Chapter 115: Chapter 63: The Tagalongs

If I know Stuart, he is waiting for you at the Barren Gate, Roland had told Kai before their departure. Ser Landon Hostler, captain of the Barren Gate, scarcely shows his face at the Gate. And this Stuart is a lickspittle. He will do anything to get praise from his master.

Kai was expecting this. But for the squire to use such a method became a headache even for him. In the name of the empire he said, heh! Kai sniggered.

“Get down!” Stuart bellowed. “Guards! Close the gates. No one leaves before I make this boy kneel.”

“Haha!” Kai suddenly laughed, a shrill, cranky sound coming out of his throat.

“Are you mocking the Empire, boy?” Stuart shouted again, his pointy chin becoming red.

“Why bring big words into the game, old man?” Kai asked back. “I am mocking none other than you, of course.”

“You!” Stuart pointed his shaky finger at Kai. Many others also gasped at hearing Kai’s jest. It was well in Head Guardsman’s rights to confiscate a Contestant into the Empire’s direct service in the absence of the captain of Barren Gate. Kai making a mockery of Stuart was nothing but folly. Treason!

But Roland and the other Guild’s members were calm. This was going as Roland had warned.

Kai’s hand reached down into his pocket and took out a badge. The bronze glimmered golden under the white sun. Stuart stumbled back, a horrified look appearing on his face. “This can’t be!” Stuart mumbled. “Why do you have the knight’s honor badge?”

This time it was Roland who replied. “May I present, Desmond, son of Ser Morgan Tussy.” A buzz resounded all around them. Ser Tussy wasn’t some elite warrior for him to be known throughout a city as large as a continent. But in the immediate region of the Barren Gate, his name was known by all. Only the captain of Barren Gate could talk to him on equal terms, and that too, if Ser Tussy wanted so.

“Impossible!” Stuart said, finding courage out of thin air. “Ser Morgan has no child.”

“Who said I am his seed?” Kai asked, narrowing his eyes. “But he has given me the title of his son. And any man will be a fool to reject such generosity.” The people around Kai nodded in agreement. Then there was the honor badge. It was almost equal to the knight being present there in person.

“I…” Stuart whimpered. “I won’t deny it then. Still, all Contestants must service the empire when called upon. Even knights are not excluded from it. Come with me. When Ser Hostler returns, you can present your arguments.”

Fool, Kai rebuked Stuart. He should have backed away when he had the chance. Tch!

“Yes, you are right!” Kai said, shocking the Head Guardsman. “But then, what of the orders given to me by Ser Tussy? He has given me the honor of being his son. He can as easily take it back.”

“He is right, Stuart,” Roland chimed in. “Desmond must prove himself to me in this battle. Such was Ser’s command.”

A stalemate occurred between Kai and Stuart then. They both looked at each other. Kai knew Stuart must have learned of his first battle from the other newbies, and had somehow guessed that he has an Ability. No other reason could have been so pressing for Stuart to be so adamant about keeping him from going out.

“It may be so, Roland,” Stuart spoke after considerate deliberation, licking his lips up and down. “But I still can’t let him go. What if he completes the sub-kill count and runs away to a Random World? How will I answer to the captain then?”

There was no question of what if. Stuart and Kai both knew he could easily complete any count.

“Well, I have a simpler solution,” Kai almost whispered, but his voice reached Stuart’s ears. “Why don’t you come with us? You can monitor me, and when I am done, you can bring me back. As a freeman or a prisoner. Huh? What say you?”

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7 they were, but 15 they became.

The Stallions and mares left behind a storm of dust as they galloped off to the place of ambush. Stuart had brought seven more guards along with him to outmatch the Silver Hunters Guild’s members.

It is a smart move, Kai amusingly thought. Or it would have been if I was just a simple newbie with only one Ability.

Cry!

A loud cry came from above. Kai looked up and saw a flock of strange birds flying over them. For an instant, his heart thumped, thinking of the magical creatures. But then a frown replaced everything.

It didn’t wake up, Kai remembered. My Glitch didn’t wake up near a beast’s corpse.

It was easy to find a corpse in a city where almost everything smelled dead and rotten. Yet, the Blood Devour Glitch hadn’t even let out a wisp of heat, let alone making him hot. I have already got one non-magical beast, Kai told himself. No more! I will have a magical beast this time.

Roland took them around a small hill covered in tall trees and made them dismount. “Stuart,” Roland said, addressing the tagalongs first. “I am taking my team to the other side of the hill. Don’t let your men make any noise. Otherwise, answer to Ser Tussy himself.”

“Humph!” Stuart snorted. “Don’t teach me, Roland. I was a Contestant even before your father had entered your mother.”

Roland didn’t bother to reply to the jest. He brought Kai and others to the opposite side of the hill, following a shadowy trail. They didn’t have any steel armor that could have revealed their presence in the noon either. It was a long, narrow valley there, covered in a purple-blue shine.

“Those are the herbs they are coming for,” Roland told them, pointing at the purple stems and leaves.

“How much longer?” Kai asked.

“30 minutes,” Roland answered, scratching his beard. “40 maybe, but not longer. If you are late, I won’t wait for you.”

“That’s more than I will ever need,” Kai smiled.

Kai traced back the trail and walked to the group of men, hiding well under the shade of dense trees.

“Why are you back?” Stuart asked at the first sight of Kai. “Don’t tell me you are a craven? Haha! Now that’s a surprise.” The guards laughed along with him.

Kai didn’t reply. With one step, two sabers appeared in his hands. With another, his eyes became slit. The third was a large stride, making his figure blur under a hot mist. And by the fourth, Kai was slithering.

The black sabers glistened like oiled steel even in the shadows.

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