Chapter 234: The Extremely Unlucky King

"Slap!"

Henselt, who was tall, full of beard, and had a round belly due to long-term alcoholism, slapped the attendant's face hard, shouting with alcohol in his mouth and a violent voice:

"You waste, you have failed my trust and simply lost the face of the kingdom of Kaedwen."

"Three months, I gave you three months, and you actually couldn't find any news about that bastard mercenary."

"That guy is a mercenary, he has to eat, sleep, and find women. He can't live in the wild alone. He has to buy supplies and contact people."

"Even a pig should have been able to find clues about him in such a long time."

"You guys are not even as good as pigs, stupider than non-human race bastards."

The attendant who was slapped was also aggrieved. First of all, this matter was not managed by him; he was just a messenger. Secondly, he reported the news about this mercenary Dante every week, and every time he reported it, he would be beaten up, simply being the king's punching bag.

However, even if he was aggrieved, the attendant didn't dare to talk back or argue. Ever since that count, who was considered a distant relative of the king, was slaughtered by the human mercenary Dante at his banquet, several servants in the palace had been thrown into the big prison by the king for inexplicable reasons, sentenced to more than ten years of imprisonment.

He didn't want to follow in the footsteps of these unlucky people because he said the wrong thing.

And Henselt saw that the attendant was like a piece of wood and had no reaction after being slapped, so he stepped forward to make up a kick, but there was still no feedback. He felt bored in his heart, so he didn't do anything else, shook his fat body back to the table, picked up a large glass of strong wine, and poured it down in one gulp.

As the strong wine entered his stomach, a burning feeling kept surging from his stomach, flowing through his throat, and rushing into his brain, making his originally quite irritable mood become turbid. His brain, which was not enough to use, became somewhat blurred because of the alcohol, and his thinking was empty, as if all troubles were far away from him.

Just when Henselt burped and was somewhat unsatisfied, preparing to drink a few more sips, the duck-like voice of the palace manager suddenly reached his ears, interrupting his enjoyment.

"King, the two sorcerers sent by the Sorcerers Brotherhood have arrived at your palace and are waiting for your reception."

"They will accompany you to hunt today, and other noble knights are also waiting in the hunting ground, waiting for your arrival."

Henselt, who was originally quite irritable because his voice was interrupted, patted his forehead somewhat dizzily upon hearing this. Ha, yes, today is the day he agreed with some big nobles in the kingdom to hunt together.

The nobles he agreed to meet this time were all people who hated non-human races as much as he did, supported his cleaning up of those non-human race garbage in the kingdom, and established a pure human kingdom. They were all his firm supporters. From a certain sense, they were firm royalists.

Therefore, Henselt attached great importance to this hunting festival to win over big nobles. Otherwise, at this time on weekdays, he would have found a few beautiful prostitutes, drinking and playing with women.

However, after the previous incident of the human mercenary Dante breaking into the banquet, for this hunting festival, in order to ensure that there were no safety hazards, Henselt not only summoned three hundred armored knights as guards, but besides his royal advisor Sheala de Tansavie, the two sorcerers sent by the Sorcerers Brotherhood to capture the mercenary Dante would also participate in this hunting festival.

If that human mercenary didn't cause trouble, it would be fine. Once his traces were found, he would definitely be able to catch him or kill him directly.

Thinking of this, Henselt snorted and shouted to the palace manager: "Let the servants come to change my clothes. I haven't stretched my muscles for a long time. This time I want to hunt a winter bear and hang its head in my study."

At this season, it is the time when bears end hibernation, come out to forage, and are most active. As long as the luck is good enough, it is easy to find the traces of those winter bears.

With such an idea, Henselt soon came to the hunting camp outside the city with servants, sorcerers, and guards from the palace, leading a large team of people.

In the entire camp, colorful and gorgeous tents were everywhere, arranged neatly together, and the noble crest flags of various colors fluttered in the wind, which looked very magnificent.

Counting the elite knights arranged by Henselt, the servants and guards brought by major nobles, the total number of combatants in the entire camp exceeded one thousand, and the number of cavalry exceeded eight hundred, most of whom were elite knights wearing iron armor. Just in terms of combat power, it was enough to capture a small city.

Inside the gorgeous king's tent, Henselt sat in the main seat in the center of the tent, with two rows of nobles from major families sitting below. The three sorcerers didn't sit with these nobles but sat alone in a small tent not far from the king's tent, exchanging their respective information in low voices, while using magic props to listen to the conversation in the king's tent.

Sheala, as the host, asked first:

"Ms. Fannier, you and Mr. Istredd have been to the two crime scenes where the soldiers were slaughtered. Have you found any special information about the human mercenary Dante?"

The sorceress called Fannier had a beautiful brown hair, medium-to-high appearance, and a gentle temperament. She looked like a scholar. She was a member of the Sorcerers Brotherhood, but she didn't serve as a royal advisor in any country and belonged to the kind of member who had her own research projects and was relatively free.

After listening to Sheala's question, the sorceress took out a notebook. The first page had a color oil painting, which was exactly the same as the appearance of Dante transformed by Wayne, and at the same time, there was a detailed introduction below, writing a large pile of characteristics about Dante's figure and appearance, including height, weight, skin color, hair color, and the weapons and equipment used, which could be called clear and accurate.

She waved her hand, copied a copy of this portrait and information, handed it to Sheala, and then said:

"This was pieced together by us from those survivors and some clues at the scene. After multiple comparisons, there should be no mistakes or omissions."

"Compared to the error-ridden wanted orders you posted, this portrait can better help you catch the criminal."

"And according to the wounds of the deceased, the characteristics of death, and the descriptions of some survivors."

"We can roughly determine that this mercenary named Dante is proficient in invisibility magic, can also use a kind of large-scale lightning spell, and a strange spell that creates clone phantoms. At the same time, his physical combat ability is also very strong, far exceeding the category of ordinary humans, and the equipment on his body is also definitely equipment above the magic equipment level."

"Just in terms of combat power, it is probably comparable to an elite troop of more than five hundred people."

"In summary, this is a powerful enemy with both spellcasting ability and physical combat ability, which is probably comparable to the adults in the Supreme Council."

"If we only rely on the power of the two of us sorcerers, it is basically impossible to defeat him head-on. We must rely on the encirclement of the army to create spellcasting opportunities for us."

Speaking of this, Fannier and Istredd looked at each other, then looked at Sheala, and said helplessly:

"To be honest, Sheala, this person is difficult to deal with and extremely dangerous. It is not something that sorcerers like us who are not good at fighting can solve. The two of us are ready to give up this mission and return to the Brotherhood to request support or change personnel."

"If this person also has dimeritium equipment, ordinary sorcerers are not his opponents."

Istredd also followed up and said:

"And according to our information, most of this mercenary's actions are to rescue non-human races. The number of Kaedwen soldiers who died at his hands has exceeded six hundred."

"It is hard to imagine that such a powerful character had no news before. We asked those old mercenaries who had been in the mercenary world for many years, and they didn't hear the name of this person named Dante at all."

"So, it is not ruled out that this is a fake name, or this Dante does not belong to the Northern mercenaries at all, but a spellcaster from other places like us, mastering many spells we don't know."

"Of course, there are other possibilities, too many possibilities. However, he specifically carried out destruction in the kingdom of Kaedwen, which is definitely not accidental, and it is inseparable from the previous two non-human race clearances. Perhaps it is the revenge of some non-human race members who hired him."

Listening to the analysis of the two sorcerer colleagues, Sheala also frowned. This mercenary named Dante was more troublesome than she imagined. If possible, she didn't want to be an enemy of such a strong person.

And Henselt was like his nickname, a wild boar, and a stupid wild boar. This king definitely wouldn't give up his ideas and rarely listened to the advice of royal advisors, always acting arbitrarily, even if he had been warned many times, he still went his own way.

