Mercenary Wars

Chapter 225 The Uncrowned

Gaucano returned to shore. A gentle breeze swept across the lake, bringing a touch of coolness. He found a dry rock to sit on and examined the badge in his palm for a while.

The badge is made of black steel, hence its jet-black color and its sturdy and heavy texture. This material is quite rare for a badge.

However, its appearance is even more noteworthy.

The outline and pattern of the badge are seamlessly integrated, depicting a black hood—or rather, a figure wearing a black hood, beneath which are two crossed daggers. The lines of these patterns are simple and cold, and together they resemble an assassin lurking in the shadows.

Upon seeing this design, Gao Gano's first thought was: It's way cooler than the Thieves' Guild's design!

Then he couldn't help but wonder if this was the symbol of some kind of thief organization?

wrong.

A ninth-level named individual, a badge made of black steel, a symbol exuding murderous intent… this clearly transcends the narrow concept of “thief” and should be called an “assassin.” Unfortunately, assassin organizations are always secretive, and Gaucano knew very little about them, unable to recognize the origin of this badge.

He turned the badge over.

The good news is that there is text on the back of the badge.

The bad news is that the back of the badge only has a number: nine hundred and ninety-six.

There was no other information, which made Gao Jiano frown slightly.

Forget it, there's not much time left, now's not the time to think about the origin of this badge.

Gaucano put away the black badge, then opened the corpse's storage ring.

There were quite a few items, but unfortunately most of them had been worn away by time, with only four items remaining pristine and brand new.

Gold coins, a gold tripod, a gilded knife, and a gilded scepter.

Gaucano picked up the gold coins and examined them closely. He noticed that the patterns printed on them were different from those on modern gold coins, which reminded him of the ancient Asur gold coin that was worth a fortune.

Perhaps these gold coins also have extremely high additional value?
However, he immediately realized that was impossible. That ancient Asur gold coin was over two thousand years old and had experienced several major historical turning points that affected the entire continent. It was probably the only one of its kind, while these gold coins were only a few hundred years old, with an estimated quantity of tens of thousands. Most of them had no additional value and were simply gold.

The golden tripod is similar, nothing special. The two items together are estimated to be worth several hundred gold coins.

The gilded knife has some engravings and may be an antique, but its value is uncertain.

The gilded scepter is clearly an antique, covered with various carvings and patterns, presenting an almost vulgar kind of nobility, and its value should be quite high.

In addition, there was a large pile of books in the storage ring.

Most books were stored in the "incorruptible compartments," where the rate of decay was greatly slowed down, so even though they were rotten, their appearance could still be barely discerned.

One of the books still retains some writing, at least the title is clearly visible—the Holy Scripture of Light. The cover is made of high-grade monster hide, and the paper is also of superior quality, so despite the passage of time, the original exquisite binding and some of the writing are still evident.

This made Gao Jiano frown slightly.

After examining the black badge, he assumed the corpse was an assassin, and that its storage ring contained throwing knives, poison, spare daggers, lock-picking tools, or similar items.

There were none of those, but instead, his books were piled high, making him look like a cultured person.

A book-loving thief?

Something is wrong.

Gao Jiano couldn't figure it out for a moment, so he shook his head and started packing his things.

Books that were severely corrupt were simply thrown away. In fact, when he first unearthed them, those irretrievable classics had already turned to dust in his hands and scattered in the wind.

The Holy Scripture of Light, with some traces of writing still visible, remains, and this book may still have research value.

After most of the books were discarded, the corpse's storage ring suddenly had a lot of space freed up.

Gaucano then put the body inside.

It's a level nine corpse after all; even if you sell it on the black market, you can still get some money... Besides, his intuition tells him that this corpse's origins are probably not simple.

After packing up, Gaogano immediately set off on his return journey, charging straight to the outskirts with his burning blood, and then leaving his homeland of Anaye.

A few hours later, the tide rose again in Annaye, and the restrictions on entry increased instead of decreasing, so Gaugano re-entered and began searching.

Of course, this search was limited to the outer perimeter, with the goal of collecting some common herbs. After all, there was nothing left in the core area, cultural relics were hard to find, and there wasn't a single piece of Eternal Forget-Me-Not left.

A day later, carrying a basket of common herbs, Gaucano left his homeland of Anaye for good.

The black market of Anaye.

Despite his bloodied disguise, Gao Jiano found an information dealer on the black market, took out a piece of paper, and asked, "Do you recognize the pattern on this?"

The drawing on the paper depicts the design of a black badge.

He didn't know what the black badge meant, so after a moment's thought, instead of taking the badge directly to someone for authentication, he chose to draw the design on paper first and then have someone identify it.

Gaucano's painting skills were mediocre.

Therefore, the information broker frowned, held the paper in his hand and looked it over from side to side, and remained silent for a long time.

After a moment, he seemed to have reached a conclusion, a look of certainty on his face, and he held up one finger: "One hundred."

"One hundred what?"

"copper."

Gaucano handed over a silver coin.

The information broker accepted the silver coin and then began to explain: "Based on the pattern you drew, I believe it should be the symbol of the 'Uncrowned One'."

"The Uncrowned One?"

The information broker nodded: "It's a very powerful assassin organization with a history of about seven hundred years. The design you drew is its old organization emblem."

Gao Jiano pondered for a moment: "Could you tell me about this organization?"

The information broker held up another finger: "One hundred."

Just as Gao Jiano was about to take the money, the information broker smirked and said, "This is important intelligence, so it's one hundred silver coins."

Gaucano handed over a gold coin.

The information broker, having accepted the gold coins, continued, "More than seven hundred years ago, a young knight-errant came from the Kingdom of Norton—oh no, the Kingdom of Norton didn't exist back then."

He waved his hand, changing his tune: “Norton Island. The young ranger came to the mainland by ship from Norton Island. This is actually quite common; after all, you know, Norton Island isn't entirely barbaric. At least some Nortonians know where civilization is. In fact, even today, there are still Nortonians migrating to the mainland, converting to the Mosaic faith, or unfortunately being misled by the Yemen.” His tone carried a hint of contempt, clearly showing he didn't have a good impression of the Nortonians. In fact, most Mosaic followers and Yemenis shared a similar attitude; the two sides were sworn enemies, yet both agreed that the Nortonians were uncivilized barbarians.

"At first, people just saw this young man as another ordinary Norton immigrant. Until later, he did something big—he killed the Duke of the Duchy of Renwei." At this point, the intelligence broker showed a hint of emotion.

Gao Jiano also realized: "Duke Renwei XII?"

“That’s right.” The information broker nodded. “You should know the rest of the story. After the death of Duke Renwei XII, the successor Duke Renwei XIII was an extremely powerful man. Moreover, legend has it that he was helped by angels. Therefore, the Duchy of Renwei not only did not perish or weaken, but rose at an astonishing speed and eventually became the Kingdom of Renwei today.”

"Originally, the young ranger was regarded as a hero for assassinating the Duke of Yemen, but with the rapid rise of Renwei and the subsequent 'Renwei Conquest War,' people began to despise the ranger, believing that he brought disaster."

"This contempt eventually turned into a warrant for arrest, so the former Mosa hero began to live in anonymity and wander around."

"He was wanted by the Mosaic state, but not accepted by the Yemenic state either. After all, he had killed a Yemenic nobleman. Moreover, Renwei's conquests included not only the Mosaic state, but also some Yemenic states. Therefore, many Yemenic followers also believed that he had brought disaster."

"In this state of being rejected by both the Mosa and Yemen states, the wandering knights established a secret organization composed of criminals, which later became known as the Uncrowned Ones."

"...Initially, the Uncrowned Ones were more like mercenaries who took on dirty work, but as the organization successively killed several important figures—from the Mosa and Yemen countries—it gradually became a top-tier assassin organization on the Faralo continent, and continues to this day."

After saying this, the information broker drank a glass of water.

Gaucano frowned slightly: "That sounds interesting, but is this story worth a hundred silver coins?"

"I'm not finished yet." The information broker cleared his throat and continued, "The truly important information is that the founder of the Uncrowned Ones, that wandering knight, and his descendants have always controlled the Uncrowned Ones. Moreover, his descendants have already escaped their state of hiding and have become a family revered by thousands."

"Which family?" Gaucano asked.

