The Law of the Silent Gentleman

Chapter 24 – Stone Chamber Prison

A group of four were blindfolded and escorted to Mount Chevignon. Due to the deprivation of vision, Giuliano can only judge the surrounding environment by hearing and smell. He could smell the fragrance of autumn grass and soil gradually receding, and the melodious chirping of birds and insects could no longer be heard, followed by the stench of sweat and leather, the clanging of iron and steel, the sound of horses Hissing, human whispering, the crisp sound of swords colliding with armor, the harsh noise of wooden doors opening and closing, and the scraping sound of iron chains being dragged.

The smell of blood and fear.

He gasped, and the indescribably complex smell poured into his lungs, making him cough uncontrollably. The blindfold was removed, and the oncoming fire was dazzling. Giuliano closed his stinging eyes, physiological tears overflowed from the corners of his eyes, even so, there seemed to be golden afterimages floating on his eyelids.

Someone untied his wrists and gave him a push. He walked unsteadily and fell into a generous and familiar embrace. He tried to open his eyes and saw Enzo’s face vaguely among the blinding spots. After a while, his eyesight recovered, and he saw clearly that he was in a wide stone hall, which must be a prison cell. What almost blinded him just now was the torch embedded in the wall. All four of them were locked in. Enzo hugged him, while Antoine and Lei Xi sat aside. Also, there are other people in the cell.

A dozen people dressed as businessmen or farmers huddled in the corner of the stone hall. When Giuliano and others were escorted into the stone hall, a fashionable middle-aged man rushed to the man in gray who was in charge of the escort, and begged: “Please, sir! I am willing to pay the ransom! I am willing to pay whatever you want.” Here! Please let me go!”

The man in gray kicked him in the face: “Are you willing to pay the ransom now? What did you do long ago! Just wait, it’s not your turn yet!”

The middle-aged man covered his bleeding nose, lying on the ground like a stray dog, eager to lick the boots of the man in gray. But the man in gray kicked him away in disgust, leaving a group of prisoners in the stone hall, and they left one by one. The door of the stone hall was shut heavily, raising a cloud of dust. After the dust settled, Antoine knelt beside the middle-aged man with concern and helped him up: “Are you okay?”

The man spat **** spittle and pushed him away. Not only was he not grateful, but he laughed strangely: “Ha, you’d better save your strength to care about yourself! How dare you go to Mount Chevignon at this time of year? I’m tired of life!” After speaking, he staggered back to his corner, curled up in a ball, and ignored anyone who told him.

Antoine glanced at his companion and shrugged inexplicably.

The people in the stone hall were probably passers-by captured by the “robbers”, all of them had ashen faces and wary eyes, and no one was willing to talk to the new “roommates”. Giuliano thought sympathetically, they must have suffered a lot, otherwise they would never have become like this.

“Antoine…?” A hoarse and weak voice came from the crowd, “Is that you? Antoine?”

Antoine pricked up his ears like a vigilant hound, searching for the owner of the voice: “Who is it?” He turned to the people in the corner, tried to identify them for a while, and then shouted in surprise: “Mr. Grumaud? Is it you?”

A thin figure stood up from the crowd of prisoners. It was a man in his 40s or 50s, with silvery white hair, stubble all over his face, sunken eye sockets, and bloodshot eyes, as if he hadn’t slept well for many days. He staggered a few steps towards Antoine, and the young swordsman rushed up to him and helped him sit down.

“Mr. Grumaud, I didn’t expect to see you here. You were also taken by robbers?”

Grymer nodded weakly, turned his dull eyes, and looked at the three companions of the young swordsman, but he didn’t seem to see anything. Antoine explained to his three companions: “This is Monsieur Grimmer, a merchant who often comes to our village. He has not appeared for a long time. I thought it was because of the rampant bandits on the road. Come on, I didn’t expect to be arrested…”

Antoine took off his clothes, folded them into a small pillow, and let Grymer lie on the ground with his head on it.

Enzo walked over curiously, half-kneeling beside Hang Shang, staring into his dull eyes. “Monsieur Grumaud, my name is Enzo, and I’m a friend of Antoine’s. How long have you been under arrest?”

Grimmer looked at him blankly: “I don’t know… what day is it today?”

“The twelfth day of the Portuguese month.”

“I was arrested in the middle of the pastoral month. It’s been more than four months… There is no sun and moon in this prison, and the robbers never give us three meals on time, so there is no way to calculate the time, unless new prisoners come in, Otherwise we wouldn’t even know the date…”

Enzo asked again: “Has everyone been held for ransom by the bandits?”

