Chapter 222

Our Discord Server: https://discord.gg/PazjBDkTmW

Chapter 222: We Are All Mercenaries

"So it’s a waste…" Greed muttered.

Imp immediately shouted, "A waste?! I really feel it, but it’s faint! Maybe it’s a not very strong spellcaster, or a human who hasn’t discovered their Arcane talent yet! Or maybe it’s a power source that the mages of the Kingdom of Stormwind haven’t noticed!"

"Okay, okay, we get it, stop yelling…you be quiet first," Jesse said, and imp immediately stopped rambling.

Jesse lowered his voice and said, "He has no reason to lie, anyway, let’s move forward carefully."

Greed muttered reluctantly, "Instead of walking with this useless demon, why not call Vereesa? At least having a ranger around is useful at this time."

"She’s not here for a vacation… what’s her name?" Jesse stared at him and whispered, "Besides, do you want to share the money with one more person?"

"An elven noble dares to steal money from us?"

"Are you suggesting she come here to do charity?"

"Helping out is fine, you’ve helped her plenty already…"

Jesse remembered her behavior the other day at The Gilded Rose, it didn’t seem like she had enough money. Perhaps part of her self-imposed challenges includes not bringing money.

"Honestly, I don’t think she has much money either. She wouldn’t help without money."

Greed said, "Her family must be wealthier than that elf who bought the letter, right?"

"Just because her family is rich, doesn’t mean she is rich…"

Jesse hadn’t finished speaking when imp suddenly disappeared in a flash of light.

"Where did it go?" Greed asked.

Jesse said, "Someone is hiding."

The two of them found a big oak tree to lean against, quieted down, and heard voices in the distance.

Before long, about six or seven people walked out of the woods, looking tired. One person was cursing non-stop, while another kept telling him to be quiet.

From the occasional clear words that floated out, they heard the group discussing Gnoll. It seemed they had just fought with Gnoll. As the voices drew nearer, they caught more details about Gnoll.

These were probably mercenaries, like the two of them, hunting for Hogger. It was one of the groups the sheriff had warned about entering the forest these days.

Jesse cautiously peeked out and noticed that most of them carried swords, wore simple leather armor or thick coats, and the leader had a metal shoulder guard on his bald shoulder.

There was a person wearing a cloak behind, quietly following with a light crossbow in hand, not really joining the argument.

If imp noticed someone approaching earlier, it must be this person.

"Could it be these people?" Greed whispered softly, moving closer.

"Are you suggesting killing that person just now? I’m not sure," Jesse said. "Let them pass, there are seven of them."

The two continued hiding behind a tree, trying to stay as quiet as possible.

However, just as Jesse’s thoughts drifted off a bit, he unexpectedly noticed that the people seemed to be getting closer.

Greed’s expression also changed, he glanced at Jesse, hesitating to speak up.

It seemed like the group of people didn’t want to cross the forest but were looking for the Nazferiti river, planning to follow the riverbank, so they kept moving this way.

Jesse slowly shifted his feet to the side, signaling Greed to follow, trying to avoid the people’s sight by circling around the big tree. However, whether it was the fallen leaves on the ground revealing their footsteps or the people sensing something was wrong, it was unclear.

"Who?!"

A loud shout came from the other side of the tree trunk.

"Did you hear something?"

"You scared me, Chuck."

Jesse and Greed were pressed against the tree trunk, waiting for each other to forget about the sound and continue walking.

Unexpectedly, one of them said, "I’ll go check it out, you guys cover me, in case it’s the damn Gnoll scout…"

The footsteps behind them grew closer, Greed glanced at Jesse, who pointed to the Shadow Protection Potion in his bag.

Greed swallowed the potion, closed his eyes, gulped it down, then gave a look like "what the heck did you make me drink."

"Don’t attack!" he shouted, "We’re here to kill the Gnolls too."

"Come out!" the person behind the tree shouted, "Drop your weapons and come out!"

Upon hearing this, Jesse looked at Greed, widened his eyes, Greed hung his hammer on his waist, and walked out with Jesse.

The group quickly surrounded the two of them, leaving one person to watch the injured person in the back. One of them looked at Jesse walking out from behind the tree with a magic wand and said, "Mage, drop your magic wand quickly!"

Jesse obediently dropped the magic wand, hands raised high.

"Take off your hammer and throw it aside, dwarf," a bald man pointed at the dwarf’s nose with a sword.

When he made this gesture, Jesse knew that there was no peaceful ending to this matter. He was surely going to die, without a doubt, he didn’t even need to look at Greed’s expression.

"You don’t know the importance of this hammer to me, young man," Greed stared at him and said, "It means as much to me as your own father does to you."

"Funny, I’ve never seen my father," the bald man said. "Hurry up, stop talking, drop the hammer, take out everything you have on you. I heard the sound of a potion bottle just now, Healing Potion, or whatever other potions… or coins, hurry up."

Jesse looked at the bald man and asked, "Don’t finish us off completely, sir."

The bald man turned to look at the others and smiled.

The other soldiers beside him also chuckled, and the soldier with a crossbow nearby laughed coldly.

"Okay, I’ll unlock the chains." Greed took off his battle hammer, nodded at the bald man, and said, "This is better… so we can give you a more satisfying fight."

Suddenly, Jesse felt the air around the hammer begin to distort.

The people around seemed to notice something unusual. Greed seemed to be quietly chanting something, and everyone’s expression transformed from mocking to nervous and angry.

"What are you going to do?"

Someone shouted, and Jesse lowered his raised right hand. The magic wand on the ground suddenly shot out a Shadowfiend light, but the person who tried to grab it missed as Jesse grabbed it tightly around his waist.

Jesse raised the magic wand and shouted the Fear spell. A strange and piercing noise accompanied his chanting, causing the bald man in front to exclaim, "It’s Black Magic!"

The soldier closest to the magic wand covered his eyes, the bald man seemed shocked by something horrifying, with widened nostrils and trembling legs, and the others farther away began to sob uncontrollably.

Crying, screaming, all suddenly extinguished by a flash of lightning…

When the white light disappeared, the bald head in front had its head smashed, leaving only a charred body lying on the ground. The man closest to him, covered in axe, had half of his body blackened by lightning. He cried as he crawled to the side, until Greed picked up a smoky broken sword and ruthlessly threw it, stabbing him in the back.

In the distance, a trembling man held up a sword towards Greed. His pants were soaked, but his mind seemed intact. He shouted at Greed not to come closer. As Greed stepped forward, holding a hammer high, the man continued to yell.

Jesse stood up in place, feeling his legs go weak.

What’s going on…

He lowered his head, and unexpectedly saw a crossbow bolt stuck in his lower abdomen, deeply pierced inside, with only half of it sticking out.

Recruitment of Editors: https://gravitytales.com/recruitment-of-editors/