Chapter 424: Dividing the Loot
In a windowless basement.
Alger Wilson sat on the low bed, half leaning against the wall, his eyes narrowed, as if he had fallen asleep.
But various thoughts flashed through his mind from time to time.
Did "Steel" McVitie already go to the contact point he provided for "Flame" Danitz?
Will there be any problems with the action?
Should I continue to wait or wait for an opportunity to escape?
He did not doubt the Queen's strength, but the battle between Beyonders could not be decided by potion sequences and magical items alone. Any accidents could happen. Moreover, the battle would take place in Bayam, a key city garrisoned by the Church of Storms and the Mandated Punisher. In less than ten minutes, the nearest church would react and wipe out the pirates who dared to cause trouble under their noses.
Feeling a little anxious, he stood up from the bedside, walked to the stone door of the basement entrance, and listened with bated breath to the sounds outside.
"The gatekeeper is already asleep. When I came in, I saw three or four armed thugs. They're not difficult to deal with. Old Quinn probably won't join the operation... We can take care of them all in half a minute. Do you want to..."
Alger's hand reached into his pocket.
In order to show goodwill, Old Quinn did not let anyone take away his weapons. Naturally, he believed that a "ghost ship captain" with only a few dozen men under his command could not cause any trouble. Moreover, he acted like a greedy pirate who was only interested in bounties, and reduced the threat level to the lowest level in appearance.
But as long as a "sleeping" spell is pushed through the crack of the door, within half a minute...
At this moment, Alger's vision blurred and he was enveloped by a thick gray fog.
Beneath The Fool, who sat in a high-backed chair, looking down at everything, a blonde woman bowed her head and prayed:
"Dear Mr. Fool, the operation has concluded successfully."
Is this the end?
Alger stood there in a daze, not moving for a long time until the gray fog dissipated.
Although there were no windows in the basement and he was not sure whether it was already daybreak, he knew from his own feelings that he had been locked up here for less than six hours, at most it was dawn when the sun was rising.
In such a short period of time, "Iron" McVitie, his subordinates with reasonable sequences, and nearly ten zombie puppets were killed just like that?
Although he instinctively doubted it, Alger still felt an uncontrollable surge of surprise, excitement, and trembling in his heart.
For the "share" that he is about to get, for having such a powerful "teammate" in the Tarot Club, and also for the instinctive fear of the strong.
He no longer hesitated, took out a silver talisman provided by the "Queen", gently chanted the opening spell "Scarlet", and immediately pushed it out of the basement through the crack in the door.
There was a slight explosion outside the door, followed by the sound of a body falling to the ground.
Alger's muscles expanded to their maximum, stretching his coat tight, and then he punched the stone door.
The sturdy stone gate was shaking under this "violent blow".
"Bang--"
Another punch, and the door collapsed along with its frame. The guard who was dozing outside had lost consciousness and collapsed to the ground. The two thugs who were standing far away from him were also defeated by the sudden sleepiness and leaned limply on the chairs.
Just as he predicted, half a minute later, all the thugs in the room, including Old Quinn, the intelligence officer who frequented the bars in Bayam, fell to his hands.
To avoid leaking his own information, Alger checked each one, stabbed the thugs who were still alive, and then quickly left the base of "Iron" McVitie.
After leaving the alley, he realized that it was already daybreak. Some residents around had heard the fighting and the patrol police might arrive soon.
But he wasn't worried that the police would report the matter to the church. Pirates attacked each other almost every day in the Bayam underground world, causing countless casualties. Official Beyonders and the military were happy to see such incidents.
With a smile on his face, Alger, who had spent most of the night in the basement, was in high spirits and not at all sleepy. He walked briskly to a hidden residence, pushed open the unlocked door, and was immediately shocked by everything in the room.
A dark-skinned corpse lay in the middle of the room, all its hair gone. There was a large charred hole in its chest, the flesh inside had almost melted, and a circular circle of dust was left around it, as if it had been blown by a swirling wind.
His face was covered with a yellowed piece of paper with a portrait of "Iron" McVitie and the amount of the bounty on it.
"Six thousand pounds."
Alger muttered to himself as he looked at another corpse in the corner. He quickly identified the short man who had lost his right hand and was killed instantly by a knife through the heart. He was the sixth captain of the "Blood Admiral" and "Blood Thorn" Huntley, who had lost his ship in the battle with "Vice Admiral Dusk" a month ago.
"Plus 3,800 pounds..."
The scars on the two men were clearly caused by different Beyonders, which made the "Hanged Man" Alger, who was originally a little afraid, feel a little relieved. However, he immediately thought of the two magical items made by the craftsmen introduced to Miss "Queen" by him, and felt that perhaps the damage was really caused by the other party fighting against many people alone, and he couldn't help but feel a little anxious.
He made up his mind to prepare the materials to complete the promotion as soon as he got the potion formula of "Wind-loving One".
While he was thinking, he had already dragged the two bodies together and covered them with a piece of coarse cloth. Next, his informant would take the bodies to the Bayam garrison to collect the reward.
Because pirates without a bounty would not be foolish enough to bring other people's bodies to claim the bounty, this behavior of "collecting the bounty on behalf of others" was allowed by major countries. This would stimulate pirates to attack and kill each other, saving them a lot of trouble.
Of course, there are some small handling fees involved. According to his experience, he can usually get around 90% of the bounty.
About 8,800 pounds... I'll take 20%, which leaves me with around 1,800 pounds, which is almost enough to make the main materials for a Wind Blessed One...
