Chapter 249: Chapter 230: If Deception Fails, Use Fists Chapter 249: Chapter 230: If Deception Fails, Use Fists Harvey was awakened by the sand-laden winds blowing against his dazed head and realized he had been duped.

“Something’s not right here, I should be dead, right? How could I encounter a swindler at this time?”

Harvey couldn’t understand it, but he had no intention of letting those two con artists get away with it. How could they prevent him from reaching the end of his destiny at such a critical moment?

At this time, Hasting and Hales were already hiding in an inn in Dew City.

They had removed their disguises, revealing bodies made of a bizarre combination of machinery and mercury.

“Hehehe, who would have thought we’d encounter such an easy mark? Now our travel expenses are taken care of,” Hasting’s voice emanated from the magic power furnace in his chest, with a strange echo.

Hales, now entirely transformed into a globule of mercury, also uttered a sigh of relief, “It’s hard to say how many days we’ve wasted; we haven’t even seen a single Paladin. Finally, we can now cross the Line of Death and go look for those Paladins. But this money is still not enough, we need to buy some gear in Dew City to avoid getting killed by a Paladin’s sword in one strike.”

After being turned into abnormal Undead by Amberser, the two brothers were given a daunting task.

To test whether their new bodies would be suppressed by the Holy Slash of a Paladin.

But Amberser had only given them orders and not a single Gold Coin.

The brothers came to the surface to find that the war between the Dwarves and Laine was already over, and the Line of Death in the desert had become the border between the two nations.

It was impossible to cross the Line of Death on foot; even the bodies of Magipuppet Automatons would be ground to dust by the endless sandstorms.

They spent a great deal of effort to learn that there was someone who could help them smuggle across, which the locals called “walking the line.”

Which was actually a secret underground passage that could traverse the Line of Death.

However, those who controlled this passage were not easy to negotiate with, demanding a price of ten thousand Gold Coins per person.

The brothers didn’t have a single Gold Coin, surviving only because Undead didn’t need to eat or drink, thus managing to hold out for so long. Where would they find the money to “walk the line”?

Initially, Hasting wanted to take a more aggressive approach.

After all, they were no longer the feeble creatures of the past. Hasting’s Magipuppet Automaton body was the latest model from Alchemy City, and with Hales who had turned into mercury, they boasted the power of high-level Adventurers.

Dealing with a few small-time henchmen involved in guiding people across the line shouldn’t have been a big problem.

However, their investigation revealed that those who came to negotiate prices were just peripheral lackeys who had no idea where the hidden tunnel was. Only after paying would the real person behind the curtain appear.

If the brothers acted rashly, it would only alert the truly influential figures and cause them to hide.

With no other choice, they resumed their old trade, taking on commissions in taverns for bounties while moonlighting as swindlers.

They had been far from their financial goal at first, but then they had encountered Harvey, the unsuspecting target.

Thousands of Gold Coins just like that came into their possession, meaning they had finally amassed enough funds to prepare for walking the line across to the other side of the desert.

“What’s the story with that kid, is he really a Diviner Mage?” Hasting asked Hales.

It was Hales who had told Hasting about spotting a Diviner Mage, which led to their subsequent approach. If it weren’t for his brother’s tip-off, Hasting wouldn’t even know that there was a profession called a Diviner Mage.

Hales’s mercury body shifted slightly, and then he said, “I only found out after following our master. That kid had a few covert spellcasting gestures when he gambled, identical to our master’s, like a student imitates a teacher. Only a Diviner Mage could win so much money at the gambling table.”

The brothers knew Harvey was a Diviner Mage but dared to swindle him because their initial plan was for Hasting to lie and Hales to tell the truth.

Had Harvey truly chosen Hales, he would indeed have taken the Scales to complete the mission.

The Scales were ones that Amberser had submitted to the tavern when he completed a mission; Hales had slipped into the tavern’s warehouse unnoticed as a line of mercury and stolen the Scales, so using them for the mission would certainly not raise any suspicions.

The trap Hales had set was merely a matter of mission bounty division; he intended to find all sorts of ways to lower Harvey’s share and take the lion’s share for himself. In this way, they could make a small profit and, after a few more times, gather enough money for walking the line.

Only, Harvey turned out to be easier to deceive than expected—they didn’t have to do anything and could just take the money and run.

Now that everything was almost ready, it was time to head to the domain of the Paladins and let them test their Holy Slash on them.

