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10.91% The Stonehearted Knight / Chapter 36: A bloody handkerchief

Bab 36: A bloody handkerchief

"Are you sure you heard it correctly?" Hestia asked with trepidation in her voice.

Hex noticed that Adgar and Oron also looked grim when he told them about the attacker.

They had agreed to remain close to each other, which is why Hex found and gathered the Knights rather quickly.

He made sure not to include the Squires in case he was worried about something minor.

'But it doesn't seem so minor after all,' he concluded based on the grave expressions of the Knights.

"I am sure. He was loud enough, so I can't be mistaken," Hex said in an affirmative tone. He looked at the Knights who seemed hesitant.

"So, is anyone going to tell me what this is all about?" The demanding note his voice could have upset the Knights, but this time they didn't seem to mind.

As usually was the case, Hestia was the one to explain.

"The Dawnbringers are an old organization, active in many countries. We are not sure what their end goal is, but they are always directly or indirectly involved in catastrophic events."

"Wait, then if they are here, does it mean something is about to happen?" Hex asked with a worried look.

Hestia looked at him with a raised brow. "About to happen? Don't you think that is already happening?"

Hex eyes opened wide in shock. His mind immediately went to the strange manner in which the beasts were acting this time around.

"Do you mean they tampered with our mission and caused the deaths of so many people?" Hex was but a small town teenager.

He thought he knew about the ugly side of humanity. Only now did he start to realize that humans could act even worse.

"I didn't think at first. But if a Dawnbringer is here, I am sure many more are. They have caused the deaths of uncountable humans. Forty humans more or less won't make any difference to them," Hestia said with a shrug.

"But why?" Hex failed to see what killing people would accomplish.

"Like I said, their end goal is unknown. But so far they have been involved in the destruction of villages, towns and cities all around the continent. They seem to worship some entity in whose name they do this."

Hearing about the destruction the Dawnbringers brought with them made Hex blood turn cold. He feared his little town would be destroyed.

No matter how the relation between the town and Hex was, it was still the only home he had.

As an orphan he knew what having no one meant. He didn't wish to lose the only people he had known in his life.

"Then shouldn't we inform others right now? And shouldn't we capture all those people from Northern Hawk?" Hex said with urgency.

"Boy, calm down," Oron said, grabbing his shoulders. "Both things could make things much worse."

Seeing the incomprehension on Hex's face, Adgar stepped beside Oron.

"Let me explain. We don't know who really is involved. In each incident the Dawnbringers had people in many factions. I doubt it will be different this time. People in the town, those visitors, heck even our castle might have members of that group mingled in between."

"Beside," Hestia added, "the northern commander is a trusted ally of the baron. I know Ivran personally. I think we should arrange a meeting in secret."

They all looked at Hex to check if he was okay with it. As the student of the baron he had a say in their decision. Hex knew this. But he found it hard to believe that so many people were agreeable to destruction.

'Why can't we live in peace and just curse each other if we are mad at them? Why can't we just battle, break a few bones and have a drink there after?'

Since Hex could remember his struggles had been gaining a name and a place in this world. He was angry at many, most of all at the baron, but he rarely thought about killing people.

At most, he wanted to punch their face and smash their bones. And after that they would have a drink as equals.

"Okay," he nodded after some thought. He hoped the Northern Hawks would help and be willing to be an ally. "But how do we meet without everyone knowing?"

"The checkpoint," Hestia said. She clearly had already planned how to proceed.

"Lord Avery, his body is smashed into a pulp."

Two hooded figures stood in front of the corpse of Hex's attacker. One was on his knees, inspecting the corpse. The other stood behind him.

"I don't care. It seems the Squires of these teams do have some capability. It doesn't matter. They will all be grazed on by the will of the Lord. We just need Blessed. Whether they are from our ranks or theirs. They all are good."

The hooded figure named Avery extended his right hand. There was a black light swirling around it. He suddenly pushed it forward.

A maw made of black light appeared. It jumped into the body, swallowing it whole. Nothing, not even the splattered blood and bones were left.

