Chapter 345 – Intent to Incriminate
Zhao Hai nodded, “This is Rosen Empire, and Lionheart is the empire’s First Lord of the Treasury, completely in command of money. There should be a lot of n.o.bles who want to flatter him inside the empire. So these n.o.bles would certainly want to deal with us. We really did underestimate Lionheart’s influence”
Shue said, “What does young master want to do? Kill them?”
Zhao Hai shook his head, “We can’t. I suspect the other party has a backer to support them. Think about it, if we kill them, then the city lord would surely send some troops and catch is. We cannot just kill anybody here, this is not Aksu Empire, using the nation’s power would be disadvantageous to us. Anyway, let’s just leave these dishes and head back to the s.p.a.ce. I want to see who would come and enter the room to check on us.”
Shue understood that they didn’t have any authority inside Rosen Empire. This set-up made it as though their hands and feet were tied. Rosen Empire was different than Aksu Empire. If you were a foreigner inside Aksu Empire, you would just be treated normally. But a foreigner inside Rosen Empire was basically looked down on. Putting it in the words of Zhao Hai’s earth, it was discrimination.
After interacting with various Rosen Empire citizens these past few days, Zhao Hai’s belief on this solidified even more. Even if he held a viscount status in Aksu Empire, it was useless inside Rosen Empire.
Shue and the others agreed, so while they left their meals on the table, they went to the s.p.a.ce with Zhao Hai. Ruyen was also brought into the s.p.a.ce, but Zhao Hai had Cai’er continually administer some toxic gas towards them to keep them unconscious.
The group was sitting inside the s.p.a.ce and looking at their room’s situation. After about an hour, a knock could be heard from the door as a manager’s voice was heard, “Guests, were here to tidy up the tableware.”
Naturally, there was no response since there wasn’t anybody left in the room. The manager asked for a few more times, but after seeing that there really wasn’t any response, the manager said, “Good, now go get them.” Then some sounds came from the door as it was opened from the outside.
When the manager saw the scene after he opened the door, he froze. The plates were neatly laid out on the table, while the dishes were returned to their containers. There was no leaves left on the plates to see, and like the plates, there was n.o.body inside the room either.
The other people who were with the manager were also shocked. Then they immediately searched the room but to their dismay, the didn’t see anyone. This made the manager fl.u.s.ter, so they immediately went to find the boss. Before long, the boss ran outside and asked a few guys to check for Zhao Hai’s carriage and see whether it was still there.
Zhao Hai’s carriage was still there, but their owners had disappeared. Just after delivering the dishes, there were guys a.s.signed to keep watch on the room and they didn’t notice anybody going out. But the people inside the room still mysteriously disappeared, missing.
From this situation, they immediately had the City Mage come and investigate. However, the mage couldn’t find any magical fluctuations inside the room. The inhabitants really did vanish into thin air.
The people in the hotel panicked and immediately reported the situation to the city lord. But after getting busy for the whole night, they still didn’t get any result. In the middle of the night, they felt that the room was very creepy so they left.
They didn’t know that the whole spectacle was seen by Zhao Hai. Zhao Hai felt like he was watching monkey drama, seeing them getting busy inside the room but retreated with impatience.
Laura looked at the monitor and turned to Zhao Hai, “Brother Hai was right. The city lord did have a hand in the operation. Otherwise, how could the city’s defense force arrive so quickly? It seems like they were paying attention to us.”
Zhao Hai nodded and said, “Looks like they really wanted to deal with us using official means. Now we must be even more careful.”
Laura frowned, “To use official means to deal with us will be difficult to do. We’re currently inside Rosen Empire after all.”
Zhao Hao turned his head to look outside the window. He sighed and said, “Looks like we can only bring the young lady to Sky Water City with us. If we bring her to Carson City, then she’ll surely be killed.”
Laura nodded, then sighed as she said, “This young lady will certainly be beset with disasters, it seems like she could only travel with us.”
Zhao Hai frowned, “It’s no problem if she follows us, but it’s just very inconvenient. She’s really causing us so much headache.”
Laura smiled bitterly, she didn’t know what to reply. The group talked about other matters, and when they saw that the sky was getting late they had Stonehead keep watch on the monitor as the rest went to sleep.
The next morning, Zhao Hai and the others had their breakfast inside the s.p.a.ce. When they looked at the monitor and sees that there was n.o.body there, the group immediately went out of the s.p.a.ce and returned to the hotel.
