"Me? I'm nothing, just an ordinary bad old man."
The old man walked in front without looking back and answered casually.
This answer obviously did not satisfy Benjamin.
"An ordinary bad old man?" He snorted and immediately asked, "After the leader of the North Mountain bandits was surrounded and suppressed by the church, would he ask for help from an ordinary bad old man? An ordinary bad old man would have the courage to openly fight against The church is against you? Don’t be pretentious here.”
The old man immediately smiled and replied: "Young man, don't talk nonsense. It was you who killed those four people. I did not openly oppose the church."
Hearing this, Benjamin shook his head.
He also became impatient with the old man's deafness. Once those four people died, he and the old man were like grasshoppers on a rope, so it was time to talk things out. Is it interesting to still play this kind of word game
Thinking like this, he stopped and said casually: "You even dare to protect the enemy assassin who assassinated the Pope. What is it if you are not openly opposing the church?"
As soon as these words came out, the old man's back froze and his steps finally stopped.
He turned his back to Benjamin and was silent for a while, then suddenly sighed. Then, he turned around with an unusually serious expression.
"You are not simple either. The news of the Pope's assassination has not been spread, but you even know this."
Benjamin shrugged and said confidently: "Thank you, I'm just not a simple person."
“…”
Probably because he had never seen such a shameless person, the old man was speechless for a long time before swallowing Benjamin's words. He looked at Benjamin, then at the assassin whom Benjamin was carrying, and sighed several times in succession.
He finally spoke.
"Who am I... it's a long story." He glanced at the oil lamp in his hand and said this without knowing what he thought of.
Benjamin said: "It doesn't matter. Walking in the secret passage is boring anyway. You can talk while walking and I will listen slowly."
Hearing this, the old man laughed inaudibly, turned around, and walked down the secret passage. Seeing this, Benjamin had no choice but to follow.
The old man's voice came slowly.
"Actually, there's nothing much to talk about. They're all old things, and I can't even remember many of them. To be honest, I've even forgotten my own name. Others call me 'Silver Fox' Boss. So I became the boss of the 'Silver Fox'." He said slowly with a somewhat self-deprecating tone, "As for the robber from North Mountain, I actually don't want to help him, but his father is me as a servant. A comrade who saved his life when he was in the army. Therefore, even if he becomes a bandit leader, I still have to look after him."
Hearing this, Benjamin raised his eyebrows.
Mercenary
He knew what mercenaries were, but he also knew that the profession of mercenaries had long since disappeared in the Horli Kingdom.
This is the result of the hard work of the church.
The church believes that the priests and paladins in the kingdom are enough to protect the people from the intrusion of monsters. At the same time, they felt that mercenaries were free-spirited, difficult to manage, and easily colluded with mages. Therefore, a long time ago, they found an excuse to wipe out all the mercenary strongholds in the kingdom. Now if you ask any ordinary people in the kingdom, they won't even know what a mercenary is.
This old man actually worked as a mercenary when he was young
Mercenaries, those are the people who wear their heads on their belts every day.
No wonder he didn't panic at all when facing people from the church, and he didn't hesitate to make a deal with Benjamin.
"Don't look at the mercenaries in the kingdom now. When I was young, the church had not started to clean up the mercenaries. Especially in places near the western mountains, if you met five people, one of them would be a mercenary. Soldier." There seemed to be a trace of nostalgia in the old man's voice, "But... But now they are all gone. Everyone said that I must live a long time, but no one thought that I could live so long. Those brothers back then Those who died long ago fled away, and I am the only one left here to eke out an existence."
Benjamin could hear the loneliness in his words.
To be honest, if he looked at it now, he couldn't see that the old man had lived a life of licking blood from the edge of a knife. But judging from the old man's current special status, it can be inferred that he should have been a very good mercenary when he was young.
That's why he can become this kind of "silver fox" boss who is not a gang boss, but better than a gang boss.
