Arcane splendor begins with the throne

Chapter 168 Not the Boss's Boss
On the rippling banks of Yuexi River, a fragile signboard dangling on a bamboo pole as thick as an arm came into everyone's sight first.

Brynden reined in his mount, took off his black gloves, ran his fingers through his mist-drenched hair, and stared intently.

He could vaguely see a blurred, faded, and damaged female elf painted on the signboard. She stood at the pier and watched a ship with only black spots leave.

A few drops of black blood stained the faintly visible delicate face of the elf, adding a bit of sadness to her reluctant expression.

Brynden knew that the blood was definitely splashed in the past few days.

"I didn't expect to see this tavern again, a memorable place." The human poet 'Onion' Rim, who was carrying a lute, said with a smile.

"Is there anything special about this tavern?" Brynden looked at the poet suspiciously.

"Of course, Young Master Salted Fish."

'Onion' Rim glanced at his half-elf ranger partner, and said: "This place used to be called 'Farewell'. It was established by an elf couple, and its location was established exactly 500 years ago. parting place.

At that time, the human coalition fought a decisive battle with the last pure land of the elves, the "Rolas Zhuo" plain. There is no doubt that this war was a complete defeat for the elves.Some of the elves of the Sunshine King's Court hid in the Dusk Forest, and the other part left by boat in the Golden Bay, where the Elf King Soveris bid farewell to his lover. "

"Why didn't they leave together." Brynden asked curiously.

"Disagreement, Mr. Salty Fish who likes to ask questions." The half-elf ranger 'Skinny Cucumber' Roland answered, with a tone of indifference that surprised him, "Because love can make people ecstasy, but hatred can make people ecstasy." People suffer from colic pain until they die."

"Hate is often more vital than love, just like what is sung in the ballad..." The poet sighed softly, and stretched out his slender fingers to gently pluck the horse's mane, as if playing his own lute.

"Life is not a ballad, you are just a little poet, don't be blinded by rhetoric." His fellow ranger said coldly:

"Life is a battle. The elves have begun to understand this truth. They are opening the way and crossing everything that stands in the way of the elves, including humans!"

Brynden shut up tactfully, he didn't want to express any opinion on the hatred between elves and humans.

The young Duke had specifically told him not to get involved in racial disputes, even if it was just a verbal argument.

"Will you go, or if you don't go, get out of here, don't block the way here!"

The female soldier who just arrived behind raised her whip, and replied impatiently, glaring, "I don't want to hear you sissies moaning about here."

The poet and the ranger shrank their eyes in fright, and hurriedly patted their horses and walked towards the 'Farewell' tavern.

Brynden didn't look back and followed closely behind.

The crowd placed the horses in the small courtyard, leaving half of them guarding, and the rest came to the closed door of the tavern.

"The door is so closed, let me see whose new home it is now." Cold words came from behind Brynden.

This is a Tigrila named Solas the Mantis.

He is tall, skinny all over, but has a broad bone frame, plus a long neck and arched back, long arms and big hands, making people look at him like a praying mantis.

Holding the two scimitars on his waist, Solas stretched his neck, stared at the crack of the door with his triangular eyes, and before everyone could speak, he pushed his broad shoulders suddenly without warning, and instantly dodged his body. on the door side.

As the door was suddenly pushed open, a loaded crossbow appeared in everyone's sight.

Brynden looked over vigilantly. This was a thin and short human boy about twelve or thirteen years old. His hands trembled and his lips trembled, "You...you...who are you? Green Chaos? Hunters? Hunters? Bandits? Army of the Roses?"

Undoubtedly, this was not the former elf couple, nor was it the elf's child, which made him a little disappointed.

"We are a group of adventurers staying here, cute kids." 'Onion' Rim said with a smile on his face: "Don't you know? The crossbow is a coward's weapon. Do you want to be a brave man?"

After speaking, he put his hands on the leather belt and moved forward as if nothing had happened, completely ignoring the blinking arrows on the heavy crossbow.

"Don't come here, or I'll shoot you to death!" The boy said excitedly with a vicious expression on his face.

"Come on, sweet little boy."

