Your Majesty's money, why don't you engrave my name on it?

“Ask whatever you want, Your Excellency Raslaufer,” Paul immediately spoke up. “There’s no need for any reservations. You are Her Highness’s benefactor, and she calls you Uncle, so we are family—I hope His Majesty Richard will not mind.”

If someone were talking about you behind your back, you'd actually sneeze. That emperor must be sneezing right now.

“It’s not a very important matter,” Dopler pondered for a moment. “I just wanted to find out about this Heinrich you mentioned… is he reliable?”

"I tried asking around these past two days, but I haven't gotten any results."

Because scholars often need to conduct field investigations, and mercenaries are somewhat familiar with those very famous figures—at least they know their names—but this man named Heinrich Spegor was completely absent from the list.

Reslaufer admitted that the people he asked didn't know enough about the situation at Ironforge, but they had no basic information at all. The only reason he agreed to go this time was out of trust in Pol's reputation and his own curiosity.

“I understand, but that’s not surprising,” Paul nodded after hearing Raslaufer’s doubts. He raised his hand and created an arcane illusion in the little space left in the carriage. “Look, this is Sir Heinrich, or as you would call him, Noble Heinrich.”

The demon scholar in the illusion wore a tailored, bright red robe, featuring both common arcane patterns and characteristics of aristocratic attire, revealing his pride in both identities. His short, grey hair was neatly combed back, and his deep brown eyes were set in their sockets. As he swirled the wine glass in his hand, a smile played on his lips, as if he were listening intently to someone's words.

"noble."

“Yes, but not through family lineage. He earned it through his own abilities,” Paul said. “It is said that the previous owner of Ironforge and his family were cursed and tormented by evil spirits day and night. Heinrich volunteered to heal them and won a great battle against the evil spirits that were entangled with the family, thus saving them.”

"Later, the owner was still murdered, but the method used was the simplest and most brutal."

“Defeating a demon, that sounds pretty interesting,” Daisy thought for a moment. “Do you know what kind of demon he defeated? You probably know that the term ‘demon’ is too general.”

Paul recalled for a moment and replied with some regret, "He called himself a demonologist, so he must have defeated demons. But I really have no idea which kind—after all, I'm an outsider."

"If we rule out the possibility that he's faking it, then there's still a lot to say about him." Demons and devils have fought for countless years, and according to legend, the demons of the abyss even have a slight advantage. If the other party can defeat a demon, then it might really prove his strength.

But… Raslaufer wasn't sure. Perhaps the other party's expertise was only directed at demons, but judging from his own current experiences, he seemed to be closer to the devil. If that was the case, could the other party's knowledge still be of any help to him?

Chapter 417 Seven-Layer Iron Fortress

Having endured countless wars, the Iron Fortress of today is no longer the small, self-contained castle it once was. With it at its core, seven layers of walls surround it in a staggered fashion, and the area covered by these iron walls may even be larger than that of the Island City of Tilted Vessel.

On its outskirts, there are villages, farms and ranches scattered throughout, with numerous bunkers emerging from them, monitoring the movements outside the city and enveloping the entire city like an iron barrel.

“Now I understand why you said, Uncle Leslaufer, that we would need at least one dragon to conquer it,” Angelita sighed wearily. “Luckily, you and Professor Paul reminded us that if we hadn’t stayed overnight, we would have had to sleep in the farmland.”

As they were talking, the door of a bunker by the roadside suddenly opened again. The guards who came out questioned them in detail before reluctantly letting the group of outsiders pass through.

"How many times has this happened? Four, five?" Mary was getting tired of it. "At this rate, with guards every three steps and sentries every five steps, we probably won't be able to get into the city before dark."

“Don’t worry, Miss Mary, relax,” Paul said with a smile. “There’s nothing we can do about it. There are only nine checkpoints on this road outside the city, and we’ll be done with this soon.”

“Then there are the gatekeepers of each city wall,” Leslaufer added as the others breathed a sigh of relief, “since the church school is on the third floor, at least we don’t need to go through all the city gates.”

"There are more in the city?!"

"Of course, each of the iron walls was built at a different time and has extraordinary significance for different people, families or larger organizations. Crossing the walls to enter or leave is by no means an easy task—at least not all of them."

As they spoke, the group finally passed all the bunker scouts and stood at the foot of the seventh layer of the Iron Fortress's wall. The wall soared into the clouds from its base, and each brick and stone contained metal or other reinforcing materials. In the winter, the outer wall was so smooth that it was like a mirror or ice, with not a single gap to step on.

It's impossible for Raslaufer to recreate the scene of his previous ascent here.

“This city wall was built during the peak of Ironforge’s development in recent years, and as you can see, it is an impregnable fortress.” Raslaufer casually flashed his identification to the gatekeeper. Like Paul, he had a legitimate identity and could lead a certain number of people through smoothly.

