Black Sail
Chapter 415: L. Nightmare

Chapter 415: L. Nightmare

An hour later.

During this time, several call girls had come knocking, of varying quality, with even one aging former soldier among them - damn, just barely younger than Marcus.

All were turned away by Liszt - not because he couldn’t afford a prostitute, but because sexually transmitted infections weren’t worth it.

Without rubber products to be found here, it made Liszt extremely anxious, otherwise, he would have liked to experience the local customs and hospitality of Aran.

Galen, who had gone out to attend to some affairs, had returned and came to Liszt’s room.

"How did it go?"

Liszt, noticing something off about Galen’s expression, couldn’t believe it would be a problem, just sending out a couple of tasks through the guild.

"One Gold Dragon as a reward, I’ve had someone inquire about the Mika Brookner situation, and the task has been dispatched. But the letter to Mulong Duchy..."

Galen recalled the words of the clerk at the guild’s front desk and repeated them, "Because of the Continent Transportation Law, correspondence between contracted nations must go through official postal service; the adventurer’s guild cannot handle it."

Liszt let out a sigh of relief, thinking it was Mika’s affair; turns out it was just about delivering a letter, what a pain the Continent Transportation Law was.

But where there’s a policy, there’s almost always a way around it.

"It just means the platform doesn’t want trouble; there are plenty who’d like to take this job."

After thinking it over for a moment, Liszt remembered that he had approached the guild in hopes of hiring someone reliable with a high bounty, as the Mulong Duchy was in chaos. If he sent someone like Galen, it was quite likely they’d end up chopped up by bandits on the way.

"Do this, go hang around outside the guild. I know Heroic Level adventurers are hard to find, but if you can, hire one at that level. If not, then at least a Gold Level one, but it has to be an adventure group of more than ten people, got it? Say it’s top secret, for a core member of Black Sail, a three Gold Dragon down payment for travel expenses, and a reward of fifty Gold Dragons upon delivery, no..."

Liszt pondered for a while, as the matter was of great importance, "A reward of three hundred Gold Dragons upon delivery."

Galen would usually only boast such figures when bluffing.

"I’ll get right on it and be discreet."

Galen was keenly aware that his whole fortune in life hinged on the man before him, and if he lacked cunning, he’d need to develop some quickly.

Finally, before one o’clock in the morning.

Having handled the matter, an Honorable-level Adventure Group took up the contract.

Galen, a shrewd man, acted as the intermediary without revealing any information about Liszt, only the target. Knowing full well that if these folks decided to betray Liszt, considering his influence back in Aran, he would be worth more than three hundred Gold Dragons.

Just to deliver a letter for three hundred Gold Dragons, a smart person would know how to choose, and as Black Sail was the current de facto ruler of the East Sea, they could surely afford it.

They rested for the night in the inn.

The next day.

May 11th, noon.

Ever since arriving in Aran, Liszt had not had a good night’s sleep. He slept in till noon, just waking up, his consciousness still foggy, feeling a certain warmth on his face, as if the scar that crossed his ears was oozing blood, as though there was some ethereal connection.

He suddenly sat up, fearfully scanning his surroundings.

Only Galen was in the room.

Under his organization, the once ragtag Wind Radiance Adventure Team had finally started to shape up, with people keeping watch in shifts.

Galen had been awake for a while, not wanting to disturb Liszt’s rest. He could tell that the Boss of the East Sea was always in a state of high tension, even his sleep was restless.

That’s the difference between ordinary people and desperados; ordinary people need better sleep, while desperados enjoy being awake more.

Liszt touched his face; there was no blood.

In a daze, he remembered the Executioner with an odd stature, his torso and limbs segmented like a stick insect, a specter-like figure.

His identity was beyond conjecture, yet he had once done the bidding of a Mysterious Wizard.

All of a sudden, Liszt felt rather bewildered.

Aran Imperial City, that mysterious wizard was a court wizard of Aran, also within the Imperial City, which also meant, had Sharon actually been right under his nose the whole time?

There were some things Liszt dared not think about too deeply. The strength of that wizard was not on the same dimension as other wizards of this world. It could even touch upon other planes of existence.

And other wizards, no matter how powerful their magic, still feared the kitchen knife. Even after so many years, the most powerful wizards Liszt had encountered were few and far between—Mo’er and Fen were already top-tier, aside from the eleven Tower Masters of the Tower Alliance.

But put a knife against General Fen’s head, stab it in, and General Fen would be dead.

That wizard, on the other hand, was hard to describe, more like an irresistible force.

"Time for lunch?"

Galen asked, right on mealtime.

Liszt sat on the bed for a while, smacking his head and dribbling with one hand, before he felt somewhat energetic again.

"Any news on the Mika Brookner investigation?"

Liszt asked.

"It’s only been a day."

Galen thought Liszt was being a bit too anxious.

Liszt nodded and prepared to take Galen’s little brother out for a midday meal.

Rumors spread fast.

The Cross Alliance was a Neutral Country. Below it, Forgotten Port was also a neutral area, and most importantly, it was located in the Narrow Sea.

And the Aran city closest in a straight line to Forgotten Port was, indeed... Chenxi Port.

As they were going downstairs.

Galen’s little brothers began to chitchat about the current hot topic, the Continent Martial Arts Competition.

"Did you hear about it? A guy with golden eyes and a... guy wearing a mask went crazy killing people in yesterday’s preliminary match."

"I heard, too. The guy with the axe chopped people’s heads off and they didn’t know they were dead, they kept walking and swinging their swords for seven or eight seconds before falling down."

"Seriously? That’s insane."

"No surprise. Every year there are some flashy competitors, but when it gets to the Imperial City finals, that’s when the immortals fight. The ones who win the championship aren’t human anymore."

"No, these two guys are different. The Continent Martial Arts Competition cares about face, letting people with odd appearances compete doesn’t look good. They say that the guy wearing the black cloth hood used to be an Executioner, an inauspicious profession, everyone hates them. Usually, they’re set up against competitors who can kill you with one strike, to make sure they’re eliminated early. Even so, the weirdo slaughtered them all, not leaving a single survivor."

"Damn cool. I heard the guy looked like a stick insect, freaking scary."

Galen’s group of little brothers chatted about the Continent Martial Arts Competition.

At first, Liszt didn’t care much about what he heard, but then he listened more intently and his expression grew increasingly solemn.

Galen didn’t understand what had happened. Suddenly, Liszt seemed to morph into a different person, his demeanor becoming extremely cold and brutal, with a chill reflected in his eyes.

All ten fingers were faintly twitching.

He never imagined that the terrible nightmare that had haunted him for seven—no, eight years now...

didn’t require him to cast a wide net in search, didn’t require any effort at all; it appeared naturally, as if by fate.

"Skip lunch. Take me to the preliminaries immediately."

Liszt’s tone was icy.

Galen looked incredulous. The site was crowded and chaotic—how could someone with Liszt’s sensitive identity go there?

"You want to go see... the Continent Martial Arts Competition?"

"That’s right, immediately."