Chapter 428: 428

Everybody was slightly surprised that they were surrounded the moment they arrived .

Looking at the crowd that was drawing near, Husseret remarked, “Are they here for someone other than us?”

“I don’t think so . ” Brazil shook his head . As a Hunter, he was very sensitive about other people’s maliciousness .

His first specialty as a Hunter was exactly Humanoid Nemesis, which made him very sensitive about the maliciousness of human-like creatures .

In game terms, a circle of red spots were surrounding him on his mini-map .

Naturally, his friends believed him .

Roland thought for a moment and said, “Let’s go down . If they’re here for us, we can’t get away from them . After all, we still have a quest in Northern Dawn Woods . ”

Betta pondered it and asked, “It’s a shame that I sent Glinton away for an errand . Otherwise, he could likely talk to the people in this place . ”

“Is he very powerful?”

“He’s the heir to Bronze Drum City . He told me that he knew all the mayors in Hollevin . ”

Brazil failed to perceive Betta’s implication . He asked, “He can’t help us even if he knows the mayors . The people that are coming at us are clearly mercenaries . ”

Betta blinked his eyes and muttered a response . He wasn’t very familiar with Brazil and didn’t know what he should say .

Roland said with a smile, “Those mercenaries are clearly members of the Silver Mercenaries who just kicked us away . They rented the Northern Dawn Woods from the mayor, so if we knew the mayor, we might be able to pull some strings . ”

Brazil hummed a response .

He was a straightforward person who was too lazy to think about complicated things, or he wouldn’t have become a Hunter dealing with beasts in the woods all the time in this game when he was not with his friends .

While talking, Roland led his friends downstairs .

As they had seen, the mercenaries had surrounded the hotel and driven away all the guests except Roland’s gang .

They were standing in a circle in the lobby .

At the center of the circle was a middle-aged man in silver armor .

Naturally, the armor wasn’t made of armor; it was simply varnished with silver powder, which didn’t cost as much .

Seated in the middle of the mercenaries, the man laid one of his arms on the table, supporting his body, while he drank wine with his other hand . He looked rather majestic .

Roland came down leading his friends .

Seeing the strangers, F6 all mumbled and realized that they were hostile .

There were about twenty mercenaries here . Most of them were level two or three . But the man at the center was a level-ten Master .

On his left and his right were a level-five Archer and a level-six Shield Warrior respectively .

Their lineup was rather impressive in a small country like Hollevin .

On Roland’s side, everybody was level five except Roland, who was level seven . The best of them was weaker than the enemy’s best, and they were outnumbered .

Though the enemy seemed powerful, Roland felt that his side had advantages if they started a fight .

Li Lin was from a rich family, and he was the most short-tempered among his friends . He simply went ahead and smashed his giant sword on the table, leaving a white mark on the thick desk with a noise .

Looking at the middle-aged man, he said angrily, “Why have you surrounded us with all these people?”

“A Barbarian?” The middle-aged looked at Li Lin up and down and sneered . “Since when are Barbarians qualified to talk to me? Get the hell out of here if you don’t want to be embarrassed . ”

“S*it!” Li Lin almost jumped to his feet in fury, but he held himself back after a moment of thought . He stood up and said to Roland, “You talk to him . ”

Then he stepped aside .

Brazil and Husseret were both laughing to one side .

Husseret, in particular, couldn’t be more amused . “Do you not know the social status of Barbarians? You really didn’t learn anything in the past year . ”

“Stop talking . ” Li Lin heaved a sigh . “It’s really ironic when so many people call me Young Master Li respectfully in reality but look down on me in the game . ”

Brazil and Husseret laughed even more delightedly . They were in a jolly mood .

Roland, on the other hand, sat down before the middle-aged man and said with a smile, “Am I qualified to talk to you?”

“You are a Mage . You certainly are . ” The middle-aged man nodded and tapped the table . “Is the noble near you lower than you?”

The middle-aged man looked at Betta .

As part of his class setting, Betta’s noble identity couldn’t be ignored by regular people .

Betta waved his hand . “Brother Roland can take care of everything . ”

“Okay . ” The middle-aged man found it odd, but he didn’t want to pursue it further .

Mages were as revered as nobles . So, if the real noble would rather not talk, it was fine to talk to the Mage .

The middle-aged man did not feel humiliated .

“You attempted to enter our woods today, didn’t you?” The middle-aged man shook his body . His hair was very short, and his face was quite plain, but he did have the vibe of a leader .

