"Are you sure this is 'Slaughterer' Kircheis?"
Jante pressed him.
From excitement, his rosacea nose was glowing red.
"It's definitely him. Just send him to the Church of Storms and they'll have ways to confirm it."
Anderson had personally witnessed Kircheis's death, so he naturally had confidence.
"That's good then."
Hearing this, Jante nodded excitedly. He began circling the corpse to inspect it while clicking his tongue.
"Anderson, you're incredible! To actually hunt down the second mate of the 'King of Immortality' Agalito!"
he said excitedly. "With this, you can be called the 'Strongest Hunter' even in the Sonia Sea!"
"No, I didn't kill Kircheis."
Hearing the other party credit him with hunting the "Slaughterer," Anderson hurriedly denied it. "I killed the other two."
No way he'd dare steal credit from that Gascoigne guy...
"Not you? Then who was it?"
Jante asked curiously.
Right, looking at how the corpse was "packaged," it really didn't seem like Anderson's handiwork.
Speaking of which, how do you even open this? He was thinking this when he saw the "Strongest Hunter of the Fog Sea" across from him open his mouth, his lips moving to give the answer:
"The one who killed Kircheis was the [Blood Reverend]."
As soon as the words fell, the surrounding atmosphere grew quiet again.
No, to be precise, it practically froze. Everyone stared at Anderson, as if he'd just said something incomprehensible.
"Wait... their reactions are off..."
Anderson quickly sensed the abnormality.
"Could it be there's some secret about the name [Blood Reverend] that I don't know?"
He'd originally thought [Blood Reverend] was a rising new adventurer who'd emerged during the time he was trapped in the divine war ruins, which was why he'd spoken so freely about it, even wanting to spread the guy's reputation a bit.
But looking at everyone's state, it was clearly more complicated than that!
"I'm joking."
Anderson immediately put on a smiling face.
"...You're saying what you just said was a lie?"
"Of course! How about it, scared you, didn't I? Your reactions were really interesting."
Anderson said with a grin.
"Damn it! You're still as detestable as ever!"
Jante immediately flew into a rage, but also seemed greatly relieved.
There's definitely something wrong here...
Anderson kept the smile on his face, but inwardly became even more certain there was a situation he didn't know about.
"I'll come collect the money tomorrow. Make sure you have it ready quickly."
He said with apparent composure to the cursing, nagging Jante, tossing the three corpses on the ground.
Then he walked out of the Adventurer Mutual Aid Society and headed to a nearby bar.
"One South Wales beer."
He tossed down a few coins and said to the bartender.
The bartender took the money and served him a beer with fine foam and golden liquid.
"Any recent news?"
After taking a sip of beer, Anderson asked casually.
At this moment he had no mind to taste the beer's flavor, but urgently wanted to find out about this so-called [Blood Reverend].
"I just finished a long voyage. I'm starved for news."
"Fresh things happen on the sea every day."
The bartender wiped a glass and glanced at him.
"Just tell me about that [Blood Reverend]. I noticed people seem to be talking about that name."
Anderson probed indirectly.
"Seems you've really been sailing for quite a while, to not even know about him."
The bartender sneered, but seeing that Anderson had given a generous tip, continued, "He's a criminal who's been wanted recently..."
After getting the full story, he was completely shocked.
Actually bombarded the palace on New Year's Day, attacked the king, and before that caused many other dangerous incidents... Gascoigne, this guy is way crazier than I imagined!
No wonder people reacted that way when they heard his name!
"Good beer."
Anderson drained his glass with an unchanged expression and turned to leave.
Before walking out, he swept his eyes across the wall where bounty notices were posted in the bar, finally spotting a newly posted wanted poster near the Four Kings:
[Blood Reverend]
Dead or Alive
Bounty: 120,000
The wanted poster didn't show specific features, just a vague robed figure, with a small line of text below: Often wears blood-red robes, utters evil prayers.
120,000 pounds...
Anderson counted the zeros on the bounty clearly before stepping out of the bar.
He walked steadily forward until entering an empty alley, then began accelerating, rushing quickly toward the inn.
This is bad!
Both our situations are dangerous now!
Although he'd bluffed his way through, the state of those blood crystals could easily make people think of the Shepherd pathway.
If they thought about it a bit more, they might report him... Must get back immediately and tell Gascoigne!
Anderson felt some regret. He hadn't expected that casually mentioning a name would bring such serious consequences.
When he reached the inn they'd agreed on, he found Silas checking in at the front desk.
"What's wrong?"
Seeing him rush in with a somewhat bad expression, Silas waved his hand, hypnotizing everyone else present before asking.
"Um, I'm very sorry."
Anderson said with trepidation, "I didn't know before what the name [Blood Reverend] represented, and I revealed it to people at the Free Adventurers Union..."
He roughly explained what had just happened, growing more apprehensive as he spoke, afraid the other party would shepherd him in a fit of anger.
"Should we leave here quickly to avoid being reported..."
"Oh, that. It's fine."
After hearing his words, Silas waved his hand with an unchanged expression. "Let them report."
He'd just advanced to Sequence 4 demigod and was looking for someone to practice on anyway.
The royal family's pursuit was certainly troublesome, but high-sequence angels wouldn't deploy easily, and mid-to-low sequence opponents would find it hard to form a fatal encirclement.
In the short term, even exposing his position wouldn't be a problem.
Moreover, what he planned to do next would openly reveal the fact that he was at sea anyway.
"You don't mind?"
Anderson asked in extreme surprise.
"Not at all."
Silas answered while signing the current name in the register: Alexander Gascoigne.
Similarly, since exposure was inevitable eventually, he might as well let them associate this fake name with himself.
"This..."
Anderson didn't know what to say.
So, just ignore them?
"There are still vacant rooms here. Get one yourself, then come to my room. I have things to ask you."
But Silas didn't give him time to hesitate, speaking directly before walking upstairs to the second floor himself, holding the black cat.
Anderson stood at the first-floor front desk for a while, his expression changing rapidly.
Finally, he gritted his teeth and also booked a room. He wasn't carrying any luggage either, so after receiving his key, he went directly to find Silas.
"What is it?"
Anderson asked as soon as he entered.
Silas had booked the best room. Luna was stepping around on the soft mattress, while he sat in an armchair to the side.
"Information about the Seven Pirate Admirals and Four Pirate Kings. Give me the details."
He stretched in the chair.
This could be considered getting to know his future colleagues in advance.