Ambushing Hunter

After taking their quest and temporary papers to get in and out of the city, Hunter exited the adventurers guild without making any trouble. The elf gave them a parchment with their details and the guild's emblem marked on it and asked them to keep it safe. Without this parchment, the guards wouldn't let them inside the city through the main gates. Once they completed their first quest, they would be officially adventurers and receive their adventurer's pass. These adventurers' passes would enable them to live in the kingdom as temporary citizens. As Brianna informed them, they had to complete two quests every month to keep their passes from being revoked.

"What's the plan, boss?" asked Thrud on their way toward the main gate. Now that they had the temporary papers, they could go out of the city gates through the main gates.

"Take our horses, go to the new moon forest, and hunt down some goblins," said Hunter. Since adventures were pretty common in Bellburn city, the nobles didn't seem to take notice of Hunter and his group. On his way to the main gates, Hunter studied the city around him and drew a map of it in his mind.

"Boss, we might need to go back to the camp. It's on the way to the new moon forest," said Thrud.

"Hmm," Hunter nodded. Some of the vendors were marketing their products on the streets. Hunter saw all kinds of vendors and street stalls, Vegetables, flowers, and pottery, just to name a few. Noble ladies bargained with the vendors at almost every stall. Meanwhile, some dwarves fought each other, rolling on the ground with many as spectators. None of them bothered to stop the fight as Hunter joined the crowd and looked at the dwarves with fascination. He only read them and watched them in the movies. Seeing the dwarves in person astonished Hunter. These short men had long bears, bulky bodies and were only four feet tall. Despite their size, the dwarves were unruly creatures who loved to drink, fight and forge stuff.

"Why are they fighting?" Hunter asked the human standing next to him.

"Who knows, man? They are dwarves," said the man. Hunter continued to watch the dwarves beat each other with mugs until he grew bored. Then, Hunter squeezed through the crowd to the other side and continued on his path to the main gates. Eventually, Hunter saw the gigantic metal doors with several soldiers armed to the teeth patrolling.

"Stop," When Hunter approached the archway next to the gate, a soldier stopped them. The soldier was clad in armor from head to toe. Hunter could only see the pair of hazel eyes staring at him through the gap in his helmet.

"I haven't seen you around here," the soldier said. He kinda sounded like a robot because of all the armor.

"We just came into the city and joined the adventurers guild," Hunter answered the soldier with a respectful tone.

"Another one," the soldier rolled his eyes and lost all interest in them, which was a good thing. Until he could get enough coins and influence, Hunter knew he had to lay low and try his best not to draw the attention of the law in this world.

"Here are our passes," Hunter slowly took out the parchment from inside his shirt and handed it over to the soldier.

Hunter waited for the soldier to take a look at all their temporary passes and give them the green signal to exit the city. The soldier took his sweet time and eventually let them through the gate. Once Hunter stepped out of the city, he exhaled heavily.

"Something is wrong with them, boss. They don't usually check for passes when we exit the city. It's the other way around," Thrud rubbed his chin. Since the world lacked technological development, the news still traveled at a snail's pace. Hence, most of the people still didn't know what happened to Xander and his devils button fields.

"They seem tense," said Thrud. Being a bandit was not easy, as they had to read their marks well. Otherwise, a mage or a royal guard could disguise themselves as a civilian and ambush them anytime. So as the scout of the bandit camp, Thrud was somewhat of an expert in reading people's body language.

Kolvar knew very well what the reason was for the soldiers to act that way. However, he kept his mouth shut. If the words got out that two slaves murdered their masters, raised the fields to the ground, and escaped, the entire city would be in chaos, and almost every soldier in the kingdom would hunt them down for the prices on their heads.

Luckily for Kolvar, there was no record of a slave killing their master for over a hundred years. The new slave bond made it impossible for that to happen. So even after the news of Xander's demise gets out, the slaves would be at the bottom of the suspect list.

