The lord's castle in Border Town wasn't originally built in its current location.
The initial laying of the stone wall foundation encountered underground karst caves, and the ground suddenly collapsed, forcing a relocation.
Most of the already dug waterways were destroyed in the collapse, and even the intact ones were abandoned due to the relocation and reconstruction.
Brian used to crawl around in these tunnels when he was young, and one day he accidentally discovered a route that led from an abandoned well to the water well in the castle garden. Brian told his father about this, but was severely beaten for it. His father warned him that trespassing on the lord's castle was a capital crime, and discovery would only lead to the gallows.
Intimidated, Brian naturally never walked that waterway again, but he had boasted more than once while drinking and chatting with others that he had the ability to reach the castle directly. Now he regretted it immensely.
Besides Greyhound, there were nine people in the group. That is to say, the entire patrol team had been persuaded by Scarface—to work for Duke Ryan, the master of the Western Territory of the kingdom, and with such generous rewards, few could resist such temptation.
The abandoned well was located at the site of the initial collapse, which was still a wasteland. Brian, with a sword pointed at him by Scarface, was placed in the middle of the group and led down the well. The waterway, once spacious when he was a child, now seemed very narrow. Due to years of disuse and the diversion of water flow, many parts of the cave had grown vines.
The guy who stabbed Greyhound was holding a torch and walking in front, his body bent. He held a short-handled axe, used to clear obstacles.
Brian pretended to recall the path, but was contemplating how to escape.
Obviously, in such an inconvenient place, he had no chance of escape. Only when he reached the castle would he have a glimmer of opportunity. What should he do then? Shout to attract the殿下's guards? No no... Scarface could end him with a wave of his hand, he had to create distance first, otherwise his fate would be the same as Greyhound's.
Thinking of Greyhound, Brian's eyes dimmed again.
Before Border Town was even established, he and Greyhound lived here, they had grown up together, and Brian was the one who suggested joining the patrol team together. What he didn't expect was that, like himself, Greyhound had been elected as the patrol team leader.
Brian had been happy for him for a long time, because Greyhound had always been looked down upon due to his stutter. Now, he finally had the opportunity to be recognized—at least, that's what Brian thought at the time.
But when Greyhound fell, when Brian roared at Scarface, Scarface told him with a sarcastic face the reason why everyone had recommended him and Greyhound to be the team leaders.
"Fool, the patrol captain has to stay until the Month of Demons and light the beacon to warn of danger. If we don't let you do it, do you think we would risk our own necks?"
These words pierced Brian's heart like a sharp blade.
So those concessions... those congratulations were all hypocritical pretenses, the real reason was so ugly. He showed a shocked and desperate expression to cover the anger surging in his heart. Unforgivable, Brian thought, gritting his teeth, someone must pay the price!
After traveling through the dry underground waterway for about half an hour, the group finally heard the sound of flowing water.
This meant they were not far from their destination.
Turning a corner, the front suddenly opened up a lot, enough to accommodate two people standing side by side. The person at the front of the group said, "There's no road ahead, it's a vertical well."
"What's going on?" Scarface poked him with his sword, asking.
"Tell him to look up," Brian said in a deep voice, "We've arrived."
This abandoned waterway was connected to the middle of the water well in the castle's backyard. Perhaps due to negligence during the repair, the opening had not been sealed. Scarface pressed against the well wall and peeked out, three feet below him was rushing water, and above his head he could see a small circle of night sky.
He told someone to watch Brian, and he took out a bundle of rope from his backpack, tied a hook, and gently tossed it upwards. With a clang, the hook firmly caught on the edge of the well.
Scarface carefully climbed out along the rope. Soon,
he tugged on the rope from above, signaling the people behind to follow.
It took the group a lot of effort to climb out of the well. The castle, which could only be seen from afar, now stood before them.
Scarface grabbed Brian and whispered, "Hurry up and take us to the warehouse."
Brian had only been here once, and although the castle's appearance was already vague in his memory, he led the group without batting an eye, pried open the lock of the wooden door closest to the well, and entered the castle.
At this time, most of the people in the castle were already asleep, and the oil lamps hanging on the walls of the corridor had all been extinguished. In the pitch-black darkness, someone in the group lit a fire starter. The faint light could only illuminate a few feet around, and Brian knew that the opportunity he was waiting for had come.
When the group reached a fork leading to the basement, he aimed at the stairs extending downwards and suddenly lunged forward. Although the person guarding Brian had been paying attention to his movements, the jump was too fast, and before he could react, he grunted and was knocked down along with him.
Falling down the stairs, the two instantly left the range of the fire starter's light and disappeared into the darkness.
"Damn it, damn it!" Scarface immediately drew his short sword and jumped after them. He thought that Brian would use the darkness to play a game of hide-and-seek with him, but he didn't expect the other party to not run away, but instead stand quietly at the bottom of the stairs, as if waiting for him.
Scarface noticed that the comrade who had been knocked down was lying motionless on the ground. And in Brian's hand was the man's weapon.
"Fool, do you think you have a chance of winning?" Scarface maintained a vigilant posture and said sternly after everyone else had come down, "There are seven of us, and you are alone."
Brian did not answer, he no longer needed to suppress his anger. He raised his sword and slashed diagonally, a lightning-fast strike hitting Scarface's blade hard, sparks flying out. Before the opponent could assume the next posture, his straight stab had sent the tip of the sword into Scarface's shoulder!
Scarface roared in pain and fell backwards. Another person stepped forward, blocking Brian's pursuit.
This was an excellent place to counterattack. The narrow passage made it impossible for the opponents to take advantage of their numbers. As long as he stood in the middle of the passage and faced the enemy head-on, they would be helpless—the space could not accommodate two people wielding weapons side by side.
In terms of swordsmanship, Brian was confident that he was not inferior to anyone in the patrol team.
While this group of scum were lazy, gambling, and indulging in bars, he was still honing his combat skills, never interrupted for years, regardless of wind, frost, rain, or snow—this was also the reason why he didn't choose to shout for help immediately.
He wanted to avenge Greyhound himself.
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