111: Around The Campfire
Paki~, paki~, the flames crackled in the campfire. While watching the flames crackling as though dancing, Alex kept track of the surrounding movements and sounds.
This was the group the second night, the day has been uneventful except for Sebastian pestering Alex to help him in his sword practice and it went without saying that he lost miserably, three times to be exact, however, he did not seem dissatisfied, he keeps up, Alex noticed that he was improving which showed the man's talent.
Alex smiled wryly thinking about it. Shaking his head he decided to concentrate on the duty at hand because monsters are active at night.
Indeed, at night, monsters would run rampant around the outskirts of the city and frequently appeared on the highway. The monsters didn't even care who they attacked, they just attack whoever they saw.
In fact, while Alex and Meera were on lookout, there were already 7 Goblins casually piled up at the periphery of the campfire. They were not defeated by Alex, they were defeated by Gracier, Eleonora, and Golfak during their turn on the lookout. The shift had become three instead of four, Golfak's behavior had changed, so Alex lessened the punishment.
Fortunately, as they hadn't received an attack since then, they weren't as tense. Meera held out a cup of tea using water that had just been boiled on the campfire and handed it to Alex.
''Here.''
''Thank you.''
Receiving the cup, he took several sips after smelling the fragrance.
Though it had already passed mid-summer and was entering late summer, the nights could still be said to be very warm.
Under these circumstances, Meera looked interestingly at Alex, who was drinking the tea without sweating.
Noticing Meera's eyes intensely lock onto him, Alex couldn't help but ask.
''What?"
''Well, how can you drink hot tea in this hot weather without even sweating?''
''Back in my hometown, I used to drink coffee all time. I get my body used to it reason why even after drinking hot tea I don't sweat.''
〖That's doesn't explain why here though. If you had given this excuse on Earth I would have understood however you are not on Earth anymore, your previous body got destroyed and you get a new one, so why this excuse?〗Silveria asked curiously.
'Well, I didn't lie, though. Even though it's a new body, my soul didn't forget. Or it's because of my new body. Well, it doesn't matter, she wants a reason I gave her one, whether it's true or what doesn't matter here.'
Alex explained to Silveria who thinks what he said made sense.
Meanwhile, Meera was interested in the new word she just learned, she had never heard this word before.
''What is a coffee?"
''It's like tea but stronger and instead of being brewed from leaf it is brewed from a bean, coffee beans.''
To Alex's explanation, Meera's eyes shined, she was now more interested in trying this whatever coffee.
''I want to try it someday. If I visit your hometown I hope you will invite me for a coffee.'' Meera said with a smile.
''I will,'' Alex responded while inwardly thinking isn't gonna happen 'cause it's impossible to go back. Well, they may be a coffee in this world.
Indeed there's coffee in this world. He will learn this fact soon.
''It's my turn to ask. Normally, aren't you bad with heat? Or are elves good at coping with the heat?''
''Hmm, well, about that. I suppose we can cope with a certain degree of heat because we live in the forests?''
Meera answered while Alex was thinking that her answer sounds more like a question than a real answer, nevertheless he didn't point this out.
''How long it has been since you left home?" Alex's curiosity got the better of him, hence he asked.
''it has been five years. Why did you ask me this?" Meera answered Alex's question before raising a question in turn.
''Well, from the stories I've heard elves don't like to leave their forest and interact with humans,'' Alex explained.
To Alex's words, Meera smiled before answering.
''Not necessary, maybe it was like that in the past but currently not anymore. For proof, there are lots of Elves living among humans here. Well, back home some still against the idea of leaving the forest, though. Everybody has his/her reason for leaving.''
Seeing the look in her eyes, Alex decided that it would be wiser to switch the subject.
Glancing at Meera's bow placed on her lap, Alex asked ''May I?"
There was a silence before Meera nodded and passed her bow to Alex.
Upon receiving the bow, Alex felt it was quite heavy and yet Meera had no trouble carrying it.
For a moment he had the urge to Appraise it, however remembering Leena's advice he decided against it. For starters, Meera was an Elf, a pretty sensible one if not she wouldn't be able to see spirits, less befriend them before making a contract with them. She's talented, if Alex were to use his Appraisal skill Meera will notice it and may become wary of him again.
Truth be told, he did not know why but since the moment when Gracier and he entered that meeting room, instantly Meera became wary of him after looking at him. As for the reason why he doesn't know.
'Sil, can you give a reason why this girl became wary of me after seeing me yesterday.' Alex asked Silveria's opinion on the matter.
〖If my guess is not wrong it's probably because of the amount of MP you possess Normally at your level shouldn't possess that amount of MP. She acted warily first because she wasn't sure if your intentions were good or bad. Well, it seems she got her answer it why she became all friendly all of sudden.〗
'I see.'
Hearing Silveria's explanation, Alex felt that it does make sense.
Refocusing his attention on the bow, Alex asked.
''This bow is quite good. It's a magic item isn't it?''
Though Alex didn't have the power to feel other people's magic, he was still able to feel something from the bow when he held it. It was the same kind of feeling as Golfak's magic sword and Diaz's sword, in other words, he judged that it was a magic item.
''Ah, as I thought, you could tell? This is a family heirloom that is handed down from generation to generation. It's an excellent weapon that can grant the Wind attribute to arrows.''
Meera explained while lovingly caressing the bow Alex just returned.
''Wind attribute huh?! As expected of Elves.''
''Should I take it as a compliment?'' Meera asked with a smile.
Alex only shrugged his shoulders in response.
''Tell is Gracier your real sister?"
Suddenly Meera asked, like Alex early, her curiosity got the better of her therefore she couldn't help but ask, she wants to know the siblings' story, even it was a small part of it.
Alex who was smiling stopped smiling and answered, ''Yes she and I are real siblings.''
That's all he said. Seeing Alex's expression, Meera felt that she asked something she shouldn't have asked.
Smiling bitterly Meera decided it was better to switch to another subject to erase the heavy atmosphere that was about to descend upon them.
''Tell me Alex why did you choose to become Adventurer?"
Alex stayed silent for while before answering.
''I become Adventurer to accomplish my goal which is to become the strongest.''
''Interesting,'' Meera said, she knew Alex was not joking because the desire and
determination inside his green eyes which she found beautiful by the way couldn't be faked.
''As for you why did choose to become an Adventurer?" Alex asked in turn.
''Well, my reason is simple. I want freedom and I know being Adventurer could help achieve this.''
''I see.''
It was all Alex said, Meera was a little bit surprised, she thought Alex would have asked more questions after hearing her words.
''Why do you seem surprised I didn't ask anything?" Alex asked.
''Well, I was expecting a question though. Like what do want to be free from?"
To Meera's words Alex smiled, ''I guess I could have asked but you will not have responded sincerely anyway because the real answer has something to do with the reason you left home. Reason which you don't seem ready to share, so no, I will not ask anything.''
''Smart, I like it. I-"
Meera wanted to continue but stopped midway through her sentence because her mind got captured by the beautiful morning glow.
So, was Alex.
While the two people watched the morning glow, as the surrounding area brightened up, and a rustling sound could be heard from one of the tents.
''What a shame, we will continue our conversation another time. It was quite fun to talk with you.'' Meera said before standing up and started doing stretch up.
''Likewise.''
Alex said before leaving for his morning jogging.
Looking at the leaving Alex's back Meera smiled thinking that Alex was not that scary, only the amount of MP he possesses was frightening.
112: Bandits Attack
It was the third day since Alex and others left Eria's City to Gato's village to complete a request to finish their rank-up test.
Currently, the carriage was stopped and the sounds of fighting could be heard.
Naturally, it was Alex's group fighting against monsters, few stray goblins to be exact. Alex was not participating in this fight.
Eleonora moved swiftly between three goblins slicing their throats.
Spurt!!!
Just like that a fountain of blood splashed around and tried to rain down on Eleonora, however, the latter was too fast, none of the splashed blood landed on her.
Meanwhile, the three goblins had fallen onto the ground clutching their necks trying to stop more blood from leaving through the cut they received, soon the three goblins turned into corpses.
On the other side, Meera knocked three wind arrows that instantly killed three goblins by piercing their heads. Sebastian and Golfak just beheaded two goblins while Gracier's fireballs burned the goblins who escaped Lucien's Water bullets to crips.
The fight, no it couldn't be called fight it was a massacre, the massacre quickly ended and after collecting the usable materials from the dead monsters, they joined Alex in the carriage and departed.
''Your group's overall strength is quite high. Your coordination during these three days had improved.'' Conrad said with a smile.
The others nodded their heads not saying anything, it was not strange if their coordination improved, they had been fighting together for three days after all.
''I wonder if the main group had managed to come in contact with the group of the rampaging monsters? If it's yes then how many have they killed.''
Alex suddenly said while glancing at Conrad, the latter smiled because Alex's goal was obvious, he was hinting him to spill whatever he knew because he was one of the Guild staff members, he knew what going on, on the other side.
In the past two days, sometimes Conrad will slip away with the excuse that he had something to take care of but Alex knew he was using those occasions to be in touch with the other party after having Silveria spy on him with her ability, too bad he couldn't hear anything.
''Who knows, maybe they are already fighting, or maybe not. I have no way knowing.'' Conrad responded with a smile.
'Bullshit'
Thought Alex and others, Conrad probably knew what's going on the other, and yet he was playing the dumb here. How frustrating, well they only need to concentrate on what they were tasked to do and hope whatever the main group was doing would not affect them.