"Let's just focus on finishing the quest first," said Hunter.

After leaving the safety of the city walls, Hunter saw the slums in the near distance. By the time they exited the city, the sun was way above their heads. The sky, mid-afternoon, was a beautiful canvas graced with sky blues and pure milky whites. Under the golden sun, the roads shimmered in the heat. The blue sky was void of any clouds, as though the go the god had wiped the sky clean.

The trio walked the dirt path going out of the city and reached the junction where the path forked into three paths. One path led to the slums, one led to the new moon forest, and one led to Xander's manor and the devils button field. The path leading to Xander's manor was paved with cobblestones since this path was mostly used by merchants and soldiers of Xander's manor. With no trees to provide shade, Hunter broke into sweat while he was going to the slums. The sun was a harsh reminder to Hunter that he was no longer the Dictator he used to be. There were no pretty sexy maids to take care of his needs like water for his thirst. Although his mouth was dry as a bone, he would rather die of thirst than drink the slum water.

Eventually, Hunter reached the Octagon's hut, where he saw Nirdan, the guard, once again.

"You looking for your horses?" Jordan asked with a mocking smile on his face. He was amused to see them drenched in their own sweat. As much as Hunter liked to wipe the smoke off Nirdan's face, he calmed himself down.

"Where are they?" asked Hunter.

"Wait here," Nirdan said, looked behind at the empty tent, and left his position to bring the horses to them.

"Still no signs of Octagon," Thrud said., looking at the empty tent. The slum citizens gawked at them occasionally while they were waiting for the horses, which made Kolvvar slightly uncomfortable. He was still jumpy and felt reluctant to be with new faces.

"What is he still doing?" Kolvar muttered.

"Relax," Hunter calmed him down, and thanks to the gods, Nirdan returned to them with the horses. Kolvar heaved a sigh of relief.

Hunter didn't waste any more time in the slums as he mounted his black mane horse.

"Thank you," Hunter thanked Nirdan, pulled the reins, and gave a gentle kick to the horse. His horse neighed before turning around and galloping through the slum houses.

Even the horses seemed to be happy they were leaving the slums and the stink in the air. They galloped as fast as they could and put the slums on their backs after a while. The trio rode their horses toward their bandit camp. Hunter was the fastest among them as he was trained to ride horses since he was a little kid.

Eventually, they rode into the forest, escaping the scorching hot sun. By the time Hunter reached the campsite, the sun had reached the horizon, resulting in a drop in the temperature. Hunter rode into the camp through the foliage only to be startled by what he saw before him. The campsite was completely destroyed as bodies of the bandits littered the ground. Every single tent was torn apart, and some had scorch marks around the ground. The air reeked of blood. Whoever attacked the bandit camp showed no compassion or mercy toward them. They absolutely slaughtered them. Hunter's heart ached to see his minions in bits and pieces. He had a whole plan depending on them.

Hunter's neck hair stood up as he felt an immediate threat. But before he could react, he felt a sharp pain on the back of his head. The last thing Hunter saw before everything went dark was a figure of a woman. A while later, Hunter slowly opened his eyes, trying to move his hands, only to fail. His knees and the back of his head ached. Once his blurry vision cleared, he realized he was on his knees with his hands tied behind his back. He moved his head to the side and saw Kolvar and Thrud in the same position. Their mouths were shut with pieces of cloth. Despite his current situation, Hunter remained calm. But his heart skipped a beat when he couldn't feel the devil's cry on his chest. He hid it inside his shirt and couldn't feel it anymore.

"You are looking for this?" Hunter heard a feminine voice. When he lifted his head, he was shocked to see the pretty girl he saw at the guild. The devil's cry, Hunter's most powerful weapon, was in her hand. Just the sight of her grubby little fingers on his dagger made Hunter's blood boil. At that moment, she no longer looked hot and pretty in Hunter's eyes. Instead, she looked like a piece of meat he wanted to carve up with his dagger.