To avoid any kind of confrontation, Ender called all his subordinates after they finished packing the corpses of the magic beasts, and then explained.
"These two friends over here are young Gabriel and miss Priscila, they are travelers that have been training in the wilderness and ended up offering us help against the magic beasts that surrounded us, after Omar and his army took a detour to never be seen again".
Ender's subordinates started at each other, of course the previous was a blatant lie, because though they were too busy to witness Daimon killing Omar, they did get to see Sarah casually looting the corpses of Omar's subordinates before returning to Daimon's side.
But after having followed Ender for so many years, this was the first time they have seen him so apprehensive, so they all understood this was the only option they had, so they all nodded and then proceeded to make some kind of ritual to swear that the made-up history they heard, will be the only thing they'll say.
Daimon raised an eyebrow behind his mask as he observed the ritual, because it was also some really outdated method from a long a time go, unlike the soul contracts used nowadays, they used a method called "Blood Oath", which consisted in they all swearing while cutting their hands and using that blood to sign a contract.
A red chain symbol then appeared on their wrists to then fade away once the ritual was completed, Ender then handed the paper which contained the signs of all the present people to Daimon, with a "What do you think", expression, which made Daimon think.
'Don't look at me like that, I don't know what to say about such an unsafe method', still he accepted the paper and kept in his pocket which was only a feint to send it into his inventory.
"That will work, then we should go to the town you mentioned right", he said.
"Yes, please follow us, the guards will tun a few tests at the entrance, as long as you pass them, I can represent you to avoid further interrogation", said Ender, to which Daimon nodded.
With Ender's greenlight a few wind affinity mages started casting, and then a column of wind raised them all from the ground, and then started advancing towards northeast where the town detected by Rita, was located.
On the way, Daimon turned to see Ender to ask him a few questions, because he wanted to understand more of the setting of this world, the part that he presented himself as a traveler that came from a really faraway place, was so that he could ask what he wanted without looking suspicious.
"What are these tests you mentioned, from where I come the guards only corroborate that you aren't a wanted person at most?", that was Daimon's first question, because according to his calculations, the strongest people in that town should be Lord ranks at most, maybe there is a few peak ones and that will be it, since the ones leading the teams were middle stage ones.
Ender simply couldn't feel at ease near Daimon after what happened earlier, well not really Daimon, he was more wary of Sarah, she looked quite young and yet showed such skilled assassin abilities, so his discomfort was justified.
"Ahem, they are just the normal, tests to make sure you aren't a flesh-eating demon, or a cannibal, other than that of course there is a clear crystal array to see if you are wanted, that's pretty much it, I guess you come from a really big city at the central area, if the people that enter aren't doubted of eating… others", said Ender.
Daimon had already thought about it, but the fact that you had to be checked to see if you were a cannibal before entering a city, meant that there was a severe lack of food in this area, or maybe this whole place in general.
That also explained why Ender mentioned food first than mana crystals when he was offering compensation, if he spared Omar's life.
'Well, people from desertic planets are said to have it tough, not many non-magical plants can survive harsh conditions and still be nutritious enough to keep people alive, also to endure these high temperatures, without any magic or knight cultivation, arrays are needed, meaning a constant source of fuel is needed to', thought Daimon.
For starters, first it was hard to believe that he was actually sent to another place, considering how much mana would be needed for a gate to connect the second layer of Neptune to a completely separate place.
But then taking the fact that there were specific areas where the space was much thinner than others, like the four areas where those natural spatial gates appeared, then it wasn't such an outrageous thing.
Especially because according to the Ryner's records, some people from outside of Neptune ended stranded there, in the past at least, the array that transported them here, probably made use of a breach in space that the hero found in the past, or something along the lines of that.
Adding the fact that the hero was system user makes it even more possible, thanks to the wind affinity mages putting some effort the whole group soon arrived at the entrance of a small sized town.
Daimon observed the settlement in front of him, for a place in the middle of nowhere the defensive walls were quite tall, there were archers all over the place too and even a pit surrounding the whole thing with a drawbridge.
"Yo, Ender how did the hunt go this time", shouted a man above the wall, he was wearing a better armor compared to the others, meaning he was probably someone with authority above the archers that were stationed here and there.
