Chapter 32: I'm Not a Devil Either

Arriving at the dock.

Sea Capital is a coastal city with a highly developed maritime industry. However, most of it is concentrated in the affluent area, indicating that the lucrative industry chains are controlled by the wealthy. The part of Sea Capital on land probably accounts for less than ten percent of the city's total revenue.

Philard could see enormous ships docked at the pier. These vessels weren't just wooden sailboats; some of them were magical ships incorporating Magitech.

What is Magitech?

It refers to various machinery driven and powered by magic, producing effects similar to magic itself. Holland's magical research program includes these aspects.

Philard thought that if he couldn't become a mage in the end, perhaps he could dabble in magical research and play around with magical cannons.

Soon, he found the consignee through the task description. It was the owner of a small warehouse on the dock—Nick Degado.

Upon hearing Philard's purpose for coming, Nick warmly welcomed him, which left Philard somewhat puzzled. Was it really necessary for such enthusiasm just to deliver some wine?

His keen professional instincts made Philard feel that this was definitely not just because of the other party's simple hospitality.

So, upon Philard's questioning, Nick reluctantly revealed the truth.

It turned out that Nick had offended the boss of a small gang in Sea Capital because the gang wanted to buy the wine from him at a price lower than the market rate, but he refused. Due to Nick's influence in the dock area, being the owner of a warehouse, the gang couldn't directly confront him.

The gang was called the Crab Gang. Although they couldn't directly confront him, they had issued a serious warning. They threatened that whoever dared to take on the job of delivering this wine would have their legs broken and be thrown into the sea to feed the crabs!

Anyone who could have a gang in Sea Capital was a tough character. The boss of that gang was nicknamed "Ironclaw" and was a Gold-tier seven-star! With this rank and nearly two hundred followers, not many dared to provoke them in the outer city.

So, Nick's wine had been sitting in his hands all this time, and no one dared to take on the task. The buyer had already paid a deposit, and if he couldn't deliver the goods on time, not only would the deposit be refunded, but he would also have to pay compensation.

As a member of the Merchant Guild, trading relies on reputation, and the Guild has its rules. One of them is that if a contract is signed, a deposit is paid, and the goods aren't delivered on time, the seller must compensate three times the deposit.

With the deadline just three days away and still no one taking on the job, Nick had already prepared to take a loss.

Then, at this critical moment, Philard arrived.

In light of this, Nick stated that as long as Philard was willing to take on the job and successfully deliver the goods, he would be willing to pay an additional reward—twenty percent of the value of the wine.

A whopping three thousand four hundred gold coins!

In other words, this batch of wine was worth a staggering seventeen thousand gold coins!

No wonder Nick was in such a hurry.

If he breached the contract, the deposit would be half of the total price, and paying three times the deposit would be one and a half times the total price. He would have to pay over twenty thousand gold coins in compensation, which was no small sum.

So Philard readily agreed.

"Leave it to me, Mr. Nick. I'm a professional!" Philard said confidently.

The plump Nick wiped the sweat from his forehead, smiling but still somewhat distrustful. If Philard couldn't handle the Crab Gang's people, he'd still have to pay up, plus lose this batch of wine. 

Fortunately, this was a task posted through the Mercenary Tavern. If the mission failed, the Mercenary Guild would compensate him with a sum of money as consolation. Though it wouldn't fully cover his losses, at least it wouldn't be as much of a hit.

So, he was willing to take a chance. If Philard successfully completed the task, then Nick would have a mercenary he could trust to handle future missions.

This was the way businessmen and mercenaries interacted, and it was what Philard hoped for. Completing this task, he believed his reputation in the dock area would spread a bit, and then he wouldn't have to worry about the golden-tier mission titles the tavern required.

After loading the wine onto the carriage prepared by Nick, Philard, accompanied by the little cat, prepared to leave the city.

As the carriage left the city gates, Qiqi looked around vigilantly. "Big guy, will those people really come?"

"They will," Philard said, driving the carriage leisurely. "But they won't act here. They'll wait until we're out of the protected area."

Qiqi nodded, then approached Philard. "A carriage is following us from behind, keeping its distance."

"It doesn't look like good news."

Philard turned to look. About two to three hundred meters behind them, a carriage filled with burly men with rough faces was following. One of them even carried two harpoons on his back, with tattoos of two harpoons on his bald head.

Philard chuckled. "Just ten people. They think little of me."

"Kitty, stay back when the fight starts."

"I can fight!" Qiqi immediately protested.

"I know you can, but there's no need. I can handle this bunch alone."

"You stay back to avoid getting splattered with blood."

"Oh, I see. Got it!"

Philard continued to drive the carriage as if he hadn't noticed the Crab Gang's people, while Qiqi appeared nervous, occasionally glancing back.

In fact, these people weren't a threat to Philard. Not only because of his keen mercenary intuition, but also because he knew that unless the Crab Gang's boss, "Ironclaw," came, or unless they brought dozens or hundreds of people, these small fry wouldn't stand a chance against him.

And judging by the people on the carriage behind them, it was evident that the boss of the Crab Gang hadn't come personally. So, there was no need to worry.

