Chapter 16
He then points his sword at Volya and says,
"Just like I said yesterday if you want to retain my service you should pay more!"
"You insolent fool, do you dare to talk like that to me? I pay you a hefty load of payment and you still want me to pay more? Who do you think you are?" shouts Volya full of anger
"Bah... I don't care. Even if you are a royal or even one of the Senate members at your place, I will not accept this kind of treatment!"
"We still have a contract, do you remember! I could inform the Guild at my city and tell them to ban you after your action today, mongrel!" shouts Volya once more and show him his contract.
"A contract, huh? Do you think that could hold me from this deal? No... Because our deal is different from when we start to walk from Haegia!"
Both of them continue to debate and make more villager gather around them, including the woman that ask them to help her out. The moment she sees them fighting, she fears that no one could help her again.
All of the villagers mumble at each other as they are afraid to stop their fight. Until Romain suddenly dashes towards Volya and swing his sword. Volya immediately cast a defensive spell, but Romain swings his sword at the item on his hand.
Romain slashes the contract and then he shouts,
"With this, our contract is done!"
Romain then sheathes his sword and takes his belonging with him. Volya falls to the ground and then shouts,
"How dare you do that to a someone with high stature like me?!"
Romain didn't care with that and continue to walk towards the exit of the village. The Village Elder then walks towards Volya, while her daughter was running towards Romain. The Village Elder help Volya to stand up and ask him,
"Are you alright, Sir Volya?"
"I'm alright... It just really annoys me that he made fun of me!" says Volya agitated
"But, with he gone... What could you do when the bandit come?"
"They will feel my wrath! I can't accept this type of humiliation!" shouts Volya
Volya continues to curse Romain, while the Village Elder looks behind him. All of them nods at him after that they tried to calm Volya a little bit. It needs thirty minutes to calm him down, and now the Village Elder is talking with Volya at Volya's lodging. He asks him,
"Are you sure that you will be alright alone? The number of the enemy is enormous!"
"I know you already say that. But, I will not back down as it will taint my family name," answer Volya
"But, are you really sure about that? If something happens to you, your family will..." says the Village Elder that interrupted by Volya,
"You don't need to worry about anything."
Volya smiles at him while tried to calm the village elder. After that, he explains his plan to the Village Elder and then after that, the Village Elder leaves him alone. Volya takes a deep breath and then see his hawk already waiting for him. He walks towards his hawk and gets a message. He then smiles a bit and says,
"I will observe this place a little bit..."
Volya continues to observe the village from inside the building until someone knocks on the door. He then walks towards the door and opens it to see the young woman is staring at him with disbelief. She then immediately says,
"Why did you do that? Didn't both of you promise me to help me?"
"Yes, we did. And I will continue it," answer Volya
"But... What could you do alone?"
"A lot..."
Volya smiles at the young woman, told her something, and then asks her to leave him alone. After she left the house, Volya takes a deep breath and says,
"How long will they come to this village? I believe, with they know that I am not a Royal and only a mere mage, they should come here soon enough. Who doesn't want to chew a weak prey like me?"
After that, he chooses to act like normal for around three days there. He continues to interact with the villager regarding what they usually produce at the village. Even, he also gets a piece of information that most of the time, people from Wraitus and Ostonorid will come there to buy some of their delicacies.
And then that night, Volya suddenly wakes up from his sleep and looks around him. Someone pa.s.sing through the trap that he hides near the entrance of the village. He then mumbles,
"Their number around one hundred people... That's really ma.s.sive. Will my magic suffice for that?"
He then walks towards the window and could see the village already covered with mist. Volya then smirks and says,
"So, they made this mist in order to confuse and send s.h.i.+vers to any adventurer that come. Really interesting... Maybe I could use this technique when I am back to Wildespring later."
After that, he hears someone knocks on the door. He immediately lit up the candle and walks downstairs. He then opens his door and could see a lot of mobs that waiting for him with torches. He could see the villager of this village also gathered there with their spear, pitchfork, club, and sword.
He then hears someone shouts,
"Sir Mage, please follow us now..."
"From your tone, it seems you already know something about me, huh?" mocked Volya
"Yes... That's why we will not act like back then. It's enough for us to serve a liar like yourself," says the old man that walks to the front
"My... My... Does a hypocrite say something like that? I can't believe that."
"I don't care about that."
"Then, could you tell me... How many Adventurer and Knights that all of you already lied to and become your victim?"
The old man smiles and then says,
"A lot of them. And most of them really valuable to be sold as a slave!"
"Is that so..."
"Then, you will join them..."
"I have a question... Did that young woman also one of you?"
