Chapter 2: Drawing Swords Together

  Bast saw the situation and rushed to support her. The enemy soldiers around her would not let her go so easily, and in an instant seven or eight long swords clashed, but those people only felt a white shadow flashing before their eyes, and they had already lost sight of the cat woman.

  Bastien rushed back to Raimon's side, just as Raimon's sword was pinned down by two enemy soldiers and a third soldier swung his sword at Javier behind him.

  "Never mind me, take care of that guy first!"

  Bastard threw out a curved knife. A silver light flashed in the air, drawing a bright arc, and before Javier's sword-wielding enemy could strike, he felt a chill in his wrist, his long sword clattering to the ground, with his severed hand still tightly gripping the hilt.

  That enemy soldier was stunned for a moment, then let out a shrill cry of despair as blood gushed from the wound on his wrist. The sight shocked the other two men, and taking advantage of their opponent's momentary confusion, Raymond's sword made a powerful stir, already blocking the opponent's seal. He first stabbed one enemy soldier in the neck, then pulled back with force, spinning around to slash the hapless devil who had lost his wrist behind him.

  The remaining enemy soldier was frightened and turned to run, but just as he came back to his senses, he was struck in the neck by Bastard's knife.

  At this time, Bailen was also forced to retreat by Lona's sword. Seeing his subordinates suffering heavy casualties, he was shocked and angry, took a step back, and Bailen shouted in a low voice: "Release the arrow!"

  In an instant, a piercing sound shook the air as over ten arrows suddenly shot towards the crowd, with most of them targeting Raymond and Lona.

  Lona's gaze flashed, and the slender girl swiftly danced with the sword in her hand, cutting down all the arrows shot at her. On the other side, the arrow shot at Raymond was also blocked by Bast.

  However, two of the defenders were caught off guard and were shot.

  "Meow, where did the arrow come from?" Bastet asked in surprise.

  It was only then that they saw clearly, a group of enemy soldiers in the distance took out their bows and crossbows and launched an attack on them. After one round of shooting, these people skillfully replaced the arrows, and the cold arrowheads pointed directly at the crowd.

  "This is trouble..." Raymond muttered.

  If it were a direct close combat, Raymond wouldn't worry, with his and Bast's strength, he had enough confidence to protect Javier completely, and Lona's swordsmanship was also extremely skilled.

  However, if the other side has bows and crossbows, it's a different story. Even if the three of them are fearless, the guards will likely suffer heavy casualties, and if Javier makes another mistake, things will be really bad.

  "Hmph, what an unexpectedly troublesome guy." Beren smiled wryly: "Leave the girl alone, aim at the others and fire!"

  Just at this critical moment, suddenly, the air transmitted the sound of arrow flying - "swish swish".

  However, this was not shot by those crossbowmen. On the contrary, with several miserable cries, nearly half of the crossbowmen fell to the ground in a pool of blood. Upon closer inspection, it turned out that they were the ones who had been hit by arrows.

  "What's going on?" Beren couldn't believe such a sudden turn of events and was shocked.

  But before he could find the murderer, a loud horseshoe sound came, and several huge figures suddenly rushed up from the side. Without time to look closely, Belen hastily swung his sword in front of him, and just heard a loud collision of weapons, he was like being hit by a wild horse, and immediately bounced out.

  At the same time, with a series of miserable cries, several other sword-wielding men had already been chopped down to the ground.

  "Ah...!" Beren hastily took a step back, stopping his momentum. As soon as he saw the attacker clearly, his eyes widened: "It's you!?"

  At this time, Raymond and others also saw clearly who had come, and Bastet's eyes suddenly bulged.

  "Good heavens, is this a man or a horse?"

  Unexpected help appeared, and it was a group of centaur warriors.

  This was the first time Raymond had seen such a creature, with the upper body of a robust man and the lower body from the waist down being completely that of a horse, making it look exceptionally tall when standing.

  They have the upper body of a human, mostly wearing leather armor, and some with bare and robust bodies, carrying bows and arrows or holding war knives and axes, their hair scattered at will, and many people have various strange tattoos on their bodies.

  The lower half of the horse's body is decorated according to personal preference, some are covered with armor, while others hang bone chains and other decorations, which have a wild style of grassland residents.

  Seven or eight centaur warriors suddenly launched a surprise attack, immediately scattering Bailen's men in all directions. Several people were killed under their charge, and the rest retreated in fear.

