“Not the first devil, you say,” Meimei said with an exhausted face, “Do you know how ridiculous it is to beat a devil without holy magic?”
“No,” Arad replied, “Anything will lose if I punched them hard enough,”
“Power dominates,” Gura nodded in the back, “We agree,” She smiled.
Keno stared at her with a wry smile, “You two pertinently are alike. Raw power wins,”
“Now that the fire is out and everyone is safe, I have to go,” Arad said, getting ready to void step back to the castle.
“Wait!” Amolis woke up, barely able to stand, “I’m sure I lost control, how did you stop me,”
“As I said. I punched you unconscious. It’s that simple,” Arad replied, teleporting away immediately.
The A-rankers stared at each other, “Say, can we beat him as a team?” Keno asked.
“I can’t say,” Meimei scratched her head, “I doubt he went anywhere near all out on any of us,”
“The gap of power is too big,” Jogan sighed, “Let’s hope we never have to fight him. I’m not thrilled to know what he is like when pushed to the limits.”
****
Thud! Arad appeared on Isdis’s balcony. With a quick step, he walked inside, dropping on a chair with a deep sight.
“I see the flames are down,” Isdis approached him with a smile.
“Almost burned the place, but it’s all good now. I even had to beat four A-rankers. Lucky me the fifth one wasn’t willing to fight.” Arad stared at her.
Rey and Ray approached him, “That’s how adventurers converse,” Ray said with a passive face.
“Rough and ragged,” Rey added up.
“You exhausted, or can you do a bit more for me?” Isdis stared at him with a smile, and Arad stood, “What is it?”
“Apparently the southern gate is blocked by a merchant. I don’t know who, but they are preventing injured people and rescue forces from getting in and out of the city.” Isdis walked to the balcony and pointed at the southern gate. Arad could see a large wagon blocking the gate.
Ray approached Arad, “But, the goods matter,”
“Food is nice,” Rey added.
Arad nodded, “I understand. Depending on what the merchant is trying to get in the city. They might have priority. He could be transporting medical supplies or rations for all we know.”
“That’s right,” Isdis smiled, “Can you solve that problem?”
“I guess the matter of whether to let her in first or not is up to me?” When Arad looked at Isdis, she handed him a signed royal decree allowing him to judge and act in that matter. That gave him the same power her words have.
With a nod, Arad teleported to the southern gate.
Thud! Landing beside the gate, he could hear people shouting in anger outside the wall. A simple glance revealed two horses stuck inside the gate. The wide wagon cannot pass through the small gate.
“Wrong side,” he teleported outside the gate and stared at the crowd shouting in anger. “Get your cart off the way!”
“Move this piece of junk away!”
“My husband is dying! Get out of the way!”
Screams filled the air as the refugees and injured cried, trying to get into the city as fast as they could while the wagon remained stuck at the gate.
Arad walked between the people, pushing them aside to reach the wagon.
“Who’re you bastard?” An old man growled as Arad pushed him aside.
“Oh! My!” A woman gasped as he nudged her.
“Let me pass,” Arad grabbed an old lady and moved her out of the way before reaching the wagon. A lot of people were dissatisfied with him pushing between them, but none had the courage to actively try to stop him.
One of the wagon guards rushed to stand before Arad, getting baffled when he realized her far shorter and looked smaller even with his full plate armor. “Stop, citizen!”
Arad pulled the royal decree, “I’m here on…” CRACK!
Before Arad could finish speaking, the guard smacked the paper out of his hand, “Move away! Citizen!”
Arad stared at Isdis’s royal decree resting in the mud. ^This is bad…^ He gently lifted it up, “A moment please,” He teleported back to the castle.
“Isdis, what should I do when someone smacks the decree out of my hand? They can’t do that, right?” Arad asked.
“That’s equivalent to slapping me or father, death on the spot,” Isdis replied.
“Not all the time,” Rey approached Arad, “Fear, intimidated by you.”
“What?” Arad looked at her.
“You’re big and large, he was probably too scared to think rationally,” Ray added.
“That doesn’t matter. Ignoring it would make the royal decrees a joke,” Isdis looked at Arad, “Make sure he at least gets close to death, that way people won’t take the decree lightly.”
With a smile, Arad teleported back to the guard.
“You! Where did…” CLAP!
