'Fuck, Fuck!' Nolan screamed inside as he climbed the mountain with all his strength. 'This time, I am really going to die.'
...
Nolan ran for whole two hours, but the distance from the Village to the city was simply too large.
After running for two hours, he was only halfway.
"Aghh!" He fell to the ground from exhaustion. Lying with his back on the ground, he greedily gasped air.
He lay on the ground for about an hour before getting up again and continuing his way.
...
He arrived before the city gate at sunset.
As e stood in the long line of people waiting to enter the city, Nolan examined the guards' faces.
It would be troublesome If the guards were the same ones as when he left the city yesterday. After all, e said that he was going to Dale City, which was ten days on foot from this Womvale City. But luckily, the guards were not the same ones.
He didn't need to wait long. His turn came quickly.
"Where are you coming from?" The inspection guard blocking his way asked.
"Dale City," Nolan replied shortly.
"Why are you coming to Womvale City?" The inspection guard asked again.
"I live here. I was in Dale City to do business."
"You can pass." The inspection guard moved out of Nolan's way, letting him pass.
Nolan entered the city and headed straight to his restaurant.
He quickly arrived at the restaurant and stopped there.
"Ohhh?" He exclaimed in surprise at the sight of the words 'Food Paradise' engraved above the restaurant's wide entrance. "They named the restaurant." He muttered.
However, the surprise didn't last long, and his expression soon turned grim.
The two guards that previously guarded the entrance of the restaurant were nowhere in sight.
'Something happened.' Nolan thought.
He hurriedly walked to the entrance of the restaurant and entered inside.
The restaurant was full of people. You couldn't find a single empty table.
Layla and a few other waiters ran around, serving the customers.
Everything looked normal.
"Boss," Layla walked over to Nolan.
"Where are Harley and Nara," Nolan asked.
Layla lowered her head. "Follow me." She muttered.
She led Nolan upstairs, on the second floor where the chambers were.
They walked down the narrow corridor. Left and right were only doors leading to chambers.
Nolan looked around, wondering into which chamber they would enter.
They walked to the end of the corridor and stopped before a door.
On the door hung a little wooden table with the words 'Forbidden Entrance' written on it with black ink.
Knock, Knock!
Layla knocked on the door.
"Boss, Boss Nolan is here," Layla said quietly.
Tap, tap, tap.
Nolan heard hurried footsteps, and then the door opened abruptly.
It was Harley who opened the door.
"Nolan." He grabbed Nolan by the hand and pulled him inside the chamber, slapping the door into Layla's face immediately after.
The sight that greeted Nolan in the chamber made his expression turn dark. His blood boiled.
Inside the chamber were two beds placed close to each other, and on the beds lay unconscious the two guards that guarded the entrance.
Their heads were wrapped in white linen serving as bandages.
"Who did this?!" Nolan asked, his voice cold and void of emotions.
He had only one desire at the moment, to kill. He wanted to kill the person who did this to his subordinates.
"Calm down," Harley placed his hand on Nolan's shoulder. "Come sit here," Harley pointed at the two chairs before the beds. "I will explain everything."
Taking deep breaths, Nolan sat on one chair.
Harley sat next to him.
"So what happened?" Nolan asked, impatient to know the truth.
"Ahhh!" Harley sighed. "It's like this..."
...
Hours before, early in the morning.
The two guards stood by the entrance of the restaurant, half asleep.
"Ahhhh-hhaaa!" One of the guards yawned. "Why do we have to guard the entrance this early in the morning? There are no customers yet."
"Don't complain. At least we have a roof over our heads, fine food, and no one beats us." The other guard said.
"Well, it's not like I am complaining. I am just saying it's unnecessary to guard the entrance this ear..."
"Shhh!" The other guard interrupted him. "Look." he pointed at a carriage in the distance.
The carriage moved fast, so it didn't take long to arrive before the restaurant.
"Ihhhh!" The coachman stopped the carriage before the restaurant.
Out of the carriage came two tall, strong-looking men. After them, out of the carriage came a fat man in his late fifties wearing brown silk clothes.
