The young man next to him was taken aback, clearly not expecting his companion to say such a thing. He couldn't help but look back and opened his mouth, but in the end, he didn't say anything.
"Oh?" Ben secretly cursed 'idiot' in his heart, then looked up and asked, "Your name is Redi?"
"It's none of your business." The white-haired young man snorted.
"Are all nobles so ill-mannered?" Ben retorted.
"You..." The white-haired young man bit his lip, wanting to draw his sword, but thinking about the gap between himself and the other, he couldn't help but stand back in frustration.
"I heard Ecco escaped?"
"How do you know, you...!"
Redi furrowed his brow, just about to question, but suddenly saw Ben's knowing expression and smiled slightly, immediately realizing his slip-up. He couldn't help but snort heavily, "You care too much. I will tell the captain about this."
Ben thought, go ahead, you think everyone is as idiotic as you. But he still smiled, saying, "Just a casual question. You know I had a brief encounter with Mr. Ecco two days ago."
"God knows." Redi thought, but although he was angry, he still maintained a cold demeanor.
"I heard you're from the same place as the Silver Sword Saint Gurekais?" But Ben switched the topic.
"It's none of your..."
The white-haired young man suddenly remembered Ben's previous sarcasm and swallowed his words, eventually turning it into a cold snort. But he realized that he couldn't gain any advantage in a verbal exchange with Ben, so he simply dragged his companion and turned to leave, leaving Ben behind—thinking that this guy wouldn't get lost alone anyway, and if he did, even better.
Ben couldn't help but find it amusing; Gurekais, that guy, actually had admirers. He learned swordsmanship called 'Sky's Limit' under Gurekais back in the day. Unfortunately, Gurekais possessed three intermediate swordsmanships 'Heavenly Sword,' 'Thunder Sword,' and his own creation 'Boundary Sword,' but Ben only managed to learn one advanced swordsmanship task, and was often vexed by the old man's temperament.
This guy must not know that Gurekais loved gambling and had a terrible gambling reputation, not only losing but often refusing to pay.
But thinking of the swordsmanship 'Sky's Limit,' Ben couldn't help but smile. Having had one experience, this time would be easier. Unfortunately, Gurekais was currently traveling in Kruz; otherwise, he could go find him now.
Bujia and Makaro exchanged a look, appearing puzzled. Finally, the mercenary leader known as 'Mane Wolf' couldn't help but ask, "Mr. Ben, who are these?" He pointed to the twelve mercenaries in alien race attire beside Ben, with Martha above, the entire 'Chablis's Lantern Grass' inn under their close surveillance. The reports from various posts since three days ago have indicated only ordinary guests checking in, right?
However, these guys carrying a series of flying axes, javelins, large round shields, horned helmets, and sharp blades didn't look like 'ordinary guests' at all. Where did they come from?
Ben clearly didn't understand Makaro's current inner turmoil. He shrugged and smiled, "They're my people. I remember mentioning them to you before; they're mercenaries I've hired. Um... from a quite distant place. You know, as a merchant, I travel between various places. These mercenaries are from a minority tribe east of the Kingdom, so please don't mind their attire." He smiled as if it were genuinely true.
But Antitina and Romantic both glanced at him.
Miss Merchant thought in a simple and incomprehensible way: So Ben has connections with the minority tribes east of the Kingdom, indeed impressive! However, Antitina's thoughts were far from simple like the young lady. She had long suspected where Ben's men came from. Though she knew Ben had a mercenary group, that group should be located within Anlek's territory at this moment, and they shouldn't be minority tribes.
And Char too. Although Ben told them Char had returned to Karasu for some matter, she always felt something was not right.
However, this suspicion could only be buried in her heart, it couldn't be used to question the Lord she followed.
As Ben's staff had doubts, let alone Makaro and Bujia; these two big historical figures were considered knowledgeable but were now confused. Because of Ecco's escape, their surveillance posts had at least silver level, yet these mercenaries with supposedly 'Black Iron Power' managed to sneak in unnoticed.
Makaro couldn't help but frown, instantly elevating his evaluation of Ben by three levels, finding him somewhat mysterious.
"So, Captain Makaro, can we set out now?" Ben asked.
"Of course." 'Mane Wolf' Makaro nodded with some difficulty. He made up his mind to place Ben's group in the center of the team, carefully monitoring them to prevent any trouble. He was confident initially but now felt uncertain—a young man with outstanding swordsmanship and near-silver power, plus twelve mercenaries likely above silver level, just thinking about it gave him a headache.
Thinking this, he couldn't help but look back at Bujia with some blame, "Old friend, is this your investigation result?" he couldn't help but mouth.
Bujia shrugged. Original content can be found at novel·fire·net
Makaro had commissioned him to investigate the mercenaries Ben had mentioned, but after two days, there were no clues, yet today these twelve people suddenly appeared. Although they seemed to have 'Black Iron Power,' he himself didn't believe it. He looked at those oddly dressed mercenaries, convinced they must have concealed their power somehow.
What was this, transforming people? The future Great Sword Master couldn't help but roll his eyes.
(PS. The update is slower than usual due to worsening conditions; I caught a cold =__=.
It's the last day of February, asking for the next month's ticket.
Covering my face, crawling away.)(To be continued; to know what happens next, please visit www.qidian.com, more chapters available, support the author, support reading the official version!)