The non-human races in the kingdom had always been a thorn in his side. It seemed that the contradiction between the two was basically impossible to resolve.

Sheala's fingers tapped on the gold bracelet on her hand, thinking for more than ten seconds, and said: "Seek support from the organization in advance, tell the members of the Supreme Council that they need to take action, and I will also increase the bounty on Dante to attract more mercenaries to deal with him." "As long as his traces are found, I will take action with you and send the cavalry of the Brown Cavalry Battalion to act together. This is an elite light cavalry unit, marching at an extremely fast speed, fearless of death. As long as they catch his tail, that guy named Dante definitely won't be able to run away."

Just when the three sorcerers were discussing the human mercenary Dante, Henselt was also holding a wine glass, drinking happily with those big nobles who firmly supported his ideas, discussing some small details, such as how to pass some bills to exploit the property of non-human races more, or how to strangle them as bandits.

And no one noticed that an uninvited guest had already quietly moved to the corner of the gorgeous king's tent, wearing an invisibility cloak, listening with great interest to these big-bellied nobles discussing how to expel non-human race residents, invade their homes, or how to strangle them as bandits.

I am afraid these people would never have thought that the mercenary Dante, who appeared in their mouths from time to time, was looking at everyone present with a playful look.

After three rounds of drinking, Henselt burped, pushed away the attendant who stepped forward to help him, and shouted to the nobles who were all flushed with drinking below:

"Alright, gentlemen, the wine has been drunk, the meat has been eaten, it's time for everyone to show their skills."

"In this hunt, the person who can hunt the largest prey will receive a generous reward, with a bonus of three thousand Ducats. If he doesn't have a title yet, I will confer him as a knight and let him be promoted to a noble."

With Henselt's promise, a cheer erupted in the entire tent.

For those big nobles, a knight title didn't count for anything, but for those soldiers and warriors, a knight title was their lifelong goal.

So the soldiers present all let out excited cheers, shouting the king's name, as if they were willing to go through fire and water for the king, which made Henselt quite enjoy it.

He was a quite rude man, sometimes preferring to stay in the barracks, playing with prostitutes, boxing, and gambling with soldiers, rather than staying in the luxurious palace to deal with those trivial matters.

For him, only violence, killing, and opening up territory were the causes he pursued.

And just when this king was somewhat proud and prepared to take his firm supporters to the forest to show his martial power and have a hearty hunt.

Wayne had quietly moved behind the king, and at the same time stretched out his right hand, aiming at the king's back, and launched the Lucky Curse.

Ding! Lucky Curse has been released on the target, obtained luck 19, target's luck -20 at this time.

Obtained luck 19!

It seems that this king is even more unlucky than the fat treacherous merchant last time, directly being sucked away nineteen points of luck, and this time's luck became negative twenty.

I don't know what kind of bad luck negative twenty luck will trigger.

With that invisible power being sucked into his body, Wayne noticed that the king's originally rosy face became somewhat pale at a speed visible to the naked eye, losing some luster.

However, this king was only thirty years old. Although his body was somewhat weak due to alcoholism, he would not have a stroke due to heart problems like that fat rich merchant.

Henselt didn't notice his abnormality. He moved his right foot and walked toward the outside of the tent. However, just after moving his steps, he suddenly shivered all over, and a sense of urgency actually attacked him uncontrollably. With the warm feeling in his crotch, Henselt's old face turned red. He didn't expect that he would wet his pants because of drunkenness.

Fortunately, it was early spring, and it was located in the cold Kaedwen. Everyone wore very thick clothes and had the protection of armor. Although that warm feeling flowed from his crotch to his trouser legs, there was no abnormality from the appearance.

Henselt remained calm. He had just shouted the slogan of departure. Now if he left for something, it wouldn't be appropriate. He prepared to wait until other nobles were dispersed before going to deal with the problem of his pants.

However, his bad luck had just begun. After the big nobles and knights all got on their horses, and the king sat on his favorite fierce horse with somewhat wet pants.

