Chapter 216: Season of betrayal (3)

The man with an eyepatch was running despite the hot summer day. He was drenched with sweat from the summer heat. The breeze that blew through the bushes did cool him down a bit, but it was no use. At the end of the path was empty land with a ragged log cabin. As he reached the destination, another man in the cabin shouted at him.

“Hey! Jack! What’s going on?”

“It’s- it’s coming!”

“What?”

Jack quickly ran to the cabin and jumped in where tens of men inside turned to him.

“C-captain! They are in the canyon!”

Baldy Jack shouted and a man in the corner, enjoying his cigarette, brightened up. Others also seemed to be delighted to hear the news.

“Those bastards are finally here!”

“Dammit! We can finally get out of here!”

“We’ve been waiting for two months!”

Men became excited at the news. The men who were called captains reached out for their helmets and axes that were left on the side.

“It’s time to hunt. Let’s go!”

“Haha! Move out!”

“Go, go, go!”

“Move, you bastard!”

“Wake up, you fools! It’s time!”

People began preparing themselves frantically and they jumped out of the cabin.

“Jack, take the lead!”

“Yeah!”

Jack began running and the others followed quickly behind.

“Captain Ento! It’s there!”

Jack pointed to the end of a canyon where Ento narrowed his eyes to look.

“It’s them.”

“Yeah, am I right?”

“Good work. I’ll reward you once we finish hunting.”

“Thank you, Captain. But give him to me.”

Ento glared at Jack viciously. Jack would’ve backed away under normal circumstances, but he didn’t back down this time.

“He killed my father because he couldn’t pay taxes. He also raped my wife and threw me a silver coin, thinking it was enough. I had two daughters that ended up the same way. My three sons were taken away to the battlefield and were used as meat shields. When the disaster hit, he took away all the food we had and my wife and two daughters died of starvation. I wanted to die with them but I couldn’t. I wanted revenge. I asked the gods for revenge. But the lord of Khalodian gave me a chance. Captain Ento, I will serve you forever. I just need to kill him.”

It was a depressing story. Some who heard the story scowled as they heard of the man’s evil deeds.

“Dammit, take it, you fool. But you won’t get anything else,” Ento told him annoyingly as Jack nodded with teary eyes.

*

The road was filled with horses and Durans. The heat mixed with the animals made the area very hot and the soldiers were extremely exhausted. Twenty lavish carriers moved in front with a hundred and fifty carts that followed from behind. It was Lord Doyle and his family that were moving.

“Milord, we should rest here.”

“Oh, Ruma. Yes, we should take a rest.”

“You should rest by the creek, milord.”

“Right. Come when you’re finished cleaning up. We’ll have a drink.”

“Thank you, mi- UGH…”

Knight Ruma stopped in middle. He looked at the lord’s pale face looking at him. His face was splattered with blood. He then felt heavy pain from below and looked down. A red arrowhead was protruding out of his chest.

“Ugh.”

Ruma felt blood coming up from his throat. He wondered why he took off his full plate of armor and changed to light leather armor. He then fell from the horse.

“ARGH!!!”

Lord Doyle screamed immediately in shock, and as if it were a signal, shouts erupted from all sides.

“Kill them! Kill all who protect the noble!”

“The knight is dead!”

“Anyone who surrenders will be spared!”

Soldiers tried to fight, but they began fleeing as they saw a set of arrows being fired upon them. It was too late to defend against the bandits. The servants and maids began running for their lives and only the nobles were left to die.

*

“How can they! Ron, did you hear?”

“What is it?”

“They dug it up.”

“Dug what?”

“The grave!”

“Huh?”

Ron’s eyes opened in shock.

“R-really?”

“Yeah, the lord dug up the grave and the treasures inside it.”

“Wow…”

Ron shook his head. It was shocking to hear a noble digging up a grave.

“They’re done for.”

“Yeah, digging up a grave…”

“I told you, if you begin taking out a loan, you’re done for.”

Men began talking about the recent rumors of the noble family collapsing, but no one felt sorry for them.

“That’s a shame. I hope this land gets sold to Ress soon.”

“Yeah. Now that you mention it, did you hide it?”

“Of course.”

“You should hide it well.”

“Yeah, don’t worry.”

“What about you?”

“Of course I did. I can’t starve to death.”

“I heard from Knox at the Guards that they will be keeping an eye out. We should be more careful.”

“Dammit. I just hope Ress takes over this land soon.”

The outcome of digging up an ancestral graveyard gave Lord Rodric Kreta many valuable treasures that allowed them to keep the land for a while longer. Yet since they did not change their lavish lifestyles, it only lasted for four months. As summer began, the land finally was given up to the Ress Merchant Group. Many other nobles of Toria also lost their land. Some tried to fight by refusing to leave, but they were killed by their own people.

“The Kreta family has moved to Khalodian.”

“Good. Good work, Venuda.”

“It’s all because of you, Bimonson.”

“No, you were the one who worked hard. I just ordered people around.”

Bimonson complimented Venuda and smiled. He poured the Khalodian family’s whiskey into his glass cup and looked out the window.