Kingdom Bloodline

Chapter 342 Which one do you choose?
As it turned out, Grevo was indeed the local bigwig in the Shield District. Even at night, even with his limited mobility, and even though the Shield District was a maze of ruins with few inhabitants, the veteran still managed to find the way out through the winding paths.

Under the moonlight, Thales quietly followed behind him with his head down, pretending to be the one pushing Griveo's wheelchair. He watched Griveo move through the streets and alleys as if he were in his own backyard, climbing over walls and fences without any hindrance, and even exchanging secret signals and gestures with different people living in various corners.

Thales kicked away a pebble, dusted himself off, and felt a slight sense of感慨 (gǎnkǎi, a complex emotion encompassing both emotion and reflection): he hadn't felt this way in a long time.

The sight of the desolate Shield District reminded him of the days when he begged in the stinking ditches and alleys of Yongxing City long ago.

It wasn't until they arrived at a dilapidated brick house that Griveaux coughed and knocked four times on the door, two quickly and two slowly.

Thales was surprised to hear a series of crackling noises coming from inside the house.

It looks like someone fell off the bed?
Footsteps sounded behind the door, followed by an impatient female voice.

"For Haoyue's sake!"

"If you want to buy the goods, you can't wait until tomorrow morning..."

Griveaux, in his wheelchair, spoke in a muffled voice:
"Krz, it's me."

The sounds from behind the door stopped.

As the wooden door opened, a sleepy-eyed face appeared before them.

This was a woman in her thirties, with messy long hair, looking down at Griveaux. She was thinly dressed, her eyes were hazy, and her breasts were faintly visible.

She looked as if she had just woken up, staring blankly at the two people in front of the door.

Thales politely averted his gaze from her barely concealed chest, suppressing his question of "who is she?", and looked at Griveo.

Griveor scoffed: "Tell me, Krz, you haven't been drinking... or I'll have to fuck you awake."

He glanced inside the room and said, "It's best if there aren't any girls coming to 'take your measurements' in there."

"With your cowardly cripple like you, who's fucking whom?" The woman at the door rubbed her eyes. "It's not my fault that I'm popular with women. After all, I'm one of the few in the Shield District... wait a minute."

The woman's expression changed after she saw the person in front of her clearly.

Her hand, which had been behind the door, fell to its lower end, followed by a heavy metallic thud.

"You are hurt……"

“Coming to me so late, I have a bad feeling, cripple—just like when we first met,” the woman named Kez said with a dejected expression, but her gaze shifted to Griveaux’s bandaged wound, and her brow furrowed immediately.
"Are we being watched again?"

Griveaux nodded with a gloomy expression.

"Still those idiots from the market in the Sword District."

The veteran pointed to his wound and said dismissively, "This time, they even brought the real thing."

Kerz leaned against the door frame and rubbed his face with his palm, as if trying to brush away his drowsiness.

“Okay, I’ll sew it up for you,” she sighed, glancing around cautiously, her face showing annoyance. “Longxiao City is in such a mess, and they still have the leisure to mess with you… fuck them.”

Thales looked curiously at the foul-mouthed, alluring, and disheveled woman, pondering her relationship with Griveaux.

“And you, cripple, I’ve told you a hundred times, things aren’t like they used to be,” Krzysz looked up, his face full of helplessness, and earnestly advised, “Don’t go out alone at night anymore, at least bring…”

“Hey,” Griveaux interrupted her, his eyes hardening.
“I’ve handled it—I gave them a little lesson.”

Krzysz looked at Griveor's expression, his annoyance froze slightly.

She asked tentatively:

"Your 'little lesson'?"

Griveaux did not answer.

Thales recalled the slaughterhouse he had just seen and blinked helplessly toward a corner where no one could see him.

Yes.

A small lesson learned.

Krz seemed to understand what the other person meant, and then narrowed his eyes: "I understand."

"That means war has broken out."

"A fight to the death."

Her expression turned serious as she lowered her head in deep thought: "I'll go find Faron right away. Although the city is under martial law, I think we can bring back a hundred skilled men before dawn, and another fifty after dawn... We can catch them off guard..."

Thales' heart skipped a beat: What?
Is this woman also... a "street hustler"?

Greaver coughed and interjected, "I have other things to do before that."