The poet spread his hands and said with a smile: "I can assure you that if you can't fit the second shot, you will be shot by my friend with an arrow. I'm curious, where would you choose my neck and chest?

I suggest you choose the neck, because when the sharp arrow penetrates the chest, it will pierce my lungs and heart at the same time.As for me, I will spit out a mouthful of blackened old blood and spit it on your dirty little face, which is terrifying. "

Behind the poet, 'Skinny Cucumber' Roland slowly raised his longbow, and unhurriedly hit the Eagle Feather Arrow.

"Be careful, don't frighten the children."

Brynden couldn't help reminding that, in his opinion, a twelve or thirteen-year-old child can even make impulsive actions that he doesn't even know about when he is afraid.

Besides, what he held was a crossbow, which was not a toy for children to play with.

"We won't hurt you." Brynden took two steps forward and said to the child, "Because this is a tavern, it attracted us here. Don't worry, we will pay for everything we eat and drink."

He took a silver coin from his pocket and tossed it to the vigilant boy.

The boy took the silver coin suspiciously, stuffed it into his pocket, and looked at the group of people at the door, "Why are you all armed?"

"Haha, kid, do you still need to ask?"

'Mantis' Solas patted his scimitar, "If you don't have a weapon, how can you get here alive. I heard that there is wine from elves, right?"

"Yes." The boy relaxed a little and lowered the crossbow an inch. "If you don't hurt me, I can get you some food."

After finishing speaking, he stepped back cautiously, then turned around nervously, came to the blood-stained tulle window, looked at the carriage and the five people guarding the side, and confirmed the situation outside, "Where are you from?" here?"

"Kingdom of West." Brynden said as kindly as possible. "We're going to Tegrila."

"Go to Tegrila."

At this moment, a gloomy voice came from the counter, making everyone nervous.

Brynden looked vigilantly in the direction of the source of the sound, just in time to see a man with black hair and black eyes standing up.

Holding a sharp steel sword in his hand, he was as thin as a bone and as strong as a bone. With his black clothes, he looked like a black shadow.

"Including the people outside, there are 11 of you in total." The skinny man said nonchalantly, "In this case, the meat is enough to eat. The horse that was just killed last night, the cold wave arrived early, the meat is still fresh."

"We don't have the habit of eating horse meat." 'Skinny Cucumber' Roland spoke first, watching each other's every move with full vigilance.

"It's good to eat something, anyway, it's all meat." The skinny man shrugged. "Compared with beef and mutton, the people of Niluskan prefer horse meat."

"Do you think we are like Niluskan?" The heroic female warrior stepped forward and said coldly.

"So it's a female warrior from Breland." The thin man said with a smile:

"Girl, seeing you reminds me of the unpalatable pearl barley and corn in your tropical jungle. The beer smells like urine, and the mosquitoes with big fists are so fierce. How can it be impossible to swallow horse meat? If so, I It will serve you fried with wild onions. Believe me, it tastes even better."

To Brynden's surprise, the female warrior named Xia Mei didn't even refute the opponent's words except for a cold snort.

This made him realize that the two were likely to be engaged in a confrontation without gunpowder.

"Is there any bread? Or other meat?" Brynden asked tentatively.

"Only moldy hard bread and stale oatmeal. For other meat... I can kill a goblin for you. After the war broke out, this little thing is more than wild dogs. It grows faster, but it will take a long time to eat too much." Was poisoned to death." The skinny man blinked playfully.

"Hey, it's so rare that I actually met such a sincere boss today."

'Praying Mantis' Solas grinned, showing his yellow teeth, "Look, I traveled all over the world, ate goblin meat in taverns, drank kobold soup, and even gnawed on ogres' thighs as elbows, but never I haven’t heard them admit it personally.”

"I'm not the boss here." The skinny man said helplessly, "I buried the elf boss behind the house, with his woman attached."

"So, you killed this elf couple?"

'Onion' Ream had already taken off his lute at some point, and he played a sad note to the thin man.

The half-elf companion standing with him frowned, looking at the thin man very unkindly.

"Fart! Will I admit to killing you?" The thin man spat and slapped the steel sword on the counter, scaring the poet and the ranger.

