Chapter 653: An Unexpected Guest
Whatever had just happened outside, it was not good.
Black Money is supposed to run a legitimate underground operation, Yorko thought, cursing Otto for the thousandth time that evening. The goods are illegal, yes — but the auction itself is organized by serious people. And now someone has come for me. I never would have agreed to this if I’d known.
He looked around the room for anything useful. There were no weapons — only the restraints Black Money used on its commodities.
The door opened.
Yorko hit the floor without thinking. “Please spare my life! I’ll give you whatever you want—”
The intruder didn’t stop. She launched herself at him.
He flinched sideways by instinct, bringing his head down and leaning hard to one side.
“No, Annie!”
Amy’s voice came from the wall at the same moment. The wooden thing — a chair leg, by the look of it — stopped a hand’s width from his cheek. He could feel the displaced air.
Before he’d finished processing this, a large hand closed on his shoulder from behind, lifted him as easily as a bag of meal, and pressed him face-down onto the bed.
“Did he hurt you?” The voice was rough, androgynous — neither clearly a man’s nor a woman’s.
“He said… he’s here to help me get out.”
“You’ve been deceived again, Amy.” A sigh, then the efficient, impersonal work of binding his arms behind his back. “4,000 gold royals to rescue a stranger? That’s a lifetime’s savings even for your father.”
So she was the competing bidder. That explained the price. What it didn’t explain was how she’d found his room — the cave passages were dark except for the display booth, and the limestone underground was a maze even with a guide.
It was his life at stake now, not Otto’s errand or some friend’s favor. Yorko found his persuasion sharpening.
“I didn’t lie to her! I’m the Ambassador of Graycastle. Rescuing this witch is the king’s order!”
The hand on his back paused.
“Ambassador of — Graycastle?”
He felt the grip relax slightly. He pressed it.
“Roland Wimbledon. Fourth son of King Wimbledon III. He believes there is no difference between witches and ordinary people. He fought the church to let witches live freely in his domain. Every word of this is true — I swear it.”
Annie might not recognize the name Roland Wimbledon. But Graycastle’s defeat of the church at Coldwind Ridge had spread through every city in the Kingdom of Dawn; Hill Fawkes and his people had made certain of that. The church had always been witches’ most immediate enemy. The kingdom that broke the church’s army would mean something to any witch who was still alive.
The hand on his back lifted.
He was turned over and pulled upright. In the torchlight, he finally saw the person who had taken him apart so efficiently.
Annie was tall — broad-shouldered, with a body that filled her cape and then some. The kind of build that would read as male on a dark street. But her face was striking in a different way: angular, vivid, with brows that swept slightly upward and narrow eyes that held their focus completely. She wore her hair pulled into a high tail, her forehead clear. Her voice was rough, but her face was unmistakably a woman’s — handsome in a way Yorko privately found he envied.
“Then why didn’t you unlock her restraints?” Annie said.
“Same reason I just explained to her.” He managed to keep his voice even. “It prevents her from panicking and running. Which means no one has to give chase, no one gets caught, and I don’t have to explain a 4,000-gold-royal purchase disappearing from my room.”
“And where were you planning to take her?” She hadn’t softened. “To give her to the King of Graycastle?”
“Not as a slave — obviously not. Roland doesn’t treat witches as property. They live in his domain as free people. They’ve formed an organization dedicated to protecting witches’ rights. He even called on them to help contain the demonic plague that spread through the king’s city.”
“Enough!”
He shut his mouth.
She was scanning the room now, locating the key on its hook beside the wall. Something he’d said had made her voice harder, not softer, and he couldn’t place why.
“It sounds exactly like the Bloodfang Association,” she said, cold and flat. “They promoted themselves the same way.”
“Blood— what?” Yorko’s stomach shifted with a formless unease. He didn’t know the name. He wished he did.
“Witches cannot trust nobles’ promises.” She took the key from the wall. “We can only trust ourselves.”
“Wait — you’re taking her now? Underground, past all those guards? How do you expect to get out?”
