Chapter 188

Snap—

Rebecca pulled out a pistol and pressed it against the woman's chin.

The woman awkwardly shut her mouth and silently retreated to the side.

The others in the porch also tacitly made way for Leon and Rebecca.

It became less crowded in an instant.

Rebecca holstered her gun, walked to Leon's side, and lowered her voice.

"We're not regulars here. The group of people at the door are there to 'inspect the goods.' If you don't give them a hard time, you won't be able to move an inch here."

Leon understood the 'unspoken rules' Rebecca was talking about; it was a gray area with gray ways of surviving.

What he didn't understand was why Victor would work in such a corrupt and gloomy place after leaving the Dragon Slayer Army.

Is it a case of self-degradation? Or is it for some other reason?

Although this guy is always second best, he also has the bottom line and resilience of a second best. He will do his best in everything he does and has high demands and standards for himself.

Such a person should be completely out of place in this kind of place.

It seems we can only get to the bottom of this after we find Victor.

Leon and Rebecca crossed the dance floor and arrived at the bar.

"What would you two like to drink?" the bartender greeted them as he came over.

"A glass of water." Leon has a low alcohol tolerance, and besides, they weren't here tonight to drink.

"Then I'll have a Black Moon." Rebecca used to drink often, so she was quite familiar with these strange drink names.

She said she could aim more accurately after drinking alcohol, but I don't know if that's true or not.

The bartender glanced at the petite Rebecca and said, "We don't sell our drinks to children."

As soon as the bartender finished speaking, Leon, who had just wanted to persuade Rebecca to switch to juice, swallowed back the words that were on the tip of his tongue.

Then he quietly moved his buttocks to the side to avoid getting splattered with blood later.

If Leon's Achilles' heel is his wife and children;

Rebecca's Achilles' heel is her age.

"I'm an adult! Open your dog eyes and see clearly, I am an adult!"

The little girl stood on a bar stool, her hands supporting her on the table.

If the bartender dared to say another word, Leon had no doubt that Rebecca would pull out her gun.

Fortunately, the bartender was a sensible person and immediately nodded obediently, "Okay, Black Moon, coming right away."

"Wait! I've changed my mind, I want a glass of water too."

"OK, two glasses of water."

Rebecca then sat back down, crossed her arms, and glared angrily at the bartender's retreating figure. "That's why I hate all bartenders in the world."

Leon shook his head and smiled, said nothing, and began to observe the crowd.

A moment later, the lights in the bar suddenly went out, leaving only a beam of light shining on the stage.

Under that beam of light, a tall, thin man sat on a bar stool, holding a simple guitar in his arms.

He was dressed simply, his face looked slightly weathered, and his hair had grown to his shoulders.

But as soon as he stepped onto the stage, he was greeted with cheers from the men and women on the dance floor.

"Victor! Victor! Victor!"

"Victor, I want to hear you sing 'The Riverbank'!"

"We sang 'The Evening Breeze' yesterday, today we'll sing 'The Evening Breeze'!"

"..."

They chanted Victor's name and requested the songs they wanted to hear.

Leon sat at the bar, looking at his former right-hand man Victor across the entire dance floor.

Compared to Rebecca, Victor has changed a lot. He used to have short hair and looked much more energetic than he does now.

"How did he get like this?" Leon muttered.

"That's how it is for artists." Rebecca sipped water from her glass through a straw.

After the people on the dance floor quieted down a bit, Victor pulled off the pendant from his chest.

That was a guitar pick.

However, unlike ordinary cheap picks, Victor's picks have a very delicate ivory white color and are more finely crafted.

It stands out especially under the lights.

With a gentle strum of the guitar strings, Victor began to sing.

Her singing skills are quite good; in a bar like this, it's considered to be of a very high standard.

I remember back in the Dragon Slayer Army, every night Victor would sing a couple of songs for everyone by the campfire.

That's why he's gained a lot of female fans.

However, there are still fewer than Leon.

The title of "perennial runner-up" is like a curse, always closely following Victor in every aspect.

No matter how hard he tried, Leon was like an insurmountable mountain standing in his way.

Coincidentally, from the conversation of the other drinkers, Leon learned that the song Victor was singing was called " Over the Cross This Mountain".

However, he never thought of himself as Victor's mountain or anything like that.

In Leon's view, Victor was a very reliable second-in-command and vice-captain.

At least before he was framed in the Silver Dragon War, Leon always thought so.

Now that they've fallen into the vortex of the empire's conspiracy, who can escape unscathed?

Leon snapped out of his reverie and waited quietly for Victor to finish singing.

After all, he's a very popular resident singer, and one song certainly wouldn't satisfy the audience. (Let's dig deeper...)

