"So, you are the fleet-foot that I have heard about," said Hard Head in a loud voice as they came close to the gate. He had a large frame with a full plate armor and came towards them with a steel broadsword in his right hand.
"And you are?" asked Balthazar casually without even looking at him as he observed the reactions of the others behind Hard Head. He intentionally didn't pay attention to Hard Head to irritate him.
"I am Hard Head, a member of the Valhalla Raiders," he said angrily while trying block Balthazar's vision with his body. "Come with me, we need to talk about something," he ordered.
"Come with you?" asked Balthazar as he looked at him. "Why would I?"
"I you know what is good for you, you better follow me back to the guild. There is someone who wants to talk to you," said Hard Head loudly trying to threaten him.
"Did you just threaten me?" asked Balthazar sneering at him. Hard head was angry that a player who depended on his secondary occupation was giving him attitude. Almost all players who were good at occupation such as alchemist or forging had to spend a lot of time on it and were hardly good at combat and they didn't usually talk back to combat oriented players like him as they were afraid of being killed.
He had expected fleet-footed rogue to be the same kind. Moreover, he was a new name, and he didn't expect him to be good at games. So, he never expected Balthazar to talk back to him in an aggressive manner. His guild was always bullying others, so he didn't expect a non-combat profession to be like this.
Angered by his behavior, Hard head was quick to move his blade to attack, but he found himself suddenly in a stunned state. He didn't even realize when he was hit in the stomach and only came to know of it when he saw the notification. Before, he could react he was blinded and then found himself dead due to a stab through his brain.
It wasn't just him but the other around him were also surprised. Though the Valhalla Raiders had a strong presence in the town they didn't dare be so aggressive at the gates where there would be guards. They could be killed easily by the guards or imprisoned if they indulged in PvP so close to the gates. They could also lose reputation. The immediately saw that Balthazar's name went red in color. The started to shake their heads in dejection. They wanted to kill him immediately but didn't dare as that would make their names also red. So, they didn't move. Even, if they didn't personally attack, they were sure he was going to be captured by the guards behind them and didn't worry about it.
"That was a real stupid thing to do," said Puba who was behind them. The others in the guild were unsure of their next action but Puba had already had contact with Balthazar and tried to talk to him. "Run before the guards capture you."
As expected, a couple of guards came close to him, but as they approached, they were aggressive or attacked Balthazar immediately as the others expected. "What happened here?" asked one of the guards looking at Balthazar.
Balthazar was not afraid of them either as he had already had it planned. He had enough reputation for third-class citizen and more importantly he was escorting the son of the town head who they could clearly see riding on a horse behind him. So, they expected him to be a representative for Barnabus. Being the town-guards, they were definitely wary of him.
"I am currently escorting young master Barnabus as a part of his mission from the coastal guard. The adventurer that I killed was preventing us from finishing our mission. Apart from that the young master was also injured and needs medical attention. So, I attacked and killed him when he raised his weapon," said Balthazar to the guard. "We intend to take him to the mansion where he could be immediately treated. Requesting your support for this."
"Clear the path for young master and his entourage," said the guard as he turned around and yelled at the players nearby so that Balthazar along with his team and Barnabus could pass through. Even the name of the player went back to normal from a red name. All the players of the Valhalla Raiders were shocked at the sudden and unexpected turn of events.
As they went inside, Balthazar stopped by Puba. "I don't intend to be against the raiders or the ronins, and I wish to cooperate regarding the antivenom. You guys want my goods and services you better be respectful to me. I will contact you after my mission is done. Hope I don't have to meet someone like Hard Head again. Tell them that forceful measures would only make things harder for them. Unlike the guilds whose occupation is the game, this is just a hobby for me, and I can make things quite hard for you guys. I got quite a good relationship with the town head," he warned in a very low voice so that only Puba could hear him.
As he went away from Puba, the others came around him and asked about him. "What did he talk about?" asked one of them.
"He actually wanted to cooperate with us and understood that we are only here due to the antivenom. He just was a bit pissed off by Hard Head's table manners," answered Puba.
"That was all! He killed as he didn't like Hard Head?" asked the player.
"Apparently so, either way. It is not our problem. He clearly has some kind of relationship with some important NPC of the town. So, best not force him. Let us report it before Hard Head comes back after respawn and make a mess of things," said Puba as quickly called Kiriti who could he hoped would control the situation.
