The Law of the Silent Gentleman

After an unknown period of time, Antoine was the first to come to his senses.

"Shall we... want to go up and have a look?"

Mr. Grimmer cried: "Are you crazy? Don't you see how horrible that spider is?"

The young swordsman scratched his hair: "But they don't seem to want to hurt us. You see, they only attack soldiers and are not interested in us at all."

"I agree." Giuliano rarely supported Antoine. "We still have two companions on board. We must confirm their safety."

"Just the two of us, Monsieur Grimmer, you stay here with the others, close the stone gate, and don't go out!"

Without his reminding, none of the captives in the stone room wanted to follow them, and the tragic situation of that soldier was still vivid in their minds, so everyone didn't want to follow in his footsteps. Just now they were looking forward to gaining freedom, but when freedom really came, they would rather put the ground in prison.

Antoine and Giuliano closed the stone door and went up the longitudinal passage. The spiders had all swarmed to the surface, so the passageway was empty, with bloodstains and fragments of flesh all the way, the soldiers had been torn apart by the spiders, and their human shapes could hardly be seen. Halfway there, Antoine leaned against the wall and vomited silently again. They waited until he had emptied his stomach before they moved on.

There is a flight of stairs at the end of the passage. The two couldn't help speeding up their pace, eager to finish the last distance. They returned to the surface through an arch carved into the mountain. They were blindfolded when they came, and only now have they seen the true face of the above-ground part of the ruins. The ruins are built against the mountain, and marble is paved on the gentle **** to form a small square. Arrow towers and watchtowers are skillfully built on the surrounding mountains, which are integrated with the rocks of the mountain. There are many low houses scattered around the square, which were requisitioned by the Viscount de Ranchocourt as the guard's garrison. The arch was facing a grand stone building, like a synagogue or temple.

The sky in the east is hazy, approaching sunrise. The faint light of the sky allowed them to see clearly the scene on the ground: it was even more miserable than underground. There are no spiders, but there are stumps and broken arms everywhere, and the strong smell of blood almost makes people lose their sense of smell. Blood stained the marble underfoot, stretching from the majestic stone building to the archway, like an urchin smearing a handful of paint on a canvas with wanton carelessness. From this scene alone, it can be understood that there is not a single living creature left on the surface of the earth.

Antoine couldn't vomit anything. Although Giuliano also felt a churn in his stomach, the panic in his heart made him feel even more uncomfortable. All dead and torn to shreds by giant spiders, but what about Enzo? What about Lexi? Did they also fall prey to monsters? How dare he... how dare he just die in the hands of monsters!

"Look!" cried Antoine suddenly.

Two figures appeared at the door of the magnificent building, one of them was blindingly white, and it was the white-haired bard Lei Xi. The person next to him seemed inconspicuous against the backdrop of him, but Giuliano immediately recognized that it was Enzo.

A ray of golden-red sunlight jumped out of the top of the mountains, sprinkled on the square after the killing, and at the same time illuminated Enzo's dazzling blond hair. It was dusk when they were captured by the viscount's party, and now it was dawn the next day. It is hard to imagine that they have experienced so many adventures and crises overnight.

Giuliano walked towards Enzo, his walk turned into a trot, and his trot turned into a gallop. He crossed the **** square and ran towards Enzo under the magnificent building, but when he reached the assassin, he stopped abruptly. It stopped two or three steps away from the assassin.

He stretched out his hand, wanting to touch Enzo's cheek to make sure that he was a real person and not a hallucination caused by his excitement, but Antoine followed behind him panting. Giuliano lowered his hand shyly.

"You...you're fine..."

Antoine supported his knees: "Giuliano! You...how can you run faster than a rabbit..."

Enzo looked at them in surprise: "Why did you come out?"

"This...it's a long story... What about you? How about the Viscount de Ranchocourt? And those spiders! Have you seen the spiders!" A series of questions shot out of Antoine's mouth like a series of crossbow arrows.

Enzo said: "The viscount is dead, and so are his men. There may be one or two people who escaped by chance, but it won't make a difference. When we confronted the viscount's men, the spider suddenly appeared, killed them, and then retreated. Drilled into cracks and underground passages, disappeared."

"You are not injured?"

Enzo shook his head: "No. The spider seems to only target the Viscount's party, and it didn't even touch our hair. What about you? How did you escape?"

Giuliano briefly talked about how they were taken underground, and Leixi asked after listening, "How did you dispose of the scholar's body?"

"Stayed on that platform in accordance with his last wishes."

"Take me to see."

"But…"

Giuliano wanted to say that there might be giant spiders entrenched in the ground, which was very dangerous, and persuaded the poet not to take risks, but Enzo made a gesture to signal him not to speak.

