The sun was still as hot, shining through the narrow sky on the high walls into the alley. It was close to noon, and the smell of spices wafted through the air.

After the three men in the same cheap suit left, the corner at the end of the alleyway suddenly became empty. Curt and the woman looked at each other relatively wordlessly, as if there was an atmosphere of "the one who speaks first loses", and the scene suddenly became a little awkward.

After a long while, the woman couldn't bear the frozen air, and spoke: "Okay, this mercenary gentleman who doesn't know his name, what is the matter with you coming to me? ”

Probably because the anger she had suffered from the argument with those people had not subsided, and now she spoke with a sneering sneer, and there was no trace of the charm of the business in the back street of the Southwind Tavern - no, maybe this expression was her real side now.

"Actually, I'm just passing by, and I'll hear you as I walk around here. Looking at the unhappy woman, Curt suddenly laughed, "Speaking of which, I don't seem to know your name, and I don't remember any special services I bought from you." ”

Curt has never taken care of her own job, and because of this, Curt has been teased by her several times as "incomprehensible". If you want to say that you have bought anything from this woman, you can only spend money to ask her a few times about the rumors in the market.

"Name or something...... Just call me Rebecca. ”

The woman pursed her lips angrily, and for a moment turned into a laugh and scolding: "Although you mercenary can't understand the amorous feelings, but in order to buy something useless, you are willing to spend more money than I have to serve once, and in this regard, I don't hate dealing with you - by the way, what is your name? I have already told you my name, and you should also tell me my name as a gift in return." ”

Saying solemnly, "This is an equivalent exchange!", the woman-Rebecca's mood seemed to have calmed down. Thinking that he had bought information from her several times, and he didn't even know what her name was, Curt also felt amused. There has always been a monetary relationship between him and her, so naturally there is no need to know each other.

"The 'iron' mercenary of the Mercenary Administration, Curt Leonster. Take on almost everything from mushroom picking to investigating mysterious organizations. In fact, there is no need to keep this information secret, and the information he bought is just some nonsense wandering around the poor class, "Except for tasks that need to go far away, you can come to the management office and ask me, but there is no discount." ”

After a brief introduction and an advertisement, Curt asked Rebecca, "Then how did you get involved with those Slots? ”

Rebecca's face turned ugly when she was asked this question.

"It's not about money - I wouldn't want to have anything to do with crazy people with machinists who shoot with a mechanic's hammer if I could. She looked viciously in the direction the three men left, "Forget it, it's not a way to talk about it here, go to my room and say it." ”

As she spoke, she pointed to the staircase that led to the nearby mixed-use building.

"So you live in this kind of place. ”

Curt glanced up at the dilapidated old house, its crooked body casting a heavy black shadow in the summer sun. From a distance, I felt that this room was uncomfortable, but now that I get closer, it feels even more obvious. In the old town, which has an unusually large number of strange-shaped buildings, this building is also particularly grotesque, and it radiates an unpleasant feeling from all over the body.

Many parts of the Old Town had been breeding grounds for horror and bizarre tales before the World War, such as Curt and Lizzie's home. The old house was located at the end of this winding alley, and although the location was barely good, it seemed to be very crowded.

Squeak-

The sound of the door tipping out was closed by Rebecca.

When I walked into the building, I was almost completely dark. The space is quite oppressive, with low ceilings, walls covered with depigmented wallpaper, and floors with black and white mosaic tiles, and warm sunlight streaming in through the only window in the hallway, tinting the thin corridors with a faint light.

Rebecca, who didn't care much, replied casually: "What's the problem, the rent is cheap anyway." ”

Suddenly, a man appeared in the darkness beside him.

The man who spoke was a very energetic boy, holding a large bag of cloth that he couldn't make out what was inside. His dark brown head was inconspicuous in the dark, but his green eyes were shining, and his face was full of green freckles.

He saluted a little comically, and said, "Ah, Miss Rebecca, you're back!"

Obviously a boy, but without a voice that still changed his voice, it sounded like a girl, and he handed the bag in his hand to Rebecca's hand. The cloth bag looked bulging, and all sorts of things filled the bag quite full, and on top was a new fluffy doll.

