“This little punk has quite the cocky personality.” Spat the bearded man.
“Since that’s the case, this humble self will cut to the chase.” Ji Bai sized up the medium-statured man for a few moments before continuing.
“I presume it has already come to your ears that there are goblins within the underground sewer.”
“We’ve heard someone mention it before, but were unable to ascertain it.” Seeing that Ji Bai was planning to give a recount of the incident, the attitude of the medium-statured man instantly turned abnormally strict and serious as he shot a glance at the bearded man spectating them with crossed arms.
“Ugh, seriously… There isn’t any stool around here, what a pain in the ass.” Despite how the bearded man grumbled, he still took out a notebook together with a coal pen and meticulously began to write down Ji Bai’s words.
“So, is sire saying that the presence of goblins in the Border Town’s sewers is a fact?” The medium-statured man slightly knitted his brows.
“Yes, there’s even a considerable number of them.”
“Can you go further in detail?”
“Have you ever seen an ant’s nest before, sire?”
“…” The man fell silent.
As creatures that lived off plundering others, goblins could be found in a wide range of habitats, with caves in the wilderness and abandoned buildings being the most common.
As beings that inhabit the cities, humans had no impression or concept towards such cruel and cunning creatures. That was because goblins were a species that lived too far away from them, making it virtually impossible to encounter them in the wild.
For goblins to appear in the cities’ sewers, and even more so in disastrous numbers, was something extremely extraordinary.
“…Was that what caused the sacrifice of a fellow comrade?” Despite harboring numerous doubts about this incident that seemed like a tale from the Arabian Nights, the man restrained his curiosity and continued to carry out the job he was assigned to.
“No.” Ji Bai shook his head.
“Then what was it?”
“Not just goblins, there were trolls too.”
“Holy sh*t!” The bearded man uncontrollably cussed, as he looked at Ji Bai with a gaze full of disbelief.
“You three were able to return even when you had to face all this!? How did you even survive?”
“Watch your words, Ol’ Gan. These crude words of yours are not only rude but also disrespectful to the dead.” An irrefutable sense of authority radiated from the man’s words.
“Oh…”
“I must apologize. He’s a straightforward person and has always been pretty blunt with his words. I ask for your forgiveness.” Apologized the medium-statured man to Ji Bai.
“Don’t worry.”
“However, even my humble self is pretty curious. How did all of you manage to escape unscathed?”
“With all things considered, it wasn’t a flawless escape. We merely escaped quicker than they could catch us, that’s all.”
“Hey! Say, punk. You couldn’t have possibly used your comrade as bait for you to slip away, did you??” The bearded man, who was responsible for listening and writing down his statements, suddenly raised his head and said in a rough voice.
“Just focus on recording his statements. There’s no need for you to say anything.” Saying which, the medium-statured man silently shot him a glance, leaving the bearded man no choice but to resentfully lower his head and briefly jot down the scenario Ji Bai had described earlier.
“Well then, Mister. May I ask if there’s still any important information or items that you wish to bring to our attention?”
“No.” Ji Bai expressionlessly shrugged.
He didn’t plan to reveal the strange magic formation that had been carved on the stone bridge.
“Why do I feel so perplexed after hearing that? Not only are goblins in there, but trolls as well… Where on earth did those things come from?? Don’t tell me that the sewers have some sort of magical feature to automatically spawn monsters in there?” The bearded guy stroked his chin with a doubtful face.
“…Sounds like we have an extremely troublesome situation on our hands that requires immediate action. Sorry for interrupting you, sire. We should return now to make our report.” The man gestured with a nod of his head and was just about to leave before Ji Bai called out to him.
“Don’t waste your time trying to dispatch forces of the Chivalric Order for this. You’d just go on a wild goose chase.”
“? What do you mean, sire?” The medium-statured man came back to his senses and looked at Ji Bai in astonishment.
“The trolls and the goblins have already been eliminated.”
“What??!”
“D-Did the three of you do this?”
“Do you really think we’d be able to do something like this?” Ji Bai tilted his head.
“…So, what exactly happened?” Solemness covered the medium-statured man’s face.
“A human, no, a being that bore a very close resemblance to a human did it.” Stated Ji Bai indifferently.
“…Can you describe their appearance to us?”
