Duke Pendragon

Jingle!

“So I was saying…”

“Puha! Another ale over here!”

The bell rang clearly as the door opened, but few people in such a large city cared about others, even if it was a pub located in the back alley.

“What can I get you?”

“Vodka. Make it a double shot.”

Instead of going to the bar, Isla settled down at a dusty, old table in the corner. After ordering a drink from a hostess dressed in a cheap dress that clearly revealed her cleavage, Isla observed his surroundings.

Almost all of the guests were men, and they were armed.

Edenfield strictly forbade people from bringing in weapons, but territorial knights or those with mercenary identification tokens were allowed to possess weapons. In other words, this was not a bar for ordinary people, but for people with special occupations.

Thud.

“Here you are. Hmm?”

A glimmer appeared in the hostess’ eyes as she placed a glass containing transparent liquid on the table. Although he was still adorning a hood, Isla\'s face had been revealed briefly in the dim light.

“I don’t recall seeing you here before. Where are you from? Ah, do you want to buy me a drink? Ale will be fine.”

The hostess flirted blatantly after seeing his handsome face. She pulled up a chair next to him with a curious expression. The smell of alcohol mixed with the scent of cheap perfume, but Isla nodded without frowning.

“Sure.”

“Hoho! You are quite the feisty one.”

She quickly brought herself a glass of vodka, then whispered after inching closer to Isla.

“By the way, you really are quite handsome. Mercenary? Or a free knight?”

“I am wandering from place to place. The land where I was residing met an unfortunate end.”

“Ahh, so you are a former territorial knight looking for a job?”

“You could say that. All the money I saved up is running out as well.”

Isla smiled after raising his glass. Isla was considered handsome and manly even among the Valvas Cavaliers. His smile multiplicated his attractiveness, and the eyes of the hostess turned slightly hazy. It helped that she had been drinking from earlier on as well.

“Oh my! Even though your pockets are running empty, you are willing to buy me a drink?”

“Naturally. For a woman as attractive as you, even my last coin will be worth it.”

“Oh my…”

Burly, rough men were the most frequent visitors of the pub. After working for many years at such an establishment, the sweet words of a man as handsome as Isla were enough to arouse the forgotten emotions of the hostess.

“Hoho! You’re not just a handsome face either. You got a way with words.”

After taking a couple more sips of alcohol, it wasn’t long before she leaned against Isla and whispered.

“I got more than just words. I use these pretty good as well. Especially… this one. Of course, there’s no use for it here.”

He could feel her breath giving off a disgusting stench of alcohol and snacks, but he maintained a smile while tapping on his sword and dagger.

“Hooh…”

Her face was flushed red, and her eyes glimmered for a moment. The longsword represented a type of work that all mercenaries undertook, but the dagger represented something special.

It represented commissioned assassinations.

“You said you were here to find a job, right?”

“Hmm? Why? Do you have something nice for me?”

“A few. Small but stable work to earn. And…”

After glancing around, she reduced her voice to a mere wisp of a whisper.

“Some things that can score you big.”

“Hooh…”

“But most of them tend to be trickier, so your skills need to be guaranteed…”

“I think we can find out right now.”

“What?”

The hostess became wide-eyed, not understanding the meaning of his words. Then, a rough voice was heard from behind her.

“Hey! Mina! How many times have I called you already? Are you ignoring me? Since your man is here, you should scurry along and say hello…”

A large mercenary wadded towards Isla and the hostess along with two colleagues. He spoke violently before reaching out to grab the shoulder of the hostess.

Thud.

Isla used his hand to slap away the large, dirty hand of the mercenary.

“Huh? Ha! What’s wrong with this bastard? Are you itching to bury your bones?”

The mercenary’s face, which was already a shade of red, brightened up even more.

“Mild! What are you doing?”

The mercenary’s face distorted even further at the fierce voice of the hostess.

“You shut up! I knew not to expect anything from a prostitute, jumping from man to man in the blink of an eye, just like a little bat. You are nothing more than a dirty whore, a rag!”

“What…?”

The hostess trembled after hearing the mercenary’s harsh words. Even though she worked in a pub while wearing such clothes, she wasn’t a woman who carelessly sold her body.

In addition, she had maintained an amicable relationship with the mercenary in front of her because he seemed like a decent person.

But to think he would say such things…

“Looking at your face or your mouth, it seems like you are the rag.”

“What!?”

The mercenary turned his head with a shout in response to the quiet voice. His colleagues also joined him in glaring fiercely at the one responsible for speaking such words.

Shhk.

Isla slowly stood up.

“Huh…”

The three mercenaries were taken aback. The man was a little taller than they expected.

Isla took off his hood and spoke while staring at the three.

“I have never seen a proper human being who would speak such vulgar words to a lady. Both in terms of this, and that.”

After tapping on his sword, Isla pointed towards the mercenary’s groin. The face of the big mercenary turned purple at Isla’s mocking remarks.

“Ugh! You bastard!”

Fwoosh!

He swung his fist out of the blue. However, the second-rate mercenary was drunk and clumsy. The attack hit nothing but thin air.

“You…!”

The mercenary gritted his teeth after missing, then tried to swing once more, but Isla’s firm fist struck against his chin.

Thuck!

“Keugh!”

His body rose into the air before pounding on the floor.

“You little bastard!”

“Die!”

The two remaining mercenaries rushed towards Isla as well. The use of weapons was strictly prohibited in the pub, so they punched instead.

Their attacks were quite sharp.

