Chapter 40 Lin Qi"s Wet Nurse
Making their way to the main fortress, Enzo"s thoughts were in disorder as he calculated the terrifying strength displayed by Lin Qi"s family.
He was able to accurately judge the family"s strength using the knowledge he had accrued from the Imperial Army Academy. Just from the defensive measures alone, the ancestral house was sufficient to deal with an a.s.sault from a ten-thousand soldier army as long as there were no powerful magicians or high-level knights.
But this estimation was solely based on the defensive capabilities of this impa.s.sable base. If he added unfathomable experts like Tie Chui and Tu Dao, those servants along the way with their valiant auras, and those maids carrying more than 50 kilogram buckets of milk without a change in expression into the equation, this house on a strategically placed hilltop could deal with an attack from tens of thousands of people.
If there were also some objects of interest within this ancestral house — say standardized military armors, crossbow arrows, powerful bows, and other contrabands — then only the G.o.ds knew how many people would be needed to defeat this household.
But were there really no prohibited military goods here? Recalling the schemes he and Lin Qi pulled off in Borali over the years, such as selling standardized military weapons to Cripple, how could Lin Qi"s ancestral house be lacking in any of these prohibited goods?
"A truly valiant family!" Enzo curiously sized up his surroundings. There were no trees visible within the compound for two obvious reasons: Without trees, a.s.sa.s.sins and burglars from outside would be unable to use them as cover. Also, if the enemy used fire to attack, then the damage inflicted to the house would not be as great.
Which part of this ancestral house would indicate that it belonged to a good family with peaceful lives and happy work? This place was clearly a dragon pond and a tiger cave—a genuinely extensive military fort built for war.
"A truly valiant family, but how come I"ve never heard of their existence in the empire?" Enzo couldn"t help but thoughtfully rub his nose. Those grand, aristocratic families of the empire, contrary to one"s expectations, were very much different; their names were known to everyone in the West Continent, yet their military forces were inferior to that of Lin Qi"s ancestral house. On the other hand, Lin Qi"s household possessed such strength, yet Enzo had never heard of them.
In the end, how many mystical existences were hidden in this vast continent? Enzo couldn"t help but inhale deeply.
From inside a s.p.a.cious stone room at one end of the main fortress, a bull"s mournful roar was heard followed by the creature"s appearance as it sprinted out of the room. It was a well-fed black bull; its whole body covered in dark fur that glistened in the light like satin.
The bull managed to run 10 meters away when an extremely fat woman that looked like a mountain of meat angrily rushed out of the stone room from behind. "d.a.m.n calf, where did you run to? Dear young master Lin Qi has returned home, and he loves to eat my bull"s blood sausages the most. You come back here and obediently turn into fragrant and tasty blood sausages!"
This middle-aged aunt was as tall as Tie Chui, but her waist was even thicker than his. With a fearsome face and waves of flesh undulating all over her body, she chased after the calf out of the stone room, carrying a one-meter-long kitchen knife in her hand and laughing heartily all the while.
As Enzo watched in astonishment, the aunt overtook that enormous, mad bull in only two or three steps, lightly coiled her thick and solid left hand around the calf"s neck and twisted it. With a loud "kacha" sound, the calf"s neck broke easily. Soon after, a sharp kitchen knife accurately stabbed into its neck, making its blood spray out like an arrow.
Several servants came rus.h.i.+ng in carrying an enormous wooden basin between them, and precisely collected the blood without wasting a single drop. The bull twitched weakly as the blood in its body was rapidly drained. When everything was sucked dry, the middle-aged aunt threw the bull that weighed over a thousand kilograms onto the ground with a hearty laugh.
Tie Chui"s and Tu Dao"s faces simultaneously twitched.
At that moment, the aunt turned her head and caught sight of Lin Qi. That fearsome face suddenly revealed a gentle and benevolent expression like that of an angel"s before tears began to roll down. She rushed towards Lin Qi like a gale and hugged him, pressing his head firmly onto her rich bosom.
"Oh, my young master Lin Qi has returned home! Oh, I haven"t seen my young master Lin Qi for three years. It was truly killing Aunt Lily! Heavens! Young master, how much have you suffered that you"ve become so thin?" Lin Qi was firmly held in Aunt Lily"s embrace. Even with his brute force and the tenfold increase to his overall strength granted by the Magic Fierce Medicine, he was trapped inside Lily"s arms like a young chick, without even a chance of struggling.
This was a terrifying strength that was enough to break the neck of a bull weighing over a thousand kilograms! Aunt Lily hugged Lin Qi while wailing with tears and mucus dripping down. Watching this scene, Enzo only felt a cold burst of fear in his heart and subconsciously retreated several steps.
Very good! Enzo once again realized how valiant Lin Qi"s family was!
A female cook like this, even the house of a duke wouldn"t have such a valiant female cook, right?
