Astartes of the Bear School

Chapter 1793 1765. Swordfish
"Warrior, you've already got all our drachmas." The boy looked at Lann tentatively with a dry smile on his face, "How about, how about just forget it?"

"Please! I can give you the money, but if we let it slip, we'll lose our lives in the end!"

Lan En didn't ask any more questions, but he didn't mean to let them go either. He just lowered his head and smiled at the little boy.

"It seems that you are the leader among the three of you? You are really capable. How old are you this year? Eleven years old? Compared with the Minotaur Hoof potion you sell, you are a real smart man."

However, Arsenios's expression did not ease up because of Lan's praise. Instead, he became even more uneasy.

It turns out that this kid is indeed sharp and smart.

Because immediately afterwards, in the cave, which was originally cool and chilly compared to the hot outside world, a sudden chill from the human heart made the three people in the cave so cold that their hair stood on end.

"You said 'if you turn back, you might die'. But why don't you think about it carefully? Maybe you won't even live to 'turn back'?"

Lan's plain words echoed in the cave, but these words, which were neither loud nor grand, made the young man Pevka straighten his body and stand at attention instantly.

The two strong men lying on the ground wailing also closed their mouths tightly, and their cries of pain were suppressed in their throats.

Everything is an instinctive reaction of life after feeling threatened.

"Swordfish!" Arsenios stood at attention and uttered the word crisply and clearly, as if the boy's previous perfunctory and evasiveness were just an illusion.

"What's that?" Lan En smiled. "A gang nickname? Or a person's nickname?"

"It's a nickname for people, Warrior."

"It looks like we can start communicating smoothly, so let's continue, my guide."

"But," Arsenios lowered his head in embarrassment, "it's gone, warrior."

"…What do you mean?"

"Except for this nickname, I don't know anything else." The boy was afraid of angering the warrior in front of him, so he quickly explained, "I have only been in this business for less than a year. Apart from paying my boss money, I really don't know anything else!"

Lan En was not worried that he would lie to him. In this situation, the smart boy who understood the situation would not do anything stupid.

That means he really doesn't know any more.

"In the industry?" But Lan En was still able to find the key from the other party's limited information, "What industry are you in?"

"The business of making money from the Minotaur," Arsenios said as if it was a matter of course. "Minotaur souvenirs and all kinds of things related to him. Now the whole of Pefka is making money from this business!"

"Although the locals don't actually make much money...it's all used as tribute to Swordfish."

"That tribute ratio is really high," Lan En was also shocked.

A Greek warrior who traveled to Pephka to challenge the Minotaur and become famous would have to carry at least a thousand drachmas with him when he left the house, right?

Arsenios and his two muscular brothers had been working as tour guides for less than a year, but they were already very familiar with the business. Judging from their professional level, they had done it at least a dozen times, but the money they had saved was only a few hundred drachmas.

"You said you've only been in the business for less than a year. So, from what you're saying, how long has it been since Swordfish took over this business?"

"About two years, I'm not sure." The boy stood up straight and answered.

"Pefka is the birthplace of the Minotaur legend. Wasn't there anyone doing this business before?"

"I remember when I was a kid, there was one before, but who could make it so big? So confident?" Arsenios is indeed a local kid. "Only Swordfish. He seems to believe that the Minotaur is real more than anyone else. It's as if he can see it whenever he goes out."

"Plus, he must be a powerful person, so he can support this business."

The last sentence was actually the boy's guess. He had no idea what kind of powerful figure the so-called Swordfish was. After all, he only knew the nickname.

"That's all?" Lan En finally confirmed with him.

"That's all I know!" the boy replied immediately.

The demon hunter nodded and bent down slightly. With the hand holding the purse, he stretched out a finger and tapped the boy's forehead with a rustling sound.

Making Arsenios fall back repeatedly.

"You didn't lie, so you'll be fine. Thanks for reminding me of someone I know, kid." Lan weighed the purse in his hand and smiled mischievously. "But this is a lesson for you. If you want to hang out on the streets, at least you have to have good eyesight."

Being a black-hearted tour guide and hitting tourists is certainly a crooked path.

Under normal circumstances, Lan En is not so easy to talk to.

But first of all, the group that Arsenios and his three men targeted were warriors who had traveled from all over Greece, hoping to become famous with the Minotaur's head and put it on their belts. They were not normal people.

