A/n: Help me reach my Goal on P4treon & Join Discord! ➡️ https://linktr.ee/donovel or Google "Donovel Linktree'' ⬅️
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Things weren't as simple as Hector Norman thought they might be.
In the journal of his ancestor, it is said that the party was traveling on land but they encountered sea. The sea is still a fair distance to the south from this area but the map was accurately pointing towards this valley.
A sea where a mage on a ship was fighting a monster. There is no way this thing would happen in a place like this.
*LASH*
"WORK! DON'T STOP."
"Move your asses, you lazy sons of bitches."
He closed the journal in annoyance from all the noise around him.
Against the odds of having to split the treasure of the painting's map, Hector Norman tried to sneak into the Brownlow Barony with minimal rumors about his movements but it seemed that he attracted the attention of some Mercenaries and Syndicate factions in the area.
In order to cut that tail, he had to make a deal with the local lord to secure the area he wanted to excavate while promising the lord some share in the discoveries. The Lord, however, seemed to be more interested than he was supposed to be and offered an entire village of Elvish serfs to be enrolled in the excavation.
That was annoying and uncommon. Lords don't usually sacrifice their villagers left and right but the Elves seemed to have been making trouble for the lord. In one way, the Elves are good workers but they isolate themselves from human society and even hate to trade. They are the most introverted race for a reason and to Lord Brownlow, they were occupying a lot of space while participating less in the Barony's economic flourishing.
That's why the Lord sent his men to round up the able-bodied elves and force them into labor with Hector Norman and his men. The Elves, however, kept crying, complaining, and attempting to escape.
Elves are petite, small, and a little crafty. They are by no means an able-bodied workforce which makes them pale beside the larger Humans and the earth-dwelling Dwarves in that regard.
They are excellent farmers, great hunters, and relatively good guides or scouts. However, they only thrive where there is green nature, and much like the trees they attribute their spiritual blessings to, they are easily affected by the seasons.
That's why one human can do the labor of four elves and complain half less as much. Elves stand on the height of 4 to 5 feet which is not at any way advantageous in comparison to humans and they had a free-spirited nature, neither forced nor heavy labor would fit them.
They can also run away and hide pretty easily in forests. Some of the gangsters have claimed that they used to see Elves going inside the trees and entering with their whole bodies into bushes, grass, and algae. Hector realized that the Elves could mask their presence by anything that comes from green nature and thus he caged some of their young ones in order to convince the others not to act up. It worked like wonder and the Elves returned silently to moving the stones he ordered them to move from the valley.
It was a tiresome day after a tiresome night. The Elves could barely eat what little scraps that were left for them and some of them started to get sick.
Finish the work faster so you can go back to your homes. That's what the men said.
They would turn their fingers into claws and shovels then force their entire bodies to go through the rocks if possible in order to finish this blasted labor. And finally and that night, one of the young Elves found a hollow cave passage beneath the dig site.
Hector Norman, who almost lost faith, and his men, who have grown impatient with their boss's folly, have finally found what they came for when they stood in front of the teeny tiny tunnel dug by a small Elf.
They could all swear that the smell of sea salt was coming from inside the cave they opened.
"Just like the painting! The smell of the sea… here in the middle of the forest valley. You boys can as well call me a prophet now." Hector became filled with confidence as things seemed like going the way he wanted for a change.
"Boss, this tunnel won't be enough for us to make a passage. Even the elves can't cross it completely." The overseer of the workers spoke.
"How long will it take?" Hector asked.
"Maybe by tomorrow night." The man replied.
"No." Hector put on a frightening expression, "I want it by the next morning. We have wasted enough time as it is. Our territory in Karanberg is already being taken by the Spider and his men. We need to be back before our losses can't be reversed."
The demand was absurd but even those thugs knew that they were in a bad spot already. If they are excavating for a treasure, they still need to return to their assets in the city to secure this treasure.
"Listen." Hector spoke, "Force some of the elves to the other side of the rubble and tell them to hasten the work from inside. It will keep all of them on edge and work all night."
The sinister suggestion was taken to the heart by the foreman and the other lackeys. They rounded up some of the small elves and started to force them through the small hole they excavated.
Whether it was cruel or not, results were all that mattered and results were delivered indeed. Just not the ones they hoped to achieve.
At first, the Elves started getting agitated but noises started to come from within the small tunnel. Screams, calls, cries.
Not just the Elves but now the gangsters were terrified. A monster has to be inside for this kind of panic to come from within.
But after listening more and more, the Elves inside the tunnel were not screaming from monsters but the words they spoke were something that made everyone frown in bafflement.
"Help!"
"We're sinking!"
"Hold on to it!"
"No! The waves are coming!"
The shouts made the situation seem more bizarre than what it already is and no one could make heads or tails of what was happening inside the tunnel right now.
"Keep cleaning the tunnel. Keep digging!" One of the Elf elders spoke to his kin in an obvious worry as their relatives were dying inside.
Hector Norman was between two wild thoughts at the moment. One was the temptation to go further with the promise of power and riches while the other was his survival instincts telling him to run from whatever danger that is lying beyond.
But why face danger himself when he has a ton of Elves that he can use as bait.
It was the best course of action for Hector but what he didn't take into account were the two pairs of eyes watching how the situation unfolds up the valley.
"This scum!" Vadim said as he displayed his anger.
"Yeah. Forced labor under lethal power. This is the lowest a country can get when the citizens aren't even living in peace." Leon exclaimed as he started preparing his equipment.
"What are you doing?" Vadim asked.
"What does it look like?"