"That one? Oh... No... She isn't. Rather, we use her so every people that tried to help us will show their pity and later tried their best to help her. She doesn't have a bad intention, but in the end, everything will be the same."
"Indeed... What a pity."
Suddenly, two people with a spear walk towards Volya and order him to follow them. He smiles at them and without any objection follow them. All of them really surprised to see that and really puzzled as most of the people will fight back in that kind of situation.
Volya suddenly stops and asks them,
"Hey... You want me to move, right? Then, why are you still stay there?"
"Ah... Yes..."
Volya smiles and then continues to walk with them. In the middle of the night, several torches moving along the road at Orbarrow. Until all of
Volya stops and observes around him. He could see some mage inside the sea of people around him. Suddenly, all of them shout really loud together with one man that walks towards the seat.
A man around his 40 with very big muscles and a bald head. He has a lot of tattoo around his body and also scar. He then looks at Volya and then asks one of the men near him,
"Are you sure this person has a connection with the knights that we saw several days ago?"
"We don't know it yet. At the time when he is here and the knights made their camp almost like a coincidence."
"Is that so..."
The man then looks at Volya and could see that Volya is really calm. He really puzzled with that and then he sees Volya walks towards him and kneels in front of him. Later he says,
"O Great Bandit Leader, Felipe Gomes. It's an honour for me to meet you."
Everyone really surprised to hear that, including Felipe. Felipe then looks at Volya and asks him,
"How did you know my name?"
"Every word that spoken by man will be fly together with the wind that flies around the world. And what I do is really simple, I hear what they say and keep it to myself," answer Volya as he stands up from there.
Felipe really impressed with him and then raises his hand in order to make everyone around him to lower their voice. Volya smirks and then asks him,
"Could you tell me, where is the original villager of this village?"
"All of them are the villager of this village," answer Filipe
"Is that so? But, when I ask them about the speciality of this village, they always give me a different answer."
"This village has a lot of specialities."
"Then, what about the ma.s.s grave at the north of this village?"
Filipe really surprised that Volya knows about that and then laughs really hard. He then asks him,
"How many did you know about us?"
"I don't know... As perception from each person is different about the information that they have. My Father always teaches me to think about that when they ask such a question," answer Volya
"My... My... You are indeed interesting."
"Thank you very much."
"Then, what about your Knight friend? Where is he?"
"Just like all of you see several days ago... We have a disagreement. So, he chooses to back to his country."
"No... What I mean is... Those knights from Haegia."
"I don't have any connection with them. Or maybe, I just tangled into their mess and makes me meet all of you."
"Is that so?"
"Yes. I should have declined their plea back then."
"Then, what is your connection that made them knows you?"
"An event in the past when they are trapped at Wildespring Forest," answer Volya
Felipe looks at Volya and stays cautious at him after hearing that. Volya looks at Felipe and really surprised with his reaction. From there, he knows that the man in front of him is the one that leads the bandit that attacking Haegia's knight back then. He smiles a little bit and then remembers something that Romain told him about Felipe.
Volya stands up and then asks him,
"I have another question..."
"..."
"Or it seems you don't want to hear any of my questions as I could feel your bloodl.u.s.t from here."
"Ehehehehe... So you are the one who killed Simon and Kaffer. I will avenge both of them now."
The mobs around Volya also can't hold themselves and looks ready to attack Volya anytime. Volya then says,
"Alright... But, if I still stand up here... You must answer my question."
"If you still stand up," says Felipe full of anger
Volya smiles and then could feel someone stabs him with a spear from behind. He looks below him and could feel blood fall from there and then says,
"My... My... You are really impatient..."
"Look here, Sir Felipe! I get him" shouts the one who stabs Volya
"Good... Good..."
Felipe then stands up from his seat and he could see Volya stands at the middle of the mobs and makes a sign to keep silent. Felipe then looks the one that being stabbed and could see one of his men that stabbed there. He then shouts,
"What the h.e.l.l are you doing! You stab your own man!"
"Huh? What do you mean... Ah... Wait... Why..."
"Why... Why... did you..." the man then fall to the ground and died
Felipe then takes out his axe and points in one direction. He later shouts,
"That wretched man is over there! Kills him!"
The man near Volya immediately attack him and they later realize it's another of their man. Felipe then could see a lot of Volya there and immediately orders them to attack him or he will do it himself. The condition there is a mess, full of disarray and a lot of shouting of pain. One by one of the bandit falls on their own friend hand with their mage just realize that they are stands up in front of a very big magic circle that glowing faintly. The mage then shouts before murdered by their friend,
"This son of a bit... Argh!"
