Chapter 92 Chasing Shadows
The Silver Iris Empire's capital, Amacatio, is incredibly ancient, a city patched and built atop countless ruins. Its name, derived from the ancient Sylvean language, means "eternally beating heart," but that name is too awkward to pronounce, so the people of the Silver Iris Empire simply call it "the Royal City."
The network of narrow streets, tunnels, and dark alleys that stretched almost everywhere in the royal city were the blood vessels of this heart. Even the royal city army was not sure that they could completely control those narrow lifelines that could be traced back to the first century.
Thus, the smugglers, slave traders and mercenaries hiding deep in the secret passages became the lice on this ancient, vast and magnificent city, silently carrying and digesting the filth that was born from her daily beat.
"Boss."
A figure in a black robe suddenly appeared beside another person, not even raising a speck of dust as he walked - this silent agility is often seen in an equally ancient profession, the assassin.
"Danija Asagi." Ole tilted his head and bumped fists with him expertly. "How was the journey? Was everything smooth?"
"Those noble lackeys are still on our trail," the other man replied disdainfully. "It's a shame our brothers managed to trick them with a simple trick, leading them into the Rocky Forest. When we left, they were still battling a pack of enraged swamp dragons. I don't know how many of them survived."
"Don't take it lightly." Ole frowned upon hearing this: "The person tracking us down is not an ordinary person."
After discovering traces of magic on Nit Samman and Butterfield Samman, Orel immediately confirmed his suspicion that his best friend had also returned. At that time, he was anxious to find someone, and after ensuring the safe evacuation of his Shadow Chaser brothers, he began to act alone, relying only on crows to convey messages along the way, and never met the pursuer.
"Don't worry, boss," Daniga snorted arrogantly. "With God's blessing, when the light disappears, who can touch the shadows in the darkness?"
Ole couldn't help but roll his eyes.
— Don't worry, the traces of someone's aftermath were too obvious, and the overwhelming ridicule was almost directed at his face. He also felt ashamed when his own brothers didn't do their job well.
Though the tyrant's sarcasm stung, Orel had to admit he was right. The Shadow Chasers were no longer the feared assassination corps of their former selves; they were merely an underground organization formed by a group of talented, world-weary young men. Even this assassination had initially been initiated independently by him, against all odds. However, after witnessing the sordid crimes committed by the Saman family, those who had initially resisted him softened their stance.
Over there, Daniga was still chattering excitedly, like a silly dog drooling over a bone and wagging its tail. "Boss, which piece of trash do you think we should pick up next? I never expected to find so many shameful things in that bastard Saman's mansion. Even if we spare his life, his whole family should be put to death in court eight hundred times!"
The other party became more and more excited as he spoke: "Boss, you don't know the reaction of the civilians in Huiqiao Port after seeing the confession we wrote. Wow, it was called - Aww!!!"
"Boss, why did you hit me?" Daniga covered his head with his hands in grievance. When he saw the pair of iron-blue eyes glaring at him, he immediately shut his mouth with a wilted look.
There was nothing they could do. Their leader seemed to have been blessed by God these days. He suddenly became more and more intelligent and brave, extremely powerful, handsome and elegant... In short, the brothers had always admired him, and after he successfully tried the dirty trash of the Saman family, everyone was even more convinced of him.
"Stop showing off," Ole glared at him, unable to help but feel a sense of disappointment. "Have you noticed that people in Huiqiao Port and other places know about the Saman family's mess?"
"Uh...it seems like no one knows." The other's voice gradually lowered. "It's really strange, Boss. You said those reporters are usually like flies, flocking to wherever there's a fishy or smelly smell. How come there's no news about such a big thing?"
"Use your brain. It's obvious that some important figure suppressed the news," Orel said coldly. "Who on earth had the ability to suppress the news of a marquis's death in the blink of an eye, without even a single rumor spreading?"
Daniga stared at him, speechless: "...Who, who?"
"...The royal family! Who else could it be!" Orel took a deep breath, and suddenly understood why his best friend would choose a devil as his teammate. Talking to smart people really made things easier—of course, he only understood a little bit, just a little bit. "The people tracking us might even be the Silver Helmets of the Kite Heart Guards. You're really lucky!"
...He would never praise his best friend's decisiveness to others, never.
The other man was stunned for a long while. Just when Ole thought he would panic, Daniga opened his mouth slowly with dull eyes.
"Oh my god, I tricked the Silver Helmet Knight into the swamp dragon's lair!!" The other party blurted out in shock, "How did I suddenly become so powerful?"
