Chapter 281: The Backscene of Mercenary Groups
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
The word "home" meant a warm and happy feeling. Travelers would shed tears, soldiers on the battlefield would regain their courage to fight to the death, merchants on business trips would want to go back home so badly when they thought about home. No matter how wonderful the world could be, no place would be better than home. The moment Anfey and his group walked into the house, they behaved so differently. Niya forgot she was the host of this house. She rushed into her own room without showing any hospitality. She even locked the door from the inside. No one knew what she was doing. Niya did not even join everyone for dinner. She took a walk in the backyard one lap after another. She used to be outgoing, but now she seemed to become a philosopher, indulging herself in thoughts.
Christian went directly to the magic lab. Magic labs were a necessity for mages to improve their understanding of magic and their control of elements. While he was on the run from the Sacred City, he could not find a magic lab anywhere. Christian had been waiting so long to be back to the lab. There seemed to be more unfamiliar guards in Saul’s house, especially in the magic lab. The magic lab seemed to be strictly guarded. Many of the servants who worked for Saul before were still there. After Saul got back, those dismissed servants came back one after another. Under their guidance, Christian found his lab without any trouble.
Suzanna looked down. She told everyone she did not feel too good and excused herself to her own room. She went to sleep early. This was the house of Saul and Niya, not hers, which made her think about her own family. Suzanna looked sad when she thought about her own family. Anfey should have noticed why Suzanna was sad and should have come to comfort her, but he was quietly sitting on the roof of the main building. He looked far off into the dark sky.
He had his own home in his previous world, but not the village with a village head named Ben Ladeng. He did not have anyone he really cared about in his previous world. He only had memories of terror and hatred there, but these did not stop him from thinking about his past.
Anfey never smoked before, but he really wanted to do it right now. There were millions of stars in the sky. Where was his hometown? If the world where he was right now was parallel to the space he was in before, it would be boring and pointless to study the stars in the sky.
"Ernest, why did you turn down Saul’s invitation? Don’t you know what you did could make King Yolanthe mad at you?" Bruzuryano asked.
"I just do not want to go. It was not about turning him down," Ernest said slowly.
"You! Ernest, why are you always so stubborn. I think, besides King Yolanthe, no other kings would bear with you," Bruzuryano was loud enough that Anfey could hear him upstairs, and the bodyguards passing by probably could hear him as well. Anfey smiled. He knew what message Bruzuryano was trying to send to Ernest. Suddenly, Anfey felt tired and annoyed. He closed his eyes as he slowly took a deep breath. In his previous world, Anfey his biggest fears weren’t fake information or how good his opponents. He most feared that there would be something wrong with him mentally. He could handle fake information or fighting skillful opponents with the accumulated experience and improved fighting ability. However, if he had mental damage, it would be hard to notice. Anfey was a secret patient of three the most experienced and famous psychologists in the world and liked to read psychology books himself.
People could mentally get tired, so could they get tired of love, career, or even video games. There was a time Anfey did not even want to open the family game web browser. Anfey had those depressing days, but struggled out of it very quickly.
Right now, Anfey was tired of these political dramas. He did not have an easy life these days. Whether it was Bruzuryano or Slanbrea. Neither of them were easy to understand. There were deeper meanings in what they did. Anfey had to get what they really meant before he could be comfortable around them. He would be taken advantage of until he got the hang of it. Right now he was about to meet Yolanthe. It was going to be a monumental moment. No matter what, he should not have this tired feeling.
It was normal to feel tired, but it also showed a sickness and abnormality. Natural selection and survival of the fittest showed the true nature of society. Being motivated and energetic were the basic skills for humans who wanted to be the fittest in the society. Without these two basic skills, no matter how powerful a person could be, he would go down eventually. Anfey recognized it so he looked down upon the philosophy in Buddhism. Buddhism originated in India, but the followers of Sakyamuni, the founder of Buddhism, could not survive there. The popularity of Buddhism in China was only because the upper classes needed the philosophy in Buddhism to reduce people’s aggression.
When Anfey opened his eyes again, Anfey felt the sky had lost its mysteries, even though the sky was the same as before. Visually, stars were just twinkling lights. The sky had not changed, but Anfey’s mood had changed. The wonders happened under the sky, not in the sky.
"Is there anything bothering you?" Ernest’s voice came from behind.
"Not anymore," Anfey smiled.
"Do you miss home?" Ernest asked.
"This is my home," Anfey said.
"It will be great if you really think that way," Ernest said.
