Chapter 518

Chapter 141

After a moment of thought, I realized, ah, it was him, the person I had thrown a stone at before.

What was his name again? How did he end up here…

Holding the bag with one hand and smoothing my skirt with the other, I looked around and then walked over.

Ahead, the drunk soldier was still slapping the young man’s face gently with his hand. It wasn’t a hard slap, more like an insult than a real beating. The soldier laughed and kept demanding an apology from the young man, but the young man just glared at him fiercely, his eyes seeming to burn with anger.

Next to the boy whose name I had forgotten was a little boy who was crying loudly, looking quite pitiful. I walked over, squatted down, and patted the boy’s head, taking out a sweet cookie from the bag and handing it to him, “Don’t cry, don’t cry, here’s something tasty for you.”

The little boy was stunned.

The surrounding youths and soldiers were also stunned. One of the soldiers asked in puzzlement, “Hey, who are you?”

The voice came from behind me, but I ignored it and smiled at the boy, putting the cookie in his hand. The boy stopped crying, sniffling as he looked at me and instinctively put the cookie in his mouth, “Sister…”

“Is it good?”

“Y-Yes, it’s good…”

“Hehe.”

I patted his head again; the boy’s hair was very soft, feeling almost like Elly’s, very comfortable.

“You, you are…”

“Hey! Little girl, I’m talking to you!”

Two voices sounded almost simultaneously. Then, someone stepped beside me and pushed my shoulder, “Who the hell are you? What are you doing? Don’t you see that our officer is not happy tonight? Get lost, get lost, this has nothing to do with you, go find your mother.”

My body staggered slightly, the cookies in the bag rattled. I quickly covered the opening of the bag and stood up. My gaze swept past the completely dazed familiar young man and landed on the knight who had pushed me, frowning slightly.

“Are you, a Republic soldier?”

“…”

In an instant, the Republic soldier’s eyes bulged out, staring at me intently. His mouth opened wide but no words came out.

“You’re drunk.”

The heavy smell of alcohol emanating from him was nauseating. I couldn’t hold back and raised my hand to cover my nose lightly. My gaze swept around, seeing that the soldier was still pulling the young man’s hair. My brows furrowed deeper, “Playing drunk and showing off here…”

“Damn it! By the gods, Sag, look at this girl…”

“F*ck…”

“Your mother…”

Uncontrollable exclamations rang out from around. Several soldiers looked at me with wide eyes, their originally flushed faces turning red like monkey buttocks. Their breathing sounds were clear, and the two young men near me were also frozen in place. At this moment, they seemed to have long forgotten their previous minor grievances.

Seeing me looking at him, the soldier immediately let go of the young man’s hair, patting his head lightly before hugging him, forcing a smile, “It’s just playing around, playing around… Haha, well, miss, do you know these guys? Are you with them?”

“Let go!”

The young man he held onto struggled fiercely and backed away. The soldier didn’t take it seriously and instead asked concernedly, “Are you okay? Sorry, sorry, I was just joking with you, joking…”

Seeing the conflict ease, I turned back and spoke to the still dazed… Oh, right, his name is Ryan.

I said to Ryan, “You should leave.”

“Hold on, wait a moment!”

A rough soldier hurriedly blocked my path, a disgusting smile on his face, “Don’t rush away, miss… Sorry, sorry, it was just a small misunderstanding, yes, a misunderstanding. These young people bumped into us, hey! Young people can be hot-headed, my brothers are all quick-tempered too, we got into a fight without even exchanging a few words, that’s not right, not right…”

As he spoke, he signaled to the others, “Sag, Jim! Go apologize to the young men, let’s make friends, make friends… Miss, are you from Deer Town? How old are you this year?”

“Who needs your apologies! You were deliberately causing trouble! Pah! A bunch of drunks!”

“Ryan, stop talking…”

“They beat Virgil!”

“Sorry, sorry, we did drink some wine… How about this, the performance is about to start, the central square is packed with people, you’d better not go there and squeeze. I’ve arranged a good spot for you, with drinks!”

The soldiers blocked Ryan and the others, preventing them from leaving, and started coaxing the young men to drink with pleasant words. At the same time, someone waved to the crowd around and shouted, “Stop looking! Disperse, disperse…”

“Don’t follow them, don’t follow them!”

“That little sister, don’t be afraid, the knight will be here soon…”

Someone in the crowd shouted like this, but was immediately scolded by the soldiers, “What are you shouting for? What are you shouting for! So what if the knight comes over? We are soldiers of the Republic, heroes who help the disaster victims. We are acquainted with the knight. Besides, we haven’t killed anyone or set anything on fire. Listen to you, as if the knight coming means we’ll be arrested…”

“Get the hell out of here, get out, get out!”

