not pay attention to it.

System: "Random tasks have been completed, and 1 free attribute reward has been distributed." ”

Lu Xiao folded the crossbow back into his arm armor and silently stared at Girolamo, whose body gradually began to shake.

The high-performance poison made from Altaïr's recipe quickly set on, and his body became more and more weak, and Gironamo finally ran out of support and fell off his horse.

"Your Excellency?!"

The soulless rout only came back to their senses when they heard the movement coming from ahead, and one by one nervously gathered around Girolamo, whose face was blue and foaming at the mouth.

'May death bring you a calm, short-lived Lord of Romagna. ’

……

When she saw Caterina again, the lord's wife was not as calm as she had shown last time, and she rebuked all the maids, pacing restlessly back and forth in the rooftop garden.

"Da~"

When Lu Xiao reached the rooftop, he deliberately made a slight sound to remind Caterina of his arrival.

Seeing Lu Xiao's return unscathed, Katarina's expression was a little complicated, and her expectation was mixed with a little uneasiness: "It's done?" ”

"Hmm." Lu Xiao showed the poisoned crossbow arrow to Caterina: "The quick-acting poison recorded in Altaïr's Codex, the news of Girolamo's 'sudden death due to illness' should come back soon." ”

"Whew~"

Caterina let out a sigh of relief, leaning back in her special chaise longue and taking a sip of the dark brown drink on the table.

"Would you like some?"

Caterina lifted a delicate assembled container and gestured to Lu Xiao: "This is a new drink brought back from the Ottoman Empire by Venetian merchants, it seems to be called ...... Coffee? ”

"Coffee?"

Lu Xiao was about to refuse, but the name that came out of Katerina's hand made him swallow back the words that had already come to his lips.

Is there coffee in this day and age? ’

Lu Xiao always thought that coffee beans were a specialty of South America, and it was not until the discovery of the New World that coffee became popular in Europe.

But in fact, his perception is wrong, the word coffee originated from the Arabic language, as early as the 11th century, the Middle East and Africa had the habit of brewing coffee.

Before the 15th century, the cultivation of coffee beans was controlled and monopolized by the Arabs, and it was not until the Renaissance in the early 15th century that it began to flow into Europe.

Lu Xiao has no special preference for coffee, but when shopping on the road with friends, Starbucks and Luckin Coffee have really drunk a lot.

He hadn't had a chance to drink coffee since he came to the world of Assassin's Creed, and he was nostalgic for seeing it.

Caterina saw Lu Xiao's heartbeat, put the cup in front of him, and poured the brown liquid from the pot into the cup.

Lu Xiao, who was focusing on the coffee, didn't notice that Caterina quietly looked at him with a strange light in her light green eyes.

took a sip of coffee, and the familiar bitterness immediately overwhelmed Lu Xiao's taste buds.

"Uh~ Black coffee is still a little too bitter."

Swallowing the coffee with a bitter face, Lu Xiao put the cup on the table and proposed: "If you can add some milk and sugar to neutralize it, the taste should be more ...... Well? ”

Before he finished speaking, Lu Xiao suddenly felt a slight dizziness in his brain, and he immediately got up from his chair and looked at Caterina with a strange smile on his face alertly.

"You...... You drugged your coffee? Why? ”

Suddenly seeing the long-lost coffee was indeed a little relaxed, but Lu Xiao was not so excited that he lost his vigilance around him, but he really couldn't figure out why Katarina, who was an ally of the assassins, used such a small trick against him.

It was impossible to extinguish the mouth, Giovanni and Lorenzo were both clear about Lu Xiao's itinerary, and once they learned that he had died in Forlì, they would immediately suspect Caterina of Caterina.

Losing the support of Florence and the Assassins would do more harm to Caterina's future career, and she had no reason to do so.

Elegantly putting down the coffee cup, Caterina had a bewitching smile that didn't match her age.

"Don't worry, I won't hurt you."

"Remember? I said I'd give you a great reward in addition to the Codex, and now, it's time. ”

At this time, Lu Xiao had been affected by the effect of the drug and was speechless, but his mental activities were still very rich.

'Gan! I didn't expect that I would be put down by Sleeping Coffee one day, and the meaning of this expired Lori ...... No, I don't want to be captured by the river crab god yet! ’