Chapter 285: Discovering the Mercenary’s Assassination.

"BOOM!"

"AAAAAH!"

"HELP! SOMEBODY HELP MEEEE!"

A sudden explosion shattered the silence of the forest, followed by agonized human screams.

At the campsite, the members of the Light Squad were eating and chatting when the commotion made them all freeze.

"What's going on?"

"Someone's calling for help."

"There's fire in the woods over there."

"I'm sensing fire magic."

"There's a fight going on about a hundred meters away. Could some other adventurers have run into a magical beast?"

Shu Li stood and peered into the distance, puzzled.

Ace had mentioned wild animals nearby earlier, but Shu Li hadn't thought much of it. Now that he considered it, they were probably magical beasts.

Someone must have had the misfortune of being attacked.

"AAAAAH! MERCY! HAVE MERCY!"

Accompanied by another bloodcurdling scream, something heavy came hurtling through the air and crashed near their campsite.

"THUD!"

When the dust settled, a battered figure lay in front of the campfire.

His clothes were riddled with holes burned through the fabric, his hair was charred black and still smoking, and his face was swollen and bruised beyond recognition. His limbs lay twisted at unnatural angles. If not for the faint, agonized groans escaping his mouth, he could easily have been mistaken for a corpse.

"Whoa! Who's this?" Budno exclaimed. He approached, picked up a branch, and prodded the stranger.

"He's human," Amanda observed, studying him carefully.

"Not just human. A human male," Kumandi said solemnly. "Judging by his clothes and equipment, he's probably a mercenary."

"A mercenary?" Seriu considered this. "Mercenaries almost always operate in groups. They rarely work alone. His companions must be somewhere nearby."

Though judging by the commotion earlier, those companions had probably met a grim fate.

"Do mercenary groups travel to the Snow Kingdom too?" Angel asked.

"He was attacked with high-level fire magic." Ace glanced up and pointed toward a tiny red speck approaching from the distance. "Falm is back."

Everyone followed his gaze.

Falm was flying toward them enthusiastically, his batlike wings beating as brilliant flames enveloped his little body. As he neared the campsite, he swooped down and circled above the mercenary's head.

"Heh-heh! This guy's still breathing! Hurry up and interrogate him!"

Shu Li stared at him in surprise. "You caused that explosion just now?"

Falm extinguished the flames around his body and landed on a rock beside the campfire. Folding his wings, he waved his short, chubby claws.

"That's right! I was coming back from the Magical Beast Forest when I spotted this guy and his companions sneaking around in the bushes. So I perched on a branch to watch them. And guess what I discovered?"

"Stop keeping us in suspense!" Dixio demanded impatiently.

Delighted by Dixio's reaction, Falm puffed himself up with pride.

"Someone hired a mercenary group to assassinate Hector and the rest of you!"

"What?!" Hector nearly jumped out of his skin.

The others looked equally incredulous.

Why would anyone hire mercenaries to assassinate them out of nowhere?

Wait a minute—

They had made an enemy earlier that day in Puwa Town.

Shu Li frowned as realization struck.

"It was that disgusting fat bastard!"

"Barat? He's got some nerve, hiring mercenaries to murder us!" Siti exclaimed in disbelief.

Nasha gave a cold laugh. "We never should've let him go!"

People that wicked deserved to go straight to hell.

Hector remained silent, regret flickering through his silver-gray eyes.

Amanda scratched the back of his head, confused. "But why would he do that?"

"Because Hector threatened his interests," Ace replied.

Seriu's expression hardened. "He's afraid Hector will expose his crimes. His master would punish him, strip him of his position as steward, and leave him with nothing."

Halis sighed. "Money and power have completely corrupted his soul. He lost his humanity long ago."

Expressionless, Hector crouched beside the mercenary, drew a dagger, and pressed its blade against the man's throat.

"If you're not dead, open your eyes. Otherwise, I'll make sure you become a real corpse."