Suddenly, the carriage stopped moving, startling those who were inside. Alex looked out the window and asked Sebastian who was acting as the driver with Golfak being the lookout.
''What going on?"
''There is a group of men blocking the road twenty meters ahead.''
To Sebastian's words, Alex's eyebrows raised, he quickly used his Divine Sense to check and indeed there was a group blocking the road twenty meters ahead, a group of seven men, however, that wasn't all, another two men were hiding in a bush on the left and another two on the right.
Alex's lips curled up into a savage grin, seeing this Gracier and Eleonora asked,
''Big brother what's going on?"
''What's up Alex?"
''A group is blocking the road making it impossible for us to advance,'' Alex explained.
Meera and Lucien were surprised, they quickly understood what Alex's words imply, same with Eleonora who couldn't help but grin.
Meanwhile, only Gracier seemed puzzled by Alex's words, sighing Alex explained to his sister the real identity of this group blocking their road.
''Let's step forward, however first-''
Alex announced before whispered something into Eleonora, and Meera ears, both
girls were surprised after hearing Alex's order, they wanted to know how he knew this, however, they quickly calmed down their curiosity.
Alex informed Sebastian and Golfak to stop after giving his sister some instructions and be ready at any moment.
Everybody stepped out of the carriage and looked at the group not too far from them.
As Alex had seen it with help of his skill, there was a group of seven men blocking the road.
These seven men were dressed in shabby leather armors, they had an unkempt appearance, their eyes were vicious.
When they saw the beautiful girls descending from the carriage they couldn't hide the growing lust inside their eyes.
A bulky man with better armor Alex judged to be the leader of this group of thugs advanced arms crossed and said,
''Leave all your valuable behind.''
Alex had a sense of déjà vu when he heard the man's words.
〖Isn't it because you used the same words a few days ago to rob Diaz and his men clean? Now karma got you. Karma is a bitch〗
Silveria said while not hiding her smile.
'Shut up Sil. Mine was different.' Alex shouted back.
〖How so?〗Silveria asked in amused tone.
Not replying to Silveria Alex said,
''What if I refuse?"
The bulky man laughed and said, ''Then I will kill you after enjoying the women in front of you. I assure you, you will like it. If you don't want to die leave all your valuables behind and scram. Ah! The three women count as valuables, by the way, you men can scram for all I care, I don't swing that way.''
''But leader, that pretty boy can be useful to us. You know, hehehehe.'' One of the men on the right said while looking at Alex with lecherous eyes.
Alex felt goosebumps rising all over his body when he felt the man's hot gaze.
''Shut up, Goldat I'm talking here.'' the leader shouted, forcing the man, Goldat who spoke earlier to shut up.
Meanwhile, Eleonora almost burst into laughter when he heard the man's name, glancing at Golfak she said.
''It seems you found your lost brother. Ah! To think he turns out to be a thug.''
Golfak's face darkened, he almost cursed at Eleonora, however remembering her words, that gaze, he swallowed back his curses.
Alex glared at Eleonora forcing the latter to stop teasing Golfak while inwardly himself was doing his best not to laugh, Golfak and Goldat really sound alike.
Shaking his head Alex and the leader of the thugs' locked eyes, the latter asked.
''Pretty boy, what do you choose?"
''Scram and let us pass.'' Alex said.
''wrong answer. You are going to die. Boys kill the man and leave the women behind.'' the leader shouted before unsheathing his blade, the others followed suit, they dashed toward Alex's group.
Alex's eyes turned cold as he said, ''Eleonora, Meera, Gracier you know what to do.''
The girls nodded their heads, Eleonora disappeared into the left while Meera aimed her bow toward the right, Gracier also pointed her finger in the same direction.
The leader who saw this suddenly had a bad feeling and before he could speak Alex disappeared and appeared in front of him with his knife slashing at his neck, hastily bringing his sword up, the leader blocked the blade.
Pakin!
He thought he had escaped calamity, however, he felt a sudden suffocating feeling assaulting him making him dizzy for a second, that a fatal mistake that cost him his head.
Alex had used his skill Intimidation on the poor man.
The bandit leader's head left his body and started dancing in the air. Blood spurted from the headless body.
Silence descended upon the scene.
The remaining bandits were scared when they saw their leader who got quickly eliminated like a goblin. Sebastian used the chance of his opponent being surprised to quickly kill him, he moved toward another one.
Alex threw a Black Bettie's at one escaping thug, the knife pierced his neck from the back, the man dropped them.
"Run"
Shouted the remaining men after seeing the men waiting in ambush being eliminated, their heard anguished cries after numerous fireballs raining down on the right where the two men were stationed in ambush, Meera and Gracier combination was perfect, they quickly eliminated the two hiding men.
Eleonora also quickly eliminated the other two men on the left by appearing behind them and sliced their throats like a professional assassin.
Alex killed another thug, Sebastian also killed another one. Surprisingly, Lucien also killed one, however only Golfak did not kill any, he fought well but couldn't bring himself to finish the man after injuring him. His hands were shaking, it must be his first time hence he couldn't bring himself to do it, he didn't have the courage.
"Coward."
Eleonora who just came back muttered in disdain. She tried to quickly go finish the man, however, Alex stopped her and look at Sebastian in the eyes, the latter instantly understood what Alex wanted, swiftly moving behind the scared bandit, he gave him a hard chop on the neck making the latter lost consciousness.
On the other side, Gracier couldn't watch the dead bodies on the ground, she spun around and started puking, Meera's complexion wasn't looking good either, however, she had it better, Eleonora brought them elsewhere. Alex guessed it was to help the girls calm down after their first kill.
Alex did not feel anything after killing three-man, well three thugs who were after his valuables and his life. You either kill or get killed.
113: Toward The Bandit's Hideout
Alex ordered the others to clean the battlefield and quickly the battlefield has been cleaned, the dead bandit's valuables had been collected.
Alex and his group found 150 silver coins and 80 copper coins. He decided to split the loot later.
Eleonora and the girls who left earlier came back, their complexion was looking good different than their early appearances. Whatever Eleonora had said had worked, it helped the girls to regain control of their emotions.
Alex was grateful for Eleonora's help, locking eyes with his sister he smiled, the latter also smiled back as if to say I'm fine already, Alex could not help but chuckle.
Suddenly, Conrad who disappeared when the fight start came back.
Looking around the cleaned battlefield, he sighed and said.
''To think we will encounter a bunch of thugs on our way, how unlucky. Well, everything ended well.''
To Conrad's words, Alex spun around and faced Conrad,
''Did you take me for fool? You and I know that you did this on purpose. You purposely lead us here to finish this job for you. Am I wrong?"
Alex's voice was loud enough, others heard him, now everything makes sense, they found fishy when Conrad had just suggested taking this road, it was a shortcut he said.
Conrad could only smile bitterly, Alex was too clever to not act as though he had not noticed that they were being used.
Even back he suggested taking this road using the excuse that it was a shortcut, Alex looked suspiciously at him for a while but in the end, he did not say anything.
Conrad heaved a sigh before admitted that he indeed purposely lead there to help the Guild clean this small group of thugs who started rampaging recently. The guild could have taken of this if they weren't on the shortage of Adventurers due to certain event.
Finally aware of Conrad's reason for doing this, some of the rank-up participant's anger for being used against their will lessened, they decided to not pursue the matter as they earned quite a sum.
Conrad thought Alex would drop the matter at that, however, he was wrong, the latter grinned showing his peerless white teeth.
''What do you want?" Conrad asked gritting his teeth.
''Nothing, I'm just informing that whatever we will get in bandits base will be ours. The guild will not have any say in.''
Conrad almost cursed Alex for being greedy, he wants to hog all things for himself, however thinking about it, if he was in his shoes after being used when you had something else to do, you will want compensation, so it was normal for Alex to decide this, the bounty offered for this medium size Bandits group was only 200 silvers coins.
Sebastian and the others nodded their heads as if to say we share our leader thought. Conrad could only agree reluctantly under everybody's intense stare.
Smiling Alex motioned Sebastian to wake up the unconscious bandit.
Proceeding forward Sebastian lifted the unconscious bandit and gave him two hard slaps that woke up the poor man from his sleep.
''Where am I? Hell?" Asked the confused man.
He heard a chuckle followed by a cold voice that sends a chill running down his spine.
''No, but you'll be going there soon unless you told me what I want to know asap."
''Hi!!!"
The last bandit was frightening by Alex's threat, he fearfully nodded his head.
''Good, where is your hideout?" Alex asked.
''Two kilometers north from here.'' the man answered.
''How many are there guarding the hideout? And how many are left inside the hideout?"
To Alex's question, the bandit stayed silent for a moment, however, he quickly spilled everything after receiving another hard slap from Sebastian.
''3 men guarding the entrance, 5 men are in the cave where we live.''
''Good, lead the way,'' Alex said before turning to look at the others as if tell them we are going.
Alex and others followed the bandit to their hideout, and when they were not far from the hideout Alex tasked Eleonora to scout just in case.
Eleonora left and fifteen minutes later she came back.
''Leader~ it was as he said. Only three men are guarding the entrance, the remaining men must be inside the cave, there is no trap, so we can go.'' She explained.
''I see, take Meera and Golfak with you, the two will help you eliminate the three guards.''
Alex instructed Eleonora before turning his head in Golfak's direction and in a threatening tone he said.
''Especially you Golfak, I hope you will properly do your job this time. And believe me, if you don't and instead cower you will not receive any share in the spoil, am I clear?"
