Chapter 185: Ambush

Outside the capital, a conspiracy and assassination plot against Rod were in full swing, yet Rod himself was completely unaware of it, having already entered the capital with the main group!
Watching the dazzling and noisy night scene of the capital, he quickly integrated into it. The girls also underwent a dramatic change after arriving here, becoming more outgoing and far from their quiet demeanor at the academy. Of course, Alice was an exception—she had always been known for her boldness and temper even back at the academy.
“How about going over there?” Rod, who was lost in thought, heard Kiro’s voice beside him.
Hearing Kiro’s words, he followed his gaze and was surprised to find that they had unknowingly arrived at the location of the Capital Mercenaries Association.
With a faint smile, he thought it was fate—coming here was perfect, as he wanted to handle some matters there. “Let’s go!”
“You guys continue. Wait for me and Rod to join you!” With Rod’s agreement, Kiro quickly said this to the girls before leading Rod away from the group toward the mercenaries association. Viski accompanied them as well. Being cold and reticent by nature, he had long suffered around the girls. If not for John’s insistence, he probably wouldn’t have come today. Now that he had a chance to escape this ordeal, how could he pass it up? Besides, which man in the mercenary world wouldn’t be interested? Viski was no exception. Having grown up under his family’s protection and spent his days training, he knew little about this world. Now was the perfect opportunity to learn more.
Of course, their departure caused strong dissatisfaction among the girls, but they could do nothing about it. Watching them leave, Lucia and Linda showed a hint of hesitation, though it was quickly masked by smiles as they were once again captivated by the bustling night scene.
Soon, the group arrived at the mercenaries association. Although it was night, the place remained extremely noisy, filled with numerous mercenaries. Naturally, Rod knew that some of them were spies sent by various organizations or factions.
First, Rod headed to where the blacklist was kept. The three of them pushed their way through the crowd and soon reached it. Rod wanted to check his previous bounty status.

At a glance, he was stunned—as expected, his bounty had been raised to A+ level, with the reward amounting to a terrifying 30,000 gold coins!
“Damn it!” Rod cursed inwardly upon seeing this. It had been some time since he last checked, yet such a huge change had taken place. If he could only find out who had set such a huge bounty on his head, Rod was sure he wouldn’t spare them. It was this bounty that had disrupted his entire life, making it difficult and full of danger. Such a reward was indeed tempting.
The words “already claimed” marked below were even more glaring. Looking down, he saw Lucia and others listed there—A-grade tasks with substantial rewards. He could even match them, suggesting those guys really valued him.
Seeing all this, Rod couldn’t help but recall the words of that man in black. If he joined them, they could help him resolve these issues. He wondered what capabilities they had to solve such problems, and the condition was indeed attractive. With a long way to go before becoming a four-star mercenary, this was indeed a good option.
“Captain, you…” Visky, who was also looking at this, widened her eyes and turned to Rod, ready to shout loudly.
Seeing this, Rod quickly covered Visky’s mouth and pulled her out of the crowd. He finally breathed a sigh of relief. What an inexperienced kid—how could she speak recklessly about such things? If those people found out he was the bounty hunter Knight Rod, chaos would ensue.
“Let’s go!” Rod snapped softly, quickly telling Kiro and Visky. It seemed they couldn’t stay here any longer; who knew what else might happen? Better to be cautious—getting noticed would be troublesome.
“Heh, Visky, it seems you really need to learn more,” Kiro said with a wry smile as they left the Mercenary Association, looking at Visky’s innocent face. Her behavior earlier had indeed been too naive.
“If you want Rod to die sooner, just say it!” Seeing Visky’s confused expression, Kiro rubbed his head in frustration. She really had no experience at all.

“But Rod, this is unusual. Have you offended anyone? Who would be willing to pay such a large sum to have you killed—thirty thousand gold coins! That’s a huge amount; most people can’t afford it, and even wealthy families would regret spending it!” Thinking of the bounty he had seen before, Kiro couldn’t help but ask Rod in confusion.

