Chapter 103

The encounter with the bandits was not something unexpected, as Brew(the writer) and Patricia had warned him to be on the lookout near the barrier, as murder and robbery were commonplace in this place. 

"Boy, leave everything you have and you can go away," said an obese man, standing two metres tall, the rest of the bandits were holding their wands and looking at him(Severus) with smirks, while they looked rather relaxed, which said about how they didn't take the "young man" seriously.

"And if I refuse?"

"Then the monsters are going to have a good supper tonight," the leader's gaze dropped to the sword hanging on the wizard's belt and a greedy gleam played in his eyes, "It looks like a good sword, let me see it ..." and without fear, he headed towards Snape, who is still smiled calmly at him. 

'Amateur, succumbed to greed and didn't even think how I could get here,' Severus looked at the approaching thug with disappointment, because he expected more from people who can be said to live side by side with death hunting in this place, risking their lives every day. 

As soon as the wizard's palm fell on the hilt of the sword, he immediately froze and his gaze became sharper. "You don't want to? Do you even know how to use it? Better give it to your uncle, he will definitely find a worthy use for it …"

"Uncle? No one hit you on the head, right? or is it that you have read too many muggle books, what kind of clichéd speech is that? Come up with something of your own, don't embarrass yourself," the bandit's face darkened, "But I'm in a bit of a hurry, so go aside, otherwise…"

Severus had yet to finish his words when the thug abruptly pulled his wand out of his holster and pointed it right into his(Severus) face.

"I knew that everything would end like this, why did I even start this conversation ...?" 

In the next moment, all that the robbers managed to see was just a silver glare, and after that they heard the painful cry of the leader, whose hand flew up along with the wand. 

Although Severus didn't really want to put on another bloody show in front of Nagini's eyes, there was no choice, and he was not used to running away from the battle.

"Everyone stand!" shouted the already armless leader of the gang, squeezing his hand at the site of the wound, in order to stop the bleeding a little, while looking with reddened eyes in the direction of the subordinates who were already intending to attack Severus.

"We ... apologise for stopping you," he clenched his teeth and lowered his head in front of the "boy" because, although the man was an giant ox, but he understood when to retreat, and when to put pressure on the victim and the fact that he didn't even notice the movement was unknown, spoke of the great skill of wielding a sword, because even with artifact weapons, without proper skills, it was impossible to do this, 

"Why are you guys still blocking the route?! Get off the road!" Although the rest of the wizards were "slightly" surprised, they did not dare to argue and quickly moved aside. 

"It means that you still have brains, it pleases, but for the future…" the look of Snape became colder, "…choose the victim correctly so that you don't end up in her place later."

"Y-yes!" The man turned sharply pale and lowered his eyes, not daring to meet his gaze anymore, fearing that he might change his mind and interrupt them. 

Severus, only silently walked past them, heading towards the dome, and when he disappeared behind a tree, and the sounds of footsteps subsided, the leader's face twisted with fury, hitting the tree with his fist. 

"Little...arrogant...bastard!" watching the behaviour of the man, the rest swallowed and stepped aside away from sin, "Let's go back and tell our people to get ready for business, I doubt that he will be able to cope with all of us and tell the boss that this boy has an artifact sword with Velosi charms , after all, he was just looking for a weapon that could increase his speed … "grinning bloodthirstyly, the leader raised his hand with a wand lying on the ground, and after that his face twisted again, 

"What the hell are you standing for ?! Maybe already p...?!" but the last word never left his mouth, because at that moment he saw only nine handfuls of ashes in the places where his subordinates had previously stood and the last thing the leader of the gang managed to experience was panic before he was consumed by the flames and a second later, another mound of ash appeared on the ground… 

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At the same time, already approaching the dome, Severus could get a better look at the town built in the "safe zone", very reminiscent of Diagon Alley in its appearance. 

A huge number of two-three-story buildings were already visible from afar, and approaching even closer, he noticed stone towers located behind them, in a not very presentable form, one of them was almost completely destroyed, while others were covered with moss and roots leading up to green bushes. 

And in addition to the barrier, the town was surrounded by an iron fence, two metres from the dome. 

Although this place was recognized as a public property, and did not belong to only one Community or Country, but at the same time, there were much more Brazilian wizards, so they captured both safe zones without any problems and the rest of the countries had to come to terms with this, because they themselves signed an agreement on the independence of this place. 

And when Severus crossed the barrier, throwing his hood on in advance so as not to attract much attention, he was stopped by two wizards in red, leather armour with steel breastplates on which were depicted symbols in the form of a sword and a wand, crosswise, as well as besides them, men wore shoulder pads and elbow pads so as not to hinder movement when waving a wand and at the same time have at least some protection and mobility. 

On the belt, they hung swords, and below, in addition to tight, dark trousers, they wore high boots with iron inserts, almost to the knees, which were also covered with knee pads. 

"The entrance fee is two mouros," one of the guards said, having examined the unknown in a hood with indifference, not really worrying about the identity of the guest, nevertheless, his job was to collect gold coins, and for the rest, he didn't care much, because such personalities went into the city every day. 

Severus just silently held out the coins, and after that he was let into the town without any problems. 

For the reason that it was already evening, there were almost no people wandering the street, only a few, and even then, they were under cloaks, also hiding their identities. 

"If I remember correctly, then to my left, to the building with a blue sign, over which a crown hangs ..." 

"We are being watched, " sounded the wary voice of Nagini, who did not take her eyes off a pair of wizards standing nearby, throwing frowns at them. 