The carriage continued to move forward, quickly leaving the protected area. Immediately, the carriage behind them sped up to catch up.

But Philard stopped the carriage and waited for them.

It's better to settle things sooner rather than later.

Seeing Philard daring to stop, Melbourne felt challenged. He stood up on the carriage and raised the harpoon in his hand.

There was a rope attached to the harpoon.

When they approached within fifty meters, Melbourne hurled the harpoon directly at Philard's back.

Melbourne smirked. This big guy was practically a sitting duck. Once the harpoon pierced his back, he would grab the rope, pull him off the carriage, and drag him for hundreds of meters. Then, no matter how big he was, he would have to kneel!

However, to his surprise, just as the harpoon approached, Philard turned around at a speed incongruous with his massive frame and accurately caught the harpoon.

Then he pulled it sharply.

Melbourne suddenly felt an irresistible force coming from his hand.

Unfortunately, he was used to wrapping the rope attached to the harpoon around his arm.

So, with this pull, he was directly yanked by Philard, flying straight towards him.

Melbourne was shocked, but he was a golden-tier three-star existence after all, and his reaction was extremely quick.

He quickly adjusted in mid-air, pulled out a second harpoon, and prepared to strike hard when he got close to Philard.

However, being airborne in front of Philard meant that his fate was no longer in his hands.

Of this, the wolf demon could guarantee.

As Melbourne came up to Philard and prepared to thrust the harpoon, Philard suddenly swung his other hand.

The metal hammer, carrying unmatched force, whistled towards Melbourne.

In desperation, Melbourne could only curl his body and hold the harpoon sideways to block the hammer.

But he underestimated Philard's strength.

With one swing, Melbourne was slammed to the ground from mid-air. The sound of bones cracking could be heard as Melbourne flew out and rolled dozens of meters on the ground.

Although both were at the golden tier, Melbourne's strength was far inferior to the Wolf Demon, and his physique couldn't compare either.

Even facing Philard head-on, Melbourne would have to bend like a shrimp from just one hammer blow. How much more so for a mere human at the golden three-star level?

In just one encounter, Melbourne was incapacitated, lying on the ground, unable to stand up despite several attempts.

Philard jumped down from the carriage, carrying the hammer, and strode towards the Crab Gang's carriage.

At this moment, the Crab Gang lackeys on the carriage were still in shock, unable to believe their eyes.

The third-in-command of the Crab Gang... gone just like that?

Before they could comprehend, they saw the big guy jumping down from the carriage and walking towards them, his pace getting faster and faster, eventually turning into a charge.

Excitement was evident on his face.

The group panicked, attempting to change the carriage's direction to evade. But Philard's hammer charge wasn't something they could dodge.

Thus, accompanied by screams and the sound of the carriage bursting, most of the group were sent flying by Philard.

A few reacted quickly and jumped off the carriage in advance, escaping unscathed.

But dodging the charge didn't save them from Philard's hammer.

Qiqi hid behind the wine crates, peeking out her little head. Watching the Crab Gang members being flung out from the carriage, her furry ears twitched, finally understanding why Philard had asked her to stay away.

Because those people would be sent flying far, and blood would splatter far.

Facing this group of silver-tier rookies, some not even reaching silver tier, Philard didn't even need to swing a second hammer.

In less than a minute, including Melbourne, ten Crab Gang members were lying on the ground.

Only two were still breathing.

One was Melbourne, and the other was a lucky survivor intentionally left behind by Philard.

You had to leave someone to go back and deliver the message.

Philard pinched Melbourne's head, carrying him to the lucky survivor.

Although Melbourne only had one arm broken by Philard, his eyes were full of fear. Seeing Philard approaching, he struggled to retreat, but his legs had already given out.

"From the Crab Gang, right?" Philard squatted in front of the lucky survivor, grinning with his big mouth knowingly.

Looking at his shiny teeth, the lucky survivor trembled like someone with Parkinson's disease.

"Don't be afraid. I'm not going to kill you," Philard chuckled. "After all, I'm not a devil either."

With that, he grinned at the lucky survivor and then snapped Melbourne's neck right in front of him.

*Click...*

Seeing Melbourne's futile struggles as his hand went limp, the lucky survivor stopped trembling, but a foul smell emanated from between his legs.

"Here, take him." Philard tossed Melbourne's body into the arms of the lucky survivor.

The lucky survivor was already terrified, unable to move, just staring blankly at Philard.

Philard, with a simple and honest smile, lifted his chin. "Go back and tell your boss that messing with me leads to this fate."

"When the time comes, I'll go find him, either to clean his neck or to get ready for my mental damages and hammer maintenance fees."

Seeing the guy not speaking, Philard's smile instantly faded, and his face seemed to darken.

"Got it?"

"Got it... got it..." The guy finally reacted and nodded quickly.

"Good." Philard smiled again with his simple and honest expression, then said, "Now... don't rush to leave. Go collect all the weapons, money, and valuable items from everyone and put them on my carriage."

"Then you can leave."

Lucky survivor: "..."