Trafford's Trading Club

Chapter 1293: Citywide Riot (1)

Talking back… was impossible. Peter Chen quickly slunk away—he had no choice. His ears were burning with pain and desperately needed burn ointment.

When Miss Maid returned to the room, Boss Luo was unfolding the light screens he used to observe food.

Several different light screens were arranged in arcs before his eyes.

“Facts are truly a marvelous thing,” Luo Qiu suddenly remarked.

You Ye swept her gaze across the images on the screens and knew her master was referring to what had happened at the social services center.

“Those two little ones probably didn’t want to trouble you anymore,” Miss Maid smiled. “After all, to them, you’re still far too mysterious—enough to cause fear and worry… hmm, and who is this?”

Hearing Miss Maid’s slight note of confusion, Luo Qiu glanced at the leftmost screen—it showed a scene inside a helicopter.

“You know him?” Luo Qiu asked curiously. “I expanded the search based on the concept of ‘relevance’… who is he?”

“Mordred,” You Ye said after thinking for a moment. “One of the Twelve Knights of the Knight Bureau, and one of the survivors of that war a hundred years ago. In the early days after the war, he was hailed as a hero. His name spread throughout the non-human world of the European continent. He was known as the most powerful knight in history—his strength even surpassed that of the first Mordred.”

“You’ve fought him before?” Luo Qiu asked, lifting his head in interest.Miss Maid shook her head. “No. Back then, the previous shop owner created a place based on the concept of a ‘castle’ to serve as the headquarters of the Black Soul Envoys. The war took place inside that castle. The previous shop owner was hidden in a concealed layer of the castle… unfortunately, in the end, they never breached that layer. Instead, they slaughtered a batch of low-quality, expendable Black Soul Envoys that had been temporarily converted by the previous owner.”

“Then why did they think they had already won?” Luo Qiu grew even more curious.

Miss Maid smiled faintly. “Because guarding the hidden layer were No. 31 and Kintaro. The expeditionary force suffered more than half its casualties just to force No. 31 back into the Ark of the Covenant. As for Kintaro, although he was injured, he was still having quite a bit of fun—but the expedition’s overall combat strength had dropped to less than twenty percent. Seeing it had become boring, the previous shop owner ordered Kintaro to retreat. After that, the expedition destroyed the castle, looted a few things, and then declared victory.”

Hmm…

It seemed the previous owner’s taste for mischief was even stronger than his own.

“War spoils?”

“Just some small trinkets cleared out of the storerooms to make space—nothing particularly useful. Of course, to make it look convincing, the previous owner also placed a few genuine treasures inside. In the end, those treasures were divided among several leading factions of the expeditionary force. So there wasn’t really any loss. Please rest assured, Master.”

Luo Qiu skipped the topic without changing his expression. “Then this knight Mordred?”

Miss Maid looked again at the helicopter flying through the night sky on the screen and recalled, “He probably crossed the passing line of Ascendant. Back then, he could exchange several rounds with Kintaro. Oh right—I remember now. His real name is Farrell. Strictly speaking, he had no talent at all, just someone who worked extremely hard.”

“Mm… and later? Why was he imprisoned in the castle?”

The image on the far-left screen began to rewind. Time flowed backward, until it returned to the night before—at the gates of the island castle, the moment Farrell burst out with Mind Witch.

“Because three years after the war, Farrell suddenly slaughtered more than half of the Knight Bureau’s members, including two of the Twelve Knights who were severely injured and later forced into retirement. Just like that, he went from a celebrated hero to the most vicious and evil knight in history. In fact, after the war, Farrell’s strength increased even further—he likely moved beyond the initial stage of transcendence…”

Seeing that her master might not have a clear frame of reference, Miss Maid used a unit of measure directly. “If we ignore external factors, Farrell three years after the war should have been able to fight on even terms with the heroic soul summoned by Miss Lucifer. Excluding humans with special bloodlines and considering only ordinary humans, this Knight Farrell was probably the only one capable of rivaling China’s Firecloud Evil God.”

“Why did he slaughter his own companions?” Luo Qiu asked.

Miss Maid replied, “How should I put it… post-war trauma, or post-traumatic stress disorder, would be the closest modern scientific term. He didn’t believe the war had been won. On the contrary, he believed it had been lost, and even suspected that all his companions had been corrupted by the Black Soul Envoys—that they had already become Black Soul Envoys themselves. The victory was fabricated—on this point, he was actually right. But everyone around him thought Farrell was delusional, that he was ill. Later, his condition worsened, leading to that night of slaughter. When dawn came, he had a brief moment of clarity. Realizing what he had done, he voluntarily allowed himself to be imprisoned as atonement. He should have been sentenced to death, but his wartime merits were used to offset his crimes. In the end, he was sentenced to roughly eight hundred years of imprisonment. In truth, the Knight Bureau couldn’t bear to abandon Farrell so easily. They believed time was the best medicine for healing wounds, and that long-term confinement might allow Farrell to recover on his own. They needed a powerful, convention-defying force like him.”

“I’m suddenly very interested in meeting him,” Luo Qiu smiled slightly. “I wonder what kind of person he is… Oh, by the way, prepare a list of the survivors from the expeditionary force of that great war a hundred years ago. Since they possessed extraordinary power, there should be some who survived.”

“There are still a few,” Miss Maid nodded. “After you rest, Master, I’ll organize it.”

Still possessing an alchemical puppet body, Miss Maid naturally had no need for sleep.

Luo Qiu waved his hand and temporarily closed the leftmost information screen, then shifted his gaze to the one in the middle.

The social services center.

