Chapter 476: Can’t Hit Garrett, Hit Smallpox Instead!
A week later, Mr. Areszo sat under the table lamp, silently opening his notebook.
February 15th, playing cards at the tavern.
February 16th, playing cards at the tavern.
February 17th, playing cards at the tavern.
February 18th... You can’t keep being so decadent! Cheer up! Think of something!
February 19th, playing cards at the tavern.
February 20th, playing cards at the tavern.
Uh...
Actually, he hasn’t been completely idle... At least, every day he diligently observes the target’s daily patterns, venturing out early and returning late. Mr. Areszo is quite serious about it.
In the morning, he hides outside the Mage Tower, watching Garrett ride past the wilderness on a Silvermoon Deer, heading straight for the Oak Forest Medical Research Institute;
In the evening, from afar, outside a hospital in the woods, he watches Garrett ride the Silvermoon Deer, speeding through the fields back to the Mage Tower;
Or in the morning at the hospital, in the evening at the Mage Tower; morning at the hospital, evening at the hospital...
That deer, standing over two meters at the shoulder with antlers nearly four meters wide, is clearly a mid-to-high-level magical beast. Its combat ability is not weak, and its running capability is even stronger.
Mr. Areszo estimates that if it were to run at full speed, even if he could catch up, he would definitely expose himself...
Though the target really doesn’t match up to such a mount.
Mr. Areszo can see clearly, every time when getting on or off the mount, Garrett either steps on a stool to climb onto the deer’s back, is lifted up by a barbarian, or is picked up by the Silvermoon Deer itself... Without help, he can’t even climb up!
Oh, and there’s that barbarian!
Every time the target travels, there are either two or three people on the back of the Silvermoon Deer. The barbarian is also a near-high-level warrior, full of vigor and exceptionally vigilant. Having a warrior close at hand to protect the mage makes killing the mage more than twice as difficult.
And then there’s that elf beauty. Although it’s hard to tell how strong she is from a distance, occasionally she turns around on the back of the deer, her eyes brilliantly shining, chilling him to the bone.
Mr. Areszo feels it’s better to be cautious, preferably unnoticed, striking a fatal blow from afar. That kind of botched job where one hasn’t even succeeded before alarming the entire city and causing numerous spies to be rooted out, is something Mr. Areszo, the "Viper," won’t handle...
Speaking of which, that idiot who had half the city’s spies eradicated, what was his name? Never mind, it’s not important.
What’s important is that the target is really not easy to approach. Mr. Areszo made plans, overthrew them, and made them again, repeatedly shaking his head:
A truck breaks a wheel while moving, blocking the road?
A funeral procession passing by the target, and the coffin falls?
A rich man’s bodyguard chasing a thief, getting close to the target?
Creating these accidents, blending into the crowd and striking a deadly blow, is Mr. Viper’s specialty. But, the target always travels in the wilderness, and moves fast. A near-high-level magical beast, it’s not something a trap or snare could take down...
Never mind, better than staying in the Mage Tower, not leaving the house 365 days a year. Mr. Areszo shook his head and continued to play cards at the tavern.
In the smoky environment, many semi-true and mixed messages silently spread out.
Inside a high-end villa in the garden district, a dozen gentlemen in silk jackets passed around a drawing, occasionally emitting low laughter:
In the drawing, a woman was rolling up her sleeve to receive a smallpox vaccination. Beside her, there were already five or six people growing cow noses, cow horns, cow heads, even small cows sprouting from various parts of their bodies...
"Mr. Tangde’s pen is truly marvelous."
"The expression on that woman, extremely vivid."
"It’ll be published in the tabloids tomorrow, definitely spreading through every tavern, right?"
"I wonder how many people it will frighten..."
"...So, we must stop all of this." A gentleman wearing a deep blue velvet jacket with curly wool hair slammed the table. He stood up tall, waving his arms, trying to amplify his momentum:
"Even the mages can’t do whatever they want... Nevis City is everyone’s Nevis City, not just the mages’ Nevis City! They can’t just decide to take money and inject strange things into our bodies by just snapping their fingers and passing a bill!"
"Even if it’s a legend speaking?"
Someone asked softly from below. The speaker’s momentum faltered, his white curly hair seemingly also turning a bit gray. He paused, then struggled to respond:
"Even a legend can’t ignore the opinions of all citizens! Nevis City has a million people, it’s not up to him alone! Mage, temple, nobility, citizens, jointly govern this city, that’s the agreement made when the city was founded, written on the first stone slab at the foot of Igor
Peak, at the start of the mountain path!"
"The goddess teaches us to be kind, to be merciful, to care for the poor and sick who have neither clothes nor food." At the edge of the oval table, another person spoke softly:
"Just because ’we can already resist this,’ refusing to pay to free the poor from smallpox, that argument doesn’t hold water—at least, you can’t say it outright, openly in front of everyone."
"Do you oppose my opinion?"
"No. I just hope for a better reason."
"How about ’Vaccination leads to growing cow skin and horns’? "
"It’s been confirmed already, the horns are a rumor, a clown from a circus dressed up for fun. As for cow skin, servants of the God of Nature, and the goddess’s priests, as well as a pharmacist, have confirmed it’s just a simple dermatitis, easily cured with herbal remedies."
"..."
"Using such unfounded reasons to secretly incite the citizens is possible. Openly opposing the council, not acceptable. The rules of this world are ultimately in the hands of those with power—using fabricated reasons to attack the council, wouldn’t a legendary mage kill people?"
The initial speaker fell silent, quietly sitting down. But the person who rebutted him stood up from the shadows, looking around, raising his voice:
"Gentlemen, not wanting to pay, not wanting to pay for the poor, this statement can be said by ordinary citizens, we can’t say it. In the newspapers, in the squares, in the town hall meetings, we need stronger reasons—"
He paused, looking around. And the audience around him looked up with respect:
"Let’s be more specific, we need more noble reasons to support our goals! Gentlemen, at all times, we must be morally impeccable!"
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