More than half a month had passed since Hirodod was assassinated, but Duolin City had not cald down; instead, it beca increasingly chaotic.
The Raimondi family, which had long ruled here, had been wiped out by the Blood Moon Association.
As a result, the city lost its legal ruler, and many powers began to stir.
This included so Noble Families within the city, the remnants of the Blood Moon Association, and the defeated army left by Gwen.
The latter had only recently been crushed and assimilated by Hirodod, originally at the bottom of the power structure.
However, Hirodod’s death suddenly made them a hot commodity, no matter how poorly they fought in that last battle, after all, there were still nearly four thousand of them.
A thousand followed Ilkand to leave, while the remaining three thousand remained the largest ard force within Duolin City, and had now beco the target of other powers’ recruitnt.
Initially, these warriors, to save their own lives, had no choice but to betray the Figrola family and join the Blood Moon Association; they could no longer return to their hotowns.
They could only continue to stay in Duolin City, living day by day, and with no one to restrain them, their military discipline was very poor.
They were at least half to bla for the current chaos in Duolin City.
In this period, quite a few residents had already fled, but there were also those who did the opposite and chose to enter the city at this ti.
That person was cloaked in a cape, riding a balding old horse, and had a long sword strapped to his waist—a typical rcenary attire.
The guards blocking the city stopped him, and one of them called out to him, "Hey, the sneaky guy over there, get off your horse for inspection; we suspect you are a spy for the Figrola family."
Hearing this, the uninvited guest took off his hood and revealed a pair of golden eyes underneath.
"I’m not a spy. I’m just an ordinary rcenary, hired by my master to search for his brother in the city."
"Haha, that’s a nice excuse. If I were a spy for the Figrola family, I’d say the sa thing," another guard sneered.
The rcenary, sowhat helplessly, asked, "What will it take for you to believe ?"
"Give us one Gold Coin, and we’ll believe you."
"......"
The rcenary realized that these guards just wanted to extort money; they didn’t really care whether there was actually a spy for the Figrola family sneaking into the city.
A one Gold Coin fee to enter the city was ridiculously high, but it was nothing compared to the task he had to perform.
Moreover, Prophet rlin had given him a hundred Gold Lions as operational funds before he set off, so he was not short on money.
Still, he patiently haggled with the guards, knowing full well their greed—if he agreed too quickly, the guards would likely renege, hike up the price, and take a stiffer toll.
They might even resort to killing and looting if given the chance.
In the end, the rcenary spent four silver coins to successfully shake off the spy label and enter Duolin City.
Looking around at the familiar streets and buildings, the rcenary took a deep breath. It had been over a year since he left, and he had thought he would never return.
But now was not the ti to dwell on the past, he still had urgent business to attend to, and the mories were not particularly pleasant.
Following his mory, the rcenary arrived outside a boot shop.
It was just past noon, yet the shop had already closed its doors.
The rcenary knocked on the door, but there was no response from inside.
But that was to be expected; as he had walked along, hardly any shops were open, most of them had their doors tightly shut.
And even then, so were broken into and looted clean.
So the rcenary could only turn to another street, he headed straight for the inn at the corner, only to find its doors closed as well.
The rcenary’s frown deepened.
Just then, a voice ca from behind him, "Big guy, are you looking for a place to stay?"
The rcenary turned around and saw a young girl.
She looked about sixteen or seventeen, skinny, but with bright, lively eyes.
"Stop looking, almost all the inns in the city are closed. However, I can help you find a place to stay the night. It’s safe enough, with food. Of course, you’ll have to pay a little—just three silver coins..."
Before the girl could finish, the big rcenary turned away and continued to inspect the inn that had long been closed.
"I’m not trying to extort you. As you can see, all the shops in the city are closed, and food is hard to co by. This is a fair price," she said.
"Where are your parents?" the rcenary asked bluntly instead of replying, "Do they just let you run around the streets like this, not afraid of you being snatched by bad people?"
"My parents are no longer around," the girl said sadly, "It’s just my brother and , fending for ourselves. I have to figure out how to feed us both. I’ve grown up in this area and know these streets well. If I see bad people, I can run away in advance."
"You’re familiar with this area?" the rcenary asked, "Then do you know where the owner of this inn went?"
"He’s dead," the girl replied, "and has been for a long ti now. The Raimondi family were capturing spies from the Blood Moon Association; he was among them. That night, the guards stord into his shop and took him away. We haven’t seen him since."
The rcenary felt a headache coming on; he hadn’t expected this secret hideout to be compromised so early on.
There was only one place left he hadn’t checked, but the rcenary felt there wasn’t much hope there either.
Sensing sothing, the girl tentatively asked, "Aren’t you looking for a place to stay, but rather for soone? Are you related to Uncle Dorosel?"
"Just an ordinary friend," the rcenary said, as he pulled out four silver coins from his pouch and tossed them to the girl, "But I do indeed need a place to lay my head. Lead the way for now."
"Alrighty." The girl caught the coins, elated, and imdiately led the way.
The rcenary followed her to an empty shopfront that seed to have been ransacked before, with anything that could be moved taken away.
Only a pile of worthless trash remained. The girl walked up to the pile of trash and said to the rcenary, "Give a hand with this."
The latter ca over at her request and helped her move the broken boards, revealing an entrance.
"I’d rather not sleep underground," the rcenary frowned.
"It’s not underground, it’s just a passage that leads to the yard in the back. We’ve sealed the courtyard door; this way, no one can find us through that route," she explained.
"You guys are pretty clever," the rcenary remarked.
"We had no choice, with the city being in such a state of chaos. Without doing this, we wouldn’t have survived until now."
"But now I know your secret. Aren’t you afraid I’ll go in and kill everyone?" the rcenary said flatly.
"You won’t do that, I’m very good at judging people," the girl’s eyes sparkled, "Big guy, you can tell at a glance that you’re a good person."
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