Chapter 51: The Bandits of Mount North
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Before Benjamin could finish his sentence and before the crowd had time to react, the sound of a door being kicked open was heard from entrance of the pub.
The 2 meter-tall man guarding the entrance was not prepared and was knocked back a few steps by the force. Before he could regain his balance, a blade shining with holy light pierced through his chest.
After that quick movement, the blade was drawn back. The man looked at the hole in his chest with a surprised expression and slowly collapsed.
The stench of blood spread through the whole pub.
"Ti,Tiger......he’s dead!" Some unknown person screamed..
Jeremy’s legs felt weak. He collapsed on the floor and threw up.
Behind the man’s corpse stood a young man dressed like a merchant. Against the light shining through the door, he walked into the pub.
"A thousand apologies, Sir Lithur, it was unprofessional of me to let you stay in such a dangerous environment for so long. But rest assured, these people shall not harm you." He opened his mouth and said coldly.
Benjamin was shocked as well. He knew the Church would send paladins to save him, but he did not expect this paladin to make such a bloody entrance.
Nonetheless, it was Benjamin’s first time seeing someone get killed. He did not have any sympathy for this person who was merely cannon fodder, but he still felt it was a rather extreme approach.
Without question, the Church must have felt that the previous two paladins were not taking care of him enough, so they gave him a more "cruel" paladin.
He did not know what happened to the two. Benjamin had actually quite liked their characters.
Benjamin looked at the people around him. He saw only fear and shock in them as they looked at the paladin wielding the sword and the corpse of the strongman.
Even though he did not know what relation they had with Michelle, but from the looks of it, they had to explain themselves here and now.
Looks like I am doing Michelle favors again.
"It’s a paladin, this is going to be troublesome..."
Only the knife-scarred man did not show any panic while saying this.
The paladin heard this and turned towards the knife-scarred man. Instantly, his face sunk, as if he just met a formidable opponent. With a frown, he said: "You are the leader of the bandits of Mount North. Looks you didn’t die in our ambush and came to the city."
Hearing this, the knife-scarred man smiled and said: "It has been so long and you still remember my name. I am honored."
"Humph," Under his breath, the paladin mumbled and grasped his sword tightly.
Hearing the conversation, the people in the pub looked at the knife-scarred man with shock, all with a surprised expression that said "Damn, I didn’t know my boss was this powerful."
"Mount North bandits, what are they, are they famous?" Seeing this, Benjamin asked the System.
After the paladin appeared, he felt rather relieved and hopeful that things will end here. But with the newest developments, it did not seem as simple anymore.
"They can be considered the most infamous bandits in the Kingdom of Helius, arson, murder, robbery, theft, they have committed all of these. Parents would use ‘Bandits of Mount North’ to scare their children if they did not want to sleep at night. The kingdom’s troops have fought with them several times but could never gain an advantage. In the end, the Church decided to send a whole garrison of paladins, and only then they were vanquished." The System explained.
"That powerful?" Benjamin was rather shocked.
Even so, being the leader of the bandits, this knife-scarred man was probably no weaker than the paladin.
But then again, it will take more than a Tom, Dick or Harry to have a vendetta against Michelle. If the knife-scarred man had no capability, how could he track Michelle? He would have died under Michelle’s hands long ago.
Unless the situation will develop even further today?
Right when these thoughts were going through Benjamin’s mind, the knife-scarred man’s expression changed and he shouted: "Hurry up and stop him, he’s trying to call for reinforcement!"
Benjamin and everyone on the scene were stunned. But the knife-scarred man trained his men well, because even if they could not think, their bodies reacted. They listened to the knife-scarred man and piled onto the paladin.
Facing so many enemies at once, the paladin was ready to sneakily crush the cross inside his clothes to send a signal for backup, but he had to stop.
He backed off a few steps and maintained his distance. Suddenly, he stepped forward with his sword drawn.
The first three that charged at him had their heads cut off. It flew into the air, dropped down and rolled around the floor.
Three headless bodies fell simultaneously.
The stench of blood thickened.
The others who witnessed the scene were shocked to their senses. Facing this paladin who killed without remorse, they immediately forgot the knife-scarred man’s order and retreated in panic
Listening to commands can be a habit, but protecting oneself is an ability.
"Boss that is a bloody paladin! We should not mess around with the Church!" one of them said.
A few of them nodded in agreement.
The characteristics of all his followers were clearly shown in this moment.
"A bunch of useless people!" The knife-scarred man spat and scolded.
Seeing this, the paladin laughed mockingly.
The truth was even for a paladin, if he was surrounded by many insignificant opponents at the same time, he would be unable to move due to a lack of space and be beaten to death. This is the strength of numbers. For one to win against a hundred enemies is honestly an impossible feat.
But how many of them are not afraid of death?
Once they started to fear, they would no longer have the courage to go forth.
Thinking of this, he held the sword and walked a few steps forward. The crowd started screaming in terror, and backed off even further. Some of them even tripped on the bar stools and fell over.
Seeing this, the paladin felt like laughing. He was already bored. He overestimated this leader of the bandits of Mount North and his lackeys. Facing these people, he did not even need to call for help.
He wanted to start insulting the bandit leader, but the Church always taught not to underestimate your enemy, as there were already examples of his seniors that did so and died, so he resisted.
He wanted to end this quickly so he decided to slaughter all of them.
If he was able to kill the leader of the Mount North bandits, it would be a great achievement, the bishop was sure to give him many rewards, and those who deem him unfit of being a paladin would no longer discriminate against him...
Bang!
A gunshot was heard.
The paladin showed an expression of unbelief, and saw a new hole open at the left of his chest.
The knife-scarred man let out a few "hehe" sounds of laughter, blew his gun and said: "A paladin that is not even wearing a blessed hauberk, who do you think you are, trying to act like a boss in front of me?"
"I......I...."
The paladin’s vision started to blur, his four strong limbs seemed to have drained of blood, and his energy went away rapidly. In a short time, he could no longer stand, his active mind seemed to have collapsed into a pile of mud, and he could no longer think.
The coldness of death came over him.
Before he died, all he thought of was: Why did the Church’s information about the leader of Mount North bandits not mention that he was a sharp shooter?
Suddenly, the knife-scarred man walked in front of him, as if he knew what the paladin was thinking about, and joyfully said:
"Because those that have seen this are already dead."
The paladin could no longer hear his words.
He stared blankly with that surprised expression of his and turned into a corpse. His blood and the other four he killed merged together and silently flowed on the pub’s floor.
The surrounding people could not react in time. They could not believe this arrogant paladin was already dead by their boss’ hand.
He died too quickly, too hurriedly.
"My, my God, that... that paladin...paladin...is already dead..." Jeremy, who was already scared and sitting on the floor, almost cried out and could only silently said so.
Hearing this sound, the knife-scarred man turned around and looked at Benjamin and Jeremy, showing a face of pure evil.
"This place is no longer suitable for discussions. To prevent others from interfering, please go to my house and be my guest, sirs."