Steel, Explosives, and Spellcasters

Chapter 346: Chapter 25 Guests

When the three men said their farewells to Lieutenant Mason, their senior was full of reluctance. He insistently stuffed several large packs of beef jerky and pork into their saddlebags, claiming they were specialties from the ranch. He even insisted on seeing them off, accompanying them for more than a dozen kilometers.

Just before parting, Mason was almost begging, “You must come to visit me again when you have time, you must.” Afterwards, he stood on the roadside embankment, watching until they were out of sight because of the terrain.

Winters, Bard, and Andre embarked on the journey back to their station with heavy hearts.

During a break to rest their horses, Andre spoke in a disheartened tone, “If those sheep-herding bastards hadn’t let us go, I’m afraid in a few years we would’ve ended up just like him.”

“Lieutenant Mason’s situation is even worse than ours,” Bard said, as calm and aloof as ever. “He may seem like the warden, but what difference is there really between him and the prisoners?”

“Like boiling a frog in warm water,” Winters forcefully threw a piece of quartz into a distant puddle and remarked with a sigh, “Always feeling there’s a way out so you don’t dare to take the risk, and in the end, you suffer the worst possible outcome. If we had just escaped back to Vineta when we first arrived at Kingsfort, we might not have all these troubles now.”

The white quartz stone arced through the air and plunged into the water with a plunk, disappearing from sight and leaving behind only a few small ripples.

…

After arriving in Blackwater Town, Winters and Bard switched back to their original mounts and promptly went their separate ways to their respective stations.

Blackwater Town and Wolfton are separated by the natural boundary of Blackwater River. There is no bridge over the river, but there is a ford where one can wade across.

When Winters reached the ford, he found Anglu had already been waiting for him at the river crossing for some time.

“Lieutenant!” Anglu couldn’t wait to tell Winters, “You have visitors! Two visitors!”

Waiting for Winters at the police station were two guests he never expected.

“Gold?” Winters could hardly believe his eyes. “You? How did you end up here?”

The thin, dark man in front of him laughed heartily, revealing a mouthful of gold teeth; it was none other than the former pirate, sailor, and marine “Lucky” Gold.

“There’s not just me,” Gold laughed boisterously. “There’s another old acquaintance of yours.”

Behind Gold, a young lad rushed out and embraced Winters.

Caught off guard by the sudden event, Winters froze for a long while before recognizing the youth embracing him as “Xial? Is that you?”

If he wasn’t mistaken, the person who hugged him was Benvenuto’s third brother, Xial. However, it had been a year since they last met, and the boy had grown taller. His face had lost its childlike features and now bore a more adult-like appearance.

“It’s me, big brother Winters!” Xial spoke excitedly. “We finally found you!”

“You… What are you doing here? Did my letter get to you so quickly?”

Winters had never expected to encounter old friends in Wolf Town, let alone Xial and Gold—two people with barely any connection.

“That’s a long story,” Gold said, pointing at Xial with a chuckle. “This kid is here to deliver a message to you.”

“Who sent you two to deliver a message to me?” Winters asked.

“No, no, no! Not me, just him,” the former pirate captain shook his head repeatedly, proudly stating, “I’m not here to deliver a message. Your mother and your fiancée were worried that this kid wouldn’t manage to deliver the letter, so they hired me to protect him en route.”

Winters was overwhelmed by the multitude of issues in the other man’s response, not knowing where to begin.

“What are you blabbering about?” Xial gave Gold a stare and explained to Winters, “Lady Serviati and Miss Navarre sent me to deliver the letter.”

“The letter? Where is it?” Winters’s breath suddenly quickened.

Xial used a small knife to slit the hem of his clothing and pulled out a scroll wrapped in felt cloth.

“What’s the use of being clever like this? You might as well have just put it in a package,” Gold scoffed as he watched Xial withdraw the letter from his clothing.

Xial immediately retorted, “Who knows if there are bad guys around?” As he said this, his eyes were fixed on Gold.

But Winters’s mind was already completely off the two of them as he eagerly unrolled the scroll and read through it at the fastest speed.

There were three letters, one from Kosha, one from Elizabeth, and one from Anna.

The letters didn’t contain anything special, only a few brief lines. Possibly for fear of interception, they didn’t even mention Winters’s name.

Yet to Winters, these letters were as sweet as the first breath of air for someone who had been drowning.

After listening to Xial’s story and piecing together his own thoughts, Winters roughly understood what had happened.

Rolling back the time to a year ago, Benvenuto had been kidnapped by the Monta gang from the docks, and Xial came to Winters for help. To prevent Xial from being retaliated against, Winters had Bard take him to the City of Flowers.

In the days that followed, Xial hid out at a relative’s home in the City of Flowers, living in fear and listening to news from Sea Blue until the storm had gradually calmed, and he returned to Sea Blue.

It had been five whole months since the Monta gang had been wiped out, and Xial wanted to thank Winters but found out that Winters had already set off on the second supply fleet to Tanilia.@@novelbin@@

Because Winters had previously made arrangements, and because Kosha remembered Xial as Winters’s schoolmate’s younger brother, Xial spent the following half year apprenticing in Giovanni’s [Antonio’s younger brother] workshop.

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