Free Web NovelChapter 8: Citywide Search
On the other side, an hour have passed and Max and sword and spear brothers along with the group of mercenaries gathered, ready to leave the city.
"Let’s leave," Andrew ordered, and then the group with the caravan began to move out.
From a distant balcony, Mr. Corvus watched; his eyes glowed with mysterious light as the caravan left. "Max... let’s see what kind of destiny you have."
Max silently walked along the caravan and looked around. Their company was small, as they had only four carts’ worth of load. He understood there were two groups in this small caravan.
The first consisted of around thirty mercenaries.
The second was made up of guards, servants, and coachmen from the Celestial Star Chamber of Commerce, numbering roughly twenty. In total, there were about fifty people.
He was frankly surprised when he learned Andrew and Mathew, the so-called sword and spear brothers, were actually mercenaries, aka thugs for hire.
It seems from the caravan that celestial star chamber of commerce wasn’t strong or have enough strong people but he new that wasn’t the truth at et Mr. Corvus was definitely extraordinary.
But this was unrelated to him, so he focused on the mercenaries. Besides the two brothers, three other mercenaries possessed the same unusual blood energy he had sensed from the Chamber’s guards.
The rest, however... We were ordinary people.
He should have asked Mr. Corvus about the peculiar guard’s strength. Just like the three mercenaries here, they clearly didn’t awaken their bloodline but were clearly stronger than ordinary people.
He didn’t get much time to think about this as the caravan quickly arrived at the first checkpoint.
This was merely the outer toll station.
Beyond it lay the outermost district of Black Iron City—a mostly abandoned area where only beggars, drifters, and the homeless could be seen wandering around.
The checkpoint mainly existed to inspect caravans transporting large quantities of goods. The guards would usually do nothing more than briefly examine the cargo before allowing passage.
Their wagons quickly approached the checkpoint. There were not many people, so they didn’t have to wait, and quickly the guards started to inspect the cargo within the three carts. fгee𝑤ebɳoveɭ.cøm
Apollo, along with guards and mercenaries, quietly watched as the guards started to inspect the wagons.
He didn’t know what kind of goods they were delivering, but from the looks of it, it seemed like weapons or armours as he heard metallic noises as the guards started to check.
The inspection didn’t take much time, as quite quickly they were allowed to move, and they, without any trouble, passed the first checkpoint.
Seeing this, he sighed in relief, although he knows that it was just a beginning. Still, knowing that the first hurdle was cleared without any trouble was big for him.
But what he didn’t know was the moment their caravan left the checkpoint, guards seemed to receive new orders, and immediately the atmosphere seemed to change. The security suddenly became tight, and they seemed to search every cart and even the merchant and mercenaries.
And this wasn’t the only place; in fact, the entire Black Iron City seemed to have turned upside down as soldiers seemed to be searching for someone. The slums were razed as the soldier searched every corner of them.
A soldier came out running from the slum towards the acting leader of the group of soldiers. "Captain, we didn’t find that kid." He reported nervously.
"Damm it, quick search every corner of the city don’t leave any place and find him no matter the cost!" the captain named Mark roared as the family leader has gave ordered no matter what they had to find the boy otherwise he would die.
Learning this, he almost lost his soul, as he was the one who was supposed to keep an eye on Max, but knowing he was just a commoner without any backing, he just asked some thugs to keep an eye.
But who knew suddenly the family leader would snap and give him the death order?
"Fuck! Those idiots couldn’t even keep an eye on a weak peasant!" He snarled furiously.
Then he turned toward a nearby soldier.
"Did you bring the leader of the Tiger Gang?"
The soldier visibly trembled. The captain’s furious aura was so oppressive that it felt as though he might explode at any second.
"Y-Yes, Captain," the soldier stammered. "The Tiger Gang’s leader should arrive at any moment."
"Why isn’t he here already?" Mark roared, as he had already lost all his patience, as this was tied to his life and death. His terrifying aura made the soldier next to him pale as he felt he was about to die.
He was just as ready to kill the soldier next to him in anger as a group of soldiers seemed to bring a roughened-up guy. Seeing this, the soldier next to Mark seemed to regain his life.
"Captain, there he is, the leader of the Tiger Gang." He quickly shouted as he wasn’t sure Mark wouldn’t attack him suddenly.
Mark’s killing intent finally eased slightly as he looked toward the beaten-up man.
The gang leader was a middle-aged man whose clothes were torn apart. Both his arms were broken. His face was swollen beyond recognition.
It was obvious the soldiers had already "questioned" him thoroughly before bringing him here.
Slap! Slap! Slap!...
"Bastard, what I told you: just keep an eye on the kid, and yet you aren’t able to do such a simple thing." Mark without any care slaps the gang leader. He continued to slap until he felt a bit better; then he stopped.
But at that moment, the Tiger gang’s leader was already on the verge of death as his face was swollen and several teeth missing as blood dripped from his mouth.
"Tell me, where is the kid?!" Mark grabbed him by the throat and lifted him effortlessly into the air.
"I-I...," the gang leader coughed violently, blood spilling from his lips. "I d...don’t know... This morn...ing I sent three of my men after him... but they never came back. After that... I know nothing..."
