The brief reminder shattered Isidor's fantasy. He never expected that this tiny knot could not be identified!
Although he was a little disappointed, tonight's harvest was enough to satisfy Isidor. From now on, he only needs to wait in the residence of the circus members, and he will always find an opportunity to take action.
"I'm sorry, Nymega. This is a necessary preparation for revenge. I promise it won't happen again." Isidor looked at Nymega lying motionless beside him and stroked her head guiltily.
"No, I feel...it's quite exciting. I think I can handle it." Nymega said, holding the corner of Isidor's clothes.
"...You take a rest first. Tomorrow we will go to the auction to buy some suitable weapons, and then officially start our revenge!" said Isidor.
The next morning, Nimega climbed out of bed full of energy again. It seemed that the fight yesterday only consumed her physical strength and did not cause any harm to her body.
Seeing Nimega so lively, Isidor breathed a sigh of relief. The two of them took all their savings and went directly to the auction site.
The auction was temporarily rebuilt from the town's theater and was divided into two venues, the east and west. The west venue was mainly for merchants, auctioning various precious monster materials; while the east venue was for adventurers, auctioning various magic props and weapons and equipment.
Isidor and Nymega naturally came to the east side of the venue and, with their adventurer identity cards, they got a relatively front position.
"Now let's start bidding on the first product!" said the host, holding up a pitch-black sword in both hands. The light magic on both sides shone on the sword, allowing people to see the appearance of the sword clearly even from a long distance away.
"This 'Black Flame Dragon Sword' is a top-grade equipment appraised by the guild! It uses the fine steel veins of the Death Mountain Range, and the forging of the blueprint is a master-level craftsmanship. The surface is coated with an anti-magic coating, which can ignore magic effects! And most importantly, the power of the Black Flame Dragon is infused into the interior of the sword, which can summon black flames to directly kill the enemy! It can be called the most powerful magic sword on earth!" The host introduced with saliva flying.
"That sounds great. Would you like to consider it?" Isidor asked Nymega who was sitting next to him.
"The host here is always bragging. What's the 'power of the black flame dragon'? In fact, it's just runes engraved with fire magic. Besides, I use a dagger, and a broadsword doesn't suit my style." Nymega said coldly.
Isidor nodded thoughtfully. Sure enough, the products that the host introduced next were all titled "the strongest in the world", "the strongest in history", and "the strongest on the face of the earth". Isidor was so moved that tears came out of his eyes.
Just then, a piece of equipment that Isidor was interested in finally appeared on the stage.
"Everyone, please look at this dagger! This is also a top-grade equipment! It is made of a composite metal of several materials. While ensuring its strength, it is also inlaid with an enchanted stone of wind attribute. This adds an attack of wind attribute to each slash, making it even sharper!" the host introduced enthusiastically.
At this time, the assistant brought in a dummy for sword testing, and the host raised the short sword and slashed it horizontally and vertically twice, and the dummy was immediately cut into four pieces. Moreover, each time he slashed, there was a whistling sound of wind, which was obviously an additional effect of the wind attribute enchantment.
"This is the sharpest dagger in history. The starting price is one thousand silver coins! Each bid increase must be no less than fifty silver coins." The host said loudly.
However, the audience did not seem to be very interested. Although the sword looked good, there were too few adventurers who used daggers. Secondly, after the previous auction, many people's budgets had been almost used up, so no one raised a placard for a while.
"It seems that no one has bid. We can buy it at the lowest price later." Nymega said excitedly.
She had asked Dora Mei for tonight's auction list a long time ago, and knew that this was the only top-quality dagger available tonight, so she was determined to get it.
"I bid one thousand and fifty silver coins." Just then, a tall man raised his bidding card.
Isidor frowned and looked at the man. He saw a very conspicuous diagonal scar on the man's face, and he was looking at him provocatively.
Chapter 33: Silencing the Witness
"Nimega, do you know that guy?" Isidor asked.
"I don't know him, and judging from his body shape, he doesn't look like someone who can use a dagger. Why is he taking pictures?" Nimega said in confusion.
