Chapter 65: Legacy of the Conqueror King (Part 2)

The sky had just begun to turn dimly bright when Dean, nestled inside the felt tent, was disturbed once again; the leader was still Herd, who had first appeared in Dean’s vision the previous night.

At this moment, this tall and sturdy Goth Knight, accompanied by two soldiers disguised as mercenaries, began to prepare breakfast on their own—the fire pits of the Barbarians were obviously not for their use, and these Goths would not cause unpleasantness with the Barbarians over such a matter; after all, they bore a heavy responsibility, and the Barbarians had more than just this one tribe in the Snowplains Dense Forest.

The Barbarians might have internal strife, but when the enemy came from the outside, they would definitely unite as one.

And precisely because of such unity, the Barbarians had been able to occupy the Snowplains Dense Forest all along, becoming a force that even the Emerald Kingdom could not look down upon—the existence of the Seandel Fortress outside Vauban County was to guard against this force that could not be underestimated; of course, in the last five years, it had not played any role.

But in an unexpected war, it became an existence like a bridgehead.

And that war was the Blood Moon War, which would happen not long after.

Even up until the second Blood Moon War, Seandel Fortress remained as solid as before; if not for the so-called ‘allies’, it would still uphold the beliefs of the Emerald People, standing outside Vauban County, overlooking the northern lands of the Emerald Kingdom.

And the reason it could be so solid was naturally due to the continuous expansion and reinforcement of Vauban County every year.

And the purpose of its expansion and reinforcement was to guard against the Barbarians.

Therefore, the Barbarians were definitely powerful, even if the Nobles of Emerald looked down on these ‘uncivilized’ people, it was still the same.

Of course, no matter how solid a castle was, once an enemy appeared inside, it would be useless.

And facing these ‘allies’, these ‘allies’ who had opened Seandel Fortress from the inside, the hatred in Dean’s heart had long since materialized, but on his face, he wore a humble smile—

“My Lord, hello, I need a job… You see, I am strong enough, and I have no diseases, I have weapons and armor too…”

“Go away, we don’t need outsiders!”

Herd pushed the disguised Dean away, and then lifted a foot to kick Dean’s coat away from the fire pit—obviously, last night’s probe had long since caused this Goth Knight to not only lose his guard against this down-and-out mercenary, but also to not care about him in the slightest.

Very naturally, this Goth Knight adopted the ‘arrogance’ of a knight lord.

After all, in the eyes of the other party, the mercenary Dean was playing was definitely not anything good—he survived a battle where the entire army was wiped out; if he didn’t have superior martial skills, then he was as timid as a mouse; and judging from Dean’s ‘performance’, he was definitely not the former.

Therefore, Herd saw no need to treat the other party with courtesy.

Of course, more importantly, Dean was an Emerald People.

Between countries, there are always differences, aren’t there?

“Yes, My Lord…”

Pushed away, and with his coat kicked away, Dean showed no anger at all, and his face still wore a fawning, ingratiating smile—just like those mercenaries approaching middle age.

Gone was the hot blood and bravery of youth, leaving only worldliness and sophistication.

Because they had already been tortured by the fear between life and death until only these remained.

Mercenaries, Thieves, Assassins, these three easily confused professions were confused precisely because they were too similar—all took money to do things for others, and then, they all… had very high mortality rates.

“Our employer is coming here to eat soon, outsiders are not welcome here!”

Seeing Dean’s performance, Herd disliked this mercenary even more, and while his two subordinates cooked, he repeatedly drove Dean away.

And just like before, Dean, disguised as a mercenary, showed the obedience belonging to his age.

However, Dean did not leave, but just squatted outside the felt tent like that, wearing a fawning, ingratiating smile, while revealing a trace of pleading.

It was as if he hoped the people inside the felt tent would show mercy and let him back in, or as if he hoped the people inside would give him a new job.

However, neither Herd who entered first, nor the unknown Knight and Grand Knight who came after, nor even the Wizard Momon paid any attention to Dean squatting there.

It was even the kind of turning a blind eye.

And their turning a blind eye was something Dean had expected early on—the knights of the Conqueror King were famously ‘arrogant’!

As for the Wizard?

Although some were approachable, such as those in the Free Federation, most were solitary.