"I will accompany you to the underground." The assassin said to the bard. Then he turned to the two young men: "You two go and release the captives in the stone room. There should be some property left by the viscount from them. Go find it and return it to the original owner as much as possible. There are still some in the stable. If there are fewer horses, they will also be allocated to them so that they can return home as soon as possible."

"…it is good."

The four returned to the underground, Giuliano and Antoine were responsible for rescuing the captives, Enzo and Rexi entered the side passage, drilled into the tunnel, and went to the underground ruins. The journey was uneventful, neither spiders nor humans were encountered, and we arrived safely at the stone chamber where the scholars lived. The body of the scholar was placed on the platform outside the stone chamber, with a blanket covering his body.

Enzo stopped at the edge of the platform, leaned against the wall, folded his arms around his chest, and looked at the poet without saying a word. Leixi knelt down on one knee beside the scholar's body, and lifted the blanket covering his face. From Enzo's perspective the scholar's face is invisible. He thought it was better not to see.

Lei Xi observed the scholar for a while, then sighed.

"You are a seeker chasing the footsteps of the dragon clan, but you failed to achieve your wish. If there is really an unknown force in the universe that controls the fate of all things, why does it arrange your end like this? If there is an omnipotent **** living in the sky, He Why do they play with mortal life like this?"

He put the blanket back on the scholar's face: "It's a pity, you are only one step away from seeing it with your own eyes..."

Enzo was slightly moved when he heard this, "What did you see?"

"Nothing. If he had lasted a few more hours, he could have been brought back to the ground, perhaps with his own life. Too bad. Let's go."

The poet turned around and walked back to the stone chamber. Enzo stared at the scholar's body for a long time before following. They returned the same way. The return journey was smooth sailing. When he was about to reach the door of the cell, Enzo suddenly called Leixi to stop.

"Who the **** are you?"

Lei Xi slowed down his pace, turned his head slightly, and squinted at Enzo: "I am Lei Xi, the bard."

"Why is a bard willing to follow us into danger?"

"As I said before, the mission of bards is to sing poetry and write legends. This bizarre experience may allow me to write a moving ballad."

"You are not just a bard, are you?"

Lei Xi smiled: "You are not just a businessman."

"Where are you going from now on?" Enzo's implication was: don't keep following us.

"Maybe go north, maybe go south, wherever you go. Shouldn't bards wander the world and make their home all over the world?"

They came to the cell door. The cell was empty, and the prisoners must have gone to the ground, and they didn't want to stay in this ghost place at all. The two returned to the surface, and a group of crows stopped in the square. When they passed by, the flock of black birds flew away. They made mocking quacks and hovered above their heads. There was no one in the square either. On the contrary, the gate of the synagogue enshrining the black and white goddess statue was opened, and the sound of singing was heard from afar. It seems that the group of people who survived the catastrophe, no matter what their previous beliefs were, have now become devout believers and went to worship the gods.

Lei Xi narrowed his silver eyes: "I'm an unbeliever, so I won't worship the gods. You don't mind if I pick a horse from the stable?"

"Just don't pick on my horse. Won't you say goodbye to Antoine and Giuliano?"

Leixi walked towards the stable, and waved his back to Enzo: "We will definitely meet again in the future, it's too early to say goodbye now."

Enzo watched him go away. Psalms of gratitude filled the auditorium. Those people would attribute their salvation to the protection of the gods, so what about himself? The assassin touched his chest subconsciously, then remembered that he had given the holy symbol to Giuliano. He believed that the gods of truth and pretense take care of their believers. Is there any special significance for them to arrange this experience for themselves? As a mortal, how can he interpret the deep meaning of the gods?

After the last stanza of the carol was sung, people came out of the hall one after another, including Giuliano and Antoine. The two spotted Enzo and ran towards him.

"Where's Lei Xi?" Antoine first discovered that the bard was not with Enzo.

"Leave first."

"Why didn't he wait for us!"

Enzo shrugged: "He and we have different paths, why wait."

Speaking of "same road", An Tuowan suddenly understood that the few people came together all the way, and it was finally time to part. He asked rather sadly: "Where are you going next?"

Enzo said: "Back to Ponto, where we still have some unfinished business. How about you? Return to your hometown?"

"No, I..." Antoine took out a notebook from his pocket, "I promised Giannis that I would give the research notes to his sister, so I have to go to Akton City."

"Aren't you going back to your hometown first? Your relatives and friends must be very worried about you."

"I have inquired with Mr. Grümer that the fastest way to get to Akertown is to go to the port of La Serge in the south first, and then take a boat and take the sea route. The direction is exactly opposite to my hometown. If you go home first, you will be delayed. A lot of time." He scratched his hair, "The teacher must be worried about me, but Giannis' sister must be worried about my brother too! I can go home anytime, but the sooner Giannis' notes are delivered, the better. So I decided not to go back. I asked Mr. Grümer to bring a message to the teacher, and he will set off for our village immediately. I will go directly to the city of Akerdon."