“The lord of Shuiyue City—I disabled his son’s arm! Then there’s Roger from Liehuo City, as you know. And also Nils. Just these three. No others. Actually, the last time I was in the capital, I saw that I was already on the blacklist. Back then, the bounty level was low, and the amount was small. I encountered some former assassins, but they weren’t very good. This time…” Taking a deep breath and frowning deeply, Rod also spoke with distress. Only these people could be possible suspects, with the lord of Shuiyue City being the most likely—that petty guy might well do such a thing. Plus, as the ruler of a city, he probably had a considerable fortune. Although thirty thousand gold coins was a large sum, he should still be able to afford it.

“Hmm, it seems like they’re the only ones. But it’s unlikely that any one of them would fund the hunt alone, especially Roger. He probably wouldn’t do such a thing, nor would the Porter family allow it. Another possibility is that all three parties are involved, and the bounty plus the difficulty level of the task have combined to reach this extent.” After hearing Rod’s words, Kiro hesitated for a moment before speaking softly.

“Combined?” Hearing this term, Rod was a bit puzzled. Could this kind of thing be combined?

“Yes, combined. There’s a rule on the blacklist: multiple people can offer bounties to hunt one person. The total amount from everyone is added together, and then a level is determined based on the difficulty of the task. In your case, it’s very likely that several people are funding the hunt together. As for the level, it’s probably set by the Mercenary Association based on your strength and the difficulty of the task. Tsk tsk tsk… An A+ task! I bet many people are jealous!” Kiro said jokingly, looking at Rod playfully.

Rolling his eyes at that damned bastard Kiro, Rod was silently speechless. How dare he joke about such things? It was truly unbelievable.

“Never mind. It seems I have no mood to continue watching. Let’s go back and find those guys!” With a sigh, seeing Rod’s worried expression, Kiro naturally understood his feelings. Without saying much more, he changed the subject.

“Silver Wing, it seems Lucia is here too!” In the distance, several pairs of eyes were watching Rod and his group. As the three of them separated from the main group, Nightingale said to Silver Wing with a smirk.
“Nightingale, it’s better if you don’t have any evil plans. Don’t forget, Lucia is the target of those people. If you don’t want to die, you can give it a try! Enough talk—Lucia can’t be moved. Do whatever you want to the others, as long as you kill Knight Rod! Let’s go—act according to the plan!” With a cold snort, Silver Wing turned to Nightingale and spoke coldly, his gaze so icy it seemed capable of killing a person.
“Darkness”—a word that filled people with dread, especially for those in their group. To them, Darkness was an ultimate existence, a god-like being and legend. They naturally knew Lucia’s mission was tempting. They could ignore Marshal Okaz, but they had to fear Darkness. Lucia was their target—a fact known to almost everyone in the underground mercenary world. The mission they were assigned allowed no interference; any interference would lead to unimaginable consequences, with revenge beyond their bearing. Though their four-person group was strong, and their organization behind them was powerful, they paled in comparison to Darkness and would be easily crushed. Even their own organization wouldn’t save them then; they would be crushed like ants.
“Hmph, just joking. I’m not that stupid. I was just reminding some people. Crow, you love that kind of thing, right? I warn you—don’t even think about it!” With another cold snort, Nightingale turned to Crow behind him and said with a seductive smile—such a smile that surely would make men drool.
“Action!” With a cold shout, taking advantage of the fact that only the three of them were present, Silver Wing decisively gave the order to act.
In the next moment, four figures rushed forward like four swords, launching their 172nd assassination attempt.
……
“They’re over there. Let’s go over. It seems we can’t go back today. Let’s stay in the capital city for the night!” Looking at the time and seeing the interested expressions of the girls ahead, Kiro said with a bitter smile. Then the group headed toward the girls! Even then, they still hadn’t realized a conspiracy was being plotted against them.
“You’re finally back! I thought you…”
“Dodge!”
“Ding…”
“Who’s there? Come out!”

Seeing a few people returning, the observant Linda started to say hello, but before she could finish, she was interrupted by Rod’s loud shout, followed by a clear voice and the joint roar of Kiro and Luo.