The Devil’s Cage

The patrol soldiers in Edatine Castle were quicker than expected.

It was merely 3 minutes after the attempted assasination and a team of fully armed soldiers appeared in the public eye.

The leader of the team saw Kuer Horton at first glance, so he hastened his men and ordered them to maintain order at the scene before he walked to the young noble.

“Knight Horton, are you alright?” the leader asked respectfully,sounding like he was slightly afraid.

The chief of the guards knew what the young noble represented.

The young noble’s background alone was sufficient enough to earn respect from everyone at the scene, and coupled with the identity of knight, it made him even more extraordinary.

When a noble background came together with the identity of knight, it would mean a lot more than having multiple identities.

The situation was like 1 + 1 > 2.

If the young noble before him was hurt, it wasn’t just the chief who would suffer, his superior and his superior’s superior would all get punished more than they could endure.

Fortunately, Kuer Horton had no intention of making it difficult for the chief of guards.

“Help me find her parents. And, dig that bastard out!” said Kuer Horton to the chief of guard.

He then smiled at the little girl, waving his hand and walking to Kieran.

“Thank you. You saved me again,” Kuer Horton thanked Kieran softly when he was beside him.

“I’m just expressing my gratitude for the afternoon tea,” Kieran spoke truthfully.

He already noticed something wasn’t right when he was in the carriage, so he decided to extend a helping hand, mostly because of how scrumptious Kuer Horton’s afternoon tea was, which made him look forward to the dinner.

To a not-so-lousy person who was willing to provide him with tasty food, Kieran wouldn’t mind extending a helping hand in times of danger.

Listening to Kieran’s reply and feeling how ‘cheap’ his life was, Kuer Horton couldn’t help but smile bitterly.

“I know you might not care but I think I owe you big time. Tonight’s dinner was held because I want to repay you the previous debt, but now I owe you another one. I think I must prepare more good food to repay you.”

In order to heighten his own value, Kuer Horton decided to treat Kieran to a real feast.

Kieran did not reject that suggestion.

Even though deep in his heart, he knew no matter how hard Kuer Horton prepared, he could never reach Starbeck’s level. However, since Starbeck wasn’t around, Kieran must compromise.

‘I miss Starbeck,’ Kieran thought in his heart, while his blank and somewhat cold expression still hung over his face.

After being together for a whole afternoon, Kuer Horton got used to Kieran’s countenance.

Plus some other prejudiced information, he wasn’t surprised at all.

Then, both of them turned to the assassin who got dug out from the ground.

It was a man in common attire, the height and size of a Northerner and an especially fit physique; his face looked vicious because of Kieran’s stomp earlier but was still able to make out a general look.

Kuer Horton squatted down to have a closer look at the unfamiliar face, furrowing his brows tightly together.

This man wasn’t the assassin that he met before, he was a completely new one.

It wasn’t any good news to Kuer Horton though, because it meant his foe’s influence and power had completely gone out of his expectation.

Quietly, Kuer Horton stood up and waved at the chief of guard.

“Bring him back to the city guard station, a specialist will drop by to inspect the body,” said Kuer Horton.

“Yes, Knight Horton.”

The chief of guard bowed, then ordered half of his men to quickly bring the body away.

As for the remaining half, they stayed behind and questioned the crowd.

Even though the chief of guard did not think questioning the crowd would be of any use, he still had to follow standard operating procedures.

Kuer Horton and Kieran walked side by side back to the wagon.

However, before they boarded the wagon, the young noble turned around to the civilians who were being questioned by the guards and bowed apologetically.

There was no further explanation for his actions but it was enough.

In fact, compared to other nobles, Kuer Horton was considered a deviant for treating civilians equally.

It it was some other nobles, they might look as cold as ice and leave in a bad mood, and had this little assassination happened out of Edatine Castle, the hot-tempered nobles would surely make an example out of the unlucky civilians.

The wagoner shook the reins to the horse and slowly drove away, though the servant and the wagoner had their swords in hand after the little incident.