The figure kneeling beside the corpse smiled wide. "Your Necroswallow is truly a unique skill of the darkness element. It spares us so much time."

"Let's get the other corpses."

The checkpoints were placed in connecting points between each mountain in the mountain range.

The first one was just at the entrance of the mountain path. The last was after the second mountain.

The second mountain was around the same line as the canyon where the Heartless had come from. It was seen as the dividing line between the outer and inner region of the mountain range.

On the way to the second mountain Hex's team had taken the high ridge, thus omitting the checkpoint between the first and second mountain.

They decided to split off. Oron and Adgar would take the Squires to that checkpoint. Hestia and Hex would go to the third one.

This was a decision of Hex. His reasoning was that they first needed to ensure that the Northern Hawks also wished to talk to them. If they too split, then it would be obvious that they were looking for them.

The group without the Squires would arrange the secret meeting. This was to avoid letting too many people know about the Dawnbringers.

Hex and Hestia rode their goats to the other side of the mountain. They didn't need to search for the checkpoint. The checkpoint had many bright colored banners wrapped around the trees.

They just followed them and soon saw the checkpoint. It was a small treehouse built in the crown of the largest tree. There were only a few people there.

But Hex's eyes went immediately to the long legged girl at the front of the checkpoint. She seemed to be feeding her horse, whilst looking at the mountain.

He noticed her eyes flinched a bit when she saw them. But she remained calm and cold. She didn't even greet them when they arrived.

But right when Hex was passing her, she shot a punch towards Hex. It was quick and sudden. Hex failed to react in time.

Bam.

The punch hit squarely at his nose.

"You b…!" Hex was angered. Beauty or not, he would kick the shit out of anyone who wanted to have a go at him.

Hestia held him back. Even the people at the checkpoint hurried outside.

"L-lady Althea. Please be aware of your behavior. There is no fighting at the checkpoints." An old man said with a serious tone.

"Sorry," Althea replied with an expression that didn't seem apologetic at all. "I just wanted to see what makes this brat so special that the baron took him as a student."

She took a handkerchief out of her pocket and threw it at Hex. "Clean it up. At least you have a strong face. Most Squires would have lost a few teeth after my punch."

With those words, she mounted her horse and left. Hex was seething in anger.

"Why did you hold me back?" He snarled at Hestia.

She just chuckled and said, "We don't want to break our town's rules, do we? Besides, you got that girl's handkerchief. You know how many boys and men would kill for that? Treasure it."

The look in her eyes made Hex realize something. He took a glance and noticed the red ink. It was a message.

An invitation for a meeting!


Privilege Cleaning up. Sorry!

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Bab 37: Day one ranking

"Well, how did you guys do?"

The old man, wearing blue and silver, looked with curiosity as Hex and Hestia entered the hut. Hex saw four more people, all looking old, in the hut.

Based on the different colored robes Hex concluded that each represented a different faction.

He didn't know any of the people, except the old man in the corner, who looked nervous.

He had seen him at the castle. He was the gardener.

His eyes twitched in annoyance. 'All the other factions sent at least a Squire level person. Only the baron would be so uncaring to send his gardener.'

"We did okay," Hex replied with a shrug, "Is it possible to see the rankings of others here?"

He felt curious about the points Clannad and the others managed to gather.

He was certain he would be in the top spot, but it was good to see where the others managed to come after the first day.

"Sure. As soon as you submit the treasures here," the old man in blue replied.

A part of the treasures and crystals could be kept by the team but after the first round had finished. This was to prevent people using the same items and crystals to claim more points at different checkpoints.

Hestia went first. She pulled out her pouch and dumped ten crystals and a long root-like herb on the table. At once the people gathered to look and note on their pads. Even the gardener.

"There are four Fiend level crystals, each worth a hundred points, and six Demon Crystals worth ten points. That makes it four hundred sixty points."

"The root is from a Fiend stage thistle, very rare, worth a hundred points. The total comes at five hundred sixty points."

The blue robed man turned towards a stone slab and wrote her points on it. Hex noticed the banner at the right, with silver borders, lit up.

