Author's Notes
Well, guys here I am again, I wanted to say that I successfully passed the exam and that I'm now a free man! I will post chapters frequently now since I do not have to worry about studying anymore.
Also one more thing, I will make my chapters have at least 1500+ words and not less of that. I don't want to rush this story and long chapters can get kind of boring (Sometimes for me).
Peace!
--- Niall's POV ---
The night before, we decided to take a rest inside the castle ruins and sleep until morning, hoping the rain would stop falling. "Are you awake?" A sturdy voice spoke behind me, and as I opened my eyes slowly, I noticed Marcus standing right behind me.
"...Ye...yeah..." I replied sleepily, still not getting the needed sleep after chatting through the night. I learned a couple of things from Marcus. One is that he's an honorable and good man who wishes to help his people.
The second thing is that Orario truly isn't like the anime presented it, the city is filled with bandits and other rogues who seek to harm others for their gain. Of course, I already knew that, but Marcus's words made it clear that it was worse than I thought.
I needed to be extra careful when going alone inside a dungeon since it wasn't uncommon for rogue adventurers to prey on newbies. Anime doesn't show it much, but it is how it is.
"Are we ready to go now, captain?" one of the soldiers asked. "Yes, Niall, you go with me while the rest of my men will follow us in formation," Marcus pointed out, while his soldiers went to check on the horses.
After they inspected the outside, we all exited the ruins, and each soldier went to his horse while I climbed on one with Marcus.
"How long will it take us to get to the town?" I asked, somewhat curious about how big this world is. "These are top-quality horses. I hope we'll get there by noon, the worst case is by morning."
Remembering the Danmachi map, it seems that the mortal world is vast. There are lots of unexplored areas, with hidden mysteries around them. One of the areas I wish to see is a region called Dragon Valley.
It's completely unexplored, and I guess that the Black Dragon resides there. I remember reading somewhere that after the Black Dragon defeated the Zeus and Hera Familias, it flew up north, which could only mean it flew to Dragon Valley.
Suddenly, the idea of exploring that place isn't so great. At least not until the dragon is defeated, but who knows if that's going to happen anyway.
That thing cooked the most powerful adventurers with ease, so I don't know how Omori planned to make Bell strong enough in a year to defeat it.
My personal guess is that the dragon is between level 11 or 12, something like that because the level 9 of Hera Familia couldn't hurt it, while the famous hero Albert could. That could only mean that Albert had a strength of level 10.
"Hold tight." Marcus's voice broke my thoughts, and suddenly the horse started running fast. Of course, it can't compare to cars and trains, but being in the open wind and moving at that speed is a new experience for me.
The wind was blowing my face and eyes off. At that moment, I could swear that I looked like a certain goddess from Cautious Hero, who knows, knows.
As the horse ran across the open fields, I noticed a lot of greenery and perfect fantasy landscapes that could only be seen in Lord of the Rings. The empty feeling of living inside the corporate dystopian world is no more, partially thanks to my ability but to the new life as well.
A few hours later, we were eventually stopped for a minor break. Stopping by the small yet beautiful pond, Marcus and his men sat down on the green grass floor.
"Haah, I cannot wait to return to my comfortable bed tonight!" one of the soldiers cheered as he thought about his home. Others laughed, and Marcus facepalmed at his soldier's words, "These guys... honestly," he chuckled a bit before returning his gaze to me.
His gaze switched from relaxed to serious pretty fast. "Did you hear that, Niall?"
In fact, I did hear someone or something moving among the bushes near us. I chose to ignore it until Marcus pinpointed it to me as well, "Yeah, it may be a wild animal though."
However, my rational thought broke when suddenly a group of six or seven bandits jumped out from their ambush. All of them were armed with simple swords, spears, and maces, wearing rugged leather clothes.
"Well, well, what do we have here? A bunch of town guards lazing by the pond like some innocent girls..." The rest of Marcus's guards quickly became alerted, grabbing their weapons and getting into formation.
"Listen, gentlemen, no need for that. Just give us everything you've got, and I swear that we'll let you go... alright?" Their leader, who looked the biggest of them all, called out to Marcus. I was ready every second to use my ability, but one thing bothered me in the back of my mind.
