Chapter 2260: The Puppet King (11)

Evening.

After dinner, Arthur went to take a beautiful shower to wash away the sweat and the smell of blood from the battle. When he returned to the room, he saw Verne's imp pestering Bediville, who had really played with the big white wolf like a big white dog. Bediwell was so annoyed that Verne came to touch his head, and he dodged the imp and slipped to the other side of the room, and so on.

"Go take a shower, stinky little ghost. Arthur gave Verne a blank look.

"Oh, why?" But the little ghost obviously doesn't like to take a bath, and he objected: "I already washed it the day before yesterday, do I need to take a bath every day like this?"

"That means you didn't wash it yesterday, and it's dirty...... Arthur complained, "Listen, it's the Necrons that we're going to deal with next." Necromancers are sensitive to the smell of people, and bathing is done to dilute the smell of you as much as possible, so that the necromancers' attention can be diverted to others.

Are you going to let a whole horde of necrons chase you? Do you think that Bedi's omnipotence will keep you safe? Do you think you can fire crossbow arrows as fast as the necrons are bessieging you? As an archer, you can put cold arrows behind the camp. But if the whole camp is shattered because of the smell on your body, and the necromancers who should have rushed at you from the avant-garde, can you afford to go wrong?"

"This ...... Verne was dumbfounded by Arthur's barrage of bombardment.

"So give me a clean wash, from head to toe, and wash the important parts well. Arthur continued, "Just like you've never bathed properly in your life, wash as clean as you can. ＂

"Okay. "Verne is a little scared. It should be said that he is more afraid of being beaten by the necromantic than afraid of bathing. As a result, he took out a change of clothes from his luggage and honestly ran to take a shower, which could not be more behaved.

"Poof~~" Bediwell, who watched the whole process, almost couldn't help laughing, Arthur's ability to fool people was afraid that he had been practiced to the extreme.

Arthur gave Bediwell a blank look, isn't this guy going to pretend to be a big wolf in front of people and can't speak, and when he laughs like this, he can almost conclude that he is a wolf. Is it because he knows that there are no outsiders around at the moment, so this guy relaxes? Acting is not good, Bediwell.

Arthur sat on the edge of the bed and continued to prepare, silently waiting for Verne to return. After about twenty minutes, the little ghost walked back with a wet head: "Okay, I finally washed my whole body, even a few places that I haven't washed much in my life." Is it finally okay now?"

Arthur didn't know where Verne had never washed much in his life, but he knew it was certainly not a good place. He stifled a smile and said, "Okay." Pack up and leave at 7 p.m. sharp. ＂

"What?" Verne was stunned: "Where to go?"

"What do you say?" said Arthur smiled mysteriously.

When the time came, he took Bediville and Verne and sneaked out through the back door of the hotel, and along the way he walked through the darkest and most secret laneways, as if he was going out to do something bad. Verne didn't understand what Arthur was trying to do, but followed silently until they groped their way to the city gates.

"Oh, here you are. "In front of the city gate, four figures were waiting there, and it was the mercenary man I saw at noon who took the lead in talking to Arthur, (presumably) Hanover, the leader of the Crescent Mercenary Regiment.

"Hey, wait, shouldn't we be here tomorrow morning?" asked Verne, puzzled.

"Nope. Arthur said, "It's not convenient to talk here, let's move into the forest first." ＂

The group seemed to quickly agree with Arthur's statement, and immediately slipped into the woods without even being polite.

On a dark and windy night, when the shade of the forest had obscured the figures, Arthur spoke: "Mr. Hanover, too, is a man of understanding, and has long known that the guild has been mixed with the fine work of [the bone pickers]." ＂

"And it's a bit of a surprise that Mohar is in charge. Hanover replied, "Considering that the other party is a necromancer, maybe the real Mohar steward has been killed and manipulated as if he were a necromancer?"

Arthur didn't know how powerful the necromancers of this world really were, and could disguise the dead as the living. He chose not to comment.

"That's why you ostensibly told me that you were going to do tomorrow morning, but in fact you were gesturing during the interview and asking me to come and meet at seven o'clock tonight. Arthur continued: "It's a good idea, so that you can at least catch your opponent off guard." ＂

"I see. Arthur sighed at Verne, who was in the same room at the time of the interview, but he did not pay attention to Hanover's gestures, and he went to prepare his crossbow and crossbow.

