Capítulo 24: Count Arkenta, the vampire
It had only been five days after the Mercia Martial Arts Tournament came to its end. Len, Miur, Nova and Aria were still inside Jora city. Apparently, they were treated as guests at the Mercenary Guild branch.
These few days, they had been wandering around Jora and Murica, sightseeing and observing the city in leisure. They couldn't do so when they passed here previously due to the tight schedule. Now that the tournament was over, they were free to do what they wanted.
As the four of them walked around the bazaar in between the two city, several pairs of eyes observed them from a far.
"When will we act?"
"Not yet. Not within the territory of those annoying Mercenary Guild."
"Tch. I just can't hold it any longer. They dared to destroy one of our allies. We need to show them how this world works!"
"Just wait until they leave the city."
Those two were scouts from an unknown force. They were tasked to observe the movement of this group of people and reports periodically to the person in charge. Since it was almost time for them to make their report, they left the scene without delay.
"It's almost noon. Let's go back."
Len suggested.
"Yeah. It's decided that we will go home today."
"Urm. Let's inform those elders in the guild first. We need to express our gratitude to them."
Both Aria and Nova supported. They already decided to depart from Jora City that day.
"…"
Miur was the only one who didn't say anything. She couldn't be blamed either. She had been devoid of emotion ever since Mays departed. Nothing said by these three managed to cheer her up. At the very least, she still followed them without making a fuss.
Inside the headquarters of Mercenary Guild, Merle and the other elders were already waiting for Len and his group. They were told about their plan of departure days ago. They even prepared a banquet for this very day.
"So… you guys really going home today?"
The man who was seated beside Merle started talking. He was none other than Moria, Merle's father. He was a burly middle aged man with a sharp look on his face.
"Yeah. It won't be good if we keep delaying."
Len answered respectfully. He was talking to someone important after all.
"That so. Then it can't be helped. Just enjoy the banquet we prepared for you."
Moria shakes his head as he replied reluctantly. Nobody knew how sincere he was but for someone like him to treat Len and the rest with the best of hospitality, they knew for sure that he might had some plan for doing this.
The banquet lasted for almost two hours before it was concluded. Since everyone in this world traveled without much baggage, Len and the rest were pretty much prepared to move after the banquet ended.
As everyone stood in front of the entrance of Mercenary Guild, Moria who was silence after the banquet suddenly threw a random suggestion.
"Also, if it ain't much, can you please bring my son together with you guys?"
"Ehh? Bring Merle with us? Why?"
Len was caught totally off guard. Never would he had expected that the leader of the Mercenary Guild's branch would ask such a favor. Not to mention that their destination RiverMug basically had nothing worth coveting either.
"Nothing personal. It's just that I think it would be good for this sheltered young boy to experience more of this world. Only if you guys agreed to it though."
"If you say so… I don't think there is any problem from our side either."
"It's settled then. Have fun on your journey."
Moria grinned as he patted Merle's back. He was really adamant on this decision of his. Even Merle didn't know the reason as of why his father goes on such length just to let him traveled together with them. Merle could even go further alone if he felt like it.
"Thank you for having me."
Awkwardly, Merle thanked Len and the others before he walked out of the building.
"Why would you sent the young master with them without any bodyguards?"
One of the elder of Mercenary Guild asked Moria after Merle and the rest was no more in sight. He was totally confused by the decision made by their leader.
"Because those people had connections with godkins."
"What?"
"Believe it or not, it was the truth."
With a grin on his face, Moria answered as he walked back inside without even looking at the face of the asking elder.
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The party of five walked out from Jora city at a normal pace. Since the purpose for this travel was to temper his skills, Merle didn't bring both his attendant with him. Truth was, he did asked them to follow him but his father forbade them from doing so.
With only five people, the party only prepared one carrier wagon to store all their provision. Even the three girls was inside that same wagon. Aria and Nova alternately acted as the coachman while Miur sat inside the wagon doing whatever she wanted. As for both Len and Merle, they each rode their own Grey Horn.
They didn't even stopped moving after the sky turned dark. After a long eight hour of journey, they finally reached Kilia. Since the road from Jora to Kilia was paved, their party had no trouble moving even with a carrier wagon.
"Fuh, that was fast."
Len let out a relieved sigh as they arrived at Kilia without any problem. They didn't even met any bandit nor monsters along the way.
"Yeah. This speed was quite normal for traveler. Those merchant with better Grey Horn usually spend less time than us on this road."
"Ooo… Merchant must have it good here I guess."
Since they both rode their Grey Horn side by side, they spent most of the time talking to each other. Thanks to that, their friendship deepen as the two of them was literally good natured and easy to get along with.
Since it was already night time, Len and the rest of the group were quite cautious at first. But after they saw the entrance gate of Kilia City in front of them, they let their guards down. They didn't even realized that the people who gathered in front of the current entrance gate were not the usual gate guards until Merle notified them.
