"Let's go, let's go! We have to get there as soon as possible." The repairmen hurried off after they finished the repairs and collected their payments.
It was dusk, and just as Mizar lay on his bed, someone called him. He was a chore boy of the Black Tears.
"Will I ever get to rest today?" Mizar was tired. It was a very long day; many things happened, and he didn't even have the time to rest.
It was his first day at the Dark Legion, and he was already involved in many fights. He would do anything to sleep right now, but he had to go since he had a deal with them.
…
Creeeaak!
The door opened, revealing members of the Black Tears. All eyes landed on Mizar for a few seconds before they returned. A chilling sensation traveled down the body of Mizar as his body trembled for a split second.
The place looked like a tavern, with a table, chairs, and the aroma of food and alcohol. The atmosphere inside the tavern felt a little serious.
"Here," Kisado called Mizar from one of the tables. He was sitting alone at the table, waiting for Mizar.
The table that Kisado was on was in the middle, and it looked intentional. Mizar went and sat on the only chair available on that table. There were two cups filled with wine and some other foods.
"You could be a little respectful. After all, I am your Leader, aren't I?"
Mizar didn't know what to say. He strived for independence; he felt like a faction or group would only tie him, slow his progress.
"What benefits would I gain for calling you a Leader?"
"Ha! I felt like you would ask something like that." Patting his shoulders, he said to Mizar,
"You would, of course, gain many benefits. First of all, you have a group of people that will back you up in anything. You wouldn't survive the resource collection day, but that comes later. You can also ask for assistance in completing the Legion's missions. You can get many equipments, herbs, and many rare materials. It's basically like a mini clan, but it's ten times more important in a place like resident area."
'Well, I could already get most of it from system shop, but if I refuse now, it looks like I won't be going alive.' Mizar thought as he asked,
"So what would I have to do to get those benefits you mentioned? It can't be for free, right?"
"No, there aren't many things. The mains things that you have to do are help a fellow member if he's in danger or need of help, and the other thing is... shishi… pillage other factions."
Mizar felt a little bit settled hearing Kisado. When pillaging and helping a fellow member in danger, there would likely be some killing, and killing was where the money was for Mizar.
"Okay, then. Is that it?"
"Yes, that's it. Welcome to faction."
The mood in the Tavern became much lighter as Kisado shouted,
"Welcome to the Black Tears, umm… what was your name?"
Mizar rolled his eyes as he said, "Mizar."
"Yeah. Welcome to the Black Tears, Mizar! This one's for Mizar!"
He raised a cup of wine as he shouted. The rest of the members followed his suit.
"Hey! Why are you just sitting there, idly? Come on, drink!"
Mizar was uninterested in all this, so he went out of the tavern towards his home. He didn't have the energy for all this; it was already getting dark, and he was tired of all the things that he had to do today. Even if he had energy, he didn't want to do all of this.
After Mizar went away, the Tavern became all serious. One of the peoples asked Kisado,
"Leader, can we really trust this guy for such an important task? What if he turned out to be like that guy you described of?"
"Don't worry, he won't. I will figure out something. He still has miles to go before he comes nowhere near us."
"That guy… he is hiding something. I can feel it." Mizar murmured on his way home.
After getting home, he dived straight onto his bed. Even if the ground below his bed split apart, he won't wake up today.
…
"What is this? Why is there a fog here?" Rung Qazi, the fourth elder's illegitimate son, returned after completing a clan mission to the site of a fog covering kilometers upon kilometers area around the Clan. Quite a few people were surrounding the fog, inspecting it.
It had been a few days since the fog appeared, so the number of peoples around the fog had decreased.
When he tried touching the fog, he felt like his body was getting absorbed. He quickly pulled his hand away and wandered around. He climbed the tallest tree there was to get the full view of the situation.
Fog filled his sight. There was fog as far as he could see. He wanted answers as to what exactly occurred here.
He jumped down from the tree and looked for a person to ask questions. Everyone was there with their elders and was in a team, and he had some valuable materials that he had collected for the clan's mission. So he couldn't just go and ask someone strong; he might be killed and robbed here.
After jumping from tree to tree to search for someone, he spotted one as quickly went towards that person. But his timing was a little awkward.
It was a girl, and she was peeing under a tree. Just when she breathed a sigh of relief and satisfaction after getting to pee after such a long time, she spotted Qazi when standing up.
"Kyaaaa! Pervert! Pervert!! Help! Brother! Elder! Someone." The girl started screaming and crying for help.
Qazi quickly jumped off the tree and put his hands over her mouth to make her stop, but it made the situation worse.
The girl started biting his hands and screaming at the same time. Qazi had no option but to take her away from there by brute force.
"Mmmm MMmmmm" The girl started shouting louder, but the hand over her mouth was firmer than ever.
"Don't scream. I am not a pervert, nor am I a kidnapper. I just want some answers, and I just happened to search it at the wrong time."
Qazi sprinted as fast as he could away from there when red pillars of light shined from the ground into the air, and those red pillars were giving some ominous vibe, making even the girl stop screaming.