Once Lin Qi was almost suffocated to death and his hands and feet were starting to twitch, Tie Chui finally couldn"t watch any longer. With great effort, he pried Aunt Lily"s powerful arms open, finally rescuing Lin Qi who had been choked until his face turned purple and red. Tie Chui gruffly slapped Aunt Lily"s shoulder and said in a low and m.u.f.fled voice, "Dear Lily, there there, the young master who drank your milk since he was born until he was seven and was nurtured by you since his childhood has returned home! But now you should quickly prepare the blood sausages that the young master likes the most!"
After releasing Lin Qi, Aunt Lily carefully looked him over with incomparable kindness, then roughly rubbed his face that absolutely didn"t look "thin and weak". She sharply sniffed her mucus back up, repeatedly nodded, and said, "Okay, okay, young master, you should first see the lord! In a moment, delicious bull"s blood sausages will be ready! Oh, you must stay longer at home this time and eat a lot of bull"s blood sausages to supplement your body!"
Lin Qi, who was having a hard time breathing, pa.s.sionately hugged Aunt Lily and praised her cooking skills. Aunt Lily was moved and nearly cried again as she walked towards that pitiful bull while repeatedly turning her head, easily grabbed that enormous bull, and carried it while swaggering into that s.p.a.cious kitchen.
Looking at Aunt Lily"s enormous and st.u.r.dy body, then looking at Lin Qi"s tall and robust body, Enzo seemed to suddenly realize why Lin Qi could be so tall and robust. In the end, it was because he consumed Aunt Lily"s milk while growing up. She was truly a venerable and respectable wet nurse!
A wet nurse like this, if she wore heavy standard armor while swinging that enormous kitchen knife of hers, she should be able to effortlessly sweep across an army of a thousand in a battlefield, right? At least according to what Enzo saw, a thousand-man troop consisting of Army Academy students would absolutely be unable to withstand the attack of such a human-shaped magical beast.
"Too scary!"
Wiping the cold sweat from his forehead, Enzo was incomparably curious. What kind of person was Lin Qi"s father then?
Chapter 41 Father and Son
With a bit of caution and even more curiosity, Enzo followed Lin Qi in into the main fortress.
The style of the fortress was very conventional. Beyond the entrance was a s.p.a.cious hall. Two curved, steep, and narrow staircases opposite of each other led to the second floor. From Enzo"s view, these two staircases were also meticulously built. With the specific angle and width of the staircases, as long as there stood several expert swordsmen on top, even with several hundred fully armed cavalrymen, charging to the second floor would be difficult.
Furthermore, under the staircases, there were several metal tenons and iron chains with strange shapes which made Enzo even more astonished. Was it possible that there were also various kinds of ambush mechanisms on these staircases? After carefully looking over the hallway floor under the staircases once again, the floor indeed seemed a little odd. If Enzo didn"t guess wrongly, perhaps there was a deep pitfall under the floor, the kind that was filled with sharp metal bayonets!
Beyond the foyer was an enormous banquet hall, and inside were six rows of neatly arranged, long oaken dining tables that were sufficient to accommodate six hundred people. Under the bright candle lights, the oaken dining tables shone with a metallic l.u.s.ter similar to that of black iron. They clearly possessed several hundred years of history.
Different from those carefully selected aristocratic families, no tablecloth was spread on Lin Qi"s family"s dining tables. The six hundred big chairs beside the tables also weren"t the kind normally used by the aristocrats. Instead of the tall chairs with elegant designs that they preferred, these were large and robust, made entirely from chunks of heavy oak.
Together with the subtle metallic scent of blood and the heavy dining tables and chairs as well as the severe, black floor and scarlet wall cloth, the hall gave an imposing and dignified feeling. The banquet hall"s austere aura was enough to suffocate people of little courage. Adding to the oppressive atmosphere were the heavy armors towering at the four corners of the hall and the large hatchet, heavy sword, and machete hung on the walls, complete with their mottled and nicked edges.
Upon entering the hall, Lin Qi"s gaze fell on the ten, enormous candleholders on a dining table. In a split second, a golden light that Enzo was very familiar with flashed through Lin Qi"s pupils; that was precisely the look of greed that appeared whenever Lin Qi saw a great amount of gold coins. The question was, this was his own family"s house, so why should he be so greedy?
Enzo had to admit, however, that those candleholders were truly impressive. He also couldn"t help but swallow a mouthful of saliva.
They were pure gold, elegantly shaped and inlaid with a great number of red sapphires. Every one of these candleholders should weigh several hundred kilograms, and there were as many as thirty priceless, pure gold candleholders there. Under the light of several hundred large candles, the candleholders emitted a hazy and enchanting radiance.
Only Duke families or higher could have candleholders as precious as these, right? Enzo"s gaze couldn"t help but be attracted to these candleholders. For three years, under Lin Qi"s influence, Enzo had also come to possess a certain appreciation towards daily appliances. The shape of these candle holders was so elegant, and they were modeled using the alternating gra.s.s and leaves design that quite a few royal families in the continent enjoyed.