Seeing Jon preparing arrows, a short bow, and fitting himself with some sidearms such as daggers and knives, it all seemed like a bad idea.
"You're up to no good again?"
"Hector Norman and I have a score to settle. I am holding a very awful grudge against him since he tore off the painting." Leon said.
"What painting?" Vadim asked as he was unaware of Leon's involvement in the stolen painting.
"Just something he did I didn't quite like." Leon replied with his attention focused on the camp down the valley.
"You realize how many men there are? I am not going to help you, you know." Vadim said, trying to dissuade Leon from taking more detours.
"43." Leon replied casually.
"You counted them?"
"Yes. Never stop counting." Leon replied, "Their formation around the camp is horrible but they are all low-level thugs or guards of the lord's. The highest level among them is 22 and it is that man clad in armor."
"You're taking them on! You're serious about this? Why? Are you trying to save the Elves?"
"Do I strike you as someone that heroic?* Leon asked, "No, I will only make my move when the tunnel is cleared. I need to know what treasure they are after too."
"Leon, Leon, Leon." Vadim held his head in annoyance, "There is no point of treasures for you. You are a Dark, your family has vaults filled with coffers of gold and gemstones. There is no meaning for something as mundane as a treasure."
"Let's say I like to make my own money."
Leon was stubborn about the whole thing since his aim was whatever Hector Norman was aiming for.
Leon understood something very clearly. Whatever Hector Norman is after can't be gold or silver, it is something much more valuable. Hector Norman is a businessman and a criminal, a man like him doesn't believe in buried money but rather something far more important.
Leverage? Magic? Artifacts?
Leon would be absolutely pleased to rip such a thing off Hector's grasp but he had to wait since the situation was unfavorable and Vadim is uncooperative. Just by doing a quick reading through the place, he could judge that Vadim can just go in, beat everyone up, dig out the tunnel with one hand, and finish things all up in one minute.
Still, Leon wouldn't want to miss out on all that juicy experience point.
Another hour passed and it was around 3 PM on Leon's pocket watch. The tunnel opening was far faster than anticipated and the gangsters started transporting torches and digging tools inside. Hector and his top dogs were also at the mouth of the tunnel waiting for a report from inside.
"It is time." Leon was finally ready to kick some ass and Vadim stood his ground with a disapproving expression.
Still, Vadim wanted to see Leon in action.
Leon had already prepared a rope down to the valley near the spot where he was before heading down. Where he landed was a lush area filled with good coverage and advantageous access to the camp. All he needed to do was to keep his head low and walk in without making a sound.
He may be used to get some support coms and drone coverage but he has already accounted for everything beforehand and…
{Boy.}
Leon immediately turned back as he could have sworn Vadim's voice was ringing in his head.
But there was no Vadim behind him.
"How the hell…" Leon lowered his head and looked around.
{It's just a simple spell called Message.}
Vadim's voice was there once again but this time, Leon could tell it was coming directly to his head.
"Message?" Leon whispered.
{Ya don't need to reply, I can't hear you anyway.} Vadim said with a lot of cockiness.
Leon frowned and pointed his finger towards Vadim before drawing circles with it until a stream of air started to form and extended itself to Vadim.
"What do you want?" Leon replied.
"Holy shit!" Vadim almost jumped off his place with his eyes widening.
That spell just now was "Sound Transmission", a Leon brew if said right. It is a spell that can carry the voice vibrations through the air and reproduce them somewhere else unlike Vadim's Message spell which would transmit words right to a target's mind.
[A/n: Sound Transmission, previously called Wind Whispers!]
Vadim never had the luxury to dwell on what type of spell that was so he cut to the chase.
{Alright, kid. I'll be your eyes from up here so if we do this, we need to at least do it right and fast.} Vadim said and waited for Leon to rally his reply.
"Alright."
It was just one simple word.
{Good. There are two goons guarding the way to the camp right across the thicket you're in. Make sure to keep your head down and strike them when the other is not paying atten…}
Vadim wanted to guide Leon at least on how to infiltrate a camp full of hostels and eliminate them but before he could continue, Leon jumped on the guy closest to him and cut his throat with a knife before throwing it towards the other guy to hit him with absolute accuracy in the neck as well.
One second, two killed.
{Or… you can just do that.}
Vadim witnessed some of what Leon can do before but not to this detail. He saw Leon rush towards the second guy before he fell and held his torch to stop any attention from happening if it burns something.
With the entire camp focused on the tunnel at the moment, none would predict a killer coming at their back from nowhere.
{Three goons putting a crate on a wagon just past the turn behind that big tent.}
*Swoosh* *Swoosh* *Swoosh*
Three lethal arrows flew simultaneously from Leon's short bow as he reinforced his own body with Mana in order to be able to bend the bow much faster. The hits didn't even alert the horse which was pulling the wagon.
{Two men overseeing the cages where the imprisoned Elves are. I would be careful not to alert the Elves so they wouldn't draw attention.}
Leon jumped on the wagon and drove it slowly towards the cages without anyone noticing. He was hiding on the wagon's bed only pulling the reins to make the horse stop right when the guards started noticing.
As the two guards moved to inspect the wagon, they had to move to its back in order to inspect what was happening. Leon instantly jumped on one of them, slit his throat, and before the other could react, Leon put a crossbow bolt in his skull through the eyeball.
Almost a minute passed since Leon started killing and he already had 8 dead bodies hidden in the shadows of the tents and between the horses' feed.
"8 down, 35 to go."
And he was only getting started.
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A/n: Help me reach my Goal on P4treon & Join Discord! ➡️ https://linktr.ee/donovel or Google "Donovel Linktree'' ⬅️