Inside a small house, Orak speaks up, “We’re not from the Kingdom of Ika. We’re just passing through. But the travel permits we showed you earlier are genuine. It is signed personally by your Majesty Baleqi. As for what we’re here to do, that’s none of your concern. Sometimes, knowing too much isn’t a good thing.”

  “The assassins who attacked us st night were sent to kill us. Their identities are complicated, and now that most are dead with no witnesses, I can’t say much more. But here’s what you need to understand: the masterminds behind these attacks won’t stop just because they failed this time.”

  “What does that mean? It means the longer we stay, the more assassins will come. Over a hundred Griffith citizens and soldiers died st night. Two nights from now, more will fall.”

  “To kill us, these assassins use every cruel method imaginable. They even poisoned the well water in an entire vilge just to kill our warhorses.”

  Orak pauses, letting the weight of his words sink in.

  Seeing the two men’s pale faces, Henwell smirks, “The sooner we leave, the sooner this pce will be safe.”

  “Wonder why we don’t head to a nearby noble lord’s castle? Because they don’t want us. We bring death and bloodshed wherever we go. We’re the bad omen. They don’t want trouble, don’t want to deal with us, and certainly don’t want us entering their nds.”

  “You’re pretty stubborn, wanting us to stay a few more days. You’re not afraid to die, huh? Believe me, if everyone in this town dies, we might not even get killed, but you’ll be the unlucky ones.”

  As fear starts to show on their faces, Orak sighs, “That’s why we can’t stay here. For the sake of our mission and your safety, we have to leave as soon as possible.”

  “And you—whether for your future or the town’s safety—shouldn’t stop us. The attempts on our lives won’t stop. Are you really sure those assassins won’t come after your families, or even you, to get what they want?”

  After this earnest warning, the two men quickly agree that Henwell and his group can leave anytime, and it’s best they do so soon.

  After killing a rge number of assassins st night, Barnett personally leads a team to raid and destroy several temporary assassin hideouts today.

  Tonight, at least, it’s safe.

  Henwell and the others take this chance for a final rest. For the foreseeable future, they won’t have such a comfortable pce to recover.

  That night, everyone sleeps soundly. After all, someone is keeping watch for them.

  The town’s two officials, along with several hundred garrison troops and hundreds of hastily conscripted militia, tightly surround the warehouse district.

  Nearly a thousand people stand alert, not daring to blink, watching every rustle and movement around them.

  The next morning, after delivering breakfast and seeing Henwell and his group leave the town by about a mile, the garrison commander and sheriff finally breathe a sigh of relief.

  Contrary to their expectations, the officials and nobles above simply replied that they knew about what was happening here.

  Then they simply ask what Henwell’s group took with them, how many people left, when, and in which direction.

  After that, no one bothers to investigate the murders further.

  Of course, no punishment falls on the local officials either.

  Once Henwell and his group leave Griffith, they follow the map given by the Holy Spirit Church, heading northwest.

  For five whole days, they encounter no attacks.

  Since they no longer stay in towns, the assassins don’t dare strike.

  Each night, they camp just off the main road in open fields.

  In such open spaces, most assassins won’t dare challenge a group of nearly sixty knights.

  Without cover, surprise attacks are impossible.

  Once Henwell’s group mounts their horses, it becomes a nightmare for the assassins.

  There are also reckless assassins who try to gather a hundred cavalry to fight head-on.

  Then, they’ve learned a hard lesson.

  After all, even though they both ride horses, cavalry and knights are different

  They now understand just how vulnerable they are against a wall-like charge formed by knights.

  Now, they don’t even dare get too close to the westbound party.

  Henwell is the main source of their shock and terror.

  They can’t wrap their heads around how he manages to shoot down his comrades from hundreds of meters away.

  It’s like a nightmare come to life.

  At first, Henwell was just shooting scouts from two hundred meters away.

  But gradually, his shooting distance keeps increasing.

  Just the other day, he shot an upper body of a scout from over six hundred meters away with a single arrow.

  At that point, they’re absolutely convinced Henwell wields a magical longbow.

  Otherwise, how could he deal such deadly damage from so far away?

  How does the arrow stay so accurate over that distance? How does it maintain its flight posture?

  The only expnation is magic.

  From then on, no assassin dares come within eight hundred meters of the westbound group.

  They can only watch from afar, which means losing a lot of valuable intel and making it hard to pn effective attacks.

  Three more days pass, and Henwell’s group reaches the st city of the Ika Kingdom they’ll pass through on this journey.

  This city, called Tusayat, is the most prosperous city in Ika’s Western Regions.

  It has over fifty thousand permanent residents, and with surrounding satellite towns, the total popution reaches around eighty to ninety thousand.

  Tusayat is exceptionally bustling, with numerous merchant caravans passing through and many mercenary companies based there.

  The locals are fiercely martial, making it one of the continent’s prime birthpces of mercenaries.

  Ika’s Tusayat is famous for its mercenaries, just as Kosen Kingdom’s Ice Bay Port is another mercenary hub.

  Billie Kingdom’s South Bay City is known for pirates, while Ogiro’s Sea Watch Fort produces trade fleets.

  The Lumir Duchy boasts a huge number of merchant caravans, about a quarter of all sea and nd trade groups across the continent have investments from Lumir.

  And what about Vorry?

  Uh…

  Vorry’s specialty is bandits.

  Mostly around the area near Peace Haven—or rather, what used to be the Peace Haven region.

  This is a border zone where several countries meet, and two major factions intersect.

  Compared to the northern junction, the southern one is clearly more prosperous.

  However, after years of turmoil since Henwell arrived at Peace Haven, hundreds of bandit groups have been wiped out or absorbed.

  Now, Peace Haven lies within the four wars zone, the most militarized region on the entire continent.

  Forget bandits, even the residents live in constant fear.

  Now, Tusayat is the st dangerous checkpoint on Henwell’s westward journey, thanks to its numerous mercenary groups.