Assassin's Chronicle

"Arlanga, where are you going?" Anfey asked.

"Master, you probably do not know there is no more food in White Mountain City. We are going to Maho Empire to buy some and sell here to make some money," Arlanga said, trying to please Anfey.

"It seems that you heard necromancers have lost the battle," Anfey said, "but you are crazy to do business at this time. Necromancers lost the battle, but many death spirits are all around. It would be hard for you to protect yourselves from those death spirits. Arlanga, wouldn’t you be the very first person to dare to do business in White Mountain City?"

"I have to do it, master. If I could be the first, I would make a little more. In fact, I do not want to come out and risk my life if I have a choice." Arlanga looked respectful, but he hated Anfey’s guts. If it were possible, he wished he could jump Anfey and choke him.

Arlanga let his daughter and son-in-law handle his business after he got older. He recently found that he had lost all power in his business. He used to be a spender. He had been miserable with the little allowance "granted" from his daughter and son-in-law. Half of the pension he saved up was robbed by Anfey. He had to make some money before he was not too old to do so. In other words, everyone except Anfey had shown care for him. If Anfey did not rob his pension, he would not have to live such a difficult life.

"How could you say that? It only shows you have a strong business sense," Anfey said. "Arlanga, do you know Batusimon?"

"Yes, we are old friends." Arlanga had a big smile on his face. In fact, he did not know Batusimon. He was only bluffing. He was simply bullsh*tting.

"What do you think of Batusimon?" Anfey asked.

"Master, do you want..." Arlanga was shocked.

"Nothing, I only want to know him a little better." Anfey smiled.

At the same time, Anfey sensed a very weak surge. He kept his face straight as he immediately released his telepathy. The view in the wagon started to look clear. It was different to observe with his eyes than his other senses. There were blind spots with vision, but sensing allowed Anfey to see everything and everyone without any blind spots.

Honna sat diagonally across from Anfey with her hands clasped. The ring on her middle finger gave out a gentle orange light. After a while, she moved her hands and pointed the ring at Suzanna. A bright gold light flashed on the ring. Honna’s face immediately changed. Edy, who had been wearing a smile, suddenly shook.

Suzanna lifted her head and took a look at Honna and Edy. She did not notice the weak surges because her telepathy was a lot weaker than Anfey’s, but she did notice the weird looks on Honna and Edy.

"Ms. Honna, I haven’t seen you for a year. You look even more beautiful than a year ago," Anfey said with a smile.

"Thank you. I am flattered." Honna giggled. "I hope you are not lying to me."

"Of course not. I would not lie to you." Anfey held his hand out and grabbed Honna’s right arm in a flirty way. He commented, "Your skin seems to be smoother."

"Really?" Honna answered Anfey with a sweet voice as she leaned toward Anfey.

"Hey, what is this?" Anfey pretended to just notice the ring.

"My grandpa gave it to me. Huh? Ow!" Honna screamed in pain. She even had tears in her eyes. Her middle finger on the right hand looked bloody.

Anfey sounded like a gentleman, but acted harshly. He took the ring off by force without caring if it would hurt Honna. Of course, Anfey did not think he needed to care about a social butterfly.

"I am sorry." Anfey smiled. He weighed the ring in his hand and measured it on his fingers. His fingers were thicker than Honna’s so the ring barely fit on his little finger. "Can you give it to me? I like this ring a lot."

Honna’s face got pale. She had already forgotten the pain in her finger. She thought quickly, trying to analyze the situation and make a right decision. She cherished this ring. This ring was her secret because it could identify anyone’s fighting ability. She had been practicing her moves using this ring. No one had noticed anything while she was using the ring, so she assumed Anfey would not notice either. She thought someone must have sold her out.

"Why are you not talking? You do not want to give it to me, is that it?" Anfey was still smiling.

"If you really like it, I can give it to you." Honna forced a smile, but it looked even worse than crying.

"Thank you. I really appreciate it." Anfey turned to look at Suzanna. "Suzanna, do you know what this is?"

"What is it?" Suzanna asked casually. Suzanna looked too aloof. She did not seem to care whether Anfey was touching Honna’s arm or hurting her by force. She did not seem to be jealous or have any sympathy towards another woman. It was because she confidently believed in Anfey. Anfey seemed to have legit reasons for doing everything.

Anfey released his telepathy and turned the ring at Suzanna. That ring shone a bright gold light again. "Did you see it? This ring can tell me you are a master swordswoman."

"I think I have heard about this ring." Suzanna frowned and began thinking.

Both Honna and Edy shook from the shock. Arlanga seemed to shake even more. He was scared when he learned Suzanna was a master swordswoman. He seemed to hear Anfey complimenting Suzanna’s huge progress. He wondered if Anfey was even better than a master swordsman? Arlanga broke out in a cold sweat on his back and forehead. He tried to control himself, not showing his hatred. Now he dared not even hate Anfey any longer.

Anfey suddenly turned the ring to Edy. A grey light flashed on the ring. It looked like the ring was covered in thick fog.

"Death spirits? Are you a necromancer?" Anfey was shocked and immediately understood what the grey light meant.

"Master, do I look like a necromancer?" Edy rolled up his sleeves with a bitter smile to show his strong arms.

