[My toothache hasn't healed yet, so I wrote slowly and updated a bit late. It can be considered as yesterday's update.]
"What did you do to Walnut?" Salin didn't make it public because of the paper puppet. He first interrogated Neris in the room. There were only two mages in the entire hotel. Salin didn't need to analyze where the paper puppet came from.
Although Walnut was jealous of him, he promised to introduce him to the teacher. Walnut should have been able to complete the task with peace of mind. He shouldn't have suddenly killed him.
"I didn't do anything." Neris's innocent look was very tempting. Salin saw her hide her hands behind her and inexplicably thought of her tail. Demons loved to tempt humans!
"Neris, Walnut is just my potential enemy. We may not meet again in the future. I don't know how you did it, but you aroused the contradiction, which is tantamount to causing trouble for me. "Salin's tone softened. He didn't have the problem of punishing Neris for Walnut.
"Master, I just wanted to do that, there is no reason …" Neris saw Salin's change of attitude, and somehow, she spoke her mind. She was secretly surprised. Is it because of the soul contract? Oh no, this contract is affecting me more and more deeply …
Instinct?
Salin frowned and remembered a term about biology in a magic notebook.
"Master, this mage is very dangerous. He has the breath of a demon."
"He is a demon!" Salin was shocked. On Myers Continent, demons shouldn't have existed for a long time.
"No, no, I mean, he is very much like a demon." Neris carefully recalled and didn't know how to describe Walnut.
"Forget it, you are not allowed to act on your own in the future. This is the last time. Understand? "
"Yes." Neris lowered her head, secretly happy. Master really didn't punish me. Well, next time, I just don't let Master know what I do.
Before Salin fell asleep, there was a commotion outside the hotel. A group of soldiers surrounded the hotel.
Although there were no witnesses when Walnut killed people, the soldiers at the border were very familiar with the skills of adventurers and could quickly distinguish that their companions were killed by a mage. Now there were very few mages in the town, and these soldiers easily searched the hotel.
Flamingo found out that Walnut was missing, and his heart was indescribably angry. He had helped this mage when he was at his lowest. Who would have thought that he would get himself into so much trouble?
He calmly negotiated with the soldiers. When the soldiers saw his rank 5 mercenary badge, they didn't dare to arrest him. Even the baron of the town had to be careful when dealing with a rank 5 mercenary. This was because many high-level mercenary groups were actually supported by great nobles. The empire did not allow nobles to keep too many private soldiers, and the number was strictly controlled. Thus, mercenaries became the target of the nobles.
This town was owned by a baron. Although it was at the border and close to the Chaos Swamp, murders like this rarely happened. The mercenaries and adventurers who came here would not cause trouble, and the bandits would not target such a small place. The baron made a fortune from the adventurers' taxes, and the two of them had always been on good terms.
Flamingo had no choice but to meet the Baron personally. The Baron was very unhappy, but he did not explode immediately. He had lost two soldiers, so the compensation would be at least 20 gold coins. However, the other party was a rank 5 mercenary. If he really fell out with him, he would be at a disadvantage.
Flamingo was also afraid that the Baron would complain to the Guild of Professionals. If that happened, his mercenary group would at least have a bad record. Not only would they drop to rank 4, they would also have to compensate a lot of gold coins.
The two of them finally reached an agreement. The compensation would be paid by the Nut Mercenary Group, and at the same time, the Nut Mercenary Group would pay for the arrest of Magician Walnut. For every day that the Magician was not dead, the Nut Mercenary Group would have to pay for the day's bounty.
Until now, Flamingo still did not understand why Walnut did not do anything. Salin saw this. When Flamingo returned to the inn, he called him to his room and showed him the hole in the wall.
Under Salin's control, the icicle only pierced halfway through the wall, leaving a finger-deep hole. Salin stuffed the curtain into the hole, smeared it, and pulled it out. There was a tinge of dark red on the curtain.
"What is this?" Flamingo did not understand.
"A mixture of red sand and dragon blood ink, the basic material for making puppets. Walnut should know simple puppet magic. Just now, a paper puppet tried to enter my room … "
Salin did not continue. Flamingo had already understood. He took a deep breath, suppressed the anger in his heart, and asked, "Mage Salin, why didn't you tell me such a terrible thing happened?"
If Salin had told Flamingo about this, Flamingo would probably have immediately gathered the others, caught Walnut, and executed him on the spot. Now, Walnut had run away, and had also left a stain on the Nut Mercenary Group.
"I originally wanted to let this matter go. I didn't want to do anything to him. Everyone makes mistakes. As a Magician, I should understand the weakness of others." Salin spoke with great sincerity. He did not look like a Magician, but more like a preacher of the Vatican.
