Chapter 49: The Assassins’ Ambition

"It’s time to set off again."

Taking advantage of the time when Foreigners were scarce, Blaze strolled through the familiar streets. He felt as if he hadn’t been back in a long time, developing a sense of unfamiliarity with his surroundings.

Yet, it was also profoundly familiar. Without even intentionally looking, he found himself stopping in front of the apple stand.

The old fruit stand owner sat on a small stool. Unlike the other residents, he didn’t cast awe-filled glances at Blaze. Instead, with one eye closed, he leisurely recited a line Blaze knew all too well.

"Oh, my poor daughter. Will anyone take pity on us and buy an apple?"

"Why are you still telling this lie to fish for sympathy? Wasn’t your daughter cured long ago, and didn’t she get married and leave?" Blaze picked up an apple and handed a Copper Coin to the old man.

"That was my third daughter. Now, it’s my fourth daughter," the old fruit stand owner lied through his teeth as he accepted the Copper Coin. Seeing that it was just an ordinary Copper Coin, he clicked his tongue in dissatisfaction.

"Are you disappointed that I didn’t give you a priceless Copper Coin from the Lost Kingdom?" Blaze crouched down, maintaining eye contact with the old man on an equal level. He knew this old profiteer could definitely see through his identity—it was his Intuition.

The old fruit stand owner smiled but didn’t answer. He just leisurely continued his half-hearted rambling about his poor daughter.

A Gold Coin was held out in front of him.

"How has Marika been recently?" Blaze asked.

"She accidentally killed a Foreigner and is now sitting in a jail cell. No matter who tries to persuade her, she refuses to come out. She’s dead set on staying until her sentence is fully served," the old man said, pocketing the Gold Coin.

"That girl is too stubborn for her own good. Fortunately, accidentally killing a Blessed One only results in a three-day sentence. Without her, the Royal Knight Order’s defensive line at the Hundred-Womb Ganges would become unstable."

"Oh, my poor daughter..."

Blaze’s mouth twitched. He placed a small pouch full of Gold Coins directly into the old fruit stand owner’s hands.

"Even without Marika, the defensive line won’t collapse anytime soon. The Royal Knight Order is the elite of the Giant Kingdom. Aside from that rare pack of invulnerable Lions, no Titan Hybrid can break through them." The old fruit stand owner picked up a battered hat from the ground to cover his bald head. "But the Lions have been appearing a bit too frequently lately. Still, with the Foreigners around, they shouldn’t be a problem."

"Then I can rest easy." Blaze stood up, preparing to leave.

"Aren’t you going to visit Marika?" the old fruit stand owner suddenly asked.

"If she sees me like this, she won’t say a word."

With his back to the old man, Blaze waved his hand and left down the narrow path.

A petite Shadow watched Blaze from an alleyway not far away, then slowly followed him.

Taking a hidden route out of Balkan City, Blaze met up with Herbie and Audrey.

Audrey had shed her previous aristocratic attire, now wearing lightweight, bright silver Armor that made her look like an elegant Lily Flower Knight. Herbie, on the other hand, was nowhere to be seen; in her place was something resembling an iron barrel.

"Where is Herbie?"

"I have no idea," Audrey replied.

"Hey, you two are doing this on purpose!" The iron barrel took off its upper half, revealing an exasperated Herbie.

"I had no choice! You two are Blessed Ones; even if you die, you can resurrect, and you actually have combat capabilities. I’m just a defenseless, weak woman, so of course I need comprehensive protection," Herbie argued.

"Hmm... You probably don’t know what this thing is called," Blaze remarked.

[Coward’s Armor]

[Sacrifices mobility in exchange for maximized Defense Power. However, because wearing it completely strips the user of their Sight, it is mockingly called the Coward’s Armor. Additionally, its overly conspicuous appearance will attract focused fire from Beast Monsters.]

Audrey clearly knew the name of this Armor as well, which was why she kept turning her head away to hold back her laughter.

"Take the Armor off. Wearing this thing into the mine will just make you a walking target. You’ll draw focused fire."

"Damn it, that bastard old man!" Herbie angrily threw the helmet onto the ground.

Now it was clear who had sold her the Armor.