Golfak gulped audibly before nodding his head as if scared for his dear life, the current Alex's atmosphere was too scary, it was you do what I said or I'm going to kill you.
''Good, let's goi.''
To Alex's words, everybody nodded, Sebastian keeps dragging the poor bandit who was tied while Eleonora, Meera, and Golfak went to accomplish the task they had been given.
.....
Eleonora swiftly moved forward, followed closely behind was Meera with her bow, Golfak was falling behind.
Soon the three saw a man-made cave with a small entrance, this entrance was guarded by three guards who were yawning as if they were tired, they did not show any vigilance.
Eleonora motioned the group to stop, crouching down she instructed.
''I'll take the one on the right, Meera, the one in the middle, and lastly Goldat, ops! I mean Golfak you take the one on the left. Meera, after I count to 3, you snipe your target while Golfak and I will quickly finish our target.''
1..
2...
3
''Go''
Eleonora immediately dashed out, Golfak followed suit, meanwhile, Meera who had already readied her bow aimed at the bandit in the middle and shoot.
Swish!
The wind arrow pierced through the man's head instantly killing him, the man's body fell onto the ground with a thud sound.
''What?"
Finally, the two men lazing around became aware of something was amiss, however before they could speak, the one on the right saw a flash and blood spurting from a headless body, he finally judged it was his.
''Fuck!"
The man on the left swore and before he could speak further, Golfak had already slashed at him, he hastily blocked, however the difference in strength was too big hence the lookout was pushed back, Golfak kicked him in the stomach sending him spiraling against the wall.
''Gah!" The man grunted in pain.
Golfak immediately approached the lookout, who was writhing on the ground clutching his stomach and casually swung his long sword down at the man's neck.
''Gah~!'.
With the blade of the longsword, the head of the lookout rolled to the ground while leaving a trail of blood.
''Urrghhhhkk~!''
Though he had seen dead monsters, It was the first time Golfak had killed a human.
Golfak ran towards a nearby tree while vomiting.
While looking at Golfak with a complex expression, Meera joined Eleonora who was nonchalantly looting the corpses.
Approaching Eleonora, Meera asked.
''Eleonora, what do we do now?''
Eleonora spun around and with a grin plastered on her lips she said, ''You wait here with Golfak and me I'll go scout the cave.''
She then disappeared afterward, leaving Meera behind, the latter could not help but heave a sigh while thinking that this girl was mysterious, she seemed to be hiding something.
'Well, everybody has its secret.' Meera murmured before using the spirit of Earth to bury the body, she was feeling uncomfortable standing in the middle of three corpses, after finishing she decided to wait for Alex and co to come before proceeding to enter the cave.
114: The Bandit's Hideout
A few minutes later, Alex and others came. Alex immediately scanned the cave entrance and noticed no dead bodies.
Glancing at Meera, he concluded that she had buried the dead bodies using her Spirit Magic, he couldn't help but chuckle.
''Where is Eleonora?"
''She has gone inside ahead to scout.''
To Alex's question, Meera responded before glancing at Golfak who was still trembling after his first time killing another human.
Alex and others looked at him for while before shifting their attention towards the entrance waiting for Eleonora to come out.
Meanwhile, Gracier and Meera were conversing, exchanging jokes to lighten the gloomy mood, Golfak finally came back, he was looking pale.
Alex noticed Eleonora coming back from the cave with silenced steps.
''How was it?''
At Alex's question, Eleonora gave a small nod before explaining.
''There's one main path ahead. However, it later splits into 3 passages. On the right path, there seems to be where the captured individuals are detained. Because there were guards, I left not doing anything. The middle path is quite wide, the sounds of reveling were coming from there. Also, the left side seems to be some sort of armory and storage area. Roughly they seem to be 4 to 5 men inside the cave, I'm not very sure.''
''I see. Are there any other exits to the outside?''
''I didn't check as I didn't have enough time,'' Eleonora responded.
''Okay, Gracier, Meera, and Lucien, you three go check the left path, wait for us there. As Eleonora goes on the right path clean the guards and sees if there is no prisoner. Golfak, Sebastian, and I will take care of the middle path.''
Hearing Alex's instructions, everybody nodded their heads. Alex added,
''Conrad, I will let this man in your custody. Do whatever you want with him. It will be good to let him work in the mine as a slave worker instead of killing him. Well, that's my opinion, though.''
Conrad who was hiding left out a chuckle before responding.
''I understand. I'll take care of it.''
''Okay, we'll rush in.''
At Alex's cue, they rushed into the cave.
.....
Because the entrance was narrow, Eleonora went in first to check to complete her task. After that, Lucien, Golfak, Meera, and Gracier entered in that order. Alex entered last.
''It's narrow.''
In the cave, it was only wide enough for two people to walk side by side. There was only enough space for one person to fight freely.
Checking the situation, Alex spoke.
''Kill 'em all. Let's none alive.''
''Ohh!!!"
Everyone nodded at Alex's words, Eleonora advanced to the right passageway where the prison was, Gracier, Meera, and Lucien toward the armory.
Alex saw that before quickly taking the middle passageway while trying to make as little noise as possible.
''Tsu!?''
As Sebastian approached the front, Alex waved his hand to stop him.
''Here there are.''
''Numbers of enemies?"
''Three.''
''We take one each. I'll take the one in the middle, you two take care of the rest.''
Everyone nodded at Alex's instructions, Sebastian and Golfak prepared their weapons, ready to rush in at any time.
''Ready? Go.''
To Alex's signal they moved, Alex was the fastest to arrive in front of the bandit leisurely sipping his ale while doing some kind of dirty dancing, the others were singing.
''Wha-?"
He did not even manage to finish his word before his head was sent flying into the air, blood spurted from the headless body covering the table in blood, Alex had already left the place.
''Enemy attack''
''Guh,''
The other two finally reacted, however before they could react and pick their weapons, Sebastian and Golfak attacked them and killed them. Sebastian quickly ended his victim, it was Golfak who took a little bit of time to kill his enemy.
The fight ended in a matter of minutes, meanwhile, Alex was cleaning the blood from his blade Razor. It was more like a massacre than a proper fight because none of the bandits' level was higher than Alex's and crew, the strongest was at level 25, the one Alex took down, the other two levels were 24 and 23 respectively.
As the previous bandits they eliminated on the road, their level was a little bit higher, the boss level was 33.
Shaking his head Alex announced, ''Check if there are any valuables here, if there is take them before taking care of the corpses, we will burn them before leaving but not now because the cave will be filled with smoke. Once you finish come join me at the armory.''
Both Sebastian and Golfak nodded their heads, the latter complexion was a little bit pale, however, his eyes were resolute.
.....
Alex joined his sister and the others in the warehouse.
''Welcome back Big brother.''
''Hello, Leader~"
Gracier and Eleonora greeted Alex in front of the storage area, Meera and Lucien must be inside the room.
There were also two unfamiliar people. While expecting that they were probably some captured merchants.
One of the two unfamiliar men, a middle-aged man advanced and bowed his head.
''You must be their leader. I'm Léopold, a merchant, thank you for saving me and my assistant, also nephew' life.'' Léopold said, the assistant also bowed his head however Alex could see a bit of hostility in the man's eyes.
''You welcome, I'm Alexender,'' Alex responded unfazed by the assistant hostility, he then turned his head in Meera's direction, she just came out with Lucien.
''So, what's in there?''
''Mm, well. Firstly, there is a moderate amount of gold, silver, and copper coins, there are some jewels as well, 15 Gold coins, 150 silver coins, and 200 copper coins to be more exact. Besides, there are also some cheap magic items. However, strangely, there's a large number of weapons which I guess must be the merchandise of the two humans over there.''
At the end of her words she glanced at Léopold and his assistant, the two nodded their heads before staring at Alex as if to ask can we get back our merchandise?
The two were afraid that Alex would take their merchandise back to the guild or worse refuse to give it back because he can if he chose to, in the former case they will need to pay a heavy price to get their stolen merchandise back from the guild, they hope Alex will be merciful.
Heaving a sigh Alex said, ''Let's them collect their weapons.''
Léopold and his overjoyed ready to thank the man for his generosity, however, it was a piteous sense of relief, short-lived as it was.
''How many are there in total?"
''Fifty,'' Meera answered.
''I see. You'll pay 1 silver coin per weapon making a total of 50 silver coins, I won't ask too much, take it or you'll collect your weapons at the guild.''
Léopold gritted his teeth and finally accepted the deal, after paying the 50 silver coins, he left with his assistant to check the weapons.
Alex and others followed suit, checking the magic items and jewels, Alex spotted a good magic sword, a longsword with Wind attribute.
''Sebastian take this.''
Alex said before throwing the longsword at Sebastian who caught it and inspected it, then he took a few casual swings, he seemed pleased with the sword, he did not test the magic sword attribute because now wasn't the time, sheathing the sword into his scabbard, Sebastian bowed his head.
''Thank you, leader, thank you a lot.''
Alex waved his hand to indicate that it was not a big deal, he appreciated Sebastian's quickness, he was fast when it comes to making decisions or following orders, sometimes he knew what to do even without being told, he can be considered a good party member.
The others smiled pleased with Alex's decision, they were happy for Sebastian because with this sword, his strength will increase so was their chance of survival, their chance of quickly accomplishing the incoming mission, only Golfak seemed displeased with Alex's action, however, he did not dare to protest because he was really afraid of Alex more than Eleonora.
Suddenly, Léopold who was checking his merchandise came and asked,
''Young man can I buy the magic items and jewels if you don't mind?"
