Ruyen became even more alienated to Zhao Hai these past days, but she was actually happy with it. She didnât want to associate with ZHao Hai, he was too scary
At this time, Zhao Hai was somewhat surprised these past few days. It had been seven days since they were attacked outside Hundred Battles Fortress. But they didnât encounter any other ones in the seven days that had passed, this was beyond his expectation.
Naturally, he didnât know that Hundred Battles Fortressâ garrison lordâs body had already gone cold. This absence has created a power vacuum inside Hundred Battles Fortress that a lot of people inside Rosen Empire wanted to fill. Because of this, there simply wasnât any time to consider Zhao Hai.
The position of Hundred Battles Fortressâ garrison lord actually didnât have that huge of an authority inside the fortress. Although there were civilians living there, the majority of its inhabitants were still the garrison troops. And only during wartime did the garrison lord have jurisdiction over these soldiers.
However, Hundred Battles Fortress was placed in a very lucrative position. This was one of Rosen Empireâs entrances, so everyday tons of merchants would pass through here. The tariffs as well as the loot they receive from the bandits would add up to be a lot of money. Because of this, the position of garrison lord would be changed every five years. But, even with this time restriction, there were still a lot of nobles who were crazily trying to take on the position.
But this situation wouldnât likely to last long because Hundred Battles Fortress was after all the empireâs shield. So the position of garrison lord had already been decided during these few days.
This unusual situation was caused by the garrison lordâs suicide. Otherwise, the position wouldnât be vacant for such a long time.
Now that the matter has passed, the implicated Grand Duke Lionheart naturally hated Zhao Hai. Although the garrison lord wasnât his direct subordinate, they two of them had a good relationship. It was an unexpected event that Zhao Hai managed to compel the garrison lord to kill himself. The Grand Duke not only failed to solve his problem, he also suffered no small amount of loss, eventually benefitting Shelley Family. At this moment, how could Lionheart resign? So he naturally had to think up ways to deal with Zhao Hai.
Although Zhao Hai didnât know that Grand Duke Lionheart had pulled back in order to prepare, he didnât reduce his vigilance. He was very clear that offending the Grand Duke inside Rosen Empire was just like offending Southern King inside Aksu Empire.
The reason they had such slow journey these past few days was because Zhao Hai needed to inquire about Lionheartâs affairs. Grand Duke Lionheart really did have a large power and influence inside Rosen Empire.
He found out that although Lionheart was titled a Grand Duke, he wasnât always inside his duchy but instead handled matters inside Carson City. This was because he was a trusted subordinate of the current monarch, handling the job of the empireâs Head Lord of the Treasury. It was a position carrying a large weight, this was also the reason why he had the gall to face against Shelley Family.
After knowing these information, Zhao Hai became more careful, he knew that because he managed to annoy such a character, his future days wouldnât be any peaceful.
At the eight day, they arrived at a small city called Wright. These days, Zhao Hai avoided Large Cities as much as possible. He knew that the Grand Duke would surely have some people stationed there. If there was danger inside large cities, he might as well stay in small ones. So if there were trouble, there wouldnât be too much disturbance
Such a small city naturally didnât have a Shelley Hotel. So Zhao Hai and the others went to a hotel in the city named Shri Hotel.
The hotel could only be considered as a medium grade hotel. Although not the largest, its services were quite good, and the place was fairly clean. So Zhao Hai chose this place to stay for the night.
Such hotel was considered low-class in Lauraâs eyes. Even though Zhao Haiâs group rented the best rooms, they werenât comparable to normal rooms at Shelley Hotel. But the place was clean and the facilities inside were also quite adequate.
However, such details werenât important to Zhao Hai. They could just enter the Space and rest there for the night. They didnât need to care about the rooms they stayed in.
Although Ruyen thought that the rooms were very bad, she didnât dare say anything. After guessing Zhao Haiâs identity, Ruyenâs plots basically vanished, she was afraid of offending Zhao Hai any further.
It was already quite late when the group checked in. So they settled their things and then headed to the hotelâs dining hall.
The dining hall was also quite simple. It was on the hotelâs first floor, and itâs size wasnât that small, it was enough to house a hundred guests dining together.
As soon as Zhao Haiâs group entered the hall, the hubbub of the guests quieted down. On these medium grade hotels, mercenaries were the common customers. They didnât only live here, they also receive tasks while in the hotel, making the hotelâs profits quite good.
