Chapter 15 Slaughter
"Damn it, I'm paying for the drinks tonight, guys!"
"But we must teach that idiot Dick a good lesson!"
The dilapidated shantytowns were poorly soundproofed, and the noise from a great distance could be heard, accompanied by a lot of noisy footsteps.
"No problem, boss!"
"I've disliked that idiot for a long time..."
"And his little bastard child, he's raised to be so fair and tender."
"..."
Just as Dick agreed to Yara's suggestion, he heard the sound. His face darkened, and he turned to Yara, saying...
"Brothers, you take Perseus and leave first."
"Those people came for me."
"I'll come back to you after I've sorted this out."
After saying that, Dick pushed little Perseus toward Yara.
Immediately, he grabbed a fish-chopping cleaver from the corner, kicked open the door, and stepped into the light.
They confronted those scoundrels and ruffians.
Outside the door, a dozen or so burly men with bare upper bodies and thick hair stood opposite Dick, each holding an axe, a stick, or a machete.
The man in charge was the same guy whose nose Dick had broken earlier. Now he had come to their door with a dozen or so hooligans, looking very aggressive.
Seeing that Dick was outnumbered and outmatched, he sneered, "Where has your arrogance gone, Your Highness?"
"Dare you disrespect me in the lower city?"
"Regret? It's too late!"
He then revealed a fierce expression and said,
"I'll beat you to death and take all your property..."
"And...your bastard child!"
"I'll let my brothers have their fun, then hand them over to human traffickers."
"Brand them as slaves..."
"To forever remain a lowly beast at the mercy of others!"
Seeing Dick clenching his teeth and trembling with rage, he became even more excited and burst into laughter.
"Kneel down and kowtow!"
Lick my shoes!
"Perhaps... I can spare you!"
Dick lowered his head and muttered something to himself... but his voice was too soft for the other person to hear.
So he shouted, "What did you say?"
Dick jerked his head up, a fierce glint in his eyes, and roared, "I said fuck your mother!"
Instantly, the man flew into a rage, waved his hand, and a dozen hooligans grabbed their weapons and rushed forward.
"Kill this idiot!"
Dick stood still, machete in hand, facing the charge of the dozen or so burly men.
However, just as those dozen or so thugs were about to pounce on Dick—
A flash of sword light!
Instantly, several thugs in the front row were disemboweled... They didn't even have time to react until their internal organs fell to the ground through the wounds, and they slipped on their own wet intestines and fell down.
Sheath your sword!
Only then did the leader of the thugs behind them see clearly.
A swordsman had appeared beside Nadik without anyone noticing.
The swordsman had a long, shocking scar hanging from the corner of his eye.
He recognized the person instantly—
The legendary swordsman, Tyr!
"die!"
In another direction, a thug was being lifted into the air by a man in armor!
Then, with a forceful tug, the thug was torn in two by the man's brute strength.
Internal organs and blood were poured over his head like water in an instant... But as the blood flowed down his cheeks and the strong stench filled his nostrils, the man showed an expression of utter enjoyment!
The gang leader clearly had some connections and inside information; he also recognized the man's name.
The renowned golden warrior, "Spartan" Pan!
Two renowned, high-ranking honored warriors now stood beside Dick.
After that, a tall, thin man covered the little boy's eyes and slowly stood between the three of them.
The local thug leader looked at the last man to appear with fear, even though he didn't recognize him.
But that person loudly announced his identity to everyone—
"Yara."
"God's anointed one..."
"The First Messiah!"
"The words of the King of Argos..."
"The strongest warrior in history!"
Then, the man who called himself 'Messiah' continued,
"Dicktis, you will fight alongside me..."
"Let's join forces to defeat the 'Nemean Lion'..."
"If you want to deal with him."
"Then it means to be an enemy of the will of the King of Argos!"
Upon hearing this, the local thug was so frightened that he lost control of his bladder, turned pale, and then his eyes rolled back as he fainted...
Dick was taken aback when he saw this, but when he looked at Yara again, his gratitude was overflowing.
He looked at Yara and the others, and said solemnly.
