Drip... Drip... Drip...
Blood dripping from sword. The man holding the sword, having an expression of freedom and elation. Any passerby would think him as devil itself, as he is standing in the middle of corpses, though they could not be called as corpses when they are cut in hundreds of cubes. Even though he is middle of gore, his royal clothes are void of blood and dust. Yes! he is from royal family of Arcadian Empire, in specific, he is Peter Amberford, the third prince and first son of Maria Halton.
He is currently in the Darkwood forest. He was sent by Emperor to investigate and eliminate notorious "Ghost bandits" located in here. Though it was directed to Peter, Alex Amberford, the first prince intervened in the name of providing 'better security' for his brother and sent some of his guards with him. Although the Emperor knows the underlying course of actions, he always stays away from political struggle of his children, as it helps them familiarize with politics of empire.
But what they don't know is that, the whole guard squadron, 'consisting of 100 Level - 1 soldiers, 10 Level - 2 Squad Commanders, 20 Level - 3 Experts and 5 Level - 4 Experts,' are sliced and diced in different segments. The Level - 7 Expert, whom his brother sent to injure him gravely, is laying on ground having deep wound in his chest and no life in his eyes. Even though he does not love his brother, he neither hate him also. Life in imperial family is supposed to be like that only. So, he does not hold against him, but if an opportunity arises he will seek the retribution.
The cultivation levels in this world are categorized from Level - 1 to Level - 10, but there are powerhouses which are above Level - 10, which are hidden from general public. For suppose, the Third Prince. No one, not even Emperor knows his cultivation is above Level - 10. As for his true power level, that is for another time.
He knows that he cannot live a peaceful life in that castle, so plan to escape from capital and wanted to go to another empire. If he wanted escape with brute force, he can but he will miss his peaceful life with the pursuit of Allied and Alien Experts.
He shook the sword and sheathed it. He took one last look in the direction of capital and moved towards eastern direction, Alliance of Nations.
Alliance of Nations, it is as the name indicates alliance of different nations of different species i.e., Humans, Dwarves and Elf Tribe. The Alliance is formed by Head Councilor and Council Members. Each race has Head Councilor and few Council members. The Head Councilor of Race are generally previous Kings of their Kingdoms. Council members are of heads of influential families.
Back to Peter, he currently walking in the Dense Tropical Forest and listening to chirping of birds and melodies of flowing river. He knew it takes at least 10-15 days of time to cross the border of Arcadian Empire, though he can reach early with his speed, but he wanted to enjoy the perfect harmony with nature. The Darkwood forest is place for many Beasts, which Levels varies from Level – 1 to Level 6. This place is populated by high-level beasts. So, many hunters and mercenaries won't be entering too deep into the forest. These beasts are very dangerous for many people but to peter they are no similar than ants.
*****
After travelling for around 10 days, he is nearing the border of Arcadian empire and Alliance of Nations. The border between these two empires is relatively peaceful, as the Alliance of Nations tends to Peaceful corporation rather than usage of Violence and Arcadian empire has enough struggle with the Beastmen Empire in the West. The border can be easily distinguished as there is a Damus River in between the Southern Border of Empires.
His travel routine is like: Catch, cook, Eat, Travel and Sleep. Currently, he is flying at low level, not to rise people attention. After going for a while, he found a Pathway, which is almost indistinguishable.
He landed and made scan around the area by releasing his mana. And found some people around the fire camp. After passing few trees, he arrived near the camp. By the looks, it does not seem to be mercenary squad but more like a bandit camp. They do not have proper armors and weapons. There are 7 persons in total, one scar faced red hair bandit, seems like Alpha of the pack, one blue haired woman, 3 not-so-ordinary guys and especially a pair of dark elves.
The red-haired guy seems like boss, and blue haired woman must be his woman, the dark elf couple is mystery to him as it is his first-time encounter with them and Dark elves usually don't leave their tribal regions. and at last those 3 guys must be lackeys. After confirming their cultivation levels, he went straight through the clearing and sat near the fire camp. The Boss guy and Dark elf couple drew their swords and remaining members are staring dumbly at him.
Peter: "Hi, can I `borrow' some coins from you guys?" He directly went for it, as he is reaching Alliance of Nations it's better to have their currency. The currency all around the land is same: Gold, silver and copper but Gold and Silver coins have insignia of Empire. So, he needs few coins to borrow.
All members of camp become wary as no one noticed until he came so near to them and speaking to them as they were lifelong friends. But the most bizarre thing is, he is looting the bandits, which struck them hard. They are looked at each other faces for some time and at last, boss took the charge.
Hunk (Red Hair): "Who are you? And why should we lend money to some stranger?" Actually, they would have robbed and killed him but now they should not or cannot do that.
Peter: "That's a good question but you are not in a position to ask that one though." He simply ignores the first question and smiles `kindly'.
Everybody gets cold sweat. They confirmed that he is looting them, but they don't try to confront the powerhouse, as the consequences would be dire. After hesitating for a while, he handed over gold and silver coins of both the empires.
Peter only took the Alliance of Nations coins and threw the bag, containing remaining coins to them. As peter is storing coins in storage ring, Hunk signaled to his lackeys. The lackeys who are overtook by greed after seeing storage ring, instantly jumped into action.
The remaining bandits expected some action but only to see the three idiots beaten to bloody plump. They thought he is powerful but never dreamt about being overpowered.
After that Peter asked some details and left the camp. The bandits signed relief after seeing that, they thought he would kill them, but peter isn't that kind, he is an easy-going guy. About the crimes of bandits, he doesn't care about that, when strength rules everything in this world.
He continued his journey to the east.
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