First Encounter With The Gang
At the corner of his eye, Arden saw a group of men walking to the opposite he is going to. The group will meet each other at some point, he is worried something would happen.
But decided to wait patiently and see what they would do.
He adjusted his hood until the point he believes his face can't be seen anymore and the group did the same thing as he did.
The group came closer to each other and there he sees him… Haldin, one of his commander.
As the group met each other at a point in the road, Haldin, seeing a little kid struggling to carry one of the many barrels, decided to slap the barrel away from him.
Haldin's friend laughing behind him as he did this.
While struggling and getting his balance disturbed, the barrel slipped from his hand like a fish escaping a fisherman's hand.
Thud
Splash!
The barrel hit the road, and it exploded, shrapnel being thrown in every direction as the people watch from the distance.
Maverick stood there, didn't move and straighten his body. Almost all corners of his robe covered with the content inside the barrel.
Some of the content in it landed on Haldin's leather armour, instantly making him mad even though all of this thing was caused by him.
"You peasant boy! Do you know who am I?" Maverick stood there, his face still covered in the robe, but his body showed that he didn't flinch at all.
Half of Haldin's group began to scold Maverick and obviously licking Haldin's shoes at that time saying "look at this lord" and other things that seem to make Haldin happy.
Meanwhile, at the other place. Arden whispers to his group to drop the barrel to the floor and not do anything and wait to see what the guards do.
"Drop the barrels on the floor and don't do anything, let's see what the guards would do" Arden never got a reply from others but he knew they got the message.
The guards seeing no response from Arden and his subordinates made a decision to handle the situation with their own hands.
2 guards trying to talk some sense into a group of men laughing at the small kid getting bullied by one of their friends.
"Sir Haldin, please not do that" Haldin turned his attention to him and raised his eyebrows.
"How dare you to tell something to me!" The guard seems to get more nervous and just look into each other.
"It's for your own good sir, otherwise you will regret it!" With voice being raised at him, Haldin got even madder and started to mock Arden's group.
"Why should I be afraid? Do you think I'm afraid of this group of beggars? Why are you backing them on stealing beers from the pub?" Not letting the guards to respond, he continues his word.
"The answer is no, I'm not afraid, I can get you fired from your work, do you know who am I?" Arden responded to the question with a fake voice"
"DO YOU KNOW WHO AM I?" Haldin looked at him and still haven recognize the person he is talking to.
"Whatever, I don't give a duck, I need a place to be, let's go men" He gestured for his group to follow him and left the place.
The crowd of people watching starting to disperse and the group continued their way back to the castle.
However, there is a thought lingering at Arden's mind…
'Where did he go, is it so important to the point he abandoned his training at the yard and left the place?' The thought lingers at his mind before him saying.
"Men, continue your way to the castle, Bryan and Rob follow me!" Arden turned to the guard and asked a favour.
"Can we borrow your weapons?" The guards look at each other nervously for a moment.
"Uh, sure…" Arden took the weapons and shared it to Bryan and Rob.
Since the guards carry 2 kinds of weapon, a spear and a sword each. It's enough for all of them.
They parted ways and Arden with his 2 best men started strolling the street of the town in order to search for Haldin.
That's when he remembered the things called drugs.
'His behaviour changed so much, I think it's related to drugs.' Bryan and Rob thought of the same thing and asked him.
"Sir, I think he is related to the things called drugs!" While strolling the streets with a pretty fast pace, Arden remembered about the dark alleys.
'That is my best bet" He set his directions to the dark alleys and began making his way there.
Some minutes of searching for the location, they finally found it.
Based on his experience living at the dark alley of the City of Avalon, crimes happen at the deepest part of the dark alley.
Only some bravest man or the one that is powerful that dare to use the deepest part as a shortcut.
He had seen many crimes, some of them he can't stand seeing it. Rapes, fight, robbery, kidnapping and many other kinds of crimes.
He and his 2 commanders beside him, began venturing to the dark alley cautiously and calmly at
Not even 5 seconds since they entered the dark alley, a drunk man passes out, almost all of his clothes were taken away and bruises covered his bodies.
They, however, ignored him as they have more important business to do with Haldin.
As they entered deeper and deeper, the sign of a group of men walking toward a certain direction can be seen.
They followed the track, and it ends in front of the door of a building, looks like any ordinary buildings.
Not to waste time, Bryan step forward and knock on the door while making sure his face can't be seen.
To their surprise, someone behind the door just opened it casually, all the people inside the building can be seen straight away.
And there is Haldin with his man, smoking the drugs and almost unconscious.
They got inside, and the smell is awful. The room is dirty, with several papers on fire left out.
They saw the person who opened the door for them and he seems to cannot control his own body. Very high on drugs.
Since most of them can't even fight or are not unconscious, Arden and his 2 other commander have an impressive time capturing the people.
Arden and his men tied them up with whatever they could find and began making their way with swords pointed at Haldin's group back in case they fought back.
People stare at them, doing nothing and just watching. Some of them ran to the guard post and brought guards back with them.
Arden's face now can be seen, his hood is not on and he doesn't feel the need to use the hood of his robe.
The guards seeing his face instead of doing something to him just looked at him with a confused look of what to do.
In the end, they followed him to ensure his safety…
But then… the crowd of people start disappearing in the distance, could be seen a large group of men waiting with weapons at their hands.
As they got closer, Arden told the group to stop and told one of the guards to call for reinforcements.
Not like they going to need it, the numbers are fair and Arden's side probably can win the fight with the skilled guards at his side.
The captured people that comprise of Haldin and his group were put at the backline. Ensuring they can't escape.
They can't avoid the thing that is unavoidable, both sides unsheathed their weapons and fight each other.
Arden, with his excellent commanding skill, ordered the guards to do fake charges. Both side charges at each other and when it's the right time, the guard form a spear wall.
Charging into a spear wall is not a good thing to do, especially when there is no armour protecting the body.
In a matter of seconds, many fell down, either unconscious or dead. Half of the surviving one ran away and half got surrounded and forced to surrender.
With minimum casualties at Arden's side and maximum casualties at the enemies, Arden continued making his way to the castle.
Half of the guard followed him to escort the captured one, and a half stayed to clean the scene.
The captured one was brought to the dungeon for further interrogation and Haldin himself was lying on the floor, sleeping like a baby.
Many of his soldiers watch him with disgust, his face still white from all the drugs he used.
The once bossy and person to them now sleeping like a baby to the floor.
"Bryan, Rob, drag Haldin to the office, we will have a little talk with him" They complied and dragged him.
Him, with the effect of the drug he took and all the tiring things he did made him sleep like in a deep slumber.
His head hit the wall once, and he didn't even wake up. Bryan and Rob still trying their best to not hit him with any other objects though.
Once they reached the office, he was left on the cold floor, still in his deep slumber.
3 of them waited for him to wake up while having some small talk in the office.
They waited and waited until its noon. While they waited, Arden called for Maverick and asked him if he was okay.
Later, he gave him the rest of the 55 Aurens from the budgets and told him to bring the men at the first place to buy the remaining supplies needed to be bought.
Haldin woke up, his vision was unclear, but he could see the 3 people waiting for him. 2 of them sitting at a chair and 1 watching out of the window.
As soon as he realized he was in the office, he knew he was in a big trouble…