"Xander, I don't want to stay outside of the city walls more than what is needed, run the damn arrays so I can enter and go fetch my rewards, I can buy you a drink later of course", said Ender.
The man called Xander laughed, though it was only an early-stage Lord rank, one minor realm below Ender, it is always good to have good relationships with the guards, especially in a place where the requirements to enter are so strict.
Daimon saw some of the arrays on the wall illuminate before a green light fell upon them, according to Ender, the light would turn red if they were cannibals, flesh eating monsters of they were wanted, which of course wasn't the case.
With the sound of engines rotating, the gate of the city opened and only then a bridge came from within the other side of the walls, to allow them to enter.
The moment Daimon set a foot inside of the city, he frowned, a screen which reminded him of the ones of the system appeared in front of him, but there was no sound of notification, so this wasn't a notification from his system.
Not to mention, Sarah's eyes were sparkling because she could see it too, though one didn't appear for her, still with a gaze from Daimon she remained silent understanding he will explain later.
Leaving that aside, Daimon and Sarah followed Ender's group into the city, naturally the guards who took noted of anyone that left, immediately noticed they weren't from here, but with Ender talking to the man called Xander who turned out to be the vice-captain of the gate guards, they were left in peace.
Xander also noticed that Omar and the other knights that also left, were missing.
"Where are those guys, did you two have a fight again, he is a douche but his strength is needed… the damn shortage of food is making even us tighten our belts", said the guard.
"Ah, you know Omar, he is unable to work as a team and he despises us, so the moment he had the chance he decided take a separate route, the large group of beasts that were coming towards the town were led away by us, so he just went to look for a smaller pack to hunt".
The reason as to why a force composed of almost fifty, including two middle stage Lord ranks, was because the group of magic beasts was coming to the town, they acted as bait to lead the beasts away from this area.
The magic beasts were crazy over eating people here for some reason, so they ignored the city which was surrounded by walls that concealed the living beings behind of it, and instead followed the tasty-looking humans.
Of course, Omar and Ender were sure that they could bring most of their subordinates unscathed back to the city, after they hunted some magic beasts to bring back.
After saying goodbye to Xander, Ender approached Daimon to say.
"I need to inform and sell the materials I got, please follow me so that I can give you the money from the things you handed me".
Daimon found a few things in the rings that Sarah retrieved from the dead knights, which were unable to be traced down to them, since he didn't have the currency of this place, he wanted to get some as it may be useful later.
They also used mana crystals, but their energy firm was different than the ones of the four galaxies and the ones found in Neptune, so if he brought those out it will draw unnecessary attention.
"Sure", with Daimon's greenlight, they walked towards a three-story house a few streets away from the entrance of the city, this house was a store created by the chief of Brown Wind Town.
There other stores set up by merchants from other places, but the store of the chief was the one with which Ender worked, the reason is very simple, the gains produced here were in part used to prevent the people from dying.
At least they provided some emergency food for those who didn't have anyone to provide for them, like orphans, elders and the like, that being said, Ender assured Daimon he will be getting a fair price for the objects he was selling.
While Ender's subordinates stayed outside of the store, Ender guided Daimon and Sarah inside, it was quite a regular store for Daimon at least, there were weapons, potions, and even magic scrolls.
The major difference was that everything here was literally chained to the racks, to prevent theft, there were also defensive arrays placed on the racks too, and a few tall guys acting as guards positioned on the corners and the center of the store too.
"I'll go sell the things, have a look in the meantime if you want to", said Ender as he left to the main counter of the store.
Daimon gave Sarah a signal and then walked towards one of the many slightly isolated areas of the store, where bones of magic beasts were exhibited, once the crazy girl confirmed they couldn't be heard by others, she turned to see Daimon and asked what was in her mind.
"What is that, is it some kind of illusion, created with magic?", she curiously asked.
Let alone Sarah, even Aisha, Erin and the others were amazed at the screens produced by the system, so this much was expected from the crazy girl.
"Something like that, these will probably tell us what are the objectives left by the guy who took us here", said Daimon as he read this fake notification he got.
