Chapter 19: The Bargaining Terms.

Enzo and Yulian almost rushed in front of Father Barin at the same time. They grabbed his shoulders from each side and violently dragged him into the room, heavily pressing him to the ground. A crisp sound of a weapon being unsheathed rang out—Lin Qi pulled out a glistening single-edged axe from somewhere and angrily pressed it against Father Barin’s neck.

Father Barin opened his mouth in panic and despair, wanting to shout for help, but Gromm had already swiftly sat down hard on his stomach.

The terrible pressure made Father Barin’s eyes bulge wide. The poor man let out a breath, all the air in his chest squeezed out, and he could no longer muster the strength to shout. Gromm grunted and twisted his buttocks, and Father Barin’s waist immediately let out a groaning sound from his spine being overburdened.

Yulian turned around and kicked the door shut. Lin Qi slowly bent down, his gloomy face coming to within less than half a foot of Father Barin’s. Father Barin, crushed by Gromm’s weight, turned purple in the face and gasped for breath like a fish out of water, but Gromm’s nearly four-hundred-pound body pressed on his chest, making it impossible for him to suck in any air.

“Was Vic captured by the Round Table Knight Society?” Lin Qi asked slowly.

Father Barin looked pitifully at Lin Qi, letting out an unpleasant gurgling sound in his throat. He was just a middleman, with some connections to those troublemaking student groups large and small in University City—merely a message-passing middleman. Feeling the cold axe blade on his neck, Father Barin prayed desperately to all the Gods in heaven to send down judgmental thunderbolts and strike these villains dead!

A well-behaved good student, a future elite of the Empire—how could he hide such a deadly weapon in his room? If Father Barin wasn’t mistaken, that big axe in Lin Qi’s hand was what butchers in slaughterhouses used to deal with certain large livestock; one swing could definitely cut a person in half at the waist!

This was a student dormitory at Fifth University—why would something only found in a slaughterhouse appear here? Even though Father Barin had seen much of the world, his mind couldn’t wrap around this. Especially with this big axe pressed against his neck, Father Barin’s thinking had completely frozen.

Gromm chewed noisily on a boiled egg. He examined Father Barin’s face carefully, waiting until it had gone from purple to nearly black before slowly standing up and carefully sitting on a wooden stool. He had to be cautious—ever since he’d sat down and crushed Lin Qi’s bed half a year ago and got a beating from Lin Qi, he had become very careful and cautious.

So, it was really fortunate that his earlier move hadn’t broken Father Barin’s ribs.

Father Barin suddenly sucked in a breath, making a strange whistling sound. He coughed violently a few times before stuttering, “It’s not related to me! You know it’s not related to me! I have no ties with those scoundrels from the Army Academy. Father Aisen is the assistant teaching priest at the Army Academy. I have absolutely no connection with those lowlifes.”

Lin Qi stared grimly at Father Barin, ignoring his shouts, and sneered, “If we chop you into eighteen pieces, then throw you into the Sain River in the middle of the night, within one night you’d float hundreds of miles downstream. Then there would be no more Father Barin in this world.”

Father Barin turned pale with fear. Trembling, he said, “This… this is murder!”

Lin Qi blinked and sneered, “Wrong. This isn’t murder. This is accidental drowning!”

Father Barin nearly burst into tears. Scared and furious, he hissed, “Chopped into eighteen pieces—how is that not murder?”

Lin Qi nodded as if suddenly realizing. He scraped the rough axe blade against Father Barin’s greasy, fat neck and sneered, “Ah, right, indeed—if it were accidental drowning, you couldn’t end up in eighteen pieces. Well then, we’ll get you drunk, knock you out, and throw you in the river?”

He gave a strange laugh and continued grimly, “Someone dead drunk and knocked out—could he still swim?”

Two streams of hot tears rolled down Father Barin’s cheeks. He whimpered softly, “But, Mr. Lin Qi, we are friends! We are friends!”

Lin Qi sneered a few times and shook his head firmly. “No, we’re not friends anymore. From last night onward, we’re not friends! So you’ll have an accidental fall into the water. Even if the Copper Helmets from the Garrison Office find you, it’ll be because you wandered off drunk and fell into the river by accident!”

Father Barin blinked a few times, miraculously stopping the hot tears that had just been streaming. He stared thoughtfully at Lin Qi. After a moment of reflection, he slowly nodded. “That Talisman… sorry, I mixed it up. That one wasn’t the one the Archbishop of the diocese made himself. But please believe me—it wasn’t that I meant to deceive the honorable Mr. Lin Qi. I picked the wrong one after drinking.”

Lin Qi sighed deeply and nodded. “Yes, you picked the wrong one. But I almost got blown up by a fireball from Master Kocha!”

Father Barin raised three fingers. “Three hundred Indulgence Scrolls, at cost price. You understand!”

Lin Qi glared at Father Barin, grinding his teeth. “Three hundred Indulgence Scrolls—three thousand Copper Coins. Subtracting cost, my profit would be just ten-some Gold Coins. Is my life worth only that little? Two thousand Indulgence Scrolls, cost price. You understand!”

Father Barin glared back at Lin Qi, gritting his teeth, and hissed angrily, “Two thousand? If too many fake Indulgence Scrolls not made by the Church flood the market, do you know what trouble that could cause? At most one thousand. Otherwise, just kill me! And also—I want half the profit! Otherwise, kill me anyway!”

Lin Qi put away the big axe; the heavy weapon magically disappeared. Enzo and Yulian also helped Father Barin up, their faces full of smiles. One thousand Indulgence Scrolls not printed by the Church—this profit was pretty good. Father Barin was now their money god; of course they had to treat him respectfully.

Lin Qi lightly clapped his hands and said through gritted teeth, “Alright then. Now, dear Father Barin, please tell me—how did those despicable, shameless, filthy scoundrels manage to capture Vic? And what terms did they propose?”

Father Barin wiped the cold sweat of fear from his forehead, grabbed a bottle of liquor from the square table, and took a messy gulp.

He let out a satisfied burp and narrowed his eyes.

“How they captured Vic—I really don’t know the details.”

“But their conditions aren’t simple. Lin Qi, they want several leaders of your Iron Fist Brotherhood to go to the alley behind the Sword and Beauty Tavern at midnight tonight to negotiate.” Father Barin’s face turned gloomy. “They want you to bring plenty of… Gold Coins!”

The corner of Lin Qi’s mouth twitched. The Sword and Beauty Tavern—that was the usual hangout for the students of the Army Academy.