Over at the city gates, Obadiah and his men had just arrived.
"Boss, it looks like their condition is more serious than we thought." Javis said, as he looked with disdain at the ragged men walking towards them.
Were these even clothes?
All 12 men wore dirty thin airy clothes, that had several holes and patches on them.
And their shoes, Ugh!!!
Their fiber wrapped shoes had visible holes on them as well.
In fact, Obadiah and the men could even see some of their toes sticking out when the came closer to them.
Their whole demeanor, spelled out poverty.
The dust and dirt on their faces, made them look like they had been sleeping in the wilderness for years.
Obadiah and his men smiled, as they looked these wild unkempt savages.
This mission was wound definitely be successful.
They immediately got off their horses and walked towards the barbarians.
"Gentlemen, we are here to change your lives for the better!!" Obadiah said.
Landon, Lucius and the soldiers.. were slightly taken aback.
But they decided to play along.
Landon chewed on the piece of hay in his mouth, and spat on the ground like a farm boy.
"How?" He asked.
"Ahhh!!!..
You must be the leader of this group right?" Obadiah asked with a charming smile on his face.
"More or less." Landon replied with no hint of emotions within his voice.
Obadiah and his men drowned slightly.
"What"s wrong with this kid?
Most people would have already jumped in happiness by now.
But this kid... just were does his arrogance come from?" they thought.
"You haven"t answered my question though.... how are you supposed to change our lives?"
"Hahahaha.... Kid!!... Do you know how lucky you are to meet us today?
We came from a promise land that"s filled with milk and honey.
It has enough food, wine, beautiful women, clothes, jewelry and riches than you can ever dream of.
We know that you all are starving and hungry, so we came here to give you all an opportunity to change your lives.
Anything you want, we will provide for you.
We can take you around the continent, and even around this world... in fact, whatever you desire, you will find it in our land.
Hehehehe..... Follow us back to our land, and we"ll take good care of you all."
Honestly, the more Landon heard... the more he became unconvinced about this so called promise land of theirs.
Landon and his men didn"t buy their bulls.h.i.+t at all.
If these men had promised them safety, work and food alone...then they would be willing to at least entertain them a little more.
After all, it wasn"t good to judge a book by its cover.
But to brag about riches, money, women, and even travelling around the world... sounded so sketchy to them.
To Landon, it sounded like the devils temptation.
The only thing that was missing, was for them to tell him to sign his soul over.
Who would give out their money just like that?
These men were definitely up to no good!!!!
"Can I ask you some questions?" Landon asked.
"Sure, go ahead kid."
Landon places another strand of hay in his mouth and carefully sized up Obadiah and his men.
"Are you yourself rich?"
Obadiah"s smile turned stiff and his face became slightly red from anger.
His financial situation was his sore point.
Everyone who was close to him knew this... even his own henchmen.
He had been working under his master for 15 years now.. yet, his salary was only slightly higher than his men.
His henchmen were furious and immediately unsheathed their swords angrily.
"How dare you a small brat like you question our boss?"
"Look here!!!... we"re trying to elevate your lowly lives, not the other way around."
"Boss!!! Although they are 12 in number, while we are only 11... I still feel like we can take them on.
I"ll kill the kid in one move, and then we could focus on the other men."
Landon signaled for his men to not draw their swords, and smiled towards Obadiah.
"Tsk! Tsk! Tsk! Tsk!..
It seems that your not rich after all.
So if that"s true, why should we believe that following you will give us riches?
Let me make something clear to you, we are not interested in your so called promise land!!" Landon said.
Obadiah looked at him and immediately burst out in rage.
Who the h.e.l.l was this arrogant lad?
He had tried his best to be polite, but these savages were h.e.l.l bent on f***ing things up for him!
"Fine!!!
Since you"re not interested, then move out of the way, so that we can take those who are!!" Obadiah yelled angrily, as he and his men attempted to walk past the savages.
"Sling!!", Lucius and the men immediately unsheathed their own swords.
"And just where do you think your going?" Landon asked emotionlessly.
Obadiah squinted his eyes and clenched his fists.
"Who the h.e.l.l are you to stop us from going into the city?
Are you even someone of any importance?!!!!"
"Who am I?
Well... I"m the king of course!!!
And what I say is the law!!"
Obadiah backed up a little, and looked at Landon intensively.
Obadiah and his men didn"t believe it for one second.
Judging from the kids looks, he was probably just a gang leader of a small thievery band!
"Bahahahaa!!!!!..okay, I"ll play along with you!!
Even if your the king, have you forgotten that you have no real power here?
Do you know who my master is?
Not even Alec Barn would dare go against him!!!
But you!!!... hehehe a punny ant like you dares to stand in his way?
That"s it!! I"m done being nice.
You either join us, or face our master"s fury!" Obadiah said arrogantly.
His master"s name was always his last trump card.
In very rare occasions, some peasants would refuse to go with him... but when he used his master"s name, fear would overcome them, and they would willingly accept and give their lives to fate.
Surprisingly, these savages had made him use this card.
And now, he would like to see how long their arrogance could last.
"And just who is your master?"
"Master Nopline!!" Obadiah said proudly.
The entire place became silent.
His henchmen looked at Landon and sneered.
"Now your scared?
Hehehe.. where did all your former arrogance go to?
Our master"s name is indeed great.!!!!" They thought.
"You said his name was Nopline?"
"Yess!!", Obadiah said arrogantly.
"Never heard of him."
Everyone almost fell over. From shock... even Landon"s men.
Who didn"t know Nopline?
He was f***ing rich, and was one of the richest men within the entire continent.
His forces could even rival those of kings.
This was the first time in their lives that they had met someone who claimed to not know who Nopline was.
Everyone looked at Landon as if he had been living under a rock his entire life.
Truth be told, the former Landon had never really ventured any were apart form the palace, since he was seen as a disgrace.
So after combing through all his memories, he still didn"t know who this Nopline fellow was.
A hint of suprise spread over Lucius" eyes just for a brief moment, before fading away.
Lucius turned and whispered into Landon"s ears.
And once Landon got the gist, his eyes immediately turned cold.
"So your a slave traders right?"
"So what if we are?
Isn"t being a slave better than staying here, and dying from poverty?
What!!!.. do you really think that you have a choice here?
Since your the "king", then that"s even better!!
If you convince your people to leave with us, then we"ll spare your lives and let you live your miserable lives in peace.
But if you don"t, then my master will flatten all your people, and yourself to the ground!!
So... what"s it going to be?" Obadiah said while arrogantly smiling at Landon.
In his mind, this case was closed.
"Men!!! drop your swords!!" Landon yelled out.
"Pang! lang! lang!"
The swords were on the ground.
Obadiah and his men smiled smugly.
Hehehe... this is how it should be!!
"Take out your guns!!!"
Now Obadiah and his men were confused.
Guns? What"s that!!