Brynden noticed that he seemed to have an aversion to poets.

"Who the hell knows who did the good thing, maybe it was the crazy hunter, it could be the raiding group, or even the green chaos, the result is that they died, what's the difference? Anyway, my wife and I found two corpses, This place is logically ours."

The reappearance of the two unfamiliar titles 'Mad Hunter' and 'Green Chaos' made Brynden realize that he needed to know in advance.

"Where is your wife?" Mantis discovered another important point of the question. He stared at the triangular eyes and looked around furtively.

The thin man looked at him suspiciously, "Why do you want to ask so clearly?"

"You said it yourself, I didn't say it." Mantis smiled openly.

"She's not here... unless the taste of gold coins pleases me, I'll call her over." The thin man gave him an annoyed look.

'Mantis' Solas smiled sarcastically, and shut his mouth wisely.

"Then trouble you to prepare something to eat for us." Brynden answered, then took out another shiny gold coin and threw it over.

The thin man reached out to catch it, bit it, and stuffed it into his trouser pocket, "Why are you in a daze? Hurry up and dig some wild onions in the backyard."

The boy put the crossbow on his shoulder and ran to the backyard in a hurry.

"Is he your son?" Brynden found a bloodless table and sat on a nearby chair.

"My wife and I picked it up. This kid was taken away by the looters. Fuck him! Famines and wars are coming one after another. There are wars everywhere here, and it's always us civilians who are unlucky."

Brynden didn't think he was an ordinary civilian. He was able to survive the chaos of Amastaxia and occupy a tavern, something that civilians couldn't do.

The thin man pointed at the messy tables and chairs in the hall with a sharp steel sword, and said sullenly, "Sit down first, and I'll prepare food for you."

Work in a while.

The boss, who is not the boss, roasted horse meat for more than a dozen people and delivered it in three trips.

Brynden saw that everyone was drinking the mellow wine and eating the unpalatable horse meat with relish.

Only Tistan, a swordsman from the White Crow Mercenary Regiment, who hadn't said a word since the departure until now, only ate a few pieces of moldy hard bread.

What really moved him was that the other party actually cooked a small stove for Breland's female warrior Xia Mei, fried the most tender part of the horse's body with onions, brought it to her, and asked her to taste it.

This made the horse meat he was chewing suddenly hard to swallow, and he could only drink wine to relieve the taste.

At this time, the little boy was sitting on the barrel of wine, keeping a distance from them, with the ready-to-go crossbow resting on his knees.

The boss, who was not the boss, was holding a large glass of wine, ran up to him as if nothing had happened, and asked casually, "Is there any movement at the Bloodstone Double-Door Fortress in the Kingdom of West?"

Brynden met the other party's gaze, of course he knew what answer the other party wanted, "There are a lot of refugees gathered, it is said that Earl Ormond is mobilizing food, and plans to build a refugee camp to accommodate them, it is completely invisible It means preparing to invade."

"As long as you are not stupid, you will definitely not choose this time to march south." The boss who is not the boss snorted.

"What I didn't expect was that this grumpy earl actually took in refugees. You know, two years ago, this guy's heir died in the Bloodstone Two-Door Fortress, and was killed by an ogre-spike from the looting group. It can be tolerated if you are killed by a stick. It seems that this rose seed incident has something to do with the Kingdom of West."

"The disaster victims are not wrong, they are also a group of poor people who were affected for no reason." Brinden replied.

Along the way, he has seen many fleeing civilians, even though he developed a heart of indifference, he still sighed unbearably.

But who can blame this?
"Why do these disaster victims go to the Kingdom of West?" Brynden put down his glass and asked, "The south is not a better choice, especially the city of Abrera."

"Oh, there's fighting everywhere."

The boss who is not the boss said: "In the north of the kingdom, the Green Chaos, the Rose Army and the Raiders are playing like hide-and-seek in the forest. It's a lot of fun. The humanoid creatures in the forest are also like a group of crows. See you People are robbing, and the south is also fighting, and it is even more lively than here."

"What's going on in the south?" Brynden was taken aback and became interested.