•••••
Nickaido's here,
Thks to all of you giving me your PS, truly thank you. I know that the story is not perfect, but I'm sure that with your help it can become better, with your constructive criticisms and suggestions it can become a story everyone can enjoy. Keep voting, keep supporting this shameless author. I plan to open a discord server for the novel soon, I'll inform you once it's created.
115: Distributing The Loot
Rewinding time a little, it happened when Léopold and his assistant went ahead of Alex.
''Uncle, why did you accept that man's offer when you could have refused? Isn't Adventurer's job to rescue us from bandit? Why would we pay them even when they are coward?"
To the man words, Léopold couldn't help but shake his head, blaming himself for his nephew current mindset, he was too sheltered, not knowing how the real world outside works, it was his first time following him, and unfortunately for him, their caravan got attacked, the guards killed, two of the guards hired as Adventurers fled for their lives leaving their clients behind, since that moment his nephew became a little bit hostile toward Adventurers.
The reason he and his nephew are still alive was because, the bandit did not find where he hides his money even after searching him and his nephew bodies, they left the two starve in the prison in the hope of one of them spilling the beans, something came up and most of the bandits left the hideout, guess it was at that moment they encountered Alex and his group that wiped them out before coming here and rescued them.
Léopold heaved a sigh before asking his nephew, ''What is Adventurer's job, Clotus?"
To his uncle's question, Clotus immediately answered, ''They work for money by taking requests from guild or clients.''
''Good, they work for money. Those Adventurers attacked the bandit's hideout on the Guild order and rescued us, they even give us back our merchandise but asked a little compensation and you are dissatisfied with it? Do you think they are running a charity foundation?''
Clotus could not answer because he couldn't find the right words, he almost said the guild must have promised them money for killing the bandits but thinking about it he didn't voice out because this reward must not necessarily include saving possible hostages. If he was in their shoes we would have done the same thing, because they risked their lives to kill bandits and saved hostages that weren't included in their request.
Seeing his nephew finally understanding the situation, Léopold continued.
''Don't blame them, the leader, that green eyed young man have done what a good leader should do. You haven't noticed it but firstly when he ordered the Elf girl to give us back our merchandise, others were dissatisfied. Fortunately for them, he was not planning to give back the merchandise without compensation, the compensation is for him and more importantly to calm his party's members.''
Hearing his uncle's explanation, Clotus nodded his head in understanding.
''I understand uncle. I apologize for my earlier outburst.'' Clotus apologized.
Waving his hand Léopold said while counting his merchandise, Lucien was at the entrance observing them, however, he couldn't hear what they were talking about, not that he cares.
''It's good that you know. All Adventurers are not the same because one is rotten. And it's understandable for one to flee when your life is in danger, I only paid them half of the commission for the escort mission anyway. Let's move and quickly finish counting our weapons before leaving this damned place to return home.''
''I understand uncle.''
Clotus started helping his uncle count the weapons, soon they had counted all weapons, Indeed there were fifty weapons here.
Suddenly, some of the weapons started disappearing, only the high-grade ones, though. Twenty high-grade weapons to be exact.
Clotus dumbfoundedly stared at his uncle, the latter smiled not saying anything, the thing that happened was simple, Léopold had stored those weapons in his storage space, his storage space was in form of an earring he was wearing on his right ear. This type of storage equipment was extremely rare hence nobody knows it can be used to store things, if the bandit's leader knew this he would have spurted blood because he had searched everywhere but forget to check this earring, for him it was like a middle-aged man wanting to act tough by wearing an earring.
As for the reason why Léopold had not stored everything inside his storage earring was first because of its limited capacity (space) and second because there was already a lot of items inside the storage, it was almost full.
From Clotus surprised expression it was not hard to guess that even himself wasn't aware of the fact that, the earring his uncle was wearing was in fact a storage ring, who knows if he knew, he wouldn't have spilled the beans when the bandits would start torturing them after starving them.
The two continued doing their job when Alex came in and started checking the other items. Léopold saw him when he threw that Sword at the swordsman, he even saw how others reacted.
Suddenly, he decided to befriend this young man and who knows maybe in the future he may patron him. After coming to a decision, Léopold moved toward Alex intending to buy the remaining magic items or jewels even if he was not interested in them, they were not worth much.
.....
~Back to the present.
Suddenly, Léopold who was checking his merchandise came and asked,
''Young man can I buy the magic items and jewels if you don't mind?"
Alex turned his head in Léopold's direction and asked.
''How much are you paying?"
''10 gold coins for the three magic items and 5 gold coins for the jewels, it makes a total of 15 Gold coins, how about it?"
Hearing Léopold's answer Alex stayed silent as if contemplating however secretly he was staring at Eleonora, asking the latter her opinion on the matter because among all of them she seemed the more knowledgeable when it comes to this kind of thing.
Eleonora nodded her head to indicate that the price offered was okay, that he should accept.
Finally, Alex talked, ''Okay, I accept.''
He then gave Léopold the remaining Magic items and the jewels while receiving the 15 Gold coins, after exchanging handshakes with Alex and saying he hoped to continue working with him in the future, Léopold left with his nephew after loading their merchandise into a carriage.
After making sure that there was not anything left Alex called out everybody, it was time to split the loot.
They have gained a total of 33 Gold coins and 78 Silver coins, (15 Gold coins and 78 Silver coins from the bandits and 15 Gold coins from their earlier deal with Léopold.)
The loot had been split like this:
Lucien= 4 Gold coins and 10 Silver coins
Meera= 4 Gold coins and 10 Silver coins
Eleonora= 6 Gold coins and 10 Silver coins
Sebastian= 3 Gold coins and 10 Silver coins
Golfak= 3 Gold coins and 10 Silver coins
Gracier= 3 Gold coins and 10 Silver coins
And lastly, Alex took 10 Gold coins and 18 Silver coins.
The money had been divided according to each person's contribution, Sebastian should have received at least 5 gold coins, however, Alex decided against it because he had already received a Magic sword in advance.
Nobody showed dissatisfaction with how the money has been divided.
''Clean the hideout. I'll see you outside.''
To Alex's order, Sebastian and Golfak nodded their heads, and with Lucien and Eleonora helping them, they stacked the dead bodies together before setting fire on it.
They left the cave and joined Alex and others outside.
They saw Conrad conversing with Léopold while Alex was chatting with Gracier and Meera.
Having seen them come out, Alex stopped the conversation and asked.
''You finished already?"
They nodded their heads.
''Good let's go.''
Just when Alex finished talking, Léopold approached him and asked.
''Alexander can I have a moment?"
''Yes, what is it?" Alex spun around and asked.
''Well, I was wondering if you and your group can escort us back? Don't worry I'll pay double the price.''
To Léopold's offer, Alex didn't immediately respond, he glared at Conrad who whistled by the way when he saw Alex glaring at him.
Shaking his head Alex focused his attention back on Léopold.
''Sorry, it's will not be possible. We are on a mission, we just eliminated the bandits because we come across them, it was not a request. Go talk with that man over there, he will find a solution, he's a guild staff after all.''
Conrad's lips twitched when he heard Alex's words, Léopold's eyes widened for a moment, earlier when conversing with Conrad he had not said anything like that, Léopold mistook him for another Alex's party members guarding the entrance and looking after a captured bandit, guess he was wrong.
''It's shame. Thank you, I'll follow your advice.''
Léopold said before leaving with his nephew who by now showed no more hostility toward them especially now that he heard Alex's and co were not commissioned to clean the bandits.
Alex noticed the change in attitude but choose to ignore it.
After chatting with Conrad, the two seemed finally to agree.
Alex and the others returned to their carriage and left Léopold, his nephew, and the tied-up bandit near the highway. From what they learned, Adventurers had been dispatched to come to fetch them asap.
Waving at Léopold, Alex's carriage departed toward their destination.
116: Arriving Near The Village
Gata~, goto~, gata~, goto~. While making such noises, the carriage boarded by Alex and the other participants of the rank-up test continued advancing on the highway.
Eleonora was driving, Golfak was on the lookout, however, there was another third person with the two, it was Lucien.
''I wonder how far we are still from our final destination.'' Lucien raised a question.
To Lucien's question, Golfak did not comment while Eleonora responded while looking into the distance.
''Look ahead, we are not far anymore because you can see the Zilya mountain from here.''
To Eleonora's words, Lucien looked ahead and indeed he could see the mountain from their current location, the mountain was extremely tall covered in snow, it looks like mount Everest from Earth however not as tall as Everest.
''That's true we are already close to it. Let's quickly get over this mission and went back, I'm tired of sleeping in the wild, it's not good for the health.''
Eleonora looked strangely at Lucien after hearing his words, shaking her head she focused her gaze ahead.
Meanwhile inside the carriage.
''I think we are no far from our destination. Am I wrong?"
To Alex's question Conrad replied, ''Yes, we will arrive by tonight. If you look outside you could see Zilya mountain from here.''
''I see.''
Alex said before turning his face in Gracier's direction, the latter mood seemed a little down since earlier probably because they were nearing her former hometown.
''Alexandra are you feeling unwell?"
''I'm fine Big brother, I was just thinking about something don't worry I'm perfectly fine,'' Gracier responded.
Alex nodded his head not saying anything, he chose to close his eyes and rest.
Meera also noticed Gracier's mood, not knowing the real reason why, she attributed it to her being tired or because of what happened earlier (First time killing another human). She tried to lighten the mood but Gracier remained unresponsive, so she gave up.
