Knight Lords: Infinite Simulation and the Path of Light

Chapter 167: Making Trouble!

“Boss Marigolo Yang, I’m a little short on cash today. I’m afraid I can’t afford to pay for this meal.”

After saying this, Balam's heart was pounding. He knew what kind of person Marigloyan was, and had even witnessed firsthand how the old man dealt with troublemakers. Naturally, he knew the consequences of challenging the tavern owner.

Just when Balam thought he was about to die here, Marigloyan let out a hearty laugh.

As he gets older, Marigoloyan, who is now in his fifties, feels that his inner turmoil is decreasing.

Sometimes, I might sit quietly on a bar chair all day, watching the chaotic crowd in the bar.

Until one day, when Marigold woke up in his large bed, his eyelids felt so heavy that it was as if he had been working all night.

Then I picked up the glass of beer from the table, ready to have a sip of beer to sober myself up, as usual.

But the strange sensation that followed in his mouth made old Marigoldoyan spit out the wine.

Along with the liquid, one of his own teeth came out. Marigold licked it with his tongue; it turned out to be his back molar that had fallen out...

At that moment, sitting on the bed, Marigolden understood that the old knife who once dominated District 16 of the Lower City was truly old and could no longer shave flesh from bones.

"Hahahahahahaha! Balam, you damned pig, has it been too long since I've made a move that you think you can challenge the rules of this tavern?"

Seeing a rusty boning knife pulled out from under the table, Balam felt like he was about to pee, his legs were trembling and he was about to slip off the chair.

Just when Balam thought his head would be chopped off by the rusty boning knife, Marigloyan simply twirled the knife and put it back under the table.

"You kid..."

Marigoloyan's bloodshot, cloudy eyes stared at Balam, and for a moment, the air around them seemed to freeze. Just as Balam felt he couldn't breathe, Marigoloyan's voice, choked by the alcohol, rang out.

"Balram, hahahahahahahaha, look at the way you were just now. You were talking nicely today, kid. I was in a good mood today, so..."

The sudden turn of events gave Badam a feeling of relief after the holiday.

"So, you go and clean the toilet and tidy up the kitchen, and that will cover your meal payment for today."

Baram stared blankly at the bar owner, somewhat incredulous. His mind, a little fuzzy from the cold, struggled to process the information before he hurriedly replied:
"Yes, yes, I'll go right away, I'll go right away."

Having said that, fearing the latter might change her mind, she quickly stood up from the wooden stool and hurried towards the toilet at the back.

After Balam disappeared from sight, a somewhat dejected Marigolo Yang stared blankly at the boning knife he had placed under the bar, lost in thought.

Once upon a time, I learned the English Third Infantry Standard Longsword Fighting Technique from the city defense guards. After retiring, I went down into the city alone with my sword and made a name for myself. Who wouldn't tremble at the mention of Old Knife's name?

Now that I think about it, when did I become like this? Was it fifteen years ago, when I earned my first hundred gold coins after building Rotten Mushroom? Or was it ten years ago, when I killed Baldy Buck, who was causing trouble in the tavern, and hung his head on the wall behind the bar, and then no one dared to offend me again?

still is
Three years ago, on that night when that dark figure stepped on his hand and only gave him one way out.

Ah~ that was the moment when the vicious dog with its teeth pulled, even with its master's protection, would ultimately become nothing more than a barking dead dog. Perhaps it had already died, and now it was just a body called Marigloyan living. As this body aged day by day, it would eventually reach the moment when its body and soul merged.

Marigoldo Yang sat blankly on the large wooden chair outside the bar, his mind wandering freely. The impassioned speech he had just delivered seemed like an illusion, as if it had never happened.

The diverse crowd in the bar had long been used to this. Everyone knew that Marigoldan was getting old, and even the few rules he had always regarded as his life were slowly being broken by himself. When a vicious dog that bared its teeth and snatched food becomes an old dog that can only bark pretentiously, then his era has passed.

After a while, Marigoldo Yang, who was sitting on the large wooden chair lost in thought, handed his glass to the bartender, smoothed his greasy hair, and walked to the back. He needed to see how that guy Balam was doing.

The people now are nothing like they were back then. They're all cunning, lazy, and good-for-nothing. I've become so kind now, but these damned brats think I'm really old. They're increasingly disrespectful of me, and their language is becoming more and more frivolous. They have no respect for me at all.

If I see that damned Balam trying to cheat me later, I won't mind letting those damned trash outside remember Old Knife's infamous reputation once again.

"Damn it, those damn bastards, they're vomiting everywhere! They're blind as hell!!!"

Balam, holding a bristle mop, was laboriously cleaning up the vomit of a drunkard. Having been unconscious in the snow for several hours, Balam's nose was probably frostbitten, with thick snot blocking his nostrils. Although breathing was a little difficult, at least Balam couldn't smell the strange stench of feces, vomit, and food scraps mixed together in the toilet, which could be considered a kind of unconventional luck.

"Damn it, who the hell is this? If you can't aim properly, just chop that thing off and feed it to the dogs! How come it's scattered everywhere?!"

Seeing the gleaming water stains in the urinal ahead, Balam cursed angrily, threw the bristle mop aside, and prepared to go out to find another mop. However, as soon as he stepped out the door, he bumped into Marigroyan, who was walking towards him. Seeing the other man's burly body, Balam quickly went to meet him.

“Boss Marigolo Yang, what brings you here? I haven’t finished cleaning yet. Those damn guys, their eyes are like they’re just for venting their anger, especially those drunkards, they’ve made a complete mess of your toilet.”

