Reincarnation Of Audemars - Chapter 140

It was already dinner time when the members arrived at the Castle grounds and all had washed up prior for their mealtime. Patricia approached me and sat beside me as she scrutinised me as if there’s something there on my thought bubble that she had read.

“Dear, why the long face? Did your pet rock died or something?” Patricia places a gentle hand on mine as she gave a gentle squeeze.

“Haiya… As usual lah. I have to throw aside my ideas that refused to pour out when I write on the fly. Furthermore, there are some outstanding issues on my head right now that I need to address. ‘The Rusty Blade’ gang members had been nagging for some time already.”

“I think because my supply of cigarettes was cut short and this the only reason I can’t ‘steam’ ahead like a locomotive. Furthermore, Blake and Bruce had not returned with the news that we require for the promotion of the Level 3 iron weapons.”

“Eh…why Level 3? Our children’s armour is Level 8. Mark Of Magi is Level 15 along with our Macleod’s Lucky Badge. Our weapons across the board are Level 4 and same goes to the supply for Atelier, Bruce and Blake.” beseeched Patricia since she knew of the grades that I had forged with the wisps.

“We won’t want our counterparts to be better than us right? Presently they knew about Level 2 iron that had been forged by Romulus and Quentin and so it won’t be surprising to know we could forge Level 16 iron now. Furthermore, I’m running behind the scenes while our friends Blake and Bruce runs the foreground.” I explained as I spread my hands and spoke to Patricia.

“We won’t want them to run into some kind of trouble with the military advisors or even the City’s Blacksmith there.” the words finally sank into realisation as Patricia’s nodded her head in apprehension.

“Do what you think its best to be done. Let me know if you need anything.” Patricia articulated to me since she knows what’s best for me would be best for others. Little did she knew about my plans as I’ve decided to make a round trip starting in the Eastern Borders right till the end of the last 29th town and then back.

“Alright, I would be taking off tonight and try to investigate. I would be taking a caravan and load it up with Level 3 swords and Level 3 tunic and I would be off. I won’t be back till the next morning and I see how much I would be able to cover the distance.” I mentioned as I’ve got a plan that might or might not work.

“Do you want to accompany you, dear?” Patricia queried as she wanted to follow me for this adventure. “Sure, but leave the Mark of Magi at home and get 2 volunteers. I would brief everyone along the way.” I replied as I was happy within my heart that Patricia wished to follow me despite the dangers.

….

“This is what you are required to do for now, OK? Load your crossbows with non-lethal shots. The idea is to create damage and not to kill.” I instructed the two adventurers who are eager to volunteer. This was done in secrecy and our children do not know of our mission that night.

Patricia and I were wearing long cloaks and beneath it was our armoured battle gear. The 2 members were wearing the same outfit and we sitting inside the caravan while we chugged along the way towards the first town, Oxborough. SummerFort would be in the Western Borders and Bronzeminster is in the Northern Borders.

It would be a long hard tackle for the roads that connect to all the towns within the Eastern Borders as we led the horses that pulled our caravans. On the way to the first town, our caravan wheels, however, got stuck in one of the potholes and all of a sudden, a group of 5 men jumped into the road from the sides of the bushes.

“Good evening to you all. We are the ‘Rusty Blades’ and we are the known Highway Robbers that ply every single road that leads to these 29 towns. If there’s 5 of us, that means there’s 145 of us from Oxborough right till Eastend.”

“Right now your caravan wheels are stuck in the pothole and please exit from your caravan and stand at the sides in an orderly manner. Please set aside your credits and valuables too. Thank you for your cooperation.”

“Hmm, these robbers seems rather polite enough. Reminds me of certain groups of people that were called the Merry Men.” I recalled as we step down from the caravan and stood at its right side. When the 2 adventurers had exited from the caravan from the rear, each took the blind side of both sides and unleashed their non-lethal bolts at the highway robbers.

*Pchew… Pchew… Pchew… Pchew… Pchew…” 5 bolts were released from the Assassin’s compact crossbow and all the bolts hit the target right on the foreheads of the highway robbers and it left a huge red mark on it.

“What in damnation is this? OUCH…!!! This is worse than being hit by a live bolt. Goddammit… MY FOREHEAD… It hurts like hell. I’m seeing stars right now. Medic… Medic…” screams of horror and surprise sounded in the dark unlit road as 5 bolts found their mark.

*Swoosh… Thump… Thump… Thump… Thump… Thump… *I quickly moved on my feet and took out my dragon fang dagger and used the pommel to smash each of the robbers on the back of their necks as I moved deftly from one to another and as they fell to their knees, Patricia helped me to lassoed everyone and we pulled them to the side of the road.

The 5 highway robbers were a sorry lot, as they were bundled on the ground and had been lassoed and the rope was entwined around them for some rounds. This would disable them to run away despite having their hands and feet unbound.

By now the 2 adventurers had loaded their non-lethal bolts with live bolts and knew that if anyone tries to make a sudden move, these bolts would be capped into their knees for sure.

“What’s the big idea…?!?! We are supposed to be doing the robbing here…!!! Mummy… Help me…!!! My head still hurts and now we got clobbered…!!! Why are we tied up and huddled like a bunch of sheep… We didn’t do anything wrong… Yet, I suppose… ” another bellow of screams of pains and anguished voices rose from the huddled bunch and I stood before them.

“Shut up all of you before those bolts really would find their mark in the middle of your foreheads. So, you were the infamous Rusty Blade robbers that Rob poor, unsuspecting merchants and families that ply this road eh? How long have you been doing this business?” I accosted the bunch as they looked like hog tied bunch of pigs at this moment.

“Boo Hoo Hoo… I just joined them when they held a recruitment drive for this particular kind of jobs. We take 20% commission for every loot we received… Boo Hoo Hoo…” cried one of the robbers.

“We had no other choice… Either we turned to rob others or others would rob us instead. Look…we don’t take lives, all we would take is credits and valuable loot.” explained another who seemed to be the leader of the band right now.

“Our lands were ravaged by beasts and monsters. There’s little left to even feed our families… Much less to sell or trade them in the marketplace. Do you know how long a crop would be ready for harvesting?”

“God damn that Ruler of Aermagh, if not for him and his iron fist and iron bowl, we won’t be in this situation and turns to rob others to sustain for our families.”

“This is the only way we were being taught to do and it applies to all the roads that connect in between all the towns here. We Sig potholes so that the wheels got stuck and we politely rob them and once we had done so, we helped the caravan wheels out from the pothole and they make their way onwards.”

“Just 20% cut to divide among ourselves and we make quite a bit every day and night. The rest is given to that fat bastard leader of ours called ‘The Fat Bastard’. Please, sir, release us. We don’t mean anyone harm. We just need to survive each day and bring foods to the table.”

I looked at them and back to Patricia and the two adventurers and I beckoned for a stool to sit so that I could address the whole situation to them right now.

“Do you know that your assets are in the line and you are in very thin ice right now? The army of Aermagh is preparing themselves to eradicate every one of you as I speak right now.”

“Aermagh has deployed 4500 strong armies made of spearmen, warriors and also some berserker as well. Do you think you could be able to resist their incoming army?”

“Look at your pathetic armour and weapons, even our most lowest ranking Adventurer had some pretty good armours and weapons and those could break your cutlass and sabres into two.”

I demonstrated by taking one of their cutlasses and I just ran the blade of Dragon fang on it and it was broken into 2 pieces just like cutting through paper.

The robbers gasped as they saw what I had done to their weapons and now they have a shorter weapon to taunt those passing caravans and most likely they would be laughed at right now.