Bab 11: Laire
Del prepared himself to face the mysterious lady, whom Rina somehow knew, and whom he met at the inn three days ago. He brought his pistol alongside new and improved rounds. He brought .45 ACP Armor-Piercing bullets for this job.
Still, he also bought two packages of the same sterile gauzes inside of his adventurer's belt along with the leftover pills. He felt something wasn't right with that woman that he met, but he couldn't figure what it was. Age-wise, this woman was older than Rina but probably younger than Del's mother on earth.
Del opened the door of the guild building, "Morning."
"Ah, Del, good morning. Mrs. Laire is expecting you," the guild receptionist said.
"Oh, I see, good morning to you too," Del said as he walked deeper into the guild building.
If there was one atmosphere that could describe the guild building, it was fancy. The alcoholic drinks on the guild building priced ten times more than what the inn sold to Del. He knew that when he got ripped off by the bartender when he bought a drink there.
Gems and expensive metals were decorating the bar of that guild building. In that bar, Del found the woman that he was looking for. She still wore the same armor as three days ago so she was actually easy to find.
"Good Morning," Del said as he sat down on the chair across from her.
"Morning, how's your arm?" Laire asked.
"Good, very good in fact," Del said.
"The job for today is simple. We have to escort a carriage moving from Midham to Alder. You know where Alder is, right?" Laire asked.
Alder was a town located on the south side of Midham. It was a town built around a harbor. That town was located right beside the sea that connected to the demonic continent. Basically, Alder would be targeted by the demons if the invasion forces arrived.
The harbor town was one of the trading hubs inside of the Elbanian Kingdom. A lot of carriages wanted to go to that location for trading. The road to Alder was infested with bandits that were looking for profit.
The knights from the Elbanian Kingdom were patrolling the road connecting Midham and Alder, but they weren't enough to prevent the carriages from being attacked by bandits. Usually, any merchant would hire adventurers to escort their carriage.
"I know the place, but I have never been there in my entire life," Del said.
"It's your first time then, it must be very exciting for you," Laire said.
"I know, but still, is there any other member of the team?" Del asked.
"Nope, it's just you and I," Laire said.
"Great," Del sarcastically said.
Del didn't feel confident that just two of them would be enough to guard a carriage. However, he was also aware that a group of bandits probably only ranked at D-rank and the person that was accompanying him was C-rank.
"C'mon, are you doubting my power? Don't be like that," Laire said.
"I see. Anyway, where's the carriage?" Del asked.
"The carriage is located right beside the guild building. We just need to greet the merchant and he would start moving towards Alder," Laire said.
Del and Laire got out of the guild building. They approached the carriage and the merchant greeted them. Del and Laire entered the carriage and the carriage started moving towards Alder. During the trip, Del decided to check on his status plate. He felt that the battle with Alberto should give him enough experience to level up.
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[Del Moore] [Level: 5]
Strength: 15
Agility: 18
Vitality: 28
Aptitude: 12
Perception: 18
Skills: Language Comprehension | Marksmanship LVL.2 | Firearms Comprehension LVL.3
Magical Energy: 240/240
Health Point: 1400/1400
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"Not bad," Del thought to himself as he looked at his own stats.
"Your status plate is not bad for a person that is F-rank. You're doing good, kid," Laire said.
"Thanks, Laire," Del said.
While he was in the carriage, he kept his hand on the holster of the pistol. He wanted to be ready to engage the enemy when they appeared. However, Del still hoped that the road to Alder was smooth without any obstacle.
"What are you transporting?" Del asked the merchant.
"You know, the usual, sugar. The people at the harbor really love sugar for no reason at all," the merchant answered.
"They used it to make candy. It is a very convenient food," Laire said.
"Really?"
"Yeah, the tastiest candy in the whole Elbanian comes from Alder after all. Anyway, what brings you to Midham, Del," Laire said.
"I'd rather not talk about it," Del said to Laire.
"Understandable," Laire commented.
As the carriage moved, the wind was blowing Del's head. It felt soothing and cold. The road to Alder was busier as well. There were several carriages that Del met along the way. Those carriages were owned by the merchants.
The bandits hadn't appeared yet. It was a good thing. Del wasn't in the mood of fighting any bandits. He didn't want to have any injury ever again. It hurt and it took a long time to heal. The wound also could kill him if the wound was big enough.
"Let's walk, my guts telling me that something isn't right," Laire said as she tapped the back of the merchant so he slowed down his carriage.
Del and Laire stepped outside of their carriage and they began walking alongside the carriage. They looked around at any potential ambush point. The bandits loved using big rocks and tall grass to hide.
Just like Alberto, bandits usually looked very scary. They usually wore piercings or anything similar.
Suddenly, Laire told the carriage to stop.
"STOP! Del, back me up, I think I see something suspicious behind that rock," Laire said as she walked to one of the rocks.
Del pulled his pistol out of the holster and he aimed at the bushes while making sure that he didn't aim at Laire because it would be disastrous if he tried to kill her. He had no doubt that Laire would be able to kill him easily.
Del looked closely at the bush. There was something suspicious on that bush. For example, there was a blood mark on one of the leaves of the bush. It could be from someone that was bleeding or worse…
"Blood mark?" Laire investigated the leaf.
She walked further inside of the bush with her sword readied on her hands. She kicked the bush while looking for anything suspicious. Del walked closer to the bush. He aimed his pistol at the bush. Right now, he really wished that he bought a shotgun. Even basic buckshot would be better than .45 ACP at that kind of range.
"I found something, Del, cover my back," Laire moved the leaves of the bush, "Oh boy, it looks like we will have a nice meal today."
"What do you find?" Del approached the bush.
A demon was laying down in the bush. Blood was coming out of its left thigh. Someone must have slashed the demon. Appearance-wise, the demon looked way too similar to a regular human being. The only difference was the horns on top of its head.
"A demon?" Del put his pistol into his holster.
"Yeah, if we can capture it, we can have some nice amount of cash," Laire said.
The demon looked harmless. Del felt that he shouldn't capture the demon. He didn't understand the why of things. The rivalry between the demons and the humans was not something that Del understood at all. However, cash was cash and Del wanted cash.
"How much would we get from capturing it?" Del asked.
"Maybe five to six gold coins, but we need him alive," Laire said.
30% of six gold coins was around two gold coins. It was a lot of money. It should be enough to buy Del a cheap rifle with its ammunition. He needed the money so he agreed to capture the demon with Laire.
"Alright, should I treat his wound?" Del asked.
"Sure. I do have a healing potion, but it's for me and only me. Maybe you can temporarily fix its wound using your bandage or something," Laire said.
"Alright, I shall do it. Cover my back, will you?" Del approached the demon closer.
"Sure, go do your work then," Laire said.
Del pulled out the sterile gauze of the plastic packaging and started stuffing the wound with the gauze after he identified the point of bleeding. However, Laire looked at him with confusion. She never saw someone with enough proficiency to treat an open wound like that with the same age as Del.
"Del, where did you learn to treat wound like that?" Laire asked.
"My mother taught me two years ago. My sister is so clumsy. She always has the opportunity to injure anyone in her vicinity," Del continued packing the wound.
"Still, I have a daughter and she never injures anyone to that kind of extent," Laire pointed her hand at the big wound.
"My sister is the kind of person that dropped an axe on top of my knee more than once, you get the idea, right?" Del asked back.
"I see."
Del finished packing the wound of that Demon and Laire carried the demon on her back. She put the demon into the carriage and they continued their journey to Alder.
Hadiah
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