Chapter 28: Steal from thieves
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Southeast Beltir...
Nighfall in the town of Nieza...
A paunchy big-boned young man with curly brown hair is steaming chicken and vegetables in the kitchen of one of the town's taverns while singing and humming, trying to sing along with the loud patrons at the tables. After a while, a middle-aged woman with a plain face and a clothe tied to her hair, walked into the kitchen carrying wooden plates which she dumps into a wide wooden pail that is full of water.
The woman then called out to the paunchy man, "chubs! a street kid told me to hand you this", she pulled a tiny piece of cloth and gave it to chubs", the woman then walked out of the kitchen.
"My name's Ronnie you know!", chubs yelled before examining the white piece of cloth.
Suddenly remembering something, Ronnie quickly took off his apron and walked out of the tavern using the kitchen exit.
After a few minutes later...
"Hey, Chubs! What's taking too long?", the waitress walked back in and took a peek, 'where the hell is that guy?', the woman's eyes were then drawn to the small piece of clothing, she delivered earlier, but its contents didn't make sense to her.
A child's sketch of a winged serpent or a "Basilisk", which is the emblem of the house Valen.
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In a dark alley between the two two-story stone buildings that look like stores, the same paunchy man just arrives gasping for breath after sprinting three blocks from the tavern.
"Are you Ronnie Smould?"
Ronnie stared at the dark alley, trying to look for the source of the voice.
The voice asked again, "Well?"
"Yes, I'am Ronnie. Glory to the winged serpent".
"You have something for me", a figure in a dark corner slowly moved towards Ronnie.
"Forgive me, sir, I was late. Every now and then my sister would ask me to help with her job, but most of the days, I only work at my boss's store, truly", Ronnie explained his situation.
The figure moved closer, now revealing the indifferent face of a tall man with white hair, "you have something for me".
"Yes, yes sir", Ronnie hurriedly took out a medium-sized roll of paper then handed it to the other man.
The man then slowly backed away returning to the darkness, disappearing completely.
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Next morning at Piran castle's bailey...
Eric is spectating a sparing between Moris and Gallahan. The young lord hasn't seen the huge knight in action yet, the squared jaw fighter did get fatally injured against Geron, but from what he heard before, the man was still able to hold the bandit leader's attention while the soldiers are retreating. For Eric that itself is already a feat, considering that the bandit leader was second on Eric's combat efficiency ranking, or just simply, the second strongest he had met so far.
Rank number one is a guy named Hubert, a knight serving Duke Pelham, he wasn't able to fight the man but saw a match between him and Brugeur. Two years ago when Eric met Hubert, he confirmed that the latter has already reached the knight master level. Rank three would be Drake, and fourth is his eldest brother Brugeur.
Gallahan is wearing a full knight's armor using a crossguard long sword, in an overhead stance, he has a solid fundamental of a knight. Whereas, Moris, looked intimidating like "The Rock" with "Guile's" face from "Street Fighter" but with shorter gray hair, shirtless, and is armed with a glaive with a wide blade.
Both are using blunt weapons for sparring, but still can be lethal in the hands of experts. Gallahan is being overwhelmed and is being pushed back by the younger brute, but he is able to skillfully block and parry every single attack, while Moris's strikes look accurate and ferocious, evident by the wind pressure and sound that is made by every stabs and slashes. The result of the fight might be different if it's a life and death situation but for now, it's Moris's win.
Eric is thinking, 'If I can turn Moris into like "Lu Bu" from "Three Kingdoms", who can singlehandedly sliced through an army alone, that would be awesome. I need to at least make him a knight master, who is proficient in making his aura sharp enough around his glaive cutting through ranks of enemy soldiers. At the same time, I have to acquire Rikean bred warhorses, said to be the fastest and toughest in western Zevia. Imagine a cavalry of glaive wielding "Lu Bu's", ku ku ku'.
Spencer is standing next to his lord glancing at the Viscount's devious excited smile thinking, 'there he is again displaying that look'.
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Later in the afternoon, Eric's study...
The young lord just finished reading a piece of paper and is deep in thought, after a few minutes he called for the guard at his door, "yes, milord?", the young blonde responded.
"Call Moris, Sera, Gallahan, and Reginald for me".
"Yes, my liege".
After twenty minutes...
Sera and Reginald are sitting in front of the desk whilst Gallahan and Moris are standing in attention behind them, the young lord is on his feet leaning at the wall behind the desk facing them with his arms crossed.
"I'm gonna venture out later at dawn with Sir. Moris, Baches, Norman, my guards, and forty riders. I'll be away from maybe two days at most, the three of you will be left in charge", Eric gestured to Sera, Reginald, and Gallahan.
"Sera will have the authority on my behalf".
Everyone except Sera displayed a questioning face, but the old chamberlain was the one who spoke, "where and what are you planning to do, milord?"
Eric answered with a smile, "We'll try to steal from thieves".
Hearing Eric's answer, Sera slipped a little smile, Gallahan shook his head a bit with a slight smirk, while Reginald and Moris still have their confused looks.
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Three hours after midnight, over fifty lightly armored men slowly trotted out of Piran's main gate and disappeared to the west forest.