Mental Torture

As Ye Wei'an walked, he recalled Grumman's mannerisms from his memories. He adjusted the angle of his greatsword, deliberately stepped with his feet turned outward, and put on the swaggering look of a man fresh from victory.

When the group stepped onto Firefall Town's stone-paved street, the noisy thoroughfare fell eerily quiet for half a second.

"Look, it's Grumman the Butcher..."

"That vicious wolf is back. Looks like he made quite a haul this time."

"Shh, keep your voice down! Don't provoke him!"

At the sight of the iron-tower of a menace, the street vendors, women doing laundry, and children at play scattered like startled sparrows. But they didn't flee far. They hid behind half-shut wooden doors or in shadowy alley mouths, whispering and pointing, as though this were nothing out of the ordinary.

That was hardly surprising.

Grumman was a habitual bandit, to be sure, but he understood the principle of not fouling his own nest.

Most of the time, he did his "business" far from town, then came to Firefall Town to spend his gold lavishly, fence stolen goods, and buy supplies.

To the ordinary townsfolk, Grumman was a menace, but he had never truly threatened them.

To the merchants, Grumman was a vicious wolf, but one that spat out gold coins.

And without locals from Firefall Town providing information, the people and caravans he robbed had no chance of tracking him down.

"Hahaha! Relax, I'm in a good mood today. I'm not killing anyone!" Ye Wei'an roared with laughter as he walked, pulling out a handful of bloodstained copper coins and tossing them toward the beggars by the roadside.

Cain, Renn, and Harold were in perfect sync. They draped their arms over one another's shoulders and loudly bragged about the "feats" they'd performed while slaughtering their way through the day before.

When the last copper had been tossed, Ye Wei'an looked at the slave woman beside him.

Ailian kept her head bowed. Her disheveled hair hid her face, and she dragged one step after another, like a rag doll that had been thoroughly abused.

"Sorry about this."

Ye Wei'an suddenly swung his large hand in a wide arc and slapped Ailian's shapely backside in full view of the crowd.

"Smack!"

"Move it, you bitch! If you don't please me tonight, I'll give you to the boys!"

Ailian let out a perfectly timed shriek and curled in on herself, her face contorted with shame and humiliation. She looked so helpless and desperate that it seemed entirely genuine.

At the same time, Ye Wei'an noticed a red dot on the minimap suddenly move.

Comparing the minimap to the real world, Ye Wei'an quickly picked him out of the crowd.

He was a young man who had been hiding in front of the bakery on the opposite corner.

After confirming "Grumman's" identity, he turned and hurried through several narrow back alleys, heading straight for the destination of their trip: the Dissolute Dragon tavern.

A few minutes later, that red dot overlapped with the three red dots already inside the tavern.

Heh, in a hurry to send word? Ye Wei'an sneered inwardly.

There were three red dots in the tavern, which meant Gray Crow hadn't been alone while waiting for Grumman.

That made sense. Gray Crow was nothing but the Baroness's black-gloved fixer, with no combat ability of his own.

Against a blood-soaked Barbarian like Grumman, he probably wouldn't even have the nerve to meet face-to-face without bringing a couple of professional bodyguards—no matter how long they'd been working together.

"We're here."

Five minutes later, Ye Wei'an stopped and looked up at the creaking sign: a bleary-eyed wyvern hugging a barrel of ale.

He kicked open the tavern's rickety door and strode inside.

It was dusk, the busiest time of day at the tavern.

The place was thick with the scents of tobacco, sweat, the greasy aroma of roasted venison, and the local Mist Fruit Brew.

The moment "Grumman" walked in, the noisy common room fell silent.

A few patrons had been about to shout at him, but when they saw that it was "Grumman," they quickly looked away. Several men who'd been playing drinking games shrank back and tucked their purses into their coats.

Ye Wei'an didn't hurry upstairs to find Gray Crow. He planted one foot on a bench, pulled a handful of silver coins from his coat—loot he'd taken from the bandits—and slammed them onto the bar like a nouveau riche fresh from a big score, eager to spend.