The crowd went silent as a guard flew beside them, bleeding and his body smacked into a tree.
Arad stared at the guard from where he stood, his fist drenched in blood, “You owe me and two maids for your life. I was ordered to kill you for disrespecting a royal decree,” He growled.
The guard wasn’t dead, Arad broke his lower jaw with a powerful punch so much that he wouldn’t eat solid food for weeks.
The other guards standing around the guard froze, and the merchants finally appeared. A man with his wife.
The man was a bit large but far shorter than Arad, his clothes consisted of a purple jacket and a gold engraved robe. His wife on the other hand wore a red dress with a massive hat, the clevage of her chest visible as she glared at Arad.
“Who are you?” The man growled as the guards moved out of the way.
“Arad Orion, I was sent here as a messenger from Princess Isdis to solve this problem.” Arad gave the man the dirt-drenched royal decree. “He’s the one who smacked it out of my hand,”
The merchant nodded, “I don’t see anything suggesting I should move. It says you have to decide that,”
Arad nodded and looked back at the crowd, “Please wait for a second! I will deal with this,”
The people went silent, waiting to see what Arad would decide.
“Can I check the cargo?”
“Of course!” The merchant said with a large smile on his face, “I have here over fifty platinum coins worth of rare goods!…”
As the merchant started explaining his goods, Arad stared back at him, “I don’t care how much are they worth, I care what they are so I can decide whether they go in first or the people.” Arad looked inside the carriage. It’s filled with jewelry [He even recognized some made by his kobolds. Apparently, they were imported from Alina] rare hides, woods, and even some art pieces and pottery.
Arad walked out, “People go in first,” He stated, “Nice cargo, but it can wait, the injured can’t.”
“That can’t be,” The merchant’s wife growled. 𝘰𝑣𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮
Arad glared at her, “Your wagon or carriage thing can’t pass through the gate anyway. Pull back and start thinking of another way to get it inside and let people enter in the meantime,” He pointed at the bleeding soldier in the back.
The merchant stared at the carriage, his face twisted for a second. “You’re right, pull back up,” He growled.
The carriage guards tried to pull it back but remained stuck. “Sir! We can’t move it!”
“Move away,” Arad pushed the guards away and tried to pull the carriage himself. He could hear its wood cracking, any more force and he would shatter it, damaging the cargo. “Damn it! She doesn’t want to move,”
“What will you do?” The merchant stared at Arad, almost amused at the fact.
“I will either punch a hole in the wall or teleport all the people inside.” Arad mumbled, looking at the wall, “This looks expensive, Isdis would kill me if I broke it so teleport it is,”
He walked toward the crowd and put his hand on the head of the first man he came across. [Void Step] ZON! Arad teleported the man inside the city and then went out in the blink of an eye.
The people gasped, seeing one of them disappear like that.
In a few seconds, Arad already moved tens of refugees inside the city. The merchant stared at him with a terrified face. The mages he knew could only teleport once every few seconds, they take time to cast the spell and certainly won’t be able to move such a large number of people.
After three minutes and forty-five seconds, Arad had moved all the two hundred people and thirty-three people into the city, including the injured guard.
As the people stared at him in awe, he could hear two voices calling from behind him. “Oh! Great one!”
“Absolute lizard, hear us!”
Arad turned, and he could only see the two horses dragging the merchant’s carriage.
He approached them and the two horses looked down, avoiding eye contact. As animals, they could already sense he was a dragon and were risking their whole life calling him.
“What do you want?” Arad asked.
“We do not want to. We plead to the dragon.” A horse shook his head.
“Humans, hate,” The other horse smacked his hooves on the ground.
“I will help. Tell me what you plead or want.” Arad smiled.
The two horses looked at each other, “They transport ghost grass. Beneath the carriage.” A horse said.
“Sells well in dire times,” The other horse added.
“A moment please,” Arad nodded with a smile, teleporting back to Isdis.
“Finished? I can see the people inside the city,” Isdis asked with a smile.
“Ghost grass, what is it?” Arad asked.
“A plant used to create strong illusion potions. Can also cause hallucinations when ingested due to the magic in it.” Isdis stared at Arad, “It’s illegal to sell without a decree from the court or the alchemist guild approval. Did the merchant have it?”
“Didn’t tell me, the horses ratted them out,” Arad replied.