“They didn’t expect us to retaliate so quickly. The patrols are busy…” Kuz muttered to himself about the gang fight, then paused slightly when he heard Griveo’s words, raising his eyes: “Something else?”

It was only then that Krzysz noticed the boy behind Griveaux.

She instinctively tightened the thin fabric around her chest, then frowned in confusion as she looked at the nine-pointed star emblem on Thales' shoulder: "Wait, who is this kid? Is he a nobleman?"

"he?"

“Come and meet Krzys, Thales,” Griveor turned to Thales and casually gestured to Krzys, “the North’s unluckiest tailor—part-time doctor.”

The veteran pointed to an unsightly scar on his arm and sneered:

"My specialty is—sewing."

Thaleschakz gave an awkward laugh: "Hey, hello there."

Kez, a seamstress and doctor, looked on with suspicion: "Okay?"

Grevo turned around and gave a self-deprecating sneer: "Stop guessing—he is the prince."

Kez didn't react immediately and asked in confusion, "Which prince?"

Griveaux scoffed.

"Which prince could it be?"

The man in the wheelchair grinned: "Where to..."

"That's where the bad luck happens..."

"Prince of the Stars".

Thales coughed softly, pretending not to hear.

The next moment, as expected, the prince saw that the confusion on Kez's face turned into shock, and he froze on the spot.

----

Inside the house, Thales sat in a chair, gnawing on a piece of rye bread that was probably left over from the previous quarter—a truly awful bread—and looking at the equally simple and dilapidated house.

A bare wooden table was piled with fabrics and cheap women's perfume boxes were haphazardly placed on it. Many clothing patterns hung from the ceiling. Fabrics and clothes were piled up everywhere on the floor, tables, and beds, including underwear.

Needles and thread, scissors, rulers and coils are everywhere, there is a mirror with three cracks on the wall, and a saw in the corner.

Behind the door lay a menacing military knife—Thales knew what the metallic clang was from when the woman let go.

Thales picked up the wooden bowl, took a sip of the slightly off-taste water, and looked at Krz.

The woman's identity is now clear: a tailor.

Thales sighed inwardly: But...doctor?
Sewing with one hand and sewing a person with the other?
Healing the sick and saving lives, tailoring clothes to fit—he glanced at the menacing military knife behind the door—perhaps also handling gang conflicts?

The prince glanced at the less-than-flattering clothing styles around him—and what was the tailor doing with a saw?
With the most wicked thoughts in mind, Thales muttered to himself: No wonder they're so poor.

On the other side of the room, Krzysz, fully dressed, sat on a wooden bed with a broken leg, supported by bricks, arguing quietly with Griveo in front of him, but this did not escape Thales' ears.

"are you crazy?"

Kuz pushed aside a long, coarse cloth dress hanging above her head and looked anxiously at the composed Grevo:

"It wasn't just the main road to the west... From the city gates, the city walls, the gates between districts, to the key forks in the street, they set up checkpoints almost everywhere. The patrol teams took the reward money and worked overtime, day and night, never letting up."

"It is said that even places as far away as the Muxue River ferry are no exception."

Griveaux narrowed one eye slightly: "Is that so?"

Krz let out a breath and unconsciously glanced at Thales, who was still eating.

“For decades, apart from collecting taxes, the Shield District and Hammer District have been completely ignored. Even murder cases don’t bother those big shots,” the seamstress told Greaver, counting on her fingers as she explained the situation.

"But today, not only the patrol team, but even the White Blade Guards came to the door. Not to mention the Spear District and Bow District, which are closely connected with nobles and the rich, even in our Hammer District, dozens of households on Mad Street were searched. They even searched the dancers' underwear. It lasted until 10 p.m., and I heard it will continue tomorrow morning."

Krzys slapped her hard, then unceremoniously hooked one leg up and placed it against her protruding breasts, leaving the other leg swinging freely under the bed.

She gritted her teeth, showing no trace of feminine weakness: "This is a major event, Griveaux, an absolutely major event, comparable to six years ago..."

Griveaux gave a sarcastic smile.

Thales took a bite of bread and, for some reason, thought of Lady Ginny from long ago.

In contrast, the seamstress in front of them was much rougher, but she had the same unpretentious and efficient feel as Ginny.

but……

Given the complicated nature of Thales's identity, since Greaver brought him to her without hesitation...