“The drunkard…”

The chaos and noise around me were increasingly annoying. My brows furrowed deeply, and I couldn’t help but touch the Papal Knight badge hidden in my chest. I clenched it and then let go, took a deep breath, and stared at the drunken man who was laughing in front of me. “Soldiers of the Republic, all of you are like…”

“Miss, we are not ordinary soldiers; we are disaster relief heroes! Would you like to hear about Brother’s heroic deeds? Come on, come on, join your friends and watch the performance at our place. You’ll see everything clearly!”

“Stay away from her!”

A young man named Ryan stepped forward, blocking the soldier’s view. “They’re just grain escorts. Look at how you reek of wine and meat. Who knows how much of the food destined for the disaster area you’ve secretly consumed? The southern region is at war. Demons have come, and even people from our village have gone to the front lines. Which one of you dare to go and take a look? You only know how to bully others. What kind of hero are you?”

“Ryan, stop talking…”

A young man with red hair tried to pull him back, tugging at his sleeve. He seemed bewildered by Ryan’s sudden boldness in confronting these veterans. The red-haired youth looked pale and frightened, his hands trembling. He couldn’t help but sneak a glance at me, his expression calming slightly before he quickly turned away.

He said to the soldier, “Brother, I’m sorry. You go drink, we won’t. Let us go… Don’t make things difficult for the girl. We don’t know her, we don’t know her…”

As he spoke, he turned back to look at me. “You, go first…”

“Get lost!”

The soldier suddenly roared, his face darkening instantly. He pushed the red-haired youth, causing him to stagger. Narrowing his eyes, he stared at Ryan’s face, saying word by word, “Boy, mind your words. What do you dare say? Tell me your name… Do you live in Buckhorn Town?”

“Stop! Listen to me…”

Irritated, irritated, irritated…

If this continued, someone might notice…

I was very impatient. Seeing the situation escalate, I knew I couldn’t reveal myself or my identity as a Papal Knight. Everything had to be done discreetly. Suppressing my anger, I stepped forward, trying to persuade them to stop their argument. But neither Ryan nor the soldier would listen to me.

“What do you care where I live? It’s Silgaya’s warriors you should be worried about. You want to retaliate against me with some tricks? Come on, right here, come on! Do you know who she is—”

In his agitation, Ryan pointed at me. “Do you know who she is? Saying it will scare you to death! She is…”

“Ryan!”

Anger surged within me, and I glared at him, shouting loudly.

I regretted coming out…

Perhaps sensing the anger in my tone, Ryan paused for a moment. But the soldier, thoroughly enraged, suddenly attacked, grabbing Ryan’s collar and raising his right fist to strike him. “Damn it, don’t push your luck—”

“Stop!”

“Aaaaah!”

Once emotions took over, they lost control. Ryan received a punch to the face, screaming in pain as he retaliated. But he wasn’t a match for the soldier, especially one in armor. Even drunk, the soldier could not be moved. Lowering his head, he dodged Ryan’s punch, bent down, and grabbed Ryan’s chest, slamming him to the ground.

“Your mother…”

Ryan struggled desperately, flailing his arms. Just as he was about to fall, I reached out my left hand, grabbing the soldier’s shoulder guard and pulling him back. However, the paper bag in my arms was knocked over during the struggle, spilling cookies onto the ground.

“…”

In an instant, I realized what had happened.

Then, my composure broke. I kicked the soldier in the side.

Clang—

The moment the heavy blow landed, the soldier’s feet left the ground. His body twisted and flew four or five meters, crashing into another soldier, both rolling on the ground several times.

“…”

For a moment, the scene was quiet.

Immediately after, there was an uproar among the crowd.

“Opal!”

“What did you do…”

The incident happened so suddenly that everyone, including the young men, was stunned. The soldier’s companion looked over, first with rage, then shock and confusion. The soldier who was kicked lay on the ground groaning. The crowd around them became chaotic. Several young men quickly ran to Ryan’s side, looking at me with alarm, unsure of what had transpired.

Annoying…

I looked at the crushed cookies on the ground. Some were already trampled beyond repair. They couldn’t be eaten.

…They need to pay for this.

With this thought, I walked toward the three remaining standing soldiers.

“Miss, this… is what you did…”

“Shut up.”

“You dare attack the grain escort soldiers…”

One of the soldiers pointed at me, intending to scold me, but I grabbed his finger, twisting it hard. He grunted in pain, his expression contorting as he fell to his knees before me.

“Aaah! Aaah—”

He screamed in agony.