"This is what my mother asked me to give you, saying that I was paid for helping Ruili mend the puppet last time. ”

"Thank you, Nitty. Rebecca returned the salute simply and earnestly, and at the same time took the cloth bag handed to her by the boy named Nitty, "Please help me say thank you to Miss Phinea." ”

Rebecca hadn't finished her salute yet, and the boy on the other side was stunned. He opened his mouth, as if he wanted to say something, but not knowing how to organize the language, he finally decided to turn his head away and stop talking. Even in the dimly lit hallway, you could see the flush on his face.

Curt wanted to step forward to say hello to him, but he didn't expect that the moment this boy saw Curt, the expression on his face suddenly became stiff, and even the blush on his face disappeared.

He looked at Rebecca at once, and said hesitantly, "That, uh, Miss Rebecca...... Mom seems to have said that I, we can't bring you here, uh, that, the customer is coming, right? Well, can this gentleman wait here for a while, and then ...... when you put your things away?"

"Calm down, Nitty, he's not my 'customer'. ”

Without him finishing, Rebecca knew what the boy in front of her was thinking, and she couldn't laugh for a moment. She interrupted the somewhat bewildered boy's stumbling words and tried to explain Curt's identity to the young boy who was passing by.

"Well, I'm not her 'customer', if anything, she should be my 'customer'. ”

On the other hand, feeling that he had been misunderstood, Curt explained with a wry smile.

He put the badge representing the mercenary status in front of the little boy's eyes to show off his identity: "I am Curt Leonster, an 'iron' mercenary under the Mercenary Administration. Miss Rebecca has something she wants to entrust to me, which is why I'm here with her. ”

Among the lower classes, mercenaries are still more popular - because of the troublesome and inexpensive work that only mercenaries are willing to do. In a sense, the mercenaries have replaced the "guardian" image of the garrison for the poor class, and the young people of this class have a good opinion of the mercenaries.

As soon as the proof of identity comes out, the effect is immediate.

"Well, are you also a mercenary, still iron-grade!" Nitty swept away her nervous look before, and looked at Curt with a much more friendly look, "Then you go and help Miss Rebecca first, I'll go talk to my mother and say that a mercenary is coming, and keep a record of the visitors." ”

After saying that, he ran to the half-hidden door on the other side of the thoughtful side.

Looking at his back, Rebecca could only shout at him, "Watch the road, don't fall", and then climbed the stone steps with the cloth bag Nitty had given her.

"This kid is from the caretaker's house?"

Curt saw Nitty shouting "Mommy, Mommy, Miss Rebecca has brought a mercenary back" as she ran away, and walked into the half-hidden door, looking up at Rebecca, who was about to walk up the stairs.

"Yes, Nitty is the son of the caretaker's family, and they are all good people in the family of four, and he also has a sister named Ruili. Rebecca smiled softly, "It's his mother Phinea who runs the house, and his father is also a mercenary - I wonder you might know him." ”

No wonder the boy became friendly all of a sudden, but did he know the mercenaries or not? Curt didn't dare to say that he knew all the mercenaries, especially given that there were quite a few mercenaries living nearby.

But-

"Looks like they know your profession too?"

Otherwise, there would be no argument that the administrator forbade Rebecca to bring back the "customer".

"Ah, yes—it's not a secret, actually. ”

The structure of each floor of this modest building is a stairwell that rotates upwards on its own, and a few rooms stand opposite each other in the corridor slightly back. It was dark in the hallway, and Rebecca, who said this, leaned her hand into the wall and climbed the stairs with ease.

"The people who live in this building range from people like me to stowaways and everything else, after all, the rent is cheap and no identification is required. The caretaker's family didn't ask about the identity of the residents, but only asked us not to bring anything related to our profession to the house. ”

Rebecca muttered quietly that the previous world war had caused many misfortunes. But even if we were unfortunate and faced with all kinds of difficulties, we still helped each other to live together.

It didn't take long for Rebecca, who was carrying something, to lead Curt to the third floor of the building, and after opening the faded green door of the room on the left, the two were greeted by-

"Mom!"

A little girl who pounces on Rebecca.

Tips: The new domain name "biquge.info" has been launched by Biquge, and the original domain name is about to be discontinued. Please tell each other, thank you!