Ole: “…”
"——Ouch! Boss! Stop hitting my head. It's going to get swollen. Hiss, I was wrong, I was wrong. I was just joking——"
After a flurry of activity, Daniga cautiously watched his boss's expression, flattering him with his hands. "Boss, you've thought of everything. Look, you've come to the royal city to monitor those guys' base!"
"I'm not here to... Never mind." Orel took a deep breath and pinched his brows. "Rest for a while first. Find someone to get rid of the things that need to be sold as soon as possible, and then I'll take everyone away from here."
"Behave yourself for the next few days," he warned. "Although the more dangerous the place, the safer it is, but since the Silver Helmet Knight suffered a great loss, we can't stay in the royal city for long."
Daniga grinned and said, "Okay, I'll do as you say, Boss."
Ole glanced at him and couldn't help but patted the other person's shoulder hard, causing him to stagger.
This silly chatterbox died in the war with the Yankees. He was left without any brothers and didn't even leave a last word.
...This time he must protect him and them.
"Oh, by the way, boss, take a look at this!" The guy that Orel had just vowed to protect suddenly remembered something and took out a stack of papers from his arms as if offering a treasure.
"Newspaper? Don't you get a headache when you see words?" Ole took it, looked at it carefully, raised his eyebrows and teased.
"Boss, take a look first." Another person chuckled, "You don't know, those people are like crazy, and this is the one I managed to snatch."
"That's not so exaggerated." Ole muttered, but he soon couldn't take his eyes off it until he read the last word, then he couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief.
“This person…”
He opened and closed his mouth for a long time, not knowing what to say, and just flipped back to the beginning of the page.
"Right! Right!" Daniga said proudly. "What he said was so...hiss, I don't know how to describe it, but it just touched my heart. It's like my mind has become so clear!"
"Why do those nobles occupy such vast tracts of land? Why do they collect whatever taxes they want openly?" the other party's voice gradually rose, his eyes gleaming. "How many disgusting and filthy things have they done in private? Haven't we seen enough of them in the Bloody Bazaar? Why do such rubbish get to enjoy themselves every day, stepping on the lives of others for their own happiness, while those poor commoners have to do hard labor every day? I just can't stand those rubbish!"
He snorted indignantly. "Pierce mocked me for just hating the rich and being jealous of the people who serve them. Now I have a reason to refute him - the rich only get people to serve them by exploiting the poor!"
His boss was silent for a moment, then suddenly asked, "Are there any other articles?"
"Yes, I've been collecting them along the way!" Daniga excitedly pulled out more carefully folded newspapers and stuffed them all at once. Just as Ole was about to reach out to take them, the boy hesitated again: "Let me make it clear, these are mine. You have to return them after you've read them, boss!"
Ole glared at him angrily: "Nonsense! Can I still steal a few pieces of paper from you?"
"Hey, boss, don't be angry," Daniga said with a wry smile, leaning forward flatteringly. "I was just thinking, could we ask the author of this newspaper article to write something for us? Or maybe we could just get to know him or her!"
Ole didn't listen carefully. His attention was focused on the words that made people applaud. "Don't make a fuss. Let me finish reading first."
Daniga managed to keep his mouth shut for a while, but when he saw someone finally turned the page, he couldn't help but start chattering again: "We Shadow Chasers need to speak out too. We can't put ads in the newspapers, but we can make some pamphlets and quietly distribute them to the public, so that we won't be slandered as thugs by those rubbish every day. And, boss, you see, he dares to speak out, speaks well, makes sense, and is quite interesting. It's obvious that he has the same aura as us Shadow Chasers. Who wouldn't want to make friends with such a person? Anyway, I really want to meet Mr. Nova..."
Ole was annoyed by him. Daniga had a lot of ideas, but he also talked too much nonsense. He sighed and said, "That's a good idea. I'll consider it. What's the author's name? Nah..."
The assassin leader suddenly fell silent, his face looking extremely ugly, and his hands quickly flipped to the author's column.
"...Don't tell me he's from Baita Town."
"Boss, how did you know?" Daniga's eyes widened in surprise.
"That's right. I've been asking around, and I've found out the author is a professor of theology at Baita University, a serious intellectual." He continued to ponder happily, "So when the time comes, we have to be polite and courteous, leaving a good impression on people, and we must not scare them. What if we scare them and they end up in trouble—uh, boss?"
His boss was looking at the stack of newspapers with a hideous expression so twisted it could scare a child to tears.
What was it like? Daniga couldn't help but think, like the last time the other person drank up the broth before spitting out half a cockroach from his mouth.
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