Astartes of the Bear School

Chapter 1957 1929. Serious Criminal

After Lann and Mare Mare both looked away from the high city walls, Elonmer, leaning against the iron cage in the first barbican of Sunshade, also lowered his head again.

The iron cage, with its barbs and dripping blood, didn't seem to cause him any tension.

He even hunched his shoulders and leaned against the iron cage for a couple of moments, finding a comfortable spot to sit down against the cage wall.

The rusty iron thorns wrapped around his body, along with the barbs that were already in the iron cage, creaked and groaned as he moved, rubbing against his exotic yet sturdy and heavy armor.

Several soldiers from Sunshade City, who were preparing to escort the prisoner, surrounded him. Their spears were already itching to be thrust into the iron cage.

"Behave yourself, Elon Mel! Your good days are over, you sadistic scum!"

The tall prisoner in the iron cage didn't speak, but a few gloomy and suppressed laughs could be faintly heard from his helmet, which was wrapped with iron thorns.

"Go to hell! You sadist with three fingers!" a soldier from Sunshade City cursed as he smeared poison on the tip of his gun, turning the entire tip green.

“You wrapped Stana’s entire body in iron thorns and made her crawl like a dog for two kilometers! Today! I’ll let you experience what it’s like to be tortured!”

The soldier shouted aggressively, while the soldiers beside him also looked serious but made no move to stop him. Clearly, the majority of the people agreed that the soldier's intention to "collect some interest" from this serious offender was acceptable.

However, serious offenders have very different concerns.

“Stanna? You mean that old woman from the windmill?” Elon Mel’s voice, like the iron thorns wrapped around him, sounded dangerous and strained. “What does she have to do with you?”

The soldier, carrying a poisoned rifle, charged straight ahead, shouting, "She's my neighbor! You beast!"

“Oh!” Elon Mel said with a sudden realization, but then smiled and changed the subject, “So... if I had just taken a few more steps, I could have brought your wife and children along to play? What a pity, sir.”

The criminal sighed and repeated, "What a pity."

The surroundings fell into a deathly silence.

After a moment of deathly silence, the soldier's face suddenly turned bright red! His teeth clenched, and veins bulged on his forehead!
Holding a poisoned spear, he was about to stab it into the gap of the iron cage!
"Stop!"

But just then, a perfumer emerged from a side gate of the city wall and sternly stopped the soldiers of Sunshade City from their actions.

He walked all the way to the iron cage before turning around to look at the soldiers who had surrounded him.

His head and face were covered by a headscarf and veil, with only a line of his eyes visible. Those eyes surveyed the surroundings, their stern gaze forcing the enraged soldiers to retreat.

"What are you trying to do? Are you overstepping the Marei family's law enforcement authority and resorting to vigilante justice?"

“My lord!” the Sunshade City soldier explained, his voice trembling with frustration, but he had to suppress his anger. “Eronmel is too dangerous. We thought we should strip him of his armor first so we could keep him safely imprisoned and make it easier to execute him later…”

"Alright!" The perfumer didn't really want to hear the soldiers' explanations at all. He just waved his hand roughly, releasing a strong scent of perfume. "His armor is nothing under the city lord's family heirloom sword. There's no need to remove it during the execution. Just carry the iron cage in."

The soldiers were reluctant, after all, Elonmeier's threat had angered almost everyone present.

Seeing this, the perfumer had to raise his voice even more sternly: "Get to work, soldiers! Stop thinking about nonsense! Remember: the Marais are the executioners. You cannot bypass the Marais to carry out the punishments!"

"Now! Move the iron cage inside!"

Under the perfumer's intense gaze, the soldiers gritted their teeth and glared angrily at the serious criminal in the iron cage, but there was nothing they could do. Several of them could only carry the iron cage and walk towards the special prison cell in the castle.

The cell was dark and reeked of the stench of the poisonous swamp outside the city, making it the place in the entire castle most affected by the swamp.

The soldiers thoughtfully placed Elonmeier's iron cage at the deepest part of the cell.

Even though the execution was imminent, the soldiers still hoped that the sadist would suffer even a little more torment.

"Today! Today!" Just now, the soldier who had tried to stab the prisoner for his neighbor spat into the iron cage before leaving. "Pah! Just you wait, you scum! You'll experience the execution skills that the Mare family has been known for for generations!"

The soldiers left, cursing, and the cell doors closed. The darkest room in the military castle was plunged into darkness.

But after the soldiers' footsteps faded into the distance, a shimmering cloud of dust and a strong fragrance wafted from the side.

That was another perfumer who had been waiting in the shadows of the cell.

He walked up to the iron cage, his face glistening with glittering perfume, and met the gaze of Elonmer, who was imprisoned inside.

"As we agreed?"