"It seems that nobody is sleeping well." Anfey changed the topic. Anfey saw Niya passing by. She had been walking around so many laps, but had not felt tired yet.
"You are young. I can understand it." Ernest laughed. "If it were me, I would have fallen asleep, sound sleep."
"Oh, right, Uncle Ernest, did you get your training in the Country of Mercenaries?" Anfey asked.
"Me?" Ernest dragged out the vowel. He looked like he was recalling old times.
"Of course. Master Ernest had a famous nickname too," Entos’ voice rose.
"Oh? What nickname?" Anfey was suddenly intrigued.
Ernest cleared his throat to try to signal Entos to stop talking about it.
"A long time ago, when Master Ernest was young, he liked to fight for justice." Entos cautiously moved behind Anfey as he talked. "He liked to question others: ‘You’d better ask if my sword would agree or not,’ so…"
"Shut your mouth!" Ernest yelled.
"Actually even if I do not tell him, Anfey would find out about it anyways." Entos shrugged. "Anfey, did you ever mention Master Ernest in the Country of Mercenaries?"
"No." Anfey shook his head. Back then, he did not know how to keep a lower profile in the Country of Mercenaries. There was no reason for Anfey to talk about a top power all at the time.
"Too bad, too bad," Entos sighed. "You missed some amazing stuff."
Anfey looked at Ernest and smiled. He did not know Ernest had acted so impulsively when he was young.
"Entos, what are you doing up here?" Ernest said in a pissy tone.
Actually there was only about seven years difference between Ernest and Entos. When Ernest left the Country of Mercenaries, young Entos just started his own training there. He had heard so many stories about Ernest.
"I just learned about something about the Country of Mercenaries. I am quite happy about it so I want to share the news with someone," Entos said.
"What happened?" Anfey asked.
"Anthony has led Glory mercenary group and Tiger of Tawau mercenary group for their fight." Entos’ smiles looked cunning. His whiskers were moving upwards as he talked. He just looked like a bad guy in a movie.
"How about Band of Brothers and Storm mercenary groups?" Anfey knew Entos must know some information behind the scenes because he was a vice commander in Band of Brothers mercenary group.
"This is their personal revenge between Anthony and Mourtta. It has nothing to do with us. We could just watch them," Entos said.
Anfey was shocked. "But…"
From the way Mourtta and Hotchbini interacted with each other, Anfey had noticed this couple wanted to drag other mercenary groups under the water. The bait they tossed at other mercenary groups was pretty hard to turn down. Mourtta and Hotchibini would rather destroy the most powerful Glory mercenary group than share the benefits with four other mercenary groups. Everybody wanted to maximize their profits. The claims from Band of Brothers and Storm mercenary groups meant they wanted to take action as well. Anfey did not think Entos was in the mood to watch them fight.
"Is it weird? It should not be weird." Entos smiled. "Anfey, what kind of people do you think Mourtta and Hotchibini are?"
"They have wonderful leadership qualities. They are aggressive leaders." Anfey did not know much about Mourtta and Hotchibini. He could only give this comment.
"Why has Tiger of Tawau mercenary group been ranked NO. 4 among other mercenary groups," Entos asked.
"Well..." Anfey said.
"Mourtta always looked silly in front of others. No one falls for that." Entos snorted. "Hotchibini is nobody special. She is just a sprite, a slave who serves their master with her beauty. How could she have so much influence in the Country of Mercenaries without Mourtta’s support? The first few reforms were appropriate and helped get rid of the bad traditions in Tiger of Tawau mercenary group. A female slave could not learn everything about mercenary groups so quickly. The so-called reforms were Mourtta’s ideas!"
Anfey’s jaw dropped when he heard this.
"No matter how hard Mourtta tried, his mercenary has been ranked the NO. 4, which means others are not stupid," Entos said slowly. "I could not deny Hotchibini is a capable sprite and has a good reputation in the Country of Mercenaries. At critical moments, no one could win a battle with a good reputation, only with good fighting ability. What Anthony has could totally change Hotchibini and Mourtta into nobodies. Their reputations and fake stupidity would be crushed as well."
"Three mercenary groups? That would still be too many. It might only two big mercenary groups left. My guess is the Storm mercenary group is thinking the same way."
Anfey felt something and started to fear Yolanthe, who was far from him in the palace. "If the commanders of the mercenary groups were so sophisticated and cunning, Yolanthe would be worse. Would the lies I fabricated fool Yolanthe?" he thought to himself.