Lord Arbah, the City Lord

The heat intensified as both sides stared at each other without making any move. There was even a brief silence as both sides tried to gauge each other's strength.

"Prepare to meet your maker, dumbass!"

With that loud shout, both officer leapt forward and swing their sword toward Mays. There were clear killing intent behind both their attack. Since their previous attack was evaded easily, they knew now that Mays was not just some pushover. He had the skills to back his action.

"Careful!"

The old man who was the cause of this incident shouted when he saw both the officer strike at Mays ferociously. There was nothing he could do since he didn't have the power to stand against those officer.

He felt sorry for dragging a young man into his problem but everything had already happened. He couldn't just pretend that nothing happened at all.

A loud cheer sounded as Mays once again easily evaded both the attack directed toward him. The formerly small crowd already grown big with more and more people gathered after they heard the cheering sounds and come to take a peek themselves.

"Heh kid you got skills. I don't really wants to drag this but if you apologized right now I might consider letting you off easy."

With a smirk, Mays replied nonchalantly.

"Why would I? It's obvious the fault lies with you guys."

Their face turned red out of anger soon after. Their attack became more focused and deadly. Mays was not planning to delay the fight any longer though.

He leapt forward before he knocked both the officer down with a weak strike behind their neck using both his hands. The audience were shocked beyond belief when they saw what just happened.

"Auck!"

"Argh!"

Those two officer were in no way just some weaklings. They were both bronze ranked fighter. If not because of how strong they were, the terror they instilled into everyone who lived in these parts would be broken already. But just in a few seconds, these two were knocked out easily by an unknown young man.

"Whoaaa!! Awesome!"

"What just happened?"

"For real?"

After Mays walked away from the scene, everyone who was previously dumbfounded shouted in disbelief. Even the old man who was helped by Mays couldn't say anything as he saw Mays walked away and disappeared into the crowd.

"In the end, nothing good gonna happen to that guy for sure. The city lord won't just let this event ended like this."

"Ugh the city lord. I wish that guy would leave this city before the city lord found out."

"Hope so. The city lord was after all a silver class fighter. None who incur his wrath in this city lived to tell the tale."

Soon after, the crowd dispersed as the star of the event already disappeared into thin air. As for both the officer that were knocked out, nobody even bothered to take them away. Almost everyone at the marketplace had been abused by those two either directly or indirectly hence they didn't felt the need for them to offer any help at all.

One of the officer woke up after an hour before he rushed towards his partner and wake the others up. Apparently they couldn't remember how in the world the two of them were knocked down by that young man they encountered previously.

They both observed their surroundings to check whether that person who knocked them was still there but obviously he was not. The two of them then looked at each other before nodding in unison.

They then ran in the same direction toward the biggest building in Kokala city, the city lord's mansion. With only one thought in mind, they rushed there with haste.

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Kokala city was one of the few small city inside Mercia kingdom that was acknowledged as a full-fledged city with a feudal lord governing over it. There were a total of twenty three large city inside Mercia kingdom and of course each of them had their own feudal lord governing over them. That system only applied to large cities.

For small cities, only a few of them had a feudal lord. Out of almost one hundred small city spread around Mercia kingdom, there were less than five small cities which have feudal lords governing them. Kokala city was one of the five.

Lord Arbah was the current city lord of Kokala city. He was the most influential person inside Kokala city. Nobody dared to defy him nor his orders. Not just because of his status as the feudal lord, but also at him personally.

He was one of the silver ranked warrior within Mercia kingdom and also the strongest person inside Kokala city. Even if he was actually at the lowest level among all those silver ranked warrior, it was still an indisputable fact that he was a silver ranked warrior.

The previous city lord, Lord Antor was his father. His father was currently away after he was appointed as Mercia kingdom's war advisor when his several contributions were acknowledged by the royalties.

His father was also a silver ranked warrior which was obviously stronger than Lord Arbah himself. But after Lord Antor left for Royal city of Merry, Lord Arbah was without a doubt the strongest person in Kokala city.

Lord Antor left for the war advisor positions two years ago. It was then when abrupt changes started in Kokala city. Unlike the wise and just ruler Lord Antor, Lord Arbah was the worst kind of ruler. In these short two years, his bad deed already towered high as mountain.

The moment Lord Antor left, Lord Arbah changed entirely as if he was a different person altogether. Nobody knew why this lord suddenly changed into this kind of person but some suspected that it have to do with a shady visitor who came to him two years ago.

The royal city of Merry was a faraway place and obviously nobody would bother trying to notify his father about any of his bad deed. Because of that, this past two years had been living hell for those who lived in Kokala city.

To Lord Arbah, the current Kokala city was his paradise. He could do whatever he wanted without anyone obstructing him. The whole armed forced inside the city was his to be ordered.

Every single officer, guards and soldiers would move as he wanted. At first there were some who tried to oppose him but after being crushed easily, nobody ever dared to raise a hand against him anymore. All the good officers had either fled of killed by him during this two years.

That was the truth until today. A mysterious young man suddenly raised a hand on his lackey, the officers who diligently did their job at maintaining the orders of the marketplace. His face turned red as he knocked the table in front of him as hard as he could.

