Chapter 13: Sudden Attack (Monday, seeking recommendation votes)

  Monday, please vote for recommendation tickets, and the update time will be restored to normal. Monday to Friday: 8:30-9:00 am, 6:30-7:00 pm; weekends: around 12:00 pm, around 6:30 pm.

  Jackson pinched his own chin, revealing an ordinary smile: "Andre, you've been doing well lately. By the way, what were you just saying?"

  Andre smiled and said with a hint of skepticism: "Jackson, big brother, it's just a small matter. I saw a familiar little guy who has been going out of the city every day for the past few days, so it's a bit strange."

  "What does he take out and what does he bring back, have you noticed?" Jackson laughed warmly, but for some reason, Andrei and Marg felt a chill.

  Maggie claims to have one-sixteenth highlander barbarian blood, is a rascal who believes that the fist is only slightly inferior to the truth of God, was asked by Jackson, and immediately found it difficult to answer. Andre, who was slightly more normal, recalled for a moment before hesitantly saying: "It seems like he went out with an old burlap sack, and when he came back, uh, there seemed to be something in the sack. But this season, on the other side of the Beren River, in the Black Forest, is when the mushrooms are most abundant, so maybe he was picking mushrooms?"

  "Does mushroom picking require a young man with great strength? The edge of the Black Forest is not dangerous, little girls and boys are enough." Jackson shook his head.

  Andre plucked up his courage and asked: "But, Brother Jackson, what's so strange about this dirty and poor little brat?"

  Alto has three city gates, and the gate facing the River Belen and the Melze Forest is the busiest. Every day, many merchants, civilians, mercenaries, and adventurers come and go. Andrei and Magg have no energy to pay attention to a poor boy like Lucien.

  Jackson chuckled: "Two days ago, blacksmith Reg came to see me. He bought a piece of decent metal scrap from a young man, which was made of Xeridian copper, the kind that only wealthy and high-ranking people could afford. Although it's the worst quality, it can be used to make a sharper dagger. So he's very curious about the origin of Xeridian copper and wants to try to find out where it comes from."

  "Jackson, big brother, you mean to say that Serk is the one Lucien sold to Reg?" Maggie's muscle-bound brain directly linked the two together, regardless of whether there was any evidence.

  Jackson nodded slightly: "He's very careful, Leg can't track him down, and the copper fragments have been processed, so I couldn't see any clues. It took me more than a day to find a clue in the market district. He has made too many moves these days, it's inevitable that people will leave an impression, someone saw him coming to the city gate area at this time, haha, unexpectedly you know him, this is great."

  "Jackson, big brother, what should we do?" Andre hastily asked Jackson for instructions.

  "Pointing to the city gate, Jackson said: 'First tell me his identity, then quietly follow him and see where he got those things from. If he discovers you, subdue him and interrogate him directly. All the copper ferules on him will be yours.'"

  "Yes, Jackson big brother." Ma Ge rushed to answer in front of Andre, the horizontal meat on his face twitching.

  It's been over a dozen days since he last used his fists to teach someone a lesson, and the thrill of a good fight was starting to get him excited.

  …………

  Lucien carried a linen sack, walking on the road to the River Belen, suddenly getting a way to make money, he actually calmed down after the initial half-day excitement, thinking about how not to be discovered by others, at least before accumulating five silver nails.

  "Although I've been careful in many ways, I have no experience with this kind of thing and it's an unfamiliar other world, so it's hard to say if there won't be any oversights. Well, according to plan, tomorrow we'll spend another day in the City Gate District, and then leave from the city gate in Noland District the day after tomorrow. In three days, we'll switch to the Violet Lily District's city gate."

  The Violet Lily District is a commoner district of Alto, and the Nolan District is another market district. The city gates are far from the Beren River, requiring a large detour. If you leave from the City Gate District, Lucien can even go to the Mezeleisen Forest to pick some mushrooms for cover, and it will only take two hours round trip. However, from those two city gates, it will take at least three hours round trip.

  Lucien, lost in thought, suddenly had a vague feeling of being followed.

  "Who would follow me?" Lucien's mind was suddenly filled with vigilance.

  Since almost being strangled by Gary in the sewer, Lucien found himself spiritually sharp and having a supernatural sense of awareness. With this, he was able to smoothly evade potential greedy followers while selling goods over the past few days.

  He didn't dare to be careless, so Lucien pretended to be nonchalant and had just passed a bend on the smooth highway. Taking advantage of the opportunity that the grass, trees, etc. blocked the view from behind, he immediately sprinted and then rushed into the sparse forest, hiding behind a large tree, waiting for the pursuers to appear.

  Lucien was very calm at this time and wanted to figure out who was following him so that he could think of a way to deal with it later.

  After a minute or two, the sound of heavy footsteps echoed through the hallway, stopping at the corner and then peeking out to see where Lucien was.

  "Damn it, that kid ran away!"

  "Andrei, you should have listened to me long ago. Don't bother where he's going, just catch him and beat him up thoroughly, then everything will be clear!"

