The gray-white stone slabs, stained with faint traces of dark red, were constantly crossed by passing crowds. Every person wore a hint of tension and wariness as they watched those walking past them. The merchants on both sides of the street had lost their usual flattering smiles, and bloodstained weapons lay beside them.
The civilians passing through the streets also looked hurried. Weapons were hidden beneath their patched clothes, while in a corner, a group of filthy children stared intently at the people passing by. Whenever they spotted a suitable target, they would quietly follow.
Crack!
"Ah!!!"
The sudden disturbance brought the bustling crowd to a brief halt. When they saw a young man lying on the ground in front of a figure completely shrouded in a gray-black robe, the armored adventurers all revealed interested smiles, as if they knew some inside information.
The civilians, however, had long since grown accustomed to such scenes. They hurriedly lowered their heads and walked away.
"Kid, what do you think you're doing?"
A voice that sounded slightly immature yet was filled with chill rang out. Through the gap in her hood, Sally looked at the young man lying on the ground before her, his face twisted in pain. One of his arms had been completely broken, with white bone exposed to the air and only a few strands of flesh still connecting it.
Just moments ago, Sally had been silently observing her surroundings when the young man suddenly bumped into her. As he was about to leave, Sally had broken his arm without hesitation.
"Help! Help! An adventurer is bullying a civilian!"
The young man did not answer Sally's question. Instead, he lay on the ground and shouted, even raising his injured arm high. With his frail body and tattered clothes, he looked just like a weak civilian who had been bullied by an adventurer, clearly trying to win the sympathy of the onlookers.
"Hmph!"
Sally snorted coldly. Seeing that the young man completely ignored her, she kicked him over. With another crack, his remaining hand was crushed into a lump of flesh. At the edge of the crowd, two people who had just arrived saw the scene, and their expressions shifted slightly.
"Speak. Who told you to do this?"
Sally looked down at the young man beneath her and demanded an answer. Then she raised her head, her violet pupils sweeping coldly over the surrounding onlookers. When the adventurers saw Sally looking their way, they all sneered as if they were looking at a dead man, with no intention of leaving.
"Miss Adventurer, isn't that enough?"
At that moment, two men dressed in black stepped out of the crowd. One of them walked up to Sally, glanced at the howling young man on the ground, then raised his head and spoke to Sally expressionlessly.
"You instructed him?"
Sally ignored the man in front of her. Instead, she ground her foot into the young man's wound right in front of him. Bright red blood stained the sole of her shoe, and the young man's howls instantly became even more shrill.
"Miss Adventurer, this is your first time in Grant, I presume. If you're willing to let him go, perhaps we can become friends. After all, you wouldn't want anything unpleasant to happen, would you?"
The black-clothed man looked at the young man beneath Sally's foot, whose cries were growing louder, then glanced at him and spoke darkly, one word at a time. Yet his calm tone was not a threat. It sounded more like he was simply stating a fact.
"Hmph! Be more careful next time. If this happens again, I'll kill him outright!"
Sally looked at the man, snorted coldly, then bent down and pulled a cloth pouch from the young man's clothes. She turned and walked toward the edge of the crowd. The black-clothed man did not stop her. He merely waved his hand, and several youths emerged from a corner and carried away the person lying on the ground. Then they turned and left.
Before leaving, however, the black-clothed man made a hand signal to the people carrying away the young man. By the time the sun rose the next morning, there would be only one place where the young man could be found—the city's sewers.
After all, to them, a young man whose hands had been crippled was no longer useful. As for giving him healing potions, that was completely out of the question. The value of the two sides was simply not equal.
Still, she's a smart one.
In the crowd, the black-clothed man watched Sally's back and smiled faintly. He then blended into the crowd and disappeared. As for their coming to cause trouble for Sally this time, they had merely been carrying out routine business at the orders of their superiors. The young man had only been a pawn used to test her. No one truly cared about him.
"All right, Sally. Those watchful gazes have disappeared."
