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

Leslough looked at the brooch key he had just received with great satisfaction. He had already roughly selected a few old friends in his mind. If Amantha happened to be tired of military life after he sent the people to the destination, it would be best to get her to do this job as well.

Elves with dark vision are definitely very suitable for this job, but unfortunately most of them are too proud and conceited to bother and be ashamed to do this job.

But Amantha was definitely not one of them, just as she and Lesloff had learned about the attitude of her hometown people towards her: she was a mercenary!

Who knows which is a greater sin, digging up graves or robbing financial donors?

But when Leslaufer looked up, he happened to meet Angelita's eyes. The girl's anticipation was obvious: she wanted to participate in this event.

"No, this is no joke," Raslaufer raised his palm firmly, "I have to focus on you first."

Taking a client across half the empire and half the size of Inassus was already rare enough, but then taking her on a detour to a tomb with a high probability of danger? Unless the treasure inside was greater than the reward for the former!

But then again, even if there was more treasure, why didn't Reslaufer send Angarita there first? This would save both time and effort! Anyway, they had originally said either Central Inassus or East Inassus would be fine, and now they were only a few steps away from the nearest destination.

The border between Central and Western Inassas is to the north. Just tell me if it's the territory of Central Inassas! Waiting for that old man Boll to pay the balance. What's wrong with taking both payments?

"I'm an adult!" Angelita pouted. "That's the burial place of the descendants of that demon named Chalgigi. There might be stories about his ancestors there. Let's go take a look, okay? It shouldn't be too far of a detour, right?"

"It's not particularly far, but if you didn't come from Central Inassus, you'll inevitably have to walk back a bit, and it won't be easy..." Sisti didn't dare to lie, but she didn't dare to offend the man with the sword.

"I'm just going to take a look, but that's not very convincing," Daisy muttered. "Although I'd like to go, Annie, you'd better not go for now. Or maybe go later?"

"Hmph, your 'later' promise isn't going to convince anyone," Margaret curled her lips upon hearing this. "I understand that all too well. My father used to talk about 'later,' 'the future,' and 'when the time comes,' but now he can't say any more, alas."

"If you insist on your point of view, then I will have no choice but to tie you up and send you to the Central Region, and then let you remain in this state for a month or two," Leslaufer sighed reluctantly. After being together for so long, he didn't like treating Angarita like this. "Anyway, your wish can't be fulfilled now. You have to wait another year before you can make your next birthday wish."

"Look at me now. I don't have the right armor, this sword isn't particularly handy, and I've got a lawsuit coming up today that I'm not sure will be serious. All in all, going on an adventure isn't a good idea, Anne, unless you've mastered the swordsmanship in the book I gave you. The sword masters of Corazonde wouldn't be afraid to explore an ancient tomb."

"That thing is harder than math and swordsmanship combined. I'm afraid it will take me ten years to master it..." Angelita hummed and turned her head away, but she also knew that what Leslaufer said made sense, so she didn't insist any more.

When facing a completely unknown challenge, it's best to be fully prepared. Her uncle Reslaufer had suffered a similar loss in the City of the Fallen not long ago - who would have thought that encountering a chain demon and a group of imps in the material world would not be the end?

Sisti breathed a sigh of relief. "In that case, please forgive us for disturbing you for a while in the rain. We've also found out the locations of some other small cemeteries. After we say goodbye to you all, we should be able to deal with the minister."

A fully grown wild boar could produce enough meat to feed ten people for about a week, but it would lose its flavor and become unpalatable much faster than that. The good news was that before that, the sun once again broke through the clouds, pouring down unreservedly on the earth. The rain had stopped.

"Damn, if I couldn't grow and sell some berries myself, I would probably become a carnivore like you savages." In the sunlight, Bella was the first to come out of the cave, jokingly pretending to vomit.