After a long silence, the perfumer lowered his voice and asked a seemingly random question. From within Elonmel's exotic helmet, which was adorned with iron thorns, came a response laced with a wicked laugh.

“As we agreed.” Elon Mel nodded. “Heh, you help me, I help you.”

The perfumer's eyes flashed. "Give me some first, we need to try it some more." "I'll give it to you. But not just you." Elon Mel's voice held a hint of amusement. "Hey buddy, even we bad guys have to follow the rules. You need to control your urge to hog everything. Otherwise, you'll end up in trouble."

Seeing his insistence, the perfumer finally withdrew her hand reluctantly. She tossed a small paper packet into the iron cage, turned, and disappeared back into the darkness of the cell.
-

Although I am very grateful to Lann, the messenger from Rodel, for helping to heal the victims who were harmed by Elonmer.

But right now, the most important thing in Sunshade City is to receive the royal envoys according to protocol and to prepare for the execution of Elonmer, who has already been apprehended.

Lan En and the Velvet Ball were invited into the hall of Sunshade City.

Mare Mare prepared a small banquet for the royal envoys.

Furthermore, because Sunshade City was located in a very remote area, there were hardly any respectable people who knew etiquette and had a certain status, not even a knight.

So, in order to make the scene look better and not appear so lonely and shabby.

Following family tradition, Maré Maré had the perfumers from the castle accompany him.

These perfumers, like Torisha, also carried brass daggers at their waists, used for cutting herbs and exuding a strong herbal scent.

Judging from this dagger, they should also be members of the Golden Royal Family.

It is the result of the Golden Royal Family's expansion and growth over a long period of time.

This also illustrates that the profession of perfumer inherently carries a noble connotation. When members of the Golden Royal Family were unable to obtain fiefdoms, real power, or titles, many turned to this profession.

The lobby of Sunshade City isn't very big, about the size of two basketball courts.

Candelabra stood around the hall, and portraits of the successive heads of the Mare family hung on the walls.

In the flickering candlelight on the candlestick, the face in the portrait appeared to be in shadow, looking somewhat heavy and sinister.

However, it is common sense that castles used for military purposes cannot have too much demanding lighting requirements.

Sunshade City is located in a low-altitude area of ​​the Yatan Plateau, so the entire area doesn't get much sunlight.

Various dishes were laid out on the long table. Mare Mare, as the city lord and head of the family, sat in the main seat, with Lann and Velvet Ball sitting on one side, and the most senior perfumer in Sunshade City sitting opposite.

"Please try this."

Amidst the clinking of glasses, the perfumer was the first to raise his golden cup, gesturing to Lan En and the velvet ball.

Now sitting at the long table for the banquet, the perfumer has only removed the headscarf and veil that perfumers are usually equipped with, but he is still wearing the thick apron and cloak.

Lan En glanced at the person opposite him briefly. As his eyes swept over them, he noticed that the perfumer's face seemed much paler than normal. However, it was only his face that was pale; his expression and spirit were very high.

The witcher picked up the wine jug beside him, preparing to pour it into the tall, golden goblet in front of him.

But as soon as the wine pot was tilted, he raised an eyebrow, as if he had discovered something, and brought the wine pot close to his nose, his nostrils flaring twice.

Lann sniffed lightly at the rim of the flask, but his eyes glanced at the perfumer and Mare Mare who were accompanying him.

"Gentlemen, is my nose playing tricks on me?" The witcher gently shook the flask, the liquid inside sloshing around. "Or is there really a poisonous flower in here?"

Lan En's gaze towards them revealed a mixture of inquiry and wariness, as if he were treating this pot of wine with great care.

Poisonous Flower – the name itself is quite straightforward. It's probably the easiest to obtain and process toxins in border regions.

It looks like an ordinary pink flower.

Simply crush it up and apply it to arrowheads and blades to impart a surprisingly potent toxicity.

The large poisonous swamp surrounding Sunshade City is a perfect environment for the growth and reproduction of poisonous flowers.

The perfumer just smiled, but Maré Maré burst out laughing.

"No, your nose is not mistaken, there is indeed a poisonous flower in here." The Lord of Sunshade City picked up his golden cup. "However, this can be considered a specialty of our Sunshade City."

Maré Maré seems reluctant to remove his mask even while eating. Every time he makes a gesture of eating or drinking, he subconsciously turns his head to cover himself.

“Sunshade City is built in a poisonous swamp, and it’s inextricably linked to poison.” The perfumer seemed to be trying to reassure Lan En as he showed him the wine glass in his hand, the wine inside smelling the same as the wine jug in Lan En’s hand.

“I have been hired by the Mare family since the city was founded here to help the patriarchs of the Mare family maintain their health and try to prolong their short lives.”

(End of this chapter)