Chapter: Chapter 2: New Century (Epilogue)
Chapter 2: New Century (Epilogue)
Today, a special guest arrived at the Winter Tavern.
He hid his body in a black robe, wearing a hood, and sat alone in a corner, out of place with the noisy atmosphere around him.
But everyone just found it strange. After all, taverns are mixed places, and it’s normal for one or two crazy individuals to appear once in a while.
“Sir… uh, sir? What would you like to drink?”
A scantily clad tavern girl walked up to Xi Wei, her body swaying like a snake, and asked hesitantly.
“Bring me the best wine you have here.”
Xi Wei took out two silver coins and steadily dropped them into the tavern girl’s cleavage.
She didn’t expect him to be such a generous patron.
“You are truly generous, please wait a moment~ If you need anything else, you can also tell me, my name is Vina~”
The tavern girl smiled enchantingly and winked at Xi Wei, swaying her hips.
But that wink was destined to be cast into the air.
Xi Wei had the cute and soft little maid Loli to warm his bed every day, and he had kissed high and pure fox-eared girls like Ruo Yi. How could these wild flowers and weeds outside catch his eye?
He had been waiting in the tavern for a long time, waiting for that Bolt to walk into the trap.
He finally decided to do this personally. If he had gone back to the castle to ask others to do it, it would have been easy to alert the enemy. After all, he still didn’t know which knight was hidden behind the scenes. It would be troublesome if Bolt was silenced in advance.
Time passed by, and Xi Wei had already sat there and drunk three cups of wine. The tavern girl had winked at him more than a dozen times. Just as he was about to lose his patience.
A young man wearing leather armor, with a dagger at his waist, who looked rather disheveled, entered the Winter Tavern.
This person was Bolt.
The moment he discovered Bolt, the usually calm Xi Wei suddenly erupted with a powerful aura. His body lunged like a raging dragon, his hand like an iron pincer grabbing Bolt’s neck.
His vast Qi surged, making the black robe flutter. In an instant, the two of them were in an empty alley.
Bolt was scared stiff. The man gripping his neck felt like an enraged giant dragon, ready to swallow him whole at any moment.
His pupils dilated in extreme fear, and foul-smelling liquid flowed down his leather pants onto the ground.
“Now, I ask, you answer.”
“If you say anything else, you will die.”
Xi Wei looked at Bolt with cold eyes. His voice was extremely icy, almost devoid of any emotion, but the rage contained within his words was evident.
Bolt nodded vigorously in fear.
He had a premonition that if he said one more unnecessary word or begged for mercy, the man before him would immediately snap his neck.
“Did you steal the severance pay from the Bourne-Critt family?”
“Yes…”
“Anything else? Whose else did you steal from?”
“Also… also, the Dick family, the Able family, and the Barrow family. Besides that… that’s all. Only these people live in the shantytown.”
“Who ordered you to do this?”
Bolt hesitated when he heard this, but he immediately felt the iron hand on his neck tighten. He quickly cried out:
“It was Jar, Knight Jar… He forced me to do it… Please spare me… Lord… Ah—!”
Before Bolt could finish his words, his neck had already been crushed into a pulp.
Xi Wei coldly wiped the bloodstains on his hands with Bolt’s leather armor. Fragments of memory about Knight Jar surfaced in his mind.
Jar was one of his earliest followers, joining his ranks when he was just a Great Knight.
Now, Jar’s strength was still among the top Great Knights, second only to Clemon.
In Xi Wei’s impression, he was a graceful blond man, humble, and true to his word—a standard, faithful knight.
He simply couldn’t imagine such a person doing such a despicable thing.
He decided to visit Jar’s home personally and see how this former follower had degenerated into a state worse than a dog.
Jar’s home was located in the inner city district of Winter Fort, a relatively good residence among his subordinates.
Xi Wei had never treated his subordinates harshly. Gudbad washing his underwear and socks for a year was his own choice, and besides, it also helped improve the relationship between Gudbad and his soldiers.
Standing at Jar’s doorstep, looking at the sturdy and beautiful Gothic house, and hearing the intense panting sounds of a man and a woman inside, Xi Wei thought of the tragic state of Bourne’s family.
An irrepressible rage ignited in his heart, prompting Xi Wei to kick the door open with a force.
The shattered door not only interrupted the illicit affair of the man and woman inside, but its residual force also smashed through two walls, finally embedding itself in the innermost wall.
“Playing dirty, huh? One against two?”
Xi Wei sneered as he looked at Jar and the woman cowering in his arms on the bed. He thought to himself, why didn’t he kick the door towards the bed earlier and finish all three of them?
“Since I’m here, you know why.”
Jar’s face was pale, and his expression kept changing, from shock to fear. Finally, after hearing Xi Wei’s words, it turned into a deathly stillness.
“I’m sorry, my Lord, I have failed your trust.”
“Will you execute me?”
“Execute you?” Xi Wei laughed in anger, “You’re thinking too simply. Can your crimes be washed away with a simple execution!”
“My Lord, I don’t understand!”
Jar’s emotions gradually became frantic. He said fiercely, “They are just dead people, why do they need severance pay? Are those lowly peasants worthy?”
“I’m a Great Knight, with a monthly salary of 3 gold coins. After those dead people are gone, they immediately receive 10 gold coins in severance pay. Why?”
“Are their lives worth that much? And their families, those lowly peasants, can still receive 5 silver coins from the treasury every month. These lowly peasants have done nothing!”
“My Lord, look, with 10 gold coins, I can live more comfortably!” Jar said hoarsely, spreading his hands crazily and patting the woman beside him.
“My Lord, are you going to kill a knight who has followed you for many years, for such a trivial matter, for a few insignificant lowly peasants?”
“I am a Great Knight!”
Jar looked up and met Xi Wei’s gaze, his eyes full of pleading and hope.
But to his despair, the usually gentle and smiling Lord was now expressionless.
His eyes were filled with disgust and hatred, as if he were looking at a pile of excrement covered in maggots.
“Do you think you just stole some severance pay? Inciting thugs? And this is in Winter City. If I weren’t here, would you be trying to sit in my position?”
“You don’t deserve to call yourself a knight.”
“If you had stolen from the inner city soldiers’ severance pay, I would have respected you a little more. Unfortunately, you steal from those who are already struggling.”
“You’re finished.”
Xi Wei retorted coldly.
He slowly walked to Jar’s front and, under Jar’s desperate gaze, grabbed his collar and pulled him forward.
“Now I will take you back to Winter Fort. This afternoon, accompanied by the ringing of Winter Fort’s bells, you will be sent to the Town Square.”
“There, I have prepared a noose for you. You will atone for your evil deeds under the witness of all the citizens of Winter City.”