Although Druid still maintains a vegetarian diet, she no longer expresses strong opinions about the diets of other people or creatures. However, she is not entirely wrong. Even a meat-loving gourmet who has been eating "pure" barbecue with almost no seasoning would probably not be able to accept it.

"Druid spells are so limited, Sister Bella," Angarita sighed. "Why can you only conjure up berries? What about cinnamon? What about thyme? It would be great if we had those."

"Then you'd better get Old Feng another pickaxe so he can dig out a palace," Daisy strummed the strings sadly. "My dear Princess, you have to follow the rules."

Despite the presence of outsiders, the two tabby cats could never have imagined that this title was a statement rather than an exaggeration. What surprised no one else was that Rosso, who had recently recovered, twitched his ears and whiskers again, blinked, and looked at the matte in the poet's hands.

"Sister, the tone of your piano is not right. I have been listening to it for two or three days."

"Yes, yes, of course I know," Daisy said helplessly, "but what can I do? Our master piano player can't tune it, and I don't know how to play the piano. Tsk."

Luo Suo hesitated for a moment: "Perhaps... if you trust me, could you lend it to me to take a look? Perhaps I have a solution."

"This lady's harp is a magical item. Don't try to be brave, Rosso," Sisti said quickly. "We can't afford to pay for something so valuable!"

Daisy was originally planning to hand the piano over to the tabby cat man who was a male but mistook her for a female, but when she heard this, she immediately retracted her hand - why did it sound like they, the siblings, often had to lose money because of this?

"Don't worry, Miss Daisy. I think these are just minor issues. You may have fallen into some misunderstandings," Rosseau explained, ignoring his sister. "You probably weren't used to using the harp as a weapon earlier, right? But the tabby cats have the best blacksmiths and the best bards."

"I didn't do this..." Daisy recalled the details she knew about the Tabby Cat people and finally handed the piano over. "Anyway, be careful. If it's a skill like 'Long-term illness makes a doctor', I advise you not to overestimate your advantages..."

Chapter 266 The Devil in the Piano

"When I was back home, I learned some skills from an elder." Luo Suo took the zither and played it a few times in a formal manner, then leaned in closer to listen carefully. "It's indeed a minor problem. I can just adjust it a little. It must be very uncomfortable."

"Uncomfortable, who?"

"The harp, the matt, is an imperial instrument, belonging to that great nation to the southeast. It's very uncomfortable in the conditions of Inassus, not to mention the rain." The cat-man's expression didn't look joking at all. "Although it's been specially modified to be fully capable of temporarily acting as a warhammer, it's still a musical instrument after all. Repeated use like this will cause hidden damage, just like a person's cold legs."

"Normally it's not a big problem, but it's different when it rains."

"You make it sound like an intelligent weapon..." Daisy rubbed her arms in confusion. "I know there are a lot of stories about musical instruments having souls, but they usually seem to be horror stories."

"That's a human problem," Rosso smiled. His smile was indeed softer and brighter than Sissi's. "It's not like that in the culture of the tabby cat people."

As he said this, he returned the matte to you: "Now try it again, miss, I promise it will be as good as the day it first came into your hands."

Daisy placed her fingers on the strings doubtfully. How could she know if the new friend hadn't even plucked the strings herself? However, when the poet began to play a beginner's song casually...

“La la la, la la, la la la la la—”

"Oh my god!"

Suddenly, a chorus without lyrics rang in the bard's ears, scaring her so much that she almost dropped her zither to the ground!

"Miss Daisy?" Rosseau, who was closest to him, was naturally the most frightened. For a moment, he thought Daisy was going to hit him with the piano! Did he do something wrong?

"The piano sounds like..."

"That's not the point." Daisy tightened her grip on the instrument again and looked around anxiously for confirmation. "Did anyone of you hum along just now? And really loudly?"

"No," Margaret said immediately, "but I must say that the piano sounded better than usual just now."

"That was the piano music before everything happened in Qingzun City. The error has been corrected," Angarita nodded. The two noble children had full say in this matter. "But no one is humming."

