Gai was angry, very angry. He held a poker face as he effectively suppressed the rage seething beneath him while he walked the small streets of laron under the sunset. Marco and Ann would come soon, he just needed to wait a little longer.
He didn't notice when his walk took him to a secluded part of the village. The houses were sparse and looked much worse off. He hadn't gone far when he saw a bunch of the organization's henchmen gathered around a particular spot. There were about seven of them and they seemed to be focused on something on the ground and occasionally laughing out loud. Looking to vent his anger, he charged at them recklessly as he activated the skill that coated his arm in a layer of earth.
"Hahaha! What a stupid old man!"
"I can't believe he thoug- URGHK!"
Gai punched the speaker straight in his jaw breaking a few teeth in the process, he followed up with a jab to his kidney and a kick that sent him flying in a spectacular motion with fluid movements. Before the rest could react, he had launched himself at another two with a palm skill that blasted them with a gust of air and then delivered a roundhouse kick to an idiot trying to sneak up behind him.
Sounds of grunts and miserable shrieks of pain followed as he beat the grunts mercilessly to death, he didn't believe in surrenders.
After he was done, the place was littered with their dead bodies and blood was splattered everywhere. He stood panting heavily as he slowly wiped off his fists with a rag. He had suffered a few cuts and bruises but it didn't mean much to him, he felt much better now, relaxed even.
As he composed himself, he noticed a crouching figure with sunken eyes looking at him from behind the cover of a wall. It was an old man with a bald head that only had hair growing at the sides. He wasn't wearing much, just a baggy trouser and what seemed like a well oversized shirt with both looking like they hadn't been washed in years.
Although the man had dark sunken eyes and a beggar's face, he looked at him with such intensity that Gai decided to pay him his full attention.
"You are strong" the man spoke suddenly.
Gai didn't reply, he just stared back calmly at the old man.
"I can help fix up your wounds, to pay you back for helping me"
It was then it dawned on him that the old man was probably what the goons were paying their attention to. He now noticed the foot marks and small bruises on his clothes and face. Even with the assault, the old man didn't look fazed at all.
Gai nodded his head to show his consent, they both walked away from the scene without a second thought to the consequences brought about by the gory scene they left behind.
The old man's house was a bit far in and wasn't much different than the rest of the houses with a door and four windows. He followed the old man inside and stared around. There was a small bed on one corner, a big chest stood right at the end, there were two chairs and a table by a window, a small fire place and a door that led to what Gai could only imagine as the bathroom, although he highly doubted if it was used.
The man motioned for him to sit down as he went to the chest and took out a small box. He pulled out a small metal flask from the box and a surprisingly clean rag which he soaked with the content of the flask and used to clean Gai's wounds. He brought out small bandages for the more serious ones and diligently tied them up while Gai sat down motionlessly waiting for him to finish. After the old man was done, he quickly took care of his small bruises before putting the box back into the chest and sitting down opposite Gai.
"You seem to have a grudge with those men, is that why you attacked them?" the old man asked with his tired croaky voice.
Gai nodded silently.
The man sighed as he looked out the window.
"I can tell you are a summoned, don't ask me how, I can't bother to explain. But you seem very reliable and it seems we share a common enemy. So tell me, will you listen to this old man's request?"
Gai paused for a while in thought before he slowly nodded his head. The old man sighed again in relief before he explained his request to him.
Rastel had taken down a few more men as he went through the village hall, four to be exact. The first one was in the kitchen cooking what he could only barely consider to be food and was too engrossed in it to notice the punch heading towards his jaw from the shadows. The next two were walking down the corridors towards the kitchen, probably to check up on the meal. Rastel had climbed up a pole supporting the roof to avoid been seen and then had landed mercilessly on them with a lightning blast as soon as they were directly under him. The last one was situated at the top of the stairs leading to the cellars, he had to rush this one and hit him with a few well placed punches before he could sound an alarm.
The stairs leading to the cellars was quite long and was made of stone. There were a few lanterns hung on the walls at intervals for light, he made sure he turned them all off.
Reaching the bottom of the stairs, he found himself facing thick wooden doors stretched out to the left and right down a long corridor. Taking a peek at both sides, he saw groups of four men positioned at the far ends sitting around a small table drinking, dozing off or playing some form of gambling.
The ones on the left were discussing with themselves loudly as they gambled with each other.
"I never knew that red mage was a bastard, keeping such a young beauty all to himself in his room. do you think he touched her?"
"Bah shut your gums you disgusting beast! That girl must not be older than 15!"
"You shut your gums old fool! So what? A beautiful lass is a beautiful lass, I know what I'd like to do if I got my hands on her. Why I'll-"
The young man suddenly stopped talking as he looked down at the sharp point sticking out of his throat. The others around his table suddenly stood up in horror as they watched him topple over with what looked like their worst nightmare perched on his shoulders. It looked like a demon with claws for hands and a terrifying smiling face. Before they could react, they heard sounds of action and yelps of pain from the other side of the corridor.
Despite himself being level headed most of the time, rastel felt himself increasingly pissed off by the guard talking about what was apparently a small girl. It was the first time he felt the urge to see someone dead since he started the game. Throwing his plans to the back of his head, he took out the mini golem and threw it towards the left with only one goal, kill the bastard!
He himself took off to the right as he wildly attacked the men before they could recover and retaliate. The golem on the other side was running rings around the men while administering small but deadly cuts whenever it had the chance. After finishing with the right, rastel went to the left to finish off what the golem started.
When he was done, he stood still for a moment to see if his actions caused any commotion. Seeing as everything was okay, he set about looking at the cells to find the prisoners.
They were split amongst the cellars to stop them from communicating with each other. They all looked weak and frail and couldn't say a word, three women, five men, a stooped old man and a boy who looked to be around 17. They were all wearing some form of dirty clothes or what might have been servant's clothes. He took out some wine he had stolen from the kitchens and shared it around with some buns. After they ate quickly and silently, they looked at him with gratitude as the old man coughed before whispering some things into the boy's ears. The boy nodded before facing rastel.
"My father says to thank you dearly for rescuing us, although we don't know the circumstances, he thinks we should hurry up and be in our way before we encounter more trouble."
"I agree" rastel nodded as he led the way.
They went up the stairs and peeked at the empty corridor before silently moving towards the kitchen. Rastel whispered to the boy as they neared.
"There is supposed to be a girl locked up in the mage's room. Do you know where it is?"
The boy thought for a few seconds before replying.
"I think a girl was brought in yesterday or so, I can't really tell. I was half awake and I remember the mage sounding really happy to see her. If the mage should have a room then it would be on the right wing. That's where all the proper rooms are"
'The right wing?' rastel was cautious. That might be where the leader was.
"Okay I understand, thank you."
When they reached the kitchen, rastel had them hide while arming themselves with the weapons taken from the guards just in case and asked them to wait for him.
"If I don't come back in five minutes, escape as fast as you can!" and with those words, he left to find the girl.