Information broker: "The Gulette family."

Gaucano was taken aback: "The Gulette family controls the Uncrowned Ones?"

The intelligence broker hesitated slightly, his voice and expression becoming cautious, after all, this was clearly a serious accusation: "It's not entirely certain, at least there's not enough evidence. After all, the Uncrowned Ones are ultimately a clandestine organization, and the Gulette family will certainly try every means to make themselves appear completely unrelated to them. So there are just some little-known, secret rumors that suggest they are the actual controllers of the Uncrowned Ones organization."

Gaucano: "Then why do you say that?"

The information broker held up another finger: "One hundred."

“Gold coins,” he added.

Gaucano did not pay this time.

One hundred gold coins is really a lot.

He's not a judge or prosecutor, so he doesn't need to know so many of the Goulette family's secrets.

Seeing Gao Gano turn to leave, the information broker seemed to regret it a little. He opened his mouth, but finally said, "If... if you give me another gold coin, I can tell you an interesting fact."

Gaucano remained uninterested.

Fifty silver coins!

Ten silver coins!

After a slight hesitation, Gao Jiano turned around again and took out ten silver coins: "Speak."

The information broker accepted the silver coins: "The surname 'Grete' of the Gurete family actually originates from the dialect of a fishing village in the Kingdom of Norton, referring to a type of ship. The ranger traveled from Norton Island to the mainland on a Gurete."

Gaucano: "This is your intelligence worth one hundred gold coins?"

The intelligence broker shook his head: "No, this intelligence is worth ten silver coins. If you want more crucial information, you'll have to pay me one hundred gold coins."

Gao Jiano had nothing to say and simply turned and left.

The intelligence broker didn't try to stop them.

After leaving the black market, Gaucano had the gilded knife and gilded scepter appraised.

The authentication results indicated that the gilded knife was not an artifact, or rather, it did not qualify as an artifact. The gilded scepter, however, was unsurprisingly an artifact, specifically a court item from the era of Duke Anaye II, worth hundreds of gold coins.

This pleased Gaucano greatly.

Including the value of the scepter, his earnings in his homeland of Anaye exceeded 1,500 gold coins, and the process was easy with almost no setbacks, making it arguably his most worthwhile adventure.

However, it is still impossible to determine the identity of the corpse based on the scepter.

If we really want to figure out the identity of the corpse, we'll probably have to find a necromancer.

Gaucano has no intention of doing so.

At least for now, he doesn't have that thought.

With the entrance exam for Ax Magic Academy drawing ever closer, his top priority was clearly preparing for it.

So after staying in Anaye for less than a day, Gaucano returned to Ax through the portal.

Then he headed west from the teleportation hall, heading straight for the westernmost part of the central city of Ax, a place known as the "Guild District".

Arx City is very large, and the journey from the teleportation hall to the guild area is quite long, estimated to be several times the distance between the east and west ends of Southshore.

To save time, Gaucano had to rent a horse-drawn carriage.

Blood Rush is obviously more time-saving, but driving Blood Rush in the densely populated central urban area is a bit too conspicuous.

Fortunately, the horses in Ax City were well-trained magical beasts and their speed was not slow. Gaucano got into the carriage and arrived at the guild area in about five minutes.

The guild area is where various guilds gather.

All guilds and industries have offices here. Even the high-ranking paladins have reserve recruiters stationed in the church in the guild district.

Gao Jiano arrived at the Apothecary Guild.

“I want to consign the Forget-Me-Not Moss,” he told a waiter bluntly.

Unlike small places like Southsea Town, in Ax City, Forget-Me-Not Moss, as the lowest-level Forget-Me-Not plant, is nothing special and can be consigned directly. Even if there are many of them, it's not a big problem; it's said that some merchants even hoard rare Forget-Me-Not Moss.

The waiter, with an expression of nonchalance, politely inquired, "Would you like to consign a few pieces of Forget-Me-Not Moss? Would you like us to appraise them?"

“Four pieces.” Gao Jiano took out four pieces of Eternal Forgetfulness Moss from his storage ring. “You don’t need to authenticate them; I’ve already done it.”

“Also, I need to buy some more Forget-Me-Not Moss,” he added, “the earth type.”

(End of this chapter)