At this point, the old man paused slightly, laughed a few times in a low voice, and then said: "You also know that if you remain a mercenary for more than ten years, you will make many friends of all kinds. Once you have more friends, You will be pushed into a special position, and more weird people will come to you for help. I am not lying when I say that I am just an ordinary bad old man. A few decades ago, if there were not these With the help of my friends, I would have died in the hands of the church a long time ago. Now you think I am so special, but in fact I am just paying back the debt I owe, I can’t help myself.”
Hearing this, Benjamin nodded, thoughtfully, but his thoughts had already drifted to other places.
Benjamin could only guess about the church's suppression of mercenaries from the rumors he heard occasionally. But now from what the old man said, there may be a bloody past here.
He couldn't help but think of the church's current actions against the nobles.
The two things are inexplicably similar.
So... first it was a mage, then it was a mercenary, and now it's a noble.
Over the years, the church has indeed been doing things bit by bit, but the objects they deal with have been changing. The restless forces within the kingdom were indeed suppressed one by one by them.
Benjamin couldn't help but wonder, if the church were allowed to continue like this, and no one would hinder them, in a few decades, wouldn't even the concept of "nobility" be gone in the kingdom
However, if the church really wants to completely eradicate the influence of the aristocracy and establish a purely religious country, it will probably have to spend a lot of time in the process.
Someone will definitely stop the church.
At least, these powerful people within the kingdom will definitely not let this happen so easily. Although they seem to have surrendered, it is the strength of the nobles to do things behind their backs.
Maybe, at this moment, those big nobles are having a small meeting somewhere!
While Benjamin was thinking this.
Another part of the kingdom.
In order to prevent the church from eradicating the power of the nobles, a secret gathering belonging to the kingdom's nobles is indeed going on.
To the north of the royal capital, in a small village near Pearl Valley, there is a small house in a remote location. The house looks abandoned and dilapidated from the outside, but inside, many people have gathered.
If Benjamin were here, he might even recognize a few familiar faces, such as Ax Foer.
There were about a dozen people in the room. In addition to the Reese family, almost all the representatives of the kingdom's most prestigious noble families are here.
They gathered around a round table and seemed to be discussing something.
"Count Aix, are you sure the church didn't discover our gathering? If any news of today's events leaks out, the church will take action on us tomorrow!" A nobleman said worriedly.
Hearing this, Ax Foer forced out a smile and said, "Don't worry, the purpose of letting more than thirty noble families go make trouble this morning is to distract the church so that they don't notice us. As long as you Don't accidentally tell anything in front of a child who is 'wearing' a cross, the church won't know anything."
After hearing this, other people around the round table also showed slightly relieved expressions.
"There is no way, the church and the royal family have gone too far. If this continues, there will no longer be a place for us in the kingdom." A middle-aged nobleman with a beard said with a somewhat angry expression.
"Yes, Count Evans." Aix immediately nodded and agreed, "The church believes that if we don't have an army in our hands, and if we cultivate a lackey like the Reese family, they can do whatever they want to us. But we have to Let them understand that they have their swords and holy light, but we also have our ways."
As soon as this was said, everyone present nodded in agreement.
It seems that what the church has done has also brought considerable dissatisfaction to them.
"By the way, let's talk about the Riese family." Suddenly, another gray-haired nobleman on the round table spoke, "Count Foer, do you still remember the theater incident half a month ago?"
Suddenly, Aix shook his head, snorted angrily, and said: "How could I forget? I spent so many years, countless money and manpower to raise so many mages. In the end, because of someone To tell the truth, I can only gather them in that small theater and offer it to the church with my own hands. How can I forget what I dream about every night?"
The white-haired noble nodded and said, "I just got the news at noon today. I already know about the person who informed the church about you."
"Who is it?" Upon hearing this, Aix immediately showed an eager look and asked.
The white-haired nobleman paused and said slowly: "It's the old woman from the Lise family."