On the other side, Krz let out a painful sigh: "During the day, you heard how the Meteorites threatened us, but it wasn't just us."

She solemnly extended her finger, speaking with great emotion, trying to make the other party understand the seriousness of the matter: "Spear District, Sword District, Bow District, almost every local tyrant or influential person in every territory has been contacted. Anyone who gets involved is an enemy of Dragon Sky City."

Griveor sneered, "They, that bunch of lackeys, can represent Dragon Sky City?"

“No, you don’t know, the Order Hall also spread the word through several order officers…” Krz cleared his throat, glanced over here, and saw that Thales was still eating and drinking by himself, seemingly unaware of them.

She then lowered her voice and said:

"They said that whoever has news of the prince, or his whereabouts, will gain the friendship of the Order Hall and the patrol team—the kind that will turn a blind eye to murders in the street—and even get three thousand gold coins for helping them find the prince."

Krzy gritted his teeth, his face contorted in pain, and he trembled as he held up three fingers.

At that moment, Griveaux, who had been motionless, was finally moved, and his remaining eye widened to be bigger than a pigeon egg!

Thales frowned slightly.

Griveaux looked up abruptly: "Three, three thousand?"

The seamstress clicked her tongue and gestured in Thales's direction, a hint of greed and allure inadvertently flashing in her bright eyes:

"Think about it?"

A second later, Grevo desperately pulled his jaw back from the floor and coughed awkwardly.

"Hmph," the veteran said sternly.
Do I look like a money-grubber? Like the kind of petty person who's tempted by a few gold coins?

Kertz's smile vanished, and she looked at him with a complicated expression.

Griveaux felt a little embarrassed by the woman's gaze, turned his face away, and said seriously, "We're going to send him out, that's all."

Upon hearing this, Thales rubbed his lips with his upper teeth, feeling rather strange.

Krz let out a breath, his face a mixture of regret and hesitation.

Both of them were silent for a while, and Thales took the opportunity to force himself to swallow the last bite of the unpalatable bread.

"They'll soon become suspicious of this place."

The seamstress sat on her bed, arms crossed with worry: "Although the Shield Zone is difficult to search, it will come sooner or later... It's all ruins, chaotic and disorganized. Is there a better hiding place than this?"

Greaver looked up, his brow furrowed. "So we need to get him out as soon as possible."

Upon hearing this, Krz sighed, "This is a deal that risks the entire Shield Zone and Hammer Zone. You'd better have a good reason."

Griveaux remained silent for a few seconds.

I want to send him out.

He said calmly, "That's the reason."

Krz was slightly taken aback.

The woman's expression was somber as she silently gazed at Griveaux.

Griveaux sat in his wheelchair, pursing his lips.

"God," after a long while, Krzy covered his face in pain and lay down on the bed, "I'll be dragged to the gallows by you sooner or later, you cripple."

“Yes, the job of going up the gallows,” Griveaux scoffed. “And what do you do?”

Kez pulled the blanket over herself, trembling slightly in an exaggerated manner, and let out a weak sob.

Thales subtly raised his eyes and observed the exit inside the room.

Three seconds later.

“Fine,” Kuz threw back the covers, struggled to sit up, and angrily pointed a trembling finger at Greaver: “I’m telling you, you cripple…”

"From this moment on..." The poor seamstress wore a look of utter despair, as if her life was over:
"I've actually fallen in love with the gallows!"

----

“Use whatever you have here. First, change out of this ugly outfit,” Kuz said, looking at Thales with disdain at his disheveled appearance combined with his expensive clothes. “It’s telling everyone that you’re just that damned prince.”

Thales shrugged, ignoring the other party's malice, and moved away from a bunch of oddly styled women's summer clothes, readily grabbing a set of shabby and ugly linen everyday clothes.

He removed his elaborately styled belt and replaced it with the simplest and cheapest coarse cloth belt. He kicked off his lizard-skin boots, put on a linen garment he hadn't touched in a long time, and then picked up a pair of scissors to cut his hair into a bird's nest shape.

