Translator: Legge
“Ineed to know what exactly these chivalrous bounty hunters have done and how they were framed,” Ren Xiaosu said.
“Actually, the upper class knew full well that those bounty hunters were truly chivalrous.” Melgor said with a laugh, “At that time, many children dreamed of growing up to be chivalrous heroes like them. Some of them made shoddy crossbows out of wood for themselves and tied them on their arms.”
“Did you try that as well?” Ren Xiaosu asked.
“Yes,” Melgor said.
“Why would you tie a crossbow on your arm? To shoot frogs?” Ren Xiaosu snapped.
Melgor was speechless.
Melgor said with a dark expression, “You came to me asking for books with a special significance, and I’ve even taken out my scrapbook of love letters for you, yet you’re talking to me with that attitude? Do you think people show their love letters to others so easily? I’ve already shown it to you, yet here
you are grumbling about it!”
“Alright, alright, continue with what you were saying,” Ren Xiaosu said, “You tied a crossbow on your arm, everyone admired them very much, and then?”
“And then, the bounty hunters raided an archmage’s clan in the secular world in the dark of the night.” Melgor said, “Actually, the common folk don’t know about this. If my family weren’t a reputable clan in Ghent City back then, I wouldn’t have known about it either.”
“Raided a sorcerer clan? They actually dared to do that?” Ren Xiaosu asked curiously, “Didn’t the sorcerer clan put up a fight?”
“No, how could the House of Voss have expected that anyone would dare to attack them? You have to know that even if the Voss family weren’t in the top five clans in the Kingdom of Sorcerers at that time, they were still among the ten most powerful clans. They were a true behemoth,” Melgor said.
“So how much money did the bounty hunters steal?” Ren Xiaosu asked, “Was it so much that the sorcerers needed to tarnish the bounty hunters’ reputation like this?”
“Money isn’t important to those sorcerer clans since they have plenty of it.” Melgor said, “Moreover, it isn’t easy to carry off valuables like gold. They stole 21 Eyes of True Sight, including a gold one.”
“Such a big heist?” Ren Xiaosu gasped. He could even imagine how furious the Voss family must have been. “However, 21 Eyes of True Sight would mean that they had to deal with 21 sorcerers. How did they pull it off? Were there any powerful individuals among those bounty hunters?”
“No, they didn’t take the sorcerers head on.” Melgor shook his head. “Rumor has it that someone infiltrated their servant ranks for two years and found an opportunity to lace the food at a clan gathering. Hundreds of people were poisoned to death in that incident.”
“I think they weren’t there just for the stones. There was probably immense hatred between them as well.” Ren Xiaosu frowned. “Is the Voss family still around now?”
“Yes, a large clan like them has many members. For example, the House of Tudor probably has several thousand members. The current monarch of the Tudor family has 71 children. As for the Voss family, the clan authority no longer rests with the main household. During an internal power struggle, one
of the ancillary branches inherited all that authority.”
“Was that why the Magi could no longer tolerate the bounty hunters and started to exterminate them?”
Melgor nodded. “Mhm, but they were unsuccessful even after many attempts. Those bounty hunters are really good at hiding their tracks. They blend in among the residents, so you don’t even know who’s a bounty hunter.” Melgor shrugged and said, “And when they gained their reputation for being
unkillable even by the gods, the Magi started slandering them, causing them to lose their reputation.”
Melgor continued, “From then on, the residents no longer trusted them. Some of the bounty hunters were betrayed by the people while others went even deeper into hiding. In more recent years, there’s occasional activity from the bounty hunters, but it’s rare. If you hadn’t mentioned it, ‘d’ve even
thought they had ceased to exist.”
“The residents are way too gullible.” Ren Xiaosu sighed.
But after hearing what he said, Ren Xiaosu’s impression of that young sorceress and the organization backing her changed.
It was not that he admired their attitude, but that he would have to be careful of being poisoned in the future!
If that sorceress were unrelated to Ren He, he would have offended her deeply last night. He really was not afraid of getting in a fight, but he did not know whether he could survive being poisoned.
After all, some types of poison were so lethal that just five grams would be enough to kill a person!
In the moming, the sheeple returned to the Sorcerer’s Tower and resumed their role as Melgor’s servants after just one night of rest.
Ren Xiaosu initially thought the sons of such influential families would rest for a few more days before coming back. Actually, Melgor would not mind taking a few more days of rest either. After all, everyone was exhausted.
This time, the two servants came back together with the heads of their respective clans, Li Chengguo’s father and Liu Ting’s father.
Ren Xiaosu gave a half-smile to the two servants in the main hall of the Sorcerer’s Tower. After they came in, the fathers of Li Chengguo and Liu Ting realized their sons did not pay respects to Lord Melgor first but ran over to greet this unfamiliar young man instead.
The heads of the Li and Liu clans looked at each other, unsure of what was going on.
However, the two of them could not be rude. After entering the Sorcerer’s Tower, they went over to Melgor and knelt on one knee. “Your Excellency Lord Melgor, how have you been? Please forgive us for not coming by immediately yesterday. We thought you also needed some time to rest and reorganize.”
Although Melgor was a sweet idiot in private, he still held his composure when facing outsiders. “Mhm, you may rise. You two are rather considerate, but I wonder, what’s the purpose of your visit today?”
‘When the heads of the Li and Liu clans got up, the head of the Li clan said, “I heard from my son that Lord Melgor intends to head to Ghent City soon and will be assisting him in buying an Eye of True Sight?”
Melgor nodded. “Yes, that’s what I plan. Li Chengguo and Liu Ting have worked hard and performed outstandingly for the past two years. I was moved by their drive, so I decided to grant their wishes as soon as possible.”
Li Chengguo and Liu Ting looked over with gratitude. Just as they had said, there was also rivalry within their own clans, so they needed to maintain their competitiveness in the face of their siblings’ jealousy.
Now that Melgor was heaping praise on them, it would help push their standing a little more.
However, Ren Xiaosu nearly laughed out loud. What outstanding performance? Did they eat more grass than other sheep? But he definitely would not say that at this time. After all, it would directly affect the two servants’ personal interests.
Li Chengguo and Liu Ting were most worried that Ren Xiaosu would start spouting nonsense at this moment. Fortunately, they were able to put their minds at ease when they observed his expression and realized that he didn’t intend to spoil their party.
The head of the Li clan said, “To express our gratitude for Lord Melgor, our clans are willing to pay in advance 5,000 gold coins each as a reward. If the purchase of the Eye of True Sight does not work out, we won’t ask for a refund either. This is to show our sincerity. However, we hope that Lord Melgor
can set off as soon as possible..”
