87 Chapter 87 - Pick up the Slack (1/2)

Anybody else would think that Gren was crazy for accepting the deal, but Gren was satisfied with it.In return for placing the wall--something made easy with the system and Gren's magic--Gren got a large piece of unused land with permission to build anything he wanted on it and a promise that the leader would stop trying to take justice into his own hands.Right now it was just a billboard for the FMC but in the future he could have a secondary base here.He'd need to place radio towers since GPS wouldn't exist until he could get satellites... IF he could get satellites.

He ended up delaying the caravan by a couple of hours but Annie thought that he did a good job handling the situation.A village with a solid wall and functional gates was an oddity but one that was welcome.She wanted to leave her past as a bandit scout behind her and help make up for it with good deeds, even if it took the rest of her life to accomplish that.

Not everybody in the group thought that Gren's actions were good.The billboard meant more direct requests for the FMC which meant fewer for the independent mercenaries.Even if the billboard only mentioned the weapons and armor, the name was Flours Mercenary Company which meant that people would expect them to fulfill requests.When the night began to fall and the camp was set up; Zell, Krieger, and Suze decided to pay Gren a visit.

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Gren needed to use the bathroom which meant going away from the camp.He was busy whistling the part of the tune to 'We're in the Money' that he could remember while relieving himself when he heard some sticks snap.”Is somebody there?”There weren't any other sounds besides the wind causing some leaves to rustle, the insects making insect noises, and the occasional animal sound coming from the forest.Was he just being paranoid?

He finished using nature's restroom and reattached the piece of his armor that protected part of his lower body when he heard twigs snapping again.With the helmet on, he couldn't tell the direction that it came from but there was no way he was going to take it off.There was something nearby.Gren took his shield from his back and slowly backed towards the camp.He was a bit far from the camp since he didn't want to get peeped on by a certain half-orc that had a crush on him... not his smartest decision.

The sounds of something running entered his ear but he couldn't see anything coming from the forest in front of him.There was nothing on his left so he quickly turned to the right.{A boar!?}Gren tried to raise his shield but only managed to raise it halfway before the boar collided with him.Even with the weight from his armor, Gren was lifted off of his feet and fell heavily to the ground.

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Dhalra, the dark elf, saw the attack on Gren from the watch tower but chose to just watch.The other person on watch tower duty was Nina, the amateur archer; she was panicking but noticed that Dhalra wasn't doing anything.”What do we do?”

”Nothing.He can handle it.”Dhalra was part of the faction in the FMC that didn't like Gren.There were only a few of them but they all had their different reasons for disliking him.

Dhalra's reasons for disliking him were simple; he was too nice to the elves.They did nothing for the FMC but he allowed them to stay anyways.Dhalra was hunting almost every day so that they'd have meat to eat but it's the elves that he picked for his harem in that wagon.She wasn't interested in being a part of it but the elves didn't belong.Their kind always got by on their good looks and contributed nothing.Just being compared to them disgusted her.

”Are you sure?He looks to be struggling.”Nina saw that Gren managed to stab it but his left arm that used to be holding the shield was bent in a strange direction.

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This damn boar was making Gren angry.His left shoulder was dislocated and he didn't have time to put it back in place with it constantly charging at him.The boar charged again and Gren rolled on the ground to get away from it, making sure that the boar wasn't between him and the camp.

Before the boar could charge another time, Gren pulled out the ballista.Using his magic to adjust the aim, it was now in the boar's path.Gren only needed one arm to pull the lever that released the spear-sized bolt.The boar didn't know what hit it as the bolt tore through its massive body and ripped its guts out before embedding itself into a tree.

”That's what you get, you piece of shit!”Gren now had time to fix his arm but he had to remove the armor first; the metal part near his shoulder was bent out of shape from where the boar hit him.Gren stored his weapons away along with the boar before heading back to the camp.

{How many points was that massive boar worth?}

<16,500 points>

That little?The thing was as large as a person.Then again, it made sense when Gren thought about it; the boar that Ahk killed which was worth 50,000 points was the size of her.With the damage to his armor and the cost of a new bolt, this encounter only earned him a couple thousand points towards his own point balance.Right now he was still in last place in the rankings due to everything that he had created for himself.

After reaching the camp, Gren sat down by the fire and examined his armor.”It'd do you more good if you wore it.”He looked up to see Zell standing next to him.”Mind if we sit down for a bit?”Behind Zell was Krieger and Suze.He had been wanting to talk with them so he slid to the corner of the log to make room.Zell sat next to him while the other two sat on the log in front and to the right of Gren.

”Your armor's battered.You get 'tacked by somethin' out there?”Krieger spoke a lot like that carriage-maker, Denny.They were both really old so Gren was wondering if it was just how they talked long ago.

”Yeah, there was a boar out there.I managed to take it down but it damaged my armor and knocked me around.”He felt a bit embarrassed since he was supposed to be a bonafide mercenary but struggled against a boar.It wasn't even one of the monster ones.

”Give it here, I can beat it back in shape for you.”Zell took the shoulder pad and the breastplate from Gren and looked it over.”I'll go take care of this real quick.My hammer's in the wagon.You three continue talking while I'm gone.”