The history of Stormenburg was not as long as Blackwater City and White Mountain City, but Stormenburg was comparatively an ancient city in the Country of Mercenaries.
The very first city master of Stormenburg, Jacques, was not very lucky. He tried very hard to gather all kinds of construction materials. As they were ready for construction, the weather suddenly changed. The storms lasted for two whole months. This kind of weather was rare. They finally toughed through the storms, but Jacques’s biggest enemy, plus some gangsters, caused him trouble. Jacques led his mercenaries and fought them. They kicked the gangsters out of Stormenburg but paid a big price for it.
After that, Jacques changed the city name into Stormenburg, which meant the city would stay there after storms, and changed his Holy War mercenary group into Brothers Mercenary group to remember those mercenaries who died in the war. Jacques had a bad temper, but he set a good example for mercenaries and rewarded and punished them fairly. He never bullied anyone, so he enjoyed a good reputation among mercenaries. Knowing Jacques was building a city, some mercenary groups who were barely surviving came to Stormenburg to join Jacques. Jacques change the Brothers mercenary group into Band of Brother mercenary group to show their high tolerance towards other mercenaries.
After generations of hard work, Stormenburg had grown to a decent size. Its location was not great. It was far from business routes, which slowed down economic development. However, Stormenburg was still one of the best cities in the Country of Mercenaries.
Anfey and his people had met a few patrols just as they entered Stormenburg. After a short conversation, the mercenaries immediately went to report to their commander. Soon, a group of about 300 mercenaries came out to welcome them. The one in front was Entos, whom Anfey had not seen for a while.
Entos was shocked when they saw each other. He looked around and then burst into laughter.
Anfey was walking in the front. He felt strange, so he looked at himself first and then looked at Suzanna. He did not get what Entos was laughing about.
Entos did not stop laughing for a while. He sighed. "Anfey? What happened? You look like you were chased by a group of crazy dogs. None of you look good."
Shansa Empire’s military had retreated for no apparent reason. Anfey still had to be extra careful. They travelled at night and had not taken a break. It was impossible to still look good. The mercenaries had been travelling about 17 hours nonstop and all looked greasy, sweaty, and covered with dust. Some of them had leaves in their hair and on their clothes. They had no time to clean up. They all looked tired and greasy. No wonder Entos laughed at them.
Anfey smiled bitterly. "You have no idea what we experienced."
"The professor said you are a genius. You could develop well in any area. It looks like a genius’s ability is limited." Entos continued to put Anfey down. "What the hell happened to make you look like this?"
The few commanders in Anfey’s league who did not know Entos looked irritated. Based on what Entos said, it was easy to misunderstand that he did not like Anfey. It was common sense that a friend should not take advantage of Anfey in difficult times to make fun of him.
"Bro Entos, stop your nonsense. You have no idea how tired we are. Can you ask your people to prepare rooms and food for us?" Anfey turned around to take a look. "We can be tough, but…"
Entos looked up to follow Anfey’s eyes. He saw highly-secured wagons. Entos’ face changed immediately. "Did Miss Niya come?"
Smart! No wonder he was the guy who could know everything with just a glance. Anfey could not help complimenting him in his mind. Anfey neither nodded nor shook his head to answer him. If Anfey lied to Entos, then he would deceive Entos. He would rather have Entos guess.
"How could Miss Niya be with you?" Entos asked in confusion.
Anfey still did not answer him. He only looked at Entos.
"I will have your rooms and food ready." Entos turned around and wanted to leave.
Anfey grabbed Entos’ arm and asked with a confused voice, "Miss Niya? Where is Miss Niya?" His facial expression was controlled, but he was laughing hard inside.
He could tell there must have been something between Entos and Niya. Entos was never comfortable whenever Niya was there. Anfey tried to find out what had happened. He finally got the secret from Zubin.
Entos had a wild personal life. Others never understood why honest Saul, with his simple lifestyle, would take Entos as his student. In the Country of Mercenaries, the most developed and common job was a mercenary. Another job that developed from it was prostitution. Mercenaries returned to cities after dangerous assignments. Some of them would go home to their wives and children. The unmarried mercenaries would not mind spending money on hookers to loosen themselves up. Entos was a well-known playboy who went to see hookers very frequently. It would be an exaggeration to say Entos had seen all the hookers in the big cities, but many hookers had seen Entos. Even the ones who had not seen Entos must have known about him. Entos was over 40 years old. No one asked Entos directly why he had not married, since it was too personal.
