Witch Monastery

He then closed the window, wiped the sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand, and made up his mind that he and Heidi would take a good bath after returning home.

"Well, but now that we have figured out the way, today's mission is complete."

He couldn't help but feel lucky that he had come here today and found the right place. Otherwise, on the night of the Witch's Night, in the dark, with only moonlight to illuminate the environment, he didn't know how long it would take him to find the right place.

But now, it's time to go back.

He then took another look at his surroundings, trying to imprint every scene along the way deeply in his mind, and then he returned along the same route, preparing to meet up with Heidi at the "Fog Fisherman" tavern.

However, just as he turned around, two tall and thin men wearing black leather coats and black bowler hats also turned around on the street next to him. The sun was shining brightly, but these two grown men dressed like this did not seem to feel hot at all.

They were talking in low voices, but when they saw Hawthorne coming over, they immediately shut up.

Hawthorne didn't take it too seriously. There were many people in this world who dressed in strange clothes. Some were really cool, some were pretending to be cool, and some just had to dress that way because of their physical condition. In short, everyone had their own reasons, so there was no need to pay special attention to it.

He passed the two men, but then one of them suddenly stopped, turned around, looked at his back with obvious surprise on his face.

The other one also stopped, without asking anything, his eyes looking back.

But at this time, Hawthorne had already walked far away. Then he turned left and disappeared into the intricate alleys of the slums.

Chapter 24: The "Smoke-Spitting Fisherman" Tavern

The "Smoking Fisherman" tavern was originally a smoking club for a group of smokers. Later, some of these smokers died of illness or quit smoking, so the room was bought by a retired navy veteran who had a broken leg and converted into a tavern.

This veteran's name is Alan Alice. Unlike Hawthorne's cheap and useless father in this life who is incompetent, this man can definitely be considered to have extensive connections.

Whether it was the guards, the Amazons and other visible forces, or the dark intelligence network, the Shannasa Guild and other hidden forces, or even some hostile pirate forces on the high seas, there were people who had received his favors.

Now, many of these people have held high positions. Even though he has retired, they are willing to keep in touch with him and communicate with him frequently.

As a result, he has access to a huge network of relationships. Whenever necessary, he can help to connect any two organizations, so that both sides can have a trustworthy witness and a platform for peaceful communication, thus avoiding many unnecessary bloody conflicts.

In the years since his retirement, he has helped mediate countless conflicts, earning him a high reputation and becoming one of the most respected middlemen in the Nangang District.

Many gangs wanted to do him a favor, so even though he was physically disabled and his fighting ability might not be as good as that of an ordinary person, his "Smoke-Puffing Fisherman" tavern might be one of the safest places in the entire slum.

This is also the reason why Hawthorne chose this place to wait for Heidi.

After pushing the door open and entering, the dozing security guard standing at the door immediately turned his head to look at him. This person was a female half-ogre who was over two meters tall, with a big head, thick neck, and fat all over her body, and there was a thick and huge stick next to her.

She exuded the unique body odor of an ogre, and her eyes were wide open, looking like she might grab a child and eat it at any time.

After seeing his thin body, the half-ogre immediately determined that he was not a threat, then turned his head and continued to doze off, no longer paying attention to him.

Obviously, no matter how beautiful Hawthorne is as a human, he cannot cross the racial barrier and attract the attention of the half-ogre.

Of course, he doesn't want to attract anyone.

Beyond the half-ogre is the interior of the tavern. In the middle of the tavern is a long wooden table for those who come alone.

The drinkers who came shared the table, on which sat a few incompetent drunkards who had gotten drunk during the day, and a strong brown-skinned female orc.

On both sides of the room, there were several round tables for those who came to party and revel. A few old smokers were leaning against the window, puffing away, and at other tables there were some idle people playing dice.

In addition to them, there were several other tables, where several gangsters wearing sweatshirts, with scars on their arms and bodies exposed, and various simple weapons on their waists sat, eating peanuts silently.

Hawthorne took a step forward and could smell the smell of smoke mixed with the salty smell of sea fish and the sweetness of some vomit residues, all competing to get into his nostrils, making him frown.

But he knew that he would have to adapt to this environment sooner or later, so he had no choice but to bite the bullet and go in.

At the end of the pub is the bar, and next to the bar is a staircase leading to the second floor, where the pub's guest rooms are located. At this moment, a middle-aged man with a beard, a copper complexion, and strong features is sitting behind the bar, silently wiping the cups.

He, of course, is the owner of the tavern, Alan Alice.

He looked to be about forty or fifty years old, but his pointed ears indicated that he was not a human, but a long-lived half-elf, so his true age could never be inferred from his appearance.

"A serving of boiled peanuts," Hawthorne said, then took out a silver coin and placed it on the bar.

It would be a shame not to order anything while waiting for someone in someone else's store, so he ordered a cheap snack to pass the time.

The man in front of him looked up at him, and then his eyebrows suddenly raised visibly, and he was obviously surprised.

But he then remained calm, took the silver coin, and nodded: "Please wait a moment."

