Chapter 140 Strangeness
Unbeknownst to the poor seller and the unscrupulous soldier who just had their little incident near the city gate, a pair of cold eyes secretly watched from the shadows without anyone's notice.
Looking at the unruly soldier who had just conned the poor seller leaving with the other big bearded soldier, the man stocking the two from the shadows had an imperceptible glimmer shining in his eyes.
Letting out a muffled scowl, the man turned his head, his eyes narrowing full of suspicion as he saw the oddly, extremely highly guarded city.
The City was almost sealed as only some selected people were allowed to leave the gates. At first glance, only the outside merchants, the Maugier Family soldiers, and knights as well as some of the city's merchants were allowed to leave.
The commoners didn't seem to mind this as they wouldn't leave the city without a firm reason, to begin with, but the man in the shadows found this situation to be most peculiar.
Another odd thing about this seemingly bustling and normal city was the savage-looking and unruly soldiers who behaved like they were on some kind of picnic.
Where was the dutiful and noble code of conduct? Where was the discipline? And honor?
The man in the shadows snickered to himself as if he understood something and moved on.
His silhouette flickered abruptly disappearing in an instant, his presence completely concealed so much so that even the skilled Maugier Family knights couldn't detect him as he moved about in the city in an unscrupulous manner, peeping on the conversations of the drunk commoners at the taverns.
As he listened to them pour their recent grievances out, the man's gaze became more and more chilly.
Again, at first glance, it truly seemed nothing much. For example, their Lord had become exceptionally cruel recently, allowing his knights and soldiers to behave unceremoniously as they exploited and harmed the common people once in a while.
Although this usually didn't happen all that much, but this change was truly rather abrupt as this kind of thing never happened before, making the people lament endlessly.
But then again, this was nothing different as most nobles weren't exactly kind souls. But seeing their Lord who was previously good to them acting this way all of a sudden made the commoners more disappointed in the nobility.
On top of that, the Lord had also recently ordered a large-scale purge of some corrupt officials and traitorous knights. The military presence in the city had also increased exponentially as soldiers regularly made trips to the outside.
On its own, it was easy to assume all this gossip was nothing but just some normal activity as it truly wasn't anything so groundbreaking.
But the man's chilly gaze turned more and more murderous as he secretly heard all these stories from all over the city.
Finally, the man reached the Maugier Family's mansion. The man's martial arts seemed to be extremely good as just with one jump, he climbed the tall tree at the back of the mansion without making a single sound.
Despite the mansion being heavily guarded, it was as if the man was impossible to detect.
Looking at the grand mansion from the tree branch, the man first saw hundreds of soldiers guarding the premises nonchalantly without any disciple, which was extremely odd considering that these were the forces of a noble family.
Ignoring that for now, the man looked further at the mansion that was so silent that it might as well be completely empty. Not a squeak could be heard from the mansion which only seemed to be filled with crude soldiers and warriors.
The man on the tree branch suddenly chuckled in astonishment, muttering to himself, "This… How could this happen?"
His brows twitched endlessly, a hesitant look flashing in his narrowed eyes as he stared at the eerie mansion strangely.
In the end, sighing with resignation he muttered, "Hmph, I can't get discovered. It's better to just report back… Hehe…" muttering this in a soft tone, the man sneered dubiously looking in the direction of the mansion with contempt and then suddenly his figure flickered, disappearing into thin air as a single leaf gently fell from the tree.
***
The next day after the mysterious man entered the city of Claudwill, snooped around, and then left, all without raising a single alarm. From this, it could be judged that the man's Martial Arts or Mystic Arts weren't mediocre at all, especially considering that the city was on high alert and tightly monitored.
Anyhow, apart from the mysterious man's probing, the city was still bustling as always. The Maugier Family's soldiers that were mostly new faces completely unbeknownst to the commoners were patrolling the city sternly with their nasty, terrible countenance. Many of them had expressions as if they had eaten a fly or perhaps snubbed their toe. Considering this, no one dared to get in their way for fear of catching their eye and bringing a calamity upon themselves.
The marketplace of the city was also functioning normally along with the entertainment establishments for pleasure. Although, now only the scary-looking savage brutes of soldiers could be seen in such places as normal people wanted to do nothing with these unscrupulous hooligans.
But this city, which looked completely unordinary under the vast blue sky, shining in the sunlight and brimming with vitality, carried a certain sense of uneasiness. As if underneath this pleasant layer, something wasn't quite right.
The new faces that could be seen approximately a year ago, the lack of activity from the Maugier Manner, the change in the behavior of the guards, the influx of constant military activity—all these things that were observed by the mysterious man from before created an air of obscurity around this little average city.
But of course, almost nobody paid too much attention to these tiny unordinary details as long as these tiny things didn't obstruct their day-to-day life.
And although the city had been flooding with new faces recently, the soldiers were not as honorable as before and the 'security' had been tightened by several folds; all these were nothing but minor inconveniences.
Gazing at the prosperous city of his from the balcony of the Maugier manner, the city that the Maugier Family had been cultivating with blood and sweat through generations; the current Lord of the City, Craith Maugier, heaved a sigh full of lament and guilt. His fists clenched tightly so much so that his knuckles were turning white, his eyes bloodshot and his hands shaking uncontrollably.
Hearing a sound behind his back, Craith Maugier jolted out of his reverie and turned around, his young handsome face filled with untimely wrinkles of worry and the dark circles below his eyes due to countless sleepless nights reflecting in the eyes of his family standing before him, all having grave, defeated expressions apart from his young four-year-old son who seemed to be completely oblivious to the mood.
Baron Craith smiled bitterly and shook his head despondently looking at his young son, his gaze brimming with guilt, uncertainty, and defeat.
Pondering on his hopeless situation he inwardly mused, "Why did this happen?"
Seeing his father looking at him with such empty eyes, the young boy became scared and asked innocently, "F-father… what's wrong?"
Baron Craith saw the innocence on his son's face and felt as if his heart was being pierced by a thousand needles.
Abruptly, he became overwhelmed with despair. His vision darkened and his face paled as he stumbled forward.
Expecting to faint on the spot, Baron Craith squinted his eyes but the expected fall did not come at all. Instead, he felt his arm being tugged by something soft and tender. Then, the familiar scent entered his nostrils.
Smiling bitterly, he looked up and saw his lovely wife supporting him by tugging at his arm while looking at him with a gaze full of concern.
"Hehe, such a familial scene! Truly makes my heart flutter! Hahaha! Lord Craith, you should take care of your health. We wouldn't want your lovely wife to become a widow, now do we?"
Just as Baron Craith's spirits lifted after seeing his wife, a much too familiar and dreadful voice that was impetuous and full of blatant ridicule rang in his ears.
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