The mercenary commander, who had been pretending to be unconscious, hurriedly opened his eyes.

"D-don't... Please don't kill me..." he begged weakly.

"I ask a question, you answer it," Hector said sharply. "If you dare lie to me, I'll send you straight to hell."

The commander went pale with terror.

"Y-young master, please don't kill me! Ask whatever you want! Anything I know, I'll tell you everything!"

Losing his precious life over a thousand gold coins simply wasn't worth it.

Damn that Barat!

Hadn't the bastard said their targets were a bunch of useless Mage Apprentices? Then where the hell had this terrifying little beast come from?

The tiny creature had opened its mouth and breathed a single burst of fire. The air had exploded instantly, killing all nine of his subordinates on the spot.

As a Senior Great Swordsman, he'd been utterly powerless to resist. The flames had burned him within an inch of his life.

And despite its tiny size, the little beast possessed astonishing strength. It had seized him by the collar with one chubby claw, carried him into the air, and tossed him more than a hundred meters with barely any effort, sending him crashing down in front of the campfire.

The mercenary commander had lived for over forty years and encountered countless magical beasts, but never one as incomprehensible as this little creature.

It was even more terrifying than the ninth-rank magical beast he'd once encountered!

With decades of experience behind him, the commander understood perfectly well how vast the difference in their strength was.

If he wanted to survive, he had to tell the truth.

His eagerness to cooperate saved Hector the trouble of making further threats.

Although Hector had already guessed that Barat was the employer, he still needed to hear the mercenary confirm it himself.

"Hector, here. Take this."

Shu Li reached into his storage pouch, pulled out a fist-sized crystal, and tossed it over.

Hector caught it. "What's this?"

Shu Li grinned. "A little invention of mine. I call it a Recording Stone."

"A Recording Stone?"

Everyone's curiosity was immediately piqued.

"That's right," Shu Li explained. "You just channel a little magic into it to activate the magical formations embedded inside the stone, and it'll start recording."

As someone who had transmigrated from another world, Shu Li naturally possessed a bit of an inventor's spirit. Given the limited resources available in this world, he couldn't resist trying to recreate modern technology.

There were the wind chimes he'd made earlier, which functioned like telephones, and now there was this Recording Stone.

As his knowledge of magic expanded, he'd begun conducting increasingly ambitious research. After examining more than a hundred varieties of crystalline minerals, he'd finally identified one capable of supporting multiple magical formations.

He then inscribed a series of complex formations into the crystal, linking them together to create a device capable of recording and replaying images.

It had taken an entire year and more than two hundred failed attempts before he'd finally produced a working prototype.

Once Hector understood what the Recording Stone could do, he hesitated.

"I... I can't use this."

Something so precious would be wasted on him.

"Are you kidding? This is the perfect opportunity to use it!" Shu Li declared. "Record the evidence that Barat hired assassins, then send it to your third uncle. I guarantee that once he sees it, Barat will be lucky to escape with his skin intact!"

Hector tightened his grip on the Recording Stone.

"Thank you," he said gratefully.

He channeled magic into it, and layer after layer of intricate magical formations appeared across its surface. Formations of different colors intertwined, producing a dazzling display of light.

"There's a time limit, so hurry up and question him," Shu Li reminded him.

This was only his first successful prototype, and it still had plenty of flaws. Once he had more time, he'd continue researching ways to improve its functions and extend the recording duration.

"Right!"

Hector's expression turned serious as he began interrogating the mercenary commander.

The man cooperated completely, answering every question without hesitation. He gave a detailed account of how Barat had paid him to assassinate Hector and his friends, leaving nothing out.

By the time the interrogation ended, the commander was barely clinging to life.

"Y-young master..." he pleaded pitifully. "Could you... could you spare me? I think... I think I might still be saved..."

Hector put away the Recording Stone.

His gaze turned icy.

Without the slightest warning, he thrust his dagger forward.

One clean strike ended the mercenary commander's life before he could feel any further pain.