“I have my way.” She crossed to Amy and began working the shackles free. Then she came back to Yorko, took his arm with practiced efficiency, and locked one ankle to the wall in Amy’s place.
He didn’t resist. He could see she wasn’t trying to kill him — at least not yet.
“Think about this one more time,” he said. “I can get her out without raising suspicion. Let me bring her to the courtyard above, and I’ll hand her to you there. No guards, no chases, no torches in the dark.”
“And possibly a welcome of drawn swords and God’s Stones,” Annie said. “I made a mistake once, trusting what sounded reasonable. I won’t make it again.”
She dragged No. 76 in from the outer room — unconscious, blood on her temple, breathing shallowly but breathing — and tied her hands and locked her ankle to the wall beside him.
“Why didn’t you kill her?” Yorko asked.
“I’ll have time for that later, if it comes to it.” Her voice was completely level. “But you helped the Kingdom of Graycastle defeat the church. That means something to me. So you’re both alive for now.” She looked at him a moment longer than necessary. “That doesn’t mean I trust Roland Wimbledon’s promises unconditionally.”
“I’ll relay your words to His Majesty. And — if you need anything — come to the embassy. I’m there.”
Though it would honestly be simpler if she doesn’t, he added silently. I’ve done what I could. Even Otto can’t fault me for this. You can’t force a witch who doesn’t want to be found.
Annie turned to go. She picked up Amy — still unsteady on freed legs — and carried her toward the door. At the threshold she looked back once, held him with those narrow, direct eyes for a moment, and then was gone.
Chapter 653: An Unexpected Guest
Translator: TransN Editor: TransN
Damn it!
Yorko was not sure what had happened outside but it definitely would not be good.
“Is ‘Black Money’ not supposed to be a regular auction, organized by the powerful local businessmen except for the goods being illegal?” He cursed Otto for 10,000 times in his heart. “The auction price was first wrongly estimated and now someone is coming for me. I wouldn’t have agreed with him if I knew it would turn out like this.”
Yorko looked around and tried to find something to defend himself, but there were no weapons in the room except for some tools to torture the slave.
At this moment, someone pushed open the door and nipped in.
Yorko knelt on the ground without any hesitation and said, “Please spare my life! I’ll give you anything you want…”
However, the person did not stop but pounced towards him.
After he finished saying, he subconsciously held his head down and leaned to one side, hoping to dodge the attack.
“No, Annie!”
Amy shouted at the same time.
The cold wind that swept by his cheeks suddenly stopped along with Amy’s voice, Yorko tilted his head and noticed that it was a wooden stick, which
looked like it was broken off from the chair.
He would probably immediately pass out if he was really beaten.
Then, he was pressed onto the bed from the back after he was grabbed by his shoulder and held up high by a big hand.
“Did he hurt you?” The voice sounded a bit hoarse and it was difficult to distinguish between men’s and women’s.
“He said… he’s here to help me get out of here.”
“You’ve been cheated again, Amy,” she said while shaking her head. Then, she twisted Yorko’s arms to his back and expertly tied them. “Saving a strange witch with 4,000 gold royals? It’s not a small amount of money. It’s a lifetime of savings even for your father.”
“Aye… Is, is that so?”
She was really the one who was bidding with Yorko as she knew the auction price so clearly. However, how could she recognize Yorko and follow them all the way to the room No. 76 when everywhere else was dark other than the bright displaying booth in the limestone cave?
Yorko knew that it was about his life and his persuasion this time would be for himself instead of his old friends or damn Otto.
“I didn’t lie to her! I’m the Ambassador of Graycastle, and saving the witch is the king’s order!”
“Ambassador of… Graycastle?”
Yorko knew that this approach worked when the hand that was holding him down from the back slightly shook.
“Yes, have you heard of Roland Wimbledon? The fourth son of King Wimbledon III, King of Graycastle who’s especially kind to the witches! He firmly believes that there are no differences between the witches and
ordinary people, and he even fought against the church in order to allow the witches to freely live in his domain! These’re all true, I swear!”