He calculated with some joy, and suddenly remembered that "Iron" McVitie and several other men should have a total of more than 1,000 pounds, but why were their bodies not seen here?
After praying doubtfully to Mr. Fool, Alger said softly:
"Great Fool, please tell Miss Queen that she'll receive her bounty at the next Tarot Meeting... Also, are the other pirates traveling with Steel still on the run? Do you need me to take any action?"
This kind of treatment, of course, is to report it to the church. This way, the bounty that can be obtained will be much less, but it is safer and more convenient... These pirates without a backbone will only become the merits of the "Manufactured Punishers"... He chuckled to himself and happily included the bounties of Squall and others in his own income.
But less than five minutes later, before Alger could even leave the secret base, Miss Queen's reply appeared before his eyes again.
"They're already dead, but the bounty was too low, so I didn't bring them back."
ah?
Alger stared at the gray fog disappearing before him, his mouth wide open, not knowing how to respond for a moment.
————
At the same time, Blazing Danitz also gaped, his mouth wide open as he stared at the rhombus-shaped crystal before him, its colors constantly changing between red, green, and blue, and the peacock-blue carpet rolled into a long strip. He was overcome with a dilemma.
As a reward for providing information, acting as bait, and actually luring out Steel's group, Danitz was informed before the operation that he would receive a small portion of the proceeds. This was also the reason why he went into battle despite his injuries to monitor the Mandated Punishers and even obediently handed over the magical item "Shadow Cloak".
At this point, he had to choose between a "Wizard" Beyonder characteristic, which was certain to cost more than 1,500 pounds, and a "Flying Carpet" of uncertain value, but which could at least carry people.
I can sell my Beyonder traits, and spend a few hundred pounds to make a truly magical item... The various abilities of the "Crimson Thorn" might be reflected in this item, greatly improving my strength. As for the "Flying Carpet," it seems it can only hover and fly, so it's not very useful... No, at sea, being able to fly is the biggest advantage. At least I don't have to worry about escaping after a shipwreck, and the captain will be very interested...
He stretched out his uninjured right hand and wavered back and forth between the extraordinary characteristics and the magical item, showing his inner conflict.
Squeak——
The bedroom door was pushed open, and Angel, dressed in a light dress, walked out. Seeing Danitz's "I want it all" expression, she couldn't help but chuckle.
"Haven't you chosen yet?"
Attracted by her sweet voice like a nightingale, Danitz's gaze shifted from his reward and glanced over there. His pupils shrank slightly. He quickly made the right choice between "continue to admire the beauty" and "this person stabbed out the Beyonder characteristic in front of him" and retracted his gaze.
"I choose... this flying carpet."
He said through gritted teeth, picked up the peacock blue carpet, and placed it beside him, not even glancing at the "wizard" feature again.
“The right choice.”
It wasn't Angel who said this, but Klein who opened the bathroom door and walked out. He shook the water droplets off his hands and continued calmly:
"The flying carpet is worth at least 2,500 pounds."
Really? Then why are you letting me choose? Isn't that a loss?
Danitz was a little bit unconvinced, but then he felt that such a ruthless adventurer who was so frugal with his words would not lie, and he might really have gotten a bargain.
They let me challenge the trophy myself, but put in the options of 1,500 pounds and 2,500 pounds. Is it considered a reward for me to make the "right choice"?
He thought about it and suddenly felt that this was not so bad for the adventurers. At least the benefits of cooperating with them were obvious.
But why did Hermann go to the bathroom twice in less than an hour? Could it be because...
Restraining the smile on his face, Danitz glanced at Angelica, whom he almost dared not look directly at. The impulse brought by the potion in his heart made him want to blurt out a few polite words, but he quickly remembered that German was the owner of "Creeping Hunger" and made the right choice again, saving his life and the flying carpet he had just obtained.
"Ahem, I'm leaving now. I'm going to visit some newspapers in Bayam later and write down the information about 'Flame' killing 'Steel' Maveti and the others on a piece of paper and drop it in. This was agreed upon beforehand, as a warning to my captain... Of course, I'll also mention that I have two powerful helpers, two top-tier adventurers."
While mumbling, Danitz stood up from the sofa, hugged his flying carpet tightly, and walked towards the door.
"Just write his name, don't include my name."
Seeing that he was about to leave, Angel immediately reminded him.
Danitz was briefly stunned, then he understood what the other party meant. There was already a bounty on Angelica's head within the Church of Storms. If she appeared in Bayam again, it would cause a lot of unnecessary trouble.
"Okay, then it's only the veteran bounty hunter, the powerful and ruthless adventurer, Gehrman Sparrow."
After finally unleashing his provocative impulse, Danitz quickly pushed the door open and left the hotel suite before the two could react.
Hearing the panicked footsteps coming from outside the door, Angel and Klein smiled at each other.
Faced with the huge benefits of this operation, Danitz's little thoughts were no longer in the eyes of the two.
"So……"
As soon as Angel opened his mouth, the red carpet under their feet turned as red as blood. The beige walls, fabric sofas, and even the blue sky outside the window became extremely bright, like an oil painting.
A figure emerged from the void and stepped into the suite's living room. He was of medium build, with tanned skin, and wore a bright Intis-style vest and a long tuxedo. It was Klein's mentor and their "friend regardless of age difference," Azik Eggers.
Today I have over 7,000 words. Does that count as an extra update?
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