Mercenaries and Adventurers

The algae head Parian's shop was not far away. Counting the five local soldiers who were following him, Kiel and his group of more than ten people walked through the densely populated streets and arrived at the street in the other direction of the town center.

The shops on this street are colorful and have various signboards. On the second-floor balcony of the shop, there are young women wearing few clothes sitting lazily on wooden chairs and looking at the passers-by on the street.

Mr. Pavey kept being called by his name by the gorgeously dressed woman, which made him laugh and look very proud.

Shui Zaotou's shop is at a corner with less traffic at one end of the street. Seeing that no one cares about it, I can barely understand why that guy would cooperate with tavern owners like Scar Pari. They obviously run this kind of shop. It is completely unmatched by other red houses.

Pawei looked at the red house with the door closed, and said in a mocking tone: "Look at this shabby house. The paint on the signboard has fallen off. Although it is daytime, there are one or two girls who are soliciting customers. No, ba ba ba, it’s such a failure, no wonder I have no impression of this place.”

Kil shrugged. He was not interested in this and was not in the mood to listen to the bragging of the young and powerful Master Pawei.

"The door is closed, but it doesn't necessarily mean there's no one inside. Mr. Pavey, can we go in and search?" Kil asked.

Nodding, Pawei called to several local soldiers who were following him: "Of course, this guy instructs his men to steal the property of merchants. This is not a small problem. Moreover, the skin and meat business is operated in designated areas. He took people there Touting business in the tavern.”

He narrowed his eyes: "I didn't tell some people. Of course, I am not responsible for this, but I can't ignore it when I see it."

With a wave of his hand, several soldiers immediately rushed forward and prepared to break down the door.

Keir said to his own people: "The store should have a back door, who will follow me to block it in the back?"

But the baron's personal guard stood up: "I'll do it, Zambirus, you will follow."

"Okay." Town guard Zambirus also agreed.

-

You can't see the back door from the front of the store. They are all right next to each other. If you want to go around to the back door, you have to go through a path at the end of the street.

Keir had already seen this when he passed through other streets, so when he set off with the other two people, he immediately walked to the end of the street, and then got into a narrow and inconspicuous alley.

The environment here is very bad. Not only is there filth everywhere, but some strange rats the size of rabbits are eating some weeds growing on the filth in broad daylight.

"What?" Kil was a little surprised at how big that kind of rat was.

Zambirus took a guess and said, "They should be grass rats. You see, they are not afraid of people, and they only eat weeds."

Avoiding these big rats that came out to graze, Kil led the two of them deep into the alley behind the shop facing the street.

Calculating the approximate walking distance, Kil listened to the sound of soldiers hitting the store door with their shoulders on the other side of the house, and found the back door of the red house.

"Xu, keep your voice down. Let's hide."

Kil took the two of them to hide in the back alley, which was full of empty boxes and twisted structures. He only quietly poked his head out to observe the back door of the place.

The front door of the red house.

Several soldiers took turns hitting the solid wooden door with their shoulders. When the door was loose, the three soldiers showed their flying feet and kicked open the closed door.

The dust stirred up by Pavel's disgusted fan swept over the sign on the door.

Lost shoes.

This is the name of this red house store.

"What the hell is that name? Seriously. Stop looking, don't look, there's nothing good to see." After shooing away the onlookers, Pawei waved his hand to let the soldiers in.

Kayan, another young town guard who stayed here, also rushed in with the local soldiers.

As expected by Keir, the closed door did not mean that no one was inside the house, on the contrary, there were quite a few people inside.

The inside of the house was similar to other red houses. It was cramped and the lighting was bad. Under the ambiguous candlelight, the local soldiers rushed into the hall of the house, making several thugs in the hall jump.

"Don't move! Everyone get down, everyone get down!"

The soldiers roared loudly, and the short wooden sticks used for security in their hands were directed at several strong thugs.

But the thugs were not law-abiding guys. Amid the screams of several girls who were watching, they also waved iron-clad short sticks and fought with the soldiers.

