055. Hanged Bodies

Proofread by Dark Pride

***

The three horse carriages were moving slowly down the busy road as many citizens and travelers went out for entertainment or were late coming home from work. 

Adam couldn't stop thinking about the event that he had just experienced. He looked outside the window of the carriage with a thoughtful expression. His anger had faded and he could think more clearly now.

He had realized that he was still impulsive. How many times had he lost his rationality when facing an unexpected situation. He felt he wasn't a good decision-maker, at least, not in an emergency. He felt the need to always be clear-headed, no matter what situation he was in and he knew that he wasn't even close to being like that.

*Sigh*

He then looked at people with him in the carriage. Victor and Mario sat there. 

Ruby, Eve and Alba were riding in the big carriage to take care of Hector who had an internal injury and was still unconscious, and his injured subordinates. The two elves had been unsummoned by Adam, as their roles had been finished. As a note, Sullivan was there to observe, as he still didn't believe the three former AAM members. 

Just as he wanted to talk to them, he felt the carriage come to a halt. Adam was curious about what had happened. Victor opened the door and said to the two people inside the carriage, "Stay in the carriage! I will find out what's going on."

Adam and Mario could only nod. 

After Victor closed the door, Adam asked," Mario, what do you think is happening?"

Mario was surprised by Adam's question. He then looked outside the window and inspected the environment. After looking around, he then looked at Adam and said, "It seems something is happening at the front. As we are nearing the South gate, It must be there."

Adam nodded. Five minutes later, Victor opened the door. With a serious expression, he said, "Young Master, you must look at this!"

Adam frowned, "What happened Uncle?"

"You'll want to see this. Trust me," Victor said with a solemn tone. 

Adam found his curiosity growing from Victor's reply.

***

The road was really crowded. Many carriages were lined up and some of the horses made a ruckus. Some horsemen tried to go through the line, but the crowd on the road made their efforts a waste.

Adam, Mario, and Victor pushed through the crowd with difficulty. Some people frowned at them when they passed them, but upon seeing the cold expression on Victor's face and the thug-like appearance of Mario, they didn't dare to protest.

Adam felt sorry in his heart, but his curiosity won him over. After they had succeeded in arriving at the front of the crowd, Adam and Mario were shocked. 

"Is that really them?" Adam couldn't hide his astonishment.

Mario's expression stiffened, but he didn't say anything. They saw a dozen bodies of men wearing masks on their faces hanging on a long crossbar that was held up by several wooden pillars. It was a crossbar that was usually used to hang the bodies of criminals that had done atrocities.

"Yes, they are the men who attacked Fox, and probably the ones who attacked us too. Although I can't be sure of the rest, the body features of the three men over there are similar to the ones that chased Fox. Maybe we need to ask the black hound Sullivan," Victor said.

After looking once more at the scene, they went back to their carriage. After struggling once more to go through the crowd, they finally came back to their carriage.

They didn't enter their carriage directly, instead they walked to the big carriage that Ruby and Alba were in. Adam saw Sullivan who sat beside the coachman. He said, "Do you know what's over there?" Adam said while pointing to the North.

With an indifferent attitude, Sullivan said, "It must be some criminals' bodies that are hanging. It happens often, as the crowd becomes curious about who they are and what atrocities they have done to deserve such a punishment. They will disperse soon, and the traffic will flow again."

Adam looked at him with doubt. At first, he had believed that it was Sullivan who had reported to his higher-ups, but looking at Sullivan's 'usual' reaction, he started to doubt himself, 'Maybe I'm wrong, and It wasn't Sullivan who reported it.'

Then, Adam started to explain to Sullivan what he saw, the indifferent expression on his face morphed into a serious one as he listened. Sullivan then took a deep breath and smiled bitterly, "It wasn't me. I am here because I was ordered to handle this case, but with the suspects dead, and even hung in front of the South gate, it means that the unit above me, Cerberus, were the ones who did it. It seems my presence isn't needed anymore. I'm wasting time."

"Wait! Cerberus? Who are they?" Adam asked.

Sullivan looked at him with a despising look, "How could you have not heard of them? Everyone here knows them. They are the elite unit of Silverpool city. Each of them are at least a level 6 mage."

Everyone's faces turned red from embarrassment.

'That was rude,' Adam said in his heart. 