Daisy's performance can often move the emotions of her audience friends, but this time she had no such intention, she was just testing the sound.

"That's not right..." Daisy tried to play again doubtfully, but this time, the sound appeared in her ears more clearly.

"It's so comfortable. I haven't enjoyed it this much in almost a thousand years... Don't stop, little girl. Keep stroking my strings—"

If this voice was a charming female voice, and no less pleasant than the poet's voice, Daisy would almost call the police!

However, before she could really shout out, the voice continued to reach her ears: "Don't make any noise, little girl. I'm a very important person. You don't want your friends to know about my existence."

"Just hold them steady for now. If you have any questions, you can just figure them out in your head. That shouldn't be too hard for a 'Bard', right?"

Daisy hesitated for a moment, but still put on a smile and fooled others with her auditory hallucinations.

"Who are you? Why are you in my piano? Or are you the piano itself?"

"You absorbed my magic power and only woke up now? Are you a man or a woman? What were you like in your life—"

"Stop, stop, stop! You have too many questions!" The speed of thought was much faster than the poet's outward expression of eloquence. Within three minutes, the voice was almost suffocated by the overwhelming pressure of questions. "I'm not some grandfather in the piano! Nor am I some grandmother! And certainly not some belated system cheat... My consciousness entered and exited this piano much later than you did!"

"What did you mean by 'a thousand years'?" Daisy insisted. "I thought I had found some magical artifact!"

"You don't even know your own things?" The voice seemed a little lost for words. "This isn't some kind of artifact. It's just a magical item that can release thunder waves. But maybe it will become an artifact in the future, who knows?"

"What does it mean?"

"Hmm... you've already begun to doubt it. Bards who can be systematically trained are even rarer than warlocks, so you can't hide your true thoughts. But it doesn't matter. We have a mutually beneficial relationship now. I can explain it to you as simply as possible."

"First, let me pick the most important one from your three thousand questions. Um, 'Who am I?' My name is Cheng Ling. Don't be surprised by the pronunciation and characters of my name. Any mage with a little knowledge of the field of soul memory can read it, not to mention that I am in it now."

"Like you, I haven't always been a part of this world. I come from a world similar to the 'ancient times' you imagine. But the reason I'm talking to you through your zither now is a more complex story."

"I was once a performer, gifted as if blessed by the gods. I could have anything I wanted. All I had to do was sing on stage, and even the most powerful wizard in my hometown would willingly bow down before me. But then... but then there was a guy, a very bad guy, who opened a passage from the abyss to our world and successfully summoned the powerful being from the 558th floor of the Endless Abyss—itself!"

"Can you imagine? One second my wizard lover was willing to give everything for me, and the next, snap! He was corrupted into an ugly and twisted demon! If it weren't for the devil who came to save me after smelling blood, I would have been eaten alive by the time those brave warriors from Mount Heaven arrived!"

"So... I guess you sold yourself to the devil, or you're already a devil now?" Daisy gasped. "Then don't even try to shut my mouth! I haven't even learned a third-level spell yet. I'm meeting the devil so early. You might as well let me fight Tiamat!"

"Don't be impatient, little girl. Do you think I did this voluntarily? Should I be killed by my lover, who instantly corrupted into a demon, and left to wander in endless nightmares?" The being calling herself "Cheng Ling" argued, "Purgatory imprisoned me, forcing me to sing for Grand Duke Firna forever, but they saved my lover, freeing his soul from his hopeless body and returning him to the kingdom of God! How do you want me to choose?"

"And..." This turn was followed by a chuckle. "Why do I have to tell you? Everyone has their own little secrets, right? What do you think was the opportunity that brought your harp into contact with me? And I want to tell you, I can smell a similar scent to mine on the man who swung his harp at the Hellfire Giant - did he tell you?"

"No wonder he asked—" Daisy almost exclaimed.

"You think he's hiding this because he wants to harm you? That's impossible, right? So you see, a little personal privacy is harmless. What's more, this privacy can greatly benefit you and your companions."