  Only a few people have such momentum, it can be imagined that if they are on the vast grassland, facing hundreds of thousands of centaurs, what a terrible scene it will be.

  "It's you, after all." At this time, an exceptionally tall centaur warrior emerged from the crowd, staring at Belen: "Someone said that there was a running dog of Dirck here, I didn't quite believe it, and it turned out to be you, Belen."

  This centaur has the upper body of a robust man with scars all over his face, goatee and brown hair standing upright, holding a double-edged battle axe in his hand. The lower half is a horse's body about 1.5 meters tall, also covered in scars, looking like a seasoned warrior who has been through countless battles.

  It seems like they were old acquaintances, and Beren hummed: "So it's you, Tavent. Not following Goodell around, but having the leisure to stroll around on the streets?"

  The centaur warrior called Tavant retorted: "And didn't you, you cur, follow Reynard as well?"

  As he spoke, he glanced at Raymond and the others, his voice low: "The proud bodyguards of Prince Dirk have fallen to the point of bullying ordinary merchants?"

  "This is none of your business." Beren said in a low voice: "Get out of here immediately."

  "Tavent's smile was a low, husky sound: 'Whatever concerns you Dierks dogs is our concern.'"

  Ramon had previously learned from Akman that the Gord Plains and the Kingdom of Dirks had a deep grudge, and the people who came to Orlate City this time to mourn had already clashed many times.

  It's indeed true, not to mention the gunpowder smell in Tavener and Beren languages. Just hearing that there are Dirk soldiers here, these centaurs immediately rushed over, and as soon as they met, they drew their swords without saying a word, it can be seen how deep the hatred is between the two sides.

  However, what truly shocked Raymond were the two words mentioned in Tavern's speech. Prince? Reynard? Wasn't that guy just called master by Beren...

  So who is this mysterious girl named Lona?

  As he thought of this, he turned his head to look at Lona. The mysterious girl seemed to sense his gaze and she also turned her head to glance at Raymond, but still remained silent.

  Javier, who was standing beside them, seemed to have thought of the same question. The merchant looked at Lona and then at Belen, a thoughtful expression in his eyes.

  At this time, the Dirk party and the Centaur were already on fire, just short of opening their throats. Just as both sides were about to take action, a sudden sound of footsteps came, and a group of soldiers wearing Gasperd military uniforms ran over from afar, apparently coming to check after hearing the commotion.

  However, when they approached the front and saw that the conflicting parties were Dirks and Centaurs, those Gasperd soldiers stopped in their tracks and only watched from a distance.

  After the king's death, the entire city of Orlat was in a state of chaos. Otherwise, Beren would not have dared to attack Raymond and others on the street. The recent unrest in the city has contributed greatly to Dirk and Godan's grassland alliance. Since they are nominally representatives of a country coming to mourn, the Gaspar City Defense Army knows it is difficult to control them, so they wisely choose to watch from the sidelines and do not dare to intervene rashly.

  The soldiers of Gasparde also arrived, and Beren's face changed color. He finally let out a furious growl: "Fine, you lowly beastmen, I will never forget today's humiliation."

  "Let's go!"

  At Beren's command, the others picked up their companions' corpses and quickly disappeared.

  Although they had the upper hand, the centaurs seemed to be wary of Belen as well, and watched them leave without hindrance.

  It wasn't until Beren and his group had all left that two men came over from Gasper's city guard. One of them, who looked like an officer, asked, "What just happened?"

  "Tawent's eyes widened: 'Can't you see? Dirk's lackeys are bullying people here, we're just taking justice into our own hands.'"

  The officer didn't dare to argue with the irascible centaur, so he turned his gaze towards Raymond and others: "Is what he said true? Why did you have a conflict with people from the Kingdom of Dirck?"

  "Hehe, it's just a misunderstanding, not worth the trouble of all the adults." The crisis passed, and Jia Weir returned to his usual eight-sided merchant nature.

  He walked over with a smile, shaking the officer's hand as if in gratitude, and of course, just like the steward who dealt with the Minister of Internal Affairs, quietly handed over a little "token".

  The officer was also very knowledgeable, and after taking a sneak peek at the object in his hand to confirm its value, he immediately smiled: "So that's it, you guys seem to have someone injured, do you need help?"

  "No need, no need, we can handle it ourselves." Javier hastily said.

  In keeping with his merchant's habit, Javier did not want to make things complicated and therefore did not want to involve Gasparde's city defense team.

