Chapter: 45
“Hess, check these papers, tell me if there’s any problems”
“Yes sir” Hess was more comfortable around tactician-bertram. While he hated Bertram, he knew that he could be treated much worse. Besides, he may still learn a thing or two, so he worked hard for him.
“Sir.”
“Hmm?” Bertram didn’t even look up.
“Won’t the local lord have a problem with this?”
“Haha, he won’t say anything, I’ve made sure of that, boy” Bertram tapped his large coin pouch.
“I see… What about your reputation?”.
“HA! We’re in a small, distant town where these commoners never leave. Besides, I’m the only merchant who bothers to come here. Their opinions mean nothing! Ha!” He slapped his knee.
“Oh, I see sir. I suppose there are no problems then”.
“No problems at all.” Bertram smiled and looked up from his paperwork. “I’ll make another hefty sum of gold from these new adventurers and then we’ll leave after the coin dries up.”
—
Jay was sprinting back to the village when he received a notification
[15 Exp]
He smirked. “Heh, I wonder what they caught”.
Getting back to the south road, he drank the rest of the water from his bottle and washed his face a little. He was hoping the stinky mud would dry up and fall off, but it seemed like he smelt just as bad as before.
Storing his bottle away, he kept running; slowing down would only make him begin to shiver as the sky began to darken.
—
Jay felt eyes on him as he neared the village.
Five spearmen blocked the road while a woman behind them held a crossbow, aimed at him.
Standing leisurely by her side was an athletic-looking muscular man – he was not big and bulky with too much muscle, but was more like a hunter who could both chase down his target and execute it with brutal efficiency. Wearing medium armour composed of thick hide, leather fastenings and dark-blue bux beetle shell pauldrons, he appeared to be bored.
“Eyes on target, captain. It just left the woodline. Permission to fire.”
“Wait till it gets a little closer..” The captain said with his arms folded.
As Jay approached, he was wondering why all those guards seemed to be glaring at him. Curiously, he slowed to a walk, wondering what was going on.
“It slowed down… It could be intelligent…” The captain narrowed his eyes “Stay vigilant. Only take a shot when you’re sure about hitting it” The captain coached the girl.
She nodded, holding her crossbow a little more tightly as she braced herself and prepared to fire. She aimed at Jay and slowly squeezed the trigger – suddenly, the captain yelled.