While Meera was lost in thought about the possible reason for Gracier's sudden depression, Alex who closed his eyes was chatting with Silveria.
〖Master it's not fair you have forsaken me.〗
To Silveria's words, Alex's lips twitched, if someone were to hear her words, they would have mistaken it for Alex abandoning her.
'Why did you say that I have forsaken you?'
Alex asked fully knowing where the discussion was going.
〖Since a few days ago you never used me in the fight, not even when you were having fun with that girl Eleonora, even when facing the bandits you only used your knives, as though knives are your main weapon, it's us your main weapons, you don't need any other weapons beside us. If only we had not compromised and let you use an alternative weapon, you won't now be focusing most of your time on using knives.〗Silveria said not hiding her displeasure.
(As I thought it comes to this.) Alex thought before saying.
'So, it's because you compromised reason why I was able to use knives as a weapon?'
〖What else could there be if it wasn't because we compromised?〗
'Well, I thought it was because I found a loophole.'
To Alex's answer, Silveria giggled.
〖No way, we let you use knives because without it you would have died. Normally, you will not use any other weapons besides us because we never authorized doing such thing, it's us nothing else. We were forced to compromise because of the seal placed upon us, if not, the first time you have summoned us you could have used us, feel our presence, it's because of the seal, others mistook us for being useless, same goes for you.〗Silveria explained.
'I see, but your way of indicating that I couldn't any other weapons was too brutal. The headache almost killed me, I felt like my head was going to split.' Alex complained.
〖We sorry, it was the only way to force to stop trying because we couldn't communicate with you and also it was because a part of your soul was rejected the notion of using another weapon beside us after we were linked to your soul.〗
'I see. Don't worry soon you'll come out and kill to your heart content, you just need to be a little bit patient.'
〖That's good to hear.〗
Master and Spirit's weapon continued chatting until it was time for another shift, this time Alex volunteered and replaced Golfak, while normally Sebastian should have taken Eleonora's place, however, the latter refused to say she was not tired, you could continue.
Alex knew the real reason for her refusal, it was to have the time to chat with alone, however just after Alex sat in Golfak former place, Conrad appeared and sat in Lucien's place.
Eleonora looked at Conrad strangely, he had never behaved the way he did today.
Sighing Eleonora asked,
''No matter how many times I've seen it, it still beautiful, don't you think it's beautiful too?"
After hearing Eleonora's question, Alex couldn't help but nod his head, the Zilya mountain view was indeed beautiful.
''It's indeed beautiful.'' Conrad also shared the same feeling.
''Alex what's your goal?"
At the sudden question, Alex looked at Eleonora strangely.
''And why would I tell you my goal?"
''Come on Alex, tell me. I just want to know, we are party members after all. We should talk about those kinds of stuff to deepen our relationship for better coordination. Don't you think so?"
'What kind of bullshit this girl is spouting?' Conrad wondered, however, he did not voice it out.
Hearing Eleonora shamelessly claims that it was for the greater good not because of her personal interest, Alex was amused.
''I see, what you said holds some logic. Well, before answering tell me why are you hiding your real identity behind this mask of planners?"
Eleonora's eyes widened for a moment, however she quickly concealed it with a cough.
''Dunno what you're talking about.''
Seeing Eleonora decided to play the ignorant, Alex chuckled and said,
''I don't have any goal.''
Eleonora rolled her eyes while inwardly sighing thinking how sharp Alex's intuition was. She was sure her disguise was perfect but guess not. Her face was too plain.
Shaking her head she decided to switch the subject because she noticed Conrad's stare, the latter was smiling as if he couldn't wait to watch an interesting show.
''It's true that you can't use magic?"
''It's true. Why are you doubting my word?"
Alex responded before asking a question in turn.
''Well, it's impossible for you not to be able to use any magic because of the frightening amount of Magic power you possess.'' Eleonora's explained.
''I see. It's why you're doubting me. I indeed possess a lot of MP but as I said I can't use any magic.''
Eleonora stayed silent while Conrad observed Alex to see if he was lying or not, however, no matter how many times he observed the young man he didn't detect any lie on the latter face, which is strange how someone can possess so much of MP and claim that he can't use any magic? If it's true then what use that amount of MP have?
While Conrad was trying to figure out a possible explanation for Alex's words he heard Eleonora raising a question, a question which makes him widened his eyes.
''It's because of your Gift? It must be related to your Gift. Am I wrong?"
Toward Eleonora's question, Alex smiled mysteriously and said, ''Who knows.''
''Fufufu! I know that I'm right, the reason you possess so much of Magic Power is related to your Gift. Now, I'm more interested in knowing what kind of Gift you possess. Can you please show me?"
''I refuse. Show me yours, I'll show you mine.'' Alex said.
''I don't know what you are talking about.''
''Playing the innocent again.'' Alex said with a tired sigh.
Conrad observed the two started bickering, he couldn't help but chuckle as he found them amusing.
'They will make a great couple with Eleonora harassing Alex all day long. Hehehe, that will be interesting.' He thought, if Alex knew what was going through Conrad's he would have slapped him saying to not joke around.
Suddenly, looking into the distance Conrad noticed something.
''We are nearing the village, another 3 kilometers (9842.52 ft) we will be there. I suggest you to camp around here to discuss strategy before making a move.''
''I share the same thought,'' Alex responded before started searching for a good spot to camp for the night, it was already evening, the sun was about to set down.
1 kilometer (3280.84 ft) later, they found a good spot, stopping the carriage, they decided to camp here tonight. Meera, Golfak, and Gracier went to search for firewoods, meanwhile, Lucien created water that would be used because the nearby water source was on the other side of Gato's Village.
The preparations were ready soon everybody was sitting around the campfire and eating roasted rabbit caught by Golfak and cooked by Gracier who has the cooking skill.
After done eating it would be time for the strategy meeting.
117: Scouting
Paki~ paki~, the sound of the burning campfire echoed around, it could be heard from the distance.
As the only sources of light that illuminated the area was the bonfire, several adventurers gathered around the campfire, wary of the surroundings.
It was currently night time. Alex and his temporary party members sat around the campfire to discuss strategy.
''Well, though we have arrived here safely at last. I want to scout the situation at the Gato's village first. Are there any volunteers?"
To Alex's words, Eleonora immediately proposed to help.
''Eleonora volunteered, is there anybody else?"
Nobody spoke after hearing his question.
''Okay, I will also tag along.''
Everybody was surprised at Alex's words.
Chuckling he explained, ''No need to worry, I may not have any previous scouting experience nor I'm thief, however, I have my own of handling this scouting mission. You know if I was not confident in my skills, I would have never volunteered.''
Hearing Alex's explanation, some were convinced, some were not, however as the leader there was nothing others could do, if he screws up, as the leader he will need to find a solution to fix his mess.
Alex observed every one expression before proceeding to speak,
''There is another problem besides the scouting.''
''Which is?"
Sebastian who stayed silent since the start raised a question.
''Do we mount a sneak attack tonight or we wait for tomorrow morning before making a move?"
Nobody spoke after hearing Alex's question.
Alex continued, ''If plan to attack tonight, they will one big problem, though. Everybody can't see in the dark even without the moon in the sky. For me and my sister, there is no problem because we can see in the dark as though it was daytime, Meera as an elf can see in the dark. As for the others, I have no idea.''
Alex forget to say that he was sure Eleonora also could see in the dark, just a feeling and he was pretty sure this feeling was not wrong.
And as expected Eleonora proved his assumption was right.
''Me I can see in the dark."
Alex sighed before looking at the others who shook their heads.
Suddenly as if he had remembered something, Lucien spoke.
''Leader the problem of not seeing in the dark won't be a problem because I know a spell that can help one see in the dark temporarily, it lasts three hours before you can recast it, it only needs a little bit of your MP to keep working.''
''Oh? There is a spell-like that?" Alex asked curiously.
''Indeed, there is. However, not everyone can cast it. I'm astonished Lucien can cast it.''
Conrad responded eyes full of praise as he stared at Lucien.
''Good. You'll use the spell on yourself, Golfak, and Sebastian after Eleonora and I return from our scouting. Let's go, Eleonora.''
Alex said before standing and left, he didn't forget to exchange few words with his sister whose mood had improved, her eyes were full of fighting intent.
Alex and Eleonora dressed in all black left the camp under Gracier and the other's eyes.
After walking for few minutes, Alex stopped and said,
''You take the left and I take the right. Rendezvous here in 30 minutes.''
Eleonora nodded her head before disappearing into the forest.
Kicking the ground Alex also disappeared into the right side of the forest.
....
In the dark night, a figure could be seen moving at extremely fast in a forest, naturally, this figure was Alex moving towards the Gato's village with the goal of scouting, he was not the only one who's going to accomplish this goal, Eleonora was on the other side with for the same purpose.
After running for a few minutes, Alex stopped because in front of him was a village, not too big but it can house hundreds of people, however currently this village is occupied by monsters.
Scanning the village Alex was able to see two watchtowers crudely made, guarded by an orc archer and a goblin.
Stealthily moving forward, Alex stopped before going too close to the village, summoning Silveria, he using one of her special bullets on himself, the Vanishing Bullet, this bullet can make you invisible for a short moment (3 minutes to be exact.)
'Vanishing Bullet'
After using the bullet on himself Alex moved toward the village, he was not planning to enter but just to find a good vantage point to observe the whole village, and soon he found the place he was looking for. After avoiding few sentries, Alex positioned himself at the vantage point and started scanning the whole village.