Inside an inn, Lu Minghao jumped out of Sally's hood and looked at the bustling crowd outside the window. He then turned around and nodded at Sally. Lu Minghao had noticed the spying gazes hidden in the corners of the streets ever since they entered the city.
Following those gazes, Lu Minghao had spotted the children hiding in the corners. Every time Sally passed through an area, similar figures would appear. Because of this, Lu Minghao guessed that they had been targeted. As for who was watching them, it was very likely the ruler of this city.
The army of the Kingdom of Ister.
Lu Minghao was not surprised in the slightest. After all, if someone behaved suspiciously and carried an obviously fake identification document, he would also keep an eye on them and send people to test them.
And just as Lu Minghao had expected, not long after entering the city, Sally had encountered the young man who stole her money pouch. Because of this, Lu Minghao had directly instructed Sally to break his arm and put on an arrogant yet sensible front.
As for ignoring the young man or simply killing him, either choice would only bring Sally and Lu Minghao all kinds of trouble. If they let him go, the other side would assume that Sally was not very strong, then find an excuse to capture her and throw her into the mines.
If they killed the young man, they would conveniently give the city guards an excuse to forcefully attack them. Lu Minghao had noticed the city guards watching the spectacle not far outside the crowd.
The current outcome was ideal. They had displayed a certain level of strength without losing control, so those people would temporarily relax their surveillance. After all, when Sally entered the city, she had claimed that her purpose was to participate in a war mission.
"Still, these people really don't bother hiding what they're doing."
The next moment, Lu Minghao looked toward the events unfolding in the street. Just like what had happened to Sally, a man completely wrapped in a black robe was surrounded by the crowd. However, after his wallet was stolen, he had killed the young man on the spot. The city guards had then arrived at precisely the right moment, defeated him, and arrested him.
As for what happened next, he would most likely be forced to sign a magical contract and become cannon fodder. The adventurers nearby were already completely accustomed to such scenes. After all, among those who came here while concealing their identities, eleven out of ten had questionable backgrounds.
"Minghao, why are they doing this? Aren't they afraid that the adventurers will stop coming to this city once they find out?"
At that moment, Sally came over and picked up Lu Minghao. Looking at the crowd dispersing below and the man being taken away by the city guards, she asked, "If those adventurers learn that the ruler of this city does such things, they definitely won't choose to come here again."
"Sally, haven't you noticed? The adventurers who entered the city with you didn't encounter anything like this. The only ones targeted were people like us who are concealing our identities."
Lu Minghao had already noticed that only people like them, who hid their identities, were being targeted. After all, anyone who came here while concealing their identity was bound to have problems. They were either people like him and Sally, who had their own objectives, or fugitives wanted by their kingdoms, thieves, bandits, or the like.
For people like that, if they possessed enough strength and could be controlled, the city's ruler did not mind turning a blind eye. As for those without sufficient strength, or those like the man below who failed to understand the situation, no one cared whether they died, were captured and sent to work in the mines, or were turned into cannon fodder.
As for adventurers and merchants with legitimate identities, they would not encounter such treatment. In fact, they clearly knew about these things already. Otherwise, why would they all look like they were watching a show?
Moreover, quite a few people who hid their identities also knew about this. In other words, the ones who would be captured were merely those who failed to understand the current situation and lacked sufficient strength.
Something came up yesterday, and Daida went back to their hometown, so there was no update in the early hours of last night. Starting today, the update schedule will return to normal. Also, please support the book by following it.
If the number of followers is high enough, Slime might receive a recommendation next week. That is the only way this book can have a future. Thank you all for your support!
Also, I'm setting up an extra-chapter rule: one extra chapter for every one hundred monthly votes, one extra chapter for every one thousand recommendation votes, and one extra chapter for every one hundred investment points.
Starting with tomorrow's update, Daida will give an update on the situation after posting each day. Once the requirements are met, the extra chapters will be added immediately!
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