"...Thank you so much, if it weren't for you..."
"Maybe this is really where I'm going to fail..."
However, before Dick could finish speaking, he was interrupted by the old swordsman Tyr, who said:
"Wait a minute, wait for me..."
The old swordsman drew his sword again, stepped forward, and chopped off the head of the unconscious thug leader. Blood gushed out and splattered onto his blade.
He pulled out a white cloth with some disdain, wiped the blood from the blade, returned to Yara's side, looked at Dick, and said, "Alright, continue..."
Everyone fell silent.
Immediately, the Spartan named Pan clicked his tongue in admiration, saying, "As expected of a renowned legendary swordsman, his attitude towards enemies is indeed so serious!"
The old swordsman Tyr solemnly explained, "To weed, you must cut the roots; to kill, you must not leave any survivors."
The two golden warriors chatted with great interest, sharing their experiences of killing.
This made it difficult for Dick to fit in. He looked at Yara and said with some distress,
"Brother... I don't know if choosing me was the right thing to do... My abilities seem somewhat out of place..."
"Before I set off, I need to find a friend to take care of Perseus for a while..."
As he spoke, Dick looked at the little boy whose eyes were covered. Perseus was struggling to pry open the hands covering his eyes, and he muttered unhappily, "I'm not a child anymore..."
Looking at the corpses around them and the chaotic state of the shantytown further away, Yara asked with some concern, "Is your friend reliable?"
Dick nodded firmly, "Of course, he was once a servant of my homeland... Even if the master-servant relationship is gone now, at least helping me take care of the children for a while won't be a problem!"
...
Dick searched the entire downtown area and finally found his friend in a tavern.
The man was drinking heavily and playing dice with several others... When he saw Dick arrive, he was overjoyed and stretched out his hand, begging...
"Oh, Your Highness has arrived."
"Lend me some money, and I'll pay you back double when I win it all back."
Without hesitation, Dick took out his money pouch.
Three gold coins and sixteen silver coins—that was all the money he had, equivalent to a month's salary for a mid-level worker in Argos. For someone from the lower city, that was quite a fortune.
Overjoyed at the sight, Dick's friend snatched the money bag and exclaimed, "My goodness, Your Highness, I knew you hadn't abandoned us old retainers!"
Dick sighed and earnestly advised his friend, "Try to gamble less. This money isn't for you to gamble... it's for you to look after my son for a while."
Little Perseus timidly stepped out from behind Dick and stood in front of his friend.
The friend seemed a little disappointed, but still said, "Of course, Your Highness, it is my duty to take care of the little prince, but... I may need more money to raise the little prince to be beautiful."
"As you know, Your Highness, business hasn't been very good lately."
Dick sighed and said, "I buried at least five gold coins in the ground... If you take good care of Perseus, I will give you those five gold coins when I return."
His friend then beamed with joy, ignoring little Perseus's pouty and displeased expression, and forcefully ruffled his hair, saying,
"Of course, Your Highness. He will have a wonderful time with me."
After leaving the tavern, Yara waited at the door. He had just seen what happened inside and asked with some suspicion,
"Are you really comfortable entrusting little Perseus to someone like this?"
Dick sighed, "No, he wasn't like this before..."
"He only gradually became like this after arriving in Argos, a place where chaos and order coexist... Here, it's difficult for people to rise above their circumstances except through a selection of warriors..."
"Money can sway him."
...
After settling Perseus in, Dick returned to the shanty.
He took out a decent bow and several arrows with almost no fletching from a rotten, moldy wooden box. He blew the dust off them and carried them with him.
He looked at the three people beside him and explained, "The bow and arrows that my grandfather left me, I didn't sell even when I was at my poorest... I was thinking of leaving them to Perseus."
However, Dick looked at Yara with some curiosity and asked, "Lord Tyr's weapon is a longsword, Lord Pan's weapon is a spear and shield, so what is your weapon?"
Tyr and Pan, standing to the side, looked grim upon hearing this, as if they were recalling some terrifying memory.
Aaron clenched his fist and said:
"This is it."
...