Chapter 15: Who’s He?

After Lyle and Alice defeated the bandits, they gathered the spoils, tied the bandits with bounties, and started to drag them all the way to the nearest bounty center.

“Hey missy…”

“Hmm?”

“Is the ‘Golden Coin Peace Keepers’ skill around?” Gin asked.

“Golden Coin Peace Keepers?” Alice was wondering who these peacekeepers were when Lyle interjected. “From what I remember, the ‘Golden Coin Peace Keepers’ is still around but they changed their name to Golden Eye Mercenaries now.”

“Eh? Those mercenaries? I heard they’re a group of bloodthirsty good for nothing hooligans that only work for coin. Are you sure the term ‘peacekeepers’ can be associated with them?” Alice asked bewildered.

The Golden Eye Mercenaries was an infamous mercenary band. As they work only for coin, they don’t have principles. To them, whoever pays the biggest gets their cooperation. If they are asked to do something and the opposite side offers a larger pay, they would switch sides. The brutality of their work, their disloyalty, and their work ethics gave them a very bad image. Normally, people who need mercenaries would not ask them for services, but the thing is, the results they show carry a 100% rate of completion.

As the two were talking about the ethics of the mercenaries, Gin’s frown became deeper. “What happened to them? Did the 100 Heavenly Immortal Weeds die within these thousands of years? What about my millions of gold I left there?” as Gin was thinking about this, his facial expression contorted. With his long hair and beard, he looked so sinister, exerting a very dark and bone-chilling aura.

Lyle and Alice were startled. “What happened old man?” Lyle asked.

“AH!!! I’m gonna kill those retards! I think this is where we split little missy and little brat. Take care! Little Blue! Make haste! To the guild!” Gin roared and disappeared.

“Guild… guild… hmmm… Ah! I know! Master wait for me!!”

Lyle and Alice were left there staring at the empty space. Huh? What was that? They stood there looking confused. What just happened. It felt like a gust of wind just passed by and the two people in front of them suddenly disappeared.

“Hmmm… that old guy was really weird. Although he looked old, his voice seems young. And that blue ogre… don’t ogres have a single horn on their forehead? That one had two… what do you say Alice? Huh? Alice?” as Lyle was talking to Alice, he noticed that Alice seemed out of herself. She was staring at the doodle on the wall of the cliff.

“The heck! Why do I look so fragile in this drawing?! I even have a tail… I look like a dog!” Lyle complained angrily. “Hahaha! Alice, look at the 'you' in the drawing. There’s a strawberry sprouting on your head. Hehehe!”

“Lyle…”

“Hmmm?”

“Look at the drawing on the wall…”

“Yeah, I’m looking at it… it’s funny… that old guy has no artistic sense.”

“No… you don’t understand it.”

“Huh? What do I don’t understand?” Lyle asked bewildered.

“The drawing on the wall… it’s… the formula for the second stage of my Holy Chain Arts!” Alice exclaimed. She was so shocked to see that on the wall of the cliff, the doodle that Gin drew, was exactly the formula for the 2nd stage of her Holy Chain Arts! And it was not the same as the one in the Silver Sword Empire’s forbidden library. The one on the wall is the complete one!

~Valley of the Immortals~

Hundreds of miles away from the Howling Forest’s Cliff, the ancient Lunarian Empire’s ‘Great Wall’ stood tall as the border of the central continent. It stood in the middle of the Valley of Immortals, from one mountain to the other, closing the path of the valley. At the central part of this massive and long wall, was a fort. On its gates was a massive sign that says, “Golden Eye Mercenaries”.

“Ah! look at this wall! Still standing very majestically! This was made to last for one million years! Unless that Leira, that little girl dies… this wall will never crumble. From the looks of things, this only means that she’s still alive. Or else that name 100 Heavenly Immortal Weeds doesn’t amount to anything! Come on little blue! Let’s pay an old friend a visit!”

As the two walked towards the Fortress, they saw a lot of armed people on the way. Some were shouting at each other, some were brawling, some were hugging multiple women on the streets, some were begging for coin. The path towards the fortress was dark and gloomy. It was very different from the bright, and jubilant fort that Gin remembered. “Did they really turn to evil ways? What happened to this place?”

When the duo reached the massive door of the fort, two mercenaries stopped them from entering.

“Halt! Old Man! Go away! A poor bloke like you have no business here!” one mercenary glared at Gin.

“I’m here to meet the 1st division commander.” Gin explained.

“You? Are you daydreaming old man? You don’t have the right to meet the commander. Only kings have that privilege!” the mercenary rebuked.

