Shut up, brave man! I don't want to atone for my sins to you!

Charles guessed that this guy might have a special relationship with Mad John, otherwise he would not have shown such an expression.

So he tried to explain in a calm tone:

"I'm from the White Tower, and I want to consult with... Mr. Crazy John."

The guy obviously had never heard of the name of the White Tower Alliance, so he muttered:

"What are the white tower and the black tower...what are they related to..."

Then he waved his hand at Charles again:

"I don't know what the 'White Tower' you're talking about is, but Crazy John probably won't be coming tonight. If he really wanted to come for a drink, like he always did, he would have already arrived."

In this case, Charles did not plan to continue waiting, after all, the tavern also had to close for a break.

So he said to the waiter, "In that case, we'll take our leave now," and at the same time tried to wake up Lacie who was still sleeping against him.

But at this moment, his perception was suddenly triggered.

There were exceptionally light footsteps coming from outside the tavern door, approaching from far away, like a string of tiny ripples, slowly moving towards the tavern.

The owner of the footsteps finally stopped outside the tavern. Charles heard him stamp his feet and cough heavily twice. Then the door of the tavern was pushed open from the outside, and a man wrapped in an old black double-breasted coat and wearing a heavy felt hat walked in from the cold night outside.

He was tall and strong, and his eyes, beard and hair seemed to be dyed by the cold night, showing a cold and hard grayish white, but he did not look majestic at all. On the contrary, whether it was his coat, felt hat or trousers wrapped tightly around his legs, they all revealed a sense of shabbyness of making do with the day, and the happy expression on his face often made him look more amiable, as if anyone could joke with him and make fun of him.

In fact, Charles' feeling was not wrong.

As soon as the man appeared at the door of the tavern, his waiter joked in an extremely exaggerated tone:

"Isn't this the Crazy John that everyone loves? Why did you come so late today? I think you must have gone to fool around with Mrs. Veronica on Vine Street!"

Crazy John spread his hands innocently when he heard this, his gray eyes slyly turned, and he glanced at the witch and the hero sitting in the corner of the tavern, while defending himself:

"How could that be? Madam Veronica likes young and strong men, but she doesn't like a useless old man like me... But I think she might be interested in you. How about I introduce you to her?"

Hearing what Crazy John said, the guy was actually a little moved:

"Really?"

Crazy John grinned, showing two rows of white teeth:

"Of course! Have I ever lied to you? If I said I would introduce you, I would definitely do it, but..."

He paused, thrust both hands into his coat pockets, grasped them, pulled both pockets out, and turned them upside down.

Then, Crazy John gave the guy behind the counter a look that could only be understood but not expressed in words.

He sent a request for a secret deal to his buddy.

The guy immediately gave him a dissolute look that said "I know, I know", then turned around, took out a bottle of wine from the wine cabinet, and pushed it along the counter to Crazy John.

"It's my treat tonight!" He raised his voice, but then quickly lowered his head and lowered his voice to say to Crazy John, "But you have to promise to introduce me to that lady!"

"Don't worry!" Crazy John patted his shoulder across the counter, "How could I lie to you?"

Then he proudly picked up the bottle of wine, glanced at it casually, and then showed a bitter expression:

"Why is this cheap wine again..."

This time it was the guy's turn to comfort him:

"It's good to have something to drink. What? Do you really want to drink some high-quality wine in our Wheat Ear? Don't dream. You might as well think about something practical - at least we have enough malt liquor here!"

Crazy John could only sigh and mutter as he took the wine glass handed to him by the waiter:

"I understand the logic, but... oh, forget it, cheap wine is cheap wine. Anyway, wine is used to get people drunk in the end."

After saying this, he turned around, casually said a few more words to the waiter, promised to introduce the waiter to Lady Veronica, then walked through the narrow path between the wine tables and went straight towards the witch and the brave man.

The brave man had already guessed that he was the Crazy John the old woman had mentioned - no, rather than guessing, the brave man still remembered his extremely impressive face and his overly enthusiastic attitude.