It was obvious that the assassination attempt shook them, afraid that another attempt on their master’s life would happen.

Therefore, the wagon drove straight to Marquis Horton’s mansion.

Along the way, the crowd was smart enough to make way for the wagon when they saw the two highly tense servants and the emblem on the wagon.

Kuer Horton saw the civilians dodging the wagon nervously through the window, so he couldn’t help but tap on the plank behind him to notify his men. The education he received and the knight’s creed that he believed in forbade him to turn a blind eye.

After he felt the wagon had slowed down, Kuer Horton turned to Kieran.

“I’m sorry, I might have involved you in some trouble. But don’t you worry, I will do my best and settle everything as soon as possible,” said Kuer Horton in a very sincere tone.

“I said it before, it was to thank you for the afternoon tea,” Kieran repeated himself.

“It’s not the same! Colin, you don’t understand what I mean, I’m saying…”

The young noble wanted to explain further but after some thoughts flashed over his mind, he hesitated, but soon enough the hesitation was replaced by a steady look.

“Colin, you saved me twice, so I don’t think I can keep it a secret from you anymore. What do you think about His Majesty’s new royal decree?” asked Kuer Horton.

Kieran suddenly thought of what Old Hank, the owner of Carrot Hotel once said, “You ask me what do I think? What can I think? I don’t have money to buy it anyway.”

…

His words might sound rough and crude but the meaning was not, so Kieran delivered the meaning instead.

“It’s not related to most people,” said Kieran.

“Yes, it is not related to most people, but to me and others who share my background it is closely related! It represents the biggest honor of the nobles: the land! Therefore, people like us instantly split up into two factions; some agree with the new decree and some reject it to the roots. My father is a firm supporter of His Majesty, so…”

Before he even finished, Kuer Horton showed a bitter smile.

Everything became clear now.

The nobles who rejected the decree dare not say anything towards the king, at least they dare not do anything on the bright side, but to the supporters of the king, the nobles weren’t that courteous anymore.

Assassination were the last and the worst option that they could ever resolve to, due to the fact that it broke the rules.

But…

In desperate times, assassination also represented their attitude: they stood firm on their bottomline and no one should challenge them, otherwise it would be a life or death struggle.

“This isn’t the first attempt on my life. In the recent months, I’ve been targeted three times… No, counting this one, it would be the fourth time! The first two times were solely to scare me, but the third and fourth time, it seemed like whosoever was behind this had taken things seriously, albeit they did not go after my father but me. Still, it represented their determination and resolution: those who stand in their way could never walk away safely. Colin, you may not care about all this but no matter how strong a person is, he has to sleep or rest. Can you guarantee that you’ll be awake 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and never take rest? For your own safety sake, I wish to invite you to temporarily stay in the marquis’ mansion. Or I can assign two guards around you. Don’t worry, they are vigilant enough and possess sharp sword-wielding skills.”

Kuer Horton emphasized potential danger after he saw how calm Kieran was, even coming up with a solution to the situation.

“I’m sorry, but I am used to working alone.”

Kuer Horton was very sincere, but Kieran did not accept.

Firstly, it was what he said: he got used to being alone.

Secondly, he had too many secrets that could never see the light of day.

Starbeck? He was an exception.

“I will have my own way around situations like this. Otherwise, I would have been dead long ago. Do you know what I have to face on a daily basis?”

Kieran quickly talked first when he noticed Kuer Horton wanted to elaborate more.

He even hinted to himself as a Snake Sect Demon Hunter.

Kieran didn’t overly hide his identity as Snake Sect Demon Hunter.

In short, only maintain a simple cover for that particular identity. Normal civilians would not know about him but those who wanted to know and spent a little effort to find out would know.

Kuer Horton was obviously the latter, likewise the nobles who rejected the new decree.

Therefore, Kieran had quite the confidence that that faction of nobles wouldn’t simply provoke a Demon Hunter, especially a Demon Hunter who walked with the shadow, a Snake Sect Demon Hunter.

