Chapter 726: We’re in Big Trouble
I looked at the now empty city gate and the large number of fallen soldiers, feeling like I’d gotten into trouble.
It wasn’t that many, only about thirty or forty people, but I had killed the most of them. Seeing them draw their weapons out of nervousness, I immediately cast Poison Cloud Technique, which ended up killing a large group.
In the past, I only encountered powerful enemies, much stronger than me, who often required multiple spells to be effective. Among those, Poison Cloud Technique was usually just a supplementary spell, often unable to even inflict significant damage.
I never expected that using Poison Cloud Technique this time would result in so many deaths. The main reason was that I had used up all my normal spellcasting materials in previous battles. Now I only had a few potent poison sacs left, from the Centipede Snake and the Petrified Snake Chicken. Both were directly lethal. I finally understood the destructive power of magic on ordinary people.
I had no hesitation in killing these scummy soldiers; they deserved their fate. However, killing so many soldiers in Cando City was bound to cause trouble, right?
“These damned desperadoes still dared to resist, causing us a lot of trouble,” Lair realized the predicament. He was going to report to the Lord of the City to handle it. It was different from him directly killing the Lord of the City’s soldiers. After all, he was the Earl’s son, not the Earl himself.
“Young Master, we’ll be in trouble if other soldiers see us,” Tandri reacted quickly, covering his face with a cloth. If necessary, he could even hide in the wilderness for months.
“No need. I’ll take responsibility for this. I did nothing wrong in the first place; they attacked me. I believe the Lord of the City will listen to me, and those soldiers will definitely not get away with it. However, you all are indeed a problem,” Lair said.
He was certainly confident. If it came down to reason, those soldiers had been insubordinate, corrupted Cando City’s order, and influenced the Lord of the City’s rule. He was definitely in the right. If it came down to force, he was also the Earl’s son. The Lord of the City’s soldiers attempting to assassinate the Earl’s son was a major issue, and the Lord of the City had to give the Earl an explanation.
But the problem was that all the soldiers in Cando City were likely in cahoots and colluding with each other. If Lair exposed these matters, they would certainly not fare well and might even seek revenge.
However, they were students of the Magic Academy anyway. Once this was over, they could simply return to Burgos. Those soldiers wouldn’t be able to find them even if they wanted revenge.
But the rest of us, including Tandri, were not so lucky. We were locals, and there were the five rescued female adventurers who were innocently caught up in this incident. They might even face the soldiers’ wrath.
“How about this, we go into the Dungeon. We’ve already reached the outer city anyway. This way, no one will know we were involved in this incident, and Lair, you can go directly to report it as soon as you enter the city,” Lorna suggested. She had already thought about what to do afterward from the start.
This indeed seemed feasible, so we walked directly to the hidden entrance and headed into the dark, sunless Dungeon. As we left the scene, I already saw people coming to steal equipment from the soldiers’ corpses.
Just like last time, the Dungeon was dark but lively. Down below, the lights were bright, and I even felt there were more people.
I found out that many residents who were previously scattered in the wilderness had to retreat to the surrounding cities’ Dungeons because of the recent increase in monsters, leaving them nowhere to live. So, more and more people gathered, making it feel very lively.
There were also some people from the villages outside the city who came to seek refuge. Since they couldn’t get into Cando City, they moved into the Dungeon. Because the Dungeon could be dug deeper, even further if needed, its capacity was larger. Those who struggled to survive on the surface and even Otherworldly beings could hide there.
However, inversely, there were more monsters underground, especially after the corrosive elements rose. Based on the worried conversations around us, we learned that monster attacks were frequent in the deeper and outer areas of the Dungeon, and this had happened several times already.
For this reason, the residents of the Dungeon had established a Militia Group, mainly composed of Otherworldly beings. I saw people patrolling and reinforcing defenses everywhere, and also some soldiers from Cando City. It seemed the rumor about the soldiers and the Dungeon jointly defending the area was true.
These soldiers were unaware of what had happened on the surface, so they wouldn’t be looking for us. Moreover, they were engaged in legitimate work, defending against monster attacks. I thought their overall quality was much better than those scummy soldiers.
It seemed that the honest people in Cando City’s army were all sent to the Underground World to do this dirty and tough work, while more well-trained troops left the city to eliminate Magical Beasts. Only a group of scummy soldiers were left to guard the city, which led to this farce.
The Dungeon’s defense had nothing to do with us, so we entered Cando City through the Dungeon as before. The defense was indeed a little stricter than before, but there was still no inspection. After all, the main purpose was to guard against monsters, not people, as monsters generally wouldn’t disguise themselves to infiltrate.
This time, the exit was not in Old Golden Tooth’s market but in a more secluded corner. The Dungeon covered the entire downtown area of Cando City, so naturally, there were many exits.
I was somewhat familiar with this place. Seeing the scorched houses nearby, I realized this was near that underground trading fair where I was attacked by a serial murderer. At that time, I was tracking a Ghoul and came close, but they crawled into a drain, making it impossible for me to follow.
Thinking about it again, that underground trading fair, which had already been sealed off, was also built underground. And with so many guests, it didn’t seem like a number that could be hidden in the downtown area.
I guessed that the trading fair probably also had a passage to the Dungeon, and most of the guests actually entered from the Underground World. This way, if there was an emergency, the organizers could evacuate them through the Underground World.
And those Ghouls were also like that. They hid in the dark corners of the Dungeon during the day and crawled out of the sewers at night to find corpses. The entire Underground World was actually always interconnected with the surface.
“No one should be following us. We’re safe now. All we need to do is go to the Lord of the City’s mansion to report the incident,” Tandri said.
Jayad, Older Brother, Lorna, and I had all checked with our respective methods. No one was following us. In fact, no one even noticed us. With such a large flow of people in the Underground World every day, who would pay attention?
“Excellent. It should be goodbye then, as following us further would mean being seen. Tandri, you don’t need to accompany me to the Lord of the City’s mansion. The mission is complete, and I’ll give you your commission now,” Lair said.
“Young Master, do you really not need me to accompany you to the Lord of the City’s mansion? I can follow you secretly while wearing a mask,” Tandri asked.
“No need. If you’re discovered, you might be in danger. Then wouldn’t our specialized infiltration into the city be in vain? I will protect them,” Milti agreed with Lair’s decision.
