Chapter 012: Ganging Up

Characters in this chapter: Alleyne, Freelancer - Rogge, Pirate - Wiggins, Down-and-Out Merchant - Manid. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 ｉｎｆｏ

――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――

Alleyne rode back to the place of Zenda again, the gray city wall remained the same, the soldiers defending the city did not change, the only thing that changed was probably his heart!

In the past, Alleyne was only responsible for protecting the caravans, and when he encountered bandits, he would scare them away with a knife, and at most stun them, and never killed a single person.

But now, too, he has become a warrior, a real warrior.

Rogge found him. "Alleyne, given your excellent fighting ability, judgment and reflexes, I have decided to let you form a team on your own, and I can't let your talent go to waste under me. ”

Alleyne didn't bother to pay attention to him. "You're obviously afraid that I'll take your position as the first knight, right?" he teased.

Rogge laughed uncontrollably: "Do you think that even you are qualified to compete with me for the title of the first knight?"

Alleyne had a calm face: "Yes, I don't have the ability, but at least I won't be like you, knowing that there is a huge disparity in strength between the enemy and us, I won't fight them with my life, I won't follow the orders of Count Arassis without using my brains, I won't call Kradus like a brute, no," his eyebrows raised, "I don't value human life so much!"

He didn't know why he was saying these words to Rogge, but he remembered that his mind was in a mess, and the tragic images of the water thieves when they died were still in his mind.

Rogge's smile froze on his face. After a while, Alleyne heard an inaudible sigh: "There are some things that can only be experienced by you. ”

Alleyne didn't want to talk nonsense with him anymore. "I'd rather not go through it. With that, he turned and left, not caring about the other party's eyes looking at him from behind.

As for what he said about forming his own team...... The first name that popped into Aren's mind was, Karadus!

If his guess is correct, he who rarely goes far must be at Instructor Kai's place now.

Sure enough, in the town square, Kradus was talking to the instructor with tears in his eyes.

As he walked, Alleyne pondered how to convince Instructor Kai to let Kaladus join his team, and said bluntly, Instructor Kai gave me Keradus, right? No, Instructor Kai would probably have a heart attack.

He regretted it a little, he should have brought the first knight Rogge over in the first place, and with his prestige in Zenda, it would have been easy to convince Instructor Kai.

Alleyne was thinking wildly when an arm suddenly stretched out from a nearby alley and pulled him in.

He was caught off guard and fell on the bluestone slab all of a sudden, and a large bag immediately swollen on his forehead.

He struggled to his feet, and saw a total of four men, each dressed in standard pirate clothes, with a half-sword and axe in hand, and the one who had just pulled him in was carrying a long-handled machete.

Looks like the one who came is not good!, Alleyne thought silently to himself. But he also felt that these people had a kind of déjà vu, but he could never remember where they had seen them.

He got up from the ground calmly, straightened his clothes, and patted the dirt. "Do you know who you're robbing?"

The man at the head was stunned for a moment, and laughed: "Robbery? Do you think I'm a fool? This is Zenda, if I dare to shout and take out the money, a large number of mercenaries will come and kill me." ”

"And what do you mean by pulling me in?" said Alleyne, but his hand was already on the hilt of his sword.

The man patted him on the shoulder soothingly. "Nothing, we won't hurt you. We've all heard about you defeating Kradus and slaying the water thieves with Rogge, the freelancer, and we think you're a talent. ”

"So I want to ask you," the pirate smirked. "Do you need manpower? My companion and I are looking for an employer, and we think we might have meat to eat with you. ”

"Really?" said Alleyne, grinning, "I can't ask for it!"

The pirate held out a palm: "Pay your salary in advance, fifty dinars." ”

Alleyne almost jumped. "Fifty dinars?" he exclaimed. "It's so expensive! Rogge gave me only a hundred dinars to build an army!"

The leading pirate shook his head slightly and sighed: "It seems that you still don't know who we are, can I tell you that a few of us have worked together to kill the entire three teams of water thieves, close to 70 people." ”

"Just a few of you, did you wipe out three teams of pirates, or was it a one-off?" Alleyne squinted at them, and sure enough, they were even more unreliable than Rogge.