Entos was cruel, so he did not have a very good reputation. He was not liked by many honest and upright people, but Entos never minded others’ criticism. He took the responsibility as vice commander of a mercenary group in the Country of Mercenaries. When he returned to Maho Empire, he needed to be a humble and polite student and nice brother. Besides those pieces of information, everything else was his personal affair. No one had the right to tell him what to do. Saul had reminded a few times to control his personal life. Entos listened to Saul in front of him, but forgot all of the advice when Saul was not around. He continued with the same personal life. He even bragged once when he was drunk that his life would be too boring and he would rather die if he always had to find reasons to do things and consider others’ feelings and opinions. Some people told Saul what Entos bragged about. Saul was quiet for a while, then laughed and had never bothered Entos again.
There was a saying that one day you would slip and get your feet soaked if you always walked along the river bank. Entos used to be a kind and nice brother to other students of Saul, but his true colors were starting to show. Entos went back to Saul’s house from the Country of Mercenaries on purpose for Niya’s seventeenth birthday. Niya had been out hunting with Granden when Entos returned. Entos was bored and found his girldfriend. Of course, that was how Entos referred to her. If he was just hanging out with her, it should be no big deal. The problem was, Entos did not like to just hang out. It was still not a big deal if he had sex with her, but he should not have brought her to Saul’s house.
To make Niya happy, Saul sent a magic letter to Niya to let her know Entos was back for her birthday. Niya missed Entos. Entos was not her biological brother, but he was like family to her. When she returned from hunting, she excitedly kicked open Entos’ room at night and saw Entos naked with his girlfriend, also naked. Niya ran away screaming, while Entos ran away in shame. Entos’ girlfriend was the only calm one. She put her clothes on and said goodbye to Saul, who came in to check on the screaming. She behaved very politely. Anfey heard she bought herself out from the contract with her pimp, bought a small house in Sacred City, and lived there alone. Zubin told Anfey that was the reason Entos was rarely at home. Whether Entos was too ashamed to stay home or just simply liked his wild life and stayed with his girlfriend who was living alone, Zubin did not say. It was a question that could be interpreted in different ways by different people.
"Are you playing with me?" Entos asked. He blushed since this issue had bothered him for a long time. If Anfey did not use Niya as a bluff, how could he know the secrets Entos had. Entos felt he had fulfilled his responsibilities as a student, brother, and vice commander. He had done well except for that incident. If Anfey knew his embarrassment, he would not know what to tell Anfey. No one wanted to be the butt of other’s jokes.
Seeing Entos’ face change colors, Anfey immediately realized his mistake. His joke made Entos mad. Nothing could sabotage a friendship, not even at life-threatening moments. Some people were willing to do anything for their friendship. However, friendship could be fragile as well. An inappropriate saying or facial expression could create a crack in their friendship.
"Bro Entos, what are you doing?" Anfey smiled bitterly. "I did not say anything."
Entos’ eyes were moving fast, which showed he was thinking. Obviously, he did not completely trust Anfey’s explanation. After a while, Entos had a bitter smile on his face too. He thought to himself, Never mind. If he did it, he should not be afraid of others making fun of him. Entos changed his attitude and said quietly, "Anfey, did you see necromancers on the way?"
"It would have been better if we met necromancers. Don’t forget, we have Warner." Anfey shook his head and smiled. "Scarlet sent knights to chase after us."
"Scarlet? How could she spare people to chase after you?" Entos asked in confusion.
"Huh? Why couldn’t she spare people to chase after us?" Anfey asked, confused.
"Oh, you did not know General Baery has led his Roaring Dead legion into the Country of Mercenaries," Entos said slowly. "I left you guys to build a small-scale magic array for Marino in Stormenburg. We can’t transport large items on the magic array, but at least we could pass messages to each other now."
"Really? General Baery came too?" Blavi asked in excitement.
"Of course, why would I lie to you?" Entos had really changed his attitude now. He smiled. "Let’s go. I will take you guys to see Marino."