Meanwhile, at the entrance of the village. Volya already stands there with the young woman. They could hear the shouts from there and Volya immediately smiles at it. He then asks her name,
"Come to think about it. I never know your name. Could you kindly tell me your name?"
"Ah... My name is Maria Bulyakov. The daughter of this village elder." answer the young woman.
"My name is Volya Portar. A mage that lived at Wildespring. Nice to meet you."
"Ah... Nice to meet you, too."
"Then, is that old man really your father?"
"No. My father is murdered by Filipe when they attack this village. They keep me in captive and later use me to lure another adventurer to meet the same fate as this village..."
"I'm sorry to hear that."
"That's alright... I just hoping that... Someone will help me... From this h.e.l.l..."
Volya smiles at her and then says,
"At the end, you succeed. I know that you still feel guilty about it, but I know that your intention indeed pure."
"Eh..."
"With this... You are freed from the chain that holds you. How do you feel about it?"
Maria could see Volya's smile and then nods. She then cries on his chest as now she is a free woman. Not long after that, they could see a group of knight comes to them. He knows the one that leads them is Ludmila, and Romain also there.
Romain steps down from his horse and walks towards Volya while takes off his helmet. When he sees Volya with Maria, he jokingly says,
"My... When I leave you alone, you take further steps, huh."
"Ahahahahaha... I just console her. Nothing more." answer Volya
"But, from here... It seems both of you really intimate."
Maria immediately stays away from Volya and she could see one of the knights is walking at her. The knight takes off the helmet and then Maria could see a woman face there. The knight is Ludmila Karychenko. She then says,
"Young Lady... Are you one of the villagers here?"
"Yes, I am," answer Maria
"Then, you don't need to worry. We are here for your aid."
Maria could see the knights are prepared to attack the bandit that inside the village. Ludmila then orders one of the knights to look after Maria. Maria later told them the location of the woman that still being captive, and Ludmila immediately sends a messenger to let Albert attack the encampment.
Ludmila then walks towards Volya and Romain that talking about something and then asks Volya,
"Sir Volya, are you sure the leader is inside the village?"
"Yes, he is. But, don't kill him..." answer Volya
"Why did you say that?" asked Romain
"I have several questions for him."
Ludmila and Romain nod and they enter the village together with Volya. When they walk towards the middle of the village, they could see a pile of corpse there, with the remaining people still fighting with each other, including Felipe.
Volya then walks towards the seat and then sits there. He only looking when Felipe kills the last people and with that Volya snaps his finger. He then smiles, claps his hand, and says,
"Felipe... You are indeed a strong people."
"Huh? You..."
"Just look around you... You are indeed a beast."
Felipe then looks around him and could see his men already dead and the knights already gathered around him. He also could see the banner of the knight and says,
"Oh... Haegian... I can't believe they catch me again."
Felipe then drops his axe and raises both of his hand to the air. Volya then asks him,
"I thought you will fight back, Felipe."
"With the current condition and the possibility that you still have something in your sleeve... I must think twice to attack all of you."
Felipe then sits down on the ground and Volya stands up from the seat. He then says,
"Then, do you remember our deal?"
"Yes. You still stand there... You could ask me any question." answer Felipe
"Then, do you remember about the man with a white robe back then?"
"A man with the white robe? Ah yes... I remember. He is a very nice guy that helps me get away from that cage."
"Then... Is he have a silver hair and always holding a dark brown book on his belt? Is he around his 25?"
"Huh?"
"Did this man have a clear blue sky eye and look really gentle?"
"No... No... The one that saves me is a man with a white beard and looks really old."
Volya looks really disappointed from that answer and then tells Ludmila,
"I have done with it."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes. The rest is on you, Lady Ludmila."
"Ok... Thank you for your help, Sir Volya."
"Your welcome."
Volya then walks towards the entrance with Romain also following him. Volya then asks him,
"Why are you following me? Is she orders you to do that?"
"No... It's just I feel like something interesting will happen if I follow you," answer Romain
"Haaa... I want to take some rest and then backs to my home."
"Ahahahahaha... I believe you will get that soon."
Romain and Volya continue to talk with each other until they see Albert and Villias' army that just liberated the woman that being held captive. Romain waves at them and then he says,
"The mission is a big success."
"But, it almost failed if they didn't come at all," answer Volya
"At least, we could say that the G.o.ddess of fortune is on our side."
"Yeah... You are right."
"Thank you very much, Volya. It's nice to get your help."
Romain smiles at Volya as he offers to shakes hand with him. Volya smiles at him, shakes his hand, and then says,
"You are welcome, Romain."
And with that, the mission officially ended with the victory on Haegia's side.