Balthazar walked into the town without much issue and under the guard of a few NPC guards who were quickly arranged by the guard who conversed with Balthazar at the gate, the entire group made their way to the town head's mansion.
As they reached the mansion, Barnabus was taken inside along with the players to meet the town head. The town head, Theodore quickly called for a healer to treat Barnabus while the others were offered some beverages before he asked Balthazar about the events that transpire in the mission.
Balthazar understood quickly that Theodore was only interested about Barnabus's injury and not about the entire mission as he surely would have already been informed of it. So, he quickly narrated and explained that Barnabus had been the victim of an ambush by the grassland tiger hoping that Theodore wouldn't blame them.
Luckily, Barnabus also joined him and put in a few good words about Balthazar and his team who braved the tiger to save him. Hearing Barnabus word's, Balthazar and the rest of the team were happy as they were sure that they would get some reputation due to their efforts. As the mission didn't give much information about the rewards, they were concerned about it all this time.
"Thanks for your brave efforts, adventurers. I know that you have been employed by the coastal guard to guard my son, but I also understand that you could have left him for dead during the attack. I will remember your efforts," said Theodore as notifications rang in the ears of the team.
"+30 MurkWater Town Reputation Points."
"It was our duty, Mr. Theodore. Thank you," said Balthazar. The rest of the team were also very happy. They didn't have much expectations from this quest. They expect some reward from the coastal guard but that wasn't of much use as the Valhalla Raiders were trying to monopolize the coast and they didn't have enough manpower to go against them. Town reputation was much more useful, and this single quest directly gave them enough reputation points to make even someone with no reputation, a third-grade citizens of the town which was a very good thing.
"You can go, now. I believe you need to go back to the coastal guards before night. I will send a couple of guards with you," said Theodore. The team quickly went out and sat down in the garden of the mansion as they waited for Barnabus. A few minutes, later Barnabus accompanied by a pair of guards came out and the lot of them went to the coastal guard station.
As they reported back to the coastal guard station, they were immediately rewarded with experience and coins. Unexpectedly they didn't get any coastal guard reputation as Balthazar had expected, but the experience was quite high.
"+14000 experience points."
It quickly pushed all of them to level 19 except for Balthazar. He was already at level 19 and he required more experience than the rest of them due to his unique equipment. But he was quite closer to getting to level 20.
"That was a lot of experience," said Agua surprised that he had earned a good amount of reputation, but he was a bit disappointed that he didn't get any reputation points from the coastal guard.
"Well, it was a hard one. Now, we need to deal with the Valhalla Raiders. Keep safe," said Balthazar. "You can try the missions available here. I doubt you wouldn't have much trouble with the previous mission."
"Sure, it is better to go with this than the other options, but we are afraid about the Raiders. We are thinking it is better to go back to the town," said Agua Canalon. "We will continue with taking quests from the town head or registrar and with the reputation we got we might get better quests."
"Your call. I will leave now. I will meet the raiders," said Balthazar.
"You want me to join you?" asked Agua. "I might of some help."
"No, that would make it just harder. Let me deal with it," said Balthazar as he called up Puba. Puba was the one who spent a bit more time in the game with him and so he trusted him more than the others.
"Hi, I was waiting for your call," said Puba. "Come on to the brown hog tavern. Kiriti and Karma are also waiting to meet you."
"Karma? Isn't he the one who needs to finish the quest in the marshlands?" asked Balthazar.
"Ya. You killing Hard Head got him interested and he wanted to talk to you. You were a bit too aggressive I guess, but it is no problem. Kiriti will be there and he can support you," said Puba concerned about it. To him Karma who insisted that Hard Head accompany him to talk would probably as bull headed as Hard Head, but he only cared that they complete the mission without much losses. Though they are being compensated, as they get killed, they lose valuable experience which puts them behind. So, he wanted to just deal with Balthazar to get the antivenom in large amounts as soon as possible.
"Not an issue. I don't mind speaking to Karma. It is best if I hash it out with him. Everyone else from that guild in this town listen to him, right? So, talking it out with him would be better and we could avoid confusion as he would have the last word," replied Balthazar as he cut the communication and made way toward the tavern.
"I hope he doesn't behave with Karma in the same way he did with Hard Head," thought Puba. "Karma is a competitive player and any act of aggression from fleet-foot will have the whole guild against him and make our mission in the marsh much more difficult."
Though he was worried he couldn't do much about it other than hope that both Balthazar or Karma wouldn't do anything too much and this could come to a reasonable conclusion.