Chapter 187: Official Bandits

Having walked all this way, Silas now had a basic understanding of the current situation in the capital city.

"Truly internal worries and external threats!" Silas looked at the sky, feeling somewhat melancholic.

Faced with such a situation, he wasn't sure if he could help Vanas escape her predicament.

Elaina sized up Silas and asked, "You've asked so much, yet you still say you're a merchant?"

Silas grinned. "Of course, my main purpose in coming here this time is for a promotion and a raise."

"Hmph, let's see how long you can hide it from me," Elaina snorted.

At ten o'clock in the morning, just when they were halfway through their journey, a cloud of dust suddenly rose in the distance.

Silas looked up and happened to see a large group of men on horseback, wielding weapons, rushing towards them.

"Bandits! It's bandits!"

The coachmen here shouted, taking out shotguns from under their seats while ringing the alarm bell that had been kept quiet.

In an instant, the entire convoy began to stir rapidly. The coachmen and the convoy guards all took out their weapons, using the carriages as cover to prepare for battle.

Silas, sitting on the cargo, was somewhat slow to react. This was the first time in his life he had encountered bandits.

"What should we do?" Silas turned and asked Elaina.

Elaina shrugged. "Fend for yourselves, each according to their ability. I have no interest in using my power to save these ordinary people in such a conspicuous place. Not only will I get no good reward, but I might even stir up all sorts of trouble."

Silas nodded, indicating that her choice was very wise.

"Since you're an assassin, dealing with these things should be relatively simple, right?" Elaina asked.

Silas blinked. "Assassins find such situations simple? Who told you that? Shouldn't assassins be the least adept at dealing with battles where they are exposed to enemy fire and sight?"

"No way, don't you assassins have a habit of killing all witnesses? You kill a dozen, even dozens of people at a time. I read in a book that assassins don't need any infiltration; killing all witnesses is perfect infiltration. It also said that weapons should be a combination of sleeve blades and greatswords, or something like that."

"..." Silas opened his mouth, not knowing what to say.

After a few seconds, he asked tentatively, "The book you read wouldn't happen to be The Evening Bell of the Secluded Valley, would it?"

Elaina was surprised upon hearing this. "Hey! You actually know this book? I heard this book records the highest level techniques and secrets of assassins. After it was released, it was immediately banned by the Assassin's League, and 99% of it was burned. Only a small number of copies remain circulating in the world. It's an extremely rare supreme secret tome for assassins."

Silas was silent for a moment and then said directly, "Don't just read any book in the future. That's just a novel. What real assassin uses such assassination methods?"

"What do you mean, reading novels? Many assassins I've seen are like that. Aren't you too?" Elaina fought back spiritedly, unwilling to show weakness.

Silas blinked. "Who told you I was an assassin?"

Only then did Silas notice that Elaina had actually mistaken him for an assassin.

"You're not an assassin?"

"I'm not!"

"Liar!"

...

The two argued back and forth, seemingly forgetting about the rapidly approaching bandits.

"You two passengers up there, if you have any methods, use them quickly! It'll be terrible if we're caught by these beasts, especially when you have such a beautiful female companion."

On the ground, the coachman hiding behind the cargo faintly heard the two arguing and shouted loudly.

The two people above, upon hearing this, Elaina directly lay down on the cargo and said coolly, "Don't count on me. I don't mind if those bandits kill all these people first, and then I'll go kill all those bandits."

Silas curled his lip. "I wasn't counting on you to act anyway."

With that, his body nimbly jumped down from the carriage.

"Fat sheep, all of you behave yourselves, or I'll let you all eat bullets!" This group of bandits consisted of about thirty people, and they were actually holding military-grade standard semi-automatic pistols.

They could even be seen carrying grenades and submachine guns with heavy firepower.

Silas quietly moved closer to the coachman and asked in a low voice, "Are you sure these are bandits and not the army?"

The coachman gave a bitter smile. "Actually, this is just a bunch of bastards. You should know about the privateer system, right?"

Silas nodded.

Privateers were a despicable method used when two countries were competing for maritime trade rights in the past.

They legalized robbery by pirates to disrupt the enemy's merchant ship trade.

"On the surface, the Duke of the Mountains doesn't dare to attack merchant convoys, but some so-called 'deserters' who have turned into bandits can. He wants to use this method to gradually monopolize the supply of provisions in the city and force the Queen to submit," the coachman said in a low voice.

Silas nodded with understanding after hearing this. His eyes slowly scanned the surroundings and found that these bandits were very experienced. They were spaced about one meter apart, holding guns at a distance of about ten meters from here, surrounding the entire convoy.

"I'll give you ten seconds. Hurry up and get out here, lie on the ground, or our grenades will be thrown in," the leading bandit chief shouted loudly, taking out a grenade from his waist.

"What should we do?" The coachmen gathered on the inside immediately panicked.

"Let's go out! Even if they rob the goods, we can still live. Otherwise, if a grenade is thrown in, it's a dead end!" one coachman said.

"Naive, do you really think these beasts will let us go? I heard before that these bastards never leave anyone alive!" the captain of the guards denied in a low voice.

"What should we do? I don't want to die!" a passenger hitching a ride said, his face pale.

...

While the farmers here were in a panic, the two merchants traveling with them hurriedly walked over, bowed respectfully, and said, "Respected and great leader, we are merely merchants passing by, not part of the merchant convoy. Can you spare us? We are willing to offer our wealth."

Saying this, the two took out a stack of gleaming golden Lanks, looking to be around 30 or so.

The leader of the other party was a middle-aged man with a large beard, triangular eyes, and a sinister expression. He motioned for his subordinate beside him to take the money. After counting it and confirming it was real, he jerked his head at the two, signaling them to leave.

The two were overjoyed upon seeing this, hurriedly thanked him, and turned to leave.

"They're actually so kind!?" Silas was somewhat surprised to see this.

"Kind my ass. They just want to use this method to disarm these people. When these people really walk out, hmph hmph…" Above, Elaina's disdainful voice came.

Hearing this, the hearts of several nearby coachmen turned cold, while the merchants and coachmen in the distance who hadn't heard hurriedly put down their weapons and walked out, preparing to surrender.

"Don't go out! Going out means death!" the guard captain hurriedly shouted.

However, it was already too late.

Just as his words fell, a series of loud bangs sounded. The dozen or so people who had just walked out were instantly riddled with bullets, their bodies covered in blood, and they fell to the ground, dying with grievances.