Secondly, in this era, apart from the crooked paths, where are the right paths for lonely children to take?

Even if it was Lan's acquaintance, Phoebe, she should be in Athens now, still running her own gang of city orphans.

In addition to accepting mission rewards and funding, stealing and bluffing are probably inevitable. But Lan En didn't say anything.

These wandering orphans have their own way of survival adapted to local conditions.

At least it seemed that Arsenios and his gang only wanted to hit people with clubs and had no intention of killing anyone.

The short but still 'informative' tour of the Minotaur ended here, and Lan En learned from the local children about the abnormal situation in this area.

Walking out of the cave, I heard the sound of three people, two adults and one child, all breathing out relief in unison.

Then, the boy seemed to remember something, and his voice echoed from the depths of the cave.

"Hey! What's it like to be a mercenary?"

There was some kind of hope in the boy's tone, some kind of...dream.

"It feels good." Lan En said with a smile without turning his head. "Of course, the prerequisite is that you have the ability."

"Oh!" Arsenios' tone was very happy, and he changed the subject and shouted even louder, "Then do you want to order some dried Minotaur dung? I'll give you a 10% discount!"

"Huh?" Lan En, who was almost out of the cave, almost laughed, "Are you sure you want to use this trick on me, kid?"

"Like my dad said: The arrow has to be shot first before it can hit the target."

Lan En ignored the little brat who reminded him of Phoebe and walked out of the cave dedicated to the Minotaur.

The journey with Arsenios was not without gain.

"swordfish."

Lan En chewed on the nickname.

A person behind the scenes who is equivalent to Emperor Pefka, he or she decided more than two years ago to start revitalizing the economy of this birthplace of the Minotaur legend through tourism and fraud.

And to this day, we have actually achieved quite a bit of success.

Warriors who traveled from various Greek city-states threw their golden drachmas in Pephka. But even if they lost everything, no one would shout the truth.

This is exactly why Arsenios's 'tour guide business' has been able to maintain zero negative reviews: the warriors who came to Pephka to hunt down the Minotaur and become famous would rather die than lose this man.

The reason for all this is that this man nicknamed "Swordfish" firmly believed in the existence of the Minotaur.

It takes faith to cheat, and the bigger and more powerful the scam is, the more the person responsible must have an extraordinary sense of faith and truly believe in what he says.

There is no doubt that Pefka's situation is absolutely abnormal, which coincides with Pythagoras's reminder.

"But I really didn't expect that the 'anomaly' that Pythagoras talked about would be like this."

Walking on the streets of Pefka town, Lan's mouth twitched as he complained in his mind.

Mentos takes over the main topic just right, giving people a valuable sense of interaction.

"So what do you think of as 'abnormal', sir?"

"It's hard to say." Lan En shrugged and curled his lips. "Mutated monsters, abnormal terrain and climate, blah blah blah... Who would have thought that it would lead to the prosperity of the local fraud industry?"

"Things change all the time." That's the only way Mentos could conclude.

As he was talking, Lan En, walking on the streets of the town, heard a lot of promotions for the Minotaur.

The one with the best effect and the biggest show was the Minotaur challenge with prizes that Lan En had heard from his tour guide before.

The preacher occupied a marble platform near the entrance to the town, surrounded by bronze vessels, clay jars filled with coins, flowers, ivory horns, and other things.

With his back to two Greek murals of Theseus beheading the Minotaur and three bronze warrior statues, he announced his challenge project to the audience.

"Prove your strength, warriors!" The preacher was wearing a blue Greek robe. He was in his forties but still looked dashing and handsome.

"Come face his bloody hooves! Come meet his visceral horns! You all know his name, you know his roar! He is a beast, and a myth! He is the Minotaur!"

So far, his advertising presentations have been very exciting, thanks to his good eloquence and talent for controlling the situation, which can easily stir up the emotions of the audience.

In addition, the majority of the audience were strong warriors holding swords and wearing armor. The target audience also overlapped with his advertising speeches, which could be said to be a professional match that achieved twice the result with half the effort.

But after the inspiring speech, there was a series of fluent but emotionless advertising content.

"Each Minotaur hunting team can only have three people, and they must purchase designated Minotaur themed merchandise."

"Legendary warriors, pregnant heroes, legitimate gods, demigods, etc. are not eligible to participate! This is hereby declared in advance!"

(End of this chapter)