Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
“You bunch of nincompoops! Wait till our boss comes!” the young man shouted as he wrestled with the robbers. Unbeknownst to him, there was a pair of eyes on him.
“G-Gaso… How could it be Gaso? Didn’t I tell that fella not to come back? Why is he back…” Old Salatt stuttered at the sight of the young man walking into the Cathedral Square. His face turned ashen.
“What happened, Uncle Salatt?” Lin Li looked at Old Salatt by his side, and then at the young man at the Cathedral Square. He suddenly understood everything.
“Is he your son?”
“Yes, this is him… What should I do? I always told this scoundrel not to come back to the Black Clouds Town before the 15th of every month… Now that he’s back…” The old man was so worried after seeing that his son fell into the hands of the robbers.
“Uncle Salatt, don’t worry first. Nothing would happen to your son.” Lin Li was not trying to comfort him. The reason was simple; the robbers were too weak to begin with. Although they were strong in numbers, the strongest was not more than level-10. To a level-16 Archmage, they were just nobodies. If Lin Li wanted to, he could get rid of them all at once, not to mention saving Old Salatt’s son.
Hence, Lin Li was not worried at all. After comforting Old Salatt, his gaze landed on the young man named Gaso. There were residents and robbers among the thousands of people in the Cathedral Square. But, the main thing that interested Lin Li was the useless son, Gaso, Old Salatt was talking about. Although this young man wore common leather armor just like other Adventurers, the way he walked was as if he had not had any martial training before.
Furthermore, when that fella walked into the Cathedral Square, Lin Li remembered that he clearly saw a small metal hook hanging out of his pocket. Lin Li remembered that was the most common tool used by Jarrosus’ robbers…
It seemed that the son Old Salatt was talking about was much more useless than he imagined him to be…
When the robbers took Gaso into the Cathedral Square, one of them ran towards the long table, and spoke discreetly to his vice-chieftain, who was counting money.
“What?” the bandit vice-chieftain exclaimed upon hearing what the robber told him. He stopped counting money, and sprang up from his chair. Then, he walked up to Gaso menacingly.
“Slap!” A crisp sound could be heard.
“Damn, you have big guts!” The vice-chieftain gave Gaso a tight slap. His cheek became swollen immediately.
What followed was a heavy kick that made Gaso stumble backwards. If he had not been held onto tightly by the two robbers behind him, he would have fallen to the ground. The vice-chieftain did not give up, and started to give Gaso a harsh beating.
“Goddammit, you have a boss too, don’t you? Alright, let me see if my fist is harder than your backing!
“You guys, what are you waiting for? Beat him to death!”
While the vice-chieftain shouted, the other robber went towards Gaso. The sound made when their fists landed on his skin was deafening.
When his gaze landed on Gaso, Old Salatt clenched his fist. However, he could not stand the sight of his son getting punched by so many people.
“Marko! You robbers, let my son go!” Old Salatt barged into the crowd, and dashed towards his son.
Before anyone realized it, Old Salatt was already like a hen trying to protect its chick. He brought Gaso behind him, and let the fists land on him like a heavy rain.
However, since Old Salatt was a middle-aged man in his 50s, he was not as strong as he had been in his youth. How would he be able to withstand the never-ending blows? Not long after, he started to puke blood.
“F*ck you, old man! If you want to die, let me give you the chance!”
This time, Lin Li could not stand still anymore.
He shook his head, took out his Aether Staff from the Ring of Endless Storm, and summoned the Blood-vine Spell.
At that instant, the ground of the Cathedral Square was covered by red blood vines. They were not only like countless red snakes entangled together, but also like blooming blood flowers. Everyone’s gaze were fixed onto that pool of red.
“F*ck, what’s that—”
A group of robbers got engulfed by the sea of red before they could say anything.
The first person that the blood vines attached themselves onto was their vice-chieftain, Marko. He was tightly wrapped by the blood vines. Since it was a real level-15 spell that even an Archmage might not be able to deal with, how would a low-level Warrior like Marko be able to withstand it? He could only watch the hundreds of blood vines entangle themselves tightly around himself…
After doing that, Lin Li patted off the dirt on his long robe, and walked out of the crowd slowly.
“To be honest, Mr. Marko, I think you might not have a chance to have your dinner…”
“W-w-who are you?” Marko asked fearfully. He could feel the countless pricks sinking into him slowly. The pain was not excruciating, but he could not help but feel helpless. They were like blunt knives slicing his body slowly…
“Me? I’m just somebody who doesn’t like paying protection fees,” Lin Li replied smilingly as he controlled the speed of the blood vines growing. It was to ensure that that would not endanger innocent lives.
As the two men had their conversation, there were whispers among the people in the Cathedral Square. The discussion started off with just three people, but now, it expanded like a plague, and spread to the whole of the Cathedral Square.
Everyone was asking about the origin of that man. It did not take long for them to meet someone who knew it. That person told them proudly that the young man had just moved to the Black Clouds Town a month ago, and had recently bought something from his small shop…
However, it did not matter if they knew him or not. None of them could believe that this young man who appeared to be a gentleman was actually a powerful mage!
This piece of news caused the residents to be really surprised. To them, a mage was the world’s most mysterious occupation. They could control lightning and storm and fire and ice, and had extraordinary strength to create many miracles in the human world.
When the young man just moved in a month ago, the residents felt that he was really agreeable and humble. None of them had expected such a mighty power to hide behind his amicable façade.
“Felic is really a mage?”
“Of course!”
This voice belonged to Lin Li’s landlady. She was at least 40 years old, and opened a bakery. Now, her face was glistening with pride as she bragged about how she realized that Lin Li was not any common man, and how she gave Lin Li a lot of care since he moved in…
Anyway, if Lin Li had stayed at the Black Clouds Town for a shorter period of time, she might even brag that she taught Lin Li his magic!
At once, the Cathedral Square became very lively. Everyone felt more at ease, and no one cared about the robbers anymore. To them, the presence of the mage in the Black Clouds Town meant the death of those little robbers.
“I-I-I… Let me warn you, fella. We are the Syer Bandits. If you dare to be funny, our boss will not let you go…” Marko lost all of the pride he had just now. He was like a drowning man trying to grab onto straws, trying to live on.
Unfortunately, this piece of straw was meaningless to Lin Li. He didn’t know the Syer Bandits at all, and didn’t know who the “boss” Marko was referring to was.
“Mr. Marko, to be honest, you have too many things to talk about…”
What followed was the lighting up of the jewel on top of the arched staff.