“No… there are only a few merchants who seem to be the richest. Some of them refused to pay, so they were beaten and abused…” Grymer glanced at the man who begged the man in gray before, “Some The person was taken away and never came back. I don’t know if he was redeemed by his family or was killed…”

“Can you tell me how many prisoners there are in total?” He looked around, “Are they all here?”

Grymer nodded, then shook his head again: “I don’t know, I guess they are all here, but even if there are other prisons, I don’t know…”

He paused, and suddenly grabbed Antoine’s sleeve. “That’s right! There’s one more person!” he said. “It’s a scholar from the University of Akton. The robbers seemed to want him to help with something, and took him away. I don’t know whether he is dead or alive.”

In the woods before, a man in gray also mentioned the word “scholar” and said that he was “too bad” and asked Lei Xi to “replace” him. What, Giuliano thought, would the Bandit want the scholar to do? It can’t be for research! This is too ridiculous, how could the “robbers” who were looking for ancient treasures have anything to do with university scholars… Giuliano suddenly had a flash of light in his mind. Yes, research! The goal of the viscount’s party is the ancient ruins underground, and scholars may be experts in this field!

Enzo glanced at Lei Xi quickly, comforted Hang Shang and said, “I see, you can rest.”

Grimmer fell asleep. Antoine pulled the assassin aside and lowered his voice: “Sir, you have seen that there are so many innocent people here. Just killing the Viscount is not enough, I must rescue them all!”

He looked eager, obviously expecting Enzo to help. The assassin was noncommittal: “It’s easy to kill, but hard to save.”

“I have seen your wisdom and skills, you must have a way! Please, you can’t just ignore death!”

Enzo sighed: “We still have to see the Viscount first. As long as we take him down, everything else is easy… But what can we do…”

Lei Xi, who was sitting upright, stood up with a “Hula”, his white robe and white hair fluttered with his movements, and the stagnant air in the room seemed to start to flow because of him. He walked towards the gate of the stone chamber, and when he passed by Enzo, he gave the latter a meaningful look. Enzo understood, and patted Antoine on the shoulder: “There is a way.”

“What! You speak clearly!”

Enzo called Giuliano and squeezed his face. “We’ll be away for a while, you stay here and adapt accordingly.”

“Are you leaving?” Giuliano was horrified, “Where are you going? What are you going to do? Why don’t you take me with you?”

“Of course, go where you need to go and do what you need to do.”

“You mean you’re going to…”

Assassinate the Vicomte de Ranchocourt?

Enzo squeezed Giuliano’s hand tightly, palm against his. Looking at his handsome face, the young apprentice never felt so confused. Enzo was leaving him. he thought. What would he do without Enzo? He can’t do anything alone…

Lei Xi knocked on the stone door: “Open the door! I have something to say!”

A vague curse came from outside the door: “Damn, what are you arguing about!”

After a while, the stone door opened a small crack. Leixi said to the guard outside through the crack of the door: “I am a bard, I am familiar with the history and legends of various places, and I know what your ‘adult’ wants.”

The door opened wider.

“You…know?” the guard asked in surprise, “Stop talking nonsense! You know what!”

“Of course I know. This mountain, ‘Chervignon’, means in the old language…”

“Okay, okay!” the guard interrupted him yelling, as if he was afraid that he would finish the second half of the sentence, “I’ll let you go and see the lord! If you dare to lie to the lord,” he deliberately fiddled with the saber at his waist , making a loud voice, “I want you to look good!”

Lei Xi turned to greet Enzo: “I want this man to be my assistant, and he will go with me.”

“I’ve never heard of bards and assistants!”

Lei Xi raised the corners of his lips and showed a sarcastic smile: “Don’t underestimate him, he is not simple, maybe he knows more than you. Besides, with so many of you, are you afraid that the two of us will fail?”

The guard looked at him suspiciously, made a gesture to tell him to wait, turned around and chatted with the other guards, and then he entered the stone room with two other guards in gray. One guard roughly grabbed Resch by the arms, and another dragged Enzo away from Giuliano.

“Go! I warn you, don’t play tricks!”

Enzo let go of Giuliano, and before leaving, he turned his head and glanced at the young apprentice. I don’t know if it was an illusion, but Giuliano saw reluctance in his eyes. The apprentice clenched his right hand into a fist, staring blankly at the assassin, meeting his eyes. He didn’t open his palm until the stone door was closed, blocking the sight of the two of them.

On his hand lay the golden holy symbol of the God of Truth and Falsehood.