After saying that, he turned around and limped into the back kitchen. When he stood up, Hawthorne saw that behind the tavern owner Allen, sitting on a wooden block against the wall, was a person wearing a full set of plate armor.

The suit of armor sat there quietly, motionless, but Hawthorne knew that it was actually a living suit of armor. As long as Allen gave a verbal command, it would immediately stand up and attack all of Allen's enemies.

All in all, everything was pretty much the same as I remembered.

In the game, Allen is a quest issuer. If you have a good relationship with him, you can receive many quests related to the slum gangs from him and get rich rewards.

To this end, players have even summarized a set of methods to quickly improve his favorability so that they can get through the early stages smoothly.

Of course, players who are confident in their own operation can also choose to kill him. However, in this case, they will have to face the female half-ogre at the door and this set of animated armor.

As Hawthorne was thinking this, he saw the boss come out with a large plate full of steaming boiled peanuts, which were very affordable.

This immediately made Hawthorne's impression more favorable, and many memories came to his mind.

Alan can be said to be the favorite NPC of novice players. The main reason is that the tasks he issues are generally of low difficulty and have generous rewards, which can significantly alleviate the development pressure of the monastery in the early stage.

The secondary reason is that this guy's lines are very well designed. He will always praise you seriously and seriously out of the blue. In short, it can make people feel good and they will involuntarily regard him as someone they can trust.

However, this is the real world, and Hawthorne would not so easily believe that an old fox who has been rooted in the slums for a long time is the real one.

With these thoughts in mind, he took the peanuts, turned around, and prepared to find a seat to sit down.

However, after looking around, he suddenly realized that there were not many seats left for him.

There were a few empty seats at the round table on the left side of the tavern, but he couldn't stand having to share the table with either the smoker or the gamblers;

There were a few drunkards sitting at the long table in the middle. If you sat close to them, they might suddenly vomit all over you.

Although there were a few empty seats at the round tables on the right, the other seats were occupied by gangsters. At a glance, there were at least a dozen of them. One of them was a bald strong man sitting in the corner. He had a giant eye tattooed on his head, and he looked like someone who was not to be trifled with.

Wait, this seems to be someone from the Shannasa Guild?

Chapter 25 Eye Demon Guild

The Shannasa Guild, a gang created by a beholder tyrant named "Shannasa", has been entrenched in Port Liber for many years and is one of the most notorious criminal organizations in the entire city.

Their cadre symbol is a tattoo in the shape of a giant eye somewhere on their body.

Seeing the old enemies in the game, Hawthorne's heart suddenly lifted up, knowing that these guys were ferocious, arrogant and overbearing. They would fight with outsiders over trivial matters, and they were ruthless and killed without blinking an eye.

Yes, killing without blinking an eye.

On the two streets where the district government of Nangang District is located, the guards on duty are responsible for the residents, but during their duty hours, they will never set foot into the slums.

Therefore, bloody conflicts break out almost every day, and deaths are common, but the guards will not care anyway.

Even if the family of the deceased reports the crime, unless there is decisive evidence or the family of the deceased is relatively wealthy, the guards will be too lazy to investigate and will only be responsible for the source of their own salaries.

So, these black

When gangs start fighting each other, their methods will naturally become more lawless.

Among them, gangs like the "Shannasa Guild" look for someone who is ruthless and dares to kill when recruiting members. Even those who don't have any lives on their hands will be looked down upon by them.

From this, we can also know how dangerous this person is.

Hiss, this guy is a cadre, so those other gangsters around him should also be his subordinates, right?

How unlucky it is to meet this group of people...

Never mind. This is bound to happen when you're in the slums. If you don't run into this gang, you'll run into that organization.

It’s better to be on guard!

He decided to stay away from all the gangsters, so there was only the long table in the middle where he could sit. In order to stay away from those drunks, he finally had to carry his peanut plate and sit in front of the female orc.

He hadn't noticed it when he was far away, but now that he sat down and took a closer look, he realized that the appearance of this female orc was actually quite reasonable.

Although orcs are a hybrid of orcs and humans, they cannot be considered ugly as a whole. At least they do not have the ferocious large fangs like orcs, and their chins do not protrude like those of gorillas.

The female orc in front of him was a typical example. Her facial features were more similar to those of a human. Her short fangs did not deform her bones. Her skin was not as dark as that of ordinary orcs, but a slightly oily brown skin like that of ordinary people. So at first glance, she was actually quite pleasing to the eye.

Her figure clearly inherited the advantages of female orcs. The two peaks on her chest are so... huge!

Even though it was wrapped in a wide animal skin armor, it was still bulging, making Hawthorne very sure that the size of this female orc was at least much larger than Heidi.

It’s…amazing!

However, she also had a shallow scar on her eyebrow, a hard hammer on her waist, broad joints, fierce eyes, and obvious muscle lines. It was obvious at first glance that she was not someone to be trifled with.

But fortunately, she didn't have the common body odor of orcs, so she didn't make Huosang unable to eat.

