Chapter 60: 059 Suspicious? Reward?
Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
“Hey! Adventurer over there!”
“What are you doing!?”
“What happened here?”
At this moment, a chaotic sound of footsteps and reprimands came from over there, making Shane, who was patting dust off himself, turn around and look toward the source of the sound.
On the other side of the street, a group of fully armed knights was quickly approaching.
The citizens, startled, still hid in the distance, pointing towards them and discussing fervently.
Seeing this situation with the knight order approaching swiftly, Shane was not surprised.
After all, with such a disturbance here, it was impossible for the town-guarding knight order not to come and check the situation.
Especially given the recent occurrence of disturbances in the heavens and earth, it’s even more unlikely they wouldn’t become vigilant.
So, Shane just watched as the knight order encircled the scene.
Then, a middle-aged man whose aura was clearly different from the other knights stepped out.
“I am the knight captain of Marquis Mora’s Third Knight Corps Seventh Squad!”
The man first glanced at the large pit occupying the center of the street, feeling a jolt in his heart, then looked seriously at Shane.
“What happened here?”
Hearing this, Shane unhesitatingly spoke.
“An suspicious man abruptly entangled with me moments ago; seemed like he wanted to do me harm, so I subdued him.”
Shane talked with a straight face about such matters.
The knight captain immediately appeared puzzled.
“Yes.” Shane earnestly admitted. “I was just passing by here, and the guy suddenly came up holding a picture and started asking me some bizarre questions, pressuring me.”
These were indeed the facts, without any falsehood mixed in.
At least, from these words, Shane indeed seemed like a victim.
“Is that so?” The knight captain glanced at the large pit, his expression solemn, and said, “Then you were the one who caused this destruction here, right? I haven’t heard of an adventurer as highly leveled as you.”
It seemed, in the knight captain’s mind, Shane appeared a bit more suspicious.
Unfortunately, Shane was already prepared with explanations.
“You’ve misunderstood. Although the destruction here was indeed caused by me, it was because I used a magic tool that was given to me for self-protection by a senior in my current team. My level is not high enough for you all to know about me.”
Shane then started to speak seriously yet nonsensically.
There was no choice, if he claimed everything here was his doing, given his current publicly stated level and ability, it would be impossible to believe he could cause such damages to someone who clearly wasn’t an ordinary person.
Not to mention beating someone like that; indeed, even saying the surroundings were all his doing would certainly raise suspicions among others.
By then, if someone curious were to investigate him, Shane felt some of his details would be uncovered, and troubles would follow.
Had he not truly found the guy’s demeanor—acting as if he could crush him at any moment, only refraining due to current circumstances to avoid sabotaging greater matters—so irritating, Shane definitely wouldn’t have acted so conspicuously.
But in the end, Shane still took action.
As the saying goes, Shane wasn’t afraid of trouble, and wasn’t timid, simply wanted to avoid it whenever possible, wishing to lead a calm life, not to behave like a doormat.
Shane felt fed up with those who act weak to deceive others, so he merely intended to avoid letting inconveniences occur, to live peacefully, not wanting to be a pushover.
At the end of the day, that kind of leading character attitude—getting beaten without fighting back, getting insulted without retorting, being despised and acting as if nothing happened, as though others’ ridicule stemmed from ignorance and he simply didn’t want to stoop to their level—was just frustrating to Shane.
Because, it’s just putting oneself on a higher pedestal to look down upon others in a different way and was genuinely not that different from self-righteousness in many cases.
He was genuinely a plain person.
Wishing to live calmly wasn’t wrong, but there were many people like that in the world, so if they got confronted or targeted, are they not allowed to and wouldn’t eventually explode with anger?
So since the guy had already run over his tire onto his face, Shane didn’t want, like some traditional classic developments, to let the other go away arrogantly just because he didn’t physically assault him, leaving only a clean slate and demeanor, to later fight back slowly.
Feeling suffocated? Then charge ahead when needed, not just allowing others the rights to attack while oneself needs to passively confront to seem noble and grand?
That doesn’t exist either.
Given this, seeing the guy who had been maliciously throwing threats a second ago then turned around, as if planning to let him go, with no guards up, Shane genuinely thought if he didn’t land a kick, he wouldn’t live up to his intelligence.
Of course, though he kicked and felt great, Shane didn’t intend to expose his eccentricity due to this.
Thus, he could only fabricate stories.
Having read numerous novels in the previous life, witnessing various plot developments, one as a reader should have certain thoughts and imagined responses for integrating oneself into these scenarios, right?
Therefore, Shane wasn’t flustered at all.
“If you doubt me, you can go to the adventurer’s guild and conduct an investigation. I am a new adventurer who joined the guild recently. The squad I am currently with is the adventurer team led by Vivian. You should know Vivian, right?”
These words from Shane made the knight captain suddenly realize.
“So you are acquainted with Miss Vivian?” The knight captain switched from being stern to showing a bit of respect. “I was quite impolite.”
Indeed, if it’s Vivian, no how, the knight captain wouldn’t be unfamiliar with her.
After all, Vivian was an advanced adventurer with a level as high as fifty, well-known, with a best friend so influential that even the nobles of this domain wouldn’t dare to neglect the descendant of a great noble, the guild master of the adventurer’s guild; surely the town’s knight order knew about Vivian’s existence.
Moreover, Vivian was not only well-known but her conduct was assuredly reliable in others’ eyes.
The knight captain wasn’t particularly doubtful of Shane.
Naturally, Shane wasn’t one to hit a smiling person, responding modestly. “No, the impolite one was me. Regardless, having caused such damage, I feel quite apologetic, so I shall compensate for it.”
“Understood.” The knight captain finally eased his expression completely.
At this moment, some disturbance occurred among the knights investigating the large pit.
A knight rushed over hastily, whispered something into the knight captain’s ear.
The knight captain’s face suddenly changed dramatically, even immediately going over to inspect the person excavated from the pit.
And from him, the knights indeed found the picture Shane mentioned earlier.
(They shouldn’t suspect me now, right?)
With evidence and status clear, Shane felt slightly at ease.
However, the knights’ agitation made Shane realize this matter might not be that simple.
Especially the knight captain, who had a rather grim expression when looking at the picture.
Thereupon, the knight captain returned to Shane.
“We have confirmed he is indeed a problematic figure, likely a major criminal wanted by the kingdom.” The knight captain bowed in respect to Shane and said, “Thank you for your assistance. Once we verify this man’s identity, the lord might reward you. Please don’t leave Lamijion for the time being.”
After saying this, the knight captain issued an order, leading all the knights, escorting the unconscious man away in even faster steps than when they arrived.
The murmurs around suddenly grew louder.
Shane also watched the knight order’s departure, recalling the person from the picture and gradually restraining his smile.