"Something's not right. Alert guys."
Everyone readied their weapon after that reminder. Even Miur who was pensive all the time grabbed both her dagger hastily.
As they walked toward the city gate, they were stopped by that group of people acting as the gate guards. From their gears, it was not hard to guess that these people were veteran at fighting. Every single one of them wore a full plated armor like a knight. Only neck up was visible. Most of their body part were covered in armor, even their limbs.
One thing for sure, these people had no Kilia city emblem attached on their gear confirming the fact that they were not the city guards on active duty for sure.
"Halt. Your name and purpose of entering the city, please."
One of the heavily armored guy in front of them suddenly shouted.
"I'm Len, the leader of this party. We are going back to our village after participating in the tournament. Is there anything else?"
Len answered respectfully. He tried to avoid trouble if possible. There was still a chance that Merle might be wrong.
"Yes there is. Leave your life here and move on hahahahhahahhahahahha!!!"
"Hahahhaa."
"You sucks at this maaaan! No wonder you were rejected when you applied for the guard post."
That moment the previous guard shouted and laughed out loud, the others laughed as they all unsheathed their weapon and pointed them at Len and the rest.
"Tch, it still come to this. Get ready guys."
Len sighed seeing that they still came to this situation.
"Knew it. Well, that's how this world works."
As for Merle, he just laughed it off as if it was a normal occurrence.
Since Mays was not there, they had no ways of asserting their opponents strength. They didn't know why they were targeted either. They knew one thing for sure though, their life was forfeited if they surrender.
There were a total of eight people on the opposing side while their side only had five people. The situation was obviously no good for Len and his party. At the very least, with Merle with them, their fighting power could be considered high. Merle was a silver ranked fighter after all. He could take on five bronze rank fighter like Len by himself.
"Before we start, can you at least tell us why we are targeted?"
Merle asked. He at least wanted to know who the one responsible for this attack was.
"It's the Triad Alliance. Nobody who angered us lived to tell the tales hahahhahahha."
As if their death was a given, one of the eight attacker replied.
"Ah, the Triad Alliance. It must be because of the eradication of the Ci Clan right? They deserved that anyways."
With an intimidating tone, Merle rebuked those attacker. Since there was no way to end this except by battle, adding oil to the fire might not seemed that bad.
''Tch, brat! Die!''
One of the attacker actually took the bait as he rushed forward, enraged by Merle's word. He was actually one of the survivor of the Ci Clan. He got mad after his clan was insulted in front of him.
"Heh, poorly executed attack."
Without holding back, Merle sliced the throat of the attacker using a dagger after he evaded his opponent's previous rush. There were little to no waste movement in his action. This proved how much he had trained to get to this level and also how much of a combat genius he was.
Merle was a dual weapon wielder. His style was unique even among dual wielder practitioner. The main difference was that he didn't use twin sword but he used one sword and one dagger.
"Careful guys. That guy ain't a pushover!"
Despite his youth looking face, Merle was merciless. That one instant kill made the other attacker re-evaluated him. They thought that this young man was just some nobody this party picked up at Jora city but apparently they were completely wrong.
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Not even five minutes passed and three of the attacker were already laying on the ground, devoid of life. Every single one of them were killed by Merle alone. As Len, Miur, Nova and Aria fought one opponent each, Merle was left with the rest of the enemy. The most the others could hope for was that Merle would hold on until they finished their fight. Never would they had guessed that Merle managed to kill them effortlessly though.
"What… what in the world are you?"
The leader of this attacking force stuttered as Merle walked toward him step by step. The group he brought with him couldn't be considered weak at all. True, he was only a leader of this group of eight which was just a part of the dispatched personnel to hunt these people. At the very least, there were a total of three silver ranked fighter in this group including him. This youth in front of him managed to defeat two of those silver ranked fighter alone.
"What am I really? I don't even know myself hehe."
With that sarcastic remarks, Merle leapt toward the leader. Both his weapon were slashed horizontally but it was parried by his opponent.
"Ugh!"
"Ah, you're quite good."
Merle was quite shocked when his next attack was parried again by that leader. Merle knew himself best. Normal silver ranked fighter couldn't hold a candle against him for sure. If not because of Najibby, he would totally proceed further in the tournament back then.
"Tch, I ain't the leader of this group for nothing!"
Now that Merle already stopped his barrage of attack, his opponent immediately retaliated.
"Hurricane Slash!"
The leader even used an advanced swordsman skill. His body swirled around producing hurricane around him with sword intent flying all over.
"Heh, that's quite decent."
Rather than being shocked or alerted by the activation of that advanced swordsman skill, Merle snickered as he observed his opponent. He was not threatened by that skill at all.
"This will do."
Merle crouched down like a toad with the hand holding his dagger touching the ground while his other hand with the sword was straighten to his side, ready to strike.
"Piercing Gale!"