While there are many residential buildings, the merchants' markets lining the streets are even more dazzling, with almost every kind of vendor you can imagine having their own stall here.

“This place is mainly frequented by merchants. I came here with my father when I was a child,” Mary blinked, looking somewhat nostalgic. “I remember there was a ‘Troll Desserts’ shop here, it seemed to be a very old shop, but I can’t remember which street it was on…”

“It can’t be here, Mary.” Leslaufer smiled and pointed at the vendors. Everyone quickly noticed the clues—about 60 or 70 percent of them were street stalls, and many of the rest, although they looked respectable, were not actually real shops.

“The old shops are all further inside. They wouldn’t deign to get involved in places like this,” Leslaufer pointed to the sixth level of the city wall, which was slightly shorter than the seventh level, not far away. “They’re even further inside. I know about troll desserts; your father must have taken you there back then.”

The sixth layer of the city wall and the interior were also quite elaborately constructed, but they were still inferior to the outside, so they were unlikely to attract the attention of casual visitors like Leslaufer. However, the more important reason was that their attention was completely drawn to the fifth layer of the city wall.

"Back then... what?"

Looking at the broken wall that was only shoulder-high, Angelita was momentarily confused: "That's a city wall too?"

This can be called a city wall?! It looks like a giant pigsty!

“Look at that goalkeeper,” Leslaufer said, as if he had anticipated the other’s reaction. “That’s the fifth layer of the wall, no doubt about it.”

"but……"

"As I just said, most city walls are not easy to climb over from the inside or the outside, but there are always exceptions, like this one."

The bard walked over thoughtfully, looking down at the neat, flat section at the top of the "city wall": "Old Lei, don't tell me this was left by some powerful being in a battle! Look at this cut, it looks like someone cleaved it in two with a sword!"

“Nonsense! There’s no sword that big in the world!” Leslaufer smacked Daisy on the head. “Sometimes I really want to lift the lid off and take a look!”

"This city wall didn't become like this later—it was like this when it was first built—or rather, it was never built to this day."

"Then why not finish building it?"

"Why did you want to finish it?" Raslaufer countered. "It was built by the former lord of Ironforge. He wanted to build the most magnificent city wall in the world, which is why the fifth district of Ironforge is so vast. See that over there? The fourth layer of the wall."

Following the direction Reslaufer pointed, the group saw a row of hazy black lines in the distance, their location unknown.

“What a boastful ambition,” Paul shook his head and sighed. “At this rate, the expenses will probably double.”

“So he went bankrupt,” Doble said with a hint of schadenfreude. “It was said to be a rare sight that citizens and peasants followed the nobles to force their lord to abdicate. In that situation, even the army and guards did not stand on the lord’s side.”

"So Daisy, you asked me why I didn't fix it? It was already in perfect condition, but now its significance is probably more as a warning. Also, it makes it easier for those skilled guys inside and outside to come and go. As long as they don't get caught, it's fine."

As Raslaufer continued walking forward, talking and looking back, he didn't notice at all that a dirty child suddenly darted out from around a corner, bumped headfirst into Raslaufer's arms, and fell to the ground.

"I'm so sorry, sir, I'm so sorry!" The child scrambled to his feet, bowing and scraping as he apologized to Raslaufer, while simultaneously rummaging through his pockets.

This is unbelievable! He was certain that he had just touched the burly man's wallet and stolen it!

But now... why can't he find it...?

“It’s alright, just keep an eye on the kids. By the way,” Leslaufer tossed the two wallets in his hand into the air and caught them, while Mary stepped back slightly, “Are you looking for these?”

Chapter 418 The Rat Swarm in the Iron Fortress

Although the child looked three or four years younger than Angelita, he was probably already a veteran in this business. When he saw the money bag in Raslaufer's hand, he didn't dare to linger for a second and immediately ran away.

But without a doubt, he can't escape.

“He’s still a child, Lord Raslaufer,” Pol cautiously reminded Dople. Theft is not a capital offense in most places, let alone attempted theft, but the old mage, based on his past knowledge, Angelita’s accounts over the past few days, and his recent experiences in Eastern Inasas, thought it best to remind the mercenary.

Sparing a petty thief's life cannot be considered magnanimous, just as leaving an unattended corpse in a corner of a city far from the empire cannot be considered an atrocity.

“Then catch up with him,” Leslaufer nodded, pointing in the direction the petty thief had gone. “It shouldn’t be difficult for you, right?”

"You think he has powerful backers and is planning to take them all down?" Even Daisy disagreed this time. "Old Ray, even from a chivalrous perspective, this is probably meaningless—I believe all professions exist because of necessity, and some of those 'necessities' will almost never be eliminated..."

