Chapter 006: Deceit and Trickery 2

“How can this be acceptable?” Casimir said, “Anyway, the Snow Fox Mercenary Group will remember this kindness for life. If Lord Alfred is too polite, I might get angry.”
Du Fan sneered inwardly, but his smile on his face grew even more awkward.
Their eyes met over the campfire, both wearing polite smiles. In such a situation, it was hard to tell who was treating whom as a fool.
Du Fan wanted to test Casimir but didn’t want him to notice. So he signaled the Temple Knight waiting nearby to serve a few bowls of the stew that was boiling, offering them to the others before asking, “By the way, Lord Casimir, I assume your Snow Fox Mercenary Group often travels across these northern ice fields. But how did you suffer such a great loss this time? If it weren’t for us intervening in time, I think you would have…”
As the saying goes, don’t hit someone in the face or on the head. Du Fan’s question not only hit him in the face but also on the head—purely bringing up an irrelevant topic.
However, his words made Casimir think even more that Du Fan lacked experience and was just a novice in these northern ice fields. Glancing casually at Du Fan’s storage ring, a flicker of interest appeared in Casimir’s eyes. After pondering for a moment, he said, “To be honest, Lord Alfred, we wouldn’t have been in danger this time either, as we only planned to make a quick profit on the outskirts of the northern ice fields. But last night, we encountered that kind of magical beast…”
“We’ve never seen such a magical beast outside these northern ice fields before. This time, we really had bad luck,” Casimir said, a hint of fear on his face. “But I must admit, Lord Alfred’s skills are truly remarkable. Something that we couldn’t handle despite our best efforts was solved by you with just one move… You truly are a young hero.”
As Casimir spoke, the mage Eileen on the side also stared at Du Fan, her eyes filled not only with admiration but also a hint of flirtatious charm.

Du Fan seemed extremely pleased by these flattery and very excited by those looks, so he immediately became enthusiastic and began to boast about how heroic and outstanding he used to be. What Du Fan said made sense, and each incident had indeed happened, only the protagonist in those stories was Alfred. But when he ran out of things to say, he started pulling out various anecdotes, exaggerating his own abilities to the point of claiming he was a rare talent in the world.

The members of the Snow Fox Mercenary Group also played along eagerly, shouting things like “Ah!” “Really?” “Lord Alfred is truly a genius!” which made Du Fan even more “excited” as he spoke. Their loud voices could be heard even over the cold wind, leaving the Temple Knights guarding the perimeter of the camp at a loss as to whether to laugh or cry. Yet, hearing the joyous atmosphere inside the camp, they didn’t dare laugh out loud either.

Eventually, Du Fan stopped after speaking until his mouth was dry. Although Casimir found it frustrating, he became even more convinced that this so-called Alfred, though seemingly extremely shrewd at first, was actually a fool. He had wasted so much time worrying about him, but this test had shown that idiots needed to be dealt with from a long-term perspective. If he wanted to take advantage of him, he only needed to deal with those knights who seemed quite strong. As for this foolish Lord Alfred, he didn’t believe he really had any real strength. If he could get rid of him, even if his storage ring contained nothing, just selling that ring could give his Snow Fox Mercenary Group a chance to turn things around.

Still, Casimir was a wise man and didn’t dare act rashly against Du Fan. Instead, he smiled and said, “Please forgive my boldness, Lord Alfred. With your heroic youth, why would you come to a desolate place like the northern tundra? This isn’t exactly a nice place to visit!”

Du Fan seemed slightly stunned, a hint of sadness appearing on his face. He said, “It’s a long story… But if Casimir is interested, I can tell it.”

Casimir showed confusion and said, “Please go ahead, Lord Alfred. If you need our help, just ask. I, Casimir, am someone who knows how to repay kindness and will do my best.”

Du Fan’s expression grew increasingly bitter. After a long while, he sighed and said, “Actually… if I say this out loud, it might make Lord Casimir laugh… Although I, Alfred, am just a lowly minor noble with no real influence in my family, there’s still something I can’t bring myself to say!”
Casimir looked solemn. “Lord Alfred, just speak freely. Do you really consider me, Casimir, an outsider?”
Du Fan thought to himself, Damn it, if not you, then who is the outsider? Otherwise, why would that bastard Alfred ask me to test you? Why would I have to act so stupid? But fortunately, if this reputation of stupidity spreads, it will be that bastard Alfred who’s seen as weak, not me at all. So it doesn’t really matter to me.
At that moment, Du Fan’s expression grew even sadder. After hesitating for a long time, a hint of shame appeared on his face as he said in a low voice, “This story actually dates back half a year. Half a year ago, when I was in the capital on business, I met Miss Ruhua, the top entertainer there, at the Li Chun Yuan. I was utterly amazed by her beauty and immediately spent all my wealth to free her… Initially, I thought I could live a happy life with her from then on. But… alas… two months ago, she suddenly fell ill with a strange disease. After attempts at treatment by the Holy Church failed, I heard from a priest that she had some kind of strange disease related to gender. Most women in such occupations suffer from this disease, and even their partners can get infected. However, this disease isn’t incurable. If one can find a hot spring somewhere in these northern ice fields and bathe there for half a day, the disease will go away on its own. That’s why we came to these northern ice fields… Well… aside from a few personal guards, I sent everyone else to search for that hot spring, but so far, there’s been no result.”
Casimir sneered inwardly. This Alfred really has no brains. Not only did he contract a sexually transmitted disease by associating with a prostitute, but now he’s also believing rumors and rushing to the northern ice fields in search of some hot spring to cure himself. It’s a shame he even tried to negotiate with him before—his behavior was clearly an act!
What utter stupidity!

Kasimir affirmed this in his heart, feeling even more passionate, but he was afraid Du Fan would notice something, so after pondering for a moment, he said, “I haven’t heard of the hot spring Lord Alfred mentioned, but I can share with you information about the northern ice plains.”

Seeing that he had finally brought the conversation back here after much effort, Du Fan deliberately showed a pleased expression and said, “Then I must ask Kasimir for your guidance.”

Kasimir despised Du Fan even more. The information about the northern ice plains was clearly part of the deal they had reached earlier, but judging from Du Fan’s current attitude, it was highly likely he had forgotten about it. This only strengthened Kasimir’s belief that Du Fan was stupid. With a sigh, Kasimir said, “This information was originally meant for Lord Alfred. There’s really nothing to guide you on.”

As he spoke, Kasimir drew a dagger from his waist and drew lines on the ground for a while, saying, “Lord, please look. This is where we are now, but this place is only the periphery of the northern ice plains. After much thought, if you’re looking for a hot spring, there’s only one place: a valley between the northern ice plains and the Frozen Forest. That place is also a remarkable spot in the north, more or less like this…”

While drawing, Kasimir explained in detail. Although he was just acting, he was afraid Du Fan would spot any flaws. He provided extremely detailed information about the northern ice plains. Under Du Fan’s prompting, Kasimir also gave detailed descriptions of the valley between the northern ice plains and the Frozen Forest. Du Fan compared this information with what he had obtained from Elvis and became convinced that that place was almost certainly where the Divine Palace lay.

After memorizing the route to get there, Du Fan changed the subject and started talking about other things with Kasimir. However, after a few attempts, he realized that Kasimir truly thought of him as an idiot. By the end, Kasimir could hardly hide his true thoughts from his expression.

Finally, after the conversation, both sides wanted to rest. Du Fan generously lent Kasimir the tent that originally belonged to Alfred and went back to his own tent. But as soon as he entered, he was stunned.