Arc 4 - A bitter meeting

NOTE: Vol 2 starts. MC is lost all his patience and is out for blood.

***

Ikarus moves like a blur through the trees.

His eyes flash with anger and his brow is furrowed.

He is not happy at all.

`There was no clue at the farm`

No traces.

None.

`Tsk. All I can do is hunt down every possible suspect in the area and question them. Bloodbrothers control the surroundings, so they are the number 1 suspects. I already killed Frosteye and his subordinates. Giantborn, Alaric and Old man remain. The bad thing is that I don't know where to find them. Torrhen told me everything he knew-`

The shinobi changes direction.

"Addam." He mutters under his breath.

Torrhen doesn't know where his brother is, but Addam may know something.

***

Frostpath Inn hasn't changed much in the last three days.

This time Ikarus doesn't transform into someone else, he's not in the mood for niceties.

His patience ran out long ago, anger guides his actions.

He swings the doors open.

Several eyes fix on him, he ignores them and walks purposefully to the counter.

Addam raises an eyebrow.

"Can I h--"

Ikarus interrupts him.

"Where is Alaric?" he asks bluntly.

"I don't know who you're talking about." He says evasively "If you're not going to buy anything, go away boy" his tone is scathing.

The boy grabs him by the shirt and pulls him towards him. Quite an amazing feat considering that Addam is a tall and rather fat man while Ikarus is a young teenager. Of course the peasants don't know that the boy is a shinobi, a superhuman being.

"I don't have time for this fat old shit." His voice is low and menacing. Addam gasps at the cold edge of a dagger at his throat. "Where is your son?" He emphasizes every word.

"I-I don't know." He stutters.

Ikarus's expression darkens even more.

He releases his grip on Addam's shirt and places a hand on his chest. He channels his chakra, sticking Addam's body to his hand, then picks him up and throws him across the room.

The innkeeper flies about twenty feet crashing into a table.

Customers rise from their seats, some drawing their weapons but most gaping at the teenager.

"He just dumped the old-"

"What the hell?!"

"For the gods-"

Ikarus walks slowly towards the innkeeper.

A man stands in his way.

"Look boy I don't know what's going o-"

Ikarus doesn't let him finish, he grabs his neck and throws him in the other direction, crashing into two other men a few feet away.

Addam tries to get up from the ground but before he can Ikarus is at his side.

"Where. Is. Alaric?"

The innkeeper stammers something.

Ikarus grits his teeth in anger.

He channels chakra into his body, lifts one leg and brings it down hard on the innkeeper's shin.

CRACK!

"AAAAAAHHHHHHHH!"

Addam screams in pain.

Ikarus ignores his yelling and asks again.

"Where. Is. Alaric?"

Addam doesn't answer him.

The shinobi walks over to his other leg and lifts his foot.

"STOP!" A female voice yells.

The Senju turns his head and sees a middle aged woman running towards them. Sansa, Addam's wife and Torrhen's mother.

The woman kneels beside her husband and looks at him pleadingly.

"Please my lord! We don't know where Alaric is. I swear by the gods."

"I don't give a shit about your gods woman. Your oath is worthless." The shinobi pulls out his dagger and twirls it between his fingers.

The threat is clear.

Speak or die.

Other idiots try to intervene in defense of the pair but Ikarus' icy gaze freezes them in place.

"Alaric. Leader of the Bloodbrothers. Where is he?" He repeats the question.

Murmurs begin to be heard in the inn.

"The Bloodbrothers?"

"The leader of those bastards is the son of Addam?"

"-"

"Last chance. Speak."

Addam says nothing. Ikarus stops playing with his dagger and takes a step towards the pair, his intentions clear.

"Loren!" Sansa yelled. Ikarus looks at her questioningly, raising an eyebrow.

"In Barrowtown a man named Loren. He's part of the Bloodbrothers! He must know where Alaric is." Addam tries to interrupt her but she shuts him up. "We're not going to die protecting that monster!" She looks spitefully at her husband. "He is an old man, he usually frequents taverns."

The shinobi calms down a bit.

"How will I recognize him?"

"He has a scar on his right forearm, a large cross."

Without saying anything Ikarus turns around and walks towards the door. Before leaving the inn he turns around and looks at them with a dead look.

"If what you said is a lie, I'll come back."

***

The sun is hidden by a large sea of ​​dark gray clouds. Wind howls and distant rumblings can be heard.

A storm is coming.

Peasants walk briskly through the streets of Barrowtown, many of them wrapped in thick cloaks protecting themselves from the icy wind.

A boy walks down the street wearing a thin sleeveless tunic. He ignores the cold or maybe he doesn't feel it. It's hard to tell, his face shows no emotion. But his eyes burn with fury. His emerald eyes are darkened but have a dangerous gleam in them.

The boy stops in front of a tavern, opens the door and enters.

It is the fourth tavern he visits.

His target was not in any of the previous ones but he knows that he is in the town.

Loren is well known in Barrowtown.

Every bartender had something positive to say about the old bandit.

Generous with his coins.

Gentle.

Affable.

Good story teller.

`A charismatic bandit by the looks of it, one who likes to talk. And he will talk.' The brief smile that appears on his face chills the blood of two men who were leaving the tavern. They both feel a shiver run down their spines.

Ikarus walks past them ignoring them. He approaches the bartender.

"I'm looking for-"

"Ikarus!" A voice interrupts him. The voice is familiar.

Ikarus turns around and sees an old man approaching him with a big smile on his face.

The old man is in his sixties with long hair tied in a low ponytail. His beard is quite long but also well kept. His ice blue eyes look at him with warmth.

`Ice Blue` Ikarus freezes.

"I just arrived in Barrowtown not an hour ago. What a coincidence to find you here, already young traveler." The old man comes to his side and passes his right hand over his shoulders.

"I've heard some very interesting rumours. They say that someone has collected the bounty on the most infamous criminal in the North." He chuckles "Nonsense if you ask me. Some upstart tricked the old castellan."

Ikarus's eyes are fixed on his right hand.

He reaches up and takes the old man's hand, rolls up his shirt sleeve and looks at his forearm.

A large cross-shaped scar.

"Old man Loren" his voice is low and shaky.