Chapter 107: Interlocked Stratagem
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
In a short while, the housekeeper walked out with a crystal ball in his hands and gently passed to Hotchbini. She took over the crystal ball and quietly chanted for a little bit. Images appeared in the crystal ball one after another. When a sweet and cute priestess appeared in the crystal ball, Hotchbini was shocked for a second and turned around, looking at Davidson coldly.
Davidson fell his heart skip a beat. Davidson thought to himself, "Did Orwell really harass that priest, and when he found out she was from Tiger of Tawau mercenary group, he killed the whole mercenary group to cover it?"
"Davidson, you can leave now." Hotchbini looked disgusted. Obviously, she speculated the same thing.
"Madam, are you asking me to leave like this?" Davidson’s vicious mind encouraged him to reach his hand to the sword shaft. No matter what would happen, he could not go back like this. Even though he did not have to take revenge for his little brother, he had to save his pride.
"So? Do you want to come in to have some tea? My place is too small to have so many guests." Hotchbini slowly moved back a step. She had noticed Davidson’s evil intention. Goddesses were very powerful on the battlefield, but they had to stand at the back of the army. If senior swordsmen and goddesses were fighting face-to-face, goddesses could be killed in a second.
"Fine," Davidson screamed with rage. He decided to kill her without thinking of consequences.
An angry yell came from the distance, "Davidson!"
A person covered with white combat power rode a horse quickly towards them. The person rushed to them in the blink of an eye. With a banging sound, dirt arose in the air when the person got off the horse. He was the second most important person in Glory mercenary group, Shanteler.
"Davidson, what are you doing", Shanteler yelled.
"Bro, someone in Tiger of Tawau mercenary group killed Orwell. I am coming," Davidson explained.
"Go back, right now!" Shanteler interrupted his talk.
"Bro," Davidson called out.
"I said ‘go back’. This is an order." Shanteler’s whiskers trembled intensely, which showed that his anger had almost reached its limit. He was only one year older than Davidson. But he looked seven or eight years older than Davidson. Capable people tended to work more. Smart people tended to think more.
Commander Anthony only gave directions on big issues. Shanteler was in charge of all other issues. Shanteler had worked diligently for over twenty years. With the hard work over the years, he looked old for his age.
Shanteler was working on something in the station when a mercenary came in and reported to him that Davidson had taken his comrades to Tiger of Tawau mercenary group station. His little brother, Orwell, had been killed, and the witness had claimed that the killer was from Tiger of Tawau mercenary group. Shanteler was astonished by it and rushed over to Tiger of Tawau mercenary group immediately. Tiger of Tawau had just had a political marriage with Shansa Empire. They were still at a sensitive stage, where anything could trigger a conflict and turn it into a disaster.
There were loud noises from the street. Shanteler was a deep thinker and very cautious. His intention was to stop conflicts, but he also sent the main force in his mercenary group to Tiger of Tawau mercenary group just in case he had had no control of the situation when he got there. He could not watch his mercenary group get hurt. He would take it when it was necessary, but he was not afraid of fighting with anyone if it was needed.
Davidson quietly watched Shanteler as Shanteler looked at Davidson. They looked at each other for a while and then Davidson put his long sword back into the sheath, turned around and walked away. They were brothers who had experienced ups and downs together for so many years, so Davidson knew Shanteler’s temper. He was used to listening to Shanteler, so he made a compromise at the last moment.
Shanteler sighed with a relief. He turned to Hotchbini, "I am sorry for the inconvenience caused to you, Madam."
Hotchbini opened her mouth a little bit, but did not come up with any words. She looked far down the street, while group after group of Glory mercenaries surrounded her. They had blocked the whole street.
"Shanteler, what are you doing to me?" Hotchbini said calmly.
"It was a misunderstanding," Shanteler heaved a slight sigh, raising up his hands.
Glory mercenaries saw his signal and slowly moved back. The mercenaries in the front stepped back while the ones in the back tried to move forward. It was a mess, and they did not know which direction they should go until the section commander blew the whistle.
"Madam, if there is nothing else, I will be leaving now," Shanteler said quietly.
"Take care." Hotchbini still looked very calm.
Shanteler helplessly nodded at her and walked away. He knew what Davidson had done already created a great divide. This divide would not diminish anytime soon. It would not matter what he said anyway.
"Misunderstanding?" Hotchbini watched Shanteler’s back with sadness in her eyes.
