"Then I'll leave it all to you."
Si was very satisfied with Hanta's service. Along the way, everything was arranged neatly without any mistakes. Although it was a bit boring while traveling by car, it was still quite comfortable in the end, and we visited many places.
"Please leave it to me!"
The carriage arrived at the door of a well-decorated hotel. From the outside, they could see that the business was very good. As soon as they arrived, the clerk in charge of receiving guests came over and said to them, "I'm very sorry, but our store is full now."
Hanta noticed the two gazes behind him and said quickly, "I reserved three seats in advance. Didn't your boss tell you about this?"
The clerk thought that this was indeed the case and asked, "What is your registered name?"
"Hanta the driver."
There may be many people with the same name as him, but there is definitely no one who happens to have the same name as him, is a coachman, and has booked the same hotel. Even if there is, his old friend would not have recognized the wrong person unless that guy looks exactly like him.
"That's right. Dear guests, please come in. The boss is inside the store. Please leave the carriage to me." The clerk pulled
The carriage headed towards the back of the hotel.
There is parking space for horse-drawn carriages behind the inn.
However, only distinguished guests can enjoy this treatment.
Ordinary customers have to find the places where they park and pay. These places are usually near the horse stalls, and the charges are not particularly expensive.
But this is the capital of the kingdom after all, and the prices are definitely much higher than other places.
But it is definitely more affordable than a hotel, because hotels are based on consumption levels.
If you don't spend a lot, it's really not recommended to ask the hotel to take care of these things.
They walked into the hotel, and the aroma of grilled meat and toasted bread was immediately very tempting. The boss, who was keeping accounts on the stands, looked up and walked over with a smile on his face the moment he saw Hanta. The two grown men hadn't seen each other for many years, and they excitedly hugged each other and patted each other on the back.
"Hanta, it's been a long time since we last met. I didn't expect you're still working as a coachman."
"Hey, I also have the identity of an adventurer!"
The two men laughed and punched each other.
Hanta introduced his passengers to his boss: "These two are big shots on our side."
"You wrote in your letter that I have long heard of your name."
"Hello."
Si and Alice didn't act very affectionate.
However, the boss thought it was normal. After all, the person in front of him was a big shot in the empire. It was already a great thing for his store to have the honor to entertain him. He didn't dare to continue to dream of having the opportunity to establish some friendship with such a big shot.
"I'll show you your room."
The boss brought a few people to the third floor.
This floor is filled with the best rooms in the hotel.
However, his hotel is only small and medium-sized, and you can hardly expect to see a room as large as a presidential room. But overall, it is still quite satisfactory.
I saw both Tsukasa and Alice go in to check out the room.
The boss then pulled Hanta aside at the door and asked, "Would you like to take a hot bath first and then eat something?"
"Okay, old buddy, remember to bring out your best dish." Hanta said with a smile.
"Don't worry, I'll cook for you myself."
"Then I'll have oral medicine today."
“Are there any flavors you like or dislike?”
"Well, probably not. Don't think that the master is as unreasonable as the delicate young lady. If anything, the master prefers meat."
"That's really unexpected, but if you hadn't told me in advance, I really wouldn't have thought that the empire's famous sword master would be such a stunning beauty."
The boss went downstairs to prepare hot water and food.
Hanta went to her room.
He has a clear positioning of himself.
He is just a coachman and helps with the work. Don't disturb the adult if there is nothing to do. The adult will naturally call him when there is something.
In the secretary's room.
Alice checked it carefully from top to bottom.
Only then was he willing to let Si sit down.
"Master, there is no problem here."
"..."
At the beginning, Si told Alice several times that there was no need to be so suspicious, but seeing that she still insisted on doing so, she stopped talking later.
Seeing that she didn't say anything, Alice asked again: "Master, do you need me to go out and collect information?"
Si stopped pouring water.
Sighed.
"Alice, you don't have to be like this. Take a good rest and treat it as a trip. Just leave these things to Hanta. He is more convenient than us in doing this kind of thing. You don't have to mind it."
Hanta is a veteran adventurer after all.
I definitely have more experience in this area than them.
Besides, she and Alice's looks were not suitable for doing such a thing because they would attract too much attention.
