玉蒲团之云雨山庄

(Looks like the damage is quite considerable at the corner of the town, huh...) (Lyan)

On the east side of the town, there are more broken houses, burnt land, and traces of blood. Lyan noticed that there had been some attempt on concealing the remains of the tragedy, but several days are not enough to clean up the place perfectly.

Because of the goblin king\'s uprising, there are lots of men dying and women getting raped. Setting aside the mercenaries, the local people that lived from foraging, farming, and other local activities were the ones that experienced the most damage from the goblin king\'s uprising the most.

With the considerable hit to the population, the people need to work harder for a while to revive and maintain the economy within the town.

"I guess this is far enough?" Lyan asked the royal knight captain following behind him.

"Indeed. If it\'s here where there are no people and filled with debris from the battle with the goblins, it will be very convenient for me, Evocatore," Julius\'s right hand slowly went to the hilt of the sword on his waist.

(That glaive... He didn\'t use one at the battle with the goblin king...) (Julius)

Looking at the big and heavy-looking glaive on Lyan\'s hand, Julius couldn\'t help but get curious about his choice of weapon.

(It looks like it\'s very heavy, but yet, he\'s holding it like it\'s nothing. As expected, his strength is something that can\'t be underestimated) (Julius)

"You see, I believe that you shouldn\'t put too much focus on me right now, you know?" (Lyan)

"Indeed," (Julius)

!!!

Sensing danger coming, Julius swiftly tilts his head backward.

*Thrust!*

Failing to land on Julius\'s head, the knife continue to fly over and stuck to the wall of a broken house.

"How embarrassing. I got too focused on tailing you and in our conversation and ended up didn\'t notice that I was getting tailed as well. It seems that I keep on showing you my pathetic side," Julius uttered with a wry smile as he unsheathes his sword.

"Not really. I remember some of their faces. Some of them had already been glaring at me since the first time I entered the town. It seems that my presence inside this town had already been anticipated. Well, I do openly state that I\'m going to have a journey to the north, so I guess it\'s not surprising, huh?" Lyan shrugged as he stared at the crown that started to unconcealed themselves.

(Warriors, archers, no magicians, huh?) (Lyan)

"There are about 40 of them. Judging from the knife throwing, it seems that their weapons are smeared with poison. I\'m not sure whether they are the remaining members of the [Crows] or not, but judging from how they leisurely make a slow entrance when they should have taken advantage of the element of surprise, they seem to be confident with their strength," (Julius)

"Hou..." Lyan noticed the glow at Julius\'s ring.

"So you\'re finally going to use that card you\'ve been hiding. Are you sure it\'s fine?" (Lyan)

"I owe you not just my life, but the lives of the crown prince and my comrades as well. And since back at the goblin king\'s lair, you\'ve shown your secret as well. I think that it will not be fair if I don\'t do the same," As Julius gathered more mana on his right hand, his ring started to shine brighter. As if gravity disappeared, his red hair and the pebbles around him slightly float in the air.

(That... Is not just a simple reinforcement magic...) (Lyan)

Suddenly, violent winds started to appear around them.

(Wind? This is wind magic?) (Lyan)

(Gale fortification... Such a high-leveled and complex spell... That kind of spell was imbued on such a ring?) (Sylphia)

Hearing the wind\'s great spirit, Sylphia\'s reaction. Lyan unconsciously made a big grin on his face.

"Looks like the title of [Captain of the Royal Knights] is not just a mere title!" (Lyan)

*Whoosh!*

Dozens of arrows flew aiming at the both of them. There are only 6 archers, so each of them must have shot more than 1 arrow simultaneously.

"Tch!" One of the archers clicked his tongue as the arrows easily lost their momentum because of the violent winds. But their attack doesn\'t finish there.

"Eat this!" A big man suddenly threw a boulder aimed at Julius with great momentum.

"Trying to stop the magic, huh? Hm?" Julius easily dodged the boulder, but the moment he landed at the side, three swordsmen had already waiting for him with their swords ready.

(Their reaction speed is great, but-) (Julius)

"You\'re still too slow," (Julius)

Julius skillfully lunged to the right and evaded the sword of the man at the knight before making a clean cut to the bare stomach of the man with a spin. But his attacks don\'t stop there, wind mana gathered combined with his non-attributed mana gathered on his feet, and just like a wind.

*Whoosh!*

Julius skillfully killed not just the three, but the other four people that attempted to ambush him in such a short duration as well.