"One thousand one hundred silver coins!" Seeing that the host was about to drop the hammer, Isidor quickly raised the bidding card.
"One thousand one hundred and fifty silver coins." The scarred man immediately raised the sign again, and it seemed that he was targeting Isidro specifically.
Isidor was stunned for a moment: I only fought monsters in Grimdor and never offended anyone. What on earth was the reason that made this guy so angry with me?
"I'll offer 1,300 silver coins!" Isidor raised the sign again.
"One thousand three hundred and fifty!" The man immediately raised the sign and called the price.
"You win." Isidor sneered and took back the bidding sign.
"Master, this is the only top-quality dagger tonight, and he just took it away like that!" Nimega said anxiously.
"There's no way we can win. This guy is obviously trying to challenge us. By the way, have you ever offended anyone before?" Isidor asked, turning his head.
"It's unlikely, right? I used to be alone, and I always wear a mask. Even if there are enemies, it should be difficult to recognize me." Nymega shook her head.
"So it's directed at me? I haven't offended anyone at all." Isidor said in confusion.
"Master, I'm so unwilling. I've been eyeing that sword for a long time, but I didn't expect something like this would go wrong in the end." Nymega said with tears in her eyes.
"Okay, I'll get you a better sword when I have the chance next time," Isidor comforted.
"Master, let's go. I'm not in the mood to sit here any longer." Nymega stood up and said.
"Okay, let's go now! The guards of the Adventurer's Guild should all be concentrated at the auction right now. I think the circus members' residences must be much more relaxed. Let's go and check out the area, and if we find a suitable opportunity, we'll just take action!" Isidor said, and walked out of the venue with Nymega.
It was already late at night, and the two were about to cross an alley to visit the circus members' residence, when they unexpectedly saw a huge figure blocking their way.
"It's the scarred man who slapped the dagger away!" Nymega exclaimed.
"What can I do for you?" Isidor frowned, secretly reached his hand under Nymega's skirt and grasped the hilt of the golden sword.
"Haha, I just want to make a deal with you. You really want this dagger, right?" said the scarred man, holding up the dagger to show off like a trophy.
"Is that so?" Isidor asked.
"Don't be nervous, I just want to do business with you." The scarred man said with a smile.
"Why, you want to sell the dagger to us?" asked Nymega.
"That's right, I only charge one thousand gold coins, that's reasonable, right?" said the scarred man, holding up a finger.
"Ten thousand...gold coins? Are you crazy? Ten thousand gold coins are equivalent to one hundred thousand silver coins!" Nymega widened her eyes, thinking that she had heard the currency unit wrong.
"Don't worry, I have a gift. As a gift for the bundled sale, I'm willing to keep a secret for you two." The scarred man said with a smile.
"Huh? What a joke! We are doing the right thing. What secret do we need you to keep? You must have found the wrong person!" Nymega said disdainfully.
"Oh, do we really have to say it out loud? This will embarrass everyone. I thought you were smart people, but now it seems you are just two idiots. It seems that racial issues really affect intelligence, am I right, Mr. Goblin?" said the scarred man, looking at Isidor sharply.
Isidor stared into the man's eyes, and murderous intent suddenly appeared in his eyes.
"What? Are you going to kill me to silence me? What a pity, I have also made preparations." The scarred man clapped his hands, and a rustling sound was heard all around.
"It's bone anacondas! Oh my God, how can there be so many bone anacondas? There are dozens of monsters of the same level as the scaly bear!" Nymega exclaimed.
"How did you find out my identity?" Isidor stared at the scarred man's eyes. It was not difficult for him to kill the man in front of him, but it would be troublesome if other people noticed his flaws.
"Haha, as long as you pay me obediently, I will tell you." The scarred man said and blew a whistle. The bone anacondas all stood up half of their bodies and surrounded the two men.
"I understand, but I don't have that much money right now. Can you be more generous with the amount?" Isidor pretended to be submissive.