"Plop."
With that shout, Merle disappeared from his current location. Everyone present were dumbfounded when they noticed that the sound following the loud shout of Merle was from the dropping of the leader's headless dead body. A few seconds later, another similar sound reappeared and this time it was the head of the leader itself which landed on the ground.
"So… whose turn is it next?"
Merle who just killed the leader of their opponent asked in a cool yet domineering manner.
"Stop please. There were more of us inside the city. If we didn't report to them in time then they will all come here!"
One of the survivors tried to reason his way out.
"So?"
That simple word Merle uttered sounds way too intimidating coming from someone who just killed their companions.
"This… this can't be happening!"
"Run… run for your life!"
One after another, the enemy started running away desperately. Len and the rest didn't bother chasing after them since they were shocked by how strong Merle was. After Merle killed that leader without breaking any sweat, their eyes were already glued to him ever since.
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"Bravo, bravo! That was really awesome for someone at your level."
A sudden compliment and a round of applause coming from the faraway dark area was something anyone would be shocked at.
"Arghhh!"
"Ouchh!"
"Who are you people? Arghh!"
Screams of dying people echoed as the sky turned darker by the second. Soon enough, two silhouette came out from the dark area where those attacker ran away earlier. Apparently, those dying scream came from those guys who met their end at these unknown assailant.
One handsome, slender yet tall young man and one gorgeous petite lady. These two had looks human couldn't compete with. Together with that enchanting look were pale colored skin as if they were devoid of blood. If one were to observe them carefully, even their ears were a bit pointy at their end. These two were obviously not humans.
"Master, we already got rid of those pest."
"There won't be any eyewitness since the very fact of us being here meant trouble for humanity."
As the two kneeled down, the one who clapped in amusement before this walked forward and stopped in front of those two. He was without a doubt their master. A middle aged man with aristocrat attire. He was someone with high social status from where he came for sure.
"Ah, thanks."
With his hand gesture, he made both his servant rose from their kneeling position with elegance.
"Who… who are you people?"
Len who couldn't comprehend the situation asked with a slightly higher tone. He was still in a state of adrenaline rush from earlier fight with the group from Triad Alliance when suddenly another group of unknown people barged in.
"Don't you dare to raise your voice in front of master!"
Not even one second after Len asked that question, blood started dripping bit by bit from his neck. A blade tip was there, barely touching his neck from his side. He didn't even noticed when this petite lady moved but she was already behind him before he knew it.
"Stop right there, Allear. I need to hear the whole story from them. Dead bodies can't talk."
"Sorry master. I acted on impulse."
"It's okay."
At this casual talk, Len who was moments away from being dead only felt dread. These three people actually sent shivers way more than Mays from their first meeting back then. Not just Len, everyone else were also petrified by the amount of killing intent exuded from these people. Even Merle was wary with these people.
He was sure that these people were stronger than him by a large margin. He even started regretting his decision to tag along with them following his father's order.
"So then, let's start. I am Count Arkenta and as you can see, I am a demi-human. A vampire to be exact. The reason of me being here is to get the truth about whatever happened to Rimau Kong in Jora city."
"Why would I tell you....URGHHH!!"
A hard fist landed on his stomach before he even finished his line. Allear who was beside him punched him the moment he showed disrespect to her master.
"Seriously, I didn't plan to hurt you at all. At the very least I planned on killing you as fast as I could. But you see… this servant of mine is kind of what you say… hot headed I guess."
Arkenta squatted as he talked down on Len. Len barely kept his consciousness as he stared dagger at Arkenta.
"Everyone! Run away from them!!"
Len who was still on the ground shouted as hard as he could. That was the only thing he could do at this moment.
Aria, Nova and Miur were all trembling in fear. They couldn't even move from that place. As for Merle, he was about to ran away before he was blocked by the other servant, the handsome looking young man.
"Hehe, don't be so fast on your way. I'm here to entertain you."
"Tch, who are you people?!"
Merle clicked his tongue and asked after his way out was blocked by this unknown person. He wanted to at least know who these formidable people were.
"I am Horiga, one of the servant of Lord Arkenta, a pureblood noble from Vampyr Dukedom. To be honest I have no obligation on answering your question but since you are one of those rare choosen 'Hero' I'll gladly tell you."
"Hero? Me? What nonsense are you spouting now?"
The more he heard, the more question popped out in his mind. Merle was totally clueless about what this person in front of him was saying.
"Bleh. To explain things simply, why do you think humans still alive right now? Reason was people like you, who were blessed with karma exists. And you know what demonic being like us love the most?"
"What?"
"Hunting people like you!!!!!"
Horiga leapt forward as he shouted. He was really eager to battle. As for Merle, he immediately readied his guard. He couldn't slack off against such an opponent.
"Come then. I'll show you human ain't easy prey either!"
Merle shouted as he tighten his grip on both his weapon.
Status de energia semanal
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