Chapter 10 chapter Ten

Strovo had been sitting in a dark corner for an hour when Manuel and his four fellow dock workers walked into the Devil's Buster Hotel. Following Colonel Lorena's instructions, Strovo asked his brother about the Burning Blade clan.Manuel said he never saw the man who tried to lure him into the gang again, but he overheard a short monkey-cheeked fisherman mention it a few times in Demon Busters.This fisherman named Magoz would talk to himself every few glasses of cornwhiskey, about the Burning Blade clan.Strover desperately wanted to find the man who had recruited Manuel a few weeks ago, but Manuel always said that man hadn't been seen in Demonslayer since.

Manuel never described a person.In his eyes, Magoz's most appropriate description is "monkey gills", but almost half of the people in Devil Busters are like this.But Manuel promised that if he saw the man again, he would recognize him immediately.He told Strovo that as soon as the docks started working, he would go to the Devil's Buster Hotel. Strovo was already here.He sat down in a corner, quietly observing those drinking, trying to blend into the environment of the bar.But after a while, he was no longer interested in patronizing this kind of bar.The table was stained, and the uneven stool was placed on the uneven ground and wobbled as soon as I sat on it.He ordered a glass of ale at the bar that tasted like white water, and after drinking it, he never wanted to refill it.Under such conditions, the bar can still operate, and Strovo can't help admiring the owner of the bar.

Not only that, but Strovo found the demon skull behind the bar too unsettling.The guy seemed to be staring at him the whole time.Still, after thinking about it, Strovo came to the conclusion that it was the skull staring nonchalantly at everyone in the room that kept everyone busy drinking one after another.Strovo thought this would be a good way to get more business. The group that came with Manuel spoke as loudly as Manuel, and all wore a sleeveless shirt and baggy cotton trousers.Strover's brother made a living by unloading ships at Theramore docks, and the money he made was either thrown in the casino or given to the bar.This kind of work is purely physical, not mental, which is why Strovo is not at all interested in his brother's work, which is why his rough and superficial brother is not tired of it.Strovo's brother was a man who didn't like to use his brains.Even the training that Strovo received when he was drafted into the army seemed to him too brain-intensive.He loved the moving errand, where someone would tell him where to get the boxes and where to move them.And anything more complicated than that—such as fighting with a sword—would give him a headache.

As soon as the dock workers entered the bar, Manuel said, "Get a table, guys, and I'll order drinks." "Do you invite me for the first round?" a companion asked with a grin. "Dream - I'll settle accounts with you later." Manuel smiled and walked towards the bar.Strovo noticed that his brother didn't go straight to the bar, but took a strange turn and squeezed between the two men standing in front of the bar. "Good evening, Eric." He greeted the barman. The boss just nodded. "Two ales, one corn whiskey, one red wine, one wild boar spirit."

Strovo smiled.Wild boar spirit has always been Manuel's favorite, but it is also the most expensive drink in the bar.That's why Manuel still lives with his parents and Strovo has long since set up another company. Eric walked off to order wine.Manuel turned to look at a man sitting next to him.The man arrived later than Strover, but had already downed his third cornwhiskey. "Hi!" cried Manuel. "You're Margoz, aren't you?" The man looked up and looked at Manuel blankly. "You were with the Burning Blade gang, weren't you? You were with that guy last time he was recruiting, weren't you?"

"I don't... know... what you are talking about...." Magoz's speech was already slurred, and he could barely utter a few words, "Let... get out of the way." Magoz got up from the bench, pushed away Manuel who was about to help him, stood up unsteadily, and staggered towards the door. Manuel winked at Strovo and nodded.Strovo immediately put down his empty wine glass and came to the street of Theramore with a sigh of relief. Roads paved with small cobblestones connect the buildings in Theramore, like a grid corridor with criss-crossing paths.This road was originally designed to prevent people, livestock or consigned goods from falling into the swamps on both sides.Many people now walk on the road instead of the mud and grass on either side.Theramore was indeed full of traffic that night, so Strovo didn't have to worry about Magoz finding out that he was following him.

