Chapter 88: Easily Defeated

“You lost. Who sent you? Speak up!” Rod asked coldly, staring at his opponent. The tip of his sword pressed against the man’s throat. At this moment, he felt utterly satisfied—having defeated five people in one go, two bronze warriors and three advanced warriors. The results seemed quite good.
“I, I… I’ll tell you! Just take your sword away first, I’ll say it right away, really!” The man’s face turned pale. For the first time, he felt fear. He cursed inside himself at Nils for saying he was easy to deal with. Now, not only was he not easy to handle, but he was also on the verge of dying. At this moment, he hated Nils so much he gritted his teeth.
“Speak! Or I can’t guarantee I won’t accidentally stab you!” With a cold gaze and a harsh shout, Rod applied more pressure, the tip of the sword slightly scraping the man’s throat, blood about to flow.
“Nils! It’s Lord Nils who sent us! You offended him, and he wants to revenge himself!” Feeling the icy chill, the man ignored everything and shouted loudly. He believed the young man across from him had the courage to kill him right there.
“Bastards! Useless bunch!” From afar, Nils saw what was happening and roared in anger. He grabbed his men and quickly left with them.
A group of city guards was approaching. He didn’t want any trouble here. If Lucia found out, it would cause problems. He wasn’t worried about Knight Rod knowing his identity. As a mere mercenary, what could he do to him in the capital? Killing him would be a piece of cake for him.
“Hmph, Nils, I’ll remember you! Get lost!” Rod kicked the man far away, spat, and muttered coldly. Turning back, he saw a group of soldiers rushing toward him. He quickly left the area.
After Rod left, the men lying on the ground, groaning in pain, also rushed to flee. If caught by the city guards, they would suffer severe punishment. Creating trouble in the capital carried serious consequences.
Rod wasn’t surprised to learn those men were sent by Nils. That guy would definitely do such things. While cursing inwardly, he swore he wouldn’t let himself see that bastard again. Otherwise, he would definitely give him a good beating. That arrogant noble seemed impatient to live.

He hurried toward Marshal Okaz’s residence. After a quick sprint, he soon arrived in front of it. It seemed someone had already instructed the guards, as he encountered no obstacles and entered the residence smoothly.
“You’re back?” As soon as he entered and was about to head to his room, he heard Lawrence’s voice from the side. Turning around, he saw that this guy was following Lucia and strolling by the lake. These guys seemed quite amused—having returned without resting, they came here to enjoy the scenery?
Following the gravel path over, Rod’s opinion of Lawrence had changed significantly after two days of interaction. He was a decent person, no longer cold as before, and seemed easy to get along with.
“How was it? Where did you go? The capital isn’t bad, is it?” Lawrence asked with a smile as he looked at Rod approaching.
“Hm? What just happened? Did you fight with someone?” Suddenly noticing a bit of blood on Rod’s clothes and torn edges, Lawrence’s expression changed, and he asked quickly.
“It’s nothing. Just a few hooligans!” Rod said with a slight smile, seemingly unbothered.
“Really?” Lawrence looked at him skeptically. Could a few hooligans hurt him? Bronze warriors weren’t that fragile.
“Really. Well, I visited quite a few places this afternoon. I went to the Mercenary Association! It was nice. Truly worthy of being the capital—huge, much better than our Fire City!” Seeing Lawrence’s doubt, Rod quickly changed the subject. He wanted to handle this himself and didn’t want to rely on others.
“Was there anything interesting? How was the Mercenary Association? It’s a shame I’ve never been there. Grandpa wouldn’t let me go to that place!”
Hearing about the Mercenary Association, Lucia on the side became excited and asked curiously. Saying she lived in the capital yet had never visited that legendary and mythical place, a hint of disappointment flashed in her eyes.
“It’s good. Hehe, it’s huge. I just saw a few things. You’ll have the chance to go someday. Don’t worry, I promise! Oh, by the way, is Marshal Okaz here? If possible, I’d like to meet him!” Rod asked Lawrence with a smile. Though he knew the marshal should already be aware of this, if he didn’t even know such a thing given his network, that would be a serious failure.
“Really? Okay, I’ll remember that!” Rod’s words made Lucia very excited.

