Ark was dragged out of the house and toward the middle of the village.
“Sir Geriant, these soldiers are all equipped with bronze-ranked equipment!” A mercenary said while brandishing a bronze-ranked spear he took from an unconscious soldier.
The blonde frowned.
“Geriant. I don’t think it’s a good idea to remain here. There are many things that point out that we might have encroached into a powerful noble’s territory.”
“I just need the purest ore; the refined ones in that forge will be enough for me to enter the diamond rank. Then, no noble except Count Williams can threaten us.”
“We haven’t reported back to the Lord who hired us. The mythical beast is our priority, not this.” The blonde frowned deeply.
“Just a little time, Ramsey.” Geriant said deeply.
“You worry too much. The three of us are veteran knights able to mow down a force of a hundred silver warriors of these wasteland lords. What’s there to fear?” The woman said.
Ramsey looked at her with furrowed brows.
“We still haven’t located the chickens. That chicken is about 25,000 immortal gold coins! That’s enough for us to live luxury lives for several decades.”
A friend of theirs voiced his opinion.
Geriant unsheathed his greatsword, and when he was about to behead Ark before the crowd, Ark’s forearms and hands suddenly transformed into metal, and he cut the ropes binding his wrists with brute force.
As he was about to make a run for it, Geriant slammed his fist against Ark’s face, causing the miners to yell, but the woman and Ramsey’s aura suppressed them. However, the barbarians were already raging.
Geriant lifted his sword and was about to plunge it down, but a voice drifted into his ears.
“Do that, and I will make sure you live to regret it.”
That voice made everyone turn to their right, where Asher sat on Sirius’ back. Ten castle guards were behind him, and Alex led them.
They were walking into the town square.
“Lord Asher!”
Asher looked at his citizens, and his ashen expression became worse than it already was.
“You, who are you?”
He faced Geriant, ignoring other mercenaries.
An arrow flew toward Asher the moment he asked that question.
Swoosh!
Clang!
Alex deflected the arrow from reaching Asher and brandished his sword. His eyes met with the female mercenary who shot the arrow for a brief moment before he turned his head toward Asher.
“These men are clearly not our allies, nor do they have respect for people. Let me deal with them.”
The moment Asher gave the go ahead signal, Alex smiled.
Seeing him approach, the six mercenaries rushed toward him with their weapons, ready to taste his blood. Alex dug the tip of his right foot into the soil and suddenly burst forth with an outstanding speed that caught all six men off guard.
All Ramsey saw were sword lights, and his comrades, who had passed through thick and thin with him, fell to the ground with grievous sword wounds on their bodies.
“I took down the one at the entrance. I also took down this six. Hmm, I guess there are three more to go.” Alex pointed his sword toward Geriant.
Geriant eyes had already narrowed into slits.
The female barbarian drew an arrow and released it at Alex, who was running to engage Geriant. Mid-run, it was impossible to evade such a fast-moving projectile, but Alex swung his sword, accurately deflecting the arrow!
A bright red light enveloped him like a surging heat.
It made his black sword turn red-hot.
Clang!
Him and Geriant clashed.
A shockwave blew outward, causing the hair and clothes of everyone to flutter.
When they separated, Alex swiftly kicked Geriant’s chest, then followed up with a horizontal swing with both hands wrapped around his sword’s hilt! He could feel his sword cutting through the air like it was slicing through warm bread.
A silver light engulfed Geriant, and he retreated.
Before he could adapt to the fast-paced battle, Alex suddenly executed a fast movement and appeared behind him. Alex looked at the few drops of blood on his sword and flicked it away.
The female mercenary staggered backward, shock filling her eyes.
“Stripping Lord Asher’s men of their equipment is an insult and a slap to the Lord’s face, and it was done by lowly mercenaries without honor!”
Alex closed the gap and swung his sword, spilling blood. The woman still couldn’t believe it as she staggered backward and fell watching her leader still looking at the cut on his abdomen.
Ramsey went on his knees.
“You’re donning full gold-ranked armor.” He said it in resignation.
“Spare him.” Asher’s voice rang from behind.
“We’ll need to interogate-”
He couldn’t finish speaking when Ramsey transformed into a human-sized bird and slammed Alex away with his broad right wing.
He glared at Asher and flapped his wings to take off, but a few meters into the air, a rope grabbed his leg and pulled him down.
The moment he crashed, Alex wrapped the thick rope around his gauntlet, lifted his sword, and brought it down on the bird’s neck.
The last thing Ramsey heard was the number.
“10!”
Leaving the dead beast, Alex came before Asher and kneeled on one knee.
“I’ve completed the task, Your Lordship.”
Hearing the last part made the corners of Asher’s lips curl up a little.
“Your Lordship, thank you for saving our lives.” Ark fell on one knee despite the pangs of pain. He easily learned from Alex.
Asher dismounted and came to lift him up.
Patting his shoulder, Asher said, “It’s my duty.”
[Ding! You have rescued your new village from the tyrannous hands of 10 ambitious and greedy mercenaries.]
[Reward: Upgrade to a tier 1 bastide town]
Boom!
The wooden structures became made of stones. The streets were paved, houses transformed into stone houses with roof tiles, and they were symmetrically organized. In the center of the bastide was a round empty space that had a pool dominating its middle.
On the other side stood a large smithy. It was Ark White’s Forge!
By the time the light came down, a 3-meter-tall wall had surrounded the bastide town with fortified wooden gates.
Surrounding the bastide were canopy trees with silver leaves. They made the place look kind of sacred and cut out from the rest of the mountains.
‘I guess those mercenaries were not worth upgrading Alex. I wonder why?’
Curious Asher checked their panels and figured out while the female mercenary, Ramsey and Geriant, seemed to be gold-ranked knights; they were actually just at the border, meaning they had tasted a bit of the power but hadn’t been fully transformed.
Because their powers suddenly boosted and made them stronger than their silver-ranked comrades, they came to the conclusion that they were gold-ranked. However, before a true gold-ranked who had inherited decades of knowledge, they stood no chance.
“Your Lordship. We have been expecting your arrival.” Ark White said with a soft bow.
His etiquette made Asher curious about him, so he decided to check Ark White’s panel.
