Chris's Faith of Fire

Page 93

She answered like she was imitating what I just said, but her sweet voice was like poison, with a dangerous charm.

"Chris, where's yours?"

"There is no need for 'you', Chijiu, this is my nickname among the mercenaries, and my real name is something I have long given up on."

"Nickname?"

It feels very admirable. The nickname is usually commensurate with the deeds of the mercenaries. I am very interested in what kind of story is hidden in her short title.

So I took out the basket behind me.

"I just bought some food, do you want to chat with me?"

She smiled her signature smile, tilted her head and tried to make the cute gesture she said...

◆ ◇

"...So, this city is probably like this."

Looking at the empty basket with only bones left, our conversation continued for a while.

I really admire how she can still maintain a slim figure despite eating so much...I can't do that at all, so I've always been very careful about my diet.

Miss Akaba's words are mainly divided into three stages.

The first is how she became a mercenary. According to her, she was originally the daughter of a noble family. Because she was robbed on the road, she was kidnapped by bandits and became their slave... although she said it very plainly. But when I heard these two words, I felt uneasy.

I even doubted whether she was lying, but even if it was a fabricated story, it was nothing to talk about after dinner.

The second is that she took the opportunity to escape when the bandits were out, and gradually developed her skills to become a mercenary, and came to Anatolia to survive. This is a very common story.

But I think the third paragraph is the most valuable, mainly about the city.

The current lord of Anatolia, Duke Asha III, has some intellectual problems, and he is relatively young, so he has almost no grasp of politics. In the end, he became a puppet of the nobles. In this case, it is naturally easy for government and businessmen to collude. Corruption is very serious and operations are in deficit all year round. Duke Asha owes a lot of money to the king and Garnet.

However, Garnet's recent situation has caused some of the arrears to be written off. This has made Duke Asha, who didn't care much about the arrears, become even more wanton. He also raised the city's taxes without authorization because the king was busy dealing with the case against the Demon King. The Ministry of Defense ignored him for the time being, but as a result, this idiot became more and more indulgent in his corrupt life, causing the city's public security to deteriorate and class conflicts to become more and more obvious.

Indeed, for example, the bathroom I just went to is a bathroom only for civilians. Nobles will never appear there, no matter how downtrodden they are. The aristocrats in this city have an absolutely superior mentality.

"So under such contradictions, some people began to stand up..."

"Which people?"

Her words stopped abruptly mid-sentence, and Chijiu leaned against the wooden wall with half-squinted eyes, as if he had already entered a rest.

"The food is gone and the conversation should end."

"Huh? I spent a lot of money."

He pretended to be angry, put his hands on his hips, and stared at Chijiu with some sulkiness in his eyes.

However, she didn't care. She walked to the balcony of the room with elegant steps and opened the wooden window...

A breeze blew in, ruffling both of our hair.

Looking out the window, the bright moon is in the sky, decorated with stars, embellishing the indigo night with a touch of brilliance.

"Get a little exercise...I'll tell you more if I can catch up."

"Sorry, I'm a little tired."

"But it looks like you'll have to catch up."

A smile appeared on Chijiu's face and he showed what he had in his right hand.

It's a small leather bag with a red pattern printed on it, like a flame?this thing……

"Ah! It's my purse!"

Was it taken away when I got closer?

"Yes, if you get too far away from me, just throw this money bag into an alley where homeless people live."

After saying that, Chijiu put his hands on the window sill, raised his long legs and jumped out of the window. His dexterity was amazing, but I probably don't have the time now.

"and many more!"

I stretched out my head and looked out the window, and saw that Chijiu was standing on the narrow window sill outside the window, leaping as if he was flying into the moon.

The night has fallen, leaving only a few scattered lights on the street.

By the time I came to my senses, she had jumped to the top of the second house, which was the blacksmith shop!

"If you don't catch up, your money will be gone!"

Ding.

A crisp metallic sound hit the ground, and I realized I had to chase.

It was too outrageous to imitate her movements, and it was too easy to get injured. I rushed out the door, my footsteps pounding as if I was trampling on the old wooden board.

"You bastard! What are you doing in the middle of the night?"

I was scolded, but the other party had no intention of catching up. I rushed out of the mercenary station and started running along the street.

Miss Akagi moved very fast, which probably had something to do with her slender long legs. She would be thrown off if she continued like this. Just as I was thinking this, she stepped on the eaves of the blacksmith shop, and the sound of falling metal was probably caught by the rubble. The sound is covered up.

I just had to speed up. I was still a bit unaccustomed to wearing new shoes. There were some uneven places on the street that made me sprain my feet, but luckily I wasn't injured.

As I ran, I looked around.

Behind the blacksmith shop is a bakery shop, and they have a ladder on the eaves to go up from there.

