Chapter 53: Between Officials and Commoners

The thundering footsteps grew louder and louder. Bit and the others’ expressions changed drastically. They knew there was no doubt about those footsteps—it must be the city guards arriving, and their purpose was obvious.

“Damn it! We need to leave this place ASAP, or we’ll be in big trouble!” he said in a low voice, frowning. Bit’s expression was serious. He never expected that a casual outing during a mission would lead to such a situation. He was extremely frustrated. If anything went wrong and delayed this mission, not to mention the consequences, they would at least lose face in front of Captain Randy and Bruce.

“It’s too late!” Ada said softly, with a hint of helplessness on her face.

Indeed, the crowd had already cleared a path. At the front, an army of several hundred people was slowly approaching. The officer in charge glanced around and his eyes lit up when he saw the young man approaching quickly. “Young master, what happened?” His flattering tone made one want to slap him. Such a person was truly a scum among soldiers.

“Hmph! These lowly mercenaries dare to cause trouble here, and that damned slave dares to run away! Take them all back!” With a cold snort, the young man glared at Rod and the others, as well as the bloodied slave, before shouting at the officer.

“Take them all back!” Hearing the young man’s words, the officer’s expression changed. He turned and shouted at his soldiers, while also approaching Rod and the others, still wearing a flattering smile as he said something to them.

“Cough, cough… Sir, we really didn’t mean to. How about this? This slave is almost dead anyway. Since he ran away, according to imperial law, he can be executed. I’m sure you don’t want to keep such a troublemaker either. How about we buy him back from you?”

Seeing that violence was about to erupt, Bit became anxious. He stepped forward quickly, went next to the young man, and spoke in a low voice. It was better to avoid conflict if possible. Now wasn’t the time to argue with these people. After all, they were officials, and he knew very well that commoners shouldn’t fight against them.

“Hmph, you still know what’s wrong? Want to just let it go like this? Fine, keep that hardworking guy and that fellow here. Apologize properly and crawl out of here. Yeah, that’s right—crawl out. Maybe then I’ll let you go, but that damned slave and that guy must stay here.”
With a smirk on his lips, he glanced at the frail Bit with disdain before pointing at the bloodied slave and Rod beside him and said coldly, “You…”
Furious, the insults in his words hurt the pride of every member of the Stormwind Mercenaries. Let them crawl out? Ridiculous. Mercenaries might lack everything else, but not their pride.
“Damn it, Bit! What are you talking to him for? I’m going to teach you a lesson today, you bastard!”
These words reached Rod’s ears without missing a word. With a grunt, he suddenly stood up and, before the soldiers could reach him, dashed forward in a swift move. He dodged the two soldiers blocking his path and rushed up to the young man, punching him in the face with both fists.
“Ow…” Unable to react in time, the young man was hit squarely. In pain, he stumbled back several steps before collapsing to the ground, groaning as blood streamed from the corner of his mouth.
“Bastards! Kill them! Kill them all! Damn it, hurry up!”
This made the young man completely lose his composure as he shouted angrily at the officer.
In an instant, hundreds of soldiers with cold eyes surrounded them, their gleaming weapons swinging down with deadly intent.
“Fight to the death!” Fueled by anger, Bit ignored the consequences and shouted, drawing his greatsword from behind and charging into the crowd.
Chaos ensued. Those who had wanted to watch the fight were shocked to see it turn serious and quickly stepped back to avoid being hurt.
A dozen people against hundreds—though they had an advantage in strength, the numerical disadvantage put them in a tough fight.
“Don’t get entangled with them, Rod! Hurry up! Take that guy and let’s break through!”
Footsteps in the distance made everyone’s faces turn pale. It seemed things had really escalated this time. Seeing Rod charging headfirst into the crowd, Bit frowned and shouted at him.

This place is ultimately someone else’s territory. Although Water Moon City isn’t a large city, it still has a considerable number of city guards. As time goes by, more and more people will flock here, making the situation increasingly unfavorable for them. The best course of action is to leave this place as soon as possible to get away from those people. All we can hope for now is to deal with these guys quickly and find a safe place to hide temporarily, then leave right away tomorrow.

Nodding, Rod saw another group appearing in the distance. He wasn’t stupid—he knew well the problems in the current situation. He picked up the unconscious soldier from the ground, tied him behind himself with a rope, drew his Dark Dragon Sword, which had never been truly used before, and charged forward along with Bit and the others.

“Trying to run? Stop them! Don’t let a single one get away!”

The young man watching from afar sneered at the scene, realizing their intentions, and shouted loudly at the soldiers.

“Bastards! I told you to shut up!”

Rod grabbed a steel helmet dropped by a soldier from the ground and threw it at them, cursing fiercely.

Thud… Just as the young man was about to shout again, he felt something black rushing toward him. Before he could even let out a cry, darkness covered his eyes, and he fell backward.

“Hehe, Rod, I didn’t expect you to have such a trick!” The officer was terrified by what happened to the young man and quickly rushed over with some soldiers, calling out urgently.

With those people leaving, the pressure on Rod’s side diminished immediately. Bit glanced at Rod beside him and sneered, saying, “That really relieved me. It improved my mood a lot.”

As the pressure lessened, the group launched their most fierce attack. The two magicians unleashed their spells recklessly at the crowd, though they were just minor spells—major spells couldn’t be used yet. If they accidentally killed a few soldiers, the trouble would be huge, and endless at that.

Under the impact of the spells, the enemy’s formation quickly collapsed. It was then the turn of Rod and the other warriors to take action. They sheathed their swords and used them as clubs to strike wildly. Amidst countless screams and cries of pain, they quickly broke through the crowd and reached the outskirts.

“Let’s go! Get away from them!”

As soon as he was free, Rod shouted loudly. Carrying the injured man, the group rushed forward while the enemy reinforcements hadn’t arrived yet. Leveraging their superior strength and agility, they quickly left those soldiers far behind.
…
“Huff… damn it, I’m exhausted!”
After running for who knew how long and passing through countless streets, they finally found a secluded spot and stopped to catch their breath.
“What do we do now?” Rod asked with a bitter smile, looking at the others. After all, it seemed this trouble had started because of him. Now that things had gone wrong, he must be feeling panicked.
“What else can we do? We’ll take backroads, be careful not to get noticed. We’ll leave this hellhole early tomorrow morning. Damn, what bad luck—encountering something like this just by going out!” Bit complained, glancing around at the dark surroundings.
“Rod, what’s wrong with you today? Such things are common on the continent. Why did you intervene? Don’t tell me you’ve never seen this before—once a slave is bought, even his life belongs to his master. If the master wants to, not only can he beat him, but even kill him without anyone interfering! Look, by getting involved this time… hey, it’s better to stay away next time you see something like this!” The oldest mercenary among them said to Rod with a bitter smile. Indeed, as mercenaries, they were used to such scenes. If they interfered in everything, they wouldn’t be able to live at all.
Rod inwardly smiled bitterly. This was indeed the first time he had seen such a thing, but even if it weren’t, he would have intervened. What kind of society was this? Were slaves not human? Why was their life worthless and could be disposed of at will? Once again, Rod deeply despised the flaws in this society’s system. Next time he saw something like this, he would definitely intervene. Rod didn’t say anything about Bit’s and the others’ views. After all, they had grown up in this society for decades and might have already been brainwashed, taking such systems for granted. Rod believed that if he had grown up here too, he might also become indifferent to such things.
In his heart, Rod silently vowed that he would somehow bring an end to such a system.

Of course, these ideas weren’t heard by people like Bit around them; I bet if they had been, those people would have jumped up and cursed loudly.