Underneath the Coward’s Armor, Herbie was wearing a tightly wrapped off-road driving outfit, with fine Chain Armor layered underneath.

"Alright, stop complaining and let’s go. We still have a bit of distance to cover before reaching the Broken Steel Mountain Range."

Blaze hoisted Herbie onto his shoulder, just as they had previously agreed. With Herbie’s slender legs and meager stamina, it was entirely impossible for her to run all the way to the Broken Steel Mountain Range. Thus, Blaze, who had the most stamina, would "carry" her along.

"I feel like cheap cargo." Herbie rested her chin in her hands, her eyes deadpan as her calves dangled and swayed with Blaze’s running strides.

Audrey could barely keep up with Blaze. The [Super Lung Capacity] granted by her [Singer] Profession ensured she wouldn’t completely run out of breath. Even so, her face gradually grew pale, and she looked as though she was about to vomit.

"Do you want to rest for a bit?" Blaze looked back and asked out of concern.

Audrey covered her mouth and shook her head, clearly letting her competitive spirit take over.

Endurance was determined by Power, and speed by Agility. Both of Audrey’s stats in these areas were merely in the double digits.

Just as Blaze was planning to play the role of a commoner trying to take advantage of the Lady, giving Audrey an excuse to back down, the chicken monitoring from high above sent a warning via [Visual Sharing F].

One, two... Five diversely dressed Foreigners were approaching at supersonic speed. The way they were charging straight toward them certainly didn’t look like they just happened to be on the same path.

"Audrey!"

"Wh-what’s wrong? I can still— Eek!"

Blaze abruptly scooped Audrey up into his arms. Ignoring her subconscious resistance as she lightly smacked his helmet, he lowered his body.

"We’re speeding up!"

Without waiting to see if the two women were ready, Blaze broke into a full-speed sprint. In a flash, he charged into the mine, with the chicken following right behind.

The five Foreigners arrived shortly after. One of them angrily slammed his fist into a rock.

"Fuck, they went into the tunnel!"

"It’s like an anthill in there. If they run around blindly, we’ll never find them."

"Argh! An opportunity I finally managed to find!" The youngest of the five, a little girl who looked underage, stomped her feet in frustration.

After being dragged along and killed by Red Dragon Marika, it had taken her half the day to resurrect. Right after resurrecting, she had spotted the Black Beast Knight. Going with the mindset that she could clear it even without gear, she had followed him, only to discover an unexpected surprise.

Singer Audrey, a target worth 1,000 RMB.

She had even gone out of her way to call her followers over to help, but now the targets had actually ducked into the mine.

"Let’s go. We’re going in. Activate your tracking Skills."

"Boss, is it really necessary?" one of the followers asked, crouching down to persuade her. "Even if you want to reclaim your seat in Asasel, killing a single target won’t do any good. We’d be better off hurrying to grind levels."

"Idiot! Who said the target was that Audrey? It’s the one next to her!"

"The Black Beast Knight? Trying to kill that guy is a completely thankless task."

"Idiot! Idiot! Idiot! I mean the one next to him!" The little girl stomped her feet furiously.

"The one next to him? I don’t think she’s a Blessed One?"

"That person is Herbie Hermes, the one who orchestrated the performance at the Epidaurus Theater and the one arranging the refuge for the Singers." The little girl grabbed the follower’s Chest Armor and forcefully yanked him closer to her face.

"[Hermes’ Travel Hat] never does business at a loss. If Herbie Hermes dies, [Hermes’ Travel Hat] will have no reason to continue spending massive amounts of wealth to arrange for the Singers to play hide-and-seek with us."

"Ah! And we won’t have to worry about offending [Hermes’ Travel Hat] and being forced to restart our accounts! We can strike however we want." The follower instantly understood, even taking it a step further. "This will be a huge favor to the members of [Asasel] working on this commission. It basically means they’ll owe you one. Having them carry you to grind levels in the highest difficulty zones, Boss, and complete Special Profession achievements will be a piece of cake."

"Most importantly, Herbie Hermes is just an ordinary person." The little girl was smiling, but her expression lacked any of the innocence that her appearance ought to have had. "If she dies, she won’t resurrect."