chapter xiii - a sudden attack

　　Jackson cupped his chin and revealed a plaintive smile, "Andre, good job lately, by the way, what were you talking about just now?" 　　Andre smiled curtly in disbelief, "Brother Jackson, just a small thing, I've seen a young man I know, for the last few days, heading out of town every day, so it's a bit strange." 　　"What does he take out with him and then bring back with him, ever notice?" Jackson smiled amiably, but for some reason both Andre and Mag felt a little chill. 　　Mag, who claimed to have one sixteenth of Arashi Highland barbarian blood, a villain whose belief in the Fist was only a little worse than his belief in the God of Truth, immediately had difficulty in answering when asked by Jackson, while Andre, who was slightly more normal, recalled for a while, and then said with no certainty, "It seems like he went out with a worn linen sack, and came back, and when he came back, eh. The cloth bag seemed to contain something inside, but this season, in the black forest across the Belen River, it is the time when mushrooms are at their peak, so he might have gone to pick mushrooms?" 　　"Does it take a young man of considerable strength to pick mushrooms? The edge of the Black Forest isn't dangerous; a small girl or boy would suffice." Jackson shook his head. 　　Andrei bravely asked, "But, Brother Jackson, what could be so odd about a dirty and poor boy like him?" 　　Alto had a total of three city gates, the one facing the Belen River and the Melzer Black Forest was the busiest, and there were a lot of merchants, civilians, mercenaries, and adventurers coming and going every day, so how could Andre and Mag have the energy to pay attention to a poor kid like Lucien. 　　Jackson laughed, ''The day before yesterday blacksmith Reg came to me, he bought a nice piece of metal fragment from a young boy, it is the Cerulean Copper that only those rich and upper class people can afford to use, although it is only the worst kind, it is somewhat helpful in building a sharper dagger. So he was curious about the origin of the Cerulean Copper and wanted to try and see if he could get the source in our hands." 　　"Brother Jackson, are you saying that the Thur copper was sold to Reg by Lucien?" Mag's all-muscle brain directly connected the two, completely ignoring whether there was any evidence or not. 　　Jackson nodded slightly, "He was very careful, Reg wasn't able to track him, and the pieces of Cerulean Copper were handled so that the calendar couldn't be seen, so it took me more than a day to discover a little bit of clues from the market area. He has struck out too many times in the past few days, it is inevitable that he has left an impression on people, some people see that he always comes towards the city gate area at this time of the day, huh, I can't believe that you guys actually know him, that's great." 　　"Brother Jackson, what do we need to do?" Andre was busy asking Jackson for instructions. 　　Jackson pointed at the city gates, "First tell me his identity, then quietly follow him to see where he got those things from, if he finds out, then restrain him and torture him directly, while all the copper felts on his body go to you guys." 　　"Yes, big brother Jackson." Margo replied owlishly ahead of Andre, the horizontal flesh on his face trembling. 　　It had been more than ten days since he had used his fists to teach others a lesson and had a painful fight, and he became excited. 　　※※※ 　　Lucien took the linen bag and walked on the road to the Belen River, the man who had steeply obtained a method of earning money had actually calmed down after the initial half day of excitement, pondering on how not to be found out about his abnormality, at least until he had gathered five silver nal. 　　"Although I've been paying more attention in many aspects, but having never had experience doing this kind of thing, and being less familiar with the other world, it's hard to say if I'll miss something, eh, according to the plan, tomorrow I'll walk through the gated area for another day, and the day after that I'll go out from the one in the Nolan district, and switch to the gates of the Purple Lily district after three days." 　　The Purple Lily District is Alto's civilian district, the Nolan District is another market district, the city gates are both far away from the Belen River, and need to go around in a big circle, if they are coming out from the city gate district, Lucien's round trip will only take two hours even if he goes to the Meisel Black Forest and picks some mushrooms as a cover, while from those two city gates, the round trip will take a minimum of three hours. 　　Lucien, who was thinking about things, suddenly, vaguely had a feeling of being followed by someone. 　　"Who will follow me?" Lucien's heart was instantly filled with vigilance. 　　Ever since he was almost strangled to death by Gary in the sewers, Lucien found himself mentally sharp with psychic sensing ability, relying on this, he was able to smoothly get rid of the possible greedy people following him when he was selling goods in the past few days. 　　Not daring to be the slightest bit careless, Lucien pretended as if nothing had happened, just passed a corner of the leveled avenue, took the opportunity of the grass, trees and other things to cover the sight behind him, and immediately ran wildly, and then violently scurried into the sparse woods, hid behind a big tree, and waited for the emergence of the stalker behind him. 　　Lucien was very calm at this time, and had to figure out who was following him, so that he could think of a way to deal with it later. 　　After a minute or two, two heavy footsteps thudded and paused when they were around the corner, then stuck their heads out and sized up where Lucien was. 　　"Damn, the kid got away!" 　　"Andre, should have listened to me a long time ago, don't worry about where he went, just arrest him and beat him up hard, then we'll know everything!" 　　