Chapter 27 - Return

The moment I heard that they were servants of Helheim, I loosened my grip on the dagger.

"Since you spoke so openly that you are servants of Helheim I imagine you know who we are." I spoke.

"Yes, sir."

"Right, where is the Smiling Boar tavern?" I asked.

"This way, sir." Spoke the man.

"Disappear with the bodies" spoke the man to the other three.

Their clothes consisted of a sort of black overcoat, a black hood covered their faces and a balaclava covering from the nose down.

"I like the outfit, but don't you think it draws too much attention wearing that in a city?" I asked.

"You could say that, we only wear it when it's time to attack or at night, to disguise ourselves we do it this way." Said the man as he took off his hood and balaclava, soon after he took off his overcoat and turned it inside out, his side was patched and dirty as if he had been wearing it for years without washing, attached to the man's body was a vest with several throwing knives, and two daggers the size of my forearm was stuck in the sides.

"Oh, clever." I spoke with a smile.

"We wear these long clothes because it makes hidden weapons more imperceptible."

After about two minutes of walking the man stopped in front of an almost hidden door in this alley.

The door was made of dam wood, it had a boar's head with a smile stamped on it.

'This looks expensive' I thought looking at the door.

"This is it sir" spoke the man.

"Thank you, what is your name?" I asked.

"Michael" he spoke.

"Right, see you next time, Michael" I said, and Michael nodded and went on his way to the place we came from.

Opening the door, I found a very refined place, tables and chairs lined up, its decoration was composed of stuffed boar heads, its wooden floor gleamed, as if they were varnished, the wall had details in wood, candelabras illuminated the environment, in the background, a bard was playing his banjo, the place smelled of wine and wood.

Why would a place of this standard be in this part of town, which is not even the noble area?

The tavern was empty, with no people drinking, or eating, the only person present was the man behind the bar, who when he saw that they opened the door, immediately cracked a smile.

"Finally you have arrived, come in and have a seat, I will bring food and drinks." Spoke the man, as he walked to where I assume is the kitchen.

"Kaiser, rest time" said the tavern keeper to the Bard, who quickly picked up his banjo and left the room.

As we were walking towards a table near the bar, I felt a shiver run down my spine, and immediately drew my dagger.

It was very fast, in the blink of an eye there it was...

A knife almost touching my neck.

"As always, my lord, your abnormal reaction." Spoke the person with a smile, while pulling the knife back.

"Elric, you scared me," I said, also retracting my dagger that was touching his neck and drawing a trickle of blood.

"If you had come all out, you certainly wouldn't have seen how I died, your skills are well advanced." I spoke with a smile

"Thank you my lord, I always try to do my best in the skills you have instructed me." said Elric with a smile.

"It's been years and that son of a bitch still scares me." Kevin spoke with a smile.

I pulled Elric into a hug, which he returned.

"I've missed you, my friend," I said.

"Me too, sir" replied Elric.

"Hey, we're here too!" Rhoslyn spoke with a hurt tone.

"Okay, come here" spoke Elric pulling Rhoslyn into a hug.

"I missed you Elric" spoke Rhoslyn.

"Me too Rhos" spoke Elric, with a small blush on his cheekbones.

"Hi Runt, creepy as always, Hahahaha" Spoke Sigurd with a loud laugh, as he stretched out his right arm.

"And you're still ugly" spoke Elric, extending his right hand to Sigurd's forearm and squeezed it.

"I missed you, Elric" spoke Astrid, as she pulled Elric into a hug.

"So did you guys" retorted Elric.

"We missed you too" spoke Kevin and Perseus hugging Elric from behind.

"Okay, enough of the mushy stuff, let's catch up" I said, as I sat down at the table.

Soon after everyone was seated, the tavern keeper came over with several plates.

"Fuck, I'm fucking hungry." Sigurd said, drooling as he looked at the plates.

"Tongue" spoke Perseus.

"No filler" retorted Sigurd.

"Hahaha, I missed those moments." Spoke Elric, with a smile plastered on his face.

"I learned of all your adventures, the stories of Yggdrasil echo throughout Westeros." Elric spoke.

"Really? I thought information from the North is harder to get" spoke Astrid.

"And indeed it is, the climate, the distance, are some of the factors that contribute to making it difficult, but I made sure everyone knows of our accomplishments." Spoke Elric.

"It is as they say, the oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest of all fears, is the fear of the unknown, before Elric left, I passed on some tasks for him to do and one of them was for him to publicize our accomplishments in the north." I spoke.

"But what is the reason?" Perseus asked.

"Simple, I want to be the hand that controls things in the dark and the hand that helps the needy, people have a huge desire to believe in something, Become the focus of that desire by offering them a cause, a new faith to follow, and they will follow you to the ends of hell."

"I have no dark goals, I truly long for a world of peace and prosperity, where parents are not afraid to lose their child to pests, greed or cruelty."

"If you want peace, prepare for war"