Although Momon did not have the Strength of those solitary ones, he had completely inherited the character of those solitary ones; whether in Dean’s memory or now.

Squatting there silently, the fawning, ingratiating smile on Dean’s face was replaced by disappointment, just like those despairing people whose last expectation had been crushed.

And such an expression made the people inside and outside the felt tent ridicule him endlessly—

“Another guy who bet his entire fortune!”

“What a poor man!”

“Believing the words of those merchants about getting rich won’t end well!”

…

Such words rose one after another, and with such words Dean buried his head deeper and deeper, until finally, as if unable to bear the humiliation, he walked toward the other end of the Stockade—the relationship between mercenaries and merchants, most of the time, was that of employer and employee, but sometimes there were some special cases.

For example: a certain merchant could not pay enough employment fees, but had some excellent news about getting rich, so they would look for some suitable partners to choose to go on the road together; of course, to maximize profits, these partners were mostly mercenaries serving as protection, and for more profits, these mercenaries would also take out their saved Gold Pulton to exchange for more goods and carts, going on the road together.

Of course, if successful, naturally everyone would be happy.

However, once it failed, naturally one would lose everything.

Just like Dean in the eyes of these Goths—

“Tsk, so impatient? Originally, I was prepared to give him some breakfast!”

“A rat in the gutter is only fit to dig for food in the gutter!”

“That’s right, that’s right, a rat in the gutter!”

Teasing words came from the mouths of those Goth soldiers pretending to be mercenaries.

As a country left by the Conqueror King, facing other countries, Goths always had an innate sense of superiority; at any time, they always had to be superior to others.

As if he had suffered humiliation, Dean did not appear when these Goths left.

And regarding this, those Goth soldiers were a bit disappointed; they still planned to find some fun before setting off.

As for those two Knights and that Grand Knight, as well as the Wizard?

They simply did not put someone like Dean in their eyes.

And about twenty minutes after the Goth convoy left, Dean left that Barbarian Stockade—of course, it was definitely not suitable for him to say anything to that Barbarian Patriarch now.

After all, there were more important things that he needed to do.

And fortunately, Dean’s disguise allowed him to leave freely without arousing any suspicion—undoubtedly, Dean’s caution once again played a role.

Just as Dean had said before—he came here to find enough soldiers to cope with the Blood Moon War!

Then… once something appeared that could turn the entire situation of the Blood Moon War, of course he could not let it pass.

If Fendel had not obtained the Conqueror King’s sword and would not become the King of Goth, what kind of scenario would it be?

At least, Emerald would not be attacked from both front and back!

After all, Fendel’s younger brother, and that daughter of the Old King, still had quite good feelings toward Emerald, especially the latter, who even had a good personal friendship with the Grand Duchess.

And such close female friendships, many times, would always play an unexpected role.

…

Dean walked through the Snowplains Dense Forest, bypassing trees one by one, leaving two clear footprints on that accumulated snow.

Ten-plus minutes later, he stopped his steps and looked around.

When he saw the trace on a large tree, he immediately came under the tree and started digging downwards quickly—although the traces of the Goth convoy would not disappear in a short time, this did not mean that Dean had any reason to let himself waste time.

The accumulated snow was dug open, followed by that slightly stiff frozen soil.

However, compared to yesterday, it was much better.

And when Dean’s fingers touched that hard handle end, he immediately gripped it tightly and pulled it out—Dean, who was worried that the [Demon Blood Dagger] would hurt him, had buried the [Demon Blood Dagger] with the blade tip pointing downwards.

After all, the [Demon Blood Dagger] did not distinguish between friend and foe.

If he was accidentally hurt by the [Demon Blood Dagger], the joke on Dean would be big.

Even if [Flesh Absorption] could not be triggered, but [Slight Toxin] was also no joke.

Even if he passed the three checks, the feeling of toxin invading his body was something Dean did not want to try—because, that would make him recall the most unbearable past.

Phew!

Dean exhaled forcefully, and immediately, the dirt stained on the [Demon Blood Dagger] was blown off; looking at that shiny, twisted blade edge, Dean’s eyes revealed a look even colder than that blade edge—

The blade edge was cold to the extreme.

And the killing intent was like a blade.