Not only that, Thales wrapped the dagger sheath, which was inscribed with "A king is not defined by bloodline," with layer upon layer of cheap black cloth until it was unrecognizable. He then flattened the map of the Palace of Restoration and stuffed it into the lining of his clothes along with the black cloth, intending to sew it up as tightly as possible with his terribly rotten needle and thread.

As for the Blood Fang Bracelet that the Queen of Night left him, he simply wore it on his wrist, disguising it as a beast tooth ornament.

Finally, Thales finished changing into clothes according to the standards of the beggar era.

He walked up to the mirror and saw a strange young man reflected in it.

Thales nodded in satisfaction, feeling that he looked like an ordinary suburban lad.

"How about it? Will this work?"

However, when Thales turned his head and looked at the pensive Griveor and Krzysz...

“Sigh,” Griveaux sighed in his wheelchair, rubbing his forehead.

"Are there any ways to improve this?"

Thales was taken aback.

“Of course,” Kuz said, looking at Thales in his coarse linen clothes, his sharp-featured face full of sorrow. “I have a way that will guarantee even his own mother won’t recognize him.”

Griveo's eyes lit up.

But when Krzysz pointed to the military knife behind the door, her next words made the veteran's eyes darken again:

"Take this and cut off his entire face."

Thales opened his mouth: "Huh?"

Under Thales' astonished gaze, Kez sighed and shook his head, crossing his arms as he looked Thales up and down: "His skin is too delicate and too white. He looks like a pampered nobleman. He's also not as tall as a normal northern lad... He'll be recognized no matter what he wears."

The woman shook her head painfully: "Sneaking out of the city like this..."

The three of them sighed at the same time.

“The manure cart,” Griveo frowned, uttering words that startled Thales: “Call ‘Shit Man’ Ang, hide him in the manure that’s being transported out every day, and have him go out of town with the cart.”

A manure cart?

Hidden in...

What place?

Thales's brow twitched: "Wait, what you're saying..."

Greaver ignored him: "Just find a reed or a wooden tube so he can breathe..."

Fortunately, Krzysz's next listless remark eased his expression slightly.

"No, Ang got locked up again today."

Griveaux's expression tightened, but he immediately gritted his teeth and said:
“Then find ‘Quick Whip’ Faron, they always have to transport excrement.”

"We have to shove him in!"

Thales's expression turned very unpleasant again.

But Krzysz shook his head again.

Do you know how the 'shit man' got locked up?

The seamstress spread her hands: "When Ang drove out of the city for the sixth time today, the patrol team at the city gate held their noses and poked and inspected the buckets one by one with swords and knives. As a result, they found ten packets of smuggled asphalt that he had hidden in the feces."

Griveaux took a few seconds to process the information in that sentence.

"How could they..."

He stared in surprise at first, then slapped his thigh in anger: "Damn it."

Krz scratched his chest nonchalantly and shook his head: "Going out of the city directly in a manure cart? No way."

"What a pity," Thales sighed, feigning regret, and secretly patted his chest.

As if reading his mind, Krzysz glanced at him sideways and snorted disdainfully.

Thales smiled sheepishly, raised his hand, and changed the subject, saying, "Is there no other way?"

Both the wheelchair and the tailor pondered silently.

In a matter of seconds, Griveaux's face went from blue to white, and then from white to red.

Finally, Grevo slammed his fist on the table!
“There’s no other choice,” the veteran said decisively. “Let’s take the dark path.”

Thales wondered: The Black Path?

Krzysz opened his eyes wide:

"Again?"

The seamstress shook her head firmly: "No, that damned tunnel is already half collapsed... Remember last time? We almost died in there for three hundred gold coins..."

“There’s only one way,” Griveaux interrupted, his eyes resolute. “There’s no other way.”

Krz looked at him with a serious expression.

After a while, her gaze softened, and she turned around.

"I understand, I'll go find some people right away."

But halfway through turning around, Krzysz turned back again, frowning.

"There's another issue: starting today, the patrol team has also set up sentry posts in the shield area."

Griveaux's eyes sharpened: "Where?"

Krz looked troubled: "It's not far from the Blackpath, and we can't avoid it—it's said to be the place where King Nunn died, and the higher-ups want to keep a close watch on it."

Thales clearly saw Greaver's expression change drastically:

"Damn it, those bastards took the kickbacks and still dared to try and steal from the Shield Zone..."