“Mhm… He’s the type that looks pretty handsome. Also, his hair is of a light-blue color.”
“Did you ask him for his name?” Asked the bearded man in puzzlement.
“No.”
“…Is that so? Alright, we’ll report everything as it is to the top. Sorry for the disturbance.”
“Mhm.” Ji Bai didn’t have any intention to urge them to stay and closed the door at once.
A gust of wind from the closing door brushed past the two men.
“Hmph! This little punk is just too lacking in manners!” Said the bearded man in an extremely dissatisfied manner.
“Stop complaining so much. We still have a job to do.”
“Boss, do you really believe the information that brat gave us? Rather, it’d be more appropriate to say that he is doing his utmost to hide something… After all, the origins of this man are far too suspicious. The brass has asked us to pay a bit more attention to that.” The bearded man narrowed his bean-sized eyes.
“Whether we believe it or not, this is all the information he provided us. Or, should I say, he was willing to provide.” The medium-statured man took out a cigarette from his pockets and mumbled. As a flame flashed on his fingertip, he lit the tip of the cigarette and deeply inhaled.
“Let’s go. We’ve still got things to do.”
……………
After going through that brief interlude, Ji Bai was no longer in a rush to get his armor repaired. All he wanted to do now was to sit on his sofa and rest for a while. It wouldn’t be too late for him to get there after that.
…………
It was a dark environment. The uneven walls on all sides, including the ceiling and floor, were completely covered with a layer of meat, making the place resemble the viscera of a massive monster.
Deep within the heart of the place, spell formations of all sizes were deeply engraved on the surface of the walls and floor. Flickering with purplish-black radiance, they swivelled about slowly, like cogs with their own respective function.
When compared with magic arrays, the shape of these spell formations seemed abnormally deformed, with their appearance being worlds apart from the norm.
A topless man was meditating on top of the largest spell formation. Smaller formations were carved into his arms and chest. Resembling tiny eyes, they incessantly swiveled about and flickered between light and darkness.
Gradually, the small formations on the man’s body began to synchronize with those on the meat-covered walls around him, with the strange purplish-black light radiating out from them becoming increasingly brighter.
“I see Lord Lan is truly becoming more and more adept with the days passing.” A hoarse voice that carried a slight trace of amusement slowly radiated outwards.
Lan Yu, who was the one sitting in the middle of the spell formation, slightly opened his eyes upon hearing the voice.
An old man clad in black robes with a bizarre octopus totem adorning his back entered the room. With cow-horned helmets on their heads, two fully armed knights clad in pitch-black scale armor were at his side, following behind him.
“For the ever-busy godfather to take time from his busy schedule to come here, I presume it isn’t to merely pay this humble self a visit?” Lan Yu stretched his muscles as he put on the gown that had been tossed aside.
“Hahaha… Does that mean that I can’t meet Lord Lan if there’s nothing of importance?” The black-robed elder laughed hoarsely.
“In order to remain undetected, I believe that such an action is unnecessary.” Lan Yu frowned slightly.
“Why these overly formal words, Lord Lan Yu? We’re all a family that shares glory and misfortune among us. Unless… Section Head Lan still wishes to continue being a small obscure branch head?” The elder impolitely walked to the center of the spell formation and sat on the floor beside Lan Yu.
“I say, Section Head Lan Yu, the incident where the trolls attacked the city a few days ago… You’re the mastermind that lent a hand behind the scenes, right? Haha, there’s no need to refute it, for we’re all on the same side. Don’t you think that we should be frank with each other and not let any wariness come between us?” The black-robed elder revealed his aged appearance, including his right eyeball that was covered by a series of terrifying blood-colored lines.
“…So, is his eminence the godfather here to mock me?”
“Hahaha, I wouldn’t go as far as to say that… As I’ve already said, we’re all a family…”
Within the meat-covered walls, in a place no one would uncover, a series of magic runes were moving irregularly.
“Recording magic, completed.” Specks of moving lights flashed by and slightly illuminated the light-blue hair fringe.
…………
Author’s note: (A lot of readers have said that Ji Bai’s character has collapsed…(>﹏
…Also, I didn’t exactly run out of things to write so that I was forced to add the goblin slayer part into the novel. That sewer transition plot was necessary (>﹏﹏