Just when I was about to climb up, some sand fell into my eyes.

What he saw when he looked up was the woman's legs that she had just stepped over.

"Ah ah!"

"If you wait any longer, your wallet will be empty. There are still two bright silver coins left~~"

"and many more!"

After shaking the wooden ladder, it seemed to be quite strong. I climbed to the top of the wooden ladder as fast as I could.

The field of vision became wider. On a hot midsummer night, there were few pedestrians left on the street. Only a few shopkeepers who closed their stalls late were busy with their carts. The patrolling guards held torches and walked to the street. Wherever there is a little light at that point.

But all he could see in front of him was the woman jumping up and down on the top of the building.

"and many more!"

I kept shouting the same words, but Chijiu didn't listen at all. She knelt down and jumped from the eaves of the bakery.

Catch up!My body directed me to catch up with her and take off towards the bright moon. Of course, my body was soon captured by gravity and fell to the roof in front of me.

"Well!"

The ball of my foot received a big impact when I landed, and it hurt a little, but it seemed I could still run.

"When landing, pay attention to your body. Don't use your feet. Use your whole body to bear the force."

Chijiu stopped there, and she would only move forward when she and I came out of the same platform.

The city is spread out in a radial pattern, but she keeps jumping forward. If she goes forward, she will definitely run into the noble area. Even as a newbie, I understand the danger of this.

"Huh...huh..."

After running for a while, I was already out of breath, but on the other hand, Miss Akagi, she was walking on flat ground without any disturbance in her breathing.

She stopped slightly when she saw me reaching the roof, took my wallet in her hand and shook it.

“Next time is all!”

After saying that, Chijiu turned around, took a step forward, and jumped for life, as if performing what she had just taught, rolling and landing as lightly as a cat, landing on the roof of the mansion in front, and then she again He turned around to face me, spread out his hands, opened the mouth of the money bag as if to mock, and showed the few silver coins inside.

I wanted to imitate her movements, but there was not that big a gap between the house where Akaba was standing and the bakery. Even when I was a man, I didn't dare to jump forward like that, let alone what he looked like now.

Looking back now, I only lost a few silver coins and nothing more. But under my feet, I looked at the gravel that fell with my step. It took two or three seconds to fall to the ground and make a sound. What should I do?

Chijiu looked at me, enjoying my anxiety. The silver coins were flying in her hands. With a flick of her slender fingertips, a ray of silver light flew out.

"There's one left."

"..."

Unable to stop the restlessness in my chest, my legs were instinctively driven, speeding up, and jumping into the abyss.

Did I do this just for those few silver coins?

It's not that... I just really want to do it.

Not being able to step on the ground made me a little uneasy. The breeze blew across my body. I felt as light as a bird for a moment, but then I started to fall, falling in a beautiful parabola.

"!"

Too bad, we can’t get there.

The gray wall was at eye level with me. At most, it would only hit the wall and be rubbed off a layer of skin, then fall miserably into the alley and become a pulp.

Although it was short, I almost cried.

However, at the last moment, he stretched out his hands, and with a bang, although he hit the wall, his hands still managed to reach the roof.

Due to the reaction force, I almost missed it, but my desire to survive made me hold on tightly even if I split my nails...

"No, no, no..."

I feel so powerless. I want to fly out like a bird, but why can I only succumb to gravity?

Sophie has said before that humans can't fly, but can't we get closer?

Why does the sky look so far away...

At this time, the sound of footsteps sounded in my ears.

"Do you want to continue what you just said?"

"Wh... what do you say..."

He struggled to climb up, but his strength was not enough. Even his arms were almost broken just to support his weight.

But Chijiu turned a blind eye to this.

She paced back and forth on the roof.

"Some people have come forward, lawbreakers who are willing to go against the nobles."

"A violator of...the law?"

Having said this, Miss Akari's face changed, and her serious look was completely different from before.

"Yes, to put it simply, they are a group of people who steal valuable things from nobles and sell them for money."

“Robbing the rich…giving money to the poor?”

Every word I said was extremely difficult, but this woman still had no intention of helping me.

"Haha, it's not such a noble thing. That group of people exchanged valuable things for money and gradually accumulated wealth and gained control over the city. They thought they could do better than those nobles, but what is the truth? I'm afraid it's not Only Nefera knows."

Her eyes met mine and she knelt down.

Looking at the purple pupils like a cat.

"And Chijiu...Miss, are you one of them?"

"This member is inviting you now."

After saying that, she reached out to me.

It's not a distance that can be touched immediately. It may take some effort to climb up to get it.

"Why... looking for me?"

She rolled her eyes slightly when she heard these words, and then her deep pupils met again.

"Because you have talent, I can see it."

"The talent for stealing...?"

I've never noticed that kind of thing myself.

"Probably, the talent for escaping."