"What are you staring at? Never seen a hero come back victorious?" Ye Wei'an growled. "Innkeeper! Bring me a few kegs of Rye Ale from Suzar, and roast three suckling pigs! I'm celebrating tonight."

Seeing the patrons nearby peeking at him nervously, he added, "I'm in a good mood today! Drinks are on me tonight—a cup of Oat Ale for everyone, all on my tab!"

The tavern fell silent for a moment, then erupted in cheers loud enough to lift the roof.

As long as there was ale to drink, the patrons didn't care that the man before them was a notorious bandit. They cheered him on, and quite a few came over to offer him a toast.

Ye Wei'an turned no one away. He had a system inventory, after all; once the ale reached his mouth, he could send it straight into an inventory slot. He could drink as much as he wanted without getting drunk.

Renn, Harold, and Cain played their parts perfectly too. They loosened their collars, tore into the roast pork, and gulped down the cheap ale until it ran down their faces.

Renn started flirting with a Tiefling barmaid who passed by, while Harold launched into a string of dirty jokes.

Even as Ye Wei'an stuffed himself, he kept an eye on the minimap. He could see Gray Crow's three red dots pacing restlessly on the second floor.

More interestingly, not long after he'd entered the tavern, five or six red dots had converged on it from different directions. Ye Wei'an guessed they were Gray Crow's backup, a force he'd stationed nearby as a precaution.

But when they saw Ye Wei'an doing nothing but drinking and eating, never heading upstairs, the ambushers were at a loss.

Ye Wei'an and his companions had arrived unexpectedly, right at dinnertime. Many of the hired muscle had been called away halfway through their evening meal.

There weren't any other taverns near the Dissolute Dragon, so the men had no choice but to wait in the cold night wind for the order to stand down.

They waited and waited, and all they heard were the bandits' thunderous burps.

Ye Wei'an's meal lasted a full two hours, but the hired muscle didn't have that kind of patience. They began leaving one after another after only half an hour.

From what they knew of Grumman, once the Barbarian picked up a mug, he wouldn't stop drinking until he was dead drunk. There was no way anything would happen tonight.

It's working. Ye Wei'an sneered inwardly.

With his three tipsy men, he rented two rooms diagonally across from the guest room marked as Gray Crow's.

Once the doors shut, the plan entered its second phase.

Cain and the other two went into their room, ignored everything, and collapsed onto the beds. Soon, snores filled the room.

It wasn't that they were slacking off.

According to Ye Wei'an's plan, they were supposed to make their act look real.

They'd spent the whole day traveling, and anyone would be exhausted. Trying to capture Gray Crow, who had been resting up, while they were worn out would be asking for trouble.

Better to eat and drink, get some rest, and wait until the dead of night to go after Gray Crow. That way, they would be the ones rested and ready.

The room Ye Wei'an shared with Ailian was a different story.

"Ah! Chief... no... please!" Ailian's tearful shrieks pierced the thin wooden walls, mingling with the man's hoarse, lecherous laughter and the rhythmic creaking of the bed. The noises rang especially loud in the hallway.

In reality, Ye Wei'an was sitting leisurely by the window, watching the street below and planning their escape route while eating melon to cut the grease.

To play Grumman the Butcher convincingly, he'd followed the man's habits and eaten a huge quantity of suckling pig and Hurek hunter's meat pies.

He could send any uneaten meat into his system inventory, but a meal made entirely of meat, grease, and flaky pastry was still too rich.

Meanwhile, Ailian shrieked and shook the oak bedframe.

To Gray Crow and his bodyguards next door, the noise was pure mental torture.

Before long, Ye Wei'an saw one of the red dots leave the room and head downstairs.

A while later, the red dot came back upstairs, accompanied by a yellow one.

The two dots went into a room farther away and eagerly merged.

Ye Wei'an hadn't expected his plan to wait for the prey to come to him to bring such an unexpected bonus.

Since someone was practically delivering themselves to him, it would be a shame not to take them up on their offer.