The houses in the village were destroyed, however not all of them were destroyed, those who were not destroyed were occupied by monsters, Alex saw some crudely made houses, probably made by the monsters after occupying the village.
Though Conrad had said there would be at least 30 monsters, the scale of the village was larger than expected he expected. There might be around 50 monsters, most of the monsters present were orcs.
''Perhaps the building larger than the others in the center is the home of the Orc leader.''
The buildings that the other Orcs and goblins lived in were poor ones made from a mix of wood and straw. However, the building in the center was on another level compared to other buildings around it. Alex judged that this building was the former house of the village chief.
''For the number of monsters, the situation has been confirmed. Now, I should be able to check the leader of this group of monsters, no, with my knowledge, I won't be able to tell if its a rare species or high ranking species, I guess however I'm sure it will be an orc whose size would be bigger than the one I previously saw.''
Muttering at that time, the appearance of an Orc entered Alex's eyes. It was about double the size of a normal Orc, it was equipped with some kind of armor while the rest of the orcs were armourless.
''I bet it's the leader.''
〖Yes, I think too.〗
To Alex's words, Silveria nodded before adding.
〖Master you should look further ahead.〗
Silveria's words drew Alex's attention to a place that he had looked at before, a bit further away.
''I see.''
There was an Orc at the place noted by Silveria. The Orc was also wearing armor and was double the size of the other Orcs. And when you looked at the state of the village carefully, similar Orcs were present, three to be exact.
''In that case, those armors denote officers or generals. I think?"
〖Probably〗
Alex nodded his head after hearing Silveria's words, continuing looking hut. Next, he caught sight of a place where the Orcs had gathered. It was a shack north of the village. There were 10 Orcs and 5 goblins wearing armors around the hut.
Before he could ask what was that Alex caught sight of Eleonora stealthily moving in the shadows on the other side, suddenly she stopped and glanced in his direction, waving her hands at Alex she disappeared.
Alex couldn't help but let out a chuckle, refocusing his attention on that particular but Alex asked.
''What? Is that a food storage or something?"
As he was thinking if he could go closer his skill Divine Sense could have worked, the next moment, as he was about to ask Silveria for help, something jumped out of the hut and began to run outside, it was held down by the Orcs and goblins that had gathered.
And because Alex's eyes, which were much sharper than a normal person's, confirmed what had jumped out. Wearing what seemed to be the remains of clothing on her body, it was a human woman that was almost stark naked. When he concentrated on his hearing, what he heard made his blood boiled in hatred.
(No, stop it! Please don't dirty meany more than this, I can't take anymore, pleased.)
The monsters seemed to be laughing at the woman's plea and having read a lot of web novels, Alex knew was the woman was being kept for, what she went through since the day she was caught.
Alex furrowed his eyebrows as he mused over.
''Help and jeopardize the whole operation or not help?"
If he only considered his personal feelings, he would have rushed down and killed all the monsters. However, even if he could take care of the monsters near the shack, it would likely make the rest of the Orcs wary. It could become a factor in the night attack and cause it to fail, finally, it would affect the number of people sacrificed from the subjugation force as well as the number of Orcs that would be able to escape.
〖Master calm down first, you can save her later, now is not the time.〗
Hearing Silveria's advice, Alex nodded. Before turning around he spotted Eleonora looking at him with her eternal smile on her face however on a closer look you could that her smile was a little bit cramped, she gave Alex a thumbs up before disappearing into the shadow.
Chuckling as he was not the only one feeling the anger after having seen that woman, Alex muttered in the direction of the woman who was being dragged back to the hut.
''Tonight. I'll help if you can hold out until tonight. So don't give up.''
Though he knew that the woman who had been pulled back into the hut couldn't hear him, he gave a small mutter and turned around left.
After scouting for few minutes, Alex decided that it was time to go back and start planning their assault.
118: Night Attack On The Gato's Village 1
After meeting with Eleonora, the two went back and sat near the campfire where the other had been waiting for their arrival.
''Welcome back Big brother.''
''Welcome back leader and Eleonora.''
Gracier and the others greeted them back.
''How was the situation?"
Meera was the one who raised this question.
''We will be facing more than 60 monsters, most of them are orcs. There is a leader, probably an Orc King, there are three generals. I saw two watchtowers.''
More than 60? The cheeks of the other participants in the rank-up test cramped the moment those words were said.
Even if they were expecting more than 30 monsters, it was only expectations, the fact that there were 60 or 65 monsters lead by Orc King and three generals made them feel cold sweat, no wonder they reacted the way they did. They were afraid.
''Calm down, our party is not a weakling we can finish this mission, I believe in myself and I believe you so do not disappoint me.''
At Alex's words, others regained a bit of their confidence, as Alex said their party is strong with a lot of monsters inside it, they just have to believe in themselves and believe in their leader, do their utmost, most importantly follow orders and everything will be okay.
Having seen that others regained some confidence, Alex turned in Eleonora's direction, the latter immediately understood why so without being told she started reporting what she saw.
''As leader said, there are two watchtowers, one Orc King and three generals. However, there were also some Mage orcs, two and three goblins shamans. As for weapons used by the enemy, they ranged from sword to club, bow, some of them held a bow, especially the ones in the watchtowers.''
''Ah. There's one last thing, there is a shack to the north of the village, and I have confirmed there are humans there.''
At this mention, Gracier's body shook, she bit her lip.
[Don't worry we will rescue them, be strong.]
Alex sends a telepathic message to calm his sister, the latter nodded her head before closing her eyes and when she opened them again there was no hesitation inside her eyes anymore, only strong determination, a determination to slaughter as well to help those still captured.
''Ah. I think the Orcs go there to breed. Though when I last saw they still looked alive, by the way, there are three human girls inside.'' Eleonora added.
''I see. Did you notice anything else?'' Alex asked.
''No. That is all.''
''Okay, go rest for two hours. We will depart at midnight.'' Alex said dismissing everyone as they returned to their tent.
Conrad observed the meeting from the start to the finish, the way Alex handled things was not bad, he will observe everything from the sidelines. He was not the only one, though.
.....
It was midnight, the clouds in the sky turned the already darkened nightshade darker. Ideal for a night attack. Each member of the Orc subjugation force moved to their respective positions under the cover of darkness.
Eleonora went north in the direction of the shack where were detained human girls, her goal was simple, using the commotion that would be created soon to rescue the hostages before joining the others on the main battlefield.
Gracier and Meera were respectfully on the left and right side of the village, they were responsible for destroying the two watchtowers simultaneously with a flashy and powerful spell.
Lucien was on the east wing where most of the archers are concentrated, his goal was to rain Wind arrows followed by Water bullets on the archers trying to disrupt them from attacking, Golfak was there to assure his protection.
Meanwhile, Alex and Sebastian were ready to charge in.
Before giving the signal to start the night attack, Alex stared in a certain direction as if to tell Conrad to go in north ready to take the rescued hostages to safety, it's his goal and the only favor Alex asked him.
Sighing in the shadow, Conrad nodded his head before disappearing, no matter how many times he thinks about it, it doesn't make any sense, no matter how well he thinks he hides Alex was able to spot his exact location as if nothing could hide from his sight.
Sighing once more Conrad thought that Alex must have a special skill enabling him to see him or he possesses a sharp six senses.
As if aware of Conrad moving according to the plan, Alex summoned Silveria and fired a bullet in the sky.
Bang!
This sound was heard by everybody, even the enemy heard it, however before they could start searching for where the sound came from they were attacked.
Gracier insta-cast two fireballs the size of a basketball and shot them in the direction of the left watchtower.
Boom! Kaboom!
Boom! Boom!
At the same time, the watchtower on the right was also attacked by two powerful Wind arrows.
The two watchtowers were destroyed alongside the monsters occupying it.
''Bumoh?"
The startled cry of monsters could be heard, they started frantically moving towards the destroyed watchtowers in the hope of confronting the enemies responsible for this tragedy.
It was at that time Lucien attacked.
[Wind became unseen arrows that rain down on my enemies.]
'Wind Arrows'
Many Wind arrows were created before being fired in the direction of the startled archers.
Boom! Boom!
Some of the archers died under the numerous invisible arrows, while some escaped death with few injuries, however before they could celebrate and retaliate, Water bullets descended upon them like rain, killing few and injured a lot.
''Bomuh!?''
''Gugiah?"
Pained cries resonated in the night, those who were moving towards the now destroyed watchtowers stopped and looked in the direction of the cries, it lasted a moment before orcs and goblins started to move in the direction of the archers.
As though waiting for this moment, Eleonora kicked the ground and disappeared and when she reappeared, she was not too far from the hut, there were only three monsters outside guarding the hut, it seemed that not all of them went away after hearing the commotion.
Grinning Eleonora moved at fast speed and passed through the three monsters with her black daggers giving an ominous vibe.
The three orcs suddenly clutched their throats as life slowly left their bodies, no blood comes out from the wound, if you look closely you will see that the spot the daggers went through darkened, the orcs died eyes filled with unwillingness, they did not even know how they died nor they even saw who was their attacker.
Passing through the three dead bodies, Eleonora kicked the door of the hut open and went inside.
''Bumoh?"
Immediately she heard the startled cry of an orc who was enjoying himself even with the commotion outside. Eleonora's eyes turned cold as she threw one of her daggers at the surprised orc, the black dagger went through the orc's head instantly killing it.
Eleonora observed the room, she couldn't help but frown at the strong smell reeking from the room. Doing her best to ignore the smell, she moved toward the naked girls who seemed to have lost their will to live, their eyes were lifeless, they were blankly staring into space. The three young girls' ages are between 15 to 18.