Of course, there would surely be some tests coming after him. Kieran didn’t mind, he was eager to meet those tests.

Only when he rooted his identity as Snake Sect Demon Hunter in people’s heart would his other identities be safe, such as… the Mist!

No one would ever expect that the two of them were actually the same person.

People would only think the Mist and Snake Sect were working together, like Silent Night Secret Society and Lady Calamity.

Kieran needed such an impression from the people, because he didn’t want people to check and investigate his trails back and forth.

Although he considered himself having done a good job in keeping it under wraps and had sufficient preparation, he was still unable to get to the bottom of everything, especially when God of War and Lady Calamity could enter the ring all of the sudden.

Therefore, he had to hasten some matters at hand.

Coincidentally, the timing was great!

With that thought in mind, Kieran gave Bloody Mary a new set of orders.

Kuer Horton, sitting opposite Kieran, had no idea what happened. The young noble was looking very sorry at the moment.

“I’m sorry Colin. I was just curious when I read the documents sent back from Sicar City. Please believe me, I don’t mean anything else,” the young noble explained anxiously.

Kieran nodded a tad.

Judging from Kuer Horton’s breathing and heartbeat, Kieran believed him.

As for the other matters, time would tell.

After the nod from Kieran, Kuer Horton couldn’t help but heave a breath of relief.

He wouldn’t want to lose a friend because of some unintentional reading of documents.

After all, a friend who acknowledged his ideal of ‘life is bitter, it needs more sweets’ was very rare to come by.

It was fair to even consider Kieran was the only one, hence he must learn to appreciate him.

…..

Looking at the five submissive and obedient members of Silent Night Secret Society, Bloody Mary appreciated the moment.

Perhaps during normal times those who fell under its brainwash easily were not in the least, but this particular timing was different!

Time! Time was not on their side!

The boss’ new order just came in and Bloody Mary knew that these five men before it were like the seed of fire! They must become the seed of fire that could burn an entire field!

Two of the five were the first two who tried to ambush it earlier; the other three beside them were their friends. With Bloody Mary’s fancy persuasion, they forsake the darkness and joined the light, officially joining the side of justice.

It used [Demon Instinct] to sense the thoughts and emotions of the five.

Bloody Mary knew perfectly well that it was still a tad bit away from achieving total control.

The five of them still had a little anxiety left in their hearts.

So, it stood up and looked them in the eyes.

Following Bloody Mary’s action, the five of them shifted their gaze to the Superior Demon.

“You are all worried, or even scared.”

After what Bloody Mary said, the five of them lowered their heads again and dared not look at Bloody Mary.

Bloody Mary sucked in a breath and then shouted loudly, “HEADS UP!”

The five of them immediately lifted their heads up after being shouted at.

They looked at Bloody Mary, not seeing the anger or contempt that they were expecting.

All Bloody Mary showed was kindness and acknowledgement.

Bloody Mary knew perfectly well that there were two kinds of people in this world: ones that lived for themselves only, looking strong on the outside but fragile on the inside, and ones that lived for others, looking weak on the outside but their hearts were strong as a shield.

The latter would be the real strong ones and a lot of the time, they were known as heroes!

The fact that these five men were able to stand before it had proved that they had the potential to become the latter.

Now, all they needed was a spark to ignite the fire in their heart.

So, Bloody Mary said word by word, “There is nothing to be ashamed of, because… I am also worried and scared, I also felt the same as you. We are facing a scary foe after all, death might even come for us all and we might not have a choice. Our friends and families need our protection, they are all at Silent Night Town and they don’t even have the slightest idea of what’s going on. I hope they keep it that way because I am willing to bear the burden on their behalf! I hope they can live their lives well because I am willing to bear the burden and walk forward! Everyone, I can’t assure you anything else, because I don’t know whether or not I can come back alive. But if I do, I will protect you for the rest of my life, and as my friends and brother-in-arms, your friends and families are my friends and families! I hereby swear on my name!”