Knight Ranking

1. Silver Serpents' Lady Dollaire 600 points

2. Silver Serpents' Lady Rublena 600 points

3. Baron's Lady Hestia 560 points

4. Northern Hawks' Ivran 550 points

5. Silver Serpents' Sir Pesor 500 points

6. Northern Hawks' Lady Briella 480 points

7. Baron's Sir Adgar 450 points

8. Baron's Sir Oron 450 points

9. Northern Hawks' Sir Orvyn 400 points

The rankings caused Hex's eyes to narrow.

The Merchant Union's ranking was really high on the list. This shocked him. He didn't know where they were but it was unlikely they killed so many beasts.

'I wonder what treasure trove they found. They should have found many rare herbs to have so many points in one day.'

Hex felt the pressure on him increase. He had expected the others to be prepared but they seemed to have done exceptionally well.

"Where are the rankings of the other two teams?" Hex inquired. The list only included nine out of fifteen Knights participating in the event.

"They haven't checked in yet," replied the blue robed man. "We expect them to do so at the end of the first round."

'Most likely they are confident at their chance to make it through. If the Merchant Union could find a treasure trove then the heir of the oldest family in Grindeston could certainly do better.'

With a heavy heart Hex went forth and dumped his kills on the table. He had only found crystals so far.

"Thirty one Demon crystals," the old man gasped at the sight. Even if the Demon crystals were only worth ten points, killing thirty was quite a feat for a young Squire. And all these men knew that Hex had been a Blessed less than a month.

"That's three hundred ten points," replied another man beside him. He wore the robes of the Northern Hawks.

They all turned towards the banner with a blue border. It was the ranking of the Squires. A whole set of names and numbers appeared.

Hex only tried to see where he stood. There were already over twenty names on it.

Squire Ranking

1. Silver Serpents' Sterling Poundersire 350 points

2. Baron's Hex Darkenmane 310 points

3. Northern Hawks' Althea Thunderhawk 300 points

Everyone else had less than hundred and fifty points to their name. Hex checked quickly to see that everyone from the baron's side was inside the top twenty. All, except one person.

They hadn't found him yet. According to Oron the Squire might have wandered off. They were after all here to compete.

Hex however suspected it to be something else. But he had kept his mouth shut. There was no reason to suspect someone without proof.

"There you go. You are doing nearly as well as our young master," the old man in blue said with a grin. There was no doubt he was proud of his faction's performance.

'There are still two days left. We will see how more luck your young master has.'

Hex knew the two days would be harder, but he knew that they hadn't really explored the vegetation yet. Their focus for now was to clean up the mountain.

He refused to believe that he would lose out to others in finding hidden treasures inside the cracks and chasms.

They mounted their goats and rode back. Only when they had put enough distance between them and the checkpoint did Hex take out the handkerchief.

The matter of Dawnbringer was something they couldn't postpone.

"Look! There is a change in the rankings!"

The shout made everyone at the entrance of the mountain range turn towards the giant banners on both sides of the path.

"Hah. What did I tell you? The Silver Serpents are the best at finding treasures."

"Bah. I am sure you guys are good at slithering in every hole. But our lady Althea will make snake skewers out of you."

"Hmh. That young lad isn't doing too bad. A shame he is just a newbie."

"You guys can celebrate now. Once young master Clannad checks his points, he will show why he is the youngest champion of Grindeston."

The crowd at the entrance broke into discussion as they analyzed the rankings. Each person believed in their chosen candidate. No one was willing to acknowledge the other.

Amidst the discussions the gambling house was grinning. They didn't work so hard to put up the banners to showcase the greatness of the participants. No, they wanted people to bet even more.

Seeing the fervor of the people, the council members laughed. They were happy to see the townsfolk enjoy the festivities. This way they were easier to control.

Only Conrad looked calm and stared at the rankings.

'I hope you can fulfill your task, Clannad!'


Privilege Cleaning up. Sorry!

Editing and rewriting privilege chapters. Don't Buy!

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