"You know the complete set of spell tables for almost all spellcasting classes, but you can only figure out the bard's spells on your own? Don't worry, I'll teach you."

Chapter 267: Old Franzki Out of Control

After the piano was repaired, Daisy probably began her "revengeful creation" and "revengeful singing" as she said herself. She spent more than half of the day playing, but was silent for the rest of the time, as if she was a different person.

Although she was still holding the zither, her eyes were always staring at a certain place, without saying a word.

As she said, this is a "retaliatory rest" after "retaliatory creation".

Although such a poet lady is not necessarily a bad thing, after all, she has just become a silent version of Daisy, and her already superb skills have even been improved to a higher level, becoming even more amazing, but for her companions, the somewhat crazy friend may be the more "normal" one.

"That young man's workmanship is quite good. Not only did he fix the piano, but he also became more normal after that," said Vondar, sitting on a fallen tree trunk and looking at Daisy, who was once again lost in thought. "Although I rarely support this view, this time I still think that things don't have to be perfect."

"Grandpa Vondar, according to some fashionable scholars in Inassus, if you believe that 100% isn't necessarily good, then the object you're talking about isn't truly 100% good. This is because 'perfection' as a concept existed before the act of talking about it."

Margaret fiddled with the dagger in her hand, a trophy she had gotten from the shapeshifter, and she was still learning how to use it—the book on Klarsund swordsmanship she had obtained from Raslaufer.

Angelita generously shared it with her friends to learn together, but their weapons were actually not the most suitable type for Corazonde swordsmanship. As Vondar jokingly said, it was like a cook boiling eggs in a kettle and a cook using a colander exchanging cooking skills.

Margaret also received more than just two daggers from the shapeshifter; she also got the ring that could transform into clothing. That thing probably only worked on shapeshifters, because otherwise they'd have to strip naked to transform into clothing... They didn't mind being shirtless; instead, they'd be more heavily armed.

"Ha, you're talking about 'philosophy' again. You should have talked to your father about these things." The dwarf shrugged. He didn't mean to be sarcastic, but if Rody thought his daughter had crossed more bridges than he had walked on rice, he wouldn't have ended up like that.

But Margaret wasn't the only one who lost her father in that conspiracy.

"I wonder how Edward is doing," Bella said gravely. "Are he and his friends going to seek revenge now? Will they succeed? Can he reach his enemy, or can they reach the Kingdom of Pope safely?"

"By the way, where is that place?"

"The Kingdom of Bifika is close to the Empire, but Bifika is far from the Golinoto Mountains. It's a small butterfly near the border of central and western Inassus, towards the Dread Swamp," Leslaufer's voice rang out from the other end. "As a druid, Xiaohong, you've been in Inassus for so long and you can't even find a kingdom on the map?"

"There are a dozen kingdoms in Western Inassus, how can I remember them all?" Bella rolled her eyes. "And don't call me 'Little Red'. I'm not what you call a red-haired goat - I can turn into much more than a goat!"

"Anyway, just relax. That guy is no ordinary person," Reslaufer said leisurely, recalling the scene where Edward painted the woman from the Popenos family on the wall. "He can definitely handle the affairs of that family."

"And he has far more than we do. Five genius spellcasters! Tsk, isn't the average age fourteen? If the Popenos family can't stifle them, then three, or even five generations of their family will face an unforgettable nightmare."

"But I guess it won't take that long—Annie, do you spellcasters have a way to pull out all the people of a certain bloodline in the world?"

"It depends on the scale," Angrita hesitated. "For example, if we all want to find Uncle Vondar, searching all dwarves, all Haidong dwarves, and all Half Hill dwarves will result in completely different costs, regardless of the outcome."

"If the search is conducted worldwide, it must be quite an astonishing force."

Leslaufer nodded. "It seems that when all the Popenos will die depends on when Edward can do this."