  Two people couldn't care less about hiding, their angry curses entered Lucien's ears.

  Lucien was originally still wondering why the voice sounded so familiar, but when Mag called out "André", he immediately came to his senses: "Aaron's gang suspects me? So soon?"

  Perplexed, Lucien didn't dwell on why he was discovered so quickly, for this was a world with many strange methods and means. He took a light breath, planning to wait until the two left, then immediately circle around to another city gate, return home, take out the hidden Silver Nal and Copper Fer, find a place to hide for a few days, and afterwards, at worst, agree to John's proposal and go to Lord Vien's estate as an apprentice winemaker.

  Andre and Maggie argued for a minute, seeing that Lucien was indeed gone, they both became disheartened. Jackson was ruthless, he had messed up the task entrusted to him, and probably wouldn't have a good ending.

  "Marg, aren't you always bragging about having barbarian blood and being able to distinguish the flavors in the wind?" Andre suddenly remembered something Marg had boasted about before.

  Ma Ge rubbed his own bald head and said in a low, hoarse voice: "I forgot for the time being. And sometimes I can tell them apart, but sometimes I just can't."

  Lucien, who was not far away, heard the conversation between the two and his vigilant mood emerged again. He had only been in this world for a few days and still lacked understanding of the methods and ways of doing things here.

  Ma Ge slightly raised his head, his nose deeply sniffed, suddenly, he excitedly shouted: "I smell that damned kid's stench!"

  As he roared, he strode towards the big tree where Lucien was hiding, with Andre close behind.

  Lucien turned and ran when Mag called out, trying to lose them both with his speed.

  But who would have thought that Mag, although tall and muscular, ran extremely fast, and the distance between him and Lucien was getting shorter and shorter. If he hadn't been afraid of crashing into trees a few times, he could have already grabbed Lucien's clothes.

  On this side of the River Beren, the trees along the riverbank were sparse. Lucien ran and ran, and his vision became wider, no longer able to rely on the trees and agility to evade Mag.

  But Lucien was not too panicked, compared to Garry's high-ranking knight attendant, Mag's oppressive feeling was much weaker, let alone those densely packed red-eyed old rats.

  "We can't run anymore. While Magg is still chasing and Andrei has a distance, take down Magg first." Lucien made the decision quickly.

  At Lucien's heightened alertness and poised tension, Mag's excited roar resounded beside Lucien's ear.

  Lucien suddenly slammed on the brakes, his body shrinking down, his head buried, and his feet kicking out, as he rushed into Maggie's arms.

  Ma Ge didn't expect Lucien to suddenly stop, losing control of his body and charging forward. Subconsciously, he swung a right fist, but was dodged by the prepared Lucien, who ducked down, causing Ma Ge's fist to swing over his head.

  Lucien slammed into Maggie, his tightly clenched right fist heavily hitting Maggie's soft abdomen, causing her intestines to churn, a sour taste rising in her throat, and she let out a loud cry.

  But such a blow, for Mag who has one-sixteenth barbarian blood, was still unable to make him lose his combat strength. After adapting for two seconds, his left hand had already smashed down with an elbow strike.

  But before Lucien's elbow strike, his right leg had already bent up, and his knee was heavily and accurately pressed between Maggie's legs.

  "Ahh!!"

  The half-breed, whose savage blood was no longer visible, let out a heart-rending, long-drawn-out wail, clutching at his lower body with both hands as he rolled about on the ground in unbearable agony.

  Andre, who had hurried up close, felt a sudden chill and slowed his pace.

  Lucien didn't even look back and turned to flee, because Andrei was rushing over with a gleaming dagger in his hand, and there were no objects nearby that could be used as weapons. Moreover, Lucien had no idea what Andrei's true strength was, and Maggie might still be able to recover her combat strength after some time, given how robust her body was.

  Andre chased for a dozen steps, seeing the distance between him and Lucien getting farther and farther away, while Maggie was still rolling around and wailing behind him. He hesitated for a moment before finally stopping.

  …………

  "It's really not safe in this world without power, even sending a small amount of money is impossible." Lucien couldn't help but sigh at his previous experiences, with something stirring in his heart.

  It was past nine in the morning, Lucien, who had returned from the Nolan district gate to Alto, sneaked into his small hut in the slum, preparing to take out the hidden money. After all, Andre and Mag knew him, knowing that he was introduced by Cohen, so it's likely that the Aaron gang has already figured out his identity and residence. He just hoped to get ahead of them, otherwise all his hard work for the past few days would be in vain, and he would have also provoked a group of rascals, hooligans and scoundrels.

  Lucien hid behind the outer wall of a house, secretly sizing up his own hut. Seeing no one around, he was about to find a familiar neighbor's child to ask quietly when he suddenly saw more than a dozen men walking towards his hut with a menacing air.

  As a neatly dressed, ordinary-looking man pointed with his hand, a young man with thick arms stood up and kicked Lucien's door fiercely, directly kicking the already dilapidated wooden door flying.