Hector withdrew the blade, plucked a handful of grass, and slowly wiped the blood from its edge.

Seriu patted him gently on the shoulder.

"You did the right thing," he murmured.

Mercenaries willing to accept assassination contracts were invariably hardened criminals with blood on their hands. Spare one today, and he might come back to kill you tomorrow.

To eliminate the threat once and for all, sometimes you had to be ruthless enough to take a life.

Hector nodded silently.

He removed the commander's storage ring and searched through its contents, eventually discovering the assassination contract issued by Barat.

With both the written contract and the Recording Stone, the evidence was irrefutable. No amount of arguing would save Barat now.

"Is there any way to get these things to my third uncle quickly?" Hector asked.

They needed to strike while the iron was hot. Ideally, Barat should be dealt with within a week, before he had time to cause any more trouble.

Unfortunately, Hector was supposed to accompany his teammates to the Snow Kingdom. He wouldn't be able to return to Snowvo Castle anytime soon.

The others exchanged uncertain glances.

Sending letters through magic required the recipient's receiving coordinates. Without those coordinates, magical correspondence was impossible.

Hector and his third uncle clearly hadn't established the necessary coordinates for exchanging letters, so that option was out.

Besides, the Recording Stone and contract would have to be sent as a parcel, which came with even more restrictions.

After discussing the problem, everyone shook their heads helplessly.

"That won't work, and neither will anything else. How about—" Dixio steeled himself. "Why don't we just go back to Puwa Town and kill that fat bastard ourselves?"

"That would be unwise," Halis said, gently but firmly rejecting the suggestion. "Barat is Hector's third uncle's subordinate. His uncle has the authority to execute him, but Hector cannot take matters into his own hands. Doing so would create unnecessary conflict and damage Hector's future prospects within his family."

Halis was older than the others and had once served as a royal mage. He understood the complicated politics of noble families extremely well.

Even though Barat was clearly in the wrong, Hector killing him without so much as informing his third uncle would be tantamount to slapping the man across the face.

His uncle would lose face and inevitably come to resent Hector.

When Hector eventually returned to the Snowvo family, his third uncle would undoubtedly find ways to obstruct him and sabotage his endeavors.

But if Hector presented the evidence to his uncle instead, everything would be different.

With the facts laid out clearly and the accusations supported by proof, his uncle would learn that his nephew had suffered an injustice. Feeling guilty about what had happened, he would naturally hold Barat accountable.

"Ohhh! So that's how it works!"

After listening to Halis's explanation, the innocent young men and women finally understood.

The little Fairies and the young dragon couldn't help marveling at how complicated humans were.

Hector looked troubled.

"Does that mean... we can only send the evidence to my third uncle after we finish our adventure?"

Every additional day Barat remained alive meant another day of suffering for the people of Puwa Town.

A faint smile curved Ace's lips.

"Actually, I have an idea."

"What idea?" Shu Li asked eagerly, grabbing a handful of Ace's cloak.

Ace gazed at the young man's delicate features and answered gently.

"We already have a perfectly good messenger right here."

"A messenger?"

Shu Li blinked.

Then inspiration struck.

He turned toward the little beast dozing beside the campfire.

Falm suddenly felt a chill run down his spine.

His drowsiness vanished instantly.

Shu Li reached out, caught him by one wing, and lifted him off the ground. A broad grin spread across his face, revealing a row of gleaming white teeth.

"Falm, you can fly, right?"

Falm shivered for no apparent reason.

"Well, yeah. Of course I can fly."

"And you're really fast, aren't you?" Shu Li continued.

Falm proudly puffed out his chest and raised his head.

"Obviously! When I really get going, even a Sekern bird can't catch me!"

"Heh-heh-heh!"

Shu Li laughed mischievously and vigorously rubbed the little magical beast between his hands.

"Then it's settled! You're delivering the parcel!"

Falm froze.

"QUACK?!"