Alice was a little unhappy when she heard her words.
She felt that her job was taken away by Hanta.
[Chapter 23: Swordsmanship Competition]
The day of the fencing competition.
The arena's auditorium was filled with spectators, including His Majesty the King and all the nobles.
Although those nobles did not want to see the warrior captain gain greater fame in this competition, now that things had already happened, they could only try to avoid the worst possible situation.
We cannot allow the Warrior Captain to win the game, but even if we want to stop the Warrior Captain from winning, we cannot find anyone who can defeat him.
Although some people wanted to invite the genius swordsman to participate in the competition, he said that he had no interest in this kind of competition between weaklings. In this case, they could only spend money to invite the steel-level adventurers to participate in the competition, but unfortunately, even the steel-level adventurers said that they were not sure of winning.
The warrior leader is now close to reaching the realm of hero, and his strength is close to that of the sword master of the past, and may even be on par with that of the sword master of the past. Even the steel-level adventurers rarely step into this realm. Unless they can invite retired steel-level adventurers, there may be hope that they can defeat the warrior leader, otherwise the possibility of defeating the warrior leader is very small.
But this thing is impossible to achieve.
Because the noble faction simply cannot hire a hero of that level to help them do this kind of thing.
However, since it was impossible to deal with the Warrior Captain directly, some people naturally thought of starting from other aspects. As long as the Warrior Captain could not participate in the finals, they could also achieve what they wanted.
However, it is difficult to sneak attack the Warrior Chief, and if it is not done well, it will backfire. They have a better way to prevent the Warrior Chief from participating in the finals.
Behind the throne.
The various noble factions nodded to each other and sneered at the king who was sitting on the throne with high expectations.
Everything is ready. This time they not only want to destroy the plans of the king and the warrior chief, but also want to eliminate the warrior chief who is in the way in one fell swoop.
Although the king was aware of their actions, he was powerless to do anything about the nobles. He could only choose to believe that his warrior captain would be able to bravely thwart the conspiracies of these guys.
Soon, the first game began.
As the match was intended to arouse the audience's enthusiasm, Warrior Captain took the field directly in the first game.
His opponent was equally powerful, being one of only two teams of fine steel adventurers in the kingdom.
The two launched martial arts on the ring, engaging in a turbulent battle, which was extremely exciting and shocking, and the enthusiasm of the audience was directly ignited. Si and Alice, who were mixed in the audience seats, watched the game seriously. In fact, only Si was watching the game seriously, because Alice really couldn't understand it. Those martial arts and magic were just fancy things in Alice's eyes. She only needed to use substitutes to beat them up to win against these two people. But she saw that her master was watching very seriously, so she had to pretend to be serious.
In the end, the Warrior Captain won the match with a move of [Four Lights Slash]. The four sword lights hit the fine steel adventurer without any deviation. Faced with such a wonderful martial art, he expressed his admiration.
Because this martial art involves four slashes at almost the same time, it is extremely difficult to concentrate the attack on one person, because that means you need to swing four swords towards the opponent at almost the same time.
Theoretically, it is possible, but it is not easy to do this. However, the Warrior Captain did it. Even though the power of this martial art has decreased a bit, it is still very effective in a duel. Because as long as you use this move to seize the opponent's weakness, it will be difficult for the opponent to defend and block four attacks that are launched almost at the same time.
The exciting first battle came to an end, and the warrior leader and the adventurer walked off the stage amid warm applause.
“As expected, it’s Gazef Stronoff. Has he already entered that realm?” Hanta’s expression was full of admiration and envy. He introduced the two young ladies and said, “The previous Sword Saint once commented that Gazef has the potential to become a hero.”
Si asked calmly, "Has he reached the level of a hero now?"
"..." Hanta didn't know how to answer. He wondered if the Sword Saint was testing him.
How could he, a mere Mithril Adventurer, know whether Gazef had reached the level of a hero? He only had this thought when he saw Gazef defeat the Steel Adventurer because he remembered that the previous Sword Master had said this about Gazef. After all, the Steel Adventurer was the person closest to the realm of a hero, and Gazef's strength was even above this level.
"I'm very sorry, I don't have that kind of knowledge." He sincerely said that he didn't know.
