Chapter 89. Take One for Tribute

The lockpicks dissolved in his hand.

'So I still lose a lockpick even if I succeed?' Jack thought.  It hardly seemed fair.

The treasure chest emitted a mechanical sound, and the lid clacked and opened ajar.

Men of Solidarity who saw it soon jumped in excitement and yelled, "It's open! It's open!"

Jack stepped back to let them open the lid. It was, after all, their share.

The Man stepped forward and put both hands under the lip of the lid. He then heaved the top hard and made it swung open wildly. The top rotated one hundred eighty degrees on its hinges and stopped with a bang. Blinding golden light poured out of the treasure chest, causing their vision to blur.

When the light dissipated, they could, at last, see the contents of the treasure chest. There were seven items inside and a pile of coins.

"We have struck it rich!" One of the Men of Solidarity yelled. They could see at least ten silver coins; just counting these, he was right.

"Damn, so treasure chest contents are so generous! I shouldn't have forfeited it from the start," John commented from the side.

"Piss off," The Man said to him rudely.

He then Inspected the items inside the treasure chest. Of the seven, four were uncommon equipment, one was uncommon blacksmith material, and two were common equipment.

He stored all the coins and the uncommon material, and the two common equipment. "We will decide how to distribute these when we meet up with the others," he said to his men.

He then turned to Jack and said, "Boss, please pick an uncommon equipment."

Jack shook his head, "I'll tell you again, I'm not your boss. And we had already agreed on the loot distribution; the things inside that treasure chest are yours."

The Man laughed, "Everyone here knows that, if not for you, that Horned Ogre would have wiped us out. And you have already spent all of your lockpicks for us. We haven't even compensated you for that yet. Please, make a pick."

"We defeated the Ogre together, and I used the lockpicks to increase my proficiency. There is no need to give me any compensation."

"Please don't argue anymore. A strong man such as you has to be more straightforward. Stop wasting time and pick one," The Man was adamant.

Jack was helpless in front of this attitude. He shook his head and then took a look at the equipment: chest armor, a belt, shoes, and an armguard. His level 1 armguard was the most lacking compared to these. He inspected this uncommon armguard.

*

Steel Vambrace, level 10/20 (uncommon medium armor)

Physical Defense: 16

Magical Defense: 12

Durability: 40

Strength +2

*

"I'll take this one then," Jack said.

"Great!" The Man exclaimed, "Now that boss had accepted our tribute, our relationship can be considered sealed."

"Wait, what tribute?" Jack turned to him.

The Man either pretended not to hear or honestly didn't hear Jack's words. He just stored the remaining uncommon equipment. He then sent Jack a friend request and said, "Don't worry, boss. We won't disturb your affairs. You do whatever you want. But if you need help, give me a holler, and we will come running."

"Can you please stop calling me boss?" Jack muttered, but he still accepted the friend request. From what he had seen, The Man was an honest and upright person; he was just a bit rough around the edges.

"If I need help, can I give a holler as well?" John asked.

"Piss off!" The Man repeated his previous words to him.

"Now that our business here is done, let us return to the capital," Jack suggested.

"Before that…," Bowler said, then extended his hand towards John with his palm facing upward.

John seemed to understand the gesture. He took something out of his bag and placed it in Bowler's hand. It was a small blue flower. Bowler stored it in his storage bag. Now they only needed to hand it in to complete their quest.

"Shall we leave now?" John asked.

Everyone agreed since they had nothing else to do around the area.

Since they were traveling together to the capital, they maintained their Party system.

*

The sun was still high up in the sky when they left the cave. Just a few hours ago, seventeen of them entered the cave; only ten emerged. Men of Solidarity lost six of their men, John's group lost Weird Trap; only Jack's group was still intact with three people.

Their group of ten walked down the hill with ease. After fighting the level 20 Elite Boss, fighting the monsters they met along the way felt like child's play. Men of Solidarity especially walked at the front with a swagger, as if they were the kings of the hill.

"Hey, I received messages from the ones who died," The Man told the others. "They will be waiting for us in the city."

"Why were they only sent now? Didn't they resurrect sometime ago?"

"No," The Man told him, "they said they were in this strange place called Limbo for half an hour before they were sent back to the capital."

"Half an hour? So there's a waiting period before reviving?" Jack murmured.

They continued to chat as they walked. Bowler, as usual, was incredibly talkative. He got along well with everyone in the Party except John. He intentionally avoided the fellow. Almost everybody avoided John. Only Pointy Tip stayed close to him, while Jack and Flame were indifferent. John, however, was oblivious to their treatment.

When they were about an hour from the capital, Jack noticed several blue dots on his radar. They were approaching a small upslope, and those blue dots were behind that upslope, separated some distance away from each other and not moving. He didn't give them any thought at first, but he paid them more attention as the party continued forward. After some thought, Jack couldn't help but feel uneasy.

"Halt!" He said to the others.

The others looked around, looking for monsters, but there was nothing. They looked at Jack questioningly.

"What's wrong?" Bowler asked.

Jack hesitated before saying, "I'm not sure, but I think there might be an ambush not far ahead."

"Monsters?" Bowler asked again.

Jack shook his head. "Players," he said.

"And you know this how?" John asked.

"If Storm says there are people in front, then there are people in front," Bowler defended Jack.

"Oh, I didn't say I don't believe him. I'm just curious as to how he knows," John said. "I noticed that you had also detected me and my teammates' presence when we first met. Do you have a tool that can detect people's positions?"

Jack stared at him and didn't answer.

"Well, at least can you tell us the position of this supposed ambush?" John backed down and suggested.

"They are scattered around," Jack answered. After looking around, he then copied John's method. Picking up a small branch and finding a patch of soft soil, Jack began drawing on the ground. He used circles to symbolize the party and crosses to represent the players in front.

"This is where we are," he pointed to a collective circle at one side. "And this is where those players are," he pointed to the scattered crosses.

"They just stay there unmoving?" John asked.

"Yes," Jack answered.

"So you do have a tool that allows detection of others!" John exclaimed.

Jack stared at him.

"Do you have a suggestion regarding this situation or not?" Jack asked John sternly.

"Sure," John replied. "From the look of it, there is an ambush in front. But I am wondering if they are just bandits targeting people that ventured out of the capital, or if one of you has an enemy among the players?"

The Man gave the question some thought, "I did offend some people here and there, but I'm not sure people would waste time to organize this kind of ambush for me."

"They are probably after my friends and me," Jack said.