They didn't even react to all commotion around them, even the girl with the dead body of the orc on top of her didn't even react, she was blankly staring into space as if she lost her soul, Eleonora recognized the girl, it was the one that escaped before being caught again when Alex and she were on scouting duty.
Shaking her head at how unfortunate those girls have been, no woman must experience something like this, Eleonora pushed away the dead orc, freeing the girl.
Not wasting her time on a meaningless endeavor such as trying to talk with the girls, Eleonora gave the three a hard chop on their necks making them unconscious.
Bringing out simple white sheets she used to wrap around the naked girl's bodies, Eleonora lifted two of them before disappearing from the hut, shortly later she came back and took the remaining girl with her, bringing her to join the other two girls in the forest.
After lowering the girl on the ground beside the others, Eleonora said.
''Conrad come out. Here are the rescued ladies, I will leave them in your care.''
Without waiting for Conrad's reply, Eleonora disappeared going towards the main battlefield, she couldn't wait to join others where she was sure to have fun and watch Alex fight and who knows she may be able to see him using his Gift.
''What a hasty girl,'' Conrad said as he comes out and looked in the direction Eleonora left to. He couldn't help but shake his head, the girl perfectly completed her mission and now it was his turn to take care of his.
Sighing, Conrad lowered himself and check the girl's conditions, after noticing that they are not injured and simply sleeping.
Conrad sighed in relief before his expression turned complicated, the life of the girls will not be smooth sailing even after their rescue, the guild will need to look after them to make sure they recuperate a little bit of sanity, a little bit of a will to live on, after all, they went through, it won't be easy but they will try and not choose the easy solution to end their life, as survivors it was their duty to live on even though they went through hell.
Heaving another sigh, Conrad took his communication device and contact someone.
''Where are you at the moment?"
''On the way back, we secured the prisoner and the merchant and his nephew are with us.'' the voice at the other end answered, it was a man voice.
''Good, I hope you are not far from my current position?" Conrad asked.
''No, we are not too far. What do you want?" Asked the other person at the end of the communication device.
''Send two of your men to meet me in one hour. I want your fastest men. I have something for you to bring back.''
''Okay, they will be on their way.'' the man answered without asking what his men were going to bring back.
''Good.''
Conrad cut off the communication before lowering himself and picked all the three girls, giving a last glance in the direction of the clash, he muttered, ''I'll be back soon, I don't want to miss the show after all.''
Conrad disappeared after saying those words.
The sounds of fighting could be heard in the distance.
119: Night Attack On The Gato's Village 2
Rewind time a little, just after Lucien attacked the archers and Eleonora used the commotion created to quickly slip away.
Alex who was observing the battlefield discovered a group of archers in another location preparing to shoot Lucien down.
Grinning Alex Accel-ed and appeared in the middle of the group, startling the orcs who thought they were safe, one must know that, the difficulty of getting close to an archer corresponded to their weakness in close combat. Therefore, the moment they saw Alex appearing in the middle of them, they knew they were in trouble.
Alex brought Reaper, the knife Leena offered him on their date, and swung down. The Orc he was aiming for was split in two like a piece of bamboo. Without realizing what had happened, the body fell to the left and right separately. With a gusha~ sound, the freshly cut internals of the Orc spilled out of the body and splattered onto the ground.
Unbothered by the gory scene, Alex threw one of his Black Bettie's at one of the remaining orcs, and because everything happened so fast and the proximity of the orc to Alex, the latter died without being able to dodge the fast knife.
Alex kicked the ground and appeared in front of the last archer, and even though this orc archer was astonished why the death of his comrades, he did not falter as he hastily brought his bow in front of him intending to block Alex's strike and how could a crudely-made bow contend against Alex's almost godly weapon?
Reaper cut through the bow and the orc archer like a knife cutting through butter, the orc's eyes opened wide as he was cut into two.
Suddenly, Alex's Six senses kick in and without wasting his time he kicked off the ground enough to propulse himself into the air, he barely avoided the fate of being burned as a fireball landed on his previous location.
Finally having a clear of who the culprit of the sudden attack was, Alex saw that it was Orc Mage dressed in a red robe with a cane pointed in his direction, Alex grinned and decided to finish the mage with Silveria because the latter was complaining nonstop about being left out.
However Alex was about to summon Silveria, from the corner of his eyes he noticed his sister coming, she stopped when she saw the Orc Mage prepared another fireball's spell.
Exchanging glances with each other without any words, they understood what the other wanted to convert. Chuckling Alex left, going towards another group of monsters, a mix of orcs and goblins.
Meanwhile, Gracier who was facing the Orc Mage shot her fireball at the monster, the Orc Mage also shot its fireball, both fireballs clashed mid-air creating a big crimson explosion.
Kaboom!
The Orc Mage on the other side grinned, however, his grin turned into horror when he saw another fireball coming towards him at extremely fast speed.
Holding his staff with his two hands, the Orc Mage chanted a spell in what Gracier judged to be an Orc language.
Immediately after the chant ended, a shield made of flame appeared right before the Orc Mage blocking Gracier's fireball.
Boom!
As the fireball clashed against the Fire shield, it created an explosion which almost broken the shield, however in the end the fire shield managed to last.
The Orc Mage behind the shield couldn't help but have a smug expression on his face, however, he heard Gracier's mocking voice,
''You should not celebrate too soon.''
Startled by Gracier's words, the Orc Mage tried to quickly cancel his Fire shield and turn around, however, he was a tad bit slower as numerous Fire arrows appeared behind him and sealing his fate as their went through his body leaving shared holes behind as the testimony of their passage.
With a thud sound, the Orc Mage body fell to the ground, the monster died eyes filled with unwillingness, he didn't know how the Fire arrows appeared behind him.
What Gracier had done was pretty ingenious, as her fireball was dispersing after clashing against the Orc Mage Fire shield, some of the flames fell onto the ground, using those flames she created the Fire arrows without the need to chant the keywords (ie. Fire Arrow)
Sighing Gracier turned her face in Meera's to see the latter shooting Wind arrow after wind arrow, she was supporting Lucien, Sebastian, and Golfak to fight against a group of monsters (Orcs and Goblins).
Meera's accuracy with the bow was frightening, she never missed a target, most of her hits were one-shot kill, when she doesn't kill, she simply injured the monsters and let Sebastian or Golfak finish the monster.
Gracier could hide how envious she felt at the moment seeing how beautiful Meera look when firing her bow and harvesting lives from afar, it was a truly beautiful sight to behold.
''If only I can use a weapon like a bow.''
Gracier muttered as she advanced while burning poor goblins to crips, they could even cry before turning into ash.
[Oh? So you want to use a weapon, a bow like that Elf girl over there?]
Suddenly, Gracier who was shooting fireball after fireball killing monsters, stopped when she heard a sudden voice in her head.
[Is that you, Ignia?] Gracier asked because she remembered this voice, it belongs to that Fire Dragon Goddess with whom she contracted with.
Indeed as she thought, it was Ignia.
[Yes it's me, child. I asked you a question. Do you wish for a weapon?]
To Ignia's question, Gracier immediately responded, [Yes, I do.]
[Great, then why a bow, though?] Ignia asked curiously.
[Well, simply because I do not fit for close combat and most importantly Big brother like close combat even when he has ranged type of weapon. I want to stay in the back with my fully drawn bow to defend him against anybody attacking his back. It is to watch his back.] Gracier explained.
Ignia in her flame dimension couldn't help but chuckle when she heard Gracier's words.
'What a good sister, you must take good care of her, Master of the Death Gun.' Ignia mumbled before deciding to help her host.
[Great, I shall bestow upon you a little present.]
After hearing Ignia's words, Gracier felt a sudden warmth inside her body and Ignia's bracelet appeared around her wrist even without being summoned, Gracier was surprised, however, she did not have time to mull over the current as she heard Ignia next words.
[Close your eyes and imagine a bow that would perfectly fit you. Then say 'Materialize.']
Nodding her head Gracier does as she was instructed, closing her eyes she imagined a perfect bow that could only fit her hand, she didn't want anything big, not too flashy, she wants something elegant and powerful.
After what seemed to be an eternity, Gracier opened her beautiful red-eye and muttered,
'Materialize'
Immediately, Ignia's bracelet around Gracier's wrist shined before transforming into a beautiful golden bow with flame acting as a string for the bow.
Everybody stopped whatever they were doing and looked in Gracier's direction because when she materialized this bow, there was a huge pressure that descended on the battlefield accompanied by an increase in the temperature.
''What is that? Her Gift?" Golfak asked puzzled.
''Probably,'' Lucien answered, Meera's eyes were drawn towards the beautiful golden bow.
Meanwhile, Sebastian could not help but sigh thinking how unfair life could be, with her this bow, Sebastian knew he will last three seconds against her.
Alex on the other hand was staring dumbfoundedly at the golden bow in his sister's hand, he had never seen it before hence he couldn't help but be surprised.
'What's going here, Sil?' Alex raised a question.
〖Well, it's probably Ignia doing. She can transform into any weapon her user wanted to. For Gracier choosing a bow must be because she felt that with this type of weapon she can watch your back.〗Silveria explained.
'I see, that's good then. I'll protect her too.' Alex affirmed.
Meanwhile, Gracier was staring at the golden bow in her hand with shining eyes.
[Thank you Ignia.]
