Totem

These ten criminals were the ‘materials’ needed for the Knife Work Feast!

During the match on Mount Longinus, those three hundred Ghost Totem criminals had already been escorted to Sun City.

However, just like that freak with the hanging eyeball, there were at least ten odd Ghost Totem masters who wanted to save these poor comrades, so in order to ensure their security, Madame Suzanne devised a simple, yet effective plan.

She divided the three hundred criminals into thirty teams consisting of ten people each, then handed them over to thirty supervisors. After this, she declared that as long as one team was saved, the remaining twenty-nine teams of criminals would be executed!

The ten criminals that Jiang Nan had just seen were the ten Ghost Totem criminals that had just been pa.s.sed to her. However, Weylin was not in the mood to help Madame Suzanne supervise them, so after cursing the officers who handed them over out, she gave a large wave of her hand, “Beat it, and send these Ghost Totem lowlives to Rheim Pasture!”

Just like that, Weylin ushered the ten criminals onto the road.

And Jiang Nan also returned to Rheim Pasture in pa.s.sing. As for Eddy….

Weylin had imprisoned this unlucky chef into a jailed cart, parading him through the streets for all of the public to see and completely stripping him of his face.

“Weylin, you’re such a malicious lady! My goodness, I’m just a chef!”

On the way back to the pasture, Eddy yelled and wailed with all his might. Compared to his ten other companions who were also imprisoned, he was as pitiful as a small white mouse who had fallen into a vat of oil, a white mouse without any fur.

Very quickly, Eddy realized that no matter how much he shouted and tore his throat yelling, Weylin would not pay any attention to him. Therefore, his gaze landed onto the leisurely Jiang Nan who was beside Weylin before he burst into a flurry of angry ranting: “Rodi, what kind of path did you lead *me to?! When *I went into the dense forest, I was even pursued the entire time by a group of soldiers…. My goodness, *I’ve never mistreated you, but you, you sabotaged me!”

“Calm down, Mister Eddy.”

Jiang Nan jumped onto the jail cart and sat next to Eddy with a face full of innocence, “Didn’t I say so before? That pathway is really troublesome to go through, so it is easy to get lost! You, you…. Ai, how can you blame me!”

Eddy was so furious that he could not say a single word.

At this moment, Jiang Nan recalled the request of the freak with the hanging eyeball—to find a criminal with leadership skills to cooperate with him to save the three hundred Ghost Totems.

For this reason, he surrept.i.tiously pointed towards the criminals within the jail carts, “Mister Eddy, have you been imprisoned with them all this time?”

“Hmph, that’s right! *I’ve been incarcerated with these Ghost Totem lowlives, do you have something to say?!”

“Then…. Are you already familiar with them? Can you introduce them to me?” Jiang Nan stared at Eddy’s glance that said, ‘You’re not a good person’ and chuckled, “Okay, I’ve just never seen a Ghost Totem before, so I just want to know if their lifestyle is different from us humans.”

Eddy glared, “Why would *I tell you anything? Ungrateful pretty boy!”

“Mister Eddy, you’re one of the four great knife work chefs within the Empire. You yourself could not find the proper route, but you’re even bickering with a slave…. Alright, alright! If you aren’t afraid of shaming yourself, continue squabbling with a slave like me!”

“You…. fine, I’ll say it! How could *I be afraid of you?”

Eddy pointed towards a fifteen or sixteen year old criminal, “Alright, this one’s called Migg, the student of a Ghost Totem master. He accompanied his master to rob a grave and dig up the corpse, so he was captured by Talik….”

Eddy introduced them one by one, but the more Jiang Nan heard, the more discouraged he grew. He wanted to find a criminal with leadership capabilities, but these people were either too trifling in terms of exploits or just had lifeless expressions, having already fallen into complete despair. These people definitely could not cooperate with the freak with the hanging eyeball.

“This man’s name is called ‘Glaston’. Previously, he was one of the five great Tiger Generals of the Empire, the Garrison General of the Imperial Capital’s legion of guards, and was known as the Thorn Commander. He was also the Empire’s greatest military doctor!”

Doctor?!

When Jiang Nan heard that there was actually a person with the same profession as him within the jail cart, he lifted his head in astonishment. He saw that Eddy was currently staring at that ‘distinctively masculine man’ with a complicated expression, or in other words, Glaston.

When Glaston heard Eddy mention him, he did not move the slightest bit. Instead, he continued to bear that 150 kilogram cangue as he stood within the jail cart. Compared to the other criminals who were nearly collapsing under the weight, he appeared particularly unique.