"Who is it? The one who dared to defy the order made by the great me really need to be taught a lesson."

"I'm sorry my lord, we didn't know who he is. He might be just some traveller who stopped by our city and pretended to uphold justice while beating us as he sees fit."

One of the officers immediately answered the question asked to them by the city lord. From their tone, it was obvious even they were afraid of the person known as the city lord.

"Tch, insolent fools. Close all city gates. Find him. Let me show him who the boss of the city is."

"Right away my lord!"

Both the officer shouted in unison before then hurriedly left the room. Inside the room now stood one fierce looking man, the city lord, Lord Arbah.

"Another fool trying to play hero? Hehe this world was just full of fools. If I was still a good guy, I would never know how great it feel when beating all these wannabe heroes."

He was a sturdy build man who was still around his early thirty. His skin was quite tanned and his facial feature was rather scary. A gaze from this scary looking man would obviously instilled fear to those who accidentally met his eyes.

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Mays was walking leisurely inside the city without any worry at all. He realized that there were some big movement inside the city where he occasionally saw groups of soldiers, guards and officers walking around in a hurried manner.

Not in the slightest would Mays knew that all those people were actually deployed to look and apprehended him for what he just did a few hours ago.

As most of them didn't even know how Mays actually looked like, these people looked for Mays as per described. A young man with black hair around twenty five years of age wearing a worn out grey cape.

The main reasons why they couldn't recognize Mays was because currently Mays's attire was totally different compared to a few hours ago. It was quite hot inside Kokala city so Mays decided to put off his cape after he left the marketplace.

Right now he was only wearing his signature armors, Crimson Death Armor sets. He looked like a young master of some distinguished family with his current full set crimson armor outfit.

The only difference his current look had from his in game character look was that he didn't equip both his signature sword with him. Mays was a dual wielder and he wielded the notorious Blood Devouring sword. There were only three copy of that legendary sword and he managed to get two of them.

The main reasons Mays stored that sword and used an epic tier sword mainly because his previous sword were way too eye-catching. It shed stardust every time it clashed with other weapons. It even left a rainbow colored aurora every time it slashed forward.

Even during his travels before he entered Kokala city, he already swapped his swords to these shabby looking one, Heaven Illusion Swords. At least, this sword had the effect to conceal the sword's tier which made it looks overly normal.

Even though the swords he was using right now was in actuality one tier lower compared to his real one, Mays didn't mind it as much. True, his current swords had lower base stat, way lower if compared to a legend tier sword but it didn't cause trouble to him. At least, with how low levelled the society surrounding him was, these stat difference wouldn't matter to him.

After blending in with the traveling group, Mays already knew how hard it was to get a hold of a rare grade items. Within the group Mays was traveling with, only Len had a rare weapon while the others just make do with either normal or uncommon grade gears.

It was safe to say that rare grade item was a luxury items which were hard to get and obviously items with higher grade were more like a myth to most people. At the very least, the people in Kokala city were way low leveled that they couldn't even differentiate the grade of items used by other people.

Only those who reached silver ranked or higher had the ability to do so. Thanks to that, in everyone's eyes, Mays was just a lone adventurer with a decent equipment suitable for a young master.

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"What happened? Why are the soldiers move in a hurry?"

Len who strolled inside the city were shocked by the sudden movement of soldiers in the city. He who was busy checking on prices of food were quite disturbed by the soldiers that were restless and frantically moving all around.

He was no fool so he already guessed that something had happened inside the city but he didn't know what exactly happened. As he asked that question to the stall owner he currently was engaging, the owner asked Len to come closer before he whispered something to Len.

"Early this morning, someone beat several officers of the city inside the marketplace. These soldiers were now deployed to look for that person. It's best if you don't cross any of them. Nothing good ever happened when you got involved with them."

"Is it true?"

Len asked for confirmation.

"Yeah. I gain nothing in telling lies."

From his way of talking, it was obvious that the stall owner had a bad impression on the officers and even all the soldiers inside the city. Len didn't bother to pry further since everything that happened here was in no way related to him at all.

He was just a passer-by and would be leaving soon enough. He didn't plan to get delayed just because he meddled with something he shouldn't.

After getting what he came for, Len immediately leave the stall after he paid for what he took. The stall owner just smiled wryly as he saw Len moved away. He knew Len was a traveler and he was just dropping by the city to get provisions.

He even prayed for the safety of Len because the stall owner knew that it wouldn't be easy for Len to go out when the city gate was already ordered to be locked down.

The current city lord was a petty man. Just because someone obstructed his way of doing things, he mobilized the whole force in the city to hunt that one person. The stall owner already knew about how the city lord do things but he was in no position to critic him. He was after all a citizen of Kokala city.

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Miur was walking together with her two bodyguard, Aria and Nova. Most eyes were glued at the three of them as they were quite the beauty. Leaving the not yet developed teen Miur aside, both Aria and Nova were the most beautiful woman in their group.

Seeing the group of beauties passing by, even the hurried soldiers stopped and stared at the three of them. The three of them were sightseeing while looking for something that would picked their interest so of course they paid no minds towards all the gazes directed on them. It was then when suddenly someone walked towards them with a grin on his face.