'Are they dumb or are they hiding something?' Ambushing ten geared men with basic primitive gear is little to say, a dumb idea. The worst scenario is that one of them is a former adventurer with a falna, which could make things much more difficult.
"And why do you think you stand a chance against me and my men in that gear of yours?" Marcus stood his ground and asked proudly, not allowing his pride to shatter at the clear provocations coming from one of the bandits.
"I don't even need gear against rats like you. None of you even have a falna to begin with. You know what? I changed my mind. I will kill all of you and after that... I will go and conquer that puny little town of yours and make it my own"
"You... BASTAR-...." Marcus tried to yell back, but I stopped him.
A green wave blasted against the bandit, sending him back into the bushes as he yelled in pain from such force. Other bandits gasped in shock as I pushed their leader like a strong wind blowing down a weak wall.
But the bandit wasn't done yet. "You.... Are you an adventurer too? ARE YOU?!!" He yelled out of frustration. I could see his veins popping out from anger, but that didn't matter since even if he has a falna, he's pretty damn weak.
"Did the god kick you out for being a jobless baboon, or do you just want to try and act like a bandit in front of those monkeys?" My question struck a nerve, and he charged back at me, visibly slower this time.
Wave after wave came striking the ruffian on the ground, with each force strike his organs moved inside. After the third wave, he was puking blood from his mouth, most likely from internal damage.
Everyone else went quiet, staring in shock at the sight of me plastering the supposed bandit leader onto the ground.
A loud silence emitted across the field as the bandit leader's body turned into an unrecognizable pile of fleshy mush. Blood splattered everywhere, falling into the once crystal-clear pond, now tainted.
After I was done, the rest of the bandits tried to run away, but my Chaos Sultan took care of them too. I killed them by colliding them with each other multiple times until their faces were unrecognizable.
Sighing, I turned my back around and saw Marcus with his soldiers gasping in shock, ".....What the fuck was that Niall?" he asked me fully shocked. "That was my power, the one I used to clear that castle ruin yesterday."
My answer made them even more shocked. "Now, if you don't mind, I will loot these piles of flesh and check if they have anything valuable to them." I excused myself and went to see their corpses for any possible goods that I could find.
Unfortunately, I couldn't see the bandit's stats as his body wasn't looking like one anymore, as I reached my hands closer I noticed a smaller leather pouch on the ground.
"Is.. this all?" I murmured disappointed, I expected more of his loot but it looked like the luck wasn't on my side this time. Sighing, I returned to Marcus and the others who were watching me with both amazement and fear.
"That power of yours is something I must say. Well, it looks like you can do well on your own once you arrive in Orario, but people are crazy strong there so watch your back... I've known some level 3 people who got murdered effortlessly by assassins that operate inside the Orario."
Marcus took a deep breath and exhaled, "It wasn't appropriate of me to lose my cool back there, so I apologize for my actions." He watched me with somewhat sad eyes, I could see the disappointment in himself through his eyes.
"You don't have to worry about it. Let's just continue our journey because I really want a hot bath, some nice food, and a comfortable bed to sleep on." I patted his shoulder, which made him cheer up. The next moment, Marcus ordered each of us to return to our mounts and continue with the journey.
While riding the horses, the wind brushed against my face, making my silver hair fly around. "It's weird, though. A former adventurer with his little bandit group just ambushed us out of the blue," Marcus muttered as he guided the horse to follow the path. "I think he was just a fool who thought he could abuse Falnaless town guards. Little did he know that there's someone with actual powers inside our team."
Marcus looked back at me for a quick second. "So you don't think it's something planned in the grand scheme of things?" he asked me worriedly. Seeing him like this could only mean that he was really scared of getting in the middle of some nasty playground of an unknown player.
"Yeah, idiots exist, you know? I think he was just overconfident in his strength and so he planned to take our stuff. You know, you guys have some nice-looking armor that bandits would like to take..."
Marcus nodded and sighed out of relief, "You're right, I should've known better since I worked against the bandits most of my life. Anyways, when we arrive inside the town you will follow me to the town hall. There, you will meet the town chief who likes strong adventures like you!"
Marcus spoke cheerily and I nodded to his words, this could only benefit me in my future endeavors.