Chapter 336: The mountain chiefs
Today was a beautiful, sunny, and mild day in Brettel City. The four city gates had been properly repaired and cleaned up. Aside from the potholes in front of the city gates that temporarily couldn’t be restored to their original state, the terrifying scenery from several days ago had vanished without a trace.
The five mountain chiefs in the surrounding areas brought some of their brothers and sisters to Brettel City under the warm sunshine.
The earth-shaking happenings in Brettel City a few days ago had spread throughout the surrounding area for dozens of miles. It was easy to see how fierce the battle had been from the deep scars on the city gates when the mountain chiefs arrived. Through the information they had received from Dick, who was also a mountain man, they instantly understood the situation that had arisen several days ago. They were now in awe and more respectful towards the newly appointed, young city lord of Brettel.
Among them, Fulkin of Mount Taki had long since witnessed Han Shuo’s powerful might. He’d even made a gesture of goodwill before the fighting had started. Otherwise, Faulke wouldn’t have been able to easily transport the large amount of siege equipment back to the city that night. As for the other four mountain chiefs, they all behaved and came docilely to the city lord’s mansion under Dick’s guidance.
The new changes in appearance of Brettel City along the way left a deep impression on them. The magic crystal cannons, war chariots, and other equipment carried overwhelming momentum and looked much fiercer after enduring the terrors of battle.
The soldiers welcoming them along the way may have been the same soldiers of Brettel City, but the presence these soldiers exuded now gave them a strange feeling. Having survived such a brutal battle, these soldiers were no longer timid and cowardly like they had been in the past. Their armor shone brilliantly, and their bearings were cold and calm with a faint brutal, killing air.
“Are these people the same tattered soldiers in the past who ran even faster than the civilians?” Some mountain chiefs couldn’t help but inwardly wonder when they saw the drastic changes in these soldiers.
As they stood before the main gates of the city lord’s mansion, the mountain chiefs saw some smiling civilians take it upon themselves to clean up the surrounding roads. There were also some beautiful girls and women shyly gathered around the front of the city lord’s mansion, chattering and laughing in low voices. The mountain chiefs felt that Brettel City had become extremely different.
“His Lordship isn’t someone who can be provoked. Zack, you shouldn’t run your mouth, it won’t end well if you offend His Lordship!” Dick was quite familiar with the mountain chiefs. Knowing that Zack was the most rude and careless of the bunch, Dick had constantly warned him along the way.
“Dick, old pal, you’ve been running your mouth more and more nowadays. I remember that you used to be a man of few words before. When did you become so long-winded?” Zack was a short, sturdy man. It was unknown whether or not his skin was as black as charcoal due to year round mining.
“Elder cousin Dick, is this city lord truly as powerful as you say? Or are you deliberately exaggerating?” A female mountain chief called Delia spoke up. She had inherited the leadership of Mount Silk from her father. Delia had a high nose – a typical feature of the mountain people, and a beautiful pair of straight, long, and slender legs. She was around 173 centimeters tall, quite a bit taller than the average woman.
Delia’s appearance was just as charming as her body. Her wheat colored skin shone with a healthy luster, her eyes wild while still preserving the curiosity of a young girl. Her curvy body was covered simply by some leather armor at the important parts of the chest and belly. However, her arms and legs were both exposed, with a valuable dagger sheathed on her left calf. She very much had her own sense of style.
Both Zack and a young mountain chief Kent next to him revealed traces of a fervent expression upon hearing Delia’s words. It seemed that they were very interested in Delia.
In a place where beautiful women were scarce, like Brettel City, Delia quickly became the focus of many men’s attention. However, Delia was a senior swordsman, in addition to holding the mining rights to Mount Silk. No ordinary person would have the right to capture her.
Delia had the frank personality of a mountain woman and was like a thorny rose. In a place where she was the focus of local men, Delia liked to use her advantages to play off the men who lusted for her. However, she never spoke encouragingly to any man, nor did any man have the ability to take advantage of her.
