A moment later, Angor had concluded his trade with Beals.
Beals offered to escort Angor back to where he came from since the Demeter couldn’t go into common space storages, which meant Angor had to carry her in the open.
He was not very surprised when Angor simply stuffed the cage into a space bracelet. It wasn’t hard for a professional alchemist to make a special storage capable of sustaining life forms anyway.
As Angor came back out from the stone house empty-handed, the other guests all looked at him from head to toe before setting their gazes on his wrist.
Angor didn’t care much about all the coveting looks he received from people. By setting his foot in the Gully Sector, he expected no less.
To pretend that he and Beals were now cooperating, Angor politely thanked Beals for his hospitality before leaving.
“We’ll leave Lloyds in a few days, but we’ll keep someone here as our contact,” Beals said as he handed Angor a gray card. “Should you need consumables, crafting components, slaves, information, or just a helping hand, you can come to Lloyds again and show this card to our employee. And remember, we’ll offer a great discount, just for you.”
Angor took the card, thanked Beals again, and asked Brulee to leave.
As their “bodyguard”, Shark Hunter quickly trod behind them.
Meanwhile, many customers also hastily took their leaves. Beals clearly knew what they were planning, but he wasn’t going to do anything about it, for he knew that these random offenders had no hope of defeating Angor in a fight. Besides, Rossum already had a back-up plan.
As groups of people left the settlement, a cloud of gray smoke suddenly appeared beside Beals and materialized into Rossum.
Beals glanced at Rossum and noticed a faint smell of blood.
“That was necessary, I guess?” Beals leaned against a wall nearby and lit a cigarette.
“They won’t listen, so I gave them a little warning.” Rossum looked around. “What did you do to gain his trust, chief?”
Beals spread his hands. “Nothing in particular.”
“What? As I said, earning his cooperation will benefit us in the long run! Do you not trust me?”
“Of course I trust you. Let’s just be patient. Being too obvious about it will only make him suspicious of us.”
During their conversation, Beals could see that Angor was wary of his attitude. They had to find another chance in the future, and hopefully, it was when Angor came to request their help.
“I’ll stay here and wait for him then,” Rossum offered.
“As you wish.”
...
Angor had reached the exit of the Gully Sector with a complicated mindset.
Behind him, there was only Shark Hunter who was still following him with a confused look. No one else had come to bother him yet.
He saw more than a dozen people looking at him with killing intent back at the trader camp, so he didn’t understand why they had not attacked him yet. Or were they waiting until they were outside Lloyds?
Unlikely. It was easier to escape in the dark sea.
Angor didn’t give it much thought—he simply had to deal with the stalkers when they showed up. For now, he had to do something about Shark Hunter first.
Shark Hunter was still trying to accept the fact that he had turned from a ferocious bandit into a lowly servant within hours. He was startled when he suddenly noticed that Angor was smirking at him with a meaningful look.
“Ehh, sir, sorry I was acting really weird today...” He quickly tried to make up an excuse.
Angor patiently waited for him to finish.
Shark Hunter had come up with several plans, most of which involved killing Angor. But when he considered how Beals respected Angor so much, he knew he shouldn’t be too reckless like he always was.
Speaking of how to get away from the situation without using violence...
“It-it was art, sir. I was working on a performance art, and I saw you as a perfect acting partner!” Shark Hunter said something he’d never believe himself.
“I see.” Angor nodded.
Shark Hunter thought his lie went through. He was going to excuse himself when Angor suddenly shot a trace of energy at his forehead.
His eyes rolled up.
Angor always planned to end Shark Hunter’s life because this bandit meant to kill him for real at first.
As he tried to weave a deadly illusion to mentally kill Shark Hunter’s consciousness, the speaker devices around the Tower of Peace, which had been broadcasting mermaid songs into the city, suddenly made an urgent announcement.
“About a thousand ammonite shrimps have shown up outside the west city gate. We call upon available supernatural beings to fend them off. Helpers will be duly compensated.”
The phrase was repeated three times without persuading any pedestrians as if everyone was used to hearing such events.
From one of the gossipers, Angor learned that it was the princess of Rogge Mermaids who just spoke. This was quite a common thing to happen in Lloyds. People used to answer her summon just fine, but when they only received insignificant rewards for their trouble, such as pearls and shed skins produced by mermaids, they gradually learned to ignore the calls.
People even looked quite happy about the incident. It seemed these “ammonite shrimps” were natural enemies of mermaids. A swarm of over one thousand of them would definitely cause great casualties to the city.
Someone began moving to the said location just to watch the fun.
Angor found the speaker’s voice to be rather familiar. As he remembered, the mermaid he encountered at Blackberry Waters—Valli—was also a princess. While making his Ocean Tune, Valli’s song helped greatly by giving him lots of inspiration.
Was it really her just now?
He shook his head and decided to stay out of this. He wasn’t going to defend the city by himself anyway.
Although this didn’t mean he couldn’t indirectly provide some help.
He glanced at Shark Hunter and adjusted the illusion he was making.
...
The shrimp attack today was the worst one during the last decade. As most mermaids and mermen living at Lloyds thought they’d meet their doom, a powerful supernatural suddenly showed up to assist them by keeping a thousand ammonite shrimps at bay all by himself.
When the disaster drew to an end, the residents in the city thought to offer their most sincere gratitude, only to find that their hero was gone.
Meanwhile, Angor arrived at the concealed corner in the city, where a fat “catfish merman” was still enjoying his lady dream.
Angor returned the borrowed passport to the merman and dropped him onto the main street, together with his bodyguards, who were all sleeping.
Next, he looked at another man behind him, who was the big hero who just saved the city from peril.
By using a nightmare illusion to trick Shark Hunter into believing that he was a loyal guard of the city, Angor helped Princess Valli to keep the monsters away.
Since Shark Hunter’s job was done, Angor planned to kill this man with another illusion once and for all.
But since Shark Hunter gallantly protected so many innocent people, Angor decided to use a sweet illusion as his “parting gift”. Dying in the embrace of sexy girls sounded pleasant enough.