Chapter 142: Book 2: Prelude (1/2)
On an unknown island, in an inn, a hooded young man patiently sipped his beer as he listened to a conversation happening at the opposite table.
”I tell you, it's not false!” said a crooked man dressed in poor clothes.
He was addressing his friends that sat at the same table as him.
Gulping a beer, one of his boorish friends, a female, slammed her large mug on the table, ”How many times have you given us wrong information?!”
From her slurpy tone, her friends could tell that she was drunk. Yet, her words were concise and direct meaning she still could function properly while being drunk.
The crooked man cocked his head at the sight of the angry female, but that didn't mean he was backing down.
He kept a straight face as he mocked her, ”What?! It is my job to find new bounties for us to take. I'm right, most of the time. Just admit it, you are scared of this bounty. The fearsome you is scared, that's the best thing I have seen today!”
”Heh!”
Fumes escaped the female tigress' mouth when she heard that. She picked up her mug and was about to hit the crooked man when another person at the same table stopped her.
”You know you shouldn't waste your time on him,” sighed the person.
It was a burly man that opposed the eyes of a hawk.
Immediately after he spoke, the whole table went silent, signifying his role as a leader.
The man continued, ”We are taking it!”
These three words confused the rest of the group. They made sure to voice it out, ”Why?”
Nudging his nose, the leader argued, ”Why? It's simple. A bounty of this scale cannot be a mere rumor. It was intentionally not put out on the bounty wall. This would help filter out the incompetents, who would obviously believe this as a normal rumor.”
Trailing his hand on the table, the leader made a hum, ”Even if I'm wrong, the price alone is tempting enough for us to risk it.”
”But it is our life we are talking about. Some of us might die,” carefully asked one of the few cautious ones among them.
The leader answered nonchalantly, ”True, but since when did we care about our life. Our profession produces about ten deaths each day.”
After he was satisfied with the marking he made on the table, the leader eyed the hooded young man that watched them, while ending the argument, ”Moreover…..they are other groups that will compete for the bounty. They will help us mitigate the danger.”
Being the center of attention, the leader knew that it was not only the hooded young man that watching them.
However, he wasn't scared of the bounty information leaking. In this land, the prize will ultimately end up in the hands of the stronger ones.
He just had to be the stronger one!
........
Coincidentally, the hooded young man reached his last sip as soon as he had heard all he wanted.
Downing the string beer in his stomach, he stood up and dropped a coin on the table.