Warlord – Chapter 77
“It"s not terrifying to face a powerful opponent. The terrifying thing is that because of cowardly heart not to dare to take the challenge!” - Lance a.k.a Bald Eagle
A youth was fighting against a doll in the training room. He had a short red hair and his fists were wrapped in red flames. However the doll had an armor with good resistance. The fists that were wrapped with flames could at best leave few traces on the doll. It had to be noted that the temperature of the flames had reached almost 600 degrees. (celsius)
The temperature had reached that level because the youth was a third-order fire element ability user.
The flames dispersed from Aaron"s fists as his exhausted body fell to the ground. He laid on the floor.
The training room was build in the underground base of the Parker Family"s headquarters. Normally, Aaron should be at the Dark Council and having the advanced training for the Crimson Knights. However he was suspended by the upper echelon of the Dark Council for three months because of his previous failure.
The three tubes of the blood samples taken from Leah were brought back to Dark Council. They were taken by the Academy for immediate research. However they had expected Leah to be brought back as a live specimen. The upper echelon of the Dark Council decided that Leah"s death was failure of the task.
On name it was said that Aaron had come for vacation back at home but in fact it was punishment in disguise. Aaron knew better than anyone that in this three months of "vacation" his compet.i.tors would take advantage of vacuum. It would lead to a series of unpredictable consequences. At least, Aaron was aware that his family"s position within the Dark Council was shaken.
For few seconds Aaron remembered the golden eye. How could he end up in such a situation if it wasn"t for Zero? However, Zero"s image was deeply engraved in Aaron"s memories. He didn"t want to face Zero once again.
Aaron wasn"t interested in fighting against Zero but it didn"t mean that Aaron wasn"t planning to let go of Zero. Actually, he had already planned whom to use to kill Zero. Karen"s father is a fifth-order sniper expert. Aaron understood that Karen"s father wouldn"t let go of Zero once he learned that Zero had killed his son.
Lance had put everything that he had on Karen.
It"s just Lance who was nicknamed Bald Eagle went to a distance place called Elk Town after the retirement. Elk town was redeveloped after the Catastrophe and was a very distant place. Even if Aaron sent people to get Lance it would take at least two months to reach the place.
It would take around ten days for Bald Eagle to come back. However Aaron didn"t care about time. He only knew that Zero"s death wasn"t far away.
Aaron"s mouth curled up as he thought about Lance.
The continent of Nakasu was very large. In the past 50 years, the companies and n.o.bles had taken over and developed some of this land. According to incomplete statistics there were about 800 to 1000 bases and settlements in the continent. However, most of these settlements whether large or small only occupied coastline from east to north of the Nakasu continent.
The rest of the mainland was chaotic and under the rule of creatures. Even the most powerful organization of the continent, Dark Council and its armed group Crimson Knights didn"t dare to roam into southwest of the continent. The ruins there were ruled by the brutal creatures living in the darkness. The light of the human civilization hadn"t touched this forbidden land.
All kind of strong creatures roamed freely in the southwest of the continent. But adventurers were interested in the mysterious land because of the value of species living there and resources. The problem was that some of those adventurers that went there ended up in the bellies of those creatures..
Even so more people flocked to this unknown area. Dark Council and other large companies, conglomerates were interested and eager to delve into the secrets of the land. Unknown meant resources and resources meant great wealth!
Elk town.
It was a small town located in the southwest of the continent. According to the legends the town had fertile forests close by before the Catastrophe. Large number of elks lived in here. The residents of the town used to domesticate elks and sell their meat. As a result the place was called Elk town.
The elks didn"t die after the Catastrophe but went through mutations. As a result they became cruel species. The forests were replaced by deserts and stone. No one had put their feet in this G.o.d forgotten land until twenty years ago when a Crimson Knight led 1000 soldiers and rebuilt the Elk town. It was set up as a bridge to the southwest.
In the last decade the Dark Council had sent five generals, more than a dozen majors and hundreds of regular Crimson Knights to the town. These kind of force was enough to destroy all the known conglomerates and settlements along the coastline. However in comparison to the unknown lands it was like a drop in the ocean.
Those forces disappeared in the Elk town to never return again.
As a result the Dark Council changed its police and made Elk town open to everyone. It didn"t matter whether it was an individual or an organization, they could enter the Elk town as long as they paid a certain fee. In addition there was a contract that wasn"t put on papers that had to be followed. Every party that went to adventure had to map the place for the Dark Council.
The ident.i.ty of the adventurers didn"t matter to Dark Council. If they didn"t follow the unwritten rule then they wouldn"t just be thrown out of the Elk Town. The Dark Council would retaliate against the individual and organization until they decimated them.
The contract was established two years ago. There were groups which tried to defy the Dark Council but all of them were killed. As a result no one was foolish enough to challenge the authority of the Dark Council.
…
There would be a pub as long as there were adventurers, hunters and mercenaries. It was a common sense and Elk town was not an exception. "Dragon and Beauty" was the name of the only pub in the town. It was set up by Dark Council. The drinks and other serves were ten times more expensive than any other pub in the continent. The adventurers would demolish the pub long ago if the pub wasn"t opened by Dark Council and a captain level Crimson Knight wasn"t stationed in the pub.
The adventurers had to silently endure the Dark Council"s exploitation. Of course, everything was voluntary. It wasn"t as if Dark Council put a knife on your throat and forced you to spend money.
In addition, pub wasn"t only for drinks. It was undeniable that it was a place where you could collect important information. People could go on without drinks but not without intelligence. No sane person would go into the southwest without information. It was like going into the den of beasts naked.
The most accurate and best quality content was sold by Dark Council which was the owner of the pub. Of course, they didn"t sell any intelligence that was categorized as level three and higher. Actually, those types of information couldn"t be bought by money.
Recently, an adventurer was selling intelligence in the pub. Although the same information was sold by the Dark Council but the intelligence provided by the man was much more valuable and detailed that the information sold by other adventurers or pub. Many adventurers advertised the man via word of mouth. The ones who had bought information from the man had brought back several times more value than they paid for the information and happily left the Elk town.
More adventurers bought information from the man. As a result the man"s name appeared in the captain level Crimson Knight"s tactical tablet.
The name was Lance and his nickname was Bald Eagle. The man worked for Parker conglomerate for the first half of his life. He was a fifth-order sniper expert. He left the Parker conglomerate five years ago and adventured in the southwest on his own. A month ago, Lance began to sell all kinds of intelligence at the pub.
Captain looked at the black man with white hair. He slide using his finger and the information about the man went into a folder. It wasn"t worth his time to get involved with an adventurer who sold information. Captain was aware that Lance wouldn"t stay long in Elk town where even the bird didn"t s.h.i.+t.
Elk town was an important stronghold for the Dark Council. However captain was aware that he couldn"t contribute much by staying in the pub. At the same time he felt like he was thrown into a semi-retirement. He would just be a captain once he goes back. Even if he gets any additional contribution it won"t be enough for him to become a major.
Bald Eagle join the pub as captain pondered about his troubled future. It would be the last time when he is seen in the pub because he was going to receive a message that would make him leave Elk town for good.