Patriarchal Kindred

Chapter 4 - The Fire Fox Mercenaries

The fire in Colin's bedroom had been extinguished by the time the first rays of the morning sun hit the Grey Castle.

It was a good thing that the castle was built of non-flammable rock, otherwise the fire would not have burned down only one room.

In the messy room, Eamonn the butler stood with his arms folded, staring in awe at the charred body in front of him.

Knock, knock ......

With heavy footsteps, a tall figure appeared in the room.

"Eamon, I've had the castle sealed off, while all the entrances and exits of Grey Castle Town have been tightened up, humph, I don't believe I can still let the murderer get away this time!"

The man was three metres tall and as strong as a black bear.

He was wrapped in heavy armour, but wore no helmet, revealing a large, round, bald head, with a fleshy face, a fierce expression and a huge battle axe in his hand that was still stained with blood, enough to scare every child in the town of Grey Castle into tears.

"Hard work, Knight Regal." Eamonn did not turn around, his eyes still fixed on the charred corpse, only a little lax in focus, as if he was thinking about something.

Seeing this, Rego thought the old steward was grieving for the young master's death and sighed, "Hey, let's sort out the young master's body and bury it when his lordship returns."

Eamonn did not respond.

Regal touched his big bald head, thinking the old butler was blaming himself, so he came a few steps closer to Eamon and whispered, "Eamon, I haven't seen Knight Carter today, I suspect ......"

Hearing Carter's name, Eamon's lax eyes instantly coalesced, then turned to the servants who were still tidying up the mess in the house and ordered, "No need to clean up here for now, you guys go down."

"Yes."

After the servants had left, Eamon tilted his head slightly to look at the tall Rego and asked, "I remember that you and Carter competed once at the knight tournament held by Count Uman three years ago?"

Rego was a little puzzled, he didn't understand why Eamonn would suddenly bring up a previous knight tournament, but returned, "Was that three years ago? I think so. Hey, I beat him up pretty badly that time!"

Eamon laughed, "Yeah, he got poked off his warhorse with a shot from you, broke his arm and lost two teeth."

"Heh heh." At the mention of his glorious exploits, Rego was a little embarrassed, but at the same time, he was doubly puzzled, "Now why are you talking about that?"

Eamonn didn't answer, but continued, "Do you remember if the two teeth that Carter lost were on the left or the right?"

"How would I know that!" Rego was a little agitated, Eamon's response had left him puzzled and discontented.

Eamon didn't care about Rego's attitude, but gave a mysterious smile and pointed to the charred corpse on the ground, "If you can't remember, now you can go and see for yourself."

Rego's brow furrowed and stared at Eamon with copper eyes for a long time, seeing that he did not look like he was joking, before he finally knelt down and reached out to break the corpse's mouth open.

"Ka-ching!"

The corners of Eamonn's mouth twitched as he watched the rough-handed Rego break the corpse's jaw off in its entirety.

Rego was also startled, then fumbled around trying to put the fallen jaw back on ......

"Come on, stop messing with it and take a closer look at his teeth." Eamon looked at the clumsy Rego and was really a bit speechless.

"Oh, good ...... hey! He really does have two chips on his lower left side of the tooth bed!" Rego turned back with both eyes glowing and asked eagerly, "Was it the left tooth that Carter lost in the first place?"

Clearly, the reckless man also realised that something was wrong with the corpse.

Unfortunately, Eamon shook his head, "I don't know which two teeth Carter lost back then."

Regal's eyebrows knitted and he was about to speak when he heard Eamonn say again, slowly, "But I know that Young Master Colin never lost any teeth."

"That's right!" Regor yelled excitedly as he sprang to his feet.

But then, as if realising he was being too loud, he hastily lowered his voice again, "So, this corpse isn't Young Master Collin at all, it's that bastard Carter!"

"No." Eamonn, however, smiled and shook his head, "The young master has been killed by Carter. You must now lead the men to apprehend this evil betrayer."

"What?" Regal's eyes widened again, "You're stupid, aren't you?"

Eamon sighed and patiently explained, "Think about it, why did the young master set this fire? And why did he leave without saying goodbye?"

Regal stroked his big round bald head and seemed to understand, "You mean that the young master deliberately burnt this corpse to make people think he was dead?"

"Yes."

"Why would the young master do that?"

"Probably to see who was really behind Carter? What was the purpose? Or maybe he wants to keep himself hidden ...... Anyway, since the young master has his own plans, all we can do is to cooperate with him and make this game, work."

"Alright, I understand." Rego stifled his head and headed out, "I'm going to order the capture of that bastard Carter."

Eamonn watched Rego's tall back disappear out the door and silently added in his mind, "Or maybe, the young master is no longer afraid to trust us ......"

----------

"How could I not trust you?" Colin said with a smile to the old mercenary in front of him, "I mean to pay you half of the commission first, and the remaining half when you help me introduce you into a merchant caravan heading to Fallen Eagle City."

"And what if you refuse to pay the rest when I introduce you to a merchant caravan?" The old mercenary was obviously not too happy with this payment method of paying a deposit before settling the final payment.

"Do you think that I am the one who is short of that little money?" Colin took out a gold coin and tossed it up and down in his hand.

The old mercenary's eyes instantly straightened, his gaze moving up and down closely with the gold coin.

It couldn't be helped that for the lower strata of society like him, copper coins were the everyday currency, silver coins were even rare, and as for gold coins, they were something that only nobles and big merchants would have.

"Then I want thirty copper coins!" The old mercenary realised that what was in front of him was a fat sheep and immediately started to raise his price.

"Twenty pieces. Any more and I'll find someone else."

"Sold!" The old mercenary joyfully took the ten copper coins Colin threw at him and began to lead the way.

A few moments later, the two arrived at the western district of Greycastle Town and walked into an old, outdated tavern.

"The Bearded Tavern."

Upon entering, Corin found that the tavern's name was indeed true to its name, and those drinking inside were almost all bearded men at a glance.

The old mercenary was obviously very familiar with the place, greeting the crowd as he led Colin inside.

When the two arrived at a long table in the corner of the tavern, the old mercenary bowed his back and muttered for a moment in the ear of a bearded man sitting in the main seat.

The bearded man glanced at Colin for a few moments in the direction of the old mercenary's finger, then beckoned Colin over.

"This is the leader of the Fire Fox Mercenary Regiment - Lord Saru. Lord Saru is a second-rank warrior, and he also happens to be heading to Fallen Eagle City, so you'll be safe if you follow their group!" The old mercenary first introduced the bearded man to Colin.

Then he turned to the bearded man again, his attitude was obviously much more attentive: "Lord Saru, this is my nephew, don't look at him as not strong, but his martial arts skills are quite good ......"

"He is your nephew?" Saru snorted, interrupting the old mercenary's words.

"Yes ...... yes!" The old mercenary choked slightly, and a hint of panic flashed in his eyes.

Then he hurriedly explained, "You don't see that he doesn't look like me, mainly because this boy's appearance follows that of my brother-in-law, and for all these years, I've been running around outside, this old face has long since lost its appearance, you know, when I was young I was also handsome and elegant, with an extraordinary temperament ...... "

The old mercenary was interrupted again by a sneer from Saru: "Your nephew is a knight?"

Hearing the word knight, it was as if the old mercenary was suddenly strangled, and his bragging words immediately choked in his throat.

Colin's pupils instantly contracted.

(End of this chapter)