“My grandfather went out this morning and hasn’t returned yet; he won’t be back until evening. What do you need? Come over then!” She quickly said to Rod.
“Cough, cough… Rod, I’ll go with you tonight!” Looking at Rod, Lawrence understood immediately—he had roughly guessed what Rod wanted to talk about. Going to the Mercenaries’ Association to discuss something? From these two sentences, he could figure it out more or less.
Walking slowly by the lake, feeling the cool breeze of late winter, he took a deep breath. This kind of weather would soon be over; winter was almost at an end, and spring was approaching. To experience such weather again, he would have to wait until next year.
After visiting a small cottage, Lucia seemed especially lively here—free from the coldness and arrogance she showed at first meeting, without that aloof demeanor. She seemed easy to get along with, like a neighborhood girl.
In such an atmosphere, Rod also enjoyed a rare sense of comfort. Time passed quickly under these circumstances, and soon the dim sunset of evening arrived. It reflected on the lake’s surface, looking especially beautiful amidst the ripples.
After exploring around, Rod finally had a rough idea of how large this estate was. Just the lake alone was probably as big as a village, covering several hectares. It was said that this estate was given by the empire’s emperor to Marshal Okaz. Such a massive estate, especially in a bustling capital like this, was truly impressive, leaving Rod in awe.
Seeing that it was getting late, Lucia, escorted by Lawrence, headed back to her own small residence, while Rod bid them farewell and returned to his room.
Sitting on the bed, he took a few deep breaths before taking out the set of armor from his arms. Eager and expectant, he slowly opened it. The packaging was excellent. After removing layer after layer of packaging, the somewhat rustic armor finally appeared before him.
Examining it carefully, he still felt the same aura he had sensed when it was summoned earlier. Smiling slightly, he reached out to pick it up.
The moment he touched it, his expression changed instantly—so light! It felt weightless in his hands, yet it was clearly there, as light as a feather. This surprised Rod greatly.
The weight he had felt before must have been from the box itself; this armor basically had no weight at all?

He hurriedly examined it closely. These armors were clearly made of metal. Though he couldn’t distinguish the specific type, he was sure of this. Taking down the Dark Dragon, he swung at the armor lying on the ground without drawing his sword, still sheathed. A clear ringing sound came forth—the sound of metal colliding. He exerted 70% of his strength, but saw no damage to the armor; nothing changed. Only then did he breathe a sigh of relief. The armor was real, indeed made of metal. Such weight would have no impact on his movements at all. Truly an excellent item. At that moment, he wondered why those people wouldn’t buy it after realizing its advantages. Such light armor was definitely a great thing, right? Unable to figure it out, Rod ignored those people. After assembling the armor, he put it all on himself. There was no special sensation; it felt just like wearing thin clothes, with no impact at all. Smiling slightly, he carefully removed it and took out the breastplate to examine it again. Placing it back on the ground, he struck it with full force—again, a ringing sound. The armor suffered no damage at all. Grinning foolishly, he struck it with all his strength once more. This time, the sound was somewhat muffled. Upon closer inspection, Rod was stunned. “Damn it, no way… Boss, don’t do this to me!” He quickly picked up the armor from the ground, looking at it—deformed and dented, on the verge of breaking. He felt both amused and frustrated. So much effort? And this was with the sword still sheathed. If it were drawn, wouldn’t it be easily cut in half? No defense at all? What protective effect did such a thing have? Pained, he picked it up, frowning deeply, and complained bitterly. “Xuanyuan… help me figure out what to do!” With no other choice, he turned to seek help from the spirit of the Xuanyuan Sword again. “Cough, cough, cough… I… I don’t know either. I guess we made a mistake this time. Anyway, you didn’t spend any money, so it doesn’t hurt. Just leave it there for a while. Who knows what miracle might happen? Otherwise, just throw it away!” The spirit of the Xuanyuan Sword spoke casually, after coughing awkwardly. “It’s easy for you to say. Damn it, I’m really upset!” Rod became anxious. Although he hadn’t spent any money, he had invested so much effort into it, holding great hopes. Now that all hopes were shattered, how could he stay calm? How could he just discard it so easily?

He watched the armor for a long time; nothing changed. With a sigh and a pained expression, he slowly put it away. He even wished he hadn’t tried that final attack at all—at least that way he could have kept some hope left for himself and avoided such a humiliating situation.