Roland nodded . “But we didn’t go in . ”

“It doesn’t matter whether or not you went in . ” The middle-aged man chuckled . “We know that you’re drawn to something inside . ”

Roland raised his eyebrow .

“Therefore…” The middle-aged man leaned forward and moved his head closer to Roland . “Can you tell me what you’re trying to find in the woods?”

Roland slightly leaned back, not because he was scared of the middle-aged man, but because the man’s mouth stank .

The middle-aged man was amused when he saw that Roland leaned back . He thought that Roland was intimidated by him .

Roland leaned back further and said, “We were only trying to hunt some animals for their meat . Since it was private property, we simply came back . ”

“Do you think I’m a fool?” The middle-aged pointed at Roland and then at Betta . “You are a Mage and a noble . You’re clearly not short of food or clothes . Even your servants seem rather well-dressed . You’re also living in such a nice hotel . Yet, you hunted for meat? Besides, nobody has ever been to the Northern Dawn Woods for hunting the moment they came to this city, unless they had other purposes . ”

Roland closed his eyes . A moment later, he opened his eyes and said, “Can you keep a distance from me? Your breath stinks!”

The middle-aged man was stumped .

All of F6 tried to hold back their laughter .

“What if I don’t?” The middle-aged man lost his cool with an awful look on his face .

“Then we’ll go,” said Roland causally .

Staring at Roland for a while, the middle-aged man sat straight in his seat .

Roland asked again, “May I know your name?”

“Spara, deputy captain of the Silver Mercenaries . ” The middle-aged man snorted . “You are indeed a cunning Mage . You’ve taken the initiative from me . However, mark my words . If you don’t tell me why you’re here, you can never go into the Northern Dawn Woods . ”

Tapping the table and staring at the middle-aged man for a while, Roland asked, “You’re not asking us who we are?”

“I don’t need to . We know that you’re Golden Sons . We wouldn’t have come here if you weren’t . Everybody knows that there is fortune wherever the Golden Sons show up . You are a people that pursue gold and wealth, just as your name suggests . ”

This time, not just Roland, but Roland and the rest of them were rather startled too .

“You came to us for trouble when you know that we were Golden Sons?” Roland was surprised .

“That’s right . It’s really impressive that you don’t age or die,” the middle-aged man nodded and said, “but that can’t make us terrified of you . After the incident in Winterwind, we all know the weakness of the Golden Sons . ”

What was that about?

Roland turned back and looked at his friends .

They shook his heads, indicating that they didn’t know what the “weakness” was . But Betta pondered for a moment and said, “I’m told that the black leaf players all deleted their accounts after the queen killed them hundreds of times . So, rumor has it that if the Golden Sons attack human beings for no good reason, they will be hunted and exiled from this world by the gods . ”

Roland nodded .

Betta continued, “Also, the players are indeed a lot more obedient recently, so the locals have a feeling that we dare not attack them randomly . ”

It was not just their feeling . The players really did not dare to attack them randomly, not while they still wanted to play this game .

This game was unique in the world . Also, the game developers never released any more immersive cabins . If a player was marked with a black leaf, they would have to say goodbye to this game .

Roland turned back and said to the middle-aged man with a smile, “It’s true that we can’t attack anyone randomly, but you can’t attack us either, or we’ll be justified to fight back . ”

“You can only beat us up at best . Do you dare to kill us?” Spara burst into laughter . “We the mercenaries make our living through the most dangerous missions . Do you think we’re afraid of beating when we’re not afraid of death? Besides, we’re not going to do anything to you . We’ll simply kick you away from the Northern Dawn Woods every time we see you if you don’t tell us your purpose .

“Just think about it . ”

Spara smiled cockily and left with his men .

After the men of the Silver Mercenaries left, Li Lin frowned . “What do we do? They’re rather disgusting . They believe that we’re making a fortune and want a share . Damn it, I hate the smart and annoying NPCs most . You can’t beat them, but if you leave, they will mock you as cowards . ”

Roland stood up and said, “This Spara is rather stupid to challenge the Golden Sons . ”

This time, Li Lin was upset . “Hey, hey . I just stated that he was tricky to deal with, and you said that he’s stupid . Are you insinuating that I’m stupid?”

Roland gazed at him without saying anything .

“F*ck me!” Li Lin cursed himself helplessly .

Roland smiled and said, “Husseret, you look into the Silver Mercenaries, including their scale, their base, their territory, etc . Then, Betta and the rest of us will wander in their territory with your intelligence and try to trigger quests . I don’t believe that such an arrogant group of mercenaries have never done anything bad . We’ll beat them up the moment we pick up a quest . Let’s see how long they can endure!”