The manager didn’t clean up, but Zhao Hai just looked around the room as he said, “Go wake the young lady. We’ll be going out.”
Meg nodded as she patted Ruyen’s and the other’s faces while calling out their names. Not knowing what just happened, Ruyen and the others groaned while slowly opening their eyes.
Upon opening her eyes and seeing Zhao Hai at the side, Ruyen cannot help but freeze. Then she looked Zhao Hai and said, “Why are you in my room? Who made you come in?”
Zhao Hai frowned, then he turned to Laura and said, “Explain everything to her.”
Laura complied, then she explained to Ruyen the current situation. Ruyen also somewhat recovered and discovered that she was not insider her original room.
Jill and the other two also woke up, they didn’t say anything and just listened to Laura. They also immediately understood the current situation.
When they heard that all of Ruyen’s guards were killed, the four people’s face couldn’t help but turn pale. They didn’t think that they would reach this kind of situation.
Until the time Laura finished speaking, the group’s face were very pale. They didn’t think that such number of lives were lost while they were asleep.
Zhao Hai looked at Ruyen and said, “Young lady, you now have two choices. First, you can follow us. Second, we will deliver you to the nearest large city and Sh.e.l.ley Hotel. They will guarantee your safety while I deliver a letter to the Grand Duke to request for your pick-up Then you can go home. So, would you rather follow us? Or wait for the Grand Duke to fetch you?”
Zhao Hai preferred the latter choice of leaving Ruyen inside Sh.e.l.ley Hotel then go informing Evan to fetch her. This would mean that his troubles would be reduced by one.
Hearing what Zhao Hai said, Ruyen stared for a moment before saying, “I want to go to the hotel, then go home.”
Ruyen herself didn’t want to travel far away. Now with the current situation, it was very certain that she wouldn’t want to travel with Zhao Hai. She knew that if she manage to annoy Zhao Hai, she would be in immediate danger.
Hearing her decision, Zhao Hai’s heart relaxed. He really also feared Ruyen travelling with him.
However, before Evan sends for her return, he still had to take care of her for some time. He thought for a moment before he nodded, “Good, let’s wait until the next large city, then we’ll have you stay inside a Sh.e.l.ley Hotel there. From there, I would send a letter to Grand Duke Evan, and after receiving his reply I would leave.”
Ruyen nodded and didn’t say anything more. Zhao Hai looked at the time and said, “Good, let’s go.” The Shue opened the door to allow them to exit.
When the group reached the door, they managed to see the manager who came from cleaning the room downstairs. Looking at the group coming out of the room, the broom on his hand fell down, then stared blankly at Zhao Hai and the others.
Zhao Hai looked at the manager and said with a faint smile, “Manager, I must thank your services. Last night was very satisfying. Shue, give the manager a gift.”
Shue complied and then gave a gold coin to the stunned manager. The manager was still gawking thus making the gold coin slip through his hand, landing on the ground and making a clear sound which awakened him. The man looked at Zhao Hai’s group as though he just saw a group of ghosts. After staring at Zhao Hai for a long time, the manager screamed loudly and ran downstairs. He didn’t even have the chance to get the gold coin on the ground.
Looking at the manager’s reaction, the group couldn’t help but laugh. They quickly walked and headed downstairs. When they reached the first floor lobby, they saw the people of the hotel looking very alarmed as they looked at the soldiers standing outside.
Zhao Hai looked at the battle formation and said, “Boss, checkout”
The thin boss told Zhao Hai, “Mister guest, there are a few soldiers looking for you outside.”
Zhao Hai looked at the boss’ eyes coldly and said, “Really? Then have them come in.” Actually, Zhao Hai didn’t need to request it since at this time a helmet-wearing heavy armor infantry walked in from outside. The man was so heavily armored that his face could hardly be seen.
Zhao Hai stared at the eyes underneath the armor and said, “I don’t know what mister officer is looking to me for?”
The armored man said, “You were attacked by mercenaries yesterday?”
Zhao Hai nodded and said, “The people from the hotel can testify. We were attacked my mercenaries yesterday, the escort guards that we brought all died on their hands.”
The armored man replied, “Admitting is good. Now come with me. We suspected that you killed those mercenaries, thus breaking imperial law.”