Dick was Delia’s distant relative. He could only smile wryly at this wild cat of a distant little cousin of his and warn her, “You’d best behave! Don’t try your tricks in front of His Lordship, he’s not someone you can handle!”
“Humph! Just a young man, what’s so great about him?!” Delia pouted and snorted gently. That’s what she said, but she had actually become even more interested in Han Shuo.
“Alright, alright. Hurry up, don’t keep the city lord waiting for too long!” Adleman, the oldest mountain chief, abruptly opened his mouth with a light scold.
Adleman held the most prestige amongst the five mountain chiefs. He belonged to the same generation as the grandfathers of Delia, Zack, and Kent, and they’d always banded up to resist the bandits’ assaults. They had also kept in touch with each other over the years. Whenever the mountain chiefs fathered together, Adleman often gave guidance to the rest as their senior.
The others had no more words to say upon hearing Adleman’s words. Only Dick was summarizing some of Han Shuo’s recent matters to the others in a low voice, particularly Han Shuo’s personality. Dick narrated in detail about how Han Shuo had personally killed a soldier who’d dared to defy him when he’d just arrived in Brettel City.
The mountain chiefs understood very well from Dick’s previous messages that this new city lord wasn’t one to be trifled with. When Dick described Han Shuo’s cruel and ruthless style, they all felt some apprehension in their hearts. As for Delia, she became even more curious about Han Shuo.
“Everyone best not to provoke this person. I don’t care what you do, our Mount Tali will definitely have a good relationship with him anyway. We don’t have any intention of making things difficult for him.” Fulkin had planned to get along with Han Shuo after personally seeing Han Shuo destroy Troda in a fight. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have had taken the initiative to descend the mountain and help Faulke, doing Han Shuo a favor.
Fulkin was the most stubborn amongst the five mountain chiefs. It had been years since he’d been willing to serve someone. When even Fulkin had made his stand before he’d met Han Shuo, the fear and awe in the others’ hearts instantly increased.
They’d walked past broad, stone steps after a while as Dick finally led the five mountain chiefs to the banquet area in the city lord’s mansion.
Han Shuo had retained all of the chefs that he’d recruited in the city lord’s mansion last time. The banquet was held in the merchants’ living room. Dorcas, Faulke, Chester, and Jack had arrived ahead of time to wait for the five mountain chiefs.
“Let me introduce to you all, these are my five fellow mountain chiefs of the mountain mines around Brettel City!” Dick pointed towards the five mountain people before introducing Dorcas and the others as well.
After Dick finished the introduction of both sides, Fulkin, who’d helped Faulke resist the bandits last time, laughed heartily as they gave each other a hug full of heroic spirit.
Fulkin said in a loud voice, “Faulke, my brave brother, I have heard of your amazing exploits even in Mount Tali!”
As a true knight, Faulke gave Fulkin a courteous, small smile, his voice warm and friendly, “You overpraise me. I gladly welcome your visit.”
“Oh, where is your city lord?” Zack shifted his gaze around. He was waiting for Dick to introduce the young, miraculous city lord only to find that Dick wasn’t playing along.
Dorcas swept a cold glance at Zack, shouting in a low, somewhat sinister voice, “‘Your’ city lord? Do you mean that you people aren’t under His Lordship’s jurisdiction?”
Although Dorcas’ strength wasn’t strong, the presence he’d accumulated through the intense slaughter of battle couldn’t be looked down upon. His low shout was dark and chilling. like a sharp sword edge.
“Shut up Zack!” Ever since Dorcas had been brought back by Han Shuo, he’d gradually revealed his talent during the several battles. Dorcas had become the soldiers’ object of trust, his deterrence of his presence slowly outstripping even that of Faulke’s. Dick understood full well that this person’s loyalty to Han Shuo was somewhat blindly unreasonable, so he hurriedly scolded Zack.
