Pillar of Yita

The young man, originally wailing with a nosebleed running, felt a sharp pain on his neck and immediately stiffened in terror.

Then, Fang Hong slightly tilted his thoughts, and the Clockwork Fairy in mid-air tilted slightly, flying back to hover near him. Seeing this, the warrior’s expression hardened slightly as he looked at his tearful, snotty comrade and frowned, ”Combat Artisan? Who are you?”

Fang Hong dared not speak much, as he only had a few Clockwork Fairies at hand, and solely based on combat power, he was no match for these two. He understood that the only thing he could rely on was the shock produced by the surprise attack and his identity as a Combat Artisan.

Thus, he remained silent, simply slashing the man’s neck with a dagger, causing a bloodstain to appear there, which made the latter scream out in terror.

Sure enough, the warrior was deterred, slightly lowering his sword, and looked at him with a mix of shock and anger, ”What, what do you want to do?”

Only then did Fang Hong look up at him and said, ”You’ve got one thing wrong, now it’s my turn to ask and yours to answer. Those ladies you mentioned earlier, where are they now?”

”Are you with them?”

Upon hearing this response, Fang Hong’s hand flashed with silver light, and the young man’s bloody ear flew off. Since it was his first time doing this kind of thing, his hand trembled, leaving a long gash on the other’s face. Seeing his face covered in blood and his wails like a slaughtered pig, Fang Hong couldn’t help but inwardly whisper an apology for his sins.

But the warrior clearly didn’t notice this detail, simply gasping in shock. He was no stranger to Combat Artisans, but one so ruthless and aggressive was unprecedented.

The hostage struggled fiercely, and Fang Hong almost failed to hold on to him. He quickly used his knee to press against the man’s spine to calm him down, while breaking out in a cold sweat at the thought of handling high-stakes hostage situations himself in the future.

Then he deliberately adopted an indifferent tone, addressing the warrior, ”As I said, now it’s my turn to ask and yours to answer. Of course, you can also drop him and try to run. See if I can catch up with you?”

As he spoke, he let the Clockwork Fairy fly around him in a circle.

The warrior’s complexion changed upon seeing this, already preconceivedly thinking of Fang Hong as an extremely formidable Combat Artisan—an unimpressive Combat Artisan would not exhibit such prowess in close combat, incapacitating his companion with a single blow. Even though his companion was a Magic Guided Conductor, he shouldn’t have been subdued so easily.

He did think of running, but what the other said seemed plausible too. Running from a formidable Combat Artisan, wasn’t that a joke?

The warrior’s Adam’s apple bobbed up and down, and he swallowed his saliva, finding himself in a dilemma.

Seeing his hesitation, Fang Hong understood that his psychological tactics were effective and was inwardly pleased, further coercing, ”Good, holding that piece of scrap metal, are you trying to threaten me?”

Startled, the warrior hurriedly clanged his sword to the ground.

Fang Hong then breathed a sigh of relief. From the conversation earlier, he had gathered that they were not core members of Big Sister’s group, estimating that the other party was merely a peripheral ’temp worker.’ These individuals, whether in terms of combat prowess or martial will, were not very strong, which was why he had taken the initiative to strike first preemptively.

Sure enough, it worked—

He paused for a moment, then repeated his earlier question, ”Those ladies you mentioned earlier, where are they now?”

However, somewhat unexpectedly for Fang Hong, the warrior had not yet spoken when the young man below him already started wailing, ”They’re inside the City Hall.”

Fang Hong cautiously looked at the warrior, only to see the latter nodding silently after a moment.

”Isn’t this inside the City Hall?” Fang Hong asked again.

”This counts too, but the ladies you’re asking about are further inside, behind this patch of woods in the direction of the Chief Praetor’s office—you’ll see that building if you cross the courtyard,” the warrior, seeing his companion had already spoken, also unburdened himself and spoke.

After pondering for a moment, Fang Hong tightened his grip on the dagger and asked, ”Are you guys from Big Sister’s group?”

”You know Big Sister?”

Fang Hong drew his dagger across, causing the young man to cry out again, ”Don’t kill me, we are just peripheral members, mere peons. Whatever grudge your Guild has with us has nothing to do with us!”

Fang Hong found it somewhat amusing but could understand such sentiments as peripheral members of the Grand Guild are typically recruited from ordinary Chosen and native Adventurers. Their relationship was only slightly better than that of temporarily hired mercenaries.

The warrior hastily added, ”Sir, Big Sister and the rest are inside, your companions should be trapped further within City Hall. This has nothing to do with us.”

Fang Hong heard this noncommittally and tapped the young man’s neck with his dagger, asking, ”So what exactly is going on here, I’d like to hear the whole story.”

”We don’t know much, sir,” the warrior answered somewhat helplessly, ”As you can see, we are just peons—it seems like your companions invaded this place, and it seems they have an old feud with Big Sister, so...”

Fang Hong naturally knew how Atira and her group came into conflict with Big Sister. He nodded, then continued, ”So who are you exactly, what Guild stands behind Big Sister, and what are you doing here?”