15 minutes earlier.
"Hey, it has been quiet for a while now," said Kali, who is eager to defeat her first monster apart from slime at the outskirts of the village.
"You don't have to tell me," said Curis as he was ready for any surprise attacks.
"Stupid fool, doesn't know how to reply a lady. Maybe that is why you are single," mumbling Kali in a low voice.
Curis's mouth twitches as he hears what Kali doesn't answer her.
Suddenly, a group of bandits appears in front of them with malicious smile on their faces.
" The lady is even more pretty on closer look," said one of the bandits.
"Hehe, after the boss has a taste, i will love to go a round with her," said another bandit with a huge grin on his face.
Kali was disgusted with the look on the bandit and readied her bow when she released the arrow, which struck the bandit straight in the head.
"Shit, she is strong, everyone attack at once," said one of the bandits as he rushed towards Curis and Kali.
Curis brought out his short sword and beheads the first bandits and rushes towards the rest while Kali supports him from behind by shooting the bandits who appear in Curis blind spots.
Suddenly, Kali spots a bandit trying to run away, so she shoots him in the leg. The bandit looks in her direction, so she smiles at him.
The bandit tries to prove strong as he stands up to continue running, but Kali shoots his leg, which knocks him out.
Curis looks around and sees that all the bandits are dead except one that Kali keeps alive for interrogation.
Curis approaches the knocked out bandit leader and wakes him with a slap.
Pa pa
Hmmmm
The bandit leader moans, which cause Curis to drop him as he feels a shiver down his spine. Kali saw this and laughed out loud without care.
"What are you laughing about, huh?" asked Curis with anger in his voice.
" Nothing," said Kali as she trys not to laugh at Curis.
Curis kicked the bandit leader, which successfully woke him up. The bandit leader was confused about where he was before remembering the smile Kali showed at him.
He looked up and saw Curis looking at him with a cold face. He suddenly felt like he was stared at by the grim reaper, which made him sweating loads.
"Hmm, Boss, sorry for blocking your way," said the bandit leader.
Curis expression remains cold, his eyes piercing through the bandit leader. "You are not sorry for blocking our way," he said, his voice low and menacing. " You are sorry because you got caught."
The bandit leader got scared and begged for mercy. " P-please don't kill me, i will turn a new leaf please," said the bandit leader while kowtowing.
"I won't kill you," said Curis as he sheath his sword.
"Really? Thank you, my Lord," said the bandit leader as he kowtows again, but there was a huge grin on his face.
Curis turns and walks towards Kali, The bandit leader gathers all his strength to stand up and strike Curis, but he forgets about Kali, who was watching him.
As he stood up to strike Curis, Kali shoots in him in the head, killing him once and for all.
Curis turns back and looks at the corpse on the ground and looks at Kali, who is smiling at him.
"You are welcome," said Kali as she smiled at Curis. Curis was shocked by her decisive behaviour, and he suddenly felt a shiver down his spine.
"Sigh, let's keep moving," said Curis as he was away from the corpse to continue his journey to the city. Kali smiled and followed him.
Not far from there hiding behind a full-grown grass is the deputy bandit leader whose eyes are full of horror.
"That man is too strong. The woman is evenly strong also but more weaker than the man," thought the deputy bandit leader.
He walks out from where he is hiding and towards the bandit leader rumming around his body searching for something. He quickly found what he was looking for, the key to the safe where all the treasures were being kept.
"Finally, I am rich," said the deputy bandit leader with greedy in his eyes.
As he was about to leave, he heard footsteps from behind and saw Curis, who came back smiling.
" Ohh, my instincts, look at what I found," said Curis as Kali appears behind him.
" I thought you were lying, I never believe that there is someone remaining," said Kali with surprise.
The deputy bandit leader was scared that he pissed himself, which made the atmosphere tense.
" Boss, please have mercy on me, I will never betray you. I swear on my dignity and honour," said the deputy bandit leader as he fell on his knees.
" Ohh, do you still have dignity and honour?" asked Curis.
" Hmm, no-no boss," said the deputy bandit leader.
