When we returned to the Rhino Bar, Catalina still had a dazed expression. Her face was filled with panic, as if she had suffered some major psychological blow.
She discovered that her father was hiding many things. She discovered that she wasn't human. She only panicked and didn't collapse. This proved that although she appeared weak on the outside, she was actually quite strong on the inside.
However, the moment she entered the bar, her panicked heart caused her to instinctively look towards her father for help.
Seeing Katerina like this, Old Man Barton, the bar owner, felt his heart ache with worry. He immediately glared at me. As for the others, they didn't care why a barmaid and a gambling addict had suddenly disappeared or what had happened to them. They all had their own things to do.
In the middle of the bar's main hall, two plainly dressed traveling merchants were tied to chairs. Their personal belongings were all placed on a table to the side, and the most eye-catching item was a black silver skull pendant. That was the symbol of the Death Council.
It seemed that we were overthinking things. This time, the Death Council's evil cultists weren't locals. They were free traveling merchants acting as a disguise. And judging from their unrecognizable appearances, they most likely didn't live in the town at all. They had set up camp outside the city.
This was also an expected result. I had already patrolled the nearby towns and hadn't discovered any undead mages. However, the fact that they were living outside the city faintly hinted at another fact — these two weren't strong enough to survive alone in the wilderness. There were quite a few of them, and it was highly likely that they had their own camp. If that was the case, things would become complicated.
"This is troublesome. It seems that they aren't just random evil cultists, but rather members of the organized Death Council. They're probably just scouts. In that case, the dragon lich has most likely alerted them. They might take action at any moment."
I was able to deduce all this in such a short period of time. This could only mean that I was far too experienced in dealing with trouble. I didn't believe that they would be able to guess it. Perhaps the enemy's reinforcements were already on the way. I was currently thinking about how to secretly warn these rookies so that they could quickly force out this information so that they could deal with it …
"I … I've already confessed. Don't kill me. There are fifty of us, and Priest Blackeye is the leader. He's a Saint-rank undead mage."
Alright then, this idiot was probably just an ordinary person not long ago. Even though stalling for time and waiting for reinforcements was clearly the best choice, he actually sold out his teammate. It would be difficult for anyone to save him … I glanced at everyone else who had expressions of realization …
"Is this a competition to see who is more stupid?"
"Don't compare them to you. It's not fair at all. How many people in this world have more experience than you in causing trouble and being hunted down? "
I could only helplessly shake my head as I watched these youngsters hastily interrogating each other. I turned my attention to Old Barton. At this moment, the black-clothed man behind me was so excited that he couldn't help but tremble. If I didn't stop him, I was afraid that there would be a good show to watch …
"By the way, why should I stop you? This guy forced me to wash the dishes yesterday. I'm his master who taught him martial arts. No matter what, I can be considered half a mentor. How could he treat his mentor like this? He's simply inhumane! "
"… Didn't you say you would wash the dishes to pay for the wine and the debt? As for his attitude towards his teacher, although I had a lot of things I wanted to say, I really didn't know where to start. The only thing I agree with is why we should stop him. Let's just watch the show. Yep, I don't think it's because I'm angry at that guy for feeding expired milk to his cat. "
The silly cat instantly self-destructed something. However, we exchanged glances, and then simultaneously pointed at the bald Barton.
"Look, that damned bald guy is Barton Anton."
Barton also paused in surprise for a moment, but before he could react, a fragrant wind blew past him, and a soft, fleshy feeling against his body caused him to freeze in place.
The next moment, the beautiful pear blossomed, and tears streamed down her cheeks like rain.
"Wah, my pitiful child. You're already so old. I've made you suffer. Dad … Mom's here. Stay with Mom from now on. Mom won't let anyone bully you."
No matter how I looked at it, a blonde girl who was no older than twenty years old was hugging a burly, bald, middle-aged man and shouting "My son, you've suffered." This scene was so beautiful that even though I expected it, I still almost spat it out.
We were already prepared for this, and the others in the bar were even more ridiculous. Those who were drinking spat out water, and an unlucky dwarf accidentally tore off a piece of his wooden beer mug, chewed it to pieces, and swallowed it before he realized what had happened.
"Ptui, old Entric was scared to death. Barton, brat, is that your mother? Your mother looks much younger than you do. Yep, she's also much prettier! Are you really her son? The almighty Aichy, you're so different. "
"Idiot, can't you see that pointy ears belong to an elf? Right, how can an elf give birth to a pure-blooded human? It's inconceivable! Just what species is his father? "
"Ha, I don't know what species his father is, but he's definitely ugly, even uglier than old Entric. Otherwise, how could such a beautiful mother have such an ugly son? "
"Pfft."
Alright then, as expected of the dwarves who were straightforward and outspoken. The dwarven shieldbearer and his companion's explanation caused a second wave of water spitting.
For a moment, everyone's attention was completely focused on the criminal being interrogated. The fierce bar owner actually had such a beautiful mother? What gossip could possibly be more attention-grabbing than this?
The most pitiful person right now was probably Old Barton himself. At first, he was scared stiff, but now it wasn't that he was seduced by the beauty, but that he was unable to break free at all.
That's right, as an outstanding warrior, he discovered that his arm felt like it was being wrapped around by a giant python. Even his bones were cracking, and his entire body was in pain. Forget about breaking free, if this continued any longer, he would probably suffocate to death.