“General…. Are you saying that this person was a general who previously led an army with thousands of men?” Jiang Nan’s eyes lit up, “Since he was a general, he could he fall to such a…. Alright, to such a degree where he’s not even considered a human being?”

Eddy’s expression grew even more complicated. Half of it contained righteous loathing, while the other was full of veneration. Suddenly, he sighed, “My goodness, how do you expect me to explain? Rodi, have you heard of origin of Talik’s nickname, ‘Man Slaughterer’?”

“En. In the rebellion at the Imperial Capital five years ago, Lord Talik executed eight thousand captives in one night!” Within that group were also Suzu’s parents.

“In that rebellion, Talik was only in charge of taking care of the incident’s aftermath. The person who truly led troops to quell the rebellion and killed the thirty-two great generals of the rebel army, thus protecting the Imperial Capital….”

He pointed towards Glaston, “Was him!”

“And then?”

Jiang Nan grew even more interested. This person settled a rebellion within the Empire in just one night, so there was obviously no need to question his leadership capabilities!

“Glaston quelled the rebellion, but there were disastrous casualties among his own brethren. There were numerous people who would become handicapped, so Glaston, this senseless and confused fool, actually did not attend His Majesty’s award banquet. Rather, he hid in a cellar to treat his subordinate troops!” Eddy sighed, “Treatment is, after all, treatment, but this fool actually…. Ai. At that time, there was a soldier with an arrow caught in the bones of his thigh, and no one could pull it out. As such, Glaston cut open this soldier’s thigh in secret….”

Jiang Nan’s eyes sparkled even more. That Glaston cut open the person’s thigh to save him…. Alright, this masculine guy was actually capable of performing surgery!

However, this would have definitely violated the land’s Ghost Ma.s.sacre Decree!

“Cutting open the thigh was equivalent to violating the Ghost Ma.s.sacre Degree!” Eddy also reached this conclusion. “The soldier who was saved did not sell out Glaston, but Glaston’s deputy officer had seen  the entire process of treatment. That deputy officer had always wanted to take over Glaston’s position, so he….”

“So he betrayed Glaston?”

“En. That deputy officer reported this incident to the Empire’s highest court of law in secret…. At first, the supreme court* did not want to trouble the Empire’s hero for such a matter, so they just sent out a few people to give a casual investigation. However, who knew…. My goodness, forget the investigation, they actually found out that Glaston was a Ghost Totem master! These years, he had been using a secret and bizarre art to conceal his ident.i.ty, and he had even climbed up to the position of Imperial General!”
(*TL: highest court of law = supreme court)

Halting for a bit, Eddy curled his lips in a sneer: “For just one soldier, he exposed the secret that he had hidden for so many years. Rodi, what do you say? Isn’t this fellow foolish!”

Jiang Nan had not even responded when Glaston narrowed his eyes and said in an icy voice: “Ten years ago, when I fainted on the battlefield, that soldier personally carried me back. If I didn’t save him, what kind of person would I be!”

Glaston’s voice was extremely hoa.r.s.e, as if sandpaper was being ground into foam.

Eddy rolled his eyes at Glaston and continued speaking: “You can probably guess the following events: Talik was in charge of interrogating Glaston. For this reason, he captured his entire family to force Glaston into revealing the art that allowed him to conceal his Ghost Totem, who imparted it to him, and who his master was…. Ai, Glaston never confessed, so Talik was even more ruthless. One a day, he killed for thirty-nine consecutive days, completely eradicating Glaston’s entire family….”

Glaston’s eyes were expressionless.

“On the fortieth day, Glaston still had not confessed, so Talik crippled his strength and incarcerated him within a b.l.o.o.d.y prison. He even viciously said that for each day Glaston did not confess, for each day he would not receive any rest! This torment continued for five years….” Eddy suddenly laughed, “It’s actually pretty d.a.m.n funny. Talik actually forgot about Glaston two years ago. However, not long ago, I went to find him for some Ghost Totem criminals. It was only then that Talik remembered Glaston and sent him over as a favor in pa.s.sing….”

Eddy narrated this with spittle flying all over the place. From the looks of it, if he was to lose his job, he could earn his keep as a wandering minstrel.

However, Jiang Nan was no longer interested in listening further. He circled Glaston twice, then suddenly patted him on the shoulder, “You’d rather have your whole family killed and yourself to suffer torment for five years rather than betray your master…. Brother, you’re truly a real man!”