Si said he didn't mind:
"That's it, it doesn't matter."
Hanta had some doubts.
Because in his opinion, how could the Sword Master, who had undoubtedly entered the realm of heroes, not be able to see whether Gazef had entered that realm?
Sure enough, was that a test for him just now?
He glanced at the Sword Master nervously, not knowing whether his answer was correct. However, since the Sword Master said it was okay, it shouldn't be the worst answer. It's just that he might have missed something.
While Hanta was daydreaming.
Si herself really wanted to know whether Gazef had entered the realm of heroes. If a guy of Gazef's level was already high enough to be called a hero, then perhaps she had overestimated the humans in this world before, and those legends might not be as exaggerated as she imagined. But the question was, was Gazef a hero?
The game just now.
She just felt like she was watching kids fighting.
They are really weak.
But how weak is it exactly?
You can't feel it unless you fight it yourself.
Although some strong people can judge the strength of the opponent through the opponent's aura and physical fitness, and she can do this now, she still feels that the result obtained in this way is somewhat unreliable, because sometimes strength is not just the part that can be seen from the outside. Maybe the opponent may also be hiding very powerful skills and equipment.
Thinking of how he wanted to fight the warrior leader named Gazef, Si couldn't help but ask Hanta, "Is there really no way I can participate in the competition?"
Hanta, who was still thinking about what happened just now, couldn't help but break out in a cold sweat when he heard her words. He replied in a low voice: "This time they have set the identity standards for the contestants. Only people from the kingdom can participate in the competition, and the registration period has already ended. Please forgive me for being unable to do anything."
"It's okay, thank you."
Si narrowed his eyes.
It seemed that he wanted to test Gazef's strength.
We have to find another opportunity.
[Chapter 24: Warrior Captain]
The game is over for the day.
After Gazef sent the king back to the palace, he left
Come out and return to your residence.
It was exceptionally quiet along the way.
It was as if some force was causing pedestrians to avoid this road. Gazef felt that something was wrong.
Just as he was on guard against possible attacks, three figures appeared in front of him, one man and two women. The man was wearing light adventurer gear and had a Mithril Adventurer badge on his body. The important thing was the two women. One of them was a girl with golden hair like the royal family. Although she was wearing a maid outfit, her appearance and temperament seemed more noble than the princess of the kingdom. The other black-haired girl was dressed in a neutral aristocratic outfit, with a sword in a black scabbard hanging from her waist. Although it concealed her own aura, Gazef still focused his attention on this girl the moment he saw her.
The girl's beauty was extremely outstanding, far beyond his imagination. Even the legendary elves and fairies were probably no more beautiful than her. However, this was not the reason why Gazef paid attention to this black-haired girl. The reason why he paid attention to this girl was because he felt an unprecedented threat. He could not sense any presence from her at all. In fact, if she had not taken the initiative to stand in front of him and appeared in such a deliberately prepared environment, and if they had just passed by on the side of the road, he felt that he would have no chance to discover that she was not simple.
But even now, he could not feel the other person's existence at all. He could clearly see him with his eyes, but it was as if the other person was not there.
Being able to do this means that the other party either has extremely high stalker skills and can completely hide all their auras, or is so powerful that he can affect his perception. But no matter which possibility it is, it is enough to show that the other party is dangerous. A stalker who can completely hide his aura from his eyes is probably a hero-level figure.
Gazef didn't know that all his guesses were correct.
The girl in front of him not only possessed skills of that level, but her strength was also far beyond his imagination.
"Nice to meet you, Warrior Captain of the Kingdom." The black-haired girl was obviously the leader among the three of them. She said elegantly, "Although it's very presumptuous, could you please compete with me?"
Although the girl used words of request, her actions were extremely overbearing, leaving Gazef no room to refuse. With such a scene, Gazef did not think he had a chance to refuse her.
“Before I agree to compete with you, can you please tell me your identity?” Although Gazef felt pressure from the other party, she did not seem to be his enemy. At least he did not sense any malice or murderous intent from her. Moreover, if she really wanted to kill him, judging from the ability shown by this black-haired girl, she would not want to go through so much trouble. Her stealth ability made her the most terrifying assassin.
"Astrea."