He no longer had the strength to speak. In his despair, he turned his attention to that unreliable "master" of his. When he saw that Barton nodded, indicating that he understood, he finally relaxed.
"Barton is so happy. He told us not to disturb the mother and son reunion. All of you, stay away and give the mother and son enough space. "
"Pfft."
This time, what Old Barton spat out was probably blood. Er, he actually coughed up blood. Spitting out blood like this is a little ridiculous …
"Ahh, hurry and save him!"
And so, with the old baldy spitting blood at the center, the entire bar descended into chaos.
Cough, after the situation calmed down a little, which meant that I had finished watching the fun, I finally stopped the dragon lich who was "overflowing with motherly love." This was to prevent him from using more and more force in his anxiety and actually crushing his only descendant to death.
"This time, he should have learned to respect his master. Ha, male students are so good. They're sturdy and durable, and they won't die no matter what. My previous education was such a failure. It was all because I was too soft-hearted towards girls! Yep. "
"… I don't know if your methods of education will succeed, but I do know that you're going to have bad luck soon. Take a look behind you."
Alright then, when I turned around, I saw a resentful Catalina glaring at me. Her fingers were still on my waist, about to exert force. Her resentful gaze made it seem as if I was some sort of bad person who had done something evil that would incur the wrath of the heavens.
"You still dare to say that you're a good person?"
I ignored the silly cat's words. It was just that the kind me was so easily misunderstood …
More than half an hour later, after we wasted precious time dealing with the situation (Barton: "You're blaming me? Should you just watch me die? "). We finally returned to the main topic.
Since they hadn't found us for more than half an hour, it was likely that the Death Council wouldn't directly come looking for us. However, it would be impossible for our group to hide the fact that we had captured Barton. There would definitely be more trouble in the future, and the information we obtained from our spies made us regret bringing Barton back.
Our previous guesses were correct. The Death Council only had two goals in the mortal plane. The first was to obtain powerful undead creatures, and the second was to open up a Dimensional Door to the Undead Plane, allowing even more Undead Calamities to descend upon the mortal plane. However, their main goal wasn't to find out that there was a powerful Immemorial Dragon's corpse here from an ancient ruin.
To the Death Council, a small matter like "picking up bones" wouldn't even require a high-level priest to bring more than fifty believers. Their true goal was a historical ruin in the Halon Mountain Range, which wasn't far from this small town. It was said that the space around that place was incredibly unstable, making it a perfect Dimensional Door.
The others didn't have much of a reaction when they heard this. However, Old Barton, who had just recovered his complexion, had an ugly expression. I recalled that Old Barton had mentioned to me that he had picked up Katerina from an ancient ruin.
"It can't be such a coincidence …"
But seeing how Old Barton's expression was worsening and how he was constantly sneaking glances at Catalina, his unconcealable concern, it was probably the truth. In that case, it was quite obvious who the owner of the historical ruin was.
"A historical ruin from the Haletdam generation? Many strange items from the Holy War were dug up from there. Perhaps there's some sort of strategic weapon. Even without a contract with the God of Wisdom, we can't let the Death Council obtain a historical ruin. "
As for the adventurers, even if they didn't know what an ancient ruin from the Haletdam generation represented, they all knew what the consequences would be if a Dimensional Door to the Undead Plane opened right next to their own home.
"We definitely have to stop them!"
However, I focused my attention elsewhere. If it weren't for the fact that there were people watching us, I would have used a soul-searching technique to completely squeeze out all the secrets from these two Death Council believers' minds.
It wasn't suitable for me to appear, which was why I had Old Barton do it.
"The opening of a Dimensional Door requires a large number of sacrifices. Don't tell me that you've already prepared them?"
Everyone's expressions changed. The Holy War had been going on for so many years now, and the undead and demons' most desired soul sacrifices were now infamous. Could it be that these guys had been moving around Barton Town for more than just dragon bones?
"We … we brought many slaves with us."
"You captured them?"
Old Barton viciously glared at him. That chubby evil cultist met Old Barton's gaze, but he didn't dare to look directly at Old Barton. Just as he lowered his head, Old Barton grabbed him by the collar and lifted him up. Old Barton's angry roar boomed like thunder in his ears.
"You've already attacked other villages? Captured captives to use as sacrifices? "
The chubby evil cultist was already out of breath. His feet were off the ground, and he couldn't stop himself from kicking around. However, he still hurriedly nodded in the end.
"We … we originally didn't want to come here, but Lord Blackeye said that he was worried that there wouldn't be enough sacrifices, so he wanted us …"
Seeing that everyone was looking at the other evil cultist, the thin man hurriedly nodded, confirming this information.
This time, things were truly going to get interesting. However, I still needed more information.
"A one-way dimensional connection is meaningless. Which Undead Plane is the one on the other side? Which Undead Lord is responsible for this? Do you know?"
As expected, the two of them kept shaking their heads. However, the thin man suddenly seemed to recall something.
"I heard Lord Blackeye mention that as long as we complete this mission, Her Majesty Conservation's most powerful general, General Wu 'er, will grant us new eternal life."
"Her Majesty Conservation? Is there an Undead Emperor named Conservation? Why do I have a premonition that I'm going to be unlucky again? "
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