Shiiing! Shishing !

But even without arousing his spirit, Isla was much faster than them.

“Keugh!”

After dodging their attacks with ease, he threw a light jab and hit one of the mercenaries on the Adam’s apple, before turning around and striking the chin of the other with his elbow.

Thuck!

The last mercenary fell on the floor with several broken teeth. Blood dripped from his mouth.

“Uhahaha! You idiots!”

“Don’t go around calling yourselves mercenaries with such pathetic skills!”

Fights like these were common occurrences in the pub. The rest of the guests laughed and jeered at the three mercenaries.

“What do you think? If it was with my dagger rather than my fists…”

“I’ve fallen for you!”

Isla was unable to finish his words as the hostess suddenly rushed into his embrace.

“You’re handsome and talented. What are you really?”

“Just a former knight looking for a job.”

“Hoho! Good. In that sense, I’ll let you in on something good.”

After lightly munching on Isla’s earlobe, the hostess whispered softly.

*** 

Knock! Knock, knock! Knock, knock! Knock!

Isla knocked on the old door exactly the way the hostess described to him.

Tap. Tap.

‘Three. One of them knows how to use the spirit.’

Isla was able to detect the figures residing behind the door.

Creak.

Soon, the tightly closed door slowly opened.

“What is it?”

A man asked after opening the door, slowly looking over Isla’s figure. The man’s large, chest muscles were visible inside his ragged shirt.

“Mina from the Red Horse Bar gave me an introduction.”

“Hmm…”

The man’s glare turned sharper, but he soon nodded.

“Come on in.”

He saw two more figures once he stepped inside. One was a young man with a cold impression, and the other was a man with a full beard. It was hard to gauge the age of the second figure.

“If you were introduced by the Red Horse Bar, you should already know what this place is… What rank are you?”

Rank referred to the tier of the mercenary engraved on their identification token. Although they could simply ask for the token, most mercenaries who came to this place were far from normal. Therefore, they could find an appropriate job befitting the mercenary’s rank after hearing an answer.

“Probably about silver.”

“Hooh?’

The burly man took on a surprised expression. Of course, the man might be lying, but there was no reason to lie while risking their lives. The difficulty of the requests varied depending on the ranks, and the compensation would be given after the completion of the requests.

“Silver… do we have anything suitable?”

The burly man turned his head towards the young man.

“Not right now. Well, we should have one in a few days.”

“You heard him. Come back in a couple of days.”

“Hmm.”

Isla nodded, then spoke while looking around the establishment.

“By the way, which branch is this?”

“Hey, even if you are silver, your curiosity might cost you your head.”

The burly man’s eyes suddenly turned cold.

“Well, I was only wondering because, as far as I know, places that take these types of requests are extremely rare. For example, in a place like this, I might find…”

The three people’s expressions turned sharp as Isla continued. Isla gazed at them for a moment, then slowly opened his lips.

“Members of the Grey Desperados.”

Whoosh!

A dagger sliced through the air. Isla dodged the projectile with a slight tilt of his head, then kicked back without looking.

Thud!

“Keugh!”

The bearded man was forced onto knees after being struck on the thigh. He had been aiming for Isla’s back.

Shooosh!

Three daggers left Isla’s hands and left behind trails of light.

Chaechaeng! Thuck!

“Arggh!”

The young man managed to deflect two of the daggers but failed to stop the last one. He collapsed on the floor with a dagger stuck in his side. Simultaneously, Isla rotated his body and struck the bearded man’s head with his foot.

Thuck!

The bearded man rolled on the floor several times before coming to a stop. He didn’t even have a chance to scream before he was knocked cold.

Shhk.

After taking care of two people in an instant, Isla turned to the burly man with a cold gaze.

“Do you want to continue?”

“…..”

The man quickly shook his head while looking at the longsword on which Isla’s right hand was placed.

“P, please believe me! I swear on it! In the past few months, we did not have any first-rate, or rather, any requests above the High Lord level!”

“And how do you know all the commissions made to the organization?”

“I, important figures are always shared unconditionally in case targets of assassinations overlap. It would be troublesome for us if that happened.”

“Hmm…”

Isla frowned while looking down at the burly man, who was on his knees. Although he wasn’t knowledgeable about all of the existing assassination groups, Isla only knew of one group who would accept a commission to kidnap a direct line of the Pendragon royal family.

It was the Grey Desperados, a group of assassins with roots in the South.

“I am telling you the truth. We are not responsible for it. I do not know where your esteemed self is from, but…

In the midst of saying so, the man covertly studied Isla. Although the unknown man didn’t give the exact details, for such a skilled person to barge into a branch meant that an extraordinary force was involved. As such, there was a possibility of inferring his identity by his appearance or clothes…

“Your curiosity might cost you your head. Isn’t that what you said before?”

“Uah! I, I apologize.”

The man quickly lowered his head and cowered. Isla’s cold, sharp eyes were surely capable of killing a man. One of the things he learned while working in this line of business was that sometimes, it was better not to know.

“Good. Then I will ask you something else. Are there any other assassination groups located…”

Tap, tap!

“…..!”

Isla quickly jerked around after hearing the sound of urgent footsteps. However, the figure had already exited the first floor of the building.

“E, excuse me…?”

Isla ignored the man’s words and crouched after jumping forward.

Clatter!

The window broke into a million pieces, and he fell straight down.

Thud.

He spun twice in the air, then landed on the floor on one knee. After spotting a dark shadow disappearing into the dark alley, Isla began to run.