Magoz slammed into four different people in one fell swoop, and two of them tried to dodge but crashed anyway.Strovo felt that for safety's sake, people on the street should walk alone.Margoz was so drunk that he should not have noticed that someone was following him in the crowded and noisy street. Even so, Strovo still dare not take it lightly.According to the experience gained during training that year, he locked the target firmly within his field of vision, but at the same time maintained the maximum distance. They came quickly to the front of a mud-brick house.The building material of this house is neither wood nor stone, but very cheap dry mud bricks.Only the very poor live here.If Margoz was really a fisherman as Manuel said, he was obviously not a good fisherman.As a fisherman on a small offshore island, he must be extremely lacking in fishing skills and skills.A nearby septic tank was left uncovered, and Strovo was choking on the stench from the tank.

Magoz entered the house.It was originally a four-room house, but now the four rooms have four different tenants.Strovo walked out of the house along the hall and hid under a tree behind the house. The lanterns in the three rooms were already on, and within half a minute after Margoz walked in, the lantern in the fourth room was also on.Strovo walked unhurriedly to Magoz's window and pretended to piss against the wall.He staggered into the base of the wall, and everyone passing by must have thought he was drunk.It should come as no surprise, then, that a drunk man would grope at whatever was in front of him in the middle of the night.

Strovo heard a voice from Magoz's room: "Gertek Erednash. Erednash Bangalore. Erednash Harvey Yesog. Galteker Rednash." Strovo was taken aback.Although he couldn't understand what the other lines were saying, the first and last lines were spoken by the orcs who had attacked them from Northwatch. Strovo couldn't help being secretly happy that he found the clue so quickly.He held his breath and continued listening. Suddenly, a stench of sulfur hit his face, and Strovo wrinkled his face in disgust.It stands to reason that the smell of sulfur should be better than the deadly stench in the septic tank, at least not so disgusting, but this stench is kind of demonic-something is not right.Magoz's words were muffled as if he were casting a spell.It wasn't just magic, Strovo would bet his sword it was demon magic.

"I'm sorry, Master, I didn't want to—" Margoz stopped, "Yes, I know I don't want to disturb you if there is nothing important, but it's been several months, Master. I'm still in this hole Well, I just want to know—” Margoz paused again, “It’s so important to me, and besides, people always talk to me like I can help them.” Strovo could not hear the other interlocutor.Could it be that Magoz was talking to himself in a drunken frenzy--look how drunk he looked--or was the other half of the conversation only Magoz's ear could hear? "I don't know what they're talking about, nobody—" There was another pause, "How would I know that? Hmph! I don't have eyes behind my back!"

Strovo knew only how to slay demons, and this strange side-talk—and the stench of brimstone—disgusted and panicked him. Strovo lifted his trousers.He had heard a lot, and he could go back and report to Colonel Lorena.Apart from this reason, the thought of being so close to the devil made him shudder. He turned around, only to find himself facing darkness. "How come—" He quickly turned back, and there was also darkness behind him.All of Theramore disappeared. I especially dislike spies. Instead of hearing the sound, Strovo felt it in his skull.It was as if someone had blinded his eyes, and though they were wide open, he couldn't see anything. No, not only the vision is dark now, but also other sensory organs seem to be plunged into darkness.His ears could not hear the noise of Theramore, his nose could not smell the salt air, his body could not feel the breeze from the sea. Right now, the only feeling he has is that he can smell sulfur. Why are you following my slave? Strovo said nothing.He didn't know if he still had the ability to speak, but even if he did, he wouldn't confide any secrets to such a brute. I don't have time to play games with you, it seems that you have to die. Strovo's whole body seemed to be plunged into darkness.His limbs began to grow cold, his blood began to freeze in his veins, and his brain was overwhelmed by a sudden wave of fear and pain. The last thing on Strovo's mind was—he hoped that Manuel wouldn't spend all his soldier's pay on boar spirits...