But these mercenaries were mostly quite rowdy, they drink while blabbering their mouths, take huge chunks of meat per bite. And adding on to the fact that it was the end of the day, and they had nothing else to do, they would congregate inside the hotelâs dining hall.
Zhao Hai was acting as a Nobleman. When looking at his clothes, one would think of those young masters. Their appearance was quite unusual inside the hotel, there were no such young masters willing to stay at these kinds of establishments. Especially in hotels where mercenaries were staying.
Thus, when Zhao Hai and the others entered the dining hall, everyone immediately quieted down. They looked at Zhao Hai, and when they saw Lauraâs eyes, their gazes immediately turned green.
Zhao Hai looked at the mercenaries then had Laura and the others sit down. They ordered a bunch of dishes for the hotel staff to prepare. At this time, the mercenaries resumed their ruckus, returning the hallâs atmosphere to the bustling scene it was before.
But Zhao Hai felt that these mercenaries were paying attention to them, making him feel uncomfortable. At this time, a drunk stood up from their table and drunkenly headed towards Zhao Haiâs. He reached out his hand towards Lauraâs veil and said, âBeautiful Young Lady, why must you hide your face? Come show me, thereâs nothing good about that boy, why donât you come with me?â
How could Laura possibly allow the man to touch her? She immediately moved to the side but she didnât think that the drunk would have fast hands. Although she reacted quickly, the hand already reached her.
Naturally, this action cannot be ignored, so Shue who was sitting close by immediately took his axe and immediately chopped towards the mercenaryâs hand.
The mercenary was fast, he immediately dodged the huge ax. As he fell to the ground, he loudly shouted, âMurder! Murder! These nobles wants to kill me!â. After he shouted, the mercenaries inside the dining hall immediately stood up one by one, took their weapons, and surrounded Zhao Hai.
Zhao Hai immediately understood that these werenât ordinary mercenaries. They were prepared and was specifically targeting him.
Zhao Hai sat there and gazed at the surrounding mercenaries and coldly said, âAll 6th and 7th rank experts. How could there be these many mercenaries at this place?â
Shun and Shue also just realized, there were about a hundred mercenaries here, it was very unusual to have 6th and 7th ranks but not a single 5th rank or below among them.
Shue went to Zhao Haiâs side, Laura and the others also did the same. The âdrunkâ mercenary now stood up and yelled to Zhao Hai, âEven if you are Nobles, it doesnât mean that you can just kill anyone you like! Fortunately, this grandfather was fast, otherwise Iâd have left my arm here. Pretty boy, you need to offer this grandpa some explanation!â
Zhao Hai looked at the person and said, âEvoking such huge ruckus, So if I provide an explanation, everything will be alright? What kind of explanation do you want?â
Zhao Hai turned his head to Shun and said, âShun, go see Ruyen and see if she already ate.â
Upon hearing Zhao Hai, the mercenaryâs face changed. They didnât expect Zhao Hai to be this meticulous, even thinking about this point.
Just like what Zhao Hai thought, these mercenaries had two parts of their plan. They need to keep Zhao Hai here, and have another team capture Ruyen. As long as they have Ruyen as their hostage, Zhao Hai wouldnât have the guts to retaliate.
However, they didnât think that Zhao Hai would make Shun go to see Ruyen. The mercenaries now hope that their companions have accomplished their part.
Still, they need to give their companions time. So the mercenary, upon seeing that Shun was getting ready to leave, immediately commanded, âBrothers, we cannot let him leave!â Then the mercenary took his weapon and attacked Zhao Hai.
The manâs weapon was a short handled broad axe. In a small place such as this dining hall, this was the most suitable weapon. But when he moved, Shun immediately threw his hidden weapons while Shue produced shadows to surround the group.
To the two, Zhao Haiâs security was the most important. As for Ruyen? Did she have any significance to them?
Zhao Hai just stood there quietly looking at the mercenaries. But in his mind, he was in contact with Caiâer. He wanted to have Caiâer see Ruyenâs situation.
The information he received made him startled. Ruyen was already captured by the mercenaries. All of her escort guards were killed. Only Ruyen, Jill, and the two maids were kept alive. The mercenaryâs methods were quite ruthless. Zhao Haiâs expression sank, it seems like this group was not simple. They werenât stingy in their methods of attaining their goals. Such people were very hard to deal with.