Who knew that this fierce horse, which had been tamed by him for many years, suddenly became irritable for some reason. First, it raised its hind legs and kicked the horse head of a count beside it hard, triggering a chaos.

Then with a neigh, it raised its upper body and threw its noble king down to the ground hard.

If it weren't for a general beside him who saw that the situation was not good, and hit the horse's head hard with a fist wearing an iron glove, knocking it down to the ground, perhaps those hard horse hooves would have fallen on the king's chest hard.

With the help of the attendant, Henselt climbed up with lingering fear and was about to get angry at his mount, when a mare beside him, which was somewhat panicked due to the chaos, suddenly turned around, with its butt facing him

Blech!!! The mixture of alcohol and stench made the King vomit all over the ground. His previously tense muscles instantly relaxed, and Henselt also soiled his pants, letting out a loud, foul fart.

Seeing their usually fierce King in such a wretched state, some of the nobles present all suppressed their laughter, clenching their fists to keep from laughing out loud; otherwise, they would surely incur the King's grudge and bring disaster upon their own families.

As for the owner of that unlucky mare, a Baron, he scrambled off his horse in a panic, knelt on one knee, and apologized incessantly to the King, not daring to look at his monarch or his colleagues. He could already imagine that after today, his days would certainly be difficult.

King Henselt was not a magnanimous monarch. Now that his mount had caused the King to lose such face in front of the high nobles, let alone his title, he might not even be able to keep his own life.

And just as the attendants were taking the King back to his tent to clean his body, bathing and changing his clothes, the previously clear sky suddenly began to fill with dark clouds, the wind and clouds changed abruptly, and some noble knights all frowned.

Before they could even open their mouths to complain about this damn weather, a loud thunderbolt struck straight down from the dark clouds, hitting the most magnificent royal tent in the camp, followed by a second, a third, and a fourth.

The high-temperature lightning instantly ignited the leather on the tent, and with the help of the wind, the entire tent burst into flames in an instant.

Before the noble knights waiting outside had time to react, Henselt, completely naked, bare-bottomed, face flushed, and furious, was carried out of the burning tent by several personal attendants, leaving a trail of water on the ground.

This was a fresh sight. In front of thousands of nobles, soldiers, and servants, the respected King was actually streaking in public. What was even more unexpected was that Lord Henselt, who was usually so irritable and full of majesty, like a black wild boar, actually possessed such a snow-white bottom.

Such a contrast almost made the nobles present laugh out loud.

However, the King's majesty still made them suppress their rude thoughts, leaving them only able to keep this scene in their hearts forever, to be savored slowly when they grew old.

However, just when everyone thought the farce of the day was about to end and the King would not be so unlucky again.

The entire earth suddenly began to shake violently. Before anyone could react, the earth quaked, and many cracks began to extend across the ground. A rumbling, booming sound reached everyone's ears.

The earthquake had arrived, and it was a major one.

With this realization, before the soldiers present could react, the knights riding horses were the first to be thrown to the ground by their mounts. A large number of horses neighed and began to charge wildly, servants cried out and ran in all directions, the burning royal tent was caught by the strong wind, igniting more tents, and the entire hunting camp fell into extreme chaos in a very short time.

And at this moment, Henselt, who had been carried by servants into another tent, suddenly let out a muffled groan. The tent directly above his head collapsed, and a wooden beam smashed heavily onto his head, knocking the King unconscious in the bathtub.

But in such chaotic times, the servants also forgot themselves, only caring about escaping to save their own lives, leaving their King aside, with no one to look after him.

By the time Sheala and the others arrived, supporting a magic barrier and using magic to move the entire tent away several minutes later, King Henselt had already drunk a large amount of bathwater due to his unconsciousness and was completely unresponsive.

On this day, the originally grand noble hunting festival did not proceed smoothly. This unknown earthquake plunged the entire kingdom into another kind of upheaval.

(End of chapter)