"No big brother Landria! didn't you say you can't cast any magic right now?" Orion shouted out.
"What if they kill you?"
"Let the adults handle it,"
The kids shouted out with worried expressions trying to stop Landria from leaving.
"Don't worry, I'll find a way," He didn't give them any more room to retort before slamming the door shut and sealing it from the outside so they wouldn't leave.
There was not a single soul in sight as he came out of the house so Landria began to head towards the town square.
He ran forward quickly passing by the streets which were empty as well.
--
In the town square, around fifty people were gathered together with spiteful and distasteful expressions on their faces while staring at the group in front.
Chatter! Chatter! Chatter!
A group of nine dressed in loose green robes and masked with beast skulls cracked in half were seated on what seemed like white wolves.
These white wolves had horns protruding out the sides of their heads and were each up to nine feet in height with a massive body build.
It was obvious that they weren't ordinary wolves.
Laura and three other men stood in front of them, discussing with the man seated on the white wolf in the middle.
"We don't have anything, you fellows came here just two weeks ago," Laura voiced out with a repressed look.
"The price for the protection of your town has gone up," The man who seemed to be the leader of the group responded with an unbothered look while staring down at them from atop the back of the creature.
"Protection? What protection you vile scums!"
Someone shouted out from the crowd behind.
The leader of the group stared in the location of the crowd causing everyone to shut up as his murderous gaze struck fear in their hearts.
"Chrysler, kill anyone who interrupts our conversation again," The leader voiced out.
"As you wish, Sir Fabian," The skinny dark-skinned member by the side responded with a crazed smile while tapping on the body of his wolf.
The wolf moved forward, causing the town folks to subconsciously shrink back in fear.
He positioned the wolf to stand right in front of them and stared down at the town folks with a grin.
Everyone shut their mouths at this point.
"Is all that really necessary?" Unlike the others, Laura did not seem to be scared.
She retained her boldness and spoke calmly.
"Those monkeys don't know when to keep quiet," The leader who went by the name Fabian voiced out.
"This is a list of our demands, bring them to us now," He passed a scroll to her.
Laura collected the scroll and opened it before scanning through.
Arthril and the other middle-aged man beside her moved closer to inspect the list as well.
As Laura read, her facial expression kept changing. It went from intrigued to repressed and then annoyed.
"A hundred silk wares? Seven tons of grade two beast flesh? Thirty-five liters of well-refined brewery? Twelve baskets of Ying ore? And the list goes on..." She voiced out with a tone of annoyance.
Gasp~
The town folks in the vicinity gasped as they heard the outrageous demands of the Usurpers. The craziest part was, the list hadn't ended.
"This is crazy, you're asking for more than you collect monthly even when you fellows came here to collect just two weeks ago," Arthril shouted out with a look of injustice.
"As I said, the price for protecting your town has gone up," Fabian responded with an unbothered expression.
"This is unreasonable, where do you expect us to get all this stuff from?" The other man by the side who was slightly overweight with long scruffy brown beards voiced out.
"Do I look like I care? Meet our demands or suffer the consequences," Fabian voiced out once again.
"Which is it going to be?" Raising one eyebrow he pushed the robe covering his body to one side, revealing the reddish-brown sheathed sword strapped to his waist.
"But..."
"Alexander, calm down," Laura voiced from the side, stoping the other man from speaking again.
"These items you mentioned cannot be provided when they're not available. You wouldn't gain anything from killing anyone here today instead that would only reduce your future potential gains since we would have one less town folk," Laura spoke with a logical tone.
"Hmm," The leader Fabian seemed to be in thought after listening to Laura's words.
Meanwhile, Landria had arrived on the scene and was hiding behind one of the shops on the east side of the bandits.
He could see and hear them from his position which was only about twenty feet away so he already knew what was going on but they had no idea they were being watched.
It was obvious this was a poor town so Landria was pissed to see that they were being exploited of their blood and sweat.
The unreasonable demands of the Usurpers made Landria's blood boil.
'There's nine of them... Judging by formation they're just a bunch of riff raffs, even Sara would be able to defeat them if magic was involved,' Landria analyzed but the problem still remained that he wouldn't be able to cast magic spells right now due to lack of mana.
If he was going to battle them with just physical input he would have to be careful.
'Those are trained Flether wolves, I won't be able to outrun them without magic but I can use size to my advantage or...,' Landria thought as he pulled his sackcloth up to reveal the dagger strapped to his left thigh.
While he was still making plans, Fabian suddenly spoke.
"If all cannot be provided then, we will seize something more valuable till you lots have the rest of the items on the list," He voiced out.
Laura and the others became confused after hearing that.
"What do you mean?" Laura asked but instead of answering, Fabian turned to stare at his subordinates before giving a command.
"Go grab three kids and bring them back here," He voiced out.
"What!?"
Everyone's eyes widened as they heard that.
"You cannot do that!"
"Stop!"
The townfolks shouted out but the three of the bandits charged forward on the Flether wolves not minding the townfolks cooped together up ahead.
The townfolks had to move aside to prevent getting crushed by the massive wolves charging forward unstoppably.
"What are you doing, order your men to stop!" Laura couldn't keep her cool anymore as she screamed out to Fabian.
"That will be our compensation till the rest of the required items are available," He responded with an unbothered look.
Laura panicked as she heard that, remembering the kids in the neighborhood.
Her eyes sneakily glanced at the area where Fabian kept his sword and she suddenly reached out for it.
Fabian's eyes followed her as he scoffed and grabbed her hand before she could reach the sword.
"Foolish woman," He stated before kicking her in the chest.
Bang!
Laura was sent flying like a sack of potato. The others around moved to help her up as she landed on her back with looks of anguish.
The townfolks started yelling out in disagreement and pushing forward in a bid to take the bandits on.
"Chrysler kill one of them... I need to make an example of you lots," Fabian commanded loudly.
The grin on Chrysler's face grew as he pulled out a brown sickle from the side.
The townfolks became scared as they watched him climb down from the Flether wolf and start walking towards them as the sickle ignited with flames.
One of the townfolks fell and tried to crawl back but Chrysler suddenly appeared in front of him and hacked down with the flaming sickle.
As everyone's eyes widened while focusing on the descending weapon, they didn't spot a figure soaring through the air with outstretched legs.
Chrysler only noticed when it was too late.
Bang!
A kick to the face send him tumbling down with the flaming sickle flying out of his hand.
The cracked beast skull mask on his face broke apart and pieces pierced into his face, causing him to start bleeding.
"Kiiaarrhhhh!" He screamed in pain while holding his face and writhing on the ground.
"I could make use of this too," Landria voiced out as he landed on his feet after the successful sneak attack and proceeded to grab the flaming sickle.
Gasp~
Everyone in the vicinity had looks of awe after witnessing what had just gone down.
'Where did he come from?' This thought appeared in everyone's mind as they stared at the teenage boy with snow-white hair.
"Who are you?"
"Landria what are you doing here?"
Fabian and Laura shouted out at the same time.
Landria moved towards the Flether wolf in front and jumped on it.
Patting the side a few times it turned around and walked towards Chrysler on the ground.
It stepped on both of Chrysler's arms, pinning him to the ground before he could get up.
"Withdraw your men or I will end his life right away," Landria voiced out with a threatening tone.