"Impossible. My price is always fair. Ten thousand gold coins is already very generous. It doesn't matter if you can't come up with it right away. Just transfer your slave to me to pay off the debt." The scarred man said, looking at Nymega's breasts with greedy eyes, as if the latter was already in his pocket for him to ravage.
"Nimega is not a slave, she is my maid," Isidor corrected.
"It doesn't matter, just transfer it to me. You won't make any money if you keep it anyway, so you might as well let me make full use of it. I'm sure you'll be very popular with customers using a body like this." The scarred man said, and took out a prepared contract and threw it to Isidor through the air.
"Thanks, idiot. Since you have psychic skills, it seems to take a little longer to hypnotize me. If you hadn't been nagging all the time, it would have been hard to activate." Isidor took the contract and tore it into pieces without even looking at it.
“What did you say? Eh? What’s wrong with my body…” The scarred man was halfway through his words when suddenly his eyes became blank and his body knelt down uncontrollably.
"Tell me, who are you?" asked Isidor.
"I'm an undercover agent for a thieves group outside of town. My name is Diu." The scarred man answered obediently.
"How did you find out my identity?" Isidor asked.
"I am responsible for monitoring the intelligence of the Adventurer's Guild. I was present when you registered your adventurer identities that day. Later, I noticed that her owner was the same person twice, so I began to feel suspicious. After tracking and observing for a while, I finally discovered your identity as a goblin. Because your maid looked very valuable, I thought of blackmailing her." The scarred man answered honestly.
"Does anyone know about this besides you?" Isidor asked.
"Just me. I didn't tell anyone because I wanted to keep the profits for myself." The scarred man replied.
"What a pity! If you weren't so greedy, you might have a chance to survive." Isidor sneered and drew out the golden sword to end his life.
"Wait a minute! Master, don't rush to kill him! Once these bone anacondas around us get out of control, it will be difficult for us to deal with them!" Nimega reminded hurriedly.
"That's right! Drive the bone anaconda away right now, right now!" Isidor suddenly realized and quickly ordered the scarred man.
However, the scarred man remained indifferent to this order.
[The hypnosis command failed to execute. The indirect command cannot be executed. ]
As the system prompt sounded, Isidor's mental value suddenly dropped by more than twenty points.
“What a trouble. Isn’t the hypnotist of my hypnotized subject also my hypnotized subject? In that case, I have no choice but to kill my way out!” After Isidor said this, he raised the golden sword and pierced the scarred man’s chest.
The mental shock brought by near-death made the scarred man instantly enter a hypnotic state, but looking at the blade that was embedded in his body, he was powerless at this time. He could only watch in pain as his body shrank little by little, and finally turned into a golden skeleton.
Chapter 34: Enemies Meet
At the same time, the bone anacondas controlled by the men around them became violent and attacked each other without distinguishing between friend and foe. Several of them rushed towards Isidor and Nymega.
"Don't fight any longer, run away!" Isidor chopped off the bone anaconda in front of him with a sword, turned around and ordered Nymega.
"Yes, master!" said Nymega, picking up the top-quality dagger next to the skeleton and fighting while retreating.
The bone anaconda is covered with a layer of extremely hard bone armor. Its body will hide in the bone armor and spray acid. After the prey is weakened, it will kill it by wrapping around it.
Even though the golden sword can break bone armor through the effect of alchemy, it cannot kill with one blow. If the acid gets on the body, it will be troublesome.
Fortunately, Isidor had a skeleton transformed from a scarred man to cover his retreat. While the anacondas were temporarily blocked by the golden skeleton, the two successfully escaped from the encirclement.
"Phew, this time it's really dangerous. If the hypnosis fails, we will have to deal with dozens of anacondas at once." Isidor said, panting.
"Master, don't you find it a little strange? That man is obviously just a small minion, but he can drive dozens of powerful monsters." Nymega said.
"Indeed, even my hypnosis can only control one target at a time, and the time limit is only one hour at most. This guy is wandering around the town with a large group of monsters. He must have a way to control them for a long time." Isidor nodded.
"That guy said he was an undercover agent of a thieves' group. Could this be related to this?" Nimega suddenly said.