"Never mind, from their clothes, we can conclude that they are connected with those bandits, apparently surprised that we were able to go that way and are still alive," he didn't think much about those handfuls of ashes, but calmly walked along more or less bright street, looking with interest at the local establishments and people passing by, some of whom seemed to be in a hurry somewhere, while others looked nervous, as if they were afraid of something and lowered their hoods, "It's rather strange here, everyone is so tense, is it because of the snake? And Brew said that there are usually more wizards here ... "

"Most likely you are right, if you remember the group of that woman who would definitely have died yesterday if you had not decided to help them, perhaps many lost their lives that evening by choosing to stay in the forest."

The young man only silently nodded, but still he doubted that such a thing could scare them so much, there was something else.

Moving through the half-empty city, finally, after a few minutes, the Prince stopped in front of a three-story building: the first was made of dark bricks, and the second and third were made of wood in light colours. 

Above the threshold hung a sign with a crown, which indicated that he had reached the right place. Pushing open the door, Snape stepped inside, and several curious pairs of eyes immediately rushed in his direction. 

Still, it was a bar-hotel and several tables were occupied by groups, mostly men of not the most beautiful appearance, but there were also a couple of women who looked rather mediocre on the outside and they were very far from Bella. 

He did not pay much attention to the drinking wizards gathered in the bar, but immediately approached a middle-aged man with a long, dark beard who was standing behind the bar. 

"Do you have rooms available? A friend recommended this place to me?" a gold coin appeared in his hand, at the sight of which, the face of the previously gloomy wizard smoothed out, and even something like a smile appeared. 

"Third floor, room forty-five, by the way, how is Fred doing there? He hasn't looked in here for a long time," the man asked, placing a silver key on the table. 

"He's got a little trouble at home, he's not in the mood for wandering around Magic Jungle right now." A sad sigh escaped the man's lips. "It means that he was never able to help his son…" 

"Don't worry, now he has enough money to start treatment," Snape said with a slight smile, seeing sincere concern on the face of the owner of the bar, and the writer said that he was on good terms with this man, so Snape decided to tell him this. 

Hearing the words of the "youth" sitting across from him, he frowned again, yet Snape decided to turn off the cloak dimming function so that the man could see his face. 

"So you helped him?" The man asked.

"Yes, in exchange for a favour: tell me about this place."

"I see," a chuckle escaped the man's lips, "And what do you want to know?"

"What's going on here? According to Brew, it's usually less tense here, does it have something to do with the outer part of the jungle?" 

"Of course not, even though we weren't ready for something like that, but still, deaths in this place are not uncommon, but simple everyday life, well, think about it, a little more died than usual, according to the assumptions of the research group, a strong monster has appeared and now a major raid is being prepared in order to kill him. 

"Hm? And a lot of suicide bombers gathered?"

The owner of the bar only chuckled in response, and then approached Severus a little. "Five groups, but of course, no one was in a hurry to sacrifice their lives, so it became a kind of competition between the five factions leading the city, the one to defeat the monster will manage the city for a year and dictate their rules, of course, without going beyond what is permitted, so you better leave this place as soon as possible." 

"Will they try to force others to join their group?" Severus asked with interest, feeling some glances on his back.

"It is certain that they will do this, so it's better for you to quickly leave here tomorrow morning and not return for another month. I'm telling you this, only because you helped my good friend."

"What if I lied?" Severus asked with an raised eyebrow.

"I have seen a huge number of people, although it's hard to read you, but I see that you didn't lie," the man pointed to his eyes with a grin, "Yes, and only he and I know about this coin, and I doubt that that "righteous man" would betray me, because I know him like a flaky one."

In response, Severus just nodded silently and taking the key from the table, he got up from the table and put five gold coins in its place. "Then thank you, I'll be leaving tomorrow."

"Good luck, young man…." after seeing the "young man" with a thoughtful look, the man's face twisted at the sight of a man who had also risen behind him. 

A few minutes later, Severus reached his room, but as soon as he put the key in the keyhole, another "guest" climbed onto the third floor, it was a frail man dressed in a robe, with thin features. And noticing Snape, he immediately approached him. 

"You are in the Black Death group," he squeaked arrogantly, and, pasting a sticker with a skull on Snape's cloak, he turned around and headed back to the stairs, "Tomorrow at ten to stand in front of the hotel," he finally gave order before disappearing around the bend. 

"... " Snape, was left speechless from the impudence of the unknown man.

" … " Nagini also completely shared his feelings.

"What was that just now?" finally coming to his senses, Severus said in surprise, looking at the sticker.

"Maybe a madman here?" the snake reasonably suggested. "I would have thought so too, if it weren't for a conversation with Brew's friend, but with this I think it would even be easier to leave the city without attracting much attention and without unnecessary problems," releasing his cloak, he opened the door and went into the room, in which, there was nothing more than a bed, a table, a chair and a closet, 

"Today we'll have a normal rest, and tomorrow at nine we'll leave the "safe zone," slamming the door and hanging a few charms for safety. Severus threw off his robe and fell on a soft bed, "Good night my lamia…"

" I would answer you, but I'm too lazy, because of your conversations, last night, as well as the night before last, I didn't sleep well, so I'm going to sleep!" and lying down more comfortably on the second pillow, she pressed her head against his temple and closed her eyes. 

"I hope that tomorrow we will quietly leave the city …" but after these thoughts, he smiled wryly, "Although usually it is after such words that all the fun begins …"

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