Chapter Sixty-Four: The Town of Desire

When Ver entered the small town, his first reaction was to wonder if he had wandered into some barbaric, primitive society. Here, he could sense nothing of peace; the entire town was steeped in filth, chaos, and savagery. Harsh shouts and noisy curses nearly pierced his ears, and in just a few moments, Ver witnessed three bloody brawls, each leaving at least two or three unlucky souls dead. As for the reasons behind these fights... Oh, no, in this town, perhaps the word 'reason' had no meaning at all. What drove their actions was nothing but the greed and lust buried deep within their hearts.

“Let’s go,” Procis said lightly, as if oblivious to the disorder before her, leading Ver into a ramshackle wooden hut.

The moment Ver stepped inside, he was assaulted by an unbearable stench, a nauseating blend of sour alcohol, acrid cheap tobacco, and rotting wood. In the damp and pitch-black hut, the most prominent feature was a wooden bar, behind which stood a rack filled with bottles—though all of them were empty.

Procis strode to the bar and tapped it with her elegant cigarette holder.

“Eh?... Here to buy a map again?…”

At the sound, a skeletal old man slowly rose from beneath the bar, clutching a wine glass in one hand and steadying himself with the other. His bleary eyes barely opened as he glanced indifferently at Procis, “One silver coin.”

With a crisp sound, Procis tossed a gold coin across. In that instant, the old man’s sleepy eyes flashed with sharpness; he lunged forward, snatched up the coin, and bit it with his few remaining yellow teeth.

“Hey, it’s real!” Once assured of its authenticity, the old man reverted to his haze, swaying as he rummaged beneath the bar and threw a rolled-up map toward Procis.

“Wait, I have more to ask you,” Procis took the map, examined it, then stowed it away and called to him.

“Eh?... What else?” The old man, hearing there was more, grew impatient, gulped down several mouthfuls of rye whiskey, and asked, “For the sake of that gold coin—ask quickly!”

Procis could clearly see the irritation and disdain on his face, but surprisingly, she seemed unbothered, continuing in the same tone, “Have any unusual people visited here recently?”

“Hmph, this town sees plenty of unusual folk every day!” The old man snorted, hugging his glass and preparing to return to his nap, but another crisp sound of a gold coin landing on the bar made him instantly swivel back.

He grabbed the coin and bit it again; his impatience vanished. “A few days ago, some very peculiar people did arrive… Though I don’t know much…” he said cryptically, tapping the bar with a finger as dry as a twig, his clouded eyes glinting with cunning.

Without a word, Procis tossed him another gold coin.

“There were three groups; the first came half a month ago, the latest seven days past!” The old man snatched up the coin and cradled it as he answered Procis.

“Seven days ago?...” Procis murmured, pondering for a moment before asking, “Do you know who they were?”

This time, Procis tossed three gold coins at once. Oddly, the old man did not immediately take them, but glanced warily around, then covered the coins with his withered hand and whispered, “I only know their leader wore a golden badge engraved with the character for ‘Martial’ on the left side of his chest…”

……………………………..

After leaving the hut, Procis turned to Ver with a faintly amused look, “Boy, is there something you want to say?”

“Mmm! Mmm! Mmm!” Ver nodded eagerly, like a chick pecking at grain.

With a crisp snap, Procis made a simple gesture, and Ver was finally freed from her spell. He opened his mouth and let out a long sigh—at last, he could speak!

In truth, Procis had used only a basic binding spell on Ver. Undoing it was not difficult, but what troubled Ver was the vast difference in their magical power; they were not even on the same level. What was a simple spell for Procis felt to Ver like being crushed beneath a mountain.

Before absolute strength, all skill and fancy tricks were rendered useless!

Ver took a deep breath. Just as he was about to speak, a group of mercenary-looking men surrounded them, their faces hungry, their gazes sweeping greedily over Ver and Procis.

“Are you sure these two are easy pickings?” one asked.

“Of course! I saw them casually toss five or six gold coins to that old fossil!” came the reply.

“Five or six gold coins?!” The mention of gold transformed their looks from greed to viciousness and cruelty.

In the magical continent, a single gold coin was enough for an ordinary family to feast on meat and fish for a month. For Procis to casually hand out five or six coins, it was no wonder they became greedy—or rather, murderous.

“Boy, weren’t you about to say something?” Procis glanced indifferently at the men before her, seemingly unconcerned, and addressed Ver.

“Nothing really, I was just thinking that if you’d simply forced that old man to give up the information, we might have avoided a lot of trouble…” Ver shrugged and answered calmly.

“Heh, that’s not necessarily true…” Procis laughed softly, drawing two slender fingers from her sleeve, adjusting the enormous hat atop her head, revealing a glimpse of ruby lips so alluring they could make any man’s breath catch.

“Heavens! She’s actually a woman!”

“Heh, she looks pretty good…”

“Damn it, what are you waiting for? If you won’t go, I will!”

………….

It must be admitted, for men, the allure of beauty far surpasses that of wealth. Watching the men edge closer to Procis, Ver could only shake his head helplessly, closing his eyes to silently mourn their fate…

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[ps: Mourning for the victims of the Yushu earthquake—let us pray in silence.]