"What else, of course Campos and Fiorentina."

The boss who is not the boss said: "In short, these three kingdoms fight each other at the border like a child for a trivial matter. Today these two kingdoms will unite to clean up one, and tomorrow the other two will unite. Go get another one."

"It's a small fight." Brynden said his guess.

"It's more disgusting to make small troubles." The boss who is not the boss said: "This is the same as taking off your pants and only letting you in. It's better to finish the work early in the morning, put up your pants and leave. Therefore, if you want to go to Tegrila, you can only take the road of Dusk Forest."

"I'm just planning to set off from the Moonbrook River." Brynden said to the thin man, "As long as you take a boat along the Moonbrook River into the center of the Dusk Forest, you won't be caught in the flames of war."

"That's what I said, but you have to be careful of the crazy hunter."

The boss who is not the boss reminded: "This guy walks through the forest faster than the wind. When you feel a tingling sensation on your back, it means that you have been targeted. Just lie down and wait for death." .”

"So I wonder who 'Mad Hunter' and 'Green Chaos' really are?" Brynden finally got the chance to ask.

"The Mad Hunter is an elven ranger who can cast divine spells like mad, and his kill list includes almost anyone. Whether it's elves, rioters, or Rose Army, someone has been killed by his arrows .”

The boss who was not the boss told him: "Two days ago, the 'crazy hunter' Carlot wiped out the elite of the entire raiding mercenary group on the outskirts of the Dusk Forest by himself. Very strong."

"What about... Green Chaos?" Brynden asked another question.

"Green chaos is the elf in the dusk forest." The boss who is not the boss said, "Because they like to wear green cloaks, every time they act together, they look like green shadows when they gather together, so they are called 'Green Chaos'. chaos'."

"I also heard..."

He paused, took a deep look at Brynden, and stayed on his purple dragon emblem for a long time before whispering:
"The elves of the Dusk Forest and Blackman's elves have teamed up. Their elf leader is the patriarch of the 'Star Flower' family. This 'Green Chaos' elf leader always wears a mithril mask and rides a hippy body."

Star Flower?
Brynden looked startled, he didn't pay attention to why the boss who is not the boss in front of him knew so much, but instantly thought of the Duke of Longshougang, whose elven blood came from the 'Star Flower' family.

So he quickly remembered it deeply in his heart.

"So, no place in the Kingdom of Amastacia is safe, boy, if you want to return to Tigrila from the Dusk Forest, if I were you, I would return to the Kingdom of West and go to Deep Stream Harbor Take a boat." The boss who is not the boss suggested to Brynden.

Brynden stared intently at the boss who was not the boss, and said slowly: "I appreciate the kindness of the boss, but I still insist on starting from the Dusk Forest."

He has been delayed in these two kingdoms for more than a month.

If we set out from Shenliu Port even further away, not to mention the time wasted, just this group of mercenaries and adventurers will not agree, and they will definitely break up because of this.

"That's right!" The female warrior Xia Mei came over and nodded in agreement with a hoarse voice, "It's just a twilight forest, can it compare to the tropical jungle in Breland?"

"Maybe I won't meet anyone." The poet continued.

"Elves don't hurt the innocent." The half-elf ranger said, "I grew up in the Dusk Forest."

"Crazy hunter, right?" 'Mantis' Solas sneered, "I'd like to meet this elf ranger."

"Do whatever you want, I happen to have a fast boat docked here."

The boss who is not the boss said indifferently: "If you want, you must keep all your horses. Anyway, you can't use them in the forest, and you can't take them to the boat. By the way, pay me another 10 gold coins."

Brynden frowned, and after a while, he reluctantly said, "Then let's decide."

After speaking, take out 10 gold coins and put them on the table.

It's not that he can't afford the money, but that he always feels that there is something wrong.

"Look at your reluctance." The boss who is not the boss took the gold coins over with a smile, bit one by one with his teeth, and spit on the ground, "You know, in the forest, You can't sit on a gold coin to cross a river, and you can't eat it when you're hungry."

Afterwards, everyone who finished their meal walked to the clipper boat by the river.

…………

(End of this chapter)