" So how do you redeem yourself?" asked Curis.
" Hmm, I can give you the treasure we keep," said the deputy bandit leader.
" No, I don't need your treasure. What I need is your loyalty," said Curis as he shook his head.
" My loyalty?" said the deputy bandit leader.
" Yes, your loyalty. I need you to work for me," said Curis.
The deputy bandit leader's eyes widened in surprise, and he looked at Curis with a mixture of curiosity and confusion. "Work for you? What do you mean?" he asked.
" Before that, what is your name?" asked Curis.
" My name is Ayoola," said the deputy bandit leader.
" Ayoola, what a nice name. Now what I mean by working for me is that you are to stop this bandit work and create a merchant group," said Curis.
" A merchant group?" said Ayoola.
" Yes, a merchant group specialized in dealing with rare and valuable goods," said Curis, a hint of excitement in his voice. "Firstly you will start from two villages by going through their needs and wants," he paused and looked at Kali who was listening before continuing "You must make sure to hire mercenaries for the meantime until I could get you subordinates to protect you."
"Yes, boss," said Ayoola, nodding.
"Do you trust him that much to leave such treasure with him?" asked Kali.
" I don't trust him yet, but I believe he won't betray me," said Curis as he shook his head.
Ding
[Your relationship points with Ayoola increased by 50 points]
Curis saw the notification and nodded at it.
"Boss, don't worry, I won't betray you," said Ayoola in a hurry.
"Good, by the way, do you have a bounty on your head?" asked Curis.
"No-no, only the leader has a bounty on him," said Ayoola.
"Ohh, how much is it?" asked Curis.
"10 gold," said Ayoola.
"So low," said Curis in a low voice, which draws the attention of both Kali and Ayoola.
"What do you mean by 10 gold is low," said Kali, to which Ayoola nods at.
"It really is for me," said Curis.
"How much money do you have that you are bragging?" asked Kali in anger.
" Not to brag, but I have over 1500 golds," said Curis in nonchalant voice.
" What!!!!" shouted both Kali and Ayoola.
" How did you do it within the span of one day?" asked Kali.
" Yes, even us who were bandits only have a little over 750 golds in our safe," said Ayoola.
" It is a secret," said Curis with a smile o his face.
" Everytime lucky now secret. What are you hiding, Curis?" said Kali with a stern stare.
" Don't worry, with time you will realize," said Curis before turning to Ayoola, who was still in shock. " Now, do you know what to do?"
" Yes, boss," said Ayoola.
" Good, now follow us," said Curis as he gestured for Ayoola to follow him.
" Wait, first change that your pants. You reek of urine," said Kali as she covered her nose.
Ayoola's face was red with embarrassment as he quickly looked around before picking one of his dead comrades and pulling his pants off him. He quickly went behind the bush he was hiding before and changed into the new pants and came out.
"I am ready, boss," said Ayoola while facing down as he was still embarrassed to look at Kali.
"Let's go," said Curis as he continued his journey to the city.
It took them 2 more hours to get to the city, and they have to fight monsters on the way and move out of the way of powerful beasts.
Arriving at the City gate, they were stopped by the guards who quickly blocked them.
"Halt, state your business here," said one of the guards.
Curis brought out the letter given to him by Akindele and to show the guard.
"I am here to deliver a letter to the City Lord Julian Stargazer from the Village Chief of Iraye-Oke, Akindele," said Curis as he raised his hands up in the air.
The guards look at each other before one of them moved forward towards Curis to confirm the authenticity of the letter.
After checking the seal on the letter. He turned to his partner and nodded at him.
"You guys follow me," said the guard as he leads them into the city towards the Lord mansion.
"Sorry, but the man came into the city for something else," said Curis as he pointed at Ayoola.
"What does he want," said the guard as he was at alert.
"No need to be alert. He just wants to register a merchant group at the Chamber of Merchants," said Curis in a hurry as he saw that the guard was on alert.
"Ok, but he has followed me into the city first," said the guard as he nodded at the word of Curis.
"Ok, let's go," said Curis as he led Kali and Ayoola to follow the guard.