These candleholders seemed to have been forged by a skillful craftsman employed by a royal family. Looking at their color and l.u.s.ter, they should also be old antiques. How they appeared in this room was a mystery. Was it perhaps, a descendant of a certain declining royal family trafficked the legacy of his ancestors? Or, was it simply one of Lin Qi"s relatives that robbed a certain declining royal family?
Who knew? Enzo thoughtfully looked at these candleholders. One tiny clue could reveal many things. Lin Qi"s family"s financial resources and power were extremely impressive!
At the end of the banquet hall, on a platform as tall as half a person was an enormous throne. It was forged from an unknown, ferrous metal and shaped in the form of a fierce, black tiger that was l.u.s.ting to kill its prey. On the centre of the dragon knot on the tiger"s belly was a wide depression that served as the seat.
A black bearded man wearing a black, satin robe, who was a fist taller than Lin Qi and emitted a subtle baleful aura from his whole body, was seated on the throne. He puffed smoke in big mouthfuls with a unique, 34-centimeter long cigar in his mouth. Upon Lin Qi"s and Enzo"s entrance, Old Man Blackbeard swept his eyes to stare in their direction. Enzo felt as if someone shot two, sharp arrows towards him and nearly rolled to dodge them.
Such a terrifying person! Enzo"s back suddenly broke out in a cold sweat.
Powerful! So strong that it was unimaginable, this man in front of Enzo was the most powerful man he had ever met. No one could compare to him. Tie Chui and Tu Dao, including Aunt Lily, when compared with Old Man Blackbeard, were like savage and ferocious wolves in front of a lion. Regardless of their fearsome aura, they weren"t on the same level.
Even the professors in the Army Academy, whose positions were at the summit and whose strengths were the strongest, didn"t have such terrifying grandeur like Old Man Blackbeard.
With difficulty, Enzo inhaled deeply and straightened his body under Old Man Blackbeard"s gaze.
Old Man Blackbeard gazed at Enzo with appreciation, then retracted the frightening aura he had intentionally emitted.
Yet Lin Qi didn"t even spare a glance towards his own father"s frightening aura. Rather, he approached Old Man Blackbeard in large strides, then hugged him firmly and heavily. "Hey, d.a.m.ned old man, we haven"t met for three years. You didn"t even miss me, right? Ah, my deceased mother should cut your neck off at night. Three years, three whole years, you didn"t give me even one copper coin!"
Old Man Blackbeard"s gaze slightly softened, then rapidly resumed its normal look. He stood up, embraced Lin Qi tightly, then simultaenously tightened his arms around both of Lin Qi"s arms, locking him in place. Two of his fingers were feeling for the black tiger purse hanging from Lin Qi"s waist. Lin Qi"s body stiffened, then exasperatedly stamped on one of Old Man Blackbeard"s feet.
Blackbeard lightly groaned in astonishment. Even after being firmly restricted, Lin Qi was still able to strike back at him. This strength exceeded his estimation of Lin Qi"s current physical strength. He released Lin Qi, covered his own purse, and retreated several steps. He laughed oyfully and said, "Lin Qi, you little scoundrel, your strength is a lot beyond my calculations! My, my, interesting!"
Lin Qi was unwilling to let go and once again tried to hug Blackbeard. He loudly shouted, "Stop this rubbis.h.!.+ My poor, early-deceased mother, strangle this ruffian with a beard across his face in front of me. It"s been three years, and except for the one hundred gold coins he gave me when I entered the school, he didn"t give me a single copper coin!"
Blackbeard firmly covered his purse and was unwilling to let Lin Qi approach no matter what. He howled in a loud voice, "Enough, Lin Qi! One hundred gold coins are sufficient for an ordinary and obedient student to spend a luxurious year! Three years, you haven"t returned home for three whole years; this is your fault!"
Lin Qi widened his eyes, sneered, and said, "My fault? If you had let me dig out both of that b.a.s.t.a.r.d"s eyeb.a.l.l.s and throw him into the sea as fish food, then I wouldn"t have gone to Borali at all!"
The atmosphere inside the hall suddenly became extremely strange. Tie Chui and Tu Dao simultaneously wrinkled their brows.
Blackbeard was silent for a long time. Only after a while did he shake his head and say, "That matter, Arthur was wrong, but you weren"t right either. Alright, we haven"t met for three years. Do you want to argue with your old man the moment you meet him? Enough. Tonight will be your welcoming banquet. Starting tomorrow, follow me to visit those d.a.m.ned local landlords! Oh, this time your old man is going to run for Mayor of Dunerk City, so you absolutely cannot mess things up for me!"
Lin Qi and Enzo simultaneously gulped a mouthful of saliva down. What? Old Man Blackbeard was going to run for mayor?
Lin Qi suddenly hugged his stomach and laughed. He laughed until he felt weak from head to foot and had to sit on the floor.