Chapter 75: Fordox 2
Hours passed by and it was now Ben's turn to be checked. His rolled up bed, sword, tent and other stuff that one can use to survive in the wild were hung on his fiery red stallion, Flamion. He didn't want to be seen empty handed.
"What's your purpose for coming to Hamvester?" a guard asked sternly.
"I'm here for a holiday. I just finished a very dangerous mission and the Hunter's Guild advised that I take a break, so I chose here, Hamvester, heard the air here is rich with oxygen." Ben answered with a smile.
The guard frowned visibly annoyed hearing Ben's excuse of being a Hunter who finishes a 'dangerous' mission, but then hearing the praise he gave the city made him confused.
'What's oxygen? Maybe one of those smartass words used by educated noble brats' despite being stunned for a moment, it didn't distract him from his work. "Humph! Do you think this is a playground kid? If you do not have a valid reason for your visit you will not be given entry into these walls, if you must know, Hamvester is under lock down. So I will not ask twice, get out from my sight." the guard didn't want to miss the opportunity of shouting in the face of a spoilt brat.
"What do you mean I should get out from your sight? Aren't Hunters allowed to go places after finishing their mission? Your superior better give the Hunter's Guild a good explanation for this rubbish!" Ben yelled back to the unreasonable guard.
The commotion attracted a lot of attention. Some people hadn't believed Ben was actually a Hunter, of course they saw the sword hanging on his horse, but so what? It could just be another spoilt child trying to flaunt his wealth around.
At the city gates of Hamvester, the noble passage, a commotion was stirring. It attracted the travellers all around.
"A young man claiming to be a Hunter..."
"...A Second-level elemental swordsman..." Ben cut in the guards words.
"...and a Second-level elemental swordsman at that! Listen here, look at those group of immigrants, yeah that very long line, that's where you should stand not... not... not... cough... cough... cough." the guard could no longer speak and was coughing furiously like he had swallowed a frog. But no matter how many times he scratched his eyes the floating badge with silver plate, two crossword and two blue stripes still remained where it was, floating above the young man's hand he was trying to send away. An audible gulp could be heard.
"What's the hold up?! Sargent! What's the matter?" the chief came down and asked after hearing the yelling.
"I.. I... did... I..." the guard has become a stammerer for some unknown but certain reason.
"What's the matter, Sargent? Do you no longer know how to voice your ranting?" Ben snickered putting the badge back in his soul.
Before the chief could shout at the guard his subordinate that was nearby reported everything that occurred. Listening to the report the chief was not happy at all, luckily the offended wasn't a noble but a warrior.
"You imbecile..." the chief sent a very brutal slap to the guard. The guard stumbled around in a circle before stabilizing himself. "We are very sorry and apologize for not taking the proper solution. It is my fault for not lecturing him a lot more." the chief said glaring daggers at the stupid guard.
"Humph! I don't care for your apologies, you better give the Hunter's Guild an excuse for not allowing a Hunter passage into a city." Ben harrumphed coldly before dragging his horse into the city.
Ben made his way into the city after the commotion was settled. He kept making his way north for two hours until he found a very large building with a flurry of people moving in and out in a continuous flow, thankfully it was a very familiar building Ben knew, It was a Hunter's Guild owned by a private organization. Looking over the familiar building an idea struck Ben, so he chose to go in.
Ben came out with a broad smile on his face, asides from learning more things about the current situation around Fordox and The Phantom, he now knew the general direction of where he should be heading.
Fortunately, Magic Institutes weren't hidden per say but the weren't easy to find too. If he should head out by noon he would reach The Phantom by sunset. Without waiting any more he headed east. And like always Ben used his shortcut; The woods
Ben was both excited and anxious the further he went towards his destination, with each step he took he was exciting because he can now become stronger in many ways than one. While he was anxious because he didn't have a normal Spiritual World like others, at the same time he doesn't know if his Mindpower is too low, too high, too average or something. No matter the type of troubling thoughts his head kept making he never going forward. He only stopped to feed his horse because he cares for the stead a lot.
Ben and Flamion, his fiery stallion, used the Forest Parade to walk silently in the woods. And like very every other time Ben took the woods he always coincidentally clashes with unexpected events. And one was unfolding a few hundred metres away from him.
"Haha! Get those little chickens!"
"Yeah, boss will be thrilled with what we've got." loud shouts accompanied by explosions could be heard.
Not so far away from where Ben sat, a bunch of people in a sickly green wizard robes chased after a group of people in black wizard robe, the latter seemed to be younger then their pursuers. Magic was on the air as both parties exchanged spells.
Ben heard so much Off-notes in the forest alerting him, even his Mindpower was having a tingle. He didn't dally around because he knew these were powerful figures when compared to those he's dealt with before.
He tied Flamion to a tree, the horse neighed in displeasure, wanting to follow Ben, but he refused. "Maybe next time buddy." Ben said.
Ben felt the forest with the help of Forest Parade and found a significant upgrade in the technique. He could 'see' the disparity between the two groups with the pursuers having a larger Life Force. This can also be known that they were a little bit more powerful than those they were pursuing by a small margin.
Running noiselessly on dried leaves and twigs, he hid behind a large tree. Five people were surrounded by two middle aged men and two women that looked no different than the witches of the west, except these witches have no green skin. The men didn't care one bit for their appearance.
These five hobo wizards surrounded two boys and two girls. The boys all had bruises and deep wounds on their body, one was injured to the extent of missing a limb. The girls in that group all looked out of breath with cuts that looks like they were getting infected as they were turning black the longer they stayed without treating it.
Carefully observing the environment Ben found a tall enough tree and climbed. He didn't want to act without knowing what was wrong. Luckily for him they weren't heading where his horse was tired. He was sure one out of the two groups would have to be from The Phantom, but which one?
Not ready to get himself killed which is most likely not going to happen because the strongest side only had one Second-level Spellcaster in their rank. while the rest were First-level Spellcasters, and the same goes for the pursued.
What a naive way of thinking, Ben scolded himself. Elemental swordsmen weren't the same as wizards, the former only had one element in their arsenal while the latter has at most two or three elements at their disposal. To make matters worse he would have to face more than not one or two but five Spellcasters.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
EldestLord53
EldestLord53 Bring in your votes and pour your power stones to promote this book
Creation is hard, cheer me up! VOTE for me!
Have some idea about my story? Comment it and let me know.
Your gift is the motivation for my creation. Give me more motivation!
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone