The Cunning Escape

This large seaside hotel had the most comfortable guest rooms in the upper layer of Booty Bay. In a room on the fourth floor, Keener Marando was lying on a large bed with gold thread trim. He had just reached out to grab "dinner" next to the pillow but retracted his hand. He warned himself not to become completely addicted, but what did complete addiction mean? No one knew when they would cross that dangerous red line. Keener's room was the "Golden Suite" and he looked forward to living in the "Diamond Suite" within six months. He believed that as long as he did a good job according to Silversnap's wishes, it would not be difficult to achieve this dream. He would soon say goodbye to the adventurous life of eating, drinking and staying overnight.

He raised his left hand and frowned at his corroded ring finger and little finger. Ugly and disgusting. Vossuva's masterpiece. Keener firmly believed he was a moral and righteous person because the poisons he used were all lethal; while this troll witch doctor liked to use poisons that caused a lot of sustained pain and mutilate opponents' limbs and crush their dignity. How unforgivable! Vossuva's death was undoubtedly the greatest compensation for him. He would use what Vossuva left behind to prove that sacrificing these two fingers was worth it.

There was a knock at the door.

"Who is it?"

"It's me," said a woman's voice.

"Why so slow?" Fifteen minutes ago, he had sent her to the front desk to get some wine. He went forward and opened the door, seeing her with her arms folded, standing about a foot from the door, her lips twisted.

"Where's the wine?"

"Here."

As soon as the words fell, Jorgen flashed out from behind the door and smashed the wine bottle at Keener's head. Keener reacted very quickly, raising his right wrist to defend himself. The wine bottle shattered on it, but his forehead was still hit. He staggered backward and almost fell. Elin followed Jorgen and rushed into the room. Keener raised his right fist and fired a poisoned needle from the blowpipe bound in the center of his palm. Jorgen quickly pushed Elin away and dodged at the same time. The poison needle passed through the long hair on the shoulders of the woman, who was now scared out of her wits, and nailed into the wall of the corridor.

Keener ran to the window by the bed, turning again on the way to attack Jorgen and Elin with the blowpipe. Although it was easy to dodge the blowpipe face to face because of the aiming action through the fist hole, it forced the two to slow down. Outside the window was not flat ground but the highest cliff edge of Booty Bay. When Keener climbed over the window sill with both hands, Jorgen thought he was going to commit suicide. But in a moment he saw him climbing up the wall like a gecko, clinging to the recesses in the wall, his figure disappearing above the window. When Jorgen reached the window, he suddenly saw Keener's toes kick towards the glass, and quickly ducked to avoid it. The shattered glass fell on his back.

Keener clung to the outside wall waiting for Jorgen to approach, then launched this blow to delay time before continuing to climb up. Skilled and intelligent, this was a professional escapee, Jorgen thought. "You take the stairs," he said to Elin. Then he leaned out the window and looked up to see Keener climbing through the window on the floor above. It was now dangerous to climb up to be sniped by the blowpipe halfway up, but Jorgen had to do so, knowing that if he and Elin both took the stairs, Keener would easily climb back to this room and escape.

When Keener rushed to the stairs, Jorgen was still about twenty meters away from him. He hurried forward, considering throwing a dagger when the fugitive was still within sight. At the top of the stairs, he heard a violent crash and thought Keener had probably broken through Elin's line of defense. He strode down the stairs. But when he reached the corner of the stairs, for a moment he couldn't figure out what exactly was happening in front of him.

A huge white object that could not lie flat on the stairs had Keener pinned underneath, and Elin stood behind the white object.

"What is this?" Jorgen slowed down, feeling a pain in his right leg.

"A high-end mattress pulled out of the next room," Elin said. "Big enough, thick enough and elastic enough, best for blocking people in such a narrow place."

"...Oh." Jorgen didn't know what to say for a moment, nor was he inclined to examine how Elin had learned this trick. He squatted down and saw Keener with his eyes closed, motionless.

"He probably hit his head when he fell down and passed out," Elin said. "What now?"

"Unfortunately, he won't have any rest. Wake him up quickly and ask him everything we want to know. It's getting late."

When Brego Bloodthroat stepped into Silversnap's room, the rain that had accumulated for eight hours finally began to fall from the sky. On the dark sea surface, a gloomy and urgent roar rose and fell. The residents of the lower layer took out various containers and went out to fill them with rainwater. When filled, they poured them into their own or shared water tanks and reconnected them. At the same time, at the top of Paradise, Silversnap was delivering his carefully crafted speech:

"Ah, the rain! I love this attitude that washes everything away. No power can stop the gathering of raindrops, nor can anyone foresee where they are going, just as no one can foresee who will flow into whose pockets in the next second. This really makes me unable to restrain the urge to sing out loud. Mr. Brego Bloodthroat, forgive my bold metaphor: only the rainwater gathered into a torrent is worthy of your magnificent destiny and achievements. Have you got it all down, Livigaz?"

"Yes, sir." Livigaz was taking shorthand in a small blue notebook.

"Very good. Mr. Brego, please do not misunderstand. I have him take down not only my words, but also this historic moment of our meeting."

"You don't have to speak Orcish to me on purpose." Brego said.

"Oh." Silversnap cleared his throat and switched back to Common. "Please sit down. Have you had dinner? How about some special fried capelin fillets with barley wine?"

"Enough." Brego slammed the hilt of his knife on the floor. "Speak your intention, Goblin."

"Quite straightforward. I have dealt with countless orcs, but you are the first with such vigor. " Silversnap paced a few steps and sat down behind his desk, crossing his legs on the desk. "Well, let's get down to business. The first thing I mentioned in the letter was to re-evaluate the reward you should receive as the champion of the arena. "

"Is that necessary?"

"Of course it is necessary, because..."

"I don't know if I defeated Vossuva by skill." Brego interrupted the Goblin. "The reward is impractical and I don't want it."

"What happened to make you feel it was not by skill?"

"Something was wrong."

"I understand, I understand. Vossuva was indeed a notorious figure. With your vigorous nature, you naturally expected an exhilarating battle. I don't want to offend the orc's values, but... this is the arena, victory and defeat is everything. You should focus more on victory and defeat, not the battle process. Besides, although Vossuva was very famous, who knows if it was really fame? Or maybe, after disappearing for ten years and reappearing here, his age and injuries were not as good as before. I think it must be one of these two cases. "

"I am not satisfied."

The Goblin nodded. "Your answer was actually within my expectation. I know that your right hand was unfortunately severed once before, ten years ago, but was healed by Vossuva. Is that right? "

"How do you know?"

"Before the final, I had a long talk with Vossuva," Silversnap looked up, "we talked about destiny... He mentioned this past to me. He said regretfully that facing you must be the arrangement of his ancestral souls for his destiny. He regretted telling me that his might might not satisfy your expectations. I think you still don't know how strong you are, Mr. Brego. Believe me: in strength, you far surpass your lifesaver, and he was satisfied to lose to you. Even if you are still not satisfied and feel you have not received the due honor, I have a way to solve it. "

"Go ahead."

"Please note the second matter... I need your assistance in discussing the future of Booty Bay. Vossuva has a desire to dedicate himself to this great free harbor and defend it with his own power. Fortunately, this aligns with my own ideals, so we had reached some agreement in the past. However, he is now unable to fulfill this agreement, so I do feel some regret over his death. Let me reiterate, I am truly a fortunate goblin because you are still here, Lord Brego. You sought honor by overcoming your savior, but you have not achieved satisfaction. However, I believe there are other ways for you to surpass Vossuva, apart from taking lives..."

The Goblin raised his eyebrows and continued: "Replace him."

Brego, who had lived in seclusion for most of his life, did not have a particular guard against gnomes. What he knew now was that the human called Jorgen did not appear. Perhaps he had noticed nothing; perhaps Vossuva's death was really nothing special. Even if there was, it could not change the fact that Brego had lost his glory.

But the Goblin in front of him said he had another way. Replace Vossuva? What did that mean? Brego understood that Silversnap had effectively seized his attention.

"You want me to replace him... So tell me what I should do."