The mercenary was quite certain, because on that burning night, he saw that the little boy had the potential to become another him - stronger and younger.

"What's up, man?"

Leslaufer stood up and walked towards the coachman who was still resting nearby. "We all don't want old Franzki to get exhausted, but we can't always rest for two or three hours every day - the days at the end of the year are already very short. Although we are not in a hurry to travel through the wilderness at night, don't forget that when you sleep, the wilderness is still a wilderness."

"Of course, of course. Let's set off now. Old Franzki must have rested well." The driver stood up quickly and bowed to Leslaufer - he also had a place in the Rainy Day Cave, and he saw with his own eyes how this man killed the monster!

The neck, no, the head flew high!

"Hey, Fran! It's time to go--" The driver looked towards the old horse that was still eating hard on the ground not far away. The stomach of a horse is relatively small compared to its body size, so it is easy to be full or hungry, and this is especially true for an old horse like old Fransky.

The old horse slowly shook its ears and mane at the words, then raised its head, still wagging its tail reluctantly, until the driver called again, then it reluctantly trotted over. Whatever the nature of this animal was, it didn't include pulling a cart.

But both Reslaufer and the horse's owner felt a sense of restlessness, as if the horse was unwilling, but as if someone was constantly urging it. And both Reslaufer and the driver knew that the driver had only called the horse twice and had no intention of using the whip.

But its pace was getting faster and faster. Despite its previous reluctance, it gradually began to let go of its hooves and rushed towards the coachman and Leslough with the posture of a young colt!

"Stop, Frantzky! Stop, old friend!" The driver raised his hands in panic. His legs wanted to dodge to the side, but his upper body tried to comfort his partner. This tangled state left him almost defenseless in front of the horse.

"Daisy, stop it!" Without any warning, Leslough shouted to his companions gathered behind him.

Chapter 268: Lone Beast

"I'm running too fast and I can't stop!"

Almost immediately, the poet, who had seemed to have long since wandered into the astral realm, suddenly plucked the strings of her harp. Despite her words, she insisted she couldn't stop, but a pale pink, translucent magical hand blinded the horse's eyes as the music played, forcing the poor creature to turn around and dash past the driver.

However, although Daisy was trying to make the horse regard them as friends, she still could not completely stop its actions. Some kind of subtle resistance seemed to be interfering with her musical magic, preventing it from exerting its full effect, and even... misleading it.

"There's a man on a horse! Shoot him down!" the poet shouted. "He's coming this way!"

"He's not going anywhere!"

Leslaufer had already taken action before this, running almost parallel to the side of the horse, but because he could not see the enemy's true position, he did not dare to take the initiative to attack. Until the poet's shout rang out, the mercenary no longer hesitated, roared while running wildly, and slammed his shoulder into the horse beside him!

The driver was completely terrified. Logically, he should have been more worried about the man's safety, but at this moment he found that he was only worried about his horse!

A horse weighs half a ton, which is not a lot, not to mention that there might be an enemy with unknown intentions hiding on it. However, with Reslaufer's collision, old Franzki immediately fell to the other side, while Reslaufer was able to roll on the ground, then draw out his knife with his backhand, and strike it from bottom to top, causing a line of smelly blood to explode in the air!

"what!"

Screams and horse neighs immediately rang out, and a huge and powerful creature staggered out of the air, supporting itself with one hand before falling to the ground. After gaining a little leverage, it flipped over and jumped up. Its weight of over 100 kilograms was as agile as a feather, and it landed lightly in front of Reslaufer. Its small and sharp orange-yellow eyes were half hidden behind its big nose, staring at Reslaufer menacingly.

At this moment, Reslaufer and the others finally got a clear look at the attacker: he was tall and muscular, with thick, hard brown-black hair covering nearly every major muscle. He wore almost no armor, save for an iron breastplate dangling from his chest. A small corner had been torn, and dirty beads of blood clung to the edge of the fragment and the long hair surrounding the wound.