Unparalleled Double Harmony

Chapter 521 Encounter in the pub
"Gaoying Circus?" Brother Paul looked at the flyer in his hand with suspicion and muttered this in a questioning tone.

Then, he turned around and looked at the brothers of the Order of the Lord behind him. The latter just shrugged their shoulders and spread their hands, with a noncommittal look on their faces.

"Mr. Monk, it's not surprising that you haven't heard of us. Our circus was established not long ago and we haven't performed many shows yet." Opposite Paul was Old Feng, who put on a flattering face.

This scene took place in the afternoon, when the circus's convoy had already stationed near the town of Slanic, Moldova, so the members of the Order of the Lord of the Rings soon came over.

"Oh..." Paul groaned, "Have you heard of our Divine Ring Society?"

"Oh! Of course I have heard of it." Old Feng replied with a smile on his face, "For an organization like yours that has a noble and resounding reputation, we can hear people praising it across several towns!"

As the saying goes, "flattery never wears out, no matter how many holes there are." Even though those guys from the Divine Ring Society knew that what Lao Feng said was naked flattery and lies, they couldn't just stand up and retort by saying "You're talking nonsense! We are obviously a bunch of bad guys who bully men and women!" right?
"Well... you're too kind." Paul was still polite on the surface, but his next sentence immediately revealed his true intentions, "Since you have heard of us, you should also know the rules here..."

"Yes, yes, yes! It has been prepared for you all a long time ago!" Old Feng responded enthusiastically without waiting for the other party to finish speaking, then turned around and shouted.

Less than half a minute after he finished shouting, two clowns came over carrying a large box.

bang——

The moment Sun Yixie and Huang Donglai put the box on the ground, the sound of the box falling to the ground and the dust it raised immediately made Paul and the "monks" behind him light up their eyes.

"This box contains all the proceeds from our circus' last performance. We are willing to donate all of it to support your noble cause." Old Feng said this, and took another step forward. Then, while rubbing his hands, he lowered his voice and said in front of Paul, "In addition... I personally have a small gift for you, Brother. I hope you will accept it with a smile."

As he spoke, Lao Feng quietly took out a small purse from his pocket and handed it to Paul.

What I didn't expect was...

"Hey~" Paul pushed the bag of money back and said righteously, "No, I can't accept your gift. All the 'dedications' belong to God. If you really want to make some other contribution for us, even if you just come to our church and use your sleeves to wipe off a wisp of dust from the statue... we will be very grateful."

“Uh…” Old Feng was also stunned for a moment when he saw the other party’s reaction, but he was an old hand after all, so he quickly regained his composure and continued, “I’m really sorry, monk, I didn’t mean anything else, but those of us who hang around in the market…will more or less pick up some bad habits, I hope you can forgive my abruptness.”

"Yeah." Paul nodded, as if he was quite satisfied with what Old Feng said. Then he calmly gestured to the brothers behind him to take the box away, and said to Old Feng, "Don't worry, Mr. Silas, I don't mean to blame you..." He glanced at the heavy box, "It can be seen that you are a very pious person... As long as your circus doesn't cause trouble during its stay in this town, we in the Divine Ring will certainly welcome your arrival."

Just like that, after Brother Paul exchanged a few polite words with Lao Feng, he left with his men.

Looking at their backs, Huang Donglai thought thoughtfully, "It seems that the Divine Ring Society is not simple..." He paused, "If it were the 'Fire Lotus Sect' back then, that little leader would not only refuse to accept the benefits... He would be polite if he didn't ask you for a share."

"Could it be... that they are really a noble organization? It's just that the way they deal with the outside world is too brutal?" Lao Feng continued.

"Ha!" Sun Yixie laughed when he heard that. "What a noble fool! Do you think he doesn't want to accept it? He just doesn't dare to accept it."

Brother Sun was very confident in what he said, because with his many years of experience in the fish market, he could tell just by looking at Paul's eyes that this guy definitely wanted to buy it.

"That's right." Huang Donglai also said, "On the basis of 'not daring to accept', he said a few nice words to you that seemed quite noble, and he didn't lose anything."

