Knight Lords: Infinite Simulation and the Path of Light

Chapter 190 Help Me with a Small Thing

"Hey~ Let go of that girl."

A sudden sound rang out from above the group. They all turned their heads to look and saw a tall, thin young man crouching on the eaves.

The gray-green eyes watched the scene below with great interest. Although the clothes were ordinary, just the hard leather armor that mercenaries usually wear, the invisible aura emanating from them made people subconsciously tense up.

"Who are you! I'm Jamie the Rat. I advise you to be smart and mind your own business, or you'll bring trouble upon yourself."

Jamie released his grip, tossing the petite Annie aside. He raised his face, squinted at Haven, and gave her a fierce look, as if trying to make her back down.

However, Jamie's idea clearly failed; their common agreement among street thugs seemed to have no effect whatsoever on the boy in front of him.

After hearing the threatening words, Haven stood up and jumped off the roof.

Upon seeing the boy appear before him, Jamie subconsciously swallowed, then, as if remembering something, he straightened his neck and walked over.

"Kid, do you know what you're doing? I'm Jamie, the vicious rat of the Mad Gang. If you know what's good for you, get out of here. This is none of your business."

"The Mad Gang? Then I'd like to know a few things about them."

Faced with the situation of being surrounded by four people, Haven did not appear flustered at all, acting as casually as a lost boy asking a kind stranger for directions.

After Jamie released her, Annie quickly crawled a few times on the cold ground, reached her mother, hugged her tightly, and after confirming that she was no longer hurt, turned her head to look at the group of people not far away.

The next moment, Annie's brown pupils contracted sharply. Clearly, the girl recognized the boy in front of her. He was the young adventurer who had just stolen her wallet. She had thought he was just an inexperienced person who had come to the capital for training.

So after lurking in the corner for a while, Annie noticed that this person was dressed as an adventurer and had placed his money bag in a conspicuous position. Annie silently judged that this person was a complete novice, which was the main reason why Annie chose to risk going up and attack.

But now, this seemingly new young adventurer, who doesn't even know the importance of keeping one's wealth hidden, has actually caught up with us. This made Annie's heart pound and race. After all, she hadn't sensed anyone following her along the way, which made the young girl terrified at the thought.

But before the girl could think about what to do next, the situation had already changed.

"Who the hell are you, you damn bastard? Who do you think you are, trying to learn about our Mad Gang? Get the hell out of here, or else..."

"Ouch~~~ Let go, damn it, let go."

Seeing Jamie, the vicious rat, cursing and reaching out his hand towards him, Haven quickly grabbed Jamie's finger and twisted it forcefully. The moment Jamie was spraying feces, he squatted down in front of Haven like a boiled shrimp.

"I have some questions I'd like to ask. You'd better cooperate; it'll be better for both of us."

However, Jamie the rat, whose brain was already occupied by pain, had no rationality left. His already limited brain circuits were reduced to mere instinctive reactions under the impact of pain.

"Damn it! Get him and kill this damned little brat! Ah..."

With a scream from Jamie, the fight officially began. Jamie, clutching his index finger which was bent upwards at a ninety-degree angle, jumped up and roared in anger.

"Go, all of you, go! I'll show this kid what happens when you mess with Jamie the Rat!"

Facing the thugs charging at him with their fists waving, Haven shook his head slightly. These people were really stupid, unable to recognize the difference in strength. They only needed to answer some questions, but now they had to get beaten up again. What were they trying to achieve?

Seeing the thugs rushing towards her, Havent narrowed her eyes slightly, and a hint of joy appeared on her face. For her, this kind of fight was exactly what she longed for. After all, since no one in the Royal Academy had bothered her anymore, life had become much less fun.

With a slight tilt of his head, he dodged the first thug's punch, then suddenly raised his right leg, bending his lower leg slightly to expose his knee. With a quick, lateral swing, his knee slammed into the thug's stomach. The thug's stomach, subjected to the massive impact, opened his mouth wide, vomiting up the undigested food inside. He immediately lost his fighting ability and curled up on the ground, clutching his stomach.

The next moment, as if he had eyes in the back of his head, he dodged the fist that was about to hit the back of his head. He raised his left arm and delivered a series of elbow strikes to the face of the thug who was trying to sneak up on him from behind. In an instant, two streams of blood gushed from the thug's nose, accompanied by tears welling up in his eyes, and he lost his fighting ability.

Having quickly secured a double kill, Haven looked at the last thug who was halfway through his charge. Seeing Haven looking at him, the thug unconsciously swallowed hard. Clearly, he hadn't expected things to turn out this way; this seemingly unremarkable adventurer was actually quite formidable.

On the other side, Jamie, the vicious rat clutching his broken right hand, forgot to howl and stared blankly at the scene before him.

Seeing that the opponent had stopped attacking, Haven did not continue to pursue. Those two moves just now were hardly a warm-up. It was clear that he had become stronger, and dealing with this kind of trash had become easy.

"Alright, it seems everyone has calmed down a bit. So I'll repeat my question again. This time, I hope you'll be patient and actively answer the question."

Seeing Haven's smiling gaze upon them, Jamie and his underlings, who had just been beaten up, behaved much more obediently, nodding quickly to indicate their willingness to cooperate.

"Well, look how good it is now. When we're out in the world, we should all learn to help each other and support one another. That's how society becomes a better place."

Although Jamie, who was holding the vicious rat with the severed finger, couldn't understand what the young adventurer was babbling about, he didn't dare to say another word because of the other's forceful suppression. He could only pretend to be listening attentively.

"Alright, alright, that's enough for today's character education. I have some questions I'd like to know. If you answer them well, I'll give you..."