But when he was about to continue to the next target, an unexpected thing occurred. The ground suddenly shooks, and Julius felt a sense of danger coming from below him, making him to jump back in reflex.

"Wha-" (Julius)

His instinct turns out to be spot on. The ground where he was standing before suddenly splits and a big earth stake appeared from the ground with terrifying momentum.

(Earth magic? Is there a magician?) (Julius)

Julius searched for a magician amongst the crowd, but rather than stopping at a person, his eyes stopped at a certain item instead.

(The gauntlet that masked huge guy is using... There is a big magic stone embedded in it. They even have a magic item with them?) (Julius)

"As expected of the Astellia Kingdom\'s famous royal knight captain. Your strength and reaction speed are on another whole level," A bumptious voice appeared from the masked big man. He\'s holding a greatsword with both of his hands, and it\'s visible that he\'s a whole different league from the ones Julius just killed.

"Magic items and well-equipped members... You, you\'re one of those dark mercenary troupes, aren\'t you?" (Julius)

Dark mercenary troupes. They are mercenary troupes that are not registered in any mercenary guild, and they especially avoid the city of mercenaries and merchants of Arkansas to avoid getting bound by the law of the mercenary guild. They mostly took shady jobs that involves bounty, assassination, and dirty jobs from wealthy people.

"Hm... So you knew. *Snap!*"

Not long after the man snapped his fingers, even more members appeared and surrounded them.

(Their number increased... It was only around 30 before, but it\'s about 100 people now...) (Julius)

"You look very calm, Mr. Royal knight captain. I wonder how long could you maintain that calm expression of yours. Archers! Loose!!"

More arrows than before loosened and aimed toward him. Getting even a single hit from those poisoned arrows would mean the end, so once again, he unleashed the wind mana stored on the ring and blocked all of the arrows.

"Hahaha!! How long will that wind magic of yours remain, I wonder!? Now, how about we aim at your friend there as well? Aim at the famous mercenary Evocatore too!"

Following the man\'s words, another group of archers appeared on the other side.

*Tch!*

(It\'s impossible to block the arrows from two directions at the same time. And our distance from each other is too far to begin with) (Julius)

"Loose!!"

*Whoosh!*

"I won\'t make it!" Because of the wind mana source is the magic ring and not his natural mana, he can\'t manipulate the mana skillfully enough to make a wind barrier on two sides at the same time. But somehow, he doesn\'t feel so agitated. Rather-

His eyes couldn\'t help but stick at Lyan as he stare with anticipation of what kind of response Lyan will do.

!?!?

*SLASH!!*

"Wha- Impossible..." The leader of the dark mercenary troupe uttered in shock as he saw the scene before him.

"He... Create a gush of wind strong enough to stop the arrows just by swinging his glaive!? Just how strong and quick is he!?" The leader of the dark mercenary troupe shouted.

Of course, Lyan\'s attack doesn\'t stop there. As he focus his strength and mana on his feet, he moved very quickly enough to surprise the mercenaries aiming at him. And when he arrived right in the middle of the crowd.

*SLASH!!!!*

A single full-power and full-spin swing. By putting all of his muscles and injecting his mana into his arms, the dark mercenaries that got stunned for a moment because of his speed ended up getting sliced up mercilessly in a single sweep.

"This feels nice. Looks like I chose the right weapon to use," (Lyan)

___________________________________________________________________________

Name: Lyan Arkanium Evocatore

Occupation: Mythril-ranked Mercenary

Money: 3,798,710,950 Elnes / 3798 gold 71 big silver 9 big coppers 5 coppers

Weapon: Magic Glaive, 1 (Decent) One-handed Sword, 2 (Good-Quality) One-handed swords, 1 (Decent) bow

Equipment: Black leather cloak, Leather Armor, Breastplate, 2 Health Potions, 2 Poison Vials

Grimoire\'s Companions: 8 High Spirits, 3 Valkyrie, Shadow Goblin Lord (Lv. 5), Papilio Slime (Lv. 45), Galewing Butterfly (Lv. 45), Rock Golem (Lv. 50), Deadlight (Lv. 63), Moonlight Butterfly (Lv. 45), Ice Golem (Lv. 50), Acid Ant Queen (Lv. 9), Magma Bear (Lv. 1)

Grimoire\'s Army: 6 Shadow Servants, 800 Skeleton Army