For the next hour, Victor, guitar in hand, performed many classic pieces.

Some of them were sung during the Dragon Slayer Army.

Even Leon, who had little artistic talent, listened with great interest, as it stirred up many memories of his past.

In contrast, the twin-tailed girl beside him was almost asleep.

Leon turned his head to look at her and snapped his fingers crisply near her ear.

Rebecca, who had been drowsy, instantly woke up. "Ah! Who, who fired the shot!"

"Wake up, go backstage and find Victor."

"Okay!"

The two walked around the dance floor and went backstage.

There were many rooms backstage, but thankfully each room had a sign with the bar staff's names on it.

They found Victor's room and knocked on the door. X

"The performance is over tonight, come back tomorrow night," Victor's voice came from inside.

"Hey, big star, you're so famous now, you don't even want to see your old bandmates anymore?" Rebecca challenged from outside the door.

As soon as he finished speaking, the sound of heavy footsteps could be heard from inside.

Squeak—

The door opened, and a thin, weathered man stood in the doorway, looking down at the girl who was two heads shorter than him.

"Rebecca, what are you doing here?"

"Come support the big star!"

"Stop joking, you must have come to see me for something, right?"

Rebecca shrugged. "Yes, something is going on, but it's not my business, it's his."

As she spoke, Rebecca reached out and pulled the man out from behind the door.

Victor looked up and was immediately dumbfounded.

Bonus chapter for the adorable goddess's advancement!

The next round of the qualifying matches will begin at midnight tonight. We hope everyone will continue to support Brother Lai. There are free hearts to collect every day, so please vote! Arigato~

The Empire arc is expected to end tomorrow or the day after, and the long-distance relationship will finally turn back into living together!

Victor simply told Leon the purpose of his return to the Empire.

As for what happened to Leon after he was captured, what his relationship was with the Silver Dragon Queen, and speculations about the cooperative relationship between Constantine and the Empire, Leon didn't mention a single word.

Because Victor is different from Rebecca.

Crazy girl was only added to the old Weak and Sickly Combo after her master's first trial and Leon's second trial, which finally confirmed that she was definitely not a mole.

So the mole who betrayed Leon back then was either Victor or Martin.

The more he said, the more mistakes he made. Leon wasn't so excited about reuniting with his old friend that he forgot the purpose of his trip.

Inside the room, after listening to Leon's account, Victor and Rebecca had similar reactions.

She was first surprised, then mentioned that she had also fallen into an illusion, and when she came to her senses, Leon was already seriously injured and lying on the ground.

"Oh, so it looks like this is a wide-area group illusion," Leon said quietly.

"Yes, it's a pity we broke free from the illusion too slowly, otherwise we might have been able to save you, Captain," Victor said.

Leon's eyes flickered slightly as he discreetly scrutinized Victor.

His words were quite subtle.

"Maybe I can save the captain"—doesn't that imply 'I'm not the mole'?

"That's interesting," Leon thought.

However, Leon didn't show anything, and simply replied, "It's okay, don't worry about it, I'm fine now."

"So, Captain, what are you planning to do next? Go find Martin?" Victor asked.

Leon raised an eyebrow slightly. He didn't rush to answer Victor's question, but instead looked at Rebecca beside him.

The twin-tailed loli was sitting at the table, on which sat Victor's old guitar.

She had no artistic talent; she just casually strummed the guitar strings with that ivory-white pick.

Well, it seems that the only person in the world who can communicate with Leon through eye contact and activate in-game voice chat is Losweiser.

Leon withdrew his gaze from Wu Sanba and looked back at Victor.

"No rush. Martin's family background is special, so it won't be easy for us to meet him."

Although Rebecca said Martin was always mistreated by his stepmother at home, he was still the youngest son of Royal Minister, and not someone you could just see whenever you wanted.

Upon hearing this, Victor pondered for a moment and said, "Seeing him isn't that difficult."

"Hmm? You have a solution?"

Victor nodded. "Two days later is Martin's stepmother's birthday party. She's invited all sorts of friends, as well as many politicians and ministers. We can disguise ourselves and sneak in to find Martin."

Leon seemed thoughtful. "It is indeed a good opportunity..."

But... isn't this a bit too much of a coincidence?

Leon had just returned to the Empire and thought it would be difficult to see Martin, but unexpectedly, his stepmother had her birthday at this time—not that she couldn't have a birthday, but the timing was too coincidental.

Leon didn't voice his question directly. He sized up Viktor, his mind racing, and finally asked,

"What's the relationship between Martin and Martin stepmother? Ah, I just want to confirm whether Martin will definitely attend his stepmother's birthday party."