"If you don't believe it, forget it, let's find someone else. The leading pirate immediately pulled his face down and turned to leave.

Alleyne was ruthless, took out fifty dinars from his arms and threw them in his face: "Count you ruthless!

The pirate immediately smiled: "You made the right decision, trust me, there is no more powerful mercenary than us in the continent of Calradia." ”

"By the way, introduce yourself," the pirate put away his money bag. "My name is Wiggins, and from this day forward, my companions and I will be your men. ”

"Hmm. Aryne snorted, feeling sorry for the fifty dinars.

Wiggins laughed a few times, turned to greet his companion, and walked into the tavern.

As they pushed the door open, a man came out of it, his whole body exuding an unbearable smell of alcohol, and a tattered felt hat was worn crookedly on his head.

Manid sighed as he walked. At the sight of Alleyne, his eyes seemed to cast a wave of joy, but it was immediately gone.

Manid burped: "Brother, where is Youhe?"

"Chanda went out of the city and went west. Alleyne covered his nose, how much alcohol did this guy drink?

Manid let out an "oh", a look of disappointment and helplessness in his eyes. How does that look like...... The eyes of the suicidal!

Alleyne immediately hugged him, ignoring the smoky smell of alcohol emanating from his body. "Hey, don't think about it! The world is still very beautiful, there is wine to drink, there is a bed to sleep in, and there are golden dinars!"

Manid shoved Alleyne away, "Don't say it! I was killed by the Dinars! And the damn pirates and pirates here!" With that, he sat down on the ground, rubbing his eyes with the root of his palm.

"Killed by the Dinar?" thought Alleyne as he crouched down beside him. How much of his helplessness was like me back then! I was like this at that time, staying in the tavern all day and not daring to go out, not having much reputation, trying to find a caravan to escort them to make some money, but I was always bombed out again and again.

Manid looked up. "Yes. I was originally a merchant, and I went to Sagos with tens of thousands of dinars of goods, but who expected to be ambushed by pirates halfway, and dozens of people were shot in the head by their throwing axes in the blink of an eye. When they saw that I was powerless, they humiliated me and let me go. Then I took the rest of the money and wanted to come to Zenda to rest, but it turned out that all the thieves along the way robbed me of all my money. When I finally arrived at Zenda, my poet friend became a wanted man because of a drunkard, and now that I had the fifth brother dinar with me, I thought it would be good to take them to jump into the river. Hey, are there any high protruding rocks there?"

Alleyne couldn't help but laugh. "I don't think you have to jump into the river. If I give you a chance to exterminate the water thieves," his voice slowly grew cold, "do you want to join us?"

Manid's eyes suddenly revealed a ferocity. "If you give me a sword, I'll cut off their heads at once! Let them see how good I am Manid! Shame me as you like if you think I'm a broken merchant, and I'll send them to hell one by one!"

"It seems that you really are the prophesied guy. Alleyne took out the rusty sword he had with him and handed it to him. "Do a good job, I won't treat you badly. ”

"What??," Alleyne spoke in a low voice, but Manid, who was close at hand, could hear it clearly, "Dear Boss, legendary prophecies are usually only related to big people, what prophecies do you have here about me?"

Aren didn't reply, but took a small roll of parchment from his bosom and threw it to him. Manid eagerly unfolded it, with a few words written on it:

The end of betrayal is the beginning of rebirth,

Fallen merchants are connected to your fate,

The still flame is a harbinger of destruction,

The dark nightmare comes from the western shores.

"What does this mean?" Manid read twice, still unable to grasp the full meaning. "It seems that I am the so-called depraved merchant, and that you have been betrayed by your friends by leaving you alone - oh, that's sad. But what is this still flame, and what is the nightmare of darkness?"

"I don't know. Alleyne retrieved the parchment from Manid's hand and stuffed it back into his bosom, turning and walking into the tavern.