Astartes of the Bear School

Chapter 1794 1766. Scam
Under the instigation of the preacher named Leandros, the warriors in the audience, who had originally traveled from various Greek city-states during this war-torn season to become famous for hunting down the Minotaur, immediately rushed to the stage to sign up.

After all, becoming famous is for the sake of honor that can be passed down to future generations, and while taking risks one gets huge wealth, marries a princess, and then the old king dies and the hero succeeds to the throne... This kind of legend is a big part of Greek mythology.

You have to appreciate the story, and no one would want to refuse it if they really come across it.

According to this Leandros, part of the prize money for this Minotaur challenge comes from the money left by those who failed in challenging the Minotaur in recent years.

As more and more people fail, Pefka's Minotaur becomes more and more famous, and the prize pool of this challenge becomes visibly richer.

A large portion of the so-called "heroes" in ancient Greece are actually difficult to distinguish from robbers and murderers.

So everyone only cares about how much money they have, and they don’t really care what the previous owner of the money is doing now.

According to Leandros's introduction and what his tour guide had said before, if one wants to see the Minotaur, then participating in this challenge with prizes is undoubtedly the most direct way.

But when Lan En heard the speaker's introduction that he had to go through three trials before participating in the challenge, a series of troublesome and trivial arrangements, and many shopping items in between...

"bump!"

In the alley in the town of Pevka, a muffled sound suddenly occurred!
And Leandros, who had been advertising a challenge with prizes on the marble platform at the town gate an hour ago, had no time to react before his head was pushed against the wall!
He wanted to scream out instinctively, but the big hand pressing on his face made him only able to let out a whimper that couldn't even be heard in the alley.

He wanted to turn his head to see who was attacking him, but the size and strength of the hand made it completely impossible for him to resist. It was as if a Minotaur came and held him down!

"M-Mercy! Have mercy! I have no money!"

The skin of the face was pressed firmly against the rammed earth wall. When I forced myself to open my mouth, the skin of my face would rub against the rough wall, which was painful.

But Leandros still tried to speak.

"No money?" Lan En asked as he struggled. "You organized such a big event, and the prize pool is getting bigger and bigger. Now you tell me you have no money?"

The demon hunter originally wanted to hold him hostage to see if he could get some valuable information about the man nicknamed Swordfish by intimidating and interrogating him.

Of course, the Demon Hunter might not be able to get any key information, but at least as the preacher, he should know where the Minotaur of this challenge is, right?
But as soon as Leandros opened his mouth, Lan En felt that this guy might be unexpectedly easy to deal with.

After all, Lan En had already learned from the little tour guide about the high commission that Swordfish took from the Minotaur-related industries here in Pefka.

Swordfish’s control over the island’s industry is so strong that its commission is so high that even the tour guides’ no-cost business has to save money privately.

He had originally thought that the presenter of this big project hosting a challenge with prizes should at least be a senior partner, and his share of the profits should be generous and difficult to shake.

But I didn’t expect...even the important manager of such an important project wouldn’t be given a single bite of meat to eat?
When faced with an unexpected danger, his first reaction is to say that he has no money. Either Liandros is a miser who values ​​money like his life, or he is really short of money.

But Lan En didn't think that people who controlled important projects but did not have the status and benefits that matched them would have no resentment in their hearts.

really.

"That's the event's money! Not my money! Not me!"

Leandros answered with difficulty.

"I didn't dare to touch the money! Not even a single drachma! I handed it all over! Warrior, you came to the wrong person!"

"In Pefka, nothing is as simple as it seems!"

"Please let me go, my family can't live without me, I have to go back alive!"

The force of the big hand pressing on his head did not lessen even after Leanders' words. The speaker who was speaking eloquently on the podium almost thought that his head would be crushed against the wall by this hand!
But just as his breathing became more and more rapid and he was about to suffer from respiratory disorder due to fear...the pressure from the side of his head suddenly eased.

For at least half a minute, Liandros still stayed close to the wall, not daring to move, for fear that it was his own hallucination.

Half a minute later, he tentatively pulled his face away from the wall in shock. At this time, half of his face was already stuck to a layer of white lime on the outside of the rammed earth wall.