“That’s true, but at the same time, every profession has its rules,” Leslaufer chuckled. Although he said it was true, it was clear that he didn’t quite agree with Daisy’s view. “I’m not going to ‘eliminate’ them, but some people just need to be taught the rules.”

Robbers and bandits won't rob any living creature they see, and a competent thief should know whose money they can steal and whose they can't.

“His education was terrible,” Mary began. “Although I will not become like him, my ‘teachers’ taught me this when I was being trained.”

The most important point is not to easily have opinions about the mercenaries' property.

Soldiers, bandits, and thieves—these three professions can easily switch between each other. Ignoring the rules and resorting to underhanded tactics against those who "cross over" is almost tantamount to cutting off one's own path to survival. If that boy doesn't know how to restrain his behavior, some stinking ditch will sooner or later become his final destination.

Having explained it to this point, even Paul could say nothing more. The mage's eyes, which had not become cloudy with age, slowly lit up with a milky white light. From this special perspective, the traces of the boy's escape were as conspicuous as a lighthouse in the dark night.

A dead-end alley with its entrance nailed shut by a few broken planks is a common hiding place for the "rat swarm" in Iron Fortress. If a lot of scraps of cloth or other things are hung on the outside of those planks, it means that there are experienced "big rats" inside.

Logically, the boy should be avoiding the "big rats" of this area, but he had no other choice. His body, weakened by not having eaten even half a meal in three days, wasn't strong enough to shake off the mercenary whose arms were thicker than his thighs; he had no choice but to seek help.

But as soon as he ducked in, his protruding belly slammed into his face, causing him to fall to the ground.

"Ha, our 'Little Krankmoz' (Eastern Inasian: sick little rat) is back!" the voice that still haunted the boy's nights shouted. "Let your brother see what goodies you've gotten your hands on!"

Krankmoz looked up fearfully. Looking down at him was a boy a few years older than him, but unlike the usual street thugs, this guy was fat and strong, and several heads taller than him. He was currently gnawing on a chicken leg with his mouth dripping with oil.

Like most members of the rat pack, this "Moz" also had to pay his share to the big rats above him regularly. But after discovering that he didn't have the talent to steal, he quickly learned to get his share from the other kids. Now he not only pays his share to the big rats above him, but he can even keep enough for himself.

The rats were happy to see this happen, because that's exactly how they got there.

But the boy who had just escaped had nothing left to "hand over".

"No?! You piece of trash!" Seeing that the other party had no reaction, the fat boy immediately threw a punch, but no matter how he hit, the blood from the nose and the screams could not be turned into shiny gold and silver coins, or even copper coins.

"Please...stop hitting me," the boy pleaded weakly, lying in the muddy, cold dust, his voice muffled. "Give me two more days, just two—"

The fat man lifted him up and smashed the boy's head against his teeth, ending his sentence: "Two days! Two days after two days, how many two days are there in a week!"

"Fool, you already owe me a lot of money, not to mention what you owe your brother! Do you know how much more trouble others will suffer because of your delayed payment!"

If he couldn't collect this portion, the fat boy would have to collect more money from the other children to ensure that he could still buy a couple of chicken legs every now and then to supplement his nutrition. But at this moment, no child dared to criticize him. When the boy who had been beaten tried his best to open his bruised eyes, all he saw were pairs of silent, blaming, and resentful gazes.

He is the one who made the mistake.

“Enough, Tyver,” a young man’s voice called from behind him, just as the fat man was about to continue beating the sinner of the entire rat swarm, “It won’t do any good even if you beat him to death.”

A young man in his early twenties, dressed in clothes out of place in this environment, sauntered over a bottle of liquor, stepped down from the brick "throne" at the end of the dead-end alley, squatted down, and approached the boy who had been thrown to the ground again and was almost dead: "Hey waiter, look at you, tsk tsk, what has life turned you into?"

"Where did that waiter go, the one who could take the wallets of six brothers and sisters while protecting his own? I can only see a tiny bit of his shadow in you."

"Come on, tell your older brother, what exactly happened to you?"

"I...I'm so hungry..." The boy buried his head in shame, not daring to look the giant rat in the eye, but the fat man, Tefal, immediately grabbed him by the hair and lifted him up.

“Hungry? That’s no excuse, waiter,” the young man sighed and shook his head. “You have to work hard to earn more. That’s how it is in every trade. If you don’t pay your share, you won’t have any money left. If you don’t have any money left, how can you possibly have enough to eat? That’s your own fault.”

“But you weren’t like this before,” the rat suddenly changed its tone, making the boy tremble all over. “Is there some other reason? Come on, you can trust your big brother completely. Tell your big brother, tell the brothers and sisters here, and we will all be happy to help you solve it.”

"For example, a lazy, gluttonous parasite?"

Chapter 419 "Family"

"No, no!" The boy tried frantically to break free from the fat man's grip, but was immediately deflated by a punch to the back. "Please, big brother... don't touch her..."