"What you mean is..." Lao Feng thought for a moment and then said, "He just refused my small bribe because the discipline in the organization is very strict."

"Yes, so I said this divine ring must be something special." Huang Donglai continued, "At least... their leader is something special."

…………

A few hours later, at David's Tavern.

The name of this tavern was not given by David. In fact, this tavern has no name, but everyone calls it that.

The first floor of David's Tavern has a tattered counter and several sets of even tattered tables and chairs. Behind the counter is a door connecting to the kitchen. There is a small door in the kitchen that leads to the cellar where wine and food are stored. The second floor is where David's family lives.

Taverns of this size were very common at the time, and there were more than a dozen similar stores in this small town alone. Because many Europeans at the time did not drink water (directly), but instead drank milk, wine, or malt liquor, there was not much difference between "taverns" and "restaurants" in rural areas at that time. They both served simple processed food and drinks.

Tonight, David's Tavern is open as usual.

Although the owner David was taken away by the Order of the Ring, his wife Junea and daughter Beth still have to maintain the tavern business, otherwise they will be even more outgoing.

"Hey! Junia, I heard that David has been taken away for three days. It's about time you thought about what to do in the future, right?" A drunkard who often came here made a cruel joke to the proprietress in a self-proclaimed humorous tone, "Why don't you just follow me from now on? I will treat Beth like my own daughter...hahahaha..."

Several of his friends at the table also laughed after he finished speaking.

But Junia ignored them and just quietly cleaned up a table next to her.

Because David was not around, and Junia did not want her teenage daughter to deal with these drunks, she handed over the kitchen work to her daughter Beth, and all the reception and cleaning work in the store had to be done by her... She was so tired that she didn't even have the time or energy to scold these drunks.

"Hey! I'm talking to you. Are you deaf?" After a while, the drunkard saw that Junia completely ignored him, and suddenly got angry. He grabbed Junia's arm as she was passing by, "Is this how you treat guests?"

Although this "frequent drunkard" often said some cheap words when he was drunk, he never did anything inappropriate.

But, as he said... David had been taken away for three days; there were no men left in the store, only orphans and widows were left, and some people became bolder.

Moreover, they were the only customers in the restaurant at the moment, so he became even more unscrupulous.

"Let me go!" Junia struggled, "You've drunk too much!"

"Shut up! Woman, what's it to you how much I want to drink?" The drunkard refused to give in, but he was indeed drunk. After struggling with the proprietress for a few rounds, he stumbled and fell to the ground.

After the fall, he didn't feel much pain, after all, alcohol has a certain anesthetic effect, but his emotions were further out of control.

"Look, Adrian was beaten by a woman! Hahahaha..." His friends at the table were also making a fuss because they were drunk.

“Damn it…” Then, the drunkard immediately staggered to his feet and slapped the proprietress, “I asked you to push me…”

But when he was halfway through swinging his palm, it was grabbed by a strong hand.

"Who?" the drunkard asked in an angry tone, turning his head back.

The moment the drunkard saw the person behind him, he sobered up a lot.

"What do you want to do, Adrian?" After a moment, the man who grabbed his arm said coldly, "You are not going to attack an unarmed woman, are you?"

"No...no no...I...I just..." The drunkard was so scared that his legs went limp and he couldn't even utter a complete sentence.

Even the friends who were sitting at the same table with him were speechless at this moment.

They all silently put down the food and wine glasses in their hands, sat with their heads down with a nervous look on their faces, and did not even dare to look at the drunkard.

"Hmph..." The man snorted coldly, let go of the drunkard's hand, and then said, "Get out of here."

Two seconds later, the drunkard crawled out of the door.

Then, the man walked to the drunkard's table of friends, looked down at them for a few seconds, and then reminded them: "It seems that your friend forgot to pay for the drinks."

Those people also understood what the other party said. As soon as the other party finished speaking, they silently put down the money for the drinks on the table and then went out in shame.

