Return of the Fallen Volume 5 Chapter 56
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Author: Blue_Rat
ch56
Inbetween a cold mountain pass and the city of Gentis lay a long road that stretched towards all four directions. North, south, east, and west. This road was not the main one but could take you to Gentis if traveled for several weeks northeast. On the other end, traveling northwest brought you to a town.
On this road was a group of 10 men and women. Each one garbed in leather armor with respective weapons at their side. Some had swords while a few had axes or spears. Only one had a staff in his hand.
The Mage of the group stood next to a short fellow with a balding head. The Mage stared at a town in the distance.
“So that’s the town?”
The bald short man nodded.
“Yes Jamie, that’s the town.”
The Mage called Jamie tapped his staff on the ground and a blob of water materialized in front of him, a few seconds later it froze over into a thin layer of ice with a bit of water over its surface. Jamie looked through this odd creation and the town became magnified in his sight. Scanning over the town for a bit, he could see no one. After a minute or two, the short bald man gestured for Jamie to share his magnifying creation.
Jamie passed it over and the bald man observed the town through it as well. A few moments later and the bald man waved the magic device away and grunted.
“This isn’t right.”
Jamie agreed with his boss.
“Mac, what do you think is going on? I couldn’t see anyone in the town at all. No guards, no citizens of any kind, not even a mangy dog or cat. How can everyone just be gone?”
“That’s what we’re here to find out. Read me back the reports.”
Jamie nodded before a few scrolls of parchment floated beside him and he read them off one by one.
“From what the first report said, a merchant was on his way to transport goods but when he came to the town gate, he found no one around. He called out several times but saw no movement whatsoever. It was around that time he said he felt something was off and then he heard a weird noise. That’s when his horse freaked and the merchant fled at high speed, fearing some kind of plague or something else had come. The second report states that after the merchant reported this at the closest town, that town then tried to get in contact using a communicator mirror but no one responded. After that, the information was passed to the nearest city, Gentis city but they had no idea either. After that several more reports came in about other towns simply not responding, which led to it going all the way back to the capital. From there, it seems the king is busy with something and didn’t respond and so it was left local garrisons to investigate but you already know why they didn’t show.”
Mac nodded.
“Since the restructuring of Gentis city and the new leaders taking it over, they are consolidating their power and refused to send or spare even a single soldier at this time. This would have been a slap in the face of the king but that Degra sure knows how to be smooth. Instead of sending soldiers, they hired adventurers like us. They think they can send us here like fools but in the end, the explanation for this mystery is simple, and we’re gonna be making easy money.”
“Mac what if it really is something we can’t handle?”
Mac snorted in response and said.
“You read the report, even that merchant got away by running. If things really go south, we’ll simply turn tail and run. Remember we’re only here to look into things and nothing more. That’s why this is such easy money. Let’s head down and poke our noses around a bit. If we run into something we’ll deal with it accordingly but if we don’t and there really is no one here, you know what that means right?”
Jamie smiled.
“If there’s really no people then that means all their shit will be left unguarded in their homes. Not just them even the assets from the local official as well as the bank, all that money will be ours for the taking.”
“Exactly! Even if we fail this mission and we lose the reward, it doesn’t matter. All those empty homes and the bank, we’ll be set for life. That’s why I found it funny that others didn’t jump on this mission. Those cowards actually think there might be a curse, hmph, fools. There’s no such thing as curses.”
Jamie wondered out loud.
“Isn’t the god of thieves curse real though.”
Mac shook his head.
“Have you ever known anyone whos gotten a curse?”
Jamie thought for a moment but couldn’t recall ever knowing such an individual.
“You see, you haven’t ever met anyone cursed because it doesn’t happen. All that curse talk is just old wives’ tales, made up to scare people too dumb to know what is and what isn’t. Now let go score some free money.”
Mac waved everyone over and all ten of them headed toward the town.
Standing in front of the town gate, it was closed and seemed as if it hadn’t been opened in a while.
Mac walked up and with the back of his ax, he banged on the door.
*Bang bang bang bang*
*Creak*
The large door slowly opened because of Mac’s knocking but besides that, there was no one in sight.
…Silence
Everyone could peer into the town now through the open door but they spotted no one.
Mac Banged on the side of the door and called out.
“HELLO! IS ANYONE THERE! WE ARE ADVENTURERS HERE TO HELP!”
No response. The only sound they heard was the flapping of two flags that hung over the top of the gate. The wind blew on them causing them to fold and shake rapidly before it died down and silence returned.
Mac turned and looked at Jamie as well as his other companions and smiled greedily. They in return smiled back. A sense of excitement filled them as they saw the prospect of riches raining from the sky and their futures filled with luxury.
“Right, there’s no one here otherwise they’d have answered. If there were a monster or something else, it would have been attracted to my loud ass voice and came running over yet I still haven’t heard any movement whatsoever. Still, that doesn’t mean there hasn’t been a plague in this town. Jamie, I want you to put some of your healing waters on us and keep any sickness away from us. Lena, just in case I want you to use them sharp eyes of yours and keep a lookout, you never know.”
Lena quickly interrupted Mac.
“Hey, that’s not fair. I have to watch while the rest of you get all the good shit. I refuse!”
Mac’s chuckled and tried to push her concerns to the side.
“What kind of attitude is that? Just do your job and you’ll get your share. Do you really think any of us would cheat you?”
Lena pointed at Mac and accused him.
“I know how you are, I know how all of you are. I take my eyes off of you and you’ll sneak my money away. I want what I deserve and if you don’t like it I can report you to the guildhall. Once they know…”
Lena’s words froze in her throat as she saw Mac’s expression darken. He slowly walked over and placed a hand on her shoulder before squeezing with a crazy amount of force. Lena could not move in the least and she became paralyzed with fear. Mac’s voice lowered and became cold as ice.
“You’ll do what now? I told you already that you’ll get your fair share. If you want to doubt me fine but threaten me. Do you know who the fuck you’re talking to? I’d hate for you to have a little accident on the way back. These cold lands, how far would you make it naked and exposed to the elements, 100 miles away from any town or city. Worse off, I could just have my men take their time with you and then simply slit your throat. People become lost in the snow quite easily, these days.”
A few of the men around Mac chuckled lightly while a few of the women simply scoffed but no one stepped in in protest.
Lena trembled in fright.
It was at this moment that an odd sound echoed out from the town.
*Eruuugh*
Mac quickly took his hand off of Lena and turned around with a fake smile.
“Was somebody there? Hello.”
There was no response. At the same time though, Lena ran past everyone and entered the town in a panic and shouted.
“SOMEONE HELP ME! SOMEBODY PLEASE!”
Mac and the other’s expressions changed. If there really was someone in the town and they found out about how Mac and his group operated it could be really bad. Mac ordered everyone.
“Chase her down! We still don’t know if anyone’s here but just in case stop her before she rats on us!”
Lena darted toward the main square of the town, that’s where she heard the noise. Mac and the others quickly followed after her. One of the women with a bow plucked an arrow from her bow and aimed.
“Boss it’s up to you.”
Mac took in the situation. If there really was someone still in the town then they couldn’t simply take Lena away. If they silenced her they might still avoid trouble and claim that Lena was a bounty trying to escape them. Mac found this to be the best option and shouted.
“Kill the criminal!”
The woman with the bow was surprised for a split second before she understood and shot her arrow.
*Tfffp*
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