…

…

“…Yes, it’s me, Lane. Sorry to trouble you, Mr. Nick. Please deliver the items to this address… No need. I think I can handle it myself.”

After that, Knight Klein put away his phone and looked rather troubled at the scene before him.

On one side stood Will, his two colleagues, and Cheng Yiran and the others. On the other side were the beastwoman who had attacked him, and her younger brother.

The beastwoman was continuously subjected to looks of fear or curiosity from the social services center group. She was already used to such gazes, so she appeared quite composed.

Oga, however, looked somewhat uneasy, occasionally glancing toward Will.

This was an activity room inside the social services center. It was brightly lit, yet strangely quiet. Klein knew he had to be the one to break the silence, so after coughing lightly twice, he slowly looked at Will and the others and said, “I know some things are hard to explain. But please believe me—I’m not a bad person… People like me exist precisely to deal with incidents like these. Do you understand what I mean?”

“I know! Like the Avengers, right?” One of Will’s companions exclaimed “Cool!” twice in a row, then stared excitedly at the beastwoman. “It’s really a beast-eared girl! Not a cosplayer, but a real one! Oh my God, can I take a photo? Can I touch your tail?”

He was met with the beastwoman baring her teeth.

“Don’t be so rude!” Will hurriedly pulled his companion back and began explaining something to the beastwoman with both gestures and words. In the end, he gave up on body language, took out his phone, and started using a translation app.

Was it carelessness, or an unusually strong ability to accept things?

Klein smiled bitterly to himself. He had heard senior knights—those already full-fledged and able to take missions alone—mention that they sometimes encountered ordinary people who not only had no resistance to non-humans, but were even excited and full of questions. This time, he had run into one himself.

The young knight was still racking his brain over how to handle the situation. Fortunately, because of Will and the others’ sudden appearance, a real fight between him and the beastwoman had never actually broken out.

Afterward, he explained his background, and only under the beastwoman’s half-believing attitude did everyone end up together in this activity room.

The main reason, in fact, was that Oga had quietly told her about what happened yesterday, saying that this Klein was probably a good person too.

At this moment, unlike the others, Cheng Yiran—though surprised by the existence of beastfolk—did not panic much after the initial shock. He was still carrying a guitar that could not be explained by common sense.

He simply stood silently to one side, with no intention of drawing attention.

The beastwoman suddenly stood up, facing Klein, and softly spoke into the phone Boss Luo had given her. Soon after, the mechanical female voice of the translator sounded.

“Can I really trust you?”

Klein had no choice but to communicate in the same way. “Miss, please believe me. I truly have no ill intent. In fact, yesterday my companions rescued a group of beastfolk who had been trafficked by beastfolk smugglers at the docks. In the chaos, a few of them went missing. I believe you are among them. Right now, I’ve asked my companions to bring one of those beastfolk here. Once he arrives, he’ll be able to prove everything I’ve said.”

The beastwoman suddenly nodded and spoke a few more words into the phone.

“Alright. I’ll trust you for now.”

Klein felt relieved and quickly said, “Thank you very much for trusting me… May I ask why you were willing to believe me? Was it because you were moved by my sincerity?”

A knight must be sincere—this was valuable advice passed down by Mr. Gareth!

“I can hear people’s heartbeats,” the beastwoman said calmly. “When someone lies, their heartbeat changes slightly. I can tell.”

“…That’s it?” Klein felt deeply disappointed. So it wasn’t his sincere gaze after all?

Looks like his training was still lacking.

This time there was no translation; the beastwoman simply nodded.

Klein gave an awkward smile, then walked over to Will and the others. “Mr. Will, I’m very sorry for frightening you tonight. If possible, please accept my apology.”

Will and his companions looked at each other. Overall, this motorcycle-riding guy felt rather stiff and old-fashioned.

“No, no, it’s fine,” Will shook his head. “Actually, I think if the group from last night had been like you, there wouldn’t have been so many problems afterward.”

“I’m truly very sorry!”

When they saw this motorcycle knight bow at a full ninety degrees, Will and the others almost couldn’t take it.

Will waved his hand. “By the way… how about getting something to eat? I think everyone must be hungry by now.”

As he spoke, Will quickly signaled to his companions and to Cheng Yiran, meaning for them to leave now. Obviously, he wasn’t really planning to get food—he was just using it as an excuse for everyone to leave.

“Oh… right, I’m hungry too. Let’s go get something to eat… Come on, Cheng, help out!”

His companion moved to open the door.

Unfortunately, Klein flashed in front of it, blocking the way, and said apologetically, “I’m very sorry, everyone, but for now I can’t allow you to leave my sight. According to the rules of the Knight Bureau, any ordinary people involved in non-human incidents must be placed under our supervision. Of course, we won’t infringe on your personal property or safety. So please cooperate.”

Fighting was clearly not an option, so they sheepishly returned.

After that, the activity room fell silent once more.

Cheng Yiran suddenly walked up to Will and asked in a low voice, “Will, is this child the very talented one you told me about last night?”

Will nodded. This seemed like a topic that could ease the atmosphere. “Yes. You’d definitely find it unbelievable—this kid is truly a genius.”

Suddenly, Oga left his sister’s side and, under the beastwoman’s surprised gaze, walked over to Will and gently tugged at the corner of his clothes.

Will looked at him in surprise.

Oga seemed to be saying something. Seeing Will’s puzzled expression, he finally took out a harmonica and quickly played a short passage.

“You want to finish learning that piece from last night?” Will seemed to understand.

Oga apparently understood as well. He nodded lightly, his face slightly red, shy and bashful, his eyes full of anticipation.

Will swallowed hard and shouted to himself internally—this is a boy! A boy! BOY!!

(End of Chapter)