Marigolo Yang frowned as he looked at the person who reeked of a mixed stench. The smell made Marigolo Yang's stomach churn slightly, and he unconsciously covered his nose with his hand.

"Damn it, these pigs! I should have someone keep an eye on them here. If I find out it's that damn guy again, I'll punish him, punish him severely."

As he spoke, he felt the smell was still a bit strong, so Marigolo Yang took two steps back and looked at Balam, who was working obediently. He had given up on the idea of ​​going to the toilet to check again.

"Alright, hurry up and clean up. Damn it, go wash yourself when you're done. You son of a bitch, you stink."

Balam was already used to such insults. As a guy who lived one day at a time, he had long since forgotten about personal honor and dignity. Seeing that Marigo Yang had nothing more to say to him, Balam prepared to quickly turn back and finish dealing with the matter, and then find a warm place in the tavern to sleep.

Just as Marigoldoyan was about to leave, he seemed to remember something and turned back.

"Hey Balam, come find me at the bar when you're done cleaning. I have some work for you. You're lucky, kid; the pay for this job isn't bad."

Upon hearing Marigoloyan's words, Balam immediately perked up, as he had done similar tasks many times before.

"Boss, boss, what kind of work is it? Can you give me a few more? I can do more."

"Go away, go away~ Get your work done first, then we'll talk. Also, come see me after you've washed up."

after an hour
Marigoldo Yang, already asleep on the large wooden chair behind the bar, let out a soft snore. "Boss? Boss Marigoldo Yang?"

Hearing someone call his name, Marigold slowly opened his eyes. His bloodshot eyes were a little dazed for a moment, clearly not yet fully recovered.

He sat in the chair for another ten seconds, lost in thought, before his pupils gradually focused and he looked up at the person who had come in.

"Ah~ Balam, have you finished your work?"

Balam, his hair dripping wet, looked at the tavern owner with what he considered the most obsequious expression.

"Yes, yes, Boss Marigolo Yang, you can send someone to check now and have it cleaned up for you. What was that job you mentioned earlier?"

Marigolo Yang looked at Balam, who was staring at him with a fawning expression, thought for a moment, and then waved to the waiter beside him.

"Give him a stout, a large one."

Hearing that he would have beer to drink, Balam became even more excited. After all, it had been several months since he last drank stout, and he had almost forgotten the smooth taste of stout and the comfortable feeling of its malty flavor sliding down his throat.

"follow me."

Feeling somewhat heavy, Marigold stood up from the wooden chair and stretched his aching neck, making a few cracking sounds before feeling a little better.

Balam, carrying a large glass of dark beer, followed Marigroyan to a storage room. Pushing open the door, he saw a jumble of odds and ends scattered inside, making it look like a warehouse.

Marigloyan casually walked to a wooden crate and sat down, saying to Balam, who was standing at the door:

"Come in, close the door, and then just find a place to sit."

After Balam closed the door, he walked to the brick floor in front of Marigoloyan and sat down directly.

"Boss, what kind of work can I do this time?"
"It would be fantastic to deliver food to the dock, but it would be too cold to swim across the river in the dead of winter."

Listening to Balam's rambling words, Mariglo Yang did not answer immediately. His slightly drowsy mind recalled the scene from a few days ago when the man in black came to find him again.

"Boss? Boss Marigolo Yang?"

Seeing the other person start to stare blankly again, Balam, feeling somewhat at a loss, called out softly, swallowing hard as he looked at the dark beer in front of him.

"what?"

"Ang~ Balam~"

Balam noticed that Marigolo Yang was lost in thought again and felt something was off. In the past year, this bar owner, who used to be like a vicious dog, seemed to have become a completely different person.

"There's something I can do that pays pretty well. Listen to what I have to say and think about whether you want to do it."

"I do! I do!"

Before Marigoloyan could even explain what he wanted to do, Balam, who was penniless and short of money, had already readily agreed.

Given his current financial situation, Balam doesn't have time to think about anything else; nothing is more terrifying than poverty.

"Cough cough cough cough~"

"Don't rush to answer. This job is different from the usual small-scale tasks."

Hearing Marigloyan's serious tone, Balam also straightened his attitude.

"This time I might lose my head, but the reward is very generous: three gold coins."

"Think it over carefully. If you agree, listen to what I have to do later. Then you can't back out."

But in the end, poverty triumphed over reason. After all, Balam had already faced life-or-death situations one after another, so he was no longer so sensitive to the danger of death.

After hesitating for a while, I thought that if I didn't take this order, I didn't know if I would freeze to death in some corner of the street one day in this cold winter.

Rather than that, I might as well take a gamble. The reward of three gold coins is enough for me to live a carefree life through this winter.

"Yes! I'll do it! Boss, just tell me what you want, I'll do anything, even assassinate our Emperor, no problem."

Hearing Balam's words of determination, Marigloyan shook his head slightly, seemingly lost in thought.

"Okay, now that you've thought it through, I'll tell you what you need to do."

The dim light from the storage room shone on Marigolo Yang's face, making his already weathered complexion, which resembled an old tree, appear even more aged.

"This time, unlike the usual petty squabbles, you're going to do something big: set a fire somewhere. Once the fire is burning, you can escape at will, and then come back here to collect your reward."

Upon hearing what Marigloyan said, Balam's heart pounded. Arson was not the same as the usual petty smuggling of contraband.

It's not impossible that arsonists would be discovered and killed on the spot. Thinking of this, Balam couldn't help but mutter to himself.

But thinking about what Marigold had just said, he held back. If he went back on his word now, his death might be just around the corner.

"Um, boss, can I ask where we need fire prevention measures?"

"Border dock, Hengdeli Chamber of Commerce's inventory warehouse."

(End of this chapter)