As Haven was speaking, he was about to reach for his wallet, but halfway through, he suddenly remembered that his wallet had been stolen. He then turned his head and glanced at the mother and daughter lying on the ground a few meters away.

When Anne saw Havel looking at her, her heart raced instantly, as if it were about to leap out of her throat. Had she known this young adventurer was so powerful, Anne would never have dared to lay a hand on him.

Although she and her mother had temporarily escaped from Jamie's clutches, the situation might worsen with the appearance of this boy. With such an adventurer, and having stolen money from him, even if she were killed, no one would plead for her. Thinking of this, Annie felt utterly hopeless, and her body began to tremble slightly.

"If you answer well, I will let you go, but if any of you dare to lie to me and I find out, I will break your legs on the spot."

Jamie, who had navigated the various facets of the lower rungs of society, realized from Havent's calm yet undeniably confident gaze that the young man wasn't joking. If he were to continue making things up, this guy would genuinely break his legs. For a lowly rat like Jamie, bowing to the powerful wasn't difficult, even if that powerful person looked more than ten years younger.

"What areas does the Kuang Gang's sphere of influence include?"

Jamie the Rat was clearly surprised by Havent's question. He thought the young man wanted to know about their gang's warehouses or treasure vaults, since in Jamie's mind, only glittering gold coins were the most appealing. But he didn't expect the young man to ask such a question.

After confirming that he hadn't misheard, Jamie the Rat immediately replied.

"In reply to you, sir, our Kuang Gang is just an insignificant little gang. Our sphere of influence extends roughly from the civilian area west of the border docks to the garbage dump, and then to the Long Saddle Street over there."

After listening to Jamie's words, Haven recalled in his mind that the location the guy mentioned was in the northeast corner of the border dock area, about 20 kilometers away from the border dock, combined with the information provided by the municipality.

"Has anything happened in your gang's territory recently? For example, have any people disappeared recently?"

As soon as Haven uttered those words, Jamie the Rat's expression changed instantly. He looked at Haven with wariness, and the question made Jamie think that the boy was an official investigator.

Ignoring the intense pain in his finger, the man with the triangular eyes kept giving his three subordinates meaningful glances.

"My lord, I'm not quite clear about the situation you're describing. I'm just a lowly debt collector."

Jamie the Rat replied to Havent while moving backward, ready to escape at any moment. He figured that once he turned into that alley, he could run another ten meters and turn into the dog hole next to it, then crawl through the dog hole directly into the sewer and escape to safety.

Jamie the Rat had plenty of experience dealing with these aristocratic lackeys. Once he escaped, they couldn't do anything to him. He just needed to slowly move another five meters...

No, three meters is enough. Let them go up and entangle me, and I'll take the opportunity to escape. Trying to get information about the gang from me is just wishful thinking.

I, the Rat, am the most loyal to the gang; don't even think about getting any information from me.

swoosh~
A fireball grazed Jamie's cheek as it flew past, leaving him feeling the lingering heat on his face. For a moment, his brain short-circuited and he stood there, frozen in place.

On the other side, Haven's right hand was facing Jamie, who was preparing to run away, with a fire elemental aura still remaining in the middle of his palm.

As a stripped-down version of Fireball, it's essentially just Arcane Missiles mixed with fire element, lacking the explosive damage that the normal version of Fireball inflicts on objects.

However, it's more than enough to deal with thugs like Jamie the Rat. Of course, more importantly, this is one of Haven's few spells that can be cast instantly without chanting.

The effect of showing off is off the charts! Which young person can resist showing off? What kind of young person isn't spirited?

Clearly, Haven's move was very effective. The group of people who were originally planning to make some moves immediately became like a flock of quails after realizing that this was a respectable mage.

"Look, people should be more rational. I think we can have a proper talk now, but if you try to run away again, I won't miss the next shot."

Sensing the seriousness in Haven's words, Jamie nodded stiffly, then stammered, "..."

"Master, I really don't know much about the disappearance of people you mentioned. Our Kuang Gang usually just collects protection money and lends money. How could such a lucrative job as human trafficking be done by a small gang like us?"

However, I overheard someone saying while drinking with some buddies the other day that in Rotten Mushroom Village, the tavern owner, Marigoldo Yan, was recruiting wandering people at high prices, but they didn't know exactly what they were doing. Anyway, according to my brother, none of the people taken away by the tavern owner have ever been seen on the streets again.”

After listening to Jamie's words, Haven lowered his outstretched hand. He hadn't expected that his casual probing would yield such an unexpected result.

As for whether the gang member was telling the truth, Haven wasn't particularly concerned, since that rotten mushroom tavern was also one of his destinations.

Jamie also mentioned this place, which means I'm on the right track. I'll just have to go there myself later.

Looking at Jamie and the others who were standing still, Haven casually asked:
"What's wrong? Is there anything else you want to tell me?"

When Haven asked them, Jamie and the others immediately stood at attention and shook their heads.

"No, that's all, Master."

"Then why aren't you leaving? Are you waiting for me to pay your consultation fee?"

"no no."

Under Haven's slightly oppressive gaze, Jamie and his companions glanced reluctantly at the mother and daughter lying not far away, then slunk into a nearby alley.

After watching the group leave, Haven turned to look at the mother and daughter lying on the ground.

"Hey! Tell me, why did you steal my wallet?"

Seeing that Haven was indeed looking at her, Annie felt that her end was coming. Stealing from the mage was a capital offense, and tears streamed down her face.

"Master...Master...I..."

Seeing the little girl crying her eyes out, Haven was a little bewildered. "I didn't do anything..."

"Hey, hey, don't cry. I didn't say anything. Here's what we'll do: just do me a small favor, and we'll call it even."

(End of this chapter)