The big rat gave the fat man a wink, and the latter immediately released the boy and went to a corner of the alley. He roughly dragged out a sickly girl who looked even younger, perhaps only seven or eight years old, with a sallow complexion completely covering her pale face.

"You think you've hidden her well, don't you?" The giant rat chuckled, pinning the two children together and slapping the girl's cheek with the bottom of a wine bottle. "You've forgotten, I grew up to be your age too. Everyone in the rat pack grew up like that. You can't hide it from anyone."

The boy knew that this was probably betrayed by one of his "brothers and sisters," and the reward he would receive was probably a one-week exemption from paying his "harvest"—of course, this only applied to the big rat's share; the fat man's share still had to be paid.

The rat didn't care whether the boy guessed it or not; he could have directly told Xiao Er the informant's name, but there was no need for that.

"Of course, although keeping pets privately is not allowed, I could have turned a blind eye. But Xiao Er, you shouldn't have let your family's livelihood be delayed because of a pet."

"Let me guess, is she eating more and more? Does she need clothes, shelter, and medicine? Are you planning to get her some toys next? Hmm?"

"You're not planning to send her to a convent or even a church school, are you?! Waiter, do you even remember who you are? You're just a rat in the gutter!"

"How could those hypocritical priests and nuns accept her? They'll investigate her background! It'll lead back to us. Are you planning to push your family into a fire pit for this little brat?! You ungrateful wretch!"

With a loud crash, the half-empty wine bottle shattered on the waiter's head. The remaining blood mixed with the wine immediately ran down his hair, carving two deep furrows on his dusty and muddy face: "Look what you've done. You still have to pay me back for this bottle of wine, two silver coins, remember that?"

The young man straightened up, swaying slightly, and stuffed the remaining half of the broken bottle into the boy's arms: "Alright, that's fine. I can give you two more days, waiter, but you have to 'deal with' your little pet first, right here, in front of everyone."

"After all, this is not just your problem. If we let you continue to be so self-righteous and irresponsible in your indiscriminate acts of kindness, everyone will be ruined by you."

The waiter, trembling with pain, had a fleeting thought: he wanted to plunge the sharp weapon in his arms into the forehead of his "good brother," even if it meant being beaten to death just to see him covered in blood. But…

"Brother, is there... any other way?"

“Hmm,” the big rat was a little surprised. He looked up at the sky. “I can understand. Sigh, you have some feelings for your own pets. No problem, your big brother won’t make things difficult for you. Look, it’s still early. It’s not time for you to hand over your harvest yet. How about this, next time before dawn, as long as you have enough money, I can pretend that everything never happened. How about it?”

"To be honest, I still can't quite believe it, Xiao Er, that you really didn't earn a single silver coin these past two days? Even the most useless Moz has never achieved such a feat."

Such useless children will never be accepted as official members of the rat swarm. After the cost of "raising" them is recouped by maiming and playing the victim, they can basically be "released".

Xiao Er could hear his back teeth chattering. He was afraid... he would have to go through the same thing as everyone else. Just like his older brother said, everyone goes through this.

"Brother," he said urgently, "I had almost saved enough money, but on the last call, I ran into a tough one. Not only did she not let me take her money, she even snatched my purse!"

"What's inside is all the portions I've collected over the past few weeks!"

“Then you should take those back first, then I might be able to give you some more leeway,” the big rat said, shaking his head and kicking the waiter in the stomach. “Besides, trying to steal from a fellow professional? If you fail, it’s because you’re not skilled enough.”

“This…that woman must have cleaned up her act,” Xiao Er said through gritted teeth, mixing in a suitable lie. “Moreover, she was probably from another group of rats here. After taking my money bag, she not only mocked me but even threatened to have someone come and wipe us out. Otherwise, how could I dare to come back without getting enough loot!”

"Waiter, waiter, you really are..." The young man sighed as he beat the waiter even harder than the fat man, Tyver. "You've really disgraced everyone."

"But we're family, aren't we? Even if all of this is because of you, our family shouldn't be humiliated like this—Tefal, gather the men, waiter, take us to where you messed up, that bitch can't escape!"

Unlike mercenaries, very few people in this line of work can clear their names, and they all desperately want to sever all ties with their past. The woman the waiter was talking about was simply too arrogant.

If this kind of thing is left unchecked, how will they continue to live in this area?

The fat man immediately agreed and squeezed through the gap in the wooden planks at the alley entrance. He needed to relay the orders from the giant rat to the other gathering points. However, before he could even take half a step out, a muffled thud came from outside the planks.

"What's going on?!" Big Rat immediately became alert, and the other kids grabbed whatever weapons they could find and swarmed around their eldest brother in a chaotic frenzy. "Fatty?"