While fighting back, he shouted: "Boss, let's go! These guys are definitely here to catch you!"

Next to the fence on the second floor of the hall of the house, a tall and thin middle-aged man rushed directly and quickly into the stairs deep into the house like a weasel, and disappeared in an instant.

As soon as he disappeared, several thugs in the hall immediately dropped their sticks and squatted on the ground, protecting their heads with their hands. After being hit hard by the soldiers several times, they immediately begged for mercy and surrendered.

The local soldiers also know what these thugs are like. They are just for this bowl of rice. They can just delay them for a while. There is no need to fight with all their strength.

So the thugs surrendered, and the soldiers got angry and kicked her again, and then yelled at the other women not to scream. One soldier went out to report to Pavey about taking the place, while the others guarded it.

But guard Kayan watched the shop owner escape into a staircase inside the house, and he immediately chased after him.

However, this place may not seem big, but the terrain is very complex. There are four passages around the hall, leading to different parts of the house. Instead, there are no stairs directly connected to the second floor of the hall.

Kayan chose a corridor to pursue, but after pushing open the covered wooden door, a small kitchen appeared?

There was no one in the kitchen, and the other door here led to nowhere.

He turned back, returned to the hall and tried another aisle. When he opened the door, it was indeed a downward staircase. Try walking down the stairs. Apart from a few shelves of wine barrels, there is a small homemade prison at the bottom.

There was no one inside the prison except for some dirty hay.

Kayan did not believe in evil and returned to the hall, where he happened to bump into other people who came in.

"Have you found that person?" the clerk asked.

Kayan was so embarrassed that he didn't know what to say, but the local soldier next to him happily told him that he had gone back and forth twice and failed to find the way to the second floor.

The soldier kicked a thug squatting on the ground: "How to get to the second floor? Where did your boss go?"

The thug obediently pointed to a passage that Kayan had not taken: "There, go in, turn left and go up the stairs. Boss? I don't know."

Seeing that the thug was being tough, the soldier kicked him again.

As for the back door, ever since the soldiers from the street side of the store broke open the door and broke in, Gere, Lubis, and Zambirus had been hiding nervously, carefully observing the back door of the store not far away.

Generally speaking, this kind of remote back door can be used as an escape route to escape arrest. It is unlikely that some professional guys will set up a more secret escape route in the house.

"Be careful, that person might escape from the roof of the house." Kil remembered that during the previous battle in Pine Needles Town, some thugs from the Ska Chamber of Commerce tried to attack the militiamen from the roofs of connected shops.

"Impossible, he was running on the roof in broad daylight, afraid that the whole town wouldn't know?" Lubis retorted.

When Kil thought about it, he was right, he was overthinking it.

Although the other party's men were involved in a murder case, they did not commit the murder themselves. Even if what he did violated local rules, it wasn't a particularly big deal.

No need to risk falling off the roof to escape.

While I was thinking about it, there was a sound at the back door of the red house.

The three of them held their breath and shrank their heads and eyes to avoid attracting attention.

There was a noise inside the back door, and then a gap opened. Keir could clearly see that between the dark cracks in the door, an eye was looking out nervously.

The messy, dirty and smelly back alley was deathly quiet, with only a family of grass rats squeaking and eating weeds in the filth not far away.

After waiting for a moment, as if he was afraid that someone was chasing him from behind, the back door of the red house suddenly opened, and a tall and thin middle-aged man quickly dodged and rushed out.

After he came out, his first step was to close the wooden door behind him tightly. Then he quickly moved a few wooden boxes containing unknown items from the back door, and pressed them hard against the back door, making it difficult for the people inside. Open here and come out.

Then he breathed a sigh of relief, but was immediately stifled by the unpleasant stench in the back alley. He cursed and whispered something in his mouth: "Damn it, why does it smell so bad here. Ugh~"

"Let's go out and avoid the limelight."