Hawthorne sat down in front of her, and the female orc subconsciously looked up and glanced at him. Then her eyes lit up, as if she was surprised by Hawthorne's appearance, and then frowned, wondering if he had other purposes.

But then she looked away, probably feeling that Hawthorne's small body posed no threat to her, so she lowered her head again and ate the jerky on the plate.

But this one glance made Huo Sang secretly cautious.

Hiss, I always feel that this atmosphere is not right...

The "Fisherman's Smoke" tavern is said to be safe, but that's just the tallest among the lame. In an environment like the slums, how can violent conflicts be completely avoided?

Forget it, it’s always better to be careful and cautious!

In order to ensure his own safety, Hawthorne silently used a trick to add the magic mark of "blade protection" to himself.

As for the mage armor, he had already put it on when he got up in the morning. Casting a first-level spell consumes two mana points, and it takes an hour of rest to restore these mana points. The mage armor can last for eight hours...

Therefore, as long as he took the photo in advance, he could enjoy the protection of this spell while maintaining full mana and casting two more first-level spells.

After adding the mark of blade protection, he was still a little worried, so he took out his magic book "Introduction to Purity" and silently cast the protective spell Armor of Agathis on himself.

This first level spell can also help him resist physical damage and reflect cold damage to enemies who attack him in melee. It may not be very useful at high levels, but against these thugs, it is definitely an offensive and defensive spell with a very high cost performance.

The only drawback is that its maximum effective time is only one hour, so you can't get yourself one early in the morning like you can with mage armor.

In short, after hanging up all the defensive spells, Hawthorne finally felt a little safer. At the same time, he prayed secretly that nothing would happen before Heidi came.

However, just because he doesn't want to cause trouble doesn't mean that trouble won't cause him trouble.

In particular, he sat opposite the female orc.

The bald little leader Shannasa, who had been resting with his eyes closed, suddenly opened his eyes and kept looking at Hawthorne with a hidden gaze.

The remaining gangsters also looked hesitant, their eyes darting back and forth between Hawthorne and the female orc, very confused about the relationship between the two.

A thin gangster who looked a bit smart leaned close to the bald man's ear and said, "Boss, the situation seems to have changed. That guy... seems to be in the same group with Yagola?"

The bald man looked vaguely, noncommittal: "Who do you think he is?"

The thin man looked at Hawthorne carefully and said hesitantly: "Looking at his temperament, he doesn't look like someone who would appear in the slums. He looks more like an aristocrat. I have seen several top students who have studied in college, and their temperament is very similar to his..."

"Yes, the temperament is very unique." The bald man nodded slightly, "But, the clothes he wore were made locally. I can even tell you which store it was made from."

This was true. Although Heidi loved him very much, she did not buy him expensive clothes at Hawthorne's request - after all, their money was not abundant and they had to spend it wisely.

So now, he only wore a thin

The shirt is made of cotton, the fabric is very comfortable and breathable, but it is definitely not expensive.

There were only a few clothing stores in the entire Nangang District, so the local hooligans could recognize them all.

Chapter 26 The fight begins!

The latter took a closer look and nodded slightly: "Indeed, they are all local goods. The boss is wise, and the boss has a better eye."

After a pause, he continued, "What about the boss? How do we deal with him?"

The bald man weighed the pros and cons and finally closed his eyes again: "No matter who he is, the mission cannot fail. Notify the brothers and take action first."

"Knock him out and tie him up, don't hurt him. In case he really has a background, it will be easier to explain later. If not, sell him to Mrs. Casalante. She will definitely like it." Smuggling weapons, selling drugs, and looting are important sources of funds for the Shannasa Guild.

Naturally, they are not new to human trafficking, such as capturing good-looking children from civilian families and selling them to the rich and powerful as playthings, and they are already very familiar with it.

Suddenly, the thin man's face lit up with joy, he nodded, then stepped back and whispered a few words in the ears of several brothers. Immediately, several of them nodded repeatedly and tightened their hands on the weapons at their waists.

Time passed by minute by minute. After about three minutes, a human thug with a red Mohawk suddenly rushed into the tavern and yelled, "Oh no, boss, Paul is dead!"

This was their secret code. Upon hearing this, the bald man's eyes widened with anger: "You dare to kill my brother? You are seeking death!"

As soon as he finished speaking, more than a dozen thugs in the tavern stood up at the same time. One of them was quick and kicked the female orc fiercely!

Then, countless long sticks and short clubs rushed towards her.

Facing this sudden attack, the female orc was also a veteran. After being kicked, she quickly stood up, protecting her head with one arm, while resisting and retreating to the side, at the same time, with the other hand, she hurriedly drew her weapon.

Fortunately, she was born tall and inherited the thick skin and flesh of the orcs, while most of these gangsters were malnourished since childhood and were not tall. Otherwise, after being hit on the head so many times, she would have fallen into a coma long ago!

"You... go to hell!"

The pain stimulated the orc ferocity in her blood. This guy took off the hammer from her waist, and then, without caring about her life, she smashed the head of every Shannasa gangster with one injury after another!