The lioness Serra is indeed as praised by the arena steward, robust, elegant, and majestic, and can be called the queen of the pride.
Her limbs are strong and powerful, with a coat of golden fur. Although she does not have a majestic mane like her partner, she shines brilliantly in the sunlight. Her head features sleek lines, with round and alert ears. By the standards of the pride, she is certainly considered sexy.
For those who like to pet cats, she is a perfect pet. In the past, ordinary people would not dare to be so close to a lion, but now this agile lioness in front of a group of knights is no different from a kitten.
Especially since all these knights are fully armored, Serra smartly chose to observe rather than resist.
So Su Li smoothly took her out of the town, wandering all the way to the vicinity of the graveyard.
As they approached the graveyard, Su Li turned to the group and asked, "Did you just see a shadow in the graveyard?"
Hilude, who just advanced to Apprentice Knight, still maintained a civilian mindset. Upon hearing this, he hugged his arms tightly, tensing up: "Young Master Suli, don't scare me. Is the shadow in the graveyard a human shadow or a ghost shadow?"
Schwartz then lifted his Fine Steel Warhammer and spoke with disgust, "If it's sneaky, it's either a grave robber or a vampire thief, both are scum that should be smashed!"
There are vampires in this world, and they are a very powerful force, especially common in the Border Prince's Territory near the southern coastal region.
Unlike the traditional image of pale, blood-sucking, nocturnal monsters with a bit of Eastern European accent, the vampires in this world are very fierce. They can be active during the day, form armies, wear heavy armor, wield greatswords, and engage in frontal battle with human knights.
This is because these Undead Lords themselves were once living humans who betrayed the Empire. They disdain life and survive on dark magic power, being strong, swift, and possessing eternal life as excellent warriors.
These monsters all long to plunge the whole world into darkness and despair through slaughter, ensuring everything remains under their complete control, while foolish humans are merely slaves and food. To achieve this, they often steal human corpses, transforming graveyard remains into undead creatures under their control, including Skeleton Warriors, Ghouls, Desolate Tomb Guards, Vampire Bats, and more.
It can be said that vampires are one of the most significant traitors and enemies of the Human Empire.
They massacre the citizens of the Empire, destroy villages and towns, desecrate human relatives' corpses.
Every knight has imagined personally defeating an evil vampire in the graveyard and tying it to the stake for public execution.
William and Sophie immediately charged into the graveyard with excitement, only Frederick was slightly skeptical, asking, "How come I didn't see any shadow? Does Young Master Suli have a talent for vision that surpasses me, an Elite Knight?"
But Schwartz and Hilude were fully convinced of Su Li and had already entered the graveyard to search, so Frederick had to follow the team.
Soon, William's proud and excited voice came from the front: "Young Master Suli, Father, I found that shadow. It's a dodging thief! Sneaky, the moment he saw us, he ran. His behavior is very suspicious."
Su Li, with a smile, immediately rode over. In the middle of the cemetery, several knights surrounded a cloaked thief who masked his eyes with his cheeks, with his dagger and short crossbow knocked aside, and blood stains on his body.
It was evident that after fierce resistance, he was subdued.
But it was abnormal for someone facing so many knights to still dare to pull out blades to resist.
Upon seeing Su Li, he immediately yelled nervously, "Who are you? I am a member of the Thieves' Guild, under the guild's protection, you cannot illegally imprison me!"
"Illegal?" Su Li genuinely felt a bit shocked by foreign civilization: "A thief talking law with me?"
Su Li couldn't help but turn to Frederick and ask, "How come there exists a Thieves' Guild beneath Bauhinia Town?"
He remembered Frederick was very rough in court judgment during his time as Court Judge, summarizing simply as: "Death! Death! Death!"
Frederick did not deny the past. He explained: "In Bauhinia Town, the victims catching the thief basically won't have a chance to court. Usually, our local customs directly execute private punishment and throw them to the guards, and the guards don't care, just strip these unlucky ones who lost a hand or foot and toss them naked outside the city or the sewers to be fed to monsters. Occasionally, some alchemists need experimental materials and bargain a price to buy them. Anyway, the results are no different."
"Death, death, death. Barbaric, rough, but indeed effective. The number of thieves driven by life did decrease. The only problem is, organized thief guilds with official power protection grew in strength. That's the reason for their existence."
Official background? Su Li suddenly realized. He then turned to the thief and said, "I am the Count's son, no matter how strong the official power behind you is, it can't affect me. Honestly, what are you doing here? Where are your companions hiding in the ancient tomb?"
"I... I have no companions! I won't say anything."
"Break both his legs."
"Ah!" "Ah!" Screams immediately resounded, appearing particularly terrifying in this eerie graveyard.
Facing the rolling, wailing thief, Su Li showed no sympathy and said flatly, "Give him three seconds more, if he doesn't confess, break the third leg."
Proven to be true, 99.99999% of people in the world can't withstand torture. He's just a contemptible thief, not an honorable revolutionary martyr. Just a bit of torture, and he immediately yielded.
"I'll talk! I'll talk! It's in the largest northern tomb."
Su Li waved his hand and said to Schwartz, "My Chief Knight, take people to pull out all the contemptible little thieves inside."
Frederick was very dissatisfied, saying, "Young Master Suli, clearing these dark rats should be handed to the City Defense Team. How can our noble knights do such dirty work."
"Perhaps there's a surprise, who knows." Su Li faintly smiled.
Frederick couldn't resist Su Li's determined attitude, had to follow Schwartz into the tomb. But he was still uneasy, exclaiming to William and Sophie: "Today is my most shameful day! If succumbing to honor condemns me to endless shame in the future, perhaps our family should find another path."
Sophie advised, "Father, don't be too impulsive. Young Master Suli might suspect there's a vampire inside. If it's pursuing vampires into the cemetery, it will not tarnish your honor. Instead, it might be a glorious honor worth singing."
"Oh, my heavens! By the Divine Spirit above, what did I discover?" Hilude's shocked voice came from ahead.
Following his pointing direction, everyone saw inside a jar, the dazzling metal—Vibranium! A large quantity of Vibranium! Priceless Vibranium!
Schwartz instantly took a deep breath and said in shock, "Young Master Suli really predicted it, that heading out today would yield Vibranium. If I hadn't witnessed it myself, I wouldn't dare believe any of this."
Frederick's anger instantly vanished, with eyes sparkling with shock and excitement. He excitedly walked out of the tomb, his voice filled with uncontainable reverence and excitement: "Young Master Suli, you are truly incredible! Every decision of yours is so wise and insightful, you will certainly become the greatest Lord! Honor, songs, flowers, and our loyalty will always follow you!"
So exaggerated? This change is too quick. Su Li smiled and asked, "Knight Frederick, what did you find inside?"
"At least 150 kilograms of Vibranium, 50 gold coins of loot, and approximately 20 gold coins worth of stolen goods! Should we take them all?"