"Ahah, fantastic! I really am lucky it seems." Greygar's laughter resounded in the streets of Findel as Mahil told him more about the bounty and the person it belonged to.
He made sure to skip out on the details that would incur his oath, only telling him that Aron was the leader of an independent faction and had stolen from the major noble families. "You truly are lucky, you get to claim a bounty and have a head start at finding the ruins. I'm jealous..." Mahil shook his head and looked genuinely envious of Greygar but inwardly he was smiling.
"Don't worry Mahil, once I claim the bounty I'll treat you to half the reward and as for the ruins, I won't forget my best friend at that time either. I even brought a few gifts on the airship but let me claim this bounty first!" Greygar said confidently and Mahil nodded in response before coming to a sudden stop.
"As much as I'd love to see you defeat that poor fellow, I've got some imperial matters to attend to. Afterwards I'll prepare a feast in your honor my friend, it'll be a spectacle to behold for sure." Mahil explained while showing a friendly smile and demeanor. He wasn't sure how strong Aron was or how strong Greygar was but he surely wouldn't let this chance to get rid of Aron pass. If it failed he could simply weasel his way out or claim a different story, it had it risks but he was willing to do this.
"Always running off to attend to some boring matter, as you wish then I'll narrate to you my victory when you return." Greygar gave Mahil a rough pat on the back before watching him leave with a bright smile.
After parting ways Greygar and his crew immediately went towards the luxurious lodging Aron was staying at and gathered outside. "Can the one named Aron come out here and face me! You should already know what this is about so let's not waste time!" Greygar declared both loudly and arrogantly.
Immediately some members of the faction rushed outside and soon after Jin, Xavier and Claudia appeared as well. "So soon?" Jin asked aloud as he looked at the large muscle bound man standing some meters away from them.
"What do we do?" Claudia and the others weren't at all fearful of this man but were instead wondering what they should do as Aron still hadn't returned and Lady Rose as per usual didn't care for such an unimportant matter.
"Looks like we've got quite the nice looking ladies here lads! More to add to our wonderful collection! If you leader doesn't come out then I'll crush you lot and take those that catch my eye away..." Greygar expressed with a smile on his face. Of his many experiences outside Findel, women were among the thing he loved most.
Every time they encountered an enemy they would plunder their wealth and steal there women. This was all but common and for female crews they did the same to good looking men that caught their eye, in the end all that mattered was strength.
Seeing as Greygar looked impatient and ready to attack, Xavier was about to step forward as both he and plenty other members were confident in taking out this ignorant man, but soon Aron and Evanora's figures could be seen walking over not too far away. Greygar followed their gazes and immediately smiled upon seeing Aron.
"There you are!" Greygar exclaimed and immediately unsheathed his large sword and charged towards Aron. "Hmm..." Aron looked at the man with a brow raised and casually brought out his own one handed sword before throwing it at Greygar with immense force.
The sword flew forward and was coming towards Greygar at a speed that was much too fast for a regular augmenter such as him to act. So just as he prepared to use his blade to deflect the attack it buried itself in his flesh.
Crack!
His skull cracked and blood splattered in all directions as the blade pierced him right through the head. His head had been nearly split in half while even his chest cavity could be seen.
In an instant this seemingly able warrior met his end and fell backward with a loud thud. All this occurred in less than a heartbeat so Aron had not even stopped walking.
Soon he reached Greygar's corpse and removed his sword from his body before turning to Claudia and the others. Greygar's crew stood in disbelief at what they were seeing.
This was a man they had been through thick and thin with and had absolute confidence in, not once did they ever imagine he'd met his end like this... it just wasn't acceptable.
Without Aron needing to give the order, Xavier stepped forward and ordered the faction members to surround the remaining crew. "Check if he's anyone important, if not then kill his crew and take anything valuable from their airship then mount their heads on it's sides." Aron instructed before walking into the lodgings.
"He's using them as an example..." Claudia muttered aloud but was still perplexed by how casually he took this. Not once did he exhibit worry or fear about their situation.
"Of course, imagine coming here then wondering what happened to the last group that tried to claim the bounty... only to see an airship with numerous heads on it's sides." Jin seemed somewhat familiar with this type of warning that Aron employed.
Even if someone was still bent on coming after Aron, they wouldn't do so with the same amount of confidence and once their confidence was shaken then they'd be easy targets either way. "I think they're just a common independent faction so we can..." Xavier looked to Claudia as if to confirm without saying the actual words aloud. Even he found the mounting of heads a bit extreme.
"Our leader is close friends with the fourth prince! You can't do this!" One of the more confident crew members exclaimed in hopes they'd be set free and vengeance for their leader would be carried out.
"Yep, no one important. Let's do this quickly..." Jin confirmed while nodding his head at the pitiful looking crew members, they came looking for treasure but all they found was death and not even an honorable one. Truly a pity...
….
Meanwhile inside the lodgings, Aron walked into Lady Rose's room and found her attention focused on what looked to be a map of the region alongside two notebooks full of scribbles.
"I'll need two days more at the very least, much of the vegetation in the forest isn't documented so I instead have to guess the type looking at the geographical elements. It'll be less accurate but still better than what we have currently." Without needing to ask, Lady Rose told Aron of her progress and he turn nodded slightly and leaned against the wall by the door. "If that's the case then I should cancel the order to mount heads." Aron sighed and prepared to leave as he initially thought she'd have been closer to narrowing the location.
"Why? What does that have to do with this?" Lady Rose asked while still keeping her alluring eyes fixated on the map. "Before I wanted to have the coming factions to be fearful but since you need more time I can't very well allow others to start investigating as well so I'll lure them to me with the bounty on my head. We gain more time and less competition simultaneously." Aron explained and caused Lady Rose to turn and glance at him for a moment.
"What an interesting boy you are." She said without changing her serious facial expression before turning back to her work.
Visit freewe𝑏nove(l).𝐜𝐨𝗺 for the 𝑏est n𝘰vel reading experience