Chapter 12: Heavy-geared Soldier

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio  Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

“Give me the loan receipt.” Su Ye’s expression was calm. The light from the torches flickered in his eyes.

Lawrence raised his chin slightly in Su Ye’s direction.

A muscular man immediately walked over and snatched the bag of coins from Su Ye’s hands. He then respectfully handed the bag over to Lawrence.

Lawrence opened the mouth of the bag, then tipped the bag over and shook it.

Pitter patter…

The coins fell through the mouth of the bag like a golden waterfall, landing by Lawrence’s feet and scattering all over the floor like golden stars.

The onlookers gasped. They had never seen this many golden coins in their lives.

Lawrence didn’t look down. His gaze was still on Su Ye. He said slowly, “Kneel! Pick them up one by one, lick them clean with your tongue, and hand them over.”

Snickers came from the crowd.

Su Ye didn’t move.

“It looks like you have already forgotten your lesson from this afternoon!” Lawrence’s arms rose slightly.

Su Ye’s expression remained placid. “I only want the loan receipt. If you do not have it, then I’ll head to the divine temple of the Goddess of Justice, Themis, or perhaps the divine palace of the Goddess of Wisdom, Athena. If I remember correctly, the names of both of those noble deities are on the loan receipt. Do you wish to profane the deities?”

“Shut up!” The crowd behind Lawrence shouted at Su Ye in unison.

Lawrence looked at Su Ye for a full thirty seconds, then said, “There is still the interest of a hundred Golden Eagles.”

Su Ye extended his right hand. Hark untied a bag of coins and set it in Su Ye’s palm.

Su Ye opened the bag up and flipped his right hand, sending a second golden waterfall to the ground. The ringing noise of the falling coins was exceptionally pleasing in the silent night.

It was as if stars had fallen to the ground and been dyed gold by an intense flame.

The ground under their feet was the entrance to one of the treasure caves of legend. The wavering light of the flames and the golden shimmer entered the eyes of everyone present.

“You can lick them up, if you’d like,” Su Ye returned the insult.

“Insolence!”

“Do you want to die?”

“We’ll break his legs!”

“What a brazen b*stard!” Koror shouted.

Lawrence raised his hand to stop the curses of his subordinates.

“It’s not enough,” Lawrence said.

“I’ll give you another chance,” Su Ye lifted the corner of his lips slightly.

But Lawrence said, “This has nothing to do with the deities. I still require a fee for protecting the loan receipt.”

Su Ye nodded, then turned his head and said, “Mister Hark, there are people amongst Lawrence’s underlings wielding prohibited scimitars. What would the city guards do if they discovered that?”

Hark slowly raised his right hand. He pinched his thumb and middle finger together, then snapped his fingers, getting everyone’s attention.

Snap!

The crisp sound rang through the bar.

“They dare to openly carry prohibited scimitars? They sure aren’t giving us city guards any respect!”

The two excited-looking young men who were wielding short swords forced their way through the crowd.

“Put down your scimitars!” The two men raised their short swords immediately and pointed them toward the men behind Lawrence.

The two men looked young but ferocious. They were both Warrior Apprentices, and they were far more powerful than the average person.

The thugs looked at Lawrence, hesitating.

Lawrence looked at Su Ye, then glanced at Hark, then finally looked toward the two soldiers.

“I just had some wine with Captain Lucas yesterday.” Lawrence forced out an amiable smile.

One of the soldiers hesitated, but the taller soldier said boorishly, “What Captain Lucas? I don’t know him! Put down the scimitars immediately, or I will blow the whistle right now!”

The taller soldier placed a wooden whistle into his mouth after he spoke, then slowly puffed up his lungs as he inhaled.

Lawrence’s underlings instinctively took a step back. Someone would be held responsible once the whistle was blown, and it definitely wouldn’t be these city guards.

A look of fury flashed over Lawrence’s face. The centipede instantly became red. In a low voice, he ground out, “Hark! Is this Mr. Kaerton’s order, or your own will?”