  "Uh, recently the city has been quite unstable, you'd better be careful when entering and exiting." The officer couldn't wait to have fewer things to do, after reminding them a few more times, he left with his subordinates.

  A murder case occurred and it was handled so lightly, which shows how chaotic Orlate City is now.

  "Ah, I haven't thanked you all yet for your help." After the city guards left, Javier gratefully said to the group of centaurs: "I am Javier, representative of the Lowell Merchant Association. If there's anything that can express my gratitude, please don't hesitate to mention it."

  "No need, I hadn't planned on accepting any thanks anyway." The centaur warrior named Tavrent apparently had never heard of the Lovell Exchange, and with a sweeping gesture of his hand: "As long as we can oppose those Dirk's lackeys, that's enough."

  "That's right, as long as we can get rid of those bastards, it's all good." The other centaur warriors chimed in.

  Without inquiring into the cause of the conflict, and even not wanting to know who they had helped, as long as the other party was a Dir person, it was already enough reason, showing how deep the hatred between the two sides was.

  Javier was about to say something else, but Bastet the cat girl suddenly ran to Tavern's feet without anyone noticing, looking up at his tall figure with a curious and envious expression.

  She patted the sturdy horse leg of Tavent with her hand, and the naturally foolish cat girl's mouth opened into an "O" shape: "It really is a horse, young master, this kind of beastman is so strange."

  "Damn it, how could I have forgotten about this guy?" Raymond and Javier cursed in their hearts at the same time.

  At this time, Tavern also discovered the cat girl under his feet. He exclaimed in surprise: "It's rare to see a cat person on the Veronika continent. It seems that I didn't help the wrong person after all, haha..."

  Their shared beastman identity immediately shortened the distance between them, and Tavent happily patted Basute's head. The cat girl licked her lips and suddenly said: "So, can I ride you?"

  "Uh..." As soon as these words came out, Raymond and Javier, who had just breathed a sigh of relief, hung their hearts again.

  Although I don't know what a centaur would think, someone asking to "ride" you doesn't seem like it would make people happy.

  Sure, here is the translation:

  As expected, Tavent's face, which was smiling just a moment ago, suddenly turned gloomy.

  "It's all over... this idiot..." Raymond slapped his forehead.

  Even the usually dull Catwoman knew she was in trouble, she glanced at Tarrant's unhappy face, then sneaked a peek at Raymond and knew she had made a mistake.

  "What did you just say, little girl?"

  Tawent leaned down and asked in a low voice, word by word, next to the cat girl.

  "Hmm... others... others..."

  Although Bastet often does things that make Raymond cry and laugh, the relationship between them is no longer a simple master-slave relationship. For him, the cat girl is more like a silly and mischievous little sister, so in any case, the brother will always have to clean up after his sister's messes.

  "Sorry about this, the idiot speaks without thinking. If what she just said was offending in any way, I apologize on her behalf." Raymond pressed against Baster's head, making her lower it, apologetically facing Tavent.

  The tall centaur didn't say a word, but looked gloomy and stared at Raymond condescendingly, immediately creating a strong sense of oppression.

  Javier couldn't help but look at the two with a worried face, as if he wanted to speak up, but was afraid of triggering an even bigger conflict. Was it going to be like this again, just after they had escaped from danger?

  A moment...

  "Hahaha!" Suddenly, Tavent, who had been calm and collected, burst out laughing in a loud and clear voice.

  "I knew it, the captain is going to use this trick."

  "I wonder how long he can keep up with that face."

  The centaur warriors nearby also burst out laughing.

  "Huh? Huh?" The cat girl was completely dizzy, her eyes full of swirling circles, clearly Tavent's actions had completely bewildered her.

  "Haha, don't mind him, our captain may look fierce but he's like a mother who loves cute things the most, children and small animals are his favorites." A centaur warrior explained.

  Another person also said: "However, his hobby is quite bad, he loves to bully and scare little kids, just now he was just teasing you."

  "I think he can't wait for this cat girl to sit on him, this old lecher."

  "Shut up!" The old base was exposed, and Tawent angrily scolded his subordinates: "Whoever dares to waste words again, I'll make him pay when we get back."

  "Really?" asked Bastar in surprise.

  "Haha, of course! Don't forget that we're half-horse too. If you like it, why not?!" Tavern shouted with a bright smile: "Young men!"

  At his command, the centaur warriors sprang up on their hind legs like warhorses, many letting out a coarse whoop, and for a moment it was as if they were in a horse farm on the prairie, bustling with activity.