Chapter 31: Assassinating the Magician Travel Notes 31 - Page 1

  The weather is getting hotter and hotter, and the one who can best reflect the change in temperature is Ben. Even if it's just a little hot, it can be magnified countless times on his body. All the way, Ben kept wiping the sweat from his face, as if his ball-like body was storing nothing but sweat.

  "What terrible weather! Only I'm unlucky, having to come out and rush about for a living. Originally, I could have been enjoying iced sour plum soup in the cool courtyard, but instead I have to trek hundreds of kilometers. I really don't know what sin I committed in my past life, sigh!

  He continued to grumble and curse the weather, cursing Dalin Port where they were headed, and lamenting his own misfortune... Although he was like this, when one of his servants asked for a rest, he scolded them severely: "I'm still gritting my teeth and persevering on the road, and you want to take a break? What's the point of me spending money to feed you bunch of good-for-nothings?"

  As a result, everyone shut up, leaving only Mr. Ben continuing to grumble."

  "Mr. Ben, what's the hurry? You're rushing to take care of something on such a hot day, aren't you?" Fanny asked with a smile as she chatted with Ben.

  "Alas, it's a family scandal, I'm a businessman, relying on my hard work in my early years, decades of operation have made my family wealthy, everything was fine, unfortunately, we never had children. Twenty years ago, I married a concubine and finally had a son, to cultivate him to take over my business, I didn't spare any expense on him." Mr. Ben said, shaking his plump head as he began to tell his story.

  "Who would have known, this little rabbit doesn't study well, from a young age he loved to tinker with things that aren't quite right, especially loves playing the accordion. At first, I thought it was okay, I saw him liking it and even helped him find a teacher to teach him specifically, thinking in my heart that even if he didn't go into business in the future, my savings would be enough for him to live comfortably. Since he likes it, let him learn." Mr. Ben said this with his nose, eyes, and eyebrows all revealing a regretful expression.

  "Two years ago, he said he wanted to go out and study abroad to broaden his horizons. I thought, young people love to have fun, going out to broaden their horizons is good too, maybe after coming back, they will have gained more experience, maybe they will even be willing to take over the family business, so I just went along with him."

  "After all, he is my only son and I still worry about him whenever he goes out. My business is all over the mainland, so I have my subordinates keep an eye on his whereabouts at all times and report back to me regularly. Who would have thought that recently I received news that my little rascal has fallen for a prostitute in Darlington Harbour? Apparently, this little vixen plays the piano very well and my son is infatuated with her, spending all day with her. And just recently, I heard that this little vixen is from some island nation overseas and that little scoundrel actually wants to follow her back to her hometown to settle down!" Mr Ben said, already fuming with rage.

  "Are you going to persuade your son to come back now?" I asked from the side.

  "Persuade?" Mr. Ben's small eyes widened: "I'm going to go tie up that little rabbit and then catch that little demon and drown her in the sea, see if she dares to seduce my son!"

  We looked at each other in silence and stopped asking further questions, after all, it was their business.

  At the moment when they were speechless, Evan, who was scouting ahead, suddenly galloped over on horseback and arrived in front of Tric. Evan opened his mouth and said: "Twenty-two riders are charging towards us from that direction, it seems like they're heading straight for us."

  I saw Mr. Ben's face change greatly after hearing Evan's words, and he muttered something in a low voice. I asked him, "Mr. Ben, it seems like you knew someone was coming?" Everyone present focused their attention on him when they heard my words.

  "The master's face changed several times, and he said: 'To be honest with you, I had an enemy in my early years. He was the lover of that little concubine I brought back home. At that time, I passed by a poor family's door and saw a girl, and I immediately liked her. I spent some thought and brought her back home, but who knew that this woman had a sweetheart? When he found out that I used tricks to take away his lover, he was resentful and came to my door to make trouble several times.' Speaking of this, the master snorted in his nose: 'A poor little boy, how could he be my opponent? As a result, I used some tricks to drive him out of town. Unexpectedly, he later became a thief and even heard that he became the leader of the thieves. These years, he has been thinking of finding me to take revenge, but I usually live in seclusion, and there is no opportunity for him to take action. This time I went out on a long trip, and I expected him to come looking for trouble. You think of a way to help me get rid of him, and I will give each of you five more gold coins. If you can help me kill him, I will add twenty more gold coins to each of you.' The master stretched out two plump fingers towards us."

  After hearing this, I suddenly felt that maybe I shouldn't have taken on this task after all. It's another story about someone who is rich but not benevolent and uses their power to bully others. Although it may not be entirely his fault, I really dislike stories like this.

  I glanced around at the others, Trick furrowed his brow, Evan remained expressionless as usual, Klar's face showed a playful and teasing expression while Fenny clearly displayed her disgust.

  As I was carefully watching everyone, Trick spoke up: "Whatever the reason, protecting our employer is our mission. Now we need to resolve this crisis first. Everyone follow me to that hill over there and occupy the advantageous terrain before anything else. All personnel prepare for battle!"

  Trick finished speaking and led the team towards a nearby hill, when the team arrived at the hill, Trick commanded everyone to build simple defensive fortifications on the hill. I also set up several traps on the hill. Most of the servants brought by Ben were also sturdy men, who could fight with weapons and joined the defense ranks. I took a look, except for us five people, Ben's twelve servants were also waiting in line behind the simple earthwork. These people are definitely not as good at fighting as bandits, but they are strong enough to be considered having some combat power, it depends on the strength of those bandits.

  Soon, a cloud of dust rose in the distance, and twenty-two black dots approached from afar, quickly arriving at the foot of the mountain where we were. The leader saw that we were already prepared, immediately raised his hand, signaling for the people behind him to stop. The twenty-two riders milled around at the foot of the mountain for a while before drawing their long swords and letting out a loud shout, charging up the mountain. One of the leaders shouted: "Ben, today is your day of death! Twenty years of humiliation, today I will make you pay it all back!"