[Congratulations on reaching one of the many checking points "Brown Wind Town", fulfill the objectives to earn rewards and be able to return, failing three times you are out, good luck]
Once Daimon finished reading the notification, he dismissed it and then a second one appeared for him.
[The first objective has been decided, solve the food problems of Brown Wind Town and find the source of their hardest to deal with troubles, the reward will be decided based on the time of completion and the result of the method used]
Daimon inwardly snorted, these notifications were really basic, they looked like cheap copies of the ones from the system to be honest, there was no timer as well, so the mission probably started the moment he entered this town, even if he didn't read the notifications.
Daimon came out of his daze when he saw one of the tall guys that were acting as guards approaching them.
"Hey you two, if you aren't going to buy something get out of the store", said the knight, Daimon smirked as he got a nice idea on how to take on this fake mission he got.
"We are selling stuff to this store, if you don't want them, I can leave and go to another store of course", casually said Daimon.
The guard froze on the spot, if what was being sold was meat from magic beasts and he caused the store to lose the deal, then he would for sure be punished for it, just as he was looking for a way out of this situation, the voice of a man came to his rescue.
"Leave then, once you see the prices offered by the other stores, you'll want to return but won't be allowed to do so".
The voice came from a man in his twenties, which was accompanied by the one who was attending the counter, next to them Ender who had an apologetic expression on his face.
"Sorry, it seems there is a new person in charge here, I'm to blame, we'll go to another store", he said.
Daimon didn't care too much about it, he wanted to see the level of the things sold to the public, that's why he entered the store, he knew that Ender wouldn't dare to steal from him anyway.
And now that he has confirmed that the magic equipment that was being sold was rubbish, he no longer had any interest in this store, in fact he was now interested in getting to know those merchants mentioned by Ender, to improve the image he had of this place.
"No problem", said Daimon as he walked towards Ender, he didn't even bother in looking at the guy who told them to leave of they wanted to, the guard who was earlier trying to send them out, saw the angered expression on his boss's face and he sinisterly laughed.
"Hey, who allowed you to leave… aghhh!", the poor bastards actually tried to hold onto Sarah's shoulder to stop her, and the moment his hand was around five centimeters near of her, it melted.
The flesh turned into a black liquid which dripped out, revealing the bones below, that then turned into liquid too, making the guard scream in pain as he grabbed his arm and rolled on the ground.
"I'm taken, so hands off, you piece of trash", Sarah's cold voice sent a shiver through the spines of the guards, Ender and the manager of the store, not only the hand, but the whole arm of the guard, had started to melt, ignoring the armor he was using.
Daimon felt a shiver but for a different reason, which is the fact that Sarah gazed at him when she said "I'm taken", earlier.
The manager no longer wanted to clash with Ender and this scary woman, so he stood aside and allowed them leave, but of course his eyes were full of hatred, as he will have to pay the guard for this incident, there is a chance he loses his recently acquired position too.
Naturally that didn't escape Daimon's eyes, but that's what he wanted, he was the one who told Sarah to deal with the situation as she liked, essentially unchaining the crazy girl, which resulted in the guard whose body was crumbling apart even now, as the screams coming from the store, suggested.
With Sarah happily humming as she walked next to Daimon, and Ender who now was even more worried than before, Daimon was guided to the next store, which was smaller, but had a better vibe going on.
"I'm sorry for what happened earlier, the old managed was a good person and my acquittance, but he isn't feeling well so that idiot was sent as his replacement… he was giving me a horrible price due to some personal feuds I had with him, this store offers a lower price, but don't worry I'll cover up your losses", said Ender.
Daimon nodded, he thought about it for a second before saying.
"Say, Ender, besides food what other problems you find to be the most apprehensive for this town?".
Ender was taken back by Daimon's question, but he still answered quite fast.
"Insecurity and impunity are a pain to deal with, with food being worth sometimes more than mana crystals, you can imagine what people is willing to do just to have a full meal… the chief is fair but he isn't the strongest and so he can't control everyone, Omar was a good example of that, but he wasn't the worst in this place".
Daimon nodded in response, this was quite valuable information, as he just found a way to deal with both of the assignments of the mission at the same time.
Read latest chapters at f(r)eewebnov𝒆l Only