But Charles didn't expect that Crazy John was not surprised at all by their arrival. He even said...

"Did he guess that we would come looking for him?"

Charles looked at Mad John calmly, and at the same time, his hand hidden under the table gently touched the hilt of the holy sword.

And Crazy John seemed to notice nothing.

He was still excitedly carrying the bottle of wine and the glass, and came to Charles and Rachel with great agility like a brown bear.

After stopping, he looked at Charles, then glanced at Lacie who was still sleeping, and then showed a strange and unfathomable expression, as if he had understood something, and the smile on his face became more and more intense.

Then he showed Charles the wine in his hand and asked in a familiar tone:

"Would you mind sharing a table with me?"

[To be continued]

1/3

23. True or False

Charles had no reason to refuse Crazy John's request.

"Go ahead," he said to Crazy John.

Mad John raised the brim of his hat towards Charles, then pulled out a chair and sat down opposite Charles.

"Hello again, you two."

Mad John greeted Charles with a very sincere expression, like an old friend whom Charles had not seen for a long time.

Although they had only met once.

Actually, Charles is a bit socially anxious. He is a hero, but he has never liked dealing with people. When he was in the hero team, almost all social tasks were entrusted to the bunny-eared girl named Xirui in the team.

Now that the brave team has been temporarily disbanded, he has to rely on himself.

But before Charles could say anything, Crazy John opened the bottle of cheap wine, poured himself a full glass, and shook the bottle at Charles:

"Would you like a drink, sir?"

Charles was stunned, not knowing how to respond.

Mad John was too familiar and took it as a tacit consent, so he took Charles's wine glass very familiarly, and then took the glass of water that Lacie had not finished. He frowned and lowered his head to smell it, confirming what the clear liquid inside was, and then nodded with satisfaction.

He poured the water into Charles's glass, rinsed it casually, stood up, poured out the contents in a suitable place, and then filled Charles's glass with malt wine.

"I'm really sorry," the man put the glass of wine in front of Charles and shrugged, "I'm penniless and can't buy you any good wine..."

He paused, looked at Charles with his gray eyes, and his slightly aged face showed his signature, friendly and playful smile:

"I only have this inferior malt liquor. I just don't know if you can accept it."

Charles responded with his actions—he picked up the glass of wine, tilted his head back and took a big sip, then smiled at Crazy John:

"It's okay. I usually... often drink this kind of wine."

"Oh?" Crazy John raised his eyebrows in an ambiguous tone. "That's great. I originally thought..."

He paused, as if he had thought of something interesting, and couldn't help but laugh and shook his head:

"I thought the legendary hero would not be able to get used to the inferior malt liquor produced in Diesel."

Very abruptly, he pointed out Charles' identity.

But Charles was not alarmed.

He guessed it—or rather, he imagined it.

When they first visited Diesel, Crazy John's attitude towards them was a little overly enthusiastic. At that time, Charles guessed that Crazy John had guessed his identity... Of course, it could also be said that he recognized him.

Just like sending him a coffin after Rachel faked her death, it was also equivalent to giving him a commission.

Charles wondered in his heart whether this Crazy John in front of him also needed the help of this brave man, otherwise why would Crazy John be so enthusiastic towards them in the first place?

Thinking of this, he asked directly:

"I am indeed the brave Charles. So, Mr. John, what do you want to talk to me about?"

Crazy John heard this and asked back:

"I'm looking for you? Aren't you looking for me? I haven't even introduced myself to you yet, but you already know my name and found this pub I often go to, waiting for me here."

He laughed twice, then glanced at Lacie who was still sleeping beside Charles, with some confusion in his eyes, as if he didn't understand why the legendary hero who always advanced and retreated with the team now only had one companion with him, and this companion could not be matched with any of the members of the legendary hero's team.

But the doubts in his eyes went beyond that. Charles vaguely felt that there must be a deeper part that was difficult to interpret.

However, Ciel just couldn't understand that part, and Crazy John obviously had no intention of explaining it to Ciel.

