28: I'll teach you not to say it.

“Don’t think I don’t know,” the leader of the crowd sneered. “Your team leader, Shield Mountain, died a long time ago.”

The crowd burst into laughter. “Don’t brag without checking your facts; could your whole team even handle two Bear Goblins?”

“Besides...” The leader clearly had some inside information as he mocked,

“You’re the only one from your squad who made it back, and you’re still here putting on a front?”

The Dwarf simply stopped pretending.

He pulled off his hood and glared fiercely at the surrounding crowd.

“Bullshit! You mercenary whelps, you bottom-feeders, do you have a death wish?”

His face had changed drastically; his features were haggard, and a scar ran across his entire left cheek.

But just from his way of speaking, Ronan had already recognized the Dwarf's identity.

He was exactly the teammate he had been looking for, the squad’s Berserker, the Dwarf Evil Axe.

The lead mercenary leaned back and spread his hands, his attitude extremely arrogant.

“Evil Axe, you don’t think you can take on all of us by yourself, do you?”

“Am I not a person?”

The Halfling felt ignored and jumped straight onto the wine table. “Huh? Am I a person or not!”

The lead mercenary walked to the table and slapped him into a corner. “Where did this kid come from? Get lost.”

“You dare touch my man?”

Evil Axe’s blood surged instantly, and his skin turned red in a flash; this was his full-offensive Berserk state.

The twin axes on his back appeared in his hands in the blink of an eye.

One axe pointed at the other Mercenaries, while the other was held against the leader’s neck.

“Are you tired of living?”

With the axe at his neck, the lead mercenary was clearly flustered, pea-sized beads of sweat trickling down his forehead.

“Evil Axe, if you dare kill me, no one here will let you go!”

How is this Berserker’s strength different from what the intel said... “Let anyone try to move, and I’ll cut off this head to use as a chamber pot first.”

Evil Axe pressed the axe a bit closer to the neck, immediately drawing a stream of blood. “I can kill ten more before I die. Who wants to go first?”

“Don’t, everyone don’t move!” The lead mercenary urgently stopped the restless crowd.

Compared to the rewards from the big shots, his own life was obviously more important.

“Who told you to come looking for trouble with me?”

Evil Axe withdrew his other hand and patted the man’s face with the flat of the axe. “Is it that dog Russell?”

“Yes, yes...” The lead mercenary stammered for a long time, wanting to say it was someone else but not daring to actually say it.

Evil Axe simply held the lead mercenary as a hostage, making the others afraid to step forward.

When both sides drew weapons in the originally noisy tavern, a large number of still-sober patrons had quickly fled.

Aside from the dead-drunk patrons, those remaining in the hall were basically all from the same gang.

Ronan lay on the table pretending to be drunk, secretly squinting to observe every move of the group.

From Evil Axe’s mouth, he learned they should be Mercenaries from the Mercenary Blood Pact.

He just didn’t know what the relationship between that Halfling and Evil Axe was... While everyone’s attention was on Evil Axe, the bartender had silently moved behind the Halfling.

This level of alertness is a bit too poor... Ronan sighed inwardly.

Just as the lead mercenary couldn’t answer and Evil Axe wanted to get rough again,

The bartender struck from behind, imitating Evil Axe by putting a dagger to the Halfling’s neck and shouting, “Don’t move!”

“Or I’ll cut off this head to use as a chamber pot!”

Evil Axe couldn’t believe someone was so shameless; kidnapping a hostage like him was one thing, but even copying the lines.

“Go ahead, cut it and show me.” Evil Axe immediately used his other axe to cut a wound on his hostage’s leg.

“Holy shit, don’t!”

“Don’t get excited!”

Both hostages spoke up at the same time to stop them, fearing the bartender and Evil Axe would start a competition of slicing and hacking.

The wound on the lead mercenary’s leg bled profusely, and he was in so much pain that tears came down.

But he still gritted his teeth, trying to save himself.

“Evil Axe, now everyone has a hostage. How about this: we exchange hostages, and then we’ll call it even for today?”

Hearing this, Evil Axe instantly slapped him several times with the flat of the axe.

“You can talk so much, but you can’t answer my question, huh?”

The bartender was a bit dazed, almost doubting if the hostage in his hand was already dead, so he quickly followed suit and slapped the Halfling a few times.

“If you dare touch him again, your little partner will get the same treatment!”

The Halfling hostage was unhappy. “Partner is fine, but what’s with adding ‘little’?”

“Oh? I don’t believe you.” After Evil Axe finished speaking, he immediately slapped the lead mercenary again, knocking out his front teeth.

“Slap.” The bartender immediately retaliated, slapping half of the Halfling’s face swollen.

“Hang in there, Drill Mouse,” Evil Axe comforted the Halfling.

The Halfling originally thought that since Evil Axe knew the other side would retaliate equally, he would have some reservations and stop.

Instead, Evil Axe turned his head and immediately slapped the lead mercenary again. “I’ll teach you to keep your mouth shut!”

“I’ll teach you to keep your mouth shut!”

“I’ll teach you to keep your mouth shut!”

...Wait, brother, so that's what 'hang in there' meant... The bartender immediately followed up and started slapping the Halfling’s face.

The tavern went quiet for a moment, with only the constant sound of slaps on the hostages’ faces and Evil Axe’s repeated “I’ll teach you to keep your mouth shut”... After a while, when both hostages were starting to roll their eyes, the bartender panted and said, “Stop for a second.”

“If you keep hitting him like this, he won’t be able to speak.”

The two hostages, who were about to lose consciousness, were so moved they almost cried.

Brother, you should have told him sooner.

“Are you going to talk or not!” Evil Axe roared, raising the flat of his axe high.

It seemed if he didn’t hear an answer in the next moment, a new round of face-slapping punishment would begin.

“It’s Viscount Roland!” the lead mercenary shouted immediately, fearing he’d be a second late.

“I just took a mission from the Mercenary Blood Pact. After receiving Viscount Roland’s deposit and intel, I happened to find your trail...”

“Who the hell is this Viscount bird?” Evil Axe no longer held the axe to his neck but grabbed him by the collar.

“I... I don’t know...” The lead mercenary had some difficulty breathing.

“You motherf—” Evil Axe was about to start another round of slapping when the other man immediately cried out, “I really don’t know!”

“I know. He’s a viscount under the County Lord’s territory. I heard he’s very close to the County Lord,” the bartender answered proactively; he was getting tired of slapping.

“The County Lord... wants to kill me?” Evil Axe thought for a moment, then flew into a rage. “You dare lie to me!”

Evil Axe felt these people were playing him. In his shame and anger, he raised his axe to chop the hostage into pieces.

Completely forgetting that another hostage was still in the opponent's hands.

“No!”

“Don’t!”

“Stop!”

“Wait!”

...Everyone’s heart jumped into their throats, and voices of restraint rang out simultaneously.

Amidst the chaos, a voice from the tavern entrance sounded distinctly different.

“Alright, Evil Axe, that’s enough.”

Ronan had gotten the answer he wanted and stood up from the wine table.

Everyone looked toward the sound. The backlight from the door outlined the blurry figure of a youth, his features unclear.

But Evil Axe was incredibly familiar with this voice. He couldn’t help but drop the lead mercenary and shouted excitedly, “Captain!”