Annie might not know who was Roland, but the news that the church was defeated by the Kingdom of Graycastle in Coldwind Ridge was indeed wellknown among the people in the city of Glow. He even knew that the news was spread by Hill Fawkes and his assistants. The church had always been the greatest enemy of witches, it was likely that whoever defeated the church would win the witch’s kindness and respect for whatever reasons.
The hand that was holding him down on his back was a lot more relaxed as expected. And then, he had been turned over and pulled up from the bed. Yorko could only see the attacker’s appearance now.
Annie… was probably a woman but she looked extremely handsome and her body was exceptionally burly even when it was covered by a cope. Both her dashing eyebrows were slightly pointing upwards and her narrow eyes looked energetic. Her hair was tied up into a high-ponytail and her forehead was clearly shown. Yorko would believe that she was a man if her voice was deeper; however, her look made him a little jealous.
“In this case, why didn’t you unlock Amy’s lock latch?”
“It’s the same question again…” Yorko had to repeat the previous statement again. “It’s for the sake of her safety. It’ll be even more dangerous if she doesn’t believe me and sneaks out.”
“Where are you going to take her?” Annie, who was obviously not as easily persuaded as Amy, was doubting Yorko’s statement. “Giving her to the King of the Kingdom of Graycastle?”
“Of course… not.” He quickly changed his words after saying half-way. “My old friend doesn’t treat witches as slaves. There were a lot of witches living in his domain like the normal people and they even formed an organization to specialize in protecting the witches’ right.”
“Enough!” Annie angrily interrupted.
Yorko quickly shut his mouth. He heard all these from Hill when they were talking. He heard that His Majesty curbed the disease spread by the church with the witches’ help during the outbreak of demonic plague in the king’s city. It was obviously a good thing, but Yorko was not sure why Annie did not look so happy about it.
“It sounds just like the Bloodfang Association,” Annie coldly said, “They used to promote themselves in this way as well.”
“Blood… what?” Yorko startled but his heart sensed something wrong.
“Witches can only believe is themselves, not the noble’s promises.” She scanned the room and quickly found the key hanging on the wall.
“Wait, are you bringing her with you?” It’s underground here. Don’t you see the guards outside the cave when you came in? How’re you going to get out?”
You don’t have to worry about it. I have my way.” Annie unlocked and released Amy. After that, she grabbed Yorko and locked one of his foot on the vervel.
“You really don’t want to think about it?” Yorko got bolder when he realized that Annie was not trying to kill him. He was trying to convince her for the last time while he obediently let Annie locked him up. “It’s more appropriate for me to bring her out and I’ll give her to you when we leave the courtyard. It’ll neither easily raise any suspicion nor causing any problem in this case.”
“It does sound great, but it’s also possible that I’ll be welcomed by swords and God’s Stone instead,” Annie remained unmoved and said, “I had made a big mistake because of my credulity before and it won’t happen again.”
After Yorko was firmly locked, Annie dragged No. 76 in. She tied both her hands to her back and locked one of her foot as well.
“Why didn’t you kill her?”
He could see the blood stained on No. 76’s head, who was apparently badly beaten up and still currently unconscious. However, she was still alive
judging from the slight movements of her chest.
“It’ll not be too late for me to kill both of you after I rescue Amy.” Annie’s words made Yorko shivered. “But I’ll not kill you now as we perhaps owed the King of the Kingdom of Graycastle a thank for defeating the church. However, it doesn’t mean that I’ll believe him unconditionally.”
“I’ll bring your words to His Majesty. Besides, you can come to the embassy to look for me if you need any assistance.” “Of course, it’s best not to as we can also save a lot of effort,” Yorko quietly thought to himself, “and it may be for the better as I’ve tried my best. Even my old friend can’t blame me as I can’t force them if they’re not willing to go to the Kingdom of Graycastle.”
Annie turned around and stared at him for a long while before she carried Amy and left the room.