* * * *
"Suzanna, can you knock anyone down without using combat power? Suzanna, what are you thinking?" Anfey asked quietly.
"Huh? What?" Suzanna acted like she just got woken up by someone.
"You…" Anfey shook his head. "What are you thinking?"
"I am thinking you are a formidable person," Suzanna said.
"Me? I am formidable? What do you mean?" Anfey was confused.
"Anfey, how did you know Shanteler would send the main force there?" Suzanna stared at Anfey.
"Silly, it was so easy to guess." Anfey just realized what was going on. He could not help smiling at Suzanna.
"But how come I could not guess it?" Suzanna asked.
"That is why I said you are so silly," Anfey said.
"You…" Suzanna was so mad that she turned her head away. She did not want to look at Anfey.
"Ok, ok. What are you mad about? I am stating a fact." Anfey made it even worse by saying so. He found he got strangely interested in just seeing Suzanna get mad.
Suzanna tightened her lips. She neither talked nor refuted him. In fact, she did not have anything to refute.
"Seriously, Suzanna, can you knock a person down without using combat power?" Anfey secretively pointed somewhere in front of him with his hand.
"I cannot do it," Suzanna said.
"In fact, it should be easy to do. The key is the area you attack." Anfey had a serious look on his face. He decided to show Suzanna some basics about martial arts.
"How to do it?" Suzanna asked.
"You can slowly thrust your sword out, aiming at this area." Anfey turned his head, pointing at his artery on the neck to allow Suzanna see it clearly. "Did you see it, the area I pointed at? As long as you thrust upward, you can cut off the opponent’s artery. Your opponent would not have any chance to make a sound."
Suzanna kept quiet but she started to make some moves.
Anfey pointed at his own artery on the neck more than ten times without hearing any responses from Suzanna. He turned around curiously to see. He suddenly saw Suzanna’s sword tip shaking around his neck artery area. Anfey was shocked and jumped back. "What the heck. What are you doing? You could have killed me."
Suzanna tried not to laugh. She twisted her wrist a little bit and hid the sword at the back of his arm.
"Say something. Do you think you can do it. If not, we will have to just fight with combat power. These people should not be able to stop us. The key is the speed. It would be too late if we wait for Shanteler to come back," Anfey said quietly.
"I should be able to do it." Suzanna nodded.
"Ok, watch me, and we will attack them together." Anfey quietly moved to the other side.
Glory mercenary group station was quiet. The yard in front of Anfey and Suzanna was an important area. Usually twenty-four junior swordsmen in eight different groups were on watch in turns. Shanteler sent his best teams out today to deal with the potential conflicts, so the soldiers on watch in the yard now were just regular soldiers. Three medium-level swordsmen had the highest level among other soldiers.
Most mercenaries crowded into the rooms and chatted with each other. There was a mercenary lazily leaning against the wall at the corner, while two other mercenaries squatted in the grass next to the fence. They only had one topic: Orwell had been killed. This was sensational news. They knew Saidy had a hot temper and would not just let the killer go. If he had conflicts with Tiger of Tawau mercenary group at other times, they would not be so concerned. However, it was a sensitive time right now. The wagons of the princess’s caravan had just arrived. Thousands of soldiers were not nothing. If the wagons and Tiger of Tawau mercenary group fought together with their mercenary group, they could only run away.
The mercenary leaning against the wall at the corner yawned. He suddenly noticed a person’s shadow on the fence facing him out of the corner of his eye. Before he could respond to what he saw, that person had already thrown himself on the mercenary, while the other two mercenaries were still chatting not far from him. That mercenary was shocked. He felt the pain on his neck and saw a cloud of blood mist in front of him before he could warn others.
Anfey slowly pulled out a knife and listened to his surroundings. He looked at a magic array 90 feet ahead of him. Glory mercenary group was one of the four super mercenary groups, but there was a huge difference in power and finance compared with other three mercenary groups. This magic array was only a medium-sized one and it would not start unless it was necessary.
Seeing mercenaries chatting about Orwell being killed in the rooms and no one noticing anything outside their rooms, Anfey hunched in the grass and rushed towards Suzanna.
Suzanna moved to the side to save some room for Anfey. They hid in the dark together. Anfey took out a bow from his Dimensional Ring and aimed at the crystal above the magic array. Suzanna slanted her head and glanced at Anfey. She had a good memory and she remembered the first time Anfey could only tightened the bow seventy or eighty percent of the full stretch. He could easily stretch the bow to its utmost now. Suzanna was not stupid. She knew what this meant.