Translator: Wuxia Dog Editor: Wuxia Dog
“General Jason? Did we have any conflicts with him?” Han Jin cast a glance around. “Does anyone know him?”
“I’ve only heard of his name,” Reg replied.
“Forging master?” Keeley snapped and stood up. “Is his name Villar?”
“You know Lord Villar, Miss?” the one-eyed man asked in a trembling voice, his body slightly shaking and on the verge of a breakdown.
“Yes, I could recognize him even if he turned into ashes!” Keeley said while grinding her teeth.
If Villar had just run away, Keeley wouldn’t have hated him as much. But he had killed all of her guards before fleeing, which was completely different in nature.
“Since when did the dwarf become a lord?” Han Jin shook his head.
The one-eyed man wanted to further explain, but the scene before his eyes turned black. His body softened, and he passed out.
“You know Villar?” Reg asked.
“Yes. You can ask Keeley,” said Han Jin in a low voice. “But we owe him nothing. He’s the one who did terrible things to Keeley. Where did he get the courage to cause us trouble?”
“This world is full of dirty dogs,” Moxinke shouted angrily. “We should have killed that bastard!”
“If so…” Reg paused. “We can’t keep this guy alive.” He kicked the one-eyed man.
Just then, Sunier came in from outside. “Where have you been?” Han Jin asked.
“I was waiting outside to make sure no one else was following us.” She cast a quick glance at all of them. “What’s going on?”
“We had an enemy…” Han Jin narrated in detail the experience they had with Villar, and added at last, “Villar must have fled to West City directly after that and met General Jason. It seems that… he is very well respected here.”
“Is he good at forging?” Sunier asked, her eyebrows knitting.
“Yes.” Keeley nodded.
“It’s nothing unusual for a skilled forging master to be respected.” Sunier sighed.
“My suggestion is… to leave for Ninth Town. My friend will protect us,” Reg interjected.
“We have discussed this before. You were afraid of causing trouble for your friend, weren’t you?” Han Jin said.
“But do we have any other choice now?” Reg forced a smile. “You are my friends too, and he will be glad to know you.”
“What’s his name? Is he powerful?” Sunier asked.
“Ronning. A Great Knight, and the leader of the First Cavalry of Riptide Regiment.”
“The Riptide Regiment? Ronning?” Sunier was astonished.
“The Riptide Regiment headquarters in Beit City?” Moxinke showed the same expression.
“Does Beitman have any other Riptide Regiment?” Reg said smilingly.
“The leader of the Riptide Regiment… I believe that he would be able to protect us,” Sunier mused. “But how do you know him? Are you close to him?”
“I grew up with him.”
“How is that possible?” said Sunier with a doubtful tone, “I’ve read some intelligence about the Riptide Regiment when I was in Wild Willow City. Ronning is the brightest star of Riptide Regiment. He has a persistent and dauntless personality with extremely strong military qualities. The former regimental commander of Riptide Regiment, Conrad, appreciated him very much and even declared him to be his optimal successor. Even Ronning himself is the son of the former vice regimental commander, Benedict. You grew up with him??”
“Is there any problem?” Reg said.
“Your name… Your name is Reg?” A piece of news came to Sunier’s mind like a blast. “You are the son of Regimental Commander Conrad?? The boy who did no decent work and caused trouble everywhere?”
“Am I that terrible, Miss Sunier…” Reg didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
“You really are the son of Conrad?” Cessacioun exclaimed. His expression implied that he had heard of the name Conrad too.
“Would I call someone else father?” Reg was speechless.
“You are making me even more confused. Since you are the son of Conrad, how dare they to do such things to you?” Sunier asked.
“My father has passed away for many years and… you wouldn’t be able to understand this.”
“If I can’t understand, no one else here can.”
“You…” Reg was surprised. He felt that Sunier was too arrogant.
“Sunier participated in a war about twenty years ago. Do you know the Silver Horse Regiment?” Cessacioun laughed. “She was the commander of the regiment in that war. It was her who led the elves back to Wild Willow City.” Cessacioun thought it was necessary to mention this because Reg was the last one to join them and didn’t know about Sunier’s past; Sunier would not voluntarily talk about her previous honour.
This time, Reg was the one astonished. The epic guerrilla warfare launched by the Silver Horse Regiment and the elf archers had become a staple in military history. The elves had travelled day and night and had launched countless sneak attacks everywhere for over one year, finally putting a noose onto the neck of Lord Kassa. Not only had Zaganide studied and learned from the war, but even the Regimental Commander Conrad, Reg’s father, highly praised the guerrilla.