“Ah! It’s ok. The commander knows me. Tell her that the young master is here to claim his gold. She’ll know what to do.” Gin calmly instructed.

“Her? Who’s her? The only ‘her’ in this fort are the wenches that just arrived today. Those playthings of the commander. Hahahaha! Old man, maybe your daughter is one of them? Hahaha. Then she’s lucky to be a bringer of pleasure to the commander. Go away, old man… when the commander’s done with your daughter, he’ll return her to the streets where she belongs. Maybe she’d receive a copper is she’s good. Ha ha ha!” the mercenary laughed.

“He? Who’s he? I certainly know that Leira is a girl… then… this commander is a different commander…” Gin thought. “Um.. excuse me, may I know the name of this commander?” he asked the mercenary.

“Huh? You want to meet the commander but you don’t even know his name?” the mercenary asked with the puzzled look. “You suffering from memory loss because of your age huh, old man? Oh well. Since I’m kind-hearted I’ll tell you. He’s known as the Executioner Immortal! He has been the commander of the Golden Eye Mercenaries for 200 years!”

“I see… then this person is not the person I was looking for. Thank you for answering. I will take my leave now.” Gin smiled as he turned around. With the current situation, Gin knew that the previous residents of this fort were not here anymore. He really didn’t care as who owns the fort, as the wall served no purpose anymore. The threat that made the content construct this wall has already disappeared during the great war ten thousand years ago.

As Gin started to walk away, a little boy about the age of 4 rushed to the gate while shouting.

“Give me back my big sister! My big sister! Please! Return my big sister!” the boy was shouting this as he cried. Tears continuously flowed from his reddened eyes. The dirt on his face and clothes, the mud on his feet, the wounds on his knees, hands, and elbows, anyone would know that the suffering this little boy experienced. Signs of falling on the ground and getting wounded by sharp objects like tree branches and rocks could be spotted all over his frail body. He looked very thin due to hunger.

“Oh? Ah! I remember this brat. He came from that village 100 miles from here. Hahaha. Wow. Is this brat a marathon runner in his past life? Hahaha. He looks so funny.” the mercenary sinisterly laughed so hard that one would see his tonsils.

Hearing this, Gin stopped on his tracks. Turned around and walked towards the little boy. He carefully looked at the face of the little boy then spotted something on his forehead that made Gin’s eyes constrict. “Kid… what’s your name?” He asked the boy.

“Sniff… sniff… my big sister… please return her to me… hu hu hu!!” the little boy continued to cry.

“Hey, kid… is your family’s name Silverleaf?” Gin asked another question.

When the little boy heard Gin ask his second question, he looked at Gin and ran towards him, grabbing the edge of his shirt then said as he cried, “Grandpa… Do you know my parents? Hu hu hu! Sniff sniff… Please grandpa, help my big sister! Grandpa! Help my…” then the little boy fainted. It might be due to hunger or fatigue or sadness. Gin gently picked him up and gave him to Little Blue.

Then he faced the mercenary guards with his eyes devoid of emotion. It seemed that at this moment, time stopped. There was no wind, no movement of any molecule or cell in the area. It seemed like the whole world turned silent. Even the clouds stopped. Everyone in the area felt this phenomenon. They felt like their consciousness was leaving their bodies.

“What’s happening?”

“I don’t know… I feel like my body stopped functioning…”

“My heart… I can’t feel my heartbeat!”

“Heavens! I can’t hear my breathing! What’s wrong with me… it feels like I’m not breathing anymore!!”

Being the ones in the closest proximity, the two mercenaries trembled in terror. “What the heck!” the mercenary talking to Gin earlier was so terrified that he pissed on his pants.

“Where is his sister?” Gin asked in a calm tone devoid of emotion.

“You…”

One of the guards was unable to comprehend the situation and was annoyed at the old man in front of him. He replied angrily, “What’s it to you, old man? She might be experiencing pleasure right now! Leave here before I break your…” before he could finish his sentence, a terrifying pressure came out of Gin’s body hitting the mercenary. He flew like a kite with broken strings and hit the wall very hard.

The wall of the fort was not any ordinary wall. It was crafted from bricks forged from the magma of a molten titan and was built by the best dwarven craftsmen. The mercenary hitting the wall was like an egg hitting solid rock. Everyone could hear bones of the mercenary cracking. But it did not stop just that. The pressure kept coming out of Gin’s body that the mercenary on the wall got squashed into a paste.

“Y… Yo… You…” the other mercenary was pale as paper.

“Where... is his sister?”

Gin still looked so calm and composed but his eyes showed no trace of emotion. He was angry. Really angry.