Chapter 109 - Conflict and Indifference

Pandora's three punches came down, vibrating the wall three times, and leaving the surface plastered with numerous cracks as the wall skin peeled off with a rustling sound.Richard figured the condition of the walls in the next room must be pretty similar, and if the neighbors weren't stupid, they should have stopped making noise by now.

However, within a few seconds, Richard realized he was mistaken; the person in the next room was clearly not normal, either mentally deranged or drunk out of their mind.

Despite Pandora's very persuasive wall-pounding warning, there was silence for less than ten seconds, then the noise started up again, this time with swearing close to the wall. The wall muffled the words, and the person's slurred speech made it hard to discern exactly what was being said, but the tone was enough to tell they weren't compliments.

Pandora's eyes widened in disbelief, and Richard remained expressionless.

Pandora, no longer holding back, slammed her fist against the wall once more.

With a crash, the punch went right through the wall, striking the person in the next room who was close to the wall.

A painful yelp sounded as someone in the next room collapsed to the floor. That was followed quickly by the noises of struggling to get up, and then the steps of someone rushing out the door.

"Tap, tap, tap..."

"Thud, thud, thud!"

The door was banged open abruptly, and Richard heard someone slurring outside, shouting, "What the... who the hell are you, come out here!"

"Yeah, you... come out here!"

"How dare you... hit my brother!"

"How dare you... hit me!"

"I won't... let you off!"

"No... I won't let you off!"

Pandora was taken aback now, her eyes wide, astonished at the courage of the neighbors, who were more formidable than the wildest boar in the forest.

Richard just shook his head, knowing for sure they were completely drunk. In such a state, nothing they did would surprise him. As for their behavior, whether or not they got a lesson was pointless, since they weren't fully capable of rational action. Richard wanted to ignore the whole thing, but the constant banging on the door and the relentless shouting finally made him step out.

With a creak, he opened the door and saw two burly men of similar appearance, in their twenties, with flushed faces and swaying, barely able to stand, yet they still looked fierce and were aggressive in their tone.

"Hey kid, what are you... doing hitting my brother, you've swollen up his eye!" one of them yelled.

Richard looked at the other, whose eye socket was badly swollen. If it hadn't been for Pandora's punch being weakened by the wall, it wasn't just a swollen eye he'd be dealing with; it could have been a burst head.

The man who was hit didn't have the sense to feel lucky to be alive. He just ranted, "Yeah, my brother's right... you dared to hit me, and you even made my eye swell up. Well... I won't let it go. You have to pay us!"

"Slap!" The older brother slapped the younger one on the head, chiding half out of frustration, "Why care about money! If you... give us money, won't we just go buy more booze?" With effort, he tried to clarify, "Just get him... to give us some liquor instead; we want the best, and we'll drink our fill!"

"No... that's not right," the younger brother countered. "We can't just drink; we... also need to eat bread. So, we still need money."

"Fart! With booze, why... do we need bread? I don't want to gnaw on that hard, sour black bread; I just want to drink!"

The two brothers immediately started arguing over the compensation, creating an unbearable racket, and didn't give a second thought to how Richard, the "compensator," felt about it.

Richard couldn't help but shake his head, thinking perhaps it would be better to call the innkeeper to handle the situation, or maybe it would be simpler to knock the two men out and dump them back in their room. Just then, footsteps came from the direction of the stairs.

Richard turned to look and saw the mercenaries Danis and Uncle Mura coming up.

As their eyes met, Danis stopped dead in her tracks, with a look of great surprise and a complex gaze fixed on the scene.

Uncle Mura looked towards the arguing Mike brothers, taking steps to approach. After a couple of steps, he realized Danis wasn't following and turned back to see her expression, then turned to Richard, puzzled.

His eyes twinkling, Uncle Mura caught on to something and took another glance at the Mike brothers. Instead of approaching, he stayed put, cautiously watching the situation unfold. He didn't think the Mike brothers would cause any trouble for him, but he had to be sure they hadn't already stirred up trouble he would then inherit, not wanting to walk into a mess.

By then, the Mike brothers had noticed the appearance of Danis and Uncle Mura. Realizing they had an "audience," they decided not to argue in front of others, making a joint decision to combine both demands: they wanted both liquor and money.

"You're going to give us lots and lots of booze," the older of the Mike brothers shouted at Richard.

"And lots and lots of money," the younger of the Mike brothers shouted at Richard.

"If you dare not give them to us, we'll beat you up real bad," they said in unison.

Richard squinted his eyes, but the next moment, he turned his head to look inside the room, or more accurately, through the window of the room at the street outside.

"Uh?" The Mike brothers were confused, and so were Danis and Mura, not knowing what Richard was up to.

In the next moment, the sound of a large group of people approaching became clear in the street outside.

"Clip-clop, clip-clop, clip-clop..."

The sounds of horses' hooves, footsteps, and shouting...

"This is the place, be careful, Your Highness..."

"Stand aside if it's none of your business, the Prince has matters to attend to, no one should come close..."

"Innkeeper, tell me, did someone ask you to send a message just now..."

"Which room is he on the second floor..."

"Good..."

"Clip-clop, clip-clop, clip-clop..."

Many footsteps arose from the stairs. Danis and Mura looked back and saw twenty or thirty fully armed soldiers rushing up. They quickly moved to the side, pressing against the wall to make way.

The soldiers rushing up didn't pay any attention to the two of them, moving forward swiftly and vigilantly checking the rooms on both sides of the hallway, to prevent any unfortunate soul from bursting out and causing harm to the Prince following behind.

"Clip-clop."

Prince Gro was the last to walk up the stairs. He immediately saw Richard and quickly spoke: "Lord Richard, you... you really came."

"Uh," Richard replied indifferently, slightly surprised by Gro's hasty arrival but it wasn't out of the expected range.

"Clip-clop, clip-clop," Gro approached quickly.

Many soldiers, acting as Guards for Gro, surged towards Richard's vicinity, then shoved the intoxicated Mike brothers aside.

The Mike brothers were angry. Facing the many soldiers, they yelled out, "What are you doing! Looking for trouble? Do you want a beating? We still need to be compensated by that kid for our money and booze, you guys... you guys move aside!"

All the soldiers were momentarily stunned, somewhat shocked by the brothers' audacity. Before Gro could express any displeasure, a soldier, acting instinctively, slapped one of the brothers across the face, knocking them both to the ground with a swift, clean hit. After a flurry of punches and kicks, they dragged the brothers into a nearby room for a more thorough beating.

Prince Gro looked at the two brothers with some curiosity, then turned to Richard and asked, "Those two..."

"Uh, it's nothing, I don't know them. Just let your soldiers handle it; let's go inside the room and talk," Richard said.

"Uh, okay," Gro, after hearing what Richard had said, didn't pursue the matter and followed Richard into the room.

At the stairwell, Danis and Mura, who had pressed themselves against the wall, exchanged a look.

Danis asked, "Uncle Mura, are you sure you still want to recruit the Mike brothers for the team?"

"Uh, about that... let me think a bit more," Mura said aloud but decisively headed downstairs, "It's true that the Mike brothers would be suitable, but they've just crossed someone who is clearly no ordinary person. Maybe that person doesn't care, but being connected with the Prince of Cuijin City and even referred to as 'Your Lordship,' if one day they take a dislike to the Mike brothers and want to deal with them, dragging us into it wouldn't be good.

In that case, it might be better to look for someone else. The limper should have some other mercenary information; follow me to ask around some more."

"Uh, okay..."