“I never expected to meet an elf hero here,” Reg exclaimed in admiration.
“Well, let’s talk about you. Why do they dare kill you?” Sunier asked slowly. She didn’t mean to poke into his privacy. It was just that a minor change in the upper class would cause a great influence on the lower classes, the relationships among the territory owners and groups, and the policies that they would make.
“All the four castellans wanted the commanding rights of the Riptide Regiment. When my father was still alive, they did not dare act recklessly, but now… there’s no one to restrict them.” Reg showed a bitter smile. “My father had given his order for Ronning to succeed his position, but they denied his last words with the excuse that Ronning was ‘too young and too inexperienced.’”
“Who is the commander now?”
“No one.” Reg shook his head. “They all want to support their own trusted followers, so no one took the advantage.”
“Reg, why didn’t you choose to be a fighter instead of a thief?” Cessacioun asked slowly. He wasn’t only asking him about his profession, but also his status and inheritance of position. It was taken for granted that the son should succeed his father’s position, though the Riptide Regiment was not their personal property. In addition, it was a special situation. None of the four castellans could prevail over each other, and the Riptide Regiment was not being controlled by anyone of them. If Conrad had wanted his own son to take his position, the four castellans could only watch by the side. The soldiers of the regiment would not allow them to act so absurdly. But to support an irrelevant young man that was unworthy of the title, the soldiers would be hard to convince. Some might even think that they were more suitable than Ronning! If Conrad had already chosen someone else’s son to be his successor and now things were in such a situation, it must be deeply related to Reg.
“Because I don’t want to live like my father. He was too tired.” Reg had no mood to talk about this. His tone was slow, and his eyes glistening. “To fight against the four castellans, to worry about the logistic supply of the army, to ensure training, and to launch counter-attacks as soon as Beitman is invaded. It was too hard to do all these well… My father had ashen hair when he was still in his thirties. And he, a high-grade Bright Knight, a tenth-grade professional, died due to illness when he was only in his forties. Don’t you find it ridiculous?” Reg showed a wan smile. He still had hard feelings for the untimely death of his father.
“No one can deny that Regimental Commander Conrad was a lofty and righteous knight,” Sunier said slowly.
“Lofty? Righteous? Ha…” Reg unconsciously turned emotional, but he immediately realized this and controlled his own feelings by inhaling a long breath. Had he not seen with his own eyes the fate of his father due to loftiness and righteousness, would he have gone the other way? He wanted to say this, but he didn’t. It was no use telling them this. He didn’t expect them to understand, nor did he want to cause any unnecessary misunderstandings. All the words in his heart turned into silence.
“Well, let’s talk about us,” Han Jin immediately changed the topic when he realized Reg’s grief and indignation. “What’s your opinion, Sunier?”
“Leave for Ninth Town. I was always curious about this Ronning.”
“You won’t be disappointed. I assure you,” Reg said. “I’d better deal with this guy first. Be prepared. We will leave in two or three days.”
“Leaving again? Damn it… when can we settle down!” Moxinke grumbled.
“You can’t stand this?” Sunier mocked.
“Stop! Sunier, I am not you,” said Moxinke, his head shaking.
Reg bent down and carried the dying man onto his back, leaving the room at a slow pace. Han Jin stared at his back. “I sensed that he had an extraordinary background, but had never thought that he would have such an eminent father,” Han Jin said in a slow tone.
“I read the evaluation of Reg in the intelligence many years ago. Ho… It was very poor. I felt pity for Regimental Commander Conrad at that time. Now that I have seen Reg myself, intelligence may be false sometimes.” Sunier smiled. “It might be that… he deliberately did those to disappoint others, or even for some other purposes…”
“I don’t understand.” Sylner asked curiously, “Was it because his father wanted him to inherit his position that Reg refused and deliberately did those bad things to disappoint his father?”
“Sort of,” Han Jin said.
“He’s not a good man!” Sylner pouted. “A good man should never disappoint his family!”
“You know nothing!” Moxinke shouted. Reg was still at the door. Slyner’s careless words might hurt his feelings.
“I…” Sylner was going to refute, but immediately stopped. “I have to be a lady!” she thought to herself. However, her gentle expression was always made by raising her willow-leaf shaped eyebrows, which made her look funny.
Reg turned pale. He didn’t say anything and just turned around and disappeared from the door.