“Mine.” Hark gave a direct answer.

Lawrence froze for a moment. The fury on his face deepened. “Put down your metal weapons.”

The bar filled with the ringing sounds of metal weapons hitting the ground. Half of the people behind Lawrence had dropped their weapons.

Only then did the taller soldier put away his wooden whistle. He raised his eyebrows as he bent over to retrieve the weapons.

What an easy way to earn an extra buck.

After the taller soldier tied up all of the weapons, Su Ye suddenly pointed toward Koror, who was by the door of the bar. “Friends from the city guard, it was this man by the name of Koror who cut me with a scimitar at my house today.”

“Hmph!” Hark let out a cold grunt.

The taller soldier responded like he had just received an order. He tossed the weapons down, reached out, and grabbed Koror by the neck. He pulled him before Su Ye as if he had just captured a chick.

Lawrence forced his fury down and said, “Friend from the city guard, you are being rather rash.”

“Would I have come here if I wasn’t rash?” The taller soldier had a wide smile. He pounded the left side of his chest with his right fist proudly and shot a belittling look at Lawrence.

Lawrence’s expression sank, and the faces of everyone behind him paled slightly.

That was the Heavy-geared Soldier Salute!

That meant that there was at least an Iron Heavy-geared Soldier in this city guard’s family.

In Greece, Heavy-geared Soldiers were the central force of society. Even nobles had reason to fear them.

In fact, Heavy-geared Soldiers could be said to be the foundation of all the powerful city-states in Greece.

An ordinary city guard wasn’t scary, but every Heavy-geared Soldier had countless allies.

Lawrence looked toward Hark.

Hark was once a Heavy-geared Soldier. If he decided to return to that position in the future, he could.

Lawrence didn’t move.

A Heavy-geared Soldier’s hatred toward a band of thieves was even greater than the hatred they held for opposing city-states. Not even their antipathy for the Northern Europeans, Egyptians, and Persians was comparable.

The taller soldier placed his right hand on Koror’s head, and a cruel smile split his mouth. He pressed down on Koror’s head fiercely.

Koror’s knees buckled as he was forced to the ground.

“Mister Lawrence! Save me!” Koror panicked.

“You should have thought about this moment when you drew your sword.” Lawrence’s nonchalant words pierced through Koror’s heart like a blade.

“I…” He was about to speak when his expression changed suddenly. He quickly shut his mouth.

He jerked his head back to Su Ye. “Young Master Su Ye…”

What answered him was Su Ye’s heavy right fist.

Boom!

Koror toppled onto the ground. His vision swam, and he could no longer discern between the stars he saw and the golden coins on the ground.

“I was wrong…” Koror’s voice stopped abruptly as Su Ye hit him again.

The crowd stared as Su Ye bent down and pounded Koror’s face with blow after blow. His fist looked like a giant hammer.

One punch, then another.

Su Ye kept going, even as blood splattered in his eyes and painted his entire world with a layer of red.

Koror’s blood flowed out slowly, dyeing the golden coins on the ground a bright crimson.

Koror had screamed pathetically at the start, but his voice became softer and softer as the beating continued.

“You are even more rash than I am!” the taller soldier said, laughing loudly as he grabbed Su Ye’s right arm.

Su Ye panted and stood up slowly. “Thank you.”

The soldier smiled and said, “All the people in this bar are the dregs of the human race! None of them deserve to live! But you would be in a little trouble if they actually died. Some of these people who were wielding illegal weapons seem like members of a group of thieves. We’ll take them to face sentencing and punishment. If some of them happened to die along the way, that wouldn’t have anything to do with you.”

The taller soldier bent over and grabbed Koror’s ankles after he spoke. He dragged the man behind Hark as if he was lugging along a huge piece of ham.

Lawrence’s underlings couldn’t believe what they had just seen. Lawrence had held Koror in high regard for the past few days.

However, as Su Ye had slowly beaten Koror to the brink of death, Lawrence hadn’t dared to move.

Lawrence stared at Su Ye.