Seeing Flamingo clench his teeth, Salin comforted him. "You don't have to mind, I trust you. I won't mention this to the Union. "
Flamingo heaved a sigh of relief. If Salin had told the Union, his reputation would be completely ruined. In the mercenary industry, once one lost credibility, it would be difficult to develop in the future.
In this industry, mistakes could not be made. Many mercenaries completely ruined their future due to a moment of impulse, and could only become bandits.
"Mage Salin, thank you. As for the compensation …"
"You must be joking, I didn't lose anything. Our contract is still in effect. If you send the four of us to Kelun County, I'll pay you two pieces of Golden Mica. Don't forget to give me 500 gold coins in change. "Salin joked kindly. Flamingo felt much better.
The night passed uneventfully. The next morning, the Nut Mercenary Group first went to the Union of Professionals to issue a wanted mission and kick Walnut out of the group. Then, they set off with Salin and the others.
Each member of the Nut Mercenary Group had two horses, much better than the ponies Ainphent had bought. The mercenary called Javelin took the lead and acted as a scout. The rest of the mercenaries protected Ainphent, Salin, and the others in the middle. They gradually slowed down and left the town.
-
Before Salin left, he hurriedly turned back to look at the Qin Yin words on the town gate — Deep Forest Town.
The Nut Mercenary Group was experienced. They kept the horses at a stable speed and used the least amount of energy. The four mercenaries in charge of protecting Ainphent observed his reaction from time to time. The youth's illness was all over his face. The Nut Mercenary Group would not exhaust their employer to death just to be in a hurry.
Salin's equestrian skills were average. Shika was the best. She comforted it a few times and the horse immediately became very obedient. This was the advantage of Caucasian people. They didn't even need a contract to ride normal magical beasts, not to mention normal horses.
Neris's situation was the worst. The horse she was riding was very irritated, as if it had seen through her identity. Fortunately, she was very strong, even stronger than the horse. After kicking the horse's abdomen a few times, the horse finally calmed down.
Because the speed was not fast, Salin still had the time to enjoy the scenery.
The scenery in Phoenix Duchy was very different from Scotia. The land here was fertile and there were many plains suitable for farming. Although it was at the border, there were many villages along the way. The official road was well maintained and there were often farmlands by the side. It was already late autumn and most of the wheat had been harvested. Many of the farmlands had harvested crops to dry.
In comparison, Scotia's land was slightly barren. No wonder the Scotia people were good at doing business. Salin remembered that there were very few villages near Ceylon City. In times of natural disasters, the nobles didn't even have much harvest.
What made Salin feel interesting was that there were many scarecrows in the paddy fields. When the wind blew, the coarse sackcloth on the scarecrows fluttered, scaring away many birds that were stealing crops.
However, there was one type of bird that couldn't be scared away. It was the silver-billed raven. These birds were very smart and easily saw through the humans' tricks. Flocks of silver-billed ravens landed on the scarecrows, as if mocking the humans' stupidity.
However, silver-billed ravens liked meat in this season, so the farmers wouldn't suffer too much.
Caw!
A silver-billed raven stood on a scarecrow's hat, curiously sizing up the group that was galloping over from afar. As they passed by the field, Neris tilted her head and bared her teeth at the raven.
A trace of fear flashed across the raven's pitch-black eyes. It spread its wings and tried to fly, but it couldn't move no matter how hard it tried.
The Nut Mercenary Group's group went far away. The raven was still struggling in fear. The scarecrow under its feet suddenly raised its hand and grabbed the unlucky raven, forcefully stuffing it into its mouth.
Fresh blood flowed down the scarecrow's face. The raven's dying cry traveled for miles, startling even more silver-billed ravens.
As the blood dripped down, the scarecrow's facial features became clearer. It turned around and looked at the distant mercenary group. In the nearby farmlands, more scarecrows came to life and also looked towards the east.
The wind blew over the ridges of the fields, and the scarecrows' clothes fluttered. After some time, the scarecrow that had eaten the raven jumped up forcefully and left the farmlands.
"Master, I don't feel well." Neris urged her horse to run to Salin's side and walked side by side. Her horse had been tamed by violence and didn't dare to act recklessly anymore.
"What are you going to do now …"
Salin said weakly. He had a rough understanding of Neris's temper. She was a very energetic little demon who couldn't stay still. If he didn't let her do something, she would take the initiative to find trouble.
"I don't know. I just don't feel well." Neris frowned and tried to get as close to Salin as possible. Her heart was also unusually confused. After leaving the temple, she realized that the humans in this plane were very fragile. They weren't as dangerous as the legends said. But the uneasiness in her heart would come out at any time. Could it be that she was sick?
"Neris, don't mess around." Salin urged Mara to put some distance between him and Neris. Neris's expression was gloomy. She quietly took out a piece of fresh meat from her bracelet and threw it into her mouth to chew.
Maybe she was hungry. That's why her mood was so bad. Neris comforted herself.
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