Hales’s mercury body crawled onto Hasting, and after putting on a coat and a mask, the two of them transformed into a single individual. Ten thousand Gold Coins were enough.

However, neither of the brothers expected that as soon as they stepped out of the inn, they would see Harvey standing at the door with a cold smile, seemingly having waited for a long time.

Yet Hasting walked past Harvey as if he didn’t see him at all, with a very natural stride.

Upon seeing this demeanor, Harvey promptly exclaimed, “Hey, is that how you act when the victim comes looking for you, you con artist?”

With a tone of perplexity, Hasting replied, “My friend, are you talking to me? It seems we’re not acquainted, right?”

Harvey’s eyes bulged with disbelief, astounded by the man’s shamelessness as he angrily declared, “You swindled me out of thousands of gold coins in the tavern, and now you say we don’t know each other? You think just because you changed your cloak and mask that I wouldn’t recognize you?”

Hasting, unflustered, calmly said, “Listen to yourself. The person you’re familiar with wore a mask, and it’s different from the one I’m wearing. How can you say we are the same person? Have you ever seen what that person looks like? Want me to lift my mask to check?”

“You!”

Harvey was astonished to find that he was at a loss for words against this con artist. If it weren’t for his divination locking onto this man before him, he couldn’t be certain it was the same person, but now he had no evidence.

“Alright, I’m very busy. If I run into the con artist you’re talking about next time, I’ll remind him to return the money to you. Goodbye.”

After politely finishing his statement, Hasting walked away from Harvey again.

Harvey realized arguing with a professional swindler was futile, so he chose to respond in his own way, tossing the Dice of Destiny onto Hasting.

Seconds later, the sound of fabric tearing echoed, and gold coins started raining down from Hasting’s cloak onto the ground.

Hasting hastily reached to gather them, having failed to notice while walking that a mechanical seam on his body had snagged his coin purse, wearing it open with every few steps.

The brothers lacked those enormously spacious magic pouches and could only carry tens of thousands of gold coins on their backs.

As the cloth bag fell, shiny coins rolled everywhere.

This naturally attracted the attention of passersby, who approached with ill-intentions, eagerly saying, “Oh dear, how careless of you! Let me help you pick those up.”

The next moment, over a dozen hands descended upon the coins. By the time these palms disappeared, half of the gold coins littered on the ground were gone.

Hasting, enraged, wanted to pin these thieves to the ground, but they had already scattered into thin air.

The local customs of Dew City were quite “innocent.”

Gathering the remaining coins, Hasting found that from the original ten thousand, only a little over six thousand were left—not enough to cover his expenses.

Hasting grabbed Harvey by the collar furiously, hoisting the young man into the air, “Are you asking for trouble?”

Mimicking Hasting’s tone, Harvey replied, “My friend, what are you talking about? I’m just standing aside, not doing anything at all.”

Harvey expected that his words would leave Hasting speechless, a taste of his own medicine, but Hasting’s unforeseen response was, “You think you can play that trick with me, and I would need evidence?”

With that, Hasting punched Harvey right in the eye socket, swelling it shut.

That was Hasting holding back significantly; otherwise, he could have easily exploded Harvey’s head with a single punch.

Harvey was stupefied by the punch. The con artist’s moral compass was too flexible, wasn’t it? Cheat when it suited him, but resort to violence when cheated himself?!

Enraged, Harvey threw the Dice of Destiny at Hasting, and then Hasting’s body began to rattle, bolts falling from beneath his cloak.

The power of the Dice of Destiny dictated that if a malfunction could occur, it surely would.

Hasting’s right hand jammed, apparently malfunctioning.

But it was only when Harvey saw those bolts that he realized he wasn’t dealing with a living person, but a Magipuppet Automaton.

“Wait, you… could you be sent by my teacher?” asked Harvey.

Harvey had seen the Alien Skeletons created by Amberser, as well as various materials for Magipuppet Automatons in his laboratory. He knew his teacher loved tinkering with such odd inventions, but this wasn’t enough for a conclusion.

Harvey instinctively felt that this particular Magipuppet Automaton must be related to his own teacher.

Hasting set Harvey down and asked, “Teacher? Who’s your teacher?”

Without hesitation, Harvey blurted out, “The King of Alden!”

Bang, Hasting’s other fist was the response to Harvey’s words.

Hasting held Harvey, now bruised at both eyes, and declared, “I don’t know any King of Alden! Kid, if you don’t pay up today, you’re not going anywhere!”