"Giannis' spirit in heaven will appreciate you if he knows."

The three said goodbye in the square. Antoine went to the stables. When he was far away, Giuliano untied the holy emblem from his neck and handed it to Enzo.

"Back to you."

Enzo weighed the weight of the holy emblem: "Are you willing to return it?"

"When I become a mute, I will also have a holy emblem, so I won't care about you." Giuliano turned his head.

Enzo and Giuliano made arrangements for the freed prisoners, and then rode back to Ponto. The task had been completed, and they were not in a hurry to receive the reward, so they traveled leisurely along the way, and it took half as much time as when they arrived to reach the destination.

To Giuliano's surprise, not long after the death of Viscount de Ranchogu, the flag on the wall of Ponto City had been changed. The original white lily flag with a red background was replaced with a golden lily flag with a blue background. Enzo told his apprentices that the lily was the emblem of the royal family of the second dynasty. When Grand Duke Richard of Mucania married the last princess of the dynasty, their descendants inherited the lily badge from their mother and proudly Claiming that he is the orthodox descendant of the royal family. The Viscount de Ranchocourt's mother was a Mucanian noblewoman, and she must have belonged to the royal family, so the Viscount was eligible to use a white lily on a red background as the family emblem. Now this golden lily flag on a blue background is probably the coat of arms of another Muchanian nobleman. It's a pity that Leixi is not here. He has a deep study of heraldry, so he might know who the nobleman is. In short, news of de Ranchocourt's death had reached the city of Ponto, and some distant relative of his had the good fortune to inherit his estate. The city of Ponto changed its flag to welcome a new owner.

Like last time, Enzo and Giuliano tied the horse in the woods next to the Romantic Exile Tavern, then climbed up to the second floor of the guest room, and met the client in the westernmost room.

As before, the client sat alone in the room, smoking tobacco, with a locked box at his feet. When Enzo and Giuliano came in through the window, the client showed his familiar smile.

"The two of you really opened my eyes. My master and I didn't expect to receive the good news so soon. Not long ago, several of the Viscount's subordinates fled back to Ponto City and conveyed the news of the Viscount's death. Alas, that's true. Desolate, the viscount just disappeared at such a young age. Have you two seen the new banner on the wall of Ponto City?"

"I see. Is that your master's coat of arms?"

"No no no, this is a big misunderstanding. Do you think my lord is fighting for this small border territory? That flag belongs to a relative on the mother's side of the Viscount de Ranchocourt, and according to just law Inherited the family property belonging to the Viscount de Ranchocourt. Of course, that lord and my lord do have some kinship, but the nobles have intermarried with each other since ancient times, and today, who and who cannot be related?"

"I don't want to hear about your genealogy. What about the payment?"

The client held the pipe in his mouth, stooped to pick up the box at his feet, put it on his knees, and slid a key out of his sleeve. He unlocked it and lifted the lid, revealing a box full of gold coins. Enzo stepped forward to pick up one and inspected it.

"According to our agreement, eight hundred gurus. Are you satisfied?"

Enzo threw the gold coin back into the box, expressing that he had no objection. The consignor closed the lid and gave the box to Giuliano for safekeeping.

"Now that we've had such a good first time working together, it's time to talk about the next step. Will you accept a new commission?"

"You already know my strength, and you must also understand that I will not disregard professional ethics and reveal the name of your target. Why don't you follow the rules of the silent one?"

The client was silent for a while.

"Okay. My lord was very happy when he heard the news of Viscount de Ranchocourt's death, and he also said that he could make concessions for such a dedicated and silent person. Then, according to your rules, I will first inform the target's name and salary, You can reconsider whether to accept it or not."

"So much the better."

"My lord is planning a great event, in which two stumbling blocks have to be removed. But their deaths must follow a certain order, not reversed, nor at the same time. I will tell you the name of one of them first, and wait for him to die from the world. Disappear, how about we deal with another one?"

"Are you not afraid that when I killed the first person, I accidentally implicated the second person?"

"No, you don't have to worry about it."

"How much is the reward?"

The client raised his left hand and spread his five fingers: "Five thousand gold Luce."

"Five thousand?" Enzo was slightly moved, "Our Reticents have a rough standard for remuneration. There is one price for killing businessmen and pawns, and another price for killing princes and nobles. Five thousand gold luce is enough for a king. Heads."

"Although this first person is not a king, he yearns for a power comparable to that of a king. Isn't it appropriate for five thousand gold Luz to kill him?"

"Who are you going to kill? A noble who is too high on the succession list? Or an ambitious general who holds military power?"

"Neither." The client smiled secretly, "Since the two of you are from the city-states of Yord, you must have heard of this person's name."

He took a drag on his pipe and let out a slow puff of smoke.

"I'm going to kill Governor Vanessa - Bonniewell."