Mercenary Wars

Chapter 45 Nobles
Deep within Prestor Castle.

An elegant and quiet room.

The withered old man lay in bed, his eyes half-open, his lips moving slowly as he uttered a weak, intermittent sound: "What did the Holy See say..."

"There are still many cardinals who oppose the new marriage and inheritance bill. We may need to wait a little longer." The speaker was an old man in an ochre linen robe.

He was unkempt, with sparse hair and a tuft of ungroomed beard on his chin. His clothes were dirty and torn, making him look like a beggar, which was out of place with the elegant decoration in the room.

"But I don't have time anymore." The old man on the bed uttered a sigh, though it sounded more like a groan. "Perhaps I really have been cursed."

The beggar pulled out a few bottles of glowing white potions from somewhere and put them aside. "These bottles of Elder's Mixture will help you hold on for a while longer."

"I've already drunk eight bottles of Elder's Potion. It's almost useless to me." The old man on the bed was silent for a moment, his weak voice revealing hesitation. "Perhaps, you can help me get rid of Yuris, and then..."

"Impossible." The old beggar refused flatly, frowning, "I can't possibly kill a Moslem."

The air was quiet for a while.

Perhaps feeling his tone was a bit harsh, he added, "Furthermore, even if I were willing to do so, who can guarantee that the College of Cardinals wouldn't uncover the truth? Even without an investigation, at least three cardinals would be eager to accuse me of being the 'most suspected murderer' the moment the incident occurred."

"You should understand the style of these people who call themselves 'pure'. Isn't it because of them that you got the title of 'conspirator'?" he added.

After another period of silence, the old man on the bed asked, "I want to know if the Holy See will come to my funeral?"

"He is very busy, but he has appointed me as a special legate. I will attend your funeral in the image of the Holy See himself through the 'Papal Legate Scroll'."

"All right……"

"Knock knock." There was a knock on the door. "My Lord Earl, it's time for dinner."

"I'll go first." The old beggar said, and then walked towards the door. At the same time, his figure gradually faded, and after a few steps, he became completely transparent.

When the door opened, the two servants who came to deliver the meal did not notice at all that a transparent figure passed by them and quietly left the room.

……

At the entrance of the town, the Grey Eagle mercenaries were warmly welcomed.

Count Prestor's daughter, Lena, came in person. She was wearing a gorgeous golden dress that matched her hair color. She looked up at the towering Cassandra and couldn't help but exclaim sincerely, "My God, you're so tall!"

"Thank you," Cassandra responded politely.

Lena wanted to say more, but it was obvious that a pampered noble and a brave and combative mercenary had little in common.

After a long period of bland pleasantries, she finally realized that gender might be a good starting point for the conversation, and she started chatting about women's private matters.

This trick works well.

Soon, the three women - and Mother Teresa - burst into sisterly laughter.

Gao Jianuo, who was watching from a distance, found this scene very interesting. After all, the smiles of the three women were so different.

Lena's smile is very standard, and almost every time she can accurately show eight teeth, showing her good aristocratic qualities.

Mother Teresa is like the other extreme. She always can't help laughing. She laughs so hard that she falls over and even sheds some tears of holy light at the end, which is very consistent with the childlike innocence given to her by her big eyes.

Cassandra's smile was somewhere in between, neither as innocent as Mother Teresa's nor as unchanging as Lena's.

At the same time, Captain Lucius also appeared in everyone's sight, commanding a group of mercenaries to go to the camp, redistributing the team, and arranging the defense positions in advance.

As Ryan had mentioned, almost all combat team captains were warriors. The captain of Gao Jianuo's team was also a familiar figure, the warrior who had led the team to the Tidal Land a year ago.

As for the team's defensive position, it was a section of the city wall near the castle.

Of course, as a pharmacist, Gao Jianuo is not a combatant after all, so his identity in this team should be regarded as a "non-staff member", and whether he assists in the defense is entirely up to him voluntarily.

His official task is still to make potions.

However, he had purchased a large amount of various medicines in Nanhai Town in advance. Not only could he not use them all himself, but they were also more than enough to complete the pharmaceutical manufacturing task. This allowed him to be in a completely leisurely and free state.

According to Gao Jianuo's estimation, even if the war becomes more severe later, most of the medicines he bought will not be used up.

So it’s best to sell some of it.

He also sold all the materials provided by the mercenary group. He was too lazy to make potions like healing stones anyway. It would not bring any financial benefits and would not help improve his level 4 herbal medicine.

Considering the high market prices, he should be able to make a lot of money after selling these things.

Of course, this kind of speculation during the war is bound to be risky, and normal sales channels will definitely not work.

It has to be the black market.

Today, Gao Jianuo is no longer a rookie who just left Driftwood Town. After a year of black market activities, he has roughly figured out the various tricks of the black market.

The black market in the Fararo continent basically relies on the Thieves Guild.

It can almost be said that the Thieves Guild is a black market franchise chain that has opened stores all over Farallo.

So after some inquiries and learning the location of the Prestorburg Thieves Guild, Gao Jianuo decided to explore the local black market.

One quiet night.

Gao Jianuo put on a loose dark robe, then took out human blood from the storage ring, dipped his finger in it, and drew a few symbols on his face.

After the blood disguise spell was completed, Gao Jianuo's image changed.

He took out a mirror and looked at himself. He found that his face was neither handsome nor ugly, and had no unique features. It was mediocre to the extreme.

The reason is not difficult to understand.

He used the blood of many people, so his appearance after disguise was naturally a mixture of many people, creating such an extremely common face.

Many times, mediocrity is better than any mask.

Then Gao Jianuo came to the Thieves Guild in Prestorburg with this ordinary face.

Like Southshore, the Thieves Guild here is also a dilapidated inn on the surface, and the smell in the air is somewhat similar, a mixture of body odor and cheap beer.

Entering the inn, Gao Jianuo glanced around and quickly spotted a thin young man sitting in the corner drinking. He walked over and said, "One silver coin, take me to see the underground, how about it?"

The thin young man didn't say anything and held up two fingers.

Gao Jianuo threw out two silver coins.

The thin young man took the silver coin, stood up and said, "Follow me."

(End of this chapter)