Kuz shrugged and scratched his neck: "'White Pig' Peak was in charge of that outpost. I gave him six copper coins before he told me the truth: the Order Hall didn't want to come either. Nobody wanted to break the tacit agreement, but it was the order of the Meteorite Nikolai."

Griveaux was taken aback: "Who?"

Krz gave an awkward laugh, looking helpless: "You rejected him in front of so many people during the day and even called him a 'star manipulator,' remember? If it weren't for the fact that he owed you a favor, that madman would have arrested you long ago."

"I guess... this is your karma for your foul mouth?"

Griveaux angrily slapped his thigh:

"Damn that Star Manipulator! Disgusting dead face, shameless lackey, he deserves to lick balls his whole life and never get promoted!"

Krzy crossed his arms and then comfortably placed them on his ribs, looking at Griveo with the same expression one would give a child.

Thales frowned as he listened to their disrespectful gossip about the renowned Lord Nicolai, one of the Five War Generals and the Grand Duke's personal guard captain of Dragonsreach, and nodded in deep agreement.

A few seconds later, Greaver, having regained his composure, murmured:
"Can we bribe Peak? I remember he's from the Shield District?"

Kez shook his head and said, “Pike has more than a dozen men under his command, worth three thousand gold coins. I guarantee they know the prince’s portrait better than their own wives do—not everyone dreams of going to the gallows like I do.”

She gave Greaver a disdainful look, glancing at him: "Not everyone treats money like dirt like you do..."

“Dung, that’s it,” Griveaux suddenly looked up: “through the dung cart?”

Thales felt a sudden tightness in his chest.

"Can't you fill your brain with anything other than shit?"

Kuz looked at Griveo with disdain, thus sparing the still-shaken prince from the fate of hiding in excrement and urine:

"Driving a manure cart to collect manure from an uninhabited cliff? Do you believe it?"

Griveaux lowered his head again and sighed deeply.

"What's the best way to sneak past and get close to Blackpath?"

Thales's face darkened.

Not really.

If this doesn't work...

Just now.

boom!
Griveaux slammed his hand on the table.

"Kez..."

The man in the wheelchair scratched his chin: "You just said... this guy's skin is too pale, and he's too short, and stuff like that..."

Krz was taken aback: "Huh?"

Thales also looked puzzled.

The next moment, Grevo's eyes lit up. He looked up, reached out, and subconsciously patted Krzyzee on the shoulder.

Puzzled, Krzy followed the other person's gaze to the ceiling, then froze.

Following the gazes of the two, Thales, who was also confused, slowly raised his head and looked up.

that……

That is……

Thales was shocked and his face turned pale!
An ominous premonition suddenly gripped my heart.

He forced a smile, looked at the two northerners, his face twitching: "Mr. Grivell, Ms. Kutz, what... are you thinking?"

The next moment, Greaver and Kerz both lowered their heads and turned to Thales.

The man and woman both revealed eerie smiles.

"Will it work?" Griveaux asked with a sneer.

“We’ll find out.” This was a satisfied look on Kez’s face.

The atmosphere in the room changed.

Thales' heart was beating faster and faster.

Shock and fear flashed through his mind, and for the first time, he began to regret escaping Valhalla.

“My dear, esteemed, and beautiful Prince,” the seamstress reached up and pulled something off her head, grabbed a pair of scissors, and made a sharp cut in the air, then smiled maliciously, “the manure cart or this…”

"Which one do you choose?"

This……

No, it can't be?
Faced with the two smiling people, Thales blinked sharply, as if he couldn't believe what he was seeing.

He stared intently at Krzyzee's hand, feeling his whole body tremble.

The sin of the River of Hell, which only appears when one is at a critical moment of life and death, surged wildly up to his limbs.

Time seemed to stand still for a long time.

Thales stared blankly at the clothes in Krz's hands.

This……

All that could be seen in the hands of the seamstress, Kez.

There was a crumpled...

Women's long dress.

We know they are lying, they know they are lying, they know we know they are lying, and we know they know we know they are lying, but they still lie.

Yes, I'm explaining the origin of the "You know he knows you know..." sentence structure between Thales and Greaver in the previous chapter.

That's all.

Can anyone recommend a hard drive brand? I feel like my hard drives keep breaking down lately.



(End of this chapter)