Chapter 104: Orchestrated commotion (2/2)
From the suddenly widened eyes of the public, it was clear that it was the massive posture of Al that intimidated them.
”Excuse me?” At the same time, both of the actors spoke up. Then, they rapidly looked at each other, before moving their eyes on Markus.
”Do I really need to spell it out loud?” Markus said, gently raising one of his eyebrows. ”But sure, if you insist, then it's not a problem to me,” he added before either of the actors could respond in any way.
”First, you guys are coming here, exactly where people are bound to gather. Then, you start your little show, while making sure to address all the doubts that potential mercenaries have,” Markus started. With each of his words, the panic grew bigger and bigger on the faces of the actors, all the way to the point where the reluctant one jumped forward, attempting to cover Markus' mouth…
Something unwise, given Al's and Lessen's presences.
”Sit,” AL didn't even need to try. He simply stepped forward, caught the extended hand of the actor, before snapping it. ”Hey, he attacked you. Should I kill him?” he asked, still holding on to the wrist of the unlucky actor.
”He is asking if he should kill you for an attempt to attack me,” Markus was kind enough to translate from the future common language to the ancient.
”Sir, please…” The poor man begged for mercy.
”What's the prize and where did they go?” Markus asked. He had not a shred of doubt that this entire commotion was all orchestrated to hire even more people into searching for Layn's whereabouts. And he was quite sure of it because the same thing happened back in their own time.
There was one instance when Layn's limits were broken. A huge thing happened that brought him beyond any mercy or salvation. Unwilling to bring his friends into his own problematic mess, he decided to leave the party for several months back then.
”Where will we find you once it's all over?” Markus could still remember the exact wording of both the question he asked back then and the answer he received.
”You don't need to worry about it. Once you enter the province, everybody will be talking about me.”
This amount of confidence was unusual for Layn. Even though he never had the problems holding his own weight, he wasn't arrogant. In fact, this word itself had no meaning in regards to the archmage, as he never took his authority as a judging factor in any matter he would be set on deciding.
'It's just like when we went to look for him back then,' Markus thought to himself, recalling those unpleasant memories. 'I just hope I won't find him in the same state as we did then,' his lips curved down, turning his sad memories into a wicked expression.
An expression that scared the shit out of the two actors in front of him.
”Sir, the reward is five grade two stones for each of them… But they need to be brought here alive. As for the direction,” the actor hesitated for a moment, but a single look at his pained compatriot later all his doubts were gone. ”Sir, they went to the staging grounds in the south. From what we managed to learn in the two weeks since they left, is that they gathered a small number of mercenaries before heading off to the desert.”
Markus nodded to Al. Only then did the chief of the Gener tribe released the wrist of the other actor.
”Tell me, was there anything peculiar about the way they choose those mercenaries?” A suspicion appeared in Markus's mind. He knew Layn pretty well, meaning, he could picture several reasons for the archmage to go to a place as separated from the rest of the world as desert.
And each of those possibilities was worse than the other.
”Peculiarity? Hmm…” The actor asked before starting to think hard about something. ”Sir, I hope you won't find any grudge for that… But the mercenaries they picked… They were mostly weak.” The actor swallowed a gulp of saliva before adding. ”It's my personal opinion, but they were picked… as if that bastard was looking for something only he was capable of seeing in those people.”