Chapter 107: Simplest way to solve it
“Huh? What’s that? HEY! Come here!”
Guards noticed that a weird group was approaching from the distance and shouted. There was a huge Galim and six other horses. In addition, there was a wooden panel loaded with bodies. Joonb.u.m, Daryl, and Louise moved as ordered by the guards.
“HALT! What is that?”
A guard with a spear shouted as he glanced at the bodies. Daryl and Louise flinched, but Joonb.u.m calmly answered, “We were attacked while we were camping. We managed to get them as we were on watch.”
“What? Where?”
“By the road about a day away from here. We brought the bodies to see if there were any bounties on them.”
“Oh, I see. Joel! Bring the bounty boards!”
The guard shouted behind him, where a man in the guard post frowned and brought out multiple wooden boards. They began comparing the boards to the faces of the bodies.
“Oh! This is Zorid!”
“WHAT! The horse thief? Are you sure?”
“Look! This tattoo! It’s him!”
“Oh wow. These are the Horse Thieves! These b.a.s.t.a.r.ds got us in trouble so many times!”
“They got lucky! They are worth two gold coins in bounty!”
“Wow! Hey! YOU! You’re lucky!”
The thieves were worth two gold coins. Joonb.u.m and his two men needed to undergo more investigations, but it seemed irrelevant as Joonb.u.m donated one of the gold coins to the guard post.
“You know what’s going on! I’m Eric. Find me anytime if you need help.”
They wanted to finish things fast before Joonb.u.m changed his mind about handing out the coin. They were allowed to enter the capital in no time.
‘I got lucky to get to know the guards.’
It was good to be acquainted with the guards while at the capital.
The capital was surely different. The road was still smelly, but it wasn’t as bad.
“Whoaa!”
“The capital is so amazing!”
“Daryl! Look! Woman!”
“Oh! Woman!”
Joonb.u.m was speechless at Daryl and Louise’s reactions.
‘Woman? Don’t act like you’ve never seen a woman.’
Joonb.u.m grinned as they were astonished by everything. People on the streets wore different colored clothes and the streets were literally filled with people. But it was nothing like the metropolis of modern Earth.
‘It does look cool though.’
The houses and stores that lined the road had a different charm.
“Monte! It’s that place! The inn the guards recommended!”
-Hot & Special Night-
“We’re finally sleeping in a room! I’ll go ahead and grab a room!”
Daryl ran to the building. Louise seemed to be excited also.
‘They said everything is prepared… so this was what he meant.’
There was a room to sleep, food, drinks, and women.
“Oh! Hey, handsome!”
“You, cutie! Come here!”
“I’m Miranda. Call me anytime!”
“I’m Suren!”
“I’ll show you a hot night!”
Louise blushed as they pa.s.sed by various women calling out to them. They began calling out eagerly as they noticed that Louise was blus.h.i.+ng.
Joonb.u.m hired a skilled cook and had Daryl and Louise start their cooking training and left them alone to observe the city.
‘So this is the Donian Merchant Group.’
It was a huge, two-story building. The main building had merchants moving in and out of it and there was another big building that seemed to be the storage.
“Be careful! Don’t damage the goods!”
“Heloon! That’s valuable!”
“Move! Quickly! Next cart is waiting!”
“Take it to the Giran Merchant Group! We’re a day late on the order! Go beg and apologize!”
‘There are so many people here.’
The area near the building had more people than he had ever seen in the middle of Seoul. It seemed like the entire area was owned by the Donians. It looked like the surrounding market was owned and managed by the Donian Merchant Group itself. At the end of the road, there was a nice-looking three-story mansion that supervised the area.
-Donian Merchant Group-
There was a name written above the gate and two soldiers guarded the entrance.
‘That’s the place.’
It wasn’t a regular building that merchants used. It was certain that Meletoba himself was residing in the building. Joonb.u.m took out his binoculars to take a closer look from a distance.
“So he is rich.”
Everything was clean and well-organized. The garden was taken care of and the building itself was very clean. A number of maids and servants moved about the building to keep it clean. He looked around the building and then found a window. All of the windows of the building were wide open due to the weather and Joonb.u.m was easily peek inside.
“That seems to be it.”
There was a thin old man shouting angrily inside the room. There was another middle-aged man bowing in front of him.
‘It must be him!’
The old man with a crooked nose and a cold look on his face. It matched the description he heard from a saloon.
‘And he must be Glain.’
It wasn’t certain, but it was more than likely. He heard that Meletoba only met and talked with Glain since he trusted no one else.
‘It’s easy.’
He found the target and it was time to find a good spot to take a shot.
‘Hmm, about 1,300 feet.’
Joonb.u.m measured the distance. The middle-aged man left the room and Meletoba was left alone, studying some big map on the wall. The sun began to set.
‘Too bad.’
Joonb.u.m let out a sigh and shook his head. He didn’t need to hurry.
‘I know who he is. Let’s confirm things.’
*
Joonb.u.m began to look around the capital freely after he found and chose where to carry out the task. He was able to gain access to any place except the royal castle.
“It’s a nice place.”
There was no war and no visible corruption from the n.o.bles. The city itself was thriving. n.o.bles and commoners lived as they wished, but the atmosphere at all of the saloons began to change with the news.
“I heard the Brotherhood is looking for mercenaries.”
The man spoke as he drank. Others looked at him with interest, but another older man asked, “The Black Brotherhood? Why?”
“Are they after the monsters from the south?”
“Naw. I heard those were all taken care of.”
“I don’t know. I think they’re onto something. I heard the Red Axe arrived at the capital the other day. And the Skulls. They are all gathering at the Brotherhood.”
“Really? But why? OH! I know. It’s because of the Black Talons!”
A man with a beard slapped his thigh as he shouted what he thought of.
“They’re trying to get revenge!”
Other mercenaries scoffed at the word.
“No way! What kind of mercenary fights for revenge?”
“Right. We only fight for money.”
They began drifting off to other topics such as women and brawls.
‘Hmm.’
Joonb.u.m was gathering information, but most of the information was similar and quite accurate. A lot of mercenaries were gathering at the Black Brotherhood. There were three main groups: the Red Axes, the Sword and Flails, and the Skulls were the strongest mercenaries of Toria, right below the Black Talons. They were gathering after finis.h.i.+ng their recent job of fighting the monsters and wars from other regions.
‘Why?’
They usually never returned since they rested until they got another job.
‘Is that old man up to something again?’
Joonb.u.m was onto the idea. The rumor wasn’t something he could ignore, but Joonb.u.m couldn’t do much about it anyway.
He took up a sniper rifle and moved to his spot. It was a small hill where he could see the window of the mansion. No one was around and a lot of bushes covered him up nicely. He took the spot and waited. However, the window didn’t open until noon and Joonb.u.m almost gave up.
Yet the window opened and Meletoba began wandering about the room.
Joonb.u.m let out a long breath and shook away his thoughts. He looked through the scope and he saw an old man drinking his tea while looking out through the window.
‘Goodbye.’
He pulled the trigger and Meletoba who had been looking down at the area swung backward, falling out through the window.
‘It’s done. It won’t even leave a trace.’
The body dropped out of the window and his head crushed at the impact.
‘Good.’
Joonb.u.m glanced around the area, disa.s.sembled his rifle to put it in the bag, and left.