After all the idlers and drunkards had left, the man slowly walked up to Junia and asked in a deep voice, "Are you okay, ma'am?"

Junia looked at the tall, burly, stern-looking middle-aged man in front of her. Although he had just helped her out, Junia still didn't give him a good look: "How is my husband?"

The tall man was silent for a few seconds, then he took out a purse from his pocket and placed it on the counter. "This is what the priest asked me to bring to you. He said he was very sorry for the behavior of those monks who bought on credit here. He wants you to know that those people have received the punishment they deserved."

Some people may find this strange. Didn't Father Norchi tell David that the monks who had borrowed money on credit would come to the tavern to pay it back? What was he talking about?

But if you think about it carefully, you will understand that for a person like the priest, what he said to David was not necessarily the truth; even if he was telling the truth at the time, there was no guarantee that he would change his mind later.

As the leader of the Order of the Lord, Father Norch would act "capriciously" from time to time, so as to make his subordinates feel his "unpredictable grace and power."

That's what happened today... After the priest finished talking with David during the day, he deliberately delayed looking for the monks who bought on credit, and instead secretly observed whether the two thugs who tortured David would reveal his intentions. As a result, not long after, the two men really spread what they heard.

So the priest changed his original plan...

In the evening, he called the group of monks who thought they would soon get a "fat job" on credit. When they were full of expectations and complacent, he punished them unexpectedly.

The person who punished them was the tall man who came to give them money.

His name is Balder. He is the strongest "thug" of the Order of the Ring and the only person that Father Norch truly trusts.

I won't go into detail about how Balder "punished" the monks. Anyway, the five of them were seriously injured, and they would definitely lose trust in the two guys who "leaked the priest's intentions" and even hate them...

This is Norci's way of controlling people.

Why did the previous article say that the "Order of the Brothers of Divine Punishment" is an organization with strict rules?
Just look at those who really follow the rules... like Paul, like Balde, they can become small leaders or even the priest's confidants.

As for those fools who dare to enrich themselves or discuss the superiors' opinions without authorization, they are destined to be minions. Normally, the priest does not pursue their behavior, not because he does not know, but because he does not care or it is unnecessary. However, when the priest feels it is necessary, he can control them at any time with applause.

"Then..." Junia looked at the bag of money and said, "...if I hand over this money as a 'donation', will my husband come back?"

"Originally it was possible." Balder said this with a "but" at the end, "But he offended the priest today, so it's not enough to just make up for this month's 'dedication'."

"What else do you want? My father was arrested from the very beginning because your people kept buying things on credit! Now you pretend to bring the money, and then take it away immediately, but you still won't let my father go!" Beth in the kitchen heard the noise just now and wanted to come out to help her mother, but then when she saw Bald driving away the drunkard, she hid at the kitchen door and eavesdropped. Now when she heard the other party say this, she couldn't help but run out excitedly.

The girl's tearful accusation made Balder's stern face flash with guilt, but he immediately took the purse back and continued in a cold tone: "The priest said that you are very smart and should know what else you can do for the Divine Ring besides money."

"What?" Junia's face twisted upon hearing this. "He said 'you guys'?" She said this and looked at her daughter who was still a young girl beside her.

Snapped--

Then she angrily slapped Balder in the face: "Shameless! You are a bunch of shameless beasts!"

But Balde did not refute or fight back. He just turned around and walked out silently.

The face he turned away also showed pain.

"Hey! Don't you have eyes when you walk, man?"

Just as Balder was about to step out of the door, a man came in from outside and bumped into him, cursing at him.

Balder was also very surprised, because no one in the whole town could stand after colliding with him like this.

But the man in front of him... for some reason, the burly man with a sack on his face did not move at all after bumping into him. Instead, Balde himself took half a step back.

"I'm not your buddy...friend." Balde had never met anyone in town who dared to talk to him like this, and he was in a bad mood, so his reply was also somewhat hostile.

As for the guy wearing the sack, you may have guessed it was Ugly Bob. So what else could he have done?

"I'm not your friend, man!"

So... this long night began with the repetitive conversation between these two people.