After passing by the city guards who were very greedy, at the moment they saw us their leader was already eyeing the body of the dragon that was packed, he didn't know it was a dragon but he knew it was a big body which is the same large sums of money.
When he was already starting to question us about what we were taking into the city and what taxes were necessary I rubbed the dot badge that was used during this test phase in the face. When he saw the badge with the royal family's mark, he turned white and apologized, what greedy people, it's my bad luck after entering the city I found another greedy group.
We only walked a few meters from the gate to be stopped by a group of students, I know this because they are all gray core youth in the intermediate or final, elite stages. The shit smile that their leader had was really annoying, his confidence came from the fact that in front of us there were seven people and around us there were sixteen people in total.
Several warriors and some mages all ready to attack us, they were pretty confident in their numerical advantage. Three idiot groups got together to hunt the dragon and failed and are now looking to steal the team that succeeded in it, a good strategy, but they chose the wrong place to do it.
They were supposed to be on the other side of the wall to ambush us, doing that in my city is a really bad idea.
I understand why they thought it would be easier to ambush us in here, they have the advantage of cover and being positioned on multiple levels, the mages and archers are scattered across the rooftops with a good line of sight to attack us while we don't have that.
The escape routes for us are closed off by your warriors and the dragon corpse we are carrying is too big to try to go through small streets, alleys or even try to climb buildings to escape while we carry it. We are cornered, but even with all these advantages they have forgotten the most important fact, we are in a frontier town to be precise, in the central defensive town in the north.
No matter how small it is or the lack of trade, this is a city with a full military base because if anything happens in the north this city will become the focal point of logistics and troop movement in the northern region. That's why the large-scale matrix for emergency displacements is here, it's three times the size of the matrix we've used so far.
The city was designed for that, that's as far as I know a high-ranking military man should be in control of the military here and the students pretending to be thieves causing chaos and destruction in the city is not something he would tolerate.
The stupid students and my nervous team didn't notice, but my eyes I could see that after the students there are quite a number of warriors and some mages hiding in buildings near the students who are pretending to be competent thieves.
They're so screwed and they don't even know it.
My group is only a few feet away from the idiot who took a few steps forward and started talking nonsense.
"I am Guran of the Oltes family, I congratulate your team for having been successful in hunting the dragon, but I unfortunately have to inform you that it is no longer yours!"
An educated thief.
"What dragon?"
The idiot's smile caught a little.
"What's being pulled by the horses, don't make it difficult we're outnumbered and your team must be hurt from facing the dragon. We cannot promise that not one of you will die unless you resist."
"You're talking about that package, that's not a dragon."
"Not a dragon? So, it should be a bear or a dire wolf, so I must really congratulate your team for killing a level five beast because only a normal magic beast of that level could be that size!"
"Try to make up better lies!"
"You're right on the point that we're not carrying a bear or dire wolf, but that doesn't mean it's a dragon."
A vein started to throb in the idiot's forehead and it wasn't just him who got irritated and nervous, his companions are already prepared to attack us, swords, axes and spears unsheathed. On the roofs of the houses the archers and mages are also ready arrows aiming at us and staffs with concentrated elemental energy.
One order and we're the target of a mass attack.
"So, what are you taking?!"
"A phoenix."
Silence dominates the entire street until the moment I dare Alice's laughter being muffled.
"A phoenix?! You are crazy!"
"It is the truth."
"I'm tired of this stupidity! Pass the dragon corpse or die!"
"I already told you we don't have a dragon; we kill a phoenix. Is it because you think you have the right to rob us?"
"Right? We are in a competition, stealing your opponent's when they are weak is not a crime it is a rule of the test the weak and idiots must be eliminated, blame your idiocy for having entered the city low in numbers and injured."
"I think the only idiot here is you. You are trying to rob a group of adventurers who are returning from a fruitful hunt inside the city, you are nothing more than raped thieves. Do not think that because you are a noble, the rules of a city do not affect you!"
"What the hell are you talking about? Are you training camp students like us, guards or soldiers should not interfere during the test?"
"I just don't know what you're talking about. We are a group of adventurers who have nothing to do with you other than the fact that you are trying to rob us."
"Thieves! We are being attacked by noble thieves! They want to steal our phoenix!"
With my screams not only the soldiers near us and my team are shocked, when I shouted the word phoenix every resident of the city saw him see the phoenix. The windows of the houses on the street opened and even the guards at the gate began to approach us.
Phoenix is a magical beast even rarer than a dragon and tends to be a lot higher level than three they are usually level five or higher but that doesn't matter now.
"What the fuck are you talking about that's a fucking dragon! Don't make up lies."
"How do you know it's a dragon? Did you hunt him down or did we? If I say it's a fucking phoenix it's a fucking phoenix, who do you think you are to say otherwise?"
Before the idiot could say any more shit the soldiers who were hiding came out and surrounded everyone, even the mages and archers on the roof are surrounded. A soldier who is clearly the leader of this operation has only come closer to our groups; he even has ribbons of merit on his uniform he must have a high rank.
"This scandal has come to an end. If one of the groups attacks the other, he will be arrested."
The first to react was the idiot who was outraged by the officer's words.
"Don't you have the right to do this?"
"Official this group of thieves is trying to rob me; we are adventurers and within the walls we have the protection of the guild and city guards against thieves. We were lucky to get a phoenix but the greed of this group was so great that they decided to attack us in mine in town."
"This is a lie!"
I took out my guild card and gave my companions an intense look that woke them up.
All my companions took their guild cards and started complaining to the officer to arrest the 'thieves'.
"He arrives! Your group will disperse now, if you don't, we will arrest you immediately! Robbery and fights in my city will not be tolerated."
When the officer bullied the noble idiot, he looked like he was going to burst into rage, but he hadn't yet lost all his ability to think rationally, unfortunately. The idiot's group backed off and left, but not before he made a sign that must mean he's going to get revenge on us or me.
The officer didn't leave, but approached me.
"A phoenix? You better go straight to the barracks and leave, we don't even want a fight in the city, you're lucky you're calm and you didn't attack those idiots or you would all be arrested and you would have failed your task."
"It was a seven-colored phoenix, a very beautiful magical beast. Yeah, we were leaving without making a single stop, but unfortunately, we were stopped by these idiots. Tell your superior that I really admire someone who cares so much about the innocent civilians in his city."
The officer looked at me with a crooked look when I told him in color that the phoenix had it, but after I finished speaking, he simply motioned for us to leave soon. He got over it, I think he doesn't like jokes.
As we made our way out of this town, Hilda and Nótt approached me.
"What the fuck was that phoenix?"
"Why was that officer helping us?"
"I needed some beast that was the size of a coiled dragon and that would catch everyone's attention, as the officer said before he was ordered to stop any conflict the idiot students tried to do in town for the sake of the mission. "
"When I shouted phoenix, I caused many people who would normally walk away to avoid being hurt if a fight broke out to come and see the phoenix. The officer had no choice but to come help us or he would be blamed for not protecting the civilians and the city's infrastructure would be damaged during the fight, the city is not very rich so they don't want to lose money or have a reputation not be safe because of a dispute between angry teenagers."
"But how did you know the officers were close to us?"
"Lucky, if the idiots set an ambush for us, why can't there be an ambush ready to screw with the thieves?"
"It was a risky move."
"Fighting them in the middle of the city, wouldn't it? Anyway, it's all over, let's go because this dragon can only cause more problems if we don't deliver him soon."