He just asked again:

"Let's put aside the question of whether I have come to you or not, and whether I need your help or not... Sir Brave, I wonder why you and your companions have gone through so much trouble to find this tavern, and why you have waited for me here for so long?"

"If there's anything I can do to help, please let me know."

Ciel was somewhat surprised by Crazy John's straightforwardness.

Rachel had clearly told him that there should be no free lunch in this world, and the first law of mysticism is not only applicable to the field of mysticism itself, but can also be transferred to most fields.

Then Charles could not help saying:

"We won't let you help us for nothing. If you need anything, just tell us and we will do our best to help you."

Just like in Lentiheim.

The elves offered a reward, and they helped the elves kill the mad mother.

Of course, given the situation at the time, I'm afraid the elves didn't intend to offer Charles a reward, and he would do everything he could to stop the Mad Mother from corrupting Lentiheim and spreading the pollution to the outside world.

Perhaps that was why Laceel often disliked him——

"It's always like this! The remuneration has been agreed upon before accepting the commission! But why is it that as long as you are involved, even a commission like helping an old lady find her lost cat can be involved in a cult gathering and become out of control..."

"byd the brave!"

"This life is too hot!"

Just like what Lacier complained about, every time he took on a commission, it would eventually evolve into something very strange for no apparent reason. Even if the commission was completed, it would be difficult for the client to pay the corresponding reward. In addition, the weapons, equipment and props that were lost during the commission...

The Brave Squad has always been spending more than it earns.

If it weren't for the investment from Joseph and his sister, who had a small fortune, and the support from Lacey from selling portable healing spell scrolls, he would have been reduced to the embarrassing situation of selling himself.

No, in a sense, Ciel might have mortgaged his body.

When he was penniless one time, he shamelessly asked Lacie for a meal, and Lacie exchanged a bowl of noodles for the use of his body.

"How come you are so poor again? You can't even afford a meal. You deserve to starve to death, you pig!"

At that time, Lacier complained while cooking a bowl of noodles for him. Then she threatened him with the bowl of noodles:

"Want to eat? Then you have to listen to me from now on - you have to sell yourself to me before you can continue to eat with me! Do you understand?!"

He didn't think much about it at that time, and just nodded vigorously, and finally ate the bowl of noodles... Although later on, Lacier seemed to have forgotten that transaction that could hardly be considered a transaction... She was always like this, every time he asked her to eat for free, she would scold him and then cook for him.

Ciel's father and mother died in a disaster when he was very young, so he had almost never felt the so-called "love". Later, when he became a hero, he had even less time to feel what "love" was. He was always on the road of generously dying for others.

He originally thought that he was destined to die quietly or heroically one day in his life. This was almost the fate of every brave man, and he would be no exception, even though he was only a half-baked brave man.

...until he met Rachel.

It's strange to say, although he had lived for more than ten years, it was not until he met Rachel that he felt the tired heart in his chest, which was dominated by a sense of mission, beat for the first time by its own will.

It was like a drowning person being rescued to the shore. After spitting out the water in his stomach, he was gasping for breath and was surprised to find that the world before him had become more vivid and real than ever before.

Only when he was with Rachel did Charles feel alive.

Thinking of this, Charles laughed silently, turned his head, and confirmed that Lacielle was still by his side and not disappeared like before, then he breathed a sigh of relief.

He looked at Crazy John again.

Crazy John noticed his little action and couldn't help but laugh.

"You two...are lovers?" he suddenly asked.

Charles was stunned, but didn't know how to answer.

Lovers? He and Rachel... were they lovers? He wanted to be lovers with Rachel, but she never responded to him. She... he didn't even know whether she liked him or not.

Perhaps because he suddenly realized this, the hero's expression became slightly embarrassed.

After all, he had never been in love before. All his knowledge about love came from stories he heard from others and from the novels lent to him by the bunny-eared girl named Xirui in the team.

But his silence seemed deafening to Crazy John.