As soon as the man finished speaking, Kil rushed out, unexpectedly grabbed the man's neck and pushed him hard against the wall of the house.

Boom.

"You can't go anywhere!" Kiel said, looking into the man's eyes.

-

‘Lost Shoe’ Red House Hall.

The candles specially made for insufficient brightness were replaced, and the oil lamps were relit to illuminate the room clearly.

Mr. Pavey sat on a spacious leather chair and looked at the interior decoration of this poorly run red house with slight interest.

But he soon lost interest, and it was obvious that there was a reason for the poor business of this red house.

So he looked at the girls here again.

But the girls under Parian, the algae head, all came to this industry because of poverty. Not to mention their beauty, at least they often didn't have enough to eat, which caused their physical complexion to deteriorate a lot.

He completely lost interest in this place.

As he expected, Keir quickly walked out from a passage that led to an unknown place, escorting the boss here, followed by two other Kendall men.

Guard Kayan curled his lips and turned his head to the side.

Keir saw that the situation in the hall was settled. The thugs were all tied behind their backs and squatting at the corner of the hall wall with their hands, while all the girls here were squatting together and talking quietly.

They were not afraid of what Master Pawei and the local soldiers would do to them, but they were worried that the boss would do something wrong, causing them, who were already poor, to lose their 'jobs' again.

Keir led the tall and thin middle-aged man to the middle of the hall, kicked the man behind his knees, and made him kneel on the ground.

"Look, is this your boss, the algae-headed Parian?"

Kil asked the thugs who secretly turned their heads to look here.

The thugs didn't expect that the boss, who was always smart and slippery, would be arrested after they dragged the soldiers who came to the door.

And judging from the way these people were dressed, it was obvious that they were not locals and would not be easy to mess with.

I don’t know where the boss got into trouble, but these thugs with no professional ethics didn’t want to get involved.

"It's our leader. Parian Videl." Several thugs said in unison.

But as soon as he finished speaking, Mr. Pawei, who was sitting down, suddenly stood up and slapped Shuizaotou on the face.

"How dare you call yourself Videl? You despicable thing!" Mr. Pavey cursed angrily.

The algae head who was slapped on the face also looked embarrassed. When he saw Master Pawei, the lord's nephew, he realized that as long as he mentioned his name, this slap would be inevitable, and he might even receive another one. Hit.

But obviously because of the presence of people from Kendal from other provinces, Mr. Pavey was still restrained. He just gave the guy a slap in the face and then started doing it again angrily.

"Remember, don't mention this person's name to me. You dare to impersonate the Earl's surname for anything!"

Kil and the others looked at each other and laughed softly. The local soldiers, thugs, and girls pursed their lips tightly.

With a slight cough, Kil continued to ask: "Since you are the leader here, I will ask directly."

He turned the algae-headed Parian's head and looked into his eyes: "Do you know what happened at the Burning Prairie Tavern last night?"

After swallowing, the algae-headed Parian nodded: "I know."

"If I guess correctly, you were in that pub last night?"

"Yes. My subordinates and I will wait for customers in several pubs every night with a few girls. They wait in one place in the pub, and I or one of my subordinates will chat with the drinkers and ask them if they need service."

Mr. Pavey snorted coldly and interjected: "I remember there were rules in the town. People like you can only do business in this place, right? At most, people soliciting business can't go outside the streets?"

"Yes, yes." Shui Zaotou lowered his head nervously and quietly looked at the sitting Mr. Pawei, a confidant of the local knight lord.

"Then you don't take the rules to heart?"

"No, no. Business is really difficult. I am willing to pay the fine, no matter how much it is." Shui Zaotou replied nervously.

After hearing the fine, Mr. Pavey sat back with satisfaction and raised his hand to signal Keir to continue.

Keir nodded. He was investigating the murder of the businessman, and he had to take care of some of the problems that were discovered.

Mutual respect is the basis of cooperation.

"Going back to what you just said, tell me, what exactly happened last night? I want to hear it and see if it is consistent with what others said, and what we found is consistent."

