429 The Golden Sons Are All Lurkers (1/2)
Even the regular residents within the city amounted to almost a million.
The slums were in similar conditions to those in White Elephant State, although they were twice as big.
Those slums were the main territory of the Silver Mercenaries.
As a Rogue, or as he was commonly called, a thief, Husseret had learned the skills including bluffing, coercing, and convincing, as well as other specialties in ”communication” apart from stealth and anti-stealth skills.
Besides, he could trade intelligence in the Guild of Rogues here, which gave him more advantages.
So, it only took him three days to figure out the basics of the Silver Mercenaries.
Inside the hotel, the five friends were gathered in a room reading the city map on the desk. Circles had been drawn on the slum area on the left side as well as other places to mark the territory of the Silver Mercenaries.
”We'll start from this place.” Roland pointed at the slums. ”This is a world at the bottom level. Based on Husseret's investigation, the Silver Mercenaries have been sucking the slums' blood. At least one-third of their revenue is from the slums.”
Li Lin asked, not entirely convinced, ”How much can they suck out of the slums?”
”There must've been a lot of slums that they took advantage of.” Roland continued, ”Betta and you will wander in this slum later. Betta is always lucky when it comes to mission-triggering. I don't think it will take long for you to receive a quest against the Silver Mercenaries.”
”Then what will you do?” asked Li Lin.
Roland was not joining them on the trip to the slums, but nobody thought that he would slack off.
”I'll scout the Northern Dawn Woods from the sky and try to determine where the relics are mostly likely to be located.”
Brazil was perplexed. ”That's a forest. What can you possibly see from the sky?”
”I can cover it with my mental power. Though I can't cover it all at once, there won't be a problem if I hover above the woods for several laps.”
Li Lin clicked his tongue. ”You do have a lot of tricks. I didn't know that Mages could work as reconnaissance drones.”
Brazil said, ”Why don't you create a Mage character too? I have a feeling that the more Mages we have, the better.”
”Forget it,” Li Lin said without any hesitation. ”I don't think I'm smart enough. It will be embarrassing for a high-school graduate to play as a Mage.”
Everybody laughed.
Li Lin was the only person in the gang who never went to college. He joined the army after he graduated from high school.
They had been watching over Roland and his friends, fearing that they might sneak to the Northern Dawn Woods.
Actually, normal people would've left Pine Wind City when they were watched in such a way, but Roland and his friends were still here, which further convinced the Silver Mercenaries that they were hoping to find something in the Northern Dawn Woods.
On the other hand, the Silver Mercenaries were already turning the Northern Dawn Woods upside down, hoping to find the treasure in the forest by themselves.
But they hadn't found any leads yet.
So, the people who were sent to watch over the Golden Sons dared not relax at all but followed the targets closely.
It was well-known that something important would always happen once the Golden Sons formed a group of five.
That was not a secret among the mercenaries.
Roland glanced at them and walked to the door, before he swooshed up into the sky.
A Mage who could fly… Those mercenaries certainly couldn't follow Roland, so they could only watch over Betta and the rest of them.
Betta smiled at them and then led his friends to the slums.
Roland flew fast and soon came to the sky above the Northern Dawn Woods.
He swooped a dozen meters above the woods and established his mental power field.
Earlier, he had learned the trick to colorize the vision provided via mental power from a branch chairman at the library in the capital's headquarters. He was inspired by the trick and figured out how to further expand his mental power.
In such a mode, his mental power couldn't distinguish the souls of human beings from those of animals, but it could detect the terrain precisely.
It was exactly such a mental power field that Roland unfolded.
He hovered above the Northern Dawn Woods and blanket-scouted the terrain below.
Because Human Cannonball was very fast, and he was flying at a low altitude, he caused loud noises, and the Silver Mercenaries at the Northern Dawn Woods naturally noticed him.
The archers at several sentry posts aimed at him, but none of them dared to shoot their arrows, partly because Roland was too fast for them to hit, partly because they had been instructed by their deputy captain Spara not to attack the Golden Sons unless they were attacked.
As long as they obeyed the rules, the Golden Sons wouldn't dare to do anything randomly.
The truth was that Spara was only half-correct.
He was right about not giving the players a chance to fight back, but the players did not have to attack him to take him down.