Translator: Yang_Wenli
Using the inquisitor’s power, Tailbone transformed himself into a middle-aged male mage wearing a large robe and entered the Hearthstone Tavern.
He directly walked to the bar counter, sat down and waved at a server for an ordinary cup of ale.
‘Inquisition leader, what are we to do next? Should we spread out the Chaos Mixture?’
Right after Tailbone sat on the counter, before he could even sip his drink, questions from other inquisitors asking him what they should do next arrived through their special communication method.
‘Wait. Let me ask that old thing outside.’
Tailbone ordered for his young inquisitor subordinates to cease their rash thoughts.
As one of the two inquisition leaders in this Chaos Demon Crusade, he was tasked with the heavy responsibility of personally beheading the Chaos Demon.
The other inquisition leader who goes by the alias of ‘Shackles’ was staying outside the tavern to maintain control of the overall situation.
‘Cease using the Chaos Mixture. The mage sitting next to you is not a single-minded dwarf. Many of those mages are very torny to deal with.’
‘Another bunch of troublesome people. Furthermore... it’s a large group.”
Tailbone complained. He drank the ale in his wooden jug and turned his gaze to the surroundings.
He found it very difficult to imagine that a tavern would be able to attract all these mages. This place should be filled with lowlifes, thieves, murderous criminals and a bunch of brainless dwarves.
That was what a tavern should be like.
But, this Hearthstone Tavern was different. Over half of the customers of this tavern were mages. But, most importantly, when ignoring the fact that those customers were mages, one must still consider the power behind them, the power of their families and clans.
‘Exactly what is it that lured all these grand existences to this tiny tavern? Shouldn’t they be staying in their grand halls and holding dance balls?’
Tailbone placed down his wooden jug. Even though the ale could be said to be a top quality drink, it was not especially tasty to him.
‘I found the demon!’
The inquisition leader directing the operation from outside the tavern was not fond of his colleague’s complaints.
There were a total of eight other inquisitors that followed Tailbone into the tavern. The remaining four inquisitors were all hidden around the tavern’s vicinity.
If any demon on their list attempts to flee, those four inquisitors would be able to react to them immediately.
‘Inquisition leader, we’ve found that Chaos Demon.’
Spoke an inquisitor. They were waiting for the inquisition leader’s next order.
According to their original plan, once they determine the location of the Chaos Demon, the inquisitors will spread a drug called the ‘Chaos Mixture’ all around the tavern.
The Chaos Mixture will cause anyone that touched it to enter a delirious state of mind.
That drug was enough to cause those drunken dwarves to raise their fists and smash them at each other’s face. Once that happens, the inquisition leader Tailbone will be able to seize the opportunity to kill the Chaos Demon at once.
The problem now lies with how the dwarves were not the only people in the tavern.
While Tailbone was pondering about what to do next, an ethereal singing voice sounded in the tavern.
That voice could totally be described as ‘clear’ and ‘pure.’ Tailbone felt that voice was definitely comparable to the singing of the Holy Church’s choir. It was a singing voice capable of washing away distracting thoughts from one’s mind.
Unfortunately, the singing voice resounding through the tavern did not manage to disperse Tailbone’s distracting thoughts. Instead, it began to cause him to feel a headache.
Anger, an indescribable sort of anger was spreading in his head.
It was not his anger. Instead... it was the anger of the ‘creature’ that granted him powers.
Those crazed mutterings began to emerge beside his ears. All these years, Tailbone has never been able to understand the meaning behind those mutterings.
But today... he understood one of the desires they were emitting. It was so very clear too. It was an order that he cannot refuse.
‘Kill her.’
.........
Messai walked into the Hearthstone Tavern. The liveliness of the tavern today surpassed her imagination.
The release of the new expansion had attracted a great amount of players to throw their hard-earned cash at it. Those mages who would usually come to the tavern during the day might even be staying up all night to stand in the line to purchase card packs.
Before entering the tavern, Messai was reminding herself nonstop that she was only here for her mission.
But, the moment Messai entered the tavern, she was affected by the ambience within...
“Knight Messai! You’re finally here! Come! Help me open this card pack!”
Some of the mages that were familiar with Messai recognized her. They invited her to join them. They wanted to see if this female knight was lucky tonight.
“My apologies. Sir Lorian... today’s not a suitable day.”
Messai tried her hardest to suppress her desire to accept the mages’ invitation. After refusing them, she immediately walked toward the interior of the tavern.
She needed to find the owner of the tavern, that Chaos Demon, and cooperate with the inquisitors to purify that demon completely.
As Messai shuttled through the crowd, she ended up bumping into someone. That person she knocked into stumbled a couple steps and nearly fell to the ground. Fortunately, Messai caught her hand.
It was a chanced meeting between a knight and a young lady. But, the knight was also a woman.
“Are you alright? Miss... Tylene.”
Messai recognized this lady. She was the Frost Elf Tylene.
More or less, all the Hearthstone players knew of this frost elf lady. Her singing voice had given the Hearthstone Tavern a much greater sense of coziness.
Messai was also very fond of Tylene’s singing. Mainly, it was because her singing was similar to the hymns of the Holy Church’s choir. Furthermore, for some songs she sung, they were even more capable of stirring up one’s passion than the Holy Church’s hymns.
If one was to listen to Tylene’s songs on the battlefield, Messai felt that Tylene’s singing would be able to increase the morale of the templars by a lot.
“Messai. This is great! You’ve always been able to find Mister Joshua in the tavern. Do you know where Mister Joshua is at?”
After the Hearthstone Tavern expanded, this frost elf lady would frequently fail to find the person she’s looking for. This was even more true with today’s crowdedness. At certain places, one does not even have the space to stand.
“Of course...”
As Messai was a templar, a knight from the army trained to suppress demons, her demon-tracking ability would naturally be top quality.
But, when Messai answered Tylene, she was feeling complicated emotions in her heart. After all, once she found the Chaos Demon, it would be akin to announcing that the Chaos Demon will soon be sent to the guillotine.
Tylene did not notice the grim atmosphere within the tavern. But, Joshua had told her to hide in her room and absolutely not come down to the main hall.
But, at this moment, she went against her promise with Joshua. The reason for that was because the World Tree started acting strangely several minutes ago.
“Miss Tylene, there’s a... tree on your head?”
Messai also noticed the sapling growing out from Tylene’s head. The sapling was standing on Tylene’s head and waving its two branches. It seemed to be giving a demonstration to Messai.
Tylene extended her hands and cupped the sapling on her head in her hands. After the World Tree sprouted, it would frequently ignore Tylene’s wishes and run out of Tylene’s body.
The World Tree today was acting much more irritable than normal. That was also the reason why Tylene wanted to find Joshua.
“Let us stop chatting here, Miss Tylene.”
Messai stopped bothering to pay attention to the sapling in Tylene’s hand.
Messai suddenly felt a bone-chilling killing intent. Because of that, she immediately placed her hand on her sword hilt.
She had thought that this killing intent came from that Chaos Demon’s servant. But, after she found the source of the killing intent, she discovered that it came from an ordinary middle-aged man.
No! It came from an inquisitor!