"Then you can go, we'll be fine here. Just order your subordinates to take the carriage back after we arrive at the hospital," Adam said in a cold tone.

Sullivan shook his head, "No can do, it won't be good in my report. Please bear with me for the time being. After I finish my duty, I will leave."

Adam wanted to yell at him. For Adam, who had lived two lives, had never been treated like this before. 

"Excuse me, do you hold a grudge with my young master? Why are you being so rude?" Victor couldn't restrain his emotions anymore and decided to question that black hound member.

With a dumbfounded expression, Sullivan was quiet for a moment. He looked at Adam and Victor with strange looks. He then said, "I didn't know who you were, and I just met you a few hours ago. So, why would I hold a grudge with your master? Did something I say sound rude?"

Adam and Victor looked at the weird man with curiosity. Adam really wanted to look at the man's brain. 

"Forget it. Looks like what the manager said was true. Uncle, don't argue with him. There will never be an end to it," Adam said while walking back to his carriage.

After that, they came back to their carriage. Adam still didn't feel very good about what Sullivan was doing, but he couldn't do anything about that, as everyone had their own faults.

Thirty minutes later, the crowd had dispersed and they could move forward again. 

As they were passing the hanging bodies, Adam felt a conflicting feeling. At first, he really wanted to kill those people, but at the time, when he saw their bodies were hung like animals, he felt pity. This wasn't how you should treat human bodies.

As he was thinking about it, he felt a weird sensation. When he tried to figure out what it was, he realized that it was mana manipulation. He had felt it when facing Gero's illusion.

Without delay, he activated 'golden aura' and his suspicion turned out to be correct, he didn't feel the sensation again. After that, he looked around to find the culprit, but he couldn't do it, there were too many people around the carriage.

"What's wrong young master? Why are you activating your skill?" Victor asked in a surprised tone.

"Someone tried to cast an illusion on me. Please stay alert!" Although Adam felt it was for naught, as an illusionist could deceive others pretty easily, he felt it was best to be on guard.

Victor and Mario were terrified after hearing that, as they didn't know how to counter an illusion.

***

On the roof of a building, two black armored people watched Adam's carriage that was entering the South gate.

"See… your prided illusion couldn't affect him. He really is your bane," Three said while smiling.

"Shut up, but it is also true that I can face him with other's help. If I cast an illusion on his two subordinates, it will still be fun," Seven answered, refusing to admit what Three had said.

*Sigh*

"You are a sore loser, you know," Three said in contempt.

"...."

***

Along the road, the people in Adam's carriage felt suffocated as they waited for an attack that never came.

It didn't take long for them to arrive at the academy hospital. Finally they breathed a sigh of relief. They knew that they were safe.

After delivering the three injured people to a healer that was on a shift, they all wanted to go back to their own rooms. 

Before Adam said goodbye to the girls, Ruby said, "It was fortunate we could keep Hector stabilized. Don't you think it was a long day? So many things happened today."

"Yeah, both good things and bad things. it's hard to imagine that the people who we had conflicts on the field just this morning needed our help, just a few hours after that." Adam said tiredly. For him, every day in this world was tiring. 

"But you did really well Adam, it was cool when you immediately jumped into the alley after hearing your former enemy ask you to help his friend. You are really kind Adam," Ruby said to him.

Adam's face reddened, "That was just me being impulsive, manager. I wasn't thinking too deeply about it."

Ruby didn't respond, but from her smile, Adam felt her perception of him improve even more. He felt good about it.

"Hemmm~, I felt like a third wheel here, can you stop that already? You are in a public area right now," Alba said in a teasing tone.

Adam and Ruby look away from each other with a deep blush splashed across their faces.

"By the way Adam, can I report on all the material that we get today? I know you only let us publicize the match and the interview, but please~!" Alba asked with a begging tone.

"Fine, I'm sure you know what should be published and what should not. Please do it properly," Adam said in a good mood.

"Thank you, Adam. I promise to be on the bench every time you guys have a match. Can I?" Alba looked at Adam and Ruby in turn.

"Yes, of course. I am really thankful for the free publicity," Ruby said happily.

"Then it's a deal," Alba said heartily.

As Adam saw the two were chatting cheerfully, he couldn't help to chuckle, but a system notification woke him up.

*Ding*

***