At this moment, a scream sounded not far away, followed by loud shouts of killing and the sound of swords being unsheathed.
"I'm afraid that the out-of-control bone anaconda is destroying everything and engaging with nearby adventurers," said Isidor.
"What should we do then?" Nymega asked nervously.
"Take advantage of the misfortune! The more attention the bone anaconda attracts, the easier it will be for us to take action!" After Isidor finished speaking, he took Nymega and continued to rush towards the circus members' residence.
"Attention, all townspeople! Attention, all townspeople! Dangerous monsters are appearing on the streets right now. Please stay at home and don't go out! Don't go out! Don't go out!"
Just as the two arrived at the outskirts of the circus' residence, a huge magic circle lit up in the sky, and a sound similar to an air raid sirens rang out from the magic circle.
Hearing this shrill sound, the townspeople who had come out to watch the excitement returned home one after another, and the streets became extremely quiet for a while.
"God help me! Nymega, get ready!" Isidor put his hand on his forehead and ran to the circus room in two steps.
"Master, are you sure this is the room? Do you not need to confirm it again?" Nimega asked worriedly.
"That's right! This is the only room connected to the stable! The circus must have requested this room to be closest to the stable so that they can take care of the animals at any time. Look, their lions, horses, monkeys, dwarfs are all here... wait, why are the dwarfs here?" Isidor pointed at the animals in the cages and called out their names one by one, but suddenly he discovered that the dwarf who had performed before was also tied up in the stable!
"He is also a member of the circus, so let's target him!" Nymega drew her dagger and walked forward, scaring the dwarf so much that he trembled.
"Wait! Look! He is chained here, his body is covered with whip marks and his mouth is stuffed. I'm afraid the circus members have abused him. Let's let him go, maybe he can be a help." Isidor looked at the dwarf with a terrified face, as if he was recalling his own memory.
"Yes, master!" Nymega nodded and stepped forward to pull out the rag stuffed in the dwarf's mouth.
"If you answer honestly, I won't kill you. Tell me, why are you locked up here? Who inflicted the wounds on you?" Isidor asked.
The dwarf shook his head and said nothing.
Nymega frowned, pried open the dwarf's mouth, and found a black mark on the dwarf's tongue.
"Master, it's a mute spell." Nymega said, pointing at the black mark.
"How heartless." Isidor said, taking out the Noel knot and gently touching the dwarf's body, and the black mark disappeared immediately.
Unexpectedly, after the mark disappeared, the dwarf's body actually stretched out, and the muscles on his face slowly changed. The ropes on his body cut into his flesh, and he cried out in pain.
Seeing this, Nymega quickly covered his mouth and cut the rope with her dagger.
After the dwarf grew two or three times, he stopped growing bigger. At this time, his body no longer had the funny proportions of a dwarf, but more like a little boy of twelve or thirteen years old.
"Brother, sister, I am not a dwarf. I am a child they kidnapped. They used witchcraft to turn me into this, forced me to do various performances, and fed me bitter and astringent potions every day." The boy said crying.
"Damn it, I need a word more offensive than beast." Nymega said gritting her teeth.
"Child, let me ask you, are all the bad guys who kidnapped you in this room?" Isidor asked, pointing at the room.
"The trainer and the cook live here, and the other three should be living with the troupe. The trainer just beat me up because I thought the potion was too bitter and secretly spit out some of it." The boy whispered.
"Very good, all five of them are in Grimdor, not one less." Isidor couldn't help but grinning when he heard this.
"Big brother, your expression is so scary." The boy said a little fearfully.
"Child, forget all this and find a place to live a good life." Isidor said, taking out a dozen gold coins and putting them in the little boy's hand. The little boy looked at Isidor with gratitude, turned around and ran away.
"Master, it's time to take action!" Nymega said excitedly, holding the dagger.
"That's right, you disguise yourself as an adventurer who comes to patrol at night and lure them out first. You and I must attack at the same time, put the swords on their necks, and don't let them have the chance to shout." Isidor nodded.