The two people couldn't care about hiding, their furious curses reached Lucien's ears. 　　Lucien originally wondered if the voice sounded familiar, but when Mag called out the name "Andre", he immediately realized: "Aaron's gang suspects me? So soon?" 　　While puzzled, Lucien didn't dwell too much on why he would be discovered so quickly, because this is a world with many strange methods and tactics, gently inhaled, and planned to wait for the two to leave, then immediately go around to the other city gate, go back to his own home, take out the hidden silver nal and copper fel, and find a place to hide for a few days, and after that, the big thing is to agree to John to go to Sir Vine's manor to become an apprentice brewer. 　　Andre and Mag argued in place for a minute, see Lucien is indeed missing, both become frustrated, Jackson is very ruthless, do not do the things he explained, I am afraid there is no good end. 　　"Mag, haven't you always bragged about having barbarian blood and being able to distinguish the smell of the wind?" Andre suddenly remembered a thing that Mag had mentioned when bragging in the past. 　　Mag touched his bald head and said in a buzzing, raspy voice, "I forgot about it for a moment. And sometimes I can tell the difference, sometimes I can't." 　　Not far away, Lucien heard the conversation between the two, and his vigilance bubbled up again; he had crossed over only a few days ago, and his means and methods of doing things were still less knowledgeable about this world. 　　Mag lifted his head slightly and inhaled deeply through his nose, suddenly, he shouted excitedly, "I smell the stink of that damn kid!" 　　While yelling, he took big steps and ran towards the big tree where Lucien was hiding, with Andre following closely behind. 　　Lucien had turned to run when Mag called up, trying to get away from both of them by speed. 　　But who knows, although Mag is tall, strong and full of muscles, he runs very fast, the distance between him and Lucien is getting shorter and shorter, if not for a couple of times when he was afraid of crashing into a tree, he could have already grabbed Lucien's clothes. 　　The woods along the river on this side of the Belen River are very sparse, Lucien ran and ran, and it became open in front of him, and he could no longer rely on the trees and flexibility to avoid Mag. 　　But Lucien didn't panic too much, compared to Gary, a high-ranking knight-servant, the feeling of oppression given by the Mag is much inferior, not to mention those densely packed hideous red-eyed rats. 　　"Can't run anymore, take the chance that Mag is catching up and Andre is still some distance away to knock Mag down first." Lucien quickly made a decision. 　　While Lucien was on high alert and poised to strike, Mag's excited roar rang in Lucien's ears. 　　Lucien immediately made a sharp stop, his body shortened, his head buried, and his feet stomped, and he crashed into Mag's arms. 　　Margo did not expect Lucien to suddenly stop, could not control his body to rush forward, subconsciously swung his right hand, but was prepared for Lucien to shorten his body to avoid, can only be swung over his head. 　　As soon as Lucien crashed into Mag's arms, his tightly clenched right fist struck Mag's soft abdomen hard, only to cause Mag's intestines to roll over, his throat sour, and he screamed out in pain. 　　But such a blow was not enough for Mag, who had one-sixteenth barbarian blood, to put him out of action, and after two seconds of adjusting to it, his left hand was already slamming downward with an elbow. 　　But before he elbowed, Lucien's right leg had already flexed, and his knee was pushed hard and accurately between Mag's legs. 　　"Ow!!!" 　　Mag, who was so mixed that he couldn't see the barbarian blood, let out a miserable, long, miserable scream, covering his lower body with both hands and rolling around on the ground in agony. 　　Andre, who had rushed to the near side, saw this scene, and for no apparent reason, his crotch went cold and he slowed down his pace. 　　And Lucien didn't even look at it, and turned to run away again, because Andre who rushed over was holding a cold shining dagger in his hand, and there was no thing nearby that could be used as a weapon, and he himself was even more unaware of how Andre's strength was, and that Mag might be able to regain his fighting strength after a while, after all, his body was just too sturdy. 　　Andre chased a dozen steps, see and Lucien distance is getting farther and farther, and behind the Mag is still rolling and wailing, hesitated for a moment, finally stopped. 　　※※※ 　　"Without strength, there's really no sense of security in this world ah, not even if you make a small, insignificant fortune." The previous encounter made Lucien unable to help but sigh, something in his heart was stirring. 　　At this time it was more than nine in the morning, Lucien who had returned to Alto from the city gates of Nolan district, sneaked towards his hut in the slums, ready to take out the hidden money, after all, Andre and Mag knew himself, knew that he was introduced by Kouen, so the Aaron gangsters had probably already found out his details and place of residence, and he only hoped that he would be able to get in front of them, or else all of his heartfelt efforts in these past few days would all be over,... And he had messed with a gang of thugs, rogues, and scoundrels. 　　Lucien hid behind the outer wall of a house and peeked into his hut, seeing no one around, and was about to find a neighboring kid he knew to ask quietly when he suddenly saw a dozen or so men aggressively approaching his hut. 　　As a well-dressed, plain-looking man reached out and pointed, a young man with thick arms stepped forward and kicked Lucien's door so hard that it sent the already tattered and rickety wooden door flying straight up.