"Magic tools are more reliable than words. I’d rather believe magic tools." Anfey said, looking at the ring.

"Master, I have nothing to do with them. I really do not know whether they are necromancers," Arlanga suddenly yelled.

"Quiet, quiet! I know you have nothing to do with them. Only crazy people would be involved with necromancers. If you wanted to make money buying and selling food, it proves that you are not that irrational." Anfey laid his eyes on Edy. "Sir, can we talk? How should I treat you? Do you want to exchange my mercy for your secrets?"

"It would not work. You will kill me anyway." It was obvious that Edy had given up arguing that he was not a necromancer. He closed his eyes. He looked like he was waiting to die.

"Are you doubting my reputation?" Anfey smiled. "You know what, I have a friend waiting outside. He has amazing communication skills. I will have him talk to you." Anfey gave Suzanna a look.

Edy already had an answer as Suzanna just ducked out of the wagon. "No, no need. You are doomed. Master Minos will take over the whole continent. It would not matter if I tell you anything or not."

"Don’t you think it would be too early to talk about who will win this continent. If you tell me secrets, you can live longer. If you do not tell me, you could die very soon," Anfey said casually.

"It is up to you. Master Minos will get revenge," Edy said distantly. He would have struggled and tried to work things out if he did not know Suzanna was a top power. The cruel reality had crushed his hopes. Just as he said, it did not matter if he gave away secrets or did anything.

"Can Minos beat all the top powers on Pan Continent? If he can, he would be way more powerful than we think," Anfey sneered. "Such a powerful person would care little people like you two. Besides, I am not scared of anyone. Do you know how Annunciata died?"

"Annunciata did not die. Master Minos gave her new life," Honna interrupted.

Anfey froze there. Anfey responded quickly and was very sophisticated. Sometimes if Anfey did not think of something, it would only be because he need something to help him think. After hearing what Honna said, he immediately realized why the church doubted the death of Slanbrea. Necromancers must have done something to make the church believe he had not died. Reborn Annunciata must know what had happened.

"Look, Ms. Honna is smarter than you." Anfey regained his calmness.

"Honna, do you really want to do this?" Edy suddenly opened his eyes and looked coldly at Honna.

"Don’t you remember what happened in the past few days?" Honna said slowly, "Five days ago, we should have left White Mountain City. My people had an accident in the magic lab. An Element explosion attracted patrols. We were surrounded before we could even walk out the door. We had to not only put out the fire but also reimburse our neighbors for their losses. We worked until really late that day."

Edy quietly watched Honna, but Honna had zoned out. "Four days ago, when we were ready to leave, Archmage Michael sent me a birthday party invitation. You said we needed to get along with him and could wait another day. I listened to you and stayed."

"Three days ago, we were about to leave. Just as we walked out of the room, we were attacked by a group of starving mercenaries. They killed our horses and tried to take the dead horses with them. What a surprise when Glory mercenaries showed up to provide security. That group of starving mercenaries took me hostage against Glory mercenaries. Hehehe, I do not even want to say how those idiots treated me. Of course, with everyone’s help, I got out safely."

"Two days ago, as we were about to leave, I realized I had lost my magnet somewhere the previous day during the fight. Without the magnet, we could not finish our assignment. We looked for it the entire day and finally found it in a pile of dog sh*t after dark."

"Yesterday when we were about to leave, we saw this stupid ass recruiting mercenaries. You said we could disguise ourselves in the merchant group so no one could notice us. This stupid ass said it was not safe to ride the wagon on the street. He needed to park wagons in front of the city gate and asked Glory mercenaries to protect us. We had to wait another day."

"We could have left earlier today, but this stupid ass said he did not have enough money for the trip. He did not leave until noon. Now we are stopped here. If we could have left earlier, we would not have these troubles."

"Honna, why are you saying these? Are you blaming me?" Edy said coldly.

"Master, can you tell me who sold us out?" Honna did not answer Edy but looked at Anfey.

Anfey could not help laughing inside. Anfey thought to himself, These two poor guys! They only wanted to get out of the city but ran into so much trouble. They must feel helpless." Anfey smiled. "Sold you out? You think too much. We just ran into you."

"Running into us? How could you just run into us?" Honna shook her head.

"Arlanga lead me here. I came over because I saw Arlanga. Before that, your mercenaries saw my people drinking and wanted to rob them."

"Those mercenaries!" Arlanga yelled in anger. "I have killed over a dozen horses to feed them. They are still not satisfied and have to rob others for alcohol."

"It seems you did not want to see me," Anfey interrupted Arlanga’s yelling.

"Huh..." Arlanga was shocked for a second before he realized what he said made it too obvious and did not allow him to find excuses to cover his real intentions. He tried to please Anfey with a smile. "No, master, I mean they did well, really, great."

"Are you saying I should be robbed?" Anfey said.

"No." Arlanga looked like he was about to cry. He really did not how to explain it.

"Don’t you think it is weird that we ran into so many ridiculous coincidences and accidents?" Honna said to Edy with a blank face. "Think about what our assignment is. No matter how you think of it, I seemed to understand something."

"Do you think our luck has run out?" Edy forced the words out one by one.