Keir looked into the other man's eyes.

"Yes, yes. Last night was normal. A normal day." He glanced at Ouluobi, a businessman among Kiel's group: "But some businessmen from other places came here. I heard that there was a large wave of people from the north coming from outside the town. Many people from other provinces think they can make a fortune tonight."

"Theft?"

"No, no. How dare I! It's unfair."

Keir smiled: "But that's not what Scar Parry said? He suppressed every little trouble you caused and seemed dissatisfied with it?"

"Actually, it's not much. It's just that the cost of serving customers is a little more expensive than other places."

Next to him, Mr. Pavey's face turned red with anger. He didn't know whether it was because the air circulation here was not good or because the temperature was relatively hot.

Keir chuckled lightly. He didn't care about these small things, but this algae head was obviously a man in his thirties or forties, and he dared to be so naughty and slippery in this situation.

It seems not very honest.

Kil looked up at Mr. Pavey and said nothing, but Mr. Pavey, who was young and familiar with these things, knew what Kil wanted to do. He was also very angry at this guy's slickness.

So, Mr. Pavey closed his eyes and raised his head slightly.

The guy who was still quibbling about ordering his girls to steal money from patrons after they drank too much did not see the exchange of looks between the two of them.

Kil smiled and reached out to cover the mouth of the algae-headed Parian, who was mumbling excuses for his actions.

He said to the two guards: "Get a pot of water and come here."

The Zambirus guard was about to go find the kettle as Kil said, but Kayan stretched out his hand to stop him: "I know where it is, let me get it."

The young guard came to the back kitchen that he had just visited and quickly dug out a clay pot filled with water.

"Will this work?" He returned to the hall and asked Keir.

Kil looked at the quantity of the clay pot, nodded with satisfaction, and reached out to take it.

The algae-headed Parian had his hands tied behind his back, and was lying on his back, being pinned down by Kil on a low table in the hall.

Keir covered the other person's mouth with one hand, clasped the edge of the pot with the other hand, lifted the pot and tipped it gently.

A small stream of clean water poured onto the face of the frightened algae-headed Parian. Out of fear, he closed his eyes tightly and wanted to hold his breath, but he was so nervous that he had to inhale hard through his nose after his mouth was covered.

But he couldn't do it, the clear water choked him.

Parian wanted to scream, but his mouth was tightly covered by Kil, unable to open or close it. The gloves made of hard cowhide pressed hard on his mouth. He opened his eyes wide and wanted to call for help, but his thugs only trembled slightly and squatted in the corner to knock secretly, their teeth chattering.

The girls on the other side didn't think what Kilzan was doing at first, but soon they saw the twitching of the algae-headed Parian who was controlled on the low table, which frightened them.

"Ohh Ohh ohh--"

The kettle tipped over, and a little bit of water poured on the man's face. Keir didn't let go of his left hand until he had poured the entire pot of water.

"Cough cough, cough cough, cough cough cough. Cough cough cough. Huh, cough." A series of coughs and urgent breathing came from the mouth of the algae head that fell to the ground. His eyes were wide open and he wanted to move his body away from the young man.

Everyone in the room said nothing and looked at Kirschwei quietly. Mr. Pavey had a curious look on his face, while the baron's personal guard Lubis was indifferent. The clerk's face was expressionless and he didn't know whether to Write this paragraph down in the book in your hand.

The businessman Ouluobi looked very ugly and swallowed nervously, as if he wanted to get to know Kil, a young man who was only about seventeen years old, again.

The two guards raised their eyebrows. They thought that Kiel would use more direct methods, but this was okay. It was considered to be the style of their town guards when investigating and interrogating prisoners, and they were considered one of their own.

Several local soldiers touched their throats uncomfortably, wondering what they were thinking.

However, several algae-headed thugs kept their heads tightly in their chests, not daring to look at their leaders at all.

The women hugged each other in fear, squeezing one by one, whimpering. Unknown, they thought the water torture just now was used on them.