The mountain chiefs around Brettel City had always looked down on the city lords. Thus, they naturally wouldn’t show any respect in their usual conversation. Old habits died hard, immediately angering Dorcas.
With his 190 centimeters tall body, Dorcas stood there like a sharp unsheathed sword. No one could ignore his presence. It was a pity that his determined face currently wore cold indifference, an expression that rejected people from coming within a thousand mile radius of him, making him unapproachable.
“Our apologies, we haven’t been respectful enough because the previous city lords had been incompetent. Zack’s mouth is unable to adapt so quickly, I think that he didn’t mean to offend His Lordship. I hope you will overlook this.” The old Adleman hurriedly spoke up in an effort to mediate, surreptitiously giving Zack several eye signals.
Dick and Fulkin also winked and glared fiercely at Zack, motioning for the latter to quickly show a respectful attitude so as to avoid making Dorcas unhappy.
Zack was crude, but not stupid. Even though he still held some grievances in his heart, Zack ultimately bowed when the three looked at him and said in a small voice, “I’m sorry!”
Dorcas threw Zack a glance and snorted coldly, not saying another word. He picked up his wine glass before going to seek out Jack to discuss about needing more war equipment, not continuing to pursue Zack’s disrespectful manners anymore.
“Faulke, where is His Lordship?” Dick inwardly heaved a sigh of relief upon seeing that the most unsociable Dorcas had taken his leave. He then turned to ask Faulke, who’d been chatting and laughing with Fulkin.
“Ah, His Lordship said that it was rare for him to have guests, so he wanted to personally prepare some good food, telling us to stay here and wait for him for a bit.” Faulke explained laughingly. His stared fixedly at Delia, not hiding his interest for her.
“Another stinky pervert!” Delia curled her lips somewhat pridefully. She threw Faulke a glare before turning her head away, inwardly coming to this judgment about him in her heart.
When Delia turned her line of sight away from Faulke, her eyes followed the indifferent Dorcas with some interest. She discovered some interesting points in his seemingly forever unapproachable face. It seemed Delia paid more attention to men who didn’t pay any attention to her.
The smooth tongued knight Faulke, humorous Chester, and Dick chatted with the five mountain chiefs. All of the five mountain chiefs were both fearful and respectful towards the new city lord. No one dared to be carelessly unfriendly in their manner of speech. They sipped from their wine glasses while gathering more information about the city lord from Faulke and Chester.
The young Zack and Kent were still extraordinarily curious about the rumors regarding Han Shuo’s kidnapping of the grand duke Helen Tina. Chester and Dick were no gentleman either and paid no heed to Han Shuo’s heroic image, narrating their self-confirmed true understandings to the two with low, perverted laughs.
Delia, who wasn’t very far from them, was also very curious. Upon hearing the four perverts’ dirty laughs, Delia paid attention to their conversation and “accidentally” heard some things she shouldn’t have heard. She couldn’t help but blush to her ears, spitting in contempt and scolding in a low voice, “I didn’t think this city lord would be so lewd. Humph! It seems he’s much more lustful and perverted than the men in Brettel City!”
“Heh heh, His Lordship is truly an expert!” In this aspect, the dirty men seemed to think nothing of being brutal to a notoriously vicious woman. It wasn’t something despicable, and they even felt some glory in it.
After Dick and Chester described it once over, the two young mountain chiefs all revealed looks of awe, the kind of awe that was much greater than when they had heard about Han Shuo killing many bandits. This made the eavesdropping Delia despise the four of them. She inwardly cursed that men were nothing good.
“My apologies to you for being late. The ingredients in Brettel City are too rare. Although I’m a little late, we will be able to enjoy some exotic food!” A hearty laugh resounded from within the room suddenly. The handsome, refined Han Shuo stepped out leisurely from inside.
TLC of an advance GDK chapter going on right abouuuuut now. ????
