Swords, magic, and martial arts

"What is your purpose in appearing here?" Daniel interrogated the believer fiercely.

Beneath the believer's ferocious mask was a weathered old man with gray hair and beard.

He glanced at Daniel with disdain, then turned away and ignored him.

"I suggest you don't try to figure out what their purpose is, or we'll be the ones who suffer," Baron said, standing by with his arms crossed.

I've also heard about the Dragon Cult of Rhodes.

The Cult of Dragons is the common enemy of the Kingdom of Nord, and their appearances often bring great disasters. For example, decades ago they secretly resurrected a powerful ancient dragon, which burned several Nord cities to ruins, causing countless deaths and injuries.

Dragons can soar freely through the sky, moving flexibly, and their intelligence is no less than that of ordinary humans. Some ancient dragons may even be more intelligent than the wisest humans. Large-scale elite troops will avoid dragons, while small armies are no match for them.

After it ravaged the land for several months, a prince of Nords killed the dragon, but he was also left with permanent wounds from the dragon's flames. His story was turned into tales and songs and sung by bards from all over the land.

Anyone who captures a follower of the Dragon Worship Cult can receive a generous reward from any nobleman throughout the country.

If the captured priest or someone of a high rank is captured, they could even become a noble in the Kingdom of Nord.

In the Kingdom of Nords, titles are the hardest to obtain on the entire continent; aside from hereditary succession and military merit, they are extremely rare. In contrast, in the Roman Empire, gaining the favor of a powerful nobleman might be enough to become a noble.

The believer glanced at Baron, then sat silently against the car.

Daniel stepped on his chest, pressed the dagger against his throat, and said viciously, "If you don't answer my questions, I'll use this dagger to leave countless wounds on your body, making you bleed to death slowly. You'll stay conscious throughout the process, and you'll fully experience the whole thing. Anyway, after you die, you'll have another companion to interrogate you."

The believer began to have difficulty breathing as Daniel stepped on him; his breathing sounded like a broken bellows.

Weber, unable to bear it any longer, angrily said, "Why are you treating an old man like this? And you don't even know how to interrogate people. Just hand them over to the nearby lord. If they have any schemes, the lord's mage will know."

Daniel turned and glared at Webber, saying, "This is none of your business, shorty. I paid you guys to come, so stop talking nonsense."

Weber heard his words and his eyes widened in anger, unable to utter a single word. He had always hated it when people used his height to insult him.

Hammer angrily stepped forward and grabbed Daniel by the collar. "Big Beard, apologize to him right now, or I'll show you what your own brains taste like."

Upon seeing this, the caravan's guards surrounded Hammer and his companions. These caravans not only included adventurers like themselves, but also loyal guards they had trained.

Seeing this, Baron quickly stepped forward and pulled Hammer away, saying, "You all need to calm down."

Hammer released Daniel and gave an angry snort.

Daniel left the area, walked into the crowd, turned back, and said, "Get out of here. We don't need you anymore, and you won't get a single penny this time."

"That's not right. We escorted you for most of the journey, so you should pay us for that," Baron said, taking the giant axe off his back and wiping the blade with his hand.

Daniel took his wallet from his waist and tossed it over, saying, "Let's go!"

Baron snatched the wallet, gestured to Rhodes, and then left the caravan with the furious Hammer and Weber in his arms.

……

"I never expected him to be this kind of person. He probably only wanted the reward he could get for capturing those two members of the Bailong Cult. We were the ones who captured them, but in the end, he got away with it," Hammer complained as he walked down the street.

"He'll get what's coming to him," Baron said, his eyes fixed straight ahead.

"Why would you care about the life or death of a cultist, Waver?" Rhodes asked, offering this possibility despite not being very familiar with the magic of this world.

However, after leaving the caravan, Rhodes felt a sense of relief.

He was curious as to why a well-equipped and well-coordinated group of free riders would so deliberately steal the luxurious carriage that he had noticed several times.

The carriage seemed very important, but when Daniel returned, the two leaders of the caravan didn't seem particularly anxious or angry, which puzzled him.

Not only Webber, but even Baron and Hammer looked at Rhodes with strange expressions, seemingly finding nothing wrong with Webber's actions, but rather feeling that Rhodes's thoughts were very strange.

"Even if he is a bad person, he should not be treated like this at his age. Killing the enemy on the battlefield is our honor, but torturing him after the battle is our disgrace."

"Sending them directly to the local lord is the best course of action. If Daniel manages to extract any important information, they'll be the ones in trouble," Baron said.

"Why did this happen?" Rhodes asked curiously. He didn't dwell on how they treated the believer, although inwardly he felt they were being a bit too saintly. Anyway, Rhodes didn't really agree with their actions. Shouldn't more terrorists who posed such a great threat die?

"The Dragon Cult never appears with only two people. If I were him, I would immediately find a castle and hand those two believers over to the lord of the castle."

If Daniel is unaware of their plans, the followers of the Byron Cult will only rescue their captured companions and generally will not kill anyone, even those who captured them.

"But if the plan is leaked, they'll kill everyone in their group," Baron explained.

"The followers of the Dragon Cult are a strange group of people. They only want to resurrect dead dragons and will not kill innocent people unless necessary. Those innocent people usually die from the dragonfire of the dragons they resurrect," Hammer added.

"They've teamed up with those bandits to rob Daniel's caravan; it must be related to their plans..." Weber muttered to himself.

"Does Daniel not understand the principles of the Dragon Cult, or is he under some kind of illusion spell that causes him to act this way?" Rhodes asked.

He didn't know much about magic, but he had heard from stories that some magic could drastically change a person's character.

"He must know this. In many places, there's a rule that if he's the one who interrogates the information, the lord's mage will give him an extra reward, since mages can harm themselves by using magic like memory reading."

As for whether he was under the influence of magic, I don't know, but I think the most likely explanation is that he doesn't want to share the reward for capturing those two Dragon Cult members with us," Weber said.

Baron nodded, then turned and said, "Now that we've left, what happens to him is none of our business. Let's think about what's at hand. Do we have enough food and water?"

Rhodes checked his spatial ring and said, "I think if we encounter any edible animals later, we'd better not let them go."

"I know there's a small town ahead where we can buy some supplies," Webber said.

"Is there a pub? I'd like to sit at a table by the fire and have a drink," Baron said.

"He probably wants to find a group of people to brag about his recent experiences," Hammer laughed heartily beside him.

Baron laughed along and punched Hammer on the shoulder.

Hammer, hissing and rubbing his shoulders, said, "What have you been up to these past few years? How come you've gotten so much stronger?"

……