339 – Assassins

I don’t guarantee a 100% perfect translation.

Feel free to correct me in the comments.

Tbh i dont like new, 1 chapter characters, most of the time they have weird to translate names.

Anyway, enjoy.

 

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After Vader took off his jacket full of holes and wore his brand-new uniform, he could feel his body warming up.

The clothes were made of thick leather with a cotton lining, not only were they excellent in retaining heat, but also had the softness of a cotton garment, taking into account only the materials, he was afraid the value of such clothes would be several silver royals.

Although the model is similar to the City Hall uniform, the color is completely different, pure black clothes with a lace white stripe on the shoulders, collar and cuffs, it looked very eye-catching. After the 15 people wearing the new uniform stood in a row side by side, he couldn’t help but to held his chest high.

“Good” Carter had a satisfied smile “Now come with me.”

The snow still fluttered in the sky, this was the first time Vader had seen snow falling in the autumn nonstop. The city of Golden Harvest would occasionally have snowy days, but it was at most 1 or 2 and then it would stop, children would often play with the fresh snow stacking it together in the street or rubbing it into a snowball in order to throw it, therefore, the days of heavy snow were viewed as a holiday in childhood. However, it was a very inconvenient for the grown-ups, the snow would moisten the shoes making them moldy, the streets were filled with snow making them difficult to travel, nobody even cared to open shops to do business and occasionally the snow’s weight crushed the roof of a house.

On these times, the town patrol would decide not to go out and would rather find a tavern, they would all sit around the fireplace, and while drinking warm wine they would flirt with the waitresses.

But all of that, can’t be seen in Border Town.

Every day some people would clean up the streets, sweeping the snow to the sides of the road, this was a long-term recruitment issued by the City Hall, you can work per day or in a monthly basis, and although the earnings are low, it’s a quick and easy way to get money.

There were many townspeople coming and going on the streets, some of them wore a straw hat, others walked with a cloak covering them from the snow, but all of them were busy. If the snow on the streets is removed, then the town liveliness was not all that different from the summer.

If he were not to witness this view, Vader could not have believed that such a small town at the border of the kingdom would seem to be busier that the City of Golden Harvest. If it weren’t for the lack of a church and the missing, tall bell tower, he might have thought he was staying in a big city like the City of Golden Harvest.

Soon, the group arrived at the wharf, the Scarlet Water River had more than 10 ships anchored, and at its shore were hundreds of people gathering, like a sense of déjà vu Vader thought, when he arrived with the other eastern region refugees, it was the very same picture.

“Question! These people are……”

“Refugees from the south and northern lands, the Prince sent for them to come to Border Town, in order for them to survive the winter. Your duties are to assist the City Hall maintaining the order, making the people form a line to go through the inspection checkpoints one by one, then the quarantine and registration.” Carter told them “currently the members of the police are few, so the First Army soldiers will assist you at first, but after that the works need to be done completely by you.”

“Yes!”

It doesn’t sound too difficult, and seems to be not much different from making the refugees queue up to get porridge. As Vader got close he started shouting to get the attention of the nearby people, directing them as they came closer.

“Name? Where do you come from? Can you write and read?”

As each refugee passed the checkpoint, they were inquired by the City Hall personnel, roughly recording their answers. Vader knows these are only the preliminary statistics, and once they settle down there will be further questions and verification, and those who are competent in a specific job will be moved to the inner city, this is a process he has personally experienced once.

Suddenly, coming from behind he heard the sound of tumult, and as Vader turned his head, he saw a man wearing a long robe surrounded by guards, arriving at the wharf area. The long ash-gray hair flustering in the wind showed his real identity as the Feudal Lord, His Royal Highness Roland Wimbledon. Additionally, standing at his side was a splendidly dressed person, he should be the person in charge of the City Hall.

He never thought the Prince will come to personally watch the refugees, among all this wind and snow, which makes Vader feel slightly surprised, in the severe cold season most of the big nobles even struggle to leave their warm beds, especially when they have servants that can cope with most situations.

“I’m called Mane, I come from the north lands, uh… …what I’m good at is farming, no, I can’t read or write.”

“A farmer?” The City Hall official checked the corresponding square in the sheet of paper “ok, next one.”

At this moment, Vader noticed that person took a side glance at the direction the prince was standing, in his eyes was not a look of awe, and was completely different from the eyes of ordinary people.

“Wait” he subconsciously opened his mouth.

 “What is it?”

“Are you a farmer? When are the winter wheat crops ready to harvest?”

The City Hall official also looked at him, with a face full of impatience “For now this is only the initial registration, we have no time to ascertain if the things he’s saying are the truth. Hasn’t Sir Carter clearly explained you the process? Your job is only to help me maintain the order.”

Listening to him the other man immediately closed his mouth.

What an idiot! Vader frowned and paid no attention to the official “Your accent is not like that of a northern resident, it’s a little more like what you’d hear in the central area of the kingdom, from what city did you come from? I’m pretty familiar with the northern cities.”

Mane hesitated for a bit, but still did not answer.

“Also, your clothes, dressing like this in the north, even if you don’t freeze to death, your hands should be frozen since the climate over there is always below freezing point” Vader grabbed his right hand “And where are your gloves? Don’t tell me you find Border Town’s temperature so warm that you had to throw them away.” 

At this point the checkpoint staff also noticed something was wrong, if he was to lie about something, he might as well could make it look like he was good at something in order to get better treatment, but concealing his own origin was a very strange behavior. “Where did you come from?”

Mane clenched his teeth, suddenly pulling a red ball from his bosom and tossing it into his mouth, then yelled “you discovered me!”

Vader suddenly felt the man’s wrist become boiling hot, his body automatically acted to push Mane to the ground, but noticed that even if he used all his strength, the other man was still unmovable. Afterwards Mane raised his hand, throwing Vader into the air.

He fell heavily to the ground, his back aching with burning pain. Damn! The wound opened! he spat to the ground and with his head still dizzy, he crawled while trying to stand up, but Mane was no longer there.

Among the crowd of refugees around 45 people jump out, with movements as agile as those belonging to the demonic beasts outside the wall, and started running across the temporary checkpoints, going straight to the building housing the Prince.

The goal of this group of people is obvious, they came to attack Border Town high level officials and its Feudal Lord.

Thinking of the sudden monster strength displayed by Mane, Vader can almost imagine a scene of the Prince’s guards being torn to shreds, and even if he is the Prince, it might prove difficult to escape from such situation.

However, none of that happened.

He soon heard the sound of a series of blasts, just like when the soldiers are resisting the demonic beasts at the wall, and the same scene unfolded.

In front of the Prince, white smoke started to raise up.

The head of Mane turns into a bloody mess, he and the rest of assailants all fall to the ground among the smoke.

 

 

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