Chapter 1440 - Reconnaissance in the City (1/2)

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation  Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

When the sun rose, the old and bloated medieval city seemingly regained a brief vitality. The streets hummed with animals and carriages. The morning sun shone on city walls and towers, illuminating the glass panes on the bell tower as well as coating the steeples of the church and castles with a golden glow. The warm sunlight finally fell into the dirty slum, as though it was about to bake and dry the smelly ditches in Rue Truite and its surrounding dark neighborhood.

Gates around the city began to open. Soldiers in blue and white stood in front of the inner city gate known as Porte du Berger as they watched respectful, hunched residents of the outer city pass through the gate to make a living in the inner city market and juggler square. Occasionally, over-sized caravans could be seen passing by with gypsy women in colorful dresses sitting on top of the carriages. The soldiers would harass the caravans by demanding a few coins, or cheaply taking advantage of those gypsy girls. No one would bat an eye at the soldiers’ actions because even the beggars in Rue Truite knew that those Gypsies were barbaric creatures outside civilized society. Allowing their caravans into the city was the greatest kindness the archbishop and seigneurs could show the Gypsies. Had they not paid the protection money, those Gypsies would be arrested under the pretext of being minions of black magic, then hanged outside the city.

The harassment the Gypsies received in the city was also part of their protection money.

Lily and Hao Ren had wormed their way into the crowd. With their hoods on, they lowered their heads and disguised themselves as farmers to cover up their apparent oriental faces. Their disguise was a little too rudimentary; any soldier who cared to take a closer look would blow their cover. But the guards at the city gate were slackers. They just stood there pretending to guard the city gate. They were mainly there to show off the power of the city’s lord and extort foreigners as well as small merchants.

The inner city was much more prosperous than the outer city, thus the buildings there were more organized and well-planned. But in Hao Ren’s eyes, the evolution was rather trivial, especially when Hao Ren had seen modern cities and the Otherworld. No human architecture from that era could amaze him anymore.

Hao Ren kept his eyes opened. Together with Lily’s hypersensitive hearing ability, the two of them gathered as much information as they wanted in the unfamiliar city without displaying any of the nervousness that outsiders would typically have. Not long after, they found their target: a small square at the edge of the inner city.

The square was not a rallying place. Several yawning soldiers were standing guard there to prevent people from coming close. They were guarding something at the center of the square: a scaffold and two stone pillars, which had been blackened by smoke, with buckles used to fix the ropes in position. It was a public place of execution by fire.

There were no more ashes around the fire column; it had probably been cleaned up. But there was a male body still hanging on the gallows. The body dangled in the air with ragged linen wrapped around its dried limbs. It seemed that the person had died quite some time ago.

“Gosh, no wonder there’s a plague every now and then during this era,” Lily stuck her tongue out and said in a whisper. “Germs spring up like mushrooms on the corpse when it’s hung in the open like that.”

“It’s how the ruler maintains public order, at least in this era. They hang a prisoner for a dozen days until the rope snaps by itself—but they usually don’t carry this out in the city.”

“I know of this. After all, I am a four-time Peking University graduate.” Lily twitched her lips. She pretended to tidy her clothes while her eyes darted around. “Mr. Landlord, do you think there will be traces left behind by the witches in the vicinity?”

“Most likely.”

“Did Madam Marie not say that there was no witch arrested? The so-called rescue operation was a smokescreen.”

“Hasse told me not believe in anything the otherworldlings say. Honesty and trust have died in their guts,” Hao Ren whispered. “The demon hunters will be much more honest and reliable.”

“Oh, oh…” Lily replied.

Hao Ren glanced at the husky. “Hasse has also given me the ‘Trust Ranking’ of different races in the Dark Ages. I can use it to judge who isn’t trustworthy, who I can trust conditionally, and who’s the most trustworthy. Do you want to hear it?”

“Mr. Landlord, where do the werewolf’s rank?” The husky maiden had been hooked as expected.

Lily had long accepted the fact that she was a husky, but she could not help but be curious about things related to werewolves.