When morning came and the mercenaries woke up, they couldn’t help feeling that there was a strange atmosphere in the air.
Lin Fan and the two girls were sitting around the fire when they woke up, but no one was talking to each other.
One of the mercenaries couldn’t help asking, “Did something happen?”
Lin Fan couldn’t help giving a cough before saying, “Nothing happened at all.”
‘
Though he tried to say it in a calm voice, it came out a bit more forceful than he would have liked it to.
When Lan’er and Lu’er heard this, they couldn’t stop a slight trace of sadness from filling their eyes…
The mercenaries naturally knew that they had touched on a sensitive topic, so the other mercenaries grabbed the mouth of the one who had spoken earlier and glared at him before one of them asked, “What’s for breakfast? I’m starving.”
Lin Fan reached out to grab the pot that was hanging over the fire and offered them the porridge that he had made.
Just like this, breakfast went by and even if it was a bit awkward at first, the tense atmosphere slowly mellowed out. Even Lu’er and Lan’er were happily chatting with the mercenaries by the end of it.
The only thing that was still off was that Lin Fan didn’t speak to Lu’er and Lan’er and vice versa. But other than that, it was still quite a harmonious atmosphere.
Once they finished breakfast, Lin Fan went into the forest and brought out Hi and the horse carriage that he had prepared.
When the mercenaries and the girls saw the horse carriage, they couldn’t help being shocked. One of the mercenaries asked, “Where did this horse carriage come from? Why didn’t we sense it yesterday?”
Lin Fan said, “I had this horse carriage stored in the woods in a hidden place, so that’s why you couldn’t see it before.”
The mercenaries looked at him with a doubtful look since they didn’t believe that such a large carriage could be hidden that well, but since they didn’t know how he had done it, they really couldn’t say anything if Lin Fan wasn’t willing to say anything.
But then they turned their attention to the Hi who was pulling the horse.
Seeing the mane that was completely made of flames, they couldn’t help being shocked as they said, “Spirit beast! It’s a high grade spirit beast!”
They could feel the aura that was coming from Hi, so they knew just how powerful Hi was. It was clear that this flaming horse was at an even higher level of cultivation than them…
They turned to Lin Fan again with questioning gazes that also had a trace of admiration, but Lin Fan wouldn’t say a thing. However, it was clear by the slightly upturned sides of his lips that he was feeling quite proud to receive these gazes.
With Hi and the horse carriage that he pulled, it took them less than a day to arrive back at the dungeon town.
When they arrived at night, everyone was surprised to see them, but they quickly welcomed them.
There were many mercenaries that quickly came forward to greet the mercenary group that Lin Fan had saved. It seemed like this group of mercenaries was quite famous, but that did make sense otherwise they wouldn’t be working with the Mercenary Guild directly.
But Lin Fan also noticed that it was a certain someone who was receiving more attention than the rest.
The mercenary group that Lin Fan saved was a group of four, three men and one woman. The girl of the group was a childhood friend kind of beauty and while she wasn’t as beautiful as the girls in his harem, she certainly had her fans among the mercenaries.
The number of mercenaries that surrounded her was more than the number of mercenaries that went to see the other three combined…
The other three had bitter looks on their faces, but also looks of anger as they glared at the mercenaries that had gathered around the girl.
It seemed like she wasn’t just popular outside of the party, she was also popular in her party.
Lin Fan shouldn’t let them find out that she had tried to get closer to him on the way back…When they had been getting some water together during the break, she had even asked him out on a date…
Of course, Lin Fan had rejected her offer, but he could tell from her eyes that it didn’t seem like she was going to give up…
Sometimes love really was like a hurricane.
As for Lu’er and Lan’er, they were immediately greeted by Yue Lan’s subordinates and Yue Lan herself.
Since they were all female, they had formed a sister-like bond with each other during their time working under Yue Lan. Naturally they had been worried about Lu’er and Lan’er after what had happened to the caravan.
As they walked away, Lin Fan also saw them looking over and pointing at him as they whispered to each other.
Lin Fan couldn’t help revealing an awkward look on his face as he remembered what happened last night…
But he steeled his face and walked back home with Yue Lan and Tian Tian following him.
After they arrived at the village chief’s house, they went right to the study as Yue Lan and Tian Tian had questions to ask Lin Fan about what had happened.
Lin Fan started from the beginning and told them everything that happened. Since they knew that Lin Fan could control beasts, he showed them the mole and explained his plan to them as well.
They didn’t really say much at first and the only interruption was when Lin Fan brought out the moles. The moles were considered cute and these girls had a soft spot for cute things, so Lin Fan stopped telling his story to give them some time to play with the moles.
However, when he reached the part where the bandit boss suddenly died, both of them couldn’t help knitting their brows.
They already had their suspicions that there was someone behind the bandit boss, but now that Lin Fan had basically confirmed it, they had no choice but to take this seriously.
Then when he mentioned the token that he had found…without any hesitation, both of them suddenly jumped up and moved closer as they said, “Let me see it!”
Lin Fan was a bit scared when he saw this, but he still took out the token and placed it on the table for them to see.
When the two of them saw the token at first, they didn’t have much of a reaction. It was only when they saw the “Yong” letter on the token that they both suddenly deeply knitted their brows.
Lin Fan knew that something was wrong, so he asked, “What is it? Do you recognize this token?”
Neither Tian Tian or Yue Lan said a word as they kept staring at the token.
After an unknown amount of time, Yue Lan finally said, “You can say that we recognize it, but that’s the bad thing. The family that this token belongs to is a bit…troublesome…”
Lin Fan couldn’t help knitting his brows when he heard this as he asked, “Troublesome, how?”
Tian Tian and Yue Lan looked at each other, but neither of them said a thing. It was almost as if it was too hard for them to say what they were thinking.
But being pressured by the look on Lin Fan’s face, Tian Tian was the one who explained since she could explain it better than Yue Lan.
“You should know that each city has a City Lord, right?” Tian Tian suddenly asked this vague question.
Lin Fan was confused, but he still nodded to show that he did know this.
Tian Tian then said, “While each city has a City Lord, there’s also differences between cities. Sunset City that we were in before was considered a small city, so the City Lord there didn’t really have much power. However, the family that this token comes from is also a City Lord’s family…But…”
She didn’t finish her words, but Lin Fan had an idea of what she was implying just based on the information that she gave him.
After a long while, Tian Tian finally added, “But it’s not just the city that this family comes from, but also the status that this family’s family head has…”
Lin Fan knitted his brows and said, “Just tell me already, I can handle it.”
Tian Tian and Yue Lan looked at each other again before they both sighed. Tian Tian then said, “This Yong Family’s family head is the City Lord of Brilliant Light City. Brilliant Light City is one of the five main cities of the Mu Empire that we’re currently in. As the City Lord of one of the five main cities, naturally the family head of the Yong Family has a special status…”
Tian Tian paused at this and shook her head to give a sigh again before saying, “The family head of the Yong Family is one of the five dukes of the Mu Empire.”
Lin Fan knitted his brows again as he asked, “Does that mean something special? Does it mean that they have a lot of experts?”
Tian Tian shook her head and said, “The royal family is the one that controls the experts of the empire, they would never allow any of the noble families to have any experts that could threaten their rule.” Then after another pause, she continued, “But the Yong Family is under the protection of the royal family as one of the ducal families and more importantly, the ducal families are known for handling matters for the royal family. For them to send bandits to attack our caravans…”
As her words drifted off again, Lin Fan finished them for her this time, “The empire has set their sights on our dungeon town?”