"So here is the little girl that knows who killed my daughter." The fat man spoke. "Go." He commanded the two strong men by his side.
They walked over to the guards. "Do you know a girl named Layla?" One of the men asked.
The guards could clearly tell that the people before them meant no well. "We don't know." They replied simultaneously.
Pam!
The man hit the guard in the face, throwing the guard on the ground.
"What are you doing!" The other guard screamed, jumping at the man who hit his friend.
Poff!
The other strong man hit this guard in the stomach, knocking him unconscious.
"Go." The fat man commanded the coachman, who held a black snake-like whip.
Clack!
The coachman swung the whip at the conscious guard.
"Do you know a girl named Layla?" He asked.
"No!" The guard replied.
Clack!
The coachman hit him again, but the guard still didn't tell him the truth.
The coachman continued beating him, but instead of getting a reply, the guard could not endure the blows anymore and fainted.
"What happened!" Harley stormed out of the restaurant.
His expression turned dark when he saw both guards lying on the ground unconscious.
Swoosh!
He threw a knife that he always carries in a specially sewed sleeve pocket at the coachman.
"Agghhhhhh!" The coachman howled in pain, dropping the black whip.
The sharp knife pierced into the coachman's hand.
The two strong men attacked Harley.
They were strong, but so was Harley.
"Stop!" The fat man shouted.
Harley and the men only exchanged a few blows before the two men backed away at the command of the fat man.
"Hmph! In three days, I will come again. If you don't give up Layla, I Bonosus Calvus will raze this restaurant and kill your families."
Before Harley could say anything to this, the fat man entered the carriage. The coachman who held his bloody wound entered the carriage. Then, the two strong men started the carriage, and they all quickly disappeared from Harley's view.
...
"I see," Nolan muttered, barely holding back his rage.
"I confirmed it with Layla. That man is Rosalia's father."
'A black whip? Could it be him?' Nolan remembered the still vivid memory of the carriage he saw when he first came to this world. The coachman hit a man and just continued his way like nothing happened.
'If it is indeed them, it would be troublesome. They are too inhuman.' Nolan thought.
"How is their condition?" Nolan asked, looking worriedly at the guards lying unconscious in the bed.
"The condition of him is not too bad." Harley pointed at the guard who was punched in the stomach and knocked unconscious. "Previously, he woke up and told me about everything that happened in detail, so that's why I could tell you everything that happened even though I was not there when most of it happened."
"But his condition is bad, very bad." Harley pointed at the other guard. "He has been hit in the head and also received many strong whips."
Nolan clenched his fists, burying his rage deep inside.
"What did Nara say about this?" Nolan asked.
"I have never seen her this enraged. I barely stopped her from going and killing Bonosus. If I didn't stop her, things would have become dangerous."
"What do you mean dangerous? Is not Nara super strong?" Nolan asked, a little confused by what Harley meant.
"How do you know that she is super strong?" Harley could not hide his surprise.
"Just like I knew you were noble, I know she is super strong. I have my ways. But that's not important, answer my question. What do you mean things would have gotten dangerous?"
"Well, she is super strong and could kill Bonosus and come out alive, but it would cause too much commotion, and our old enemies could probably find us," Harley replied. "It's not like I am afraid, but as we are now, we are still too weak. Even with your help, as long as we don't have a little army of at least a hundred well-trained men, we can't reveal ourselves."
"Ahhh. I see." Nolan stood up. "Do you know anything about the underground organizations in this city?" He asked.
"No. Why?"
"Well, we are too weak to fight a noble family. Our only way to defeat the Calvus family is by getting help from an underground organization." Nolan explained. "So, do you know anything?"
"I don't know anything about the underground organizations. I only know about Rosalia's underground organization." Harley replied.
"I see. Let's go then."
"Where?"
"We can't do anything about those two." Nolan pointed at the two guards lying unconscious. "Let's go to the basement. Some of those gambling addicts are bound to know something about the underground organizations." Nolan opened the door.
Harley stood up from the chair and together with Nolan, left the chamber, heading straight to the basement.