"Hi there. I'm the chief officer Kuza. May I know who might you people be?"

Kuza was a tall and skinny man with short hair. His neat clothes together with a monocle really made him looked like a well-educated person.

"This is our young lady, Miur. I'm her bodyguard Aria and this one is Nova. Is there something amiss?"

Aria answered to the question asked by the chief officer with haste. She knew that they couldn't afford to anger this man as this was obviously not their turf. One mistake and they would all be ganged here without anyone back home knowing.

"Nothing of great importance but by any chances had you guys meet with a young man in his twenties wearing a worn down cape recently?"

That question shocked the three of them as they obviously knew the man in question was without a doubt someone they knew, Mays.

Both Aria and Nova didn't make any weird expression as they were trained to hide their emotions but it was a different case for Miur. Her current facial expression was a total giveaway to Kuza.

"Well, well, what do we have here? I believe we have a long chat ahead of us. Take them away!"

Kuza grinned as he ordered his guards to capture all three of them.

"What are you doing?"

"Stop!"

"Stop this instant. My father won't allow this!"

Miur even tried to scare them using her father's reputation. It obviously had no effect though.

"Cease those useless banter. In this city, Lord Arbah is the law!"

Kuza knew from the start that these people had dealings with the person they were looking for. He never saw them together but his instinct told him so.

He relied on his instinct so far and this time it worked brilliantly like how it had always been. With a smirk, he left the scene together with his men and the three captive.

Miur struggled to break free but of course her action were fruitless. What could she even do in front of these veteran soldiers? Even her two bodyguards just go with the flow and ceased their resistance.

The two bodyguard knew how bad their current situation were right now. Inside a city, the city lords and his soldiers were absolute existence. Nobody could anger them and then walked away scot free. Unless, that nobody was actually someone with a heaven defying might.

Not too far from the location of that incident, Len stood at the center of the city plaza looking restless. Several other member of their group were also there but apparently their young lady and her two bodyguards were nowhere to be seen. This city was obviously a place where they hold no authority at all hence Len was worried if something happened to the young lady.

The young lady and her two bodyguards were late. They should have arrived at the meeting place at least one hour ago but even now they were nowhere in sight. It was understandable to be late if the young lady wanders alone but apparently her two bodyguards were with her. Both of them were strict and punctual so getting late was never an option to them.

"Tch, those girls are late."

Len sighed. He was restless since there were too many movement of the soldier inside the city.It was then when suddenly a loud shout echoed from the biggest building in the city. The shout come from the city lord's mansion.

Len's face turned green once he heard the shout. Reason was, the name of his lady alongside with both her bodyguards were shouted as people who plotted against the city lord and were captured by them.

"Mays!!!!!!!!!"

"Your accomplice already in our hand. Surrender now or the three of them will die!!"

That was the finishing line of the shout. Only a silver class warrior could shout that loud as it was actually one of a warrior's advanced skill, Taunting Roar. Obviously, only the city lord himself could do that here in this city.

"Ehhh? An atrocious city lord who backs up his doucebag underling. Damn, never thought they are real."

Mays who heard that shout sighed at the situation at hand. This was totally cliche beyond cliche. Were all city lord born to be bad guy? Even Mays couldn't understand why had him encountered these cliche scene one after another after coming here.

"Damnit. It's Lady Miur and the rest. Let's move guys!"

"Yessir!"

Without wasting time, Len rushed toward the source of that shout. He knew that something bad were bound to happen to his young lady. The others immediately followed after Len since he was their leader.

Inside the city lord's mansion, there were already a huge crowd of people gathered. Most of them were bystanders who come over just to kill some time but among them were some shady people who had other motives for being there. These few people might belong to some shady organization with a valid reason to watch and observe the strength of the city lord.

As one of these people glared at the city lord, he kept looking at his wrist as if there was something out of the ordinary. If one were to look carefully, there was actually an hourglass lookalike tattoo on that man wrist.

Surprisingly, the sand on the tattoo really did flowed like a real hourglass. When all the sand on the top side already flowed over, the shady man nodded before he shouted.

"It's time. Go!"

That very moment, more than a dozen of hooded people immediately rushed toward their designated planned destination without hesitation. Some were even stopped by the guards but they took care of the guards right away as professional as they were.

Nobody would have guessed who they were nor what they were planning to do but one thing for sure was that something were bound to happen which would disrupt the current tranquillity.

The city lord, Arbah and his four trusted aid were gathered in the middle of the plaza, inside the city lord's mansion. Beside them were a square metal cage around five meter cube in size. There were silhouette of humans inside the metal cage, three of them in total.

Miur, Aria and Nova were inside that cage. The three of them didn't even shout nor try to do anything. They just sat at the corner of the metal cage with a grim expression. They knew well nobody could get them out of this predicament if the city lord already planned something for them.

"There seems to be some disturbance. Have the perpetrator come out?"

Lord Arbah asked with his usual arrogant tone. He who was still seated on his unique lion shaped chair already noticed that something was amiss. There were too many movements and small battle which occurred within the city lord mansion's vicinity.