Translator: Mirausean; Silavin
Editor: Rosyprimrose
Proofreader: Skoll
Finalized Editor: theunfetteredsalmon
Due to his bloodline, Athol was born with a terrifyingly ferocious face. Despite that, he was very approachable and was even more so when he realised that Ye Chui was the Magician who managed to cripple Carrey. Since Carrey became an intermediate Swordsman only by virtue of resources, he was lacking in battling skills even though he had strength. He was consistently ranked as the worst Guard, and it was no exaggeration to say that he was regarded as the greatest shame of all of them.
Ye Chui had been informed by Athol that he will not have to be responsible for the death of Busca and Carrey. Although Athol had reservations about the existence of the Knight of Justice, the Iron Swordsman, he was still bought over by Ye Chui's story - with the evidence right before his eyes, how can he not believe his story?
While the two of them were talking, footsteps started approaching. Just as Ye Chui turned his head, four people could be seen walking out of the dense forest. Ye Chui knew the ident.i.ty of the leader of the group - it was the City Lord's daughter, Alfea, the heroic female Swordsman, whom he had seen riding on a white horse while he was dining at the Moran Flower Restaurant several months ago.
The other three people were wearing sets of battle armour similar to that of Athol's.
Ye Chui suddenly recalled something - the first time he saw Alfea, she had four City Lord's Guards following behind her, one of whom was a Beastman Warrior. Now, the same four of her Guards stood before Ye Chui.
Alfea scanned Busca and Carrey's corpses, as well as the burning log cabin. Despite being visibly shaken by the sight, she quickly calmed herself and asked, "What happened here?"
"Miss Alfea, this was what happened…" Athol hurriedly narrated.
At the end of his depiction of how the events played out, Alfea's turned red with fury, "Busca, this despicable merchant, actually shamelessly kidnapped someone? And his son is a City Lord's Manor Guard? What a disgrace!"
"Carrey was originally the disgrace of the City Lord's Manor Guard. It isn't surprising that he would do such a shameful act," one of the three human Guards mocked, laughing coldly. Then he walked over to Carrey and looked down on his corpse, "Hmph, he deserved such a dishonourable death." Following that, he looked towards Ye Chui, "Brother, you claim that a self-proclaimed Iron Swordsman murdered them? There is a total of eight advanced Swordsman in Stan City, and there isn't one who proclaims himself as the Iron Swordsman."
This Human Guard wasn't as gullible as Athol. Suspicion started to show on his face.
"Balmain, please don't tell me that you suspect Hammer killed both of them?" Athol laughed uncontrollably.
Almost immediately, Alfea started to laugh loudly as well, as though someone told a hilarious joke.
[s.h.i.t!] Ye Chui's heart skipped a beat. [Is it even that hilarious?]
"No, no. I know it is impossible for this little boy to do this." Balmain shook his head smiling. Then he continued, "I was just curious. The sudden appearance of an advanced Swordsman in Stan City is simply unfathomable. One must know that the t.i.tle of the 'advanced Swordsman' has to be registered in the Swordsmen Guild. I just want to know who in the world this Iron Swordsman is. From the way he killed the father and son, it seems as though he is far below the standard of an advanced Swordsman."
It was instinctual for Ye Chui to blurt out the phrase 'Iron Swordsman'. He didn't expect so many implications to arise from it and hurriedly explained, "Maybe that person isn't an advanced Swordsman. He probably likes to pretend to be one - wearing a full set of battle armour."
"Perhaps." Balmain nodded his head in agreement with Ye Chui's theory.
Alfea started to inquire about the details of Ye Chui's imprisonment, to which he naturally obliged. After listening to Ye Chui about his predicament in the log cabin, Alfea's pretty yet heroic face revealed a tinge of sympathy. Judging from her youthful expression, she was not old, and the sympathetic expression was likely adapted from an adult. She patted Ye Chui's shoulders and spoke in a mature tone, "It's been hard on you. We ought to take responsibility for not performing our duties properly as the City Lord's Guards. I'll get my father to compensate you."
"How can I accept it?" Ye Chui's face revealed embarra.s.sment before changing his tone, "How do you plan to compensate me?"
"… I have to discuss this with my father before I can come to a decision."
During their conversation, the City Lord's Guards had already removed the long sword lodged in Carrey's abdomen. They arranged Busca and Carrey beside each other on the ground. Balmain squatted beside Busca and touched his body before his eyebrows wrinkled. As Balmain examined Busca's hand and saw a white print on his ring finger, he thoughtfully glanced at Ye Chui and shook his head, but he chuckled and never pursued the matter.
Balmain and another City Lord's Guard stayed behind while Alfea led Ye Chui back to Stan City, together with Athol and the last City Lord's Guard.
It was at that time that Ye Chui realised that he was at the top of a mountain outside of Stan City.
Busca's horse carriage, which was now a property of the City Lord's Manor, became a transport means for the group. Athol was in charge of steering the horse in the right direction, while Ye Chui and Alfea took seats in the carriage. Despite sharing the carriage with such a heroic beauty, Ye Chui had a calm mind, although he would occasionally stare at her chest which made her soft armour rise… If Hammer was the one in the carriage, he would have fainted from an overdose of happiness.
As Ye Chui aimlessly chatted with Alfea, Ye Chui got wind of the information that she and the four City Lord's Guards had just completed their mission to conduct an inspection at the southern boundary of Stan City. The purpose of the mission was to investigate if there were any dangerous beasts which laid in ambush around the area. Due to Stan City's proximity to the dense forest, there were occasional incidents where people are attacked by beasts. This inspection was carried out monthly by the City Lord's Guards and was considered a responsibility of the City Lord's Manor.
Alfea had an exceptional gift for being a Swordsman. Despite already being level five, she would partic.i.p.ate in every mission just to train and hone her skills.
"This time around, we encountered a level three Fanged Wolf Beast, which was hard to deal with," Alfea started to describe the occurrences of the inspection out of boredom, "Although we managed to finish off the Fanged Wolf Beast without coming to any harm, my long sword was damaged in the process." Following her words, the sound of metal riding a sheath was heard as she pulled her long sword out from her waist. The long sword, which was originally shiny and had floral patterns carved on it now had a rusty black stain. Alfea gently rubbed the stain and continued, "The venom from the Fanged Wolf Beast is highly corrosive and it caused the enchanting magic array on my long sword to malfunction. Now I've to go back and get someone to enchant it again."
"Enchant?" Ye Chui's heart stopped beating for an instant.
Feeling strange, Alfea sized Ye Chui up, "Why?"
"If it's enchanting… Miss Alfea, maybe you could let me have a go at it?" Ye Chui said in a low tone. For the sake of his fantasy version of the Iron Man Battle Armour, he was prepared to research on enchanting techniques…
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