The Devil’s Cage

“Envoy from Burning Dawn?” Kieran was surprised.

He knew about the bounty that Burning Dawn had on Sand Bandit, Cranium Crusher, and Bearman but it didn’t mean the envoy should be here.

Whether it was the background introduction of [Blade of the Daybreaker] or the information he got after entering the dungeon world, all signs were telling Kieran that Burning Dawn was in much more severe trouble than previously imagined. Given such circumstances, would Burning Dawn still care about giving out bounty rewards?

More so, the incident of Kieran wiping out Sand Bandit, Cranium Crusher, and Bearman happened last night and the news was widespread in the morning.

Now it was just after noon, so it was definitely inconceivable for Burning Dawn to receive such news within a few short hours despite them having suffered from an assault as severe as described.

If there was nothing fishy amongst all that, Kieran would never believe it but it didn’t stop him from seeing this envoy.

“Is it really an envoy from Burning Dawn? Or more handiwork of that cunning merchant?”

Kieran then strode out without pause.

…

Walloon in plain clothes was standing in the small square of Shatterstone Town with his aide and six more soldiers. When he saw the patrolling civilian troops, his face showed surprise.

“These are civilian soldiers?” Walloon asked in an unsure tone.

“Yes, sir major, they… should be Shatterstone Town’s civilian soldiers.”

The aide who dressed like a common merchant nodded and answered his superior but his tone was not too certain as well.

Look at the so-called civilian soldier’s equipment!

In Walloon’s mind, civilian soldiers were usually equipped with a short sword and at most, a bow or two but the civilian soldiers before his eyes had leather boots, leather armor, a longsword, and a longbow, not one thing was missing.

They were considered fully armed and such equipment shouldn’t have appeared on so-called civilian soldiers!

Even for the proper military, a lot of soldiers wouldn’t be arm with such equipment. Moreover, all the mentioned equipment were not just common goods.

The sturdy leather armor was emanating a unique luster under the sun. Walloon couldn’t help but rub his eyes.

If he was seeing things correctly, even the soldiers of Burning Dawn would be required to be elites in order to be qualified to equip all that equipment.

Being able to get a longsword, leather boots, longbows and such was definitely not some common soldiers.

One of the civilian soldiers walked passed Walloon in an orderly manner; his steps were light since the leather boots effectively canceled out a lot of noise.

All that was left was the clunking of the longsword with its sheath.

Chang, Chang Chang.

The clear clunking told Walloon the steel that the longsword was made of was surely an excellent kind.

However, before Walloon could further make sure of his speculations, a faint herby smell entered his nose. He turned his sight to the longbows on the civilian soldiers.

The bow’s body was made out of Phoebe Nanmu; the string was made out of cow tendon and the herby smell came from the string.

Walloon easily identified a couple of familiar herbs from the smell alone. All the herbs that he spotted were applied on the string to make it more tenacious, more elastic.

It made Walloon more and more doubtful of whether the soldier was a civilian soldier or not but what came after shocked him more!

Dak, Dak Dak!

Amidst the galloping, a group of riders rode past Walloon.

“Rider?!” Walloon couldn’t hold back his cry of shock.

The Burning Dawn soldiers in plain clothes behind Walloon were causing a ruckus as well.

Warhorses were common around Supreme Road because they were the favorites of robbers and bandits. It was also because of the horses that the robbers and bandits who caused so much headache to Burning Dawn come and go like the wind.

However, common didn’t mean cheap.

If it was cheap, the robbers and bandits wouldn’t cause that much of a headache.

In fact, the price of a decent warhorse around Supreme Road would cost around a hundred gold, let alone the feeding and maintaining that followed.

Burning Dawn also had a rider group of a thousand men and they were the absolute power, the ace of the whole militia.

“Sir major, there are around 50 of them, the very decent kind!” The aide reported softly.

“50 decent warhorses…” Walloon couldn’t help but mutter to himself.

There weren’t any malicious thoughts, just pure shocked but his face was easily misunderstood by others.

Suddenly, Walloon felt cold at his back as he was mumbling and he knew exactly what it was since he had participated in war throughout the years: a warning with slight killing intent!

Walloon used his gaze to signal his aide and men before he raised his hands up slowly and turned around.

Then, he saw a young man.

The young man had short hair, a common face, gray eyes, and common leather armor but the dual swords at his waist were exceptionally eye-catching.

A decent fighter!

Walloon swiftly concluded based on his vast experience but what shocked him further was the young man wasn’t the one who “warned” him.

It was…

Walloon subconsciously wanted to look for the one who gave him the warning but the dual blader reached out to his swords with a not so friendly gaze.

Since he made a promise and signed a contract with Kieran, Snacker didn’t plan on breaking either of them.

He and his other two “less-than-reliable” friends gave their best effort in serving Kieran, therefore Shatterstone Town naturally ended up as the turf they had to patrol.

Just like how Walloon and his men looked at Shatterstone civilian soldiers with their uncomfortable gazes, Snacker trio had their eyes on them the moment they stepped into town.

Despite the fact that Walloon and his men were in plain clothes, their temperament was different from others. Their military life made them looked skilled, tenacious with a slight sense of intimidating manner.

Plus how they looked around as if searching for something, it was hard for one not to suspect their identities.

“Who are you?” Snacker asked.

Unlike his “less-than-reliable” friends, Snacker took himself as both intelligent and courageous. He also had an extremely calm side during tense situations, even if he had to face someone suspicious, he would ask out of routine.

“Right, that Volgen guy might seem reliable but he actually isn’t! How can he let these bunch of people into town when he was tasked to guard the gates! Seems like I am the most trustworthy and reliable one among these bunch!” Snacker thought in his heart.

Then, his gaze became more judgemental as he scanned Walloon and his men.

The more he looked, the more suspicious he felt.

“I am…” Walloon wanted to state his identity but before he could even finish, one of his men behind him took out a dagger and drove it towards his back.

The sudden turn of events stunned the “reliable” dual blader, he never thought such a scene would unfold, but not Blu.

Souu!

An arrow pierced the soldier’s arm.

At the same time, a dagger was placed at the soldier’s neck.

“Don’t move! Unless you want your throat to be sliced open like a fruit!”

Riley appeared behind the soldier and seized him by his neck.

When the crowd saw that the soldier was being apprehended, everyone was relieved but just when everyone thought it was over, something else happened.

TL Note:

Phoebe Nanmu: a type of wood that was frequently used for boat building architectural woodworking and wood art in China.