Chapter 105 - Cuijin City

The perspective returned to the inn.On the horizon, the eastern skyline was already showing the first light of the dawn, heralding the arrival of a new day.

Those ready to set off early were packing in their rooms, settling their accounts with the innkeeper, then hastily departing.

Inside one of the rooms, Danis from the Mercenary Team stood ready, fully dressed. And on the bed lay Zack, also from the Mercenary Team, his body wrapped in bandages, only his eyes visible, lifelessly staring at the ceiling.

Danis’s eyes flickered as she spoke, “I am sorry, Zack, Uncle Mura and I are leaving. Your injuries are too severe, so you must stay behind, but I have asked the innkeeper to find someone to take care of you. It’s a very hardworking lad from the inn; he will handle everything for you. As long as you don’t give up hope, you will surely recover quickly, and then you can return to our team and continue earning mercenary fees with me and Uncle Mura.”

Zack remained silent, neither agreeing nor refusing, as if he had no interest in these matters. He continued to gaze at the ceiling, motionless; were it not for the occasional blink, one might have suspected him to be a corpse.

The atmosphere in the room was somewhat oppressive.

Danis bit her lip, unable to resist speaking up again, “I am really… truly sorry.”

“I know you care for me, and it’s because of me that you ended up like this. But… I really can’t stay with you. Goodbye.” Danis stepped forward, hugged Zack’s head, kissed his forehead, and quickly turned to leave the room.

In the room, Zack’s eyes flickered, his lips parted slightly, and in a barely audible whisper, he said, “I… forgive you…”

Danis did not hear this sentence; she had already disappeared outside the door.

“Tap, tap, tap,” Danis walked down the hallway, stopping as she passed by a room, turning her head to glance inside where Cole, in a condition even worse than Zack’s, lay on the bed.

“Tap,” Danis stepped inside. Seeing Danis appear, Cole immediately widened his eyes and shouted, overtaken by excitement, “You… you can’t do this! Danis, listen to me, you can’t leave me in this dirty, stinky inn; they’ll kill me!”

“They won’t, Cole. Uncle Mura is going to pay the innkeeper your share of the earnings for your care. You don’t need to worry about your safety,” Danis said, her tone somewhat harsh.

“No! No!” Cole became even more agitated, “You don’t understand! It’s precisely because they’ve been given money, they will surely kill me to keep it for themselves. I don’t want to die; please, Danis, take me with you, take me with you!”

“Cole, calm down,” Danis said coldly, her face devoid of any emotion, “You should be very clear that with your injuries, it’s impossible for you to leave with me and Uncle Mura. Staying and healing in the inn is your only choice. It’s your own fault for being… so foolish.”

“I…” Cole found himself at a loss for words.

Danis did not want to argue anymore and turned towards the door to leave.

In a somewhat desperate shout, Cole cried, “No! Come back to me, come back! Even if I did something foolish in a moment of confusion, you still can’t leave me here! I want to see Uncle Mura; I want to talk to him! Come back!”

Cole struggled violently, trying to move towards the edge of the bed, and shouted for what seemed like an eternity, with no response. His voice suddenly took on a venomous tone, “Danis, I curse you, I curse that you’ll die a terrible death! It’s all your fault that I ended up like this, otherwise…”

Suddenly, footsteps were heard again outside the door.

“Tap tap tap…”

Cole’s eyes flickered, newfound hope igniting as he ceased cursing and poked his head out to ask, “Danis? Is that you coming back?”

“Tap tap tap,” the footsteps drew nearer, and then a figure about 1.2 meters tall, curiously peeked into the room.

In the next moment, Pandora and Cole locked eyes.

The room fell suddenly silent, and Cole, who was already leaning over the bed’s edge, fell uncontrollably to the ground with a “thump,” crashing down heavily, eliciting an involuntary scream from him.

But Cole wasn’t in the mood to cry out from pain; he just shouted once and then clamped his mouth shut, as a massive wave of fear enveloped him. With eyes wide open, staring at Pandora, Cole’s pupils involuntarily contracted, his body trembled, much like a helpless child cornered by a brute, pleading, “You… you stay back, stay away! I was wrong, I truly was. Please don’t come any closer, I’ll hit myself…”

Pandora, however, paid him no heed, slowly stepping forward to attempt a closer approach, “Big Squirrel?”

Cole screamed in sheer terror, “I… I’m not a squirrel, I really am not, please let me go, I was wrong. Ah, don’t come closer, stay away!”

At this time, another set of footsteps approached from outside in the corridor, and Richard appeared in Cole’s line of sight. Casting a perplexed glance at Pandora, Richard inquired, “What’s going on?”

“Shhh—”

“Let’s go, we’re pressed for time,” said Richard, without further interrogation.

“Oh,” responded Pandora somewhat reluctantly, casting another glance at Cole before turning to leave with Richard.

Cole exhaled deeply, feeling like he had just snatched back his life, then immense pain surged through every part of his body, submerging his senses.

Outside the inn, Richard led Pandora, glancing sideways at Danis and Mura who were about to depart, he said nothing further and turned to walk ahead.

Half a day later.

Richard arrived with Pandora before a majestic city, eyes twinkling slightly as they beheld the Royal Capital of Jade Kingdom named “Cuijin City.”

It was a typical medieval city, with towering walls reaching over ten meters high and a broad moat. In the era of cold weapons, it could serve as a solid fortress, a meat grinder for enemy soldiers, impenetrable even if the enemy threw multiple times their numbers at it.

However, probably due to prolonged peace, the maintenance of the walls was not up to par. Despite their grandeur, they were visibly damaged. Many places were cracked enough for a thumb to pass through, and moss and lichens had overgrown the corners, resembling heaps of vomit.

The moat reeked, even in winter, with the smell of feces and dirty water. No wonder since medieval cities often lacked sufficient drainage systems. Much of the waste and sewage was dumped directly onto the streets or into the moat. Hence, some historians on modern Earth jokingly call medieval cities “built on mounds of dung.”

Yet, this didn’t stop people from yearning for the city. Even now, “Cuijin City,” filthy and chaotic, with sewage running through it, the city’s thriving commerce and the Palace within still drew countless people to it like moths to a flame.

Richard pursed his lips, leading Pandora through the city gate.