Hearing Gracier thanking her, Ignia chuckled before stopping talking, she was tired after the work she had just performed, normally Gracier couldn't be able to use Materialize at her current level, still, Ignia decided to make an exception and help her.
Finally turning her eyes into the monsters who seemed too afraid of the golden bow, Gracier muttered with a sadistic smile on her lips, she unsealed her left eye, golden eye and red eye pierced through the monsters bodied making them shudder in dread, the weak ones fall on their knees and as they started shaking.
''Time for a payback.'' the girl muttered, she readied her bow, and fire Arrow was created ready to be set free.
However, when she was planning to release her arrow in the direction of monsters who started to retreat due to fear, Gracier heard a sudden playful voice that came from her left.
''Oh?! It seems that I'm missing some fun here.''
Naturally, it was Eleonora who appeared.
120: The Ominous Black Daggers
However, when she was planning to release her arrow in the direction of monsters who started to retreat due to fear, Gracier heard a sudden playful voice that came from her left.
''Oh?! It seems that I'm missing some fun here.''
Naturally, it was Eleonora who appeared who said this.
Every eye was turned into her direction, unfazed she strides forward, and once not too far from Gracier she observed the latter golden bow.
''Nice I never thought you'd been hiding something so awesome.''
Hearing Eleonora's words Gracier chuckled and said looking at Eleonora in the eyes.
''Welcome back it seems you've completed your task.''
''Hooah! What beautiful eyes, however, there are dangerous, especially the golden one. It makes me feel uncomfortable and pressured.''
Eleonora said while diverting her eyes away.
Sebastian and others could not look at Gracier in the eyes because they were feeling intimidated. They couldn't help but smile bitterly when they were finally able to see Gracier at her full power.
Meanwhile, Alex who saw his sister going full power couldn't help but think she was overdoing it.
〖Let's her be. She needs this.〗Silveria advised.
Alex could only chuckle and decided to let her do whatever she wants.
Gracier finally let loose the fire Arrow on the monsters trying to flee.
Boom!
A big explosion occurred sending charred bodies part everywhere.
''Waouh! Too frightening.''
To Eleonora's words, Gracier gave no reply as she kept shooting fire arrow after fire arrow, this time not only at the fleeing monsters but also toward the buildings occupied by the monsters.
Seeing numerous houses were set ablaze, monsters' cries reverberated inside the village creating more chaos a and how could Alex and his men let this chance slip, they started slaughtering monsters.
Eleonora grinned fiercely as she mumbled,
''Time to get a little bit serious.''
Immediately after her words, two black appeared in her hands, they were giving an ominous vibe, when the two black daggers appeared everyone feels a chilling sensation on their back.
Alex who was fighting stopped and looked at the two black daggers with interest.
'It almost looks like Maria's Gift except that this one is black and gives an extremely dangerous vibe.' Alex mumbled as he blocked a monster's attack.
〖What interesting girl with an unusual Gift. Never thought that I'll be seeing those two here.〗Silveria muttered.
From Silveria's words, one could know that she knew the origin of the two ominous black daggers.
'I see. I won't ask anything now but later you'll tell what you know and I won't take no for answer.' Alex said before quickly sidestepped in the opposite direction to dodge a sword strike before swung down Reaper, slicing the Orc swordsman arm holding the sword.
''Bugiah?!"
The Orc cried before stopping as Alex had sliced his throat killing him.
On the other side, Eleonora who just summoned her Gift, disappeared, her figure turned blurry and when she became invisible once again she was dancing in the middle of five orcs, those five orcs didn't last second as they dropped dead onto the ground with a sliced throat.
Alex who was observed Eleonora from the corner of his eyes was astonished by Eleonora's speed, her current speed was different from the one she had when fighting against him. Alex wondered why so? Is it because of the two black daggers?
Shaking his head Alex smiled bitterly as he witnessed his sister and Eleonora taking the spotlight as they continued slaughtering orcs as though they were cabbage. Sebastian, Lucien, Meera, and Golfak were also killing monsters in pairs.
Suddenly, Alex felt left out because he felt others had more kills than him, however, he was wrong, he only felt that way because Gracier and Eleonora have stolen his spotlight, especially Gracier who was playing the pyromaniac setting houses ablaze, not that he was going to admit it.
However, he could still shine, grinning Alex was ready to also join the ongoing Gift's festival.
〖Oh! That my master.〗Silveria said she noticed Alex's grin and knew what this means.
Suddenly, Alex turned around his eyes fixated into the darkness as he readied Reaper.
''Bumo~!?''
An arrow was shot from the darkness and was casually cut down, an Orc Archer raised a voice of confusion as he was pretty sure his sneak attack should have worked, he was the one archer who was not with the other, he was relieving himself the reason why he was not with the others.
Alex kicked the ground and appeared before the still surprised archer, the next moment before he was aware of it, Alex swung down Reaper and the skull of the poor Orc archer was split and he died.
''Let's start with you.''
Alex said and without turning around, as if he was aware of the orc sneakily moving in shadow to target Meera, he summoned Silveria on his left arm and pointed the silver gun in the direction of orc, and fired.
Bang!
Everybody was surprised by the sound, they looked at Alex and were surprised to find a silver object in his hand, only Gracier was not surprised as she had already seen her big brother use his Gift numerous times, he called it a gun.
Eleonora's eyes shined when she finally saw Alex's Gift, however, no matter how much she thought about it she was not able to identify what his Gift is, she had never seen nor read about this kind of Gift, how unusual she thought.
Meanwhile, Meera whom Alex rescued nodded her head and stared interestedly at the silver object before with her group moved to another location.
Conrad who was hiding, came back early and saw Alex's Gift and muttered ''Finally, however, I have never seen this kind of Gift before, I thought Gift can be either sword, spear, daggers, or other types of weapons, I've never seen this type of weapon who can shoot projectile faster than a bow. How unusual, this boy is full of surprises.''
Unaware of others thoughts, Alex moved around while killing monsters with Reaper and Silveria,
Swish! Swish!
Bang! Bang! Bang!
In a matter of seconds, he killed 10 monsters (orcs and goblins). He was like the death reaper harvesting lives.
Gracier and Eleonora looked at Alex's performance before exchanging a look, they both grinned before continuing killing monsters but this time with more vigor.
Eleonora was moving around killing monsters while Gracier was taking care of the runaways monsters.
One hour had passed since the start of the night assault, Alex and his men had killed more than forty monsters with Alex having more kills.
In another location,
Northwest of the Gato's village. Sebastian, Lucien, Golfak, and Meera were fighting against the Orcs.
''Bumoo~!''
Blocking the Orc's sword with a shield he had picked up, a stab was sent out, piercing the Orc's throat.
The Orc, whose throat was pierced, fell to the ground with its neck partially severed.
''Seriously, it seems that there's no end. How are you guys faring?"
Swinging the sword that cut the throat of the Orc to get rid of the blood and flesh that was stuck to the tip, Sebastian called out to the people nearby.
''I'm fine.''
''No problem here either.''
Lucien and Golfak responded, only Meera who didn't say anything, she only nodded her head. She pulled her bow back and shot an arrow.
''Bugi~!?''
An Orc that had approached under the cover of darkness was pierced by several arrows, shot in quick succession by Meera, this time she went with normal arrows, not a magical one.
She turned her head in Lucien's direction, she fired another arrow that automatically killed an Orc swordsman running toward Lucien who was busy taking care of a group of orcs.
Meera didn't bother finishing the earliest orc, she knew pretty well the orc was still alive. She purposely let the orc live for Golfak to kill it.
The reason why she knew the orc was still alive was simple. Ordinary Orcs are basically not equipped with protective gear like armor.
Though it's not that difficult to obtain armor, the biggest reason was the Orc's body. They had muscles with strength several times of a normal person. They also had a thick layer of fat covering them. Let alone an ordinary sword, it's difficult to pierce through the fat even if they were stabbed with a normal spear.
So, when she fired normal arrows even though at first glance, the Orc that had been struck by a large number of arrows may look like it had been turned into a hedgehog, but the arrows had been stopped at the fat and hadn't done any fatal damage.
However, the arrows that had pierced its body would become an obstruction to movement, making it unable to move for a moment, that was Meera's goal, Golfak would use this chance to finish the monster.
''Haah!"
Giving a battle cry, Golfak appeared and pour his MP into his Magic Sword before swinging it down.
''Bumoo~''
Though the Orc tried to block the sword from hitting it, the arrows prevented it from moving and his body received a deep cut. Rather than a cut it, it was more of a chop, the Orc that had lost the lower half of his body, fell to the ground silently, blood and entrails spilling onto the ground.
''Haa, haa, haa.''
Golfak who took down the Orc, stabbed his sword into the ground to support his body, he started to fix his rough breathing. Though he said earlier that he was fine, it was a lie, they have been repeated fight after fight, fatigue started to kick in.
Sebastian appeared in front of Golfak and throw him a potion, without checking it, Golfak downed it not minding the bitter taste. He felt invigorated after the potion went through his throat and circulated inside his body.
''Thank you,'' he said because he knew Stamina potion is not cheap even if its grade wasn't high.
''No, you should thank the leader. It's him who gave it, everyone has one. I've already given the other two their potions.'' Sebastian explained.
Hearing Sebastian's explanation, Golfak smiled bitterly, his expression was complicated, he still hates Alex but not too much, if he were being honest he will say that Alex was a good leader because he even thought about this.
Shaking his head he said, ''Let's go.''
The others nodded their heads before starting running in the direction of Alex and others. The fight was raging on the other side, even they could tell by the sound of monsters' cries.