"Surprising." A voice with the same tone but different emotion from the calm tone of the robber just now sounded behind him, "What you said is actually true."

Lan En had just gradually increased the pressure on the other person's head, but he properly controlled the strength and had no intention of hurting him.

This is a limit test.

Before he started, Lan En had observed the posture of Leandros on the podium with his own eyes, and then the moment he actually touched him, he was sure: this was just an ordinary person, who had not even done much combat training. Such people often do not have the determination to remain firm under personal threats, and it is good enough for them to speak without thinking and shout, let alone maintain a lie.

"Have mercy!" Leandros was still panting. He turned over and slid against the wall to sit on the ground. "I'm not a bad person, and I don't have any money, really."

"What are you still pretending for?" This time, Lan En tilted his head and asked him, "Will it make you feel more at ease if I pretend that I'm just a robber who wants to steal money?"

Panting, Leandros stopped talking. After a while, he sighed after taking two more breaths.

"Huh~ Hey..."

"What you are looking for may be harder to find than earning drachmas."

People who are good at speaking are usually not stupid. Although he was still frightened, after seeing Lann's behavior, Leandros would be crazy to still regard him as a robber.

But now, regardless of his own inner wishes, since the control of his life is not in his own hands, he can only tell everything.

"I originally wanted to participate in your Minotaur Prize Challenge." Lan En said with a slightly amused tone, "But your process... to be honest, it's obviously cumbersome and a rip-off."

"Then you should be thankful, warrior. You didn't get to participate in the reward challenge." Leandros supported himself against the wall, "Huh~ Because at the end of the challenge, those people would kill you and take away your belongings."

"Most of it was handed in, and a small portion went into the prize pool, becoming bait to lure others to come to Pefka."

"You said 'killed'?" Lan nodded, not seeming surprised. "So the Minotaur's challenge was fake?"

"Of course it's fake," Leandros looked at Lan in surprise, "Do you really think there is such a thing as the Minotaur? They are all for defrauding money and killing people!"

At this point, Leandros's face also looked very gloomy: "I did all this for my Amara. The masked man took my daughter hostage and imprisoned her in the canyon of the Dikoti Plateau!"

"They controlled everything in Pephka, and used the glory of challenging the Minotaur to attract warriors from all over Greece, while they deceived and ambushed them in the dark shadows, without any sense of honor!"

"They need my eloquence to spread the word and attract those wealthy warriors to come to Pefka and become their prey."

Lan En raised his eyebrows: "The masked man you are talking about is..."

"It was the swordfish." Leandros recalled, but the memory was obviously very painful and he was shaking all over. "But I didn't know what he really looked like. He was wearing an old man's mask as pale as marble, and there were tears of blood where his eyes should be! It was so scary!"

"Ah," the witcher understood, "the Cult of Kosmos."

"What religion?"

Of course, Liandros had never heard of this kind of secret organization.

"No, this is none of your business." Lan En did not explain. "I just want to know from you whether you have any strongholds or bases controlled by them, the 'masked men' you mentioned?"

Leandros' eyes rolled, and even his breathing paused for a moment. Then he covered it up and told Lan En a place.

"Zakros on the Dikoti Plateau!" Leandros answered simply, "I swear to all the gods in heaven! That place is completely controlled by them!"

"Warrior! You must have been sent by the gods to punish the swordfish for their misdeeds!"

Lan En just pretended that he didn't see the other person's little thoughts.

The place this guy revealed must be the place where his daughter was kidnapped and imprisoned by the Cult of Order.

But Lan En didn't mind helping him out. After all, although Leandros had deceived many people, if he said that he was coerced by the Cult of Order, then it would be more or less understandable.

The most difficult thing about the Cult of Order is that they are always a secret organization, only expanding their influence and control in secret.

In the Greek world today, every city-state seems peaceful on the surface, but they are busy with the Peloponnesian War and wandering between Sparta and Athens.

However, only the most careful and cautious people can feel, after living there for a certain period of time, that those city-states often have another master beneath the surface, and another kind of social rules are running.

The Peloponnesian War was in full swing, but the Cult always placed itself above the war. They believed that the war would not burn them, and most of the time when no one stopped them, they did it.

(End of this chapter)