"Still, we should think that it was better to be seen when we were out of town. Hanover continued: "So move quickly, we don't have much time." ＂

"I have no opinion. Arthur said, already moving quietly through the forest with the Crescent Mercenary Regiment.

"And what if we hadn't noticed that gesture and hadn't come over to meet tonight?" asked Verne, who was almost at the end, in a low voice.

"Such a stupid employer should not have contracted with him------ is what it means. Arthur took the initiative to say what Hanover did not say.

There was an almost imperceptible, low, laugh from the mercenaries. These mercenaries are no ordinary mercenaries, and they don't work for those they look down on because of their huge money. Normally, mercenaries are open-minded for money, but there are always some such alternatives with their own bottom lines------ of course, all of this is based on having enough strength. Without a mercenary with sufficient strength, he will not be able to have this willfulness.

"You've probably already met all of our team members, but let me give you a brief introduction. Hannover said as he walked, "The scout in our team who is at the forefront of the path, [fast legs] Bordeaux." ＂

The so-called [scout] is another name for a thief. Of course, a thief does not necessarily mean that he is a stealer, and in an adventurer or mercenary team, a thief is a person who is agile and engaged in spying, infiltrating, and intelligence gathering. They even refer to each other as such, but externally (e.g., to employers) they use the more elegant term "scout".

"And then as the backbone and leader, it was me, [Strongun] Hanover. The mercenary man said again.

To be expected.

"This beautiful woman next to me is the brainchild of the team, and at the same time the magic ...... Ahem...... Astrologer, [True Knowledge] Nantes. ＂

In fact, he is a magician, but the current international environment is not suitable for this word, and Hanover deliberately corrected the title. Arthur was curious to see if Nantes would really use magic in actual combat? After all, outsiders like Arthur were also watching, and the Holy See had eyes and ears everywhere, and there were heretical inquisitors everywhere who wanted to arrest and burn witches to death. If you can't use magic, a seemingly weak woman like Nantes can't help in the battle, and she's a drag oil bottle, so what is she doing with her?

"Finally, the beautiful woman who is now jumping up and down the trees in the middle of our team is the ranger of the team, [Falcon-Eye] Milan. ＂

[Ranger] is another name for archers, which is similar to the meaning of scouts, even though the mercenaries themselves will directly call each other archers, but they will refer to the archers as rangers when they introduce them to the public.

There are a lot of rules for mercenaries, and they can't be finished in a moment, Arthur has obtained a lot of information with Merlin's intelligence gathering ability before, but in fact, he only understands a little bit of this business.

"It's all weird, like I've heard it somewhere...... After listening to Hanover's introduction, Verne, who was walking in the back row, complained. It's really childlike.

"It's all pseudonyms. Arthur replied emotionlessly.

That's right, the mercenary profession is a profession that collects money to help people work, and many times, dirty work. Mercenaries will certainly not use their real names to take jobs, whether they mention it in front of their employers or register in the mercenary union, they are all pseudonyms chosen by themselves or given by the union. For those mercenaries who are very skilled, they are not afraid at all even if the enemy comes to their door. But what they are really afraid of is revealing their origins, causing their relatives in a distant hometown to be targeted by their enemies.

This is also one of the basic rules, Arthur knew early in the morning so he didn't ask, fortunately Verne is just a child who doesn't move, he won't be laughed at by the mercenaries when he asks.

Well, there was still someone who was secretly laughing, Arthur could vaguely hear it, it should be at the front of the line, presumably the guy named Bordeaux was laughing. That guy has a really bad personality. Arthur didn't bother with that kind of person, just went on walking silently.

The road through the forest was dark and rough, but because Arthur had come to explore it at noon, it was not too hard to walk at night. On the way, there were no enemies patrolling, and the group simply came to the cottage cave of the [Bone Pickers] thieves, and found a dense grass to hide from a distance of about twenty yards, and observed the situation at the entrance of the cave from a distance.

"They're more defensive than they thought, and that doesn't bode well. Hanover said in a low voice.

"Expected. Arthur said, "After all, I killed four of them at noon." Now they must have set a trap for us to step on. ------What should I do? Find a back door and sneak in?"

"No, as far as I know, they don't even have a back door. Hanover replied: "That is, it is possible to break through only from the front." ＂