29 Bandit Hunting (1/2)
Sat in a luxurious looking padded chair, Lou Chang was behind a long wooden desk as Hartley and Lou Chingham entered the office, all three exchanged greetings then Lou Chang invited them sit on a pair of padded chairs on the other side of the desk while he had his head down shuffling through some parchments on the desk.
Lou Chang found the one he was looking for then got straight to the point and began to speak.
”Hartley there are four mountains with core disciples stationed, they are Stella mountain, Violet mountain, Archane mountain and Cyclops mountain. Each year there is a set amount of missions assigned to each set of core disciples to complete.”
He shuffled through a few more parchment and continued without lifting his head.
”These missions are usually only done by a team of core disciples assigned to a certain mountain, we currently have no missions assigned to the Stellar mountain but Violet mountain is short handed at the moment so they have requested three of ours to join them and complete their assignment.”
Lou Chang finally lifted his head to see if Hartley had any questions, Hartley stayed quiet so he continued.
”Under the leadership of of Lou Tai from the violet mountain you are to link up with two fellow Stella mountain disciples. You, Lou Rylai and Lou Ang will execute an eradication mission, a week from now you will link up with them at an inn situated in the Cosmos region on the road to the Calabar Province, there you will need to seek and destroy a bandit gang that has been wreaking havoc against businesses of the Waltham province. This mission should be simple enough, We usually complete these missions by ourselves to get more resources for our mountain but this time we will split the proceeds and clan points, any questions?”
Hartley shook his head, he understood the mission.
”Then that's it, and take care” Lou Chang finished then went back to fiddling with the parchments spread across his desk.
Hartley left the building and rented another horse at the stable, he had to pay 10 gold for the last one he rented because he lost it on his first date which he paid without batting an eyelid surprising the stable boys.
Hartley left the Lou clan thinking it was time he bought his own house away from the Lou clan, he still had a lot of sell-able items in his space ring, he was planning on checking out house prices.
Hartley reached the armory store just as Zhi Ruo was closing down business for the night, he tied the horse to a wooden post dismounted and made his way inside, when he entered there was no one present but Zhi Ruo who was in the back, he went up to the counter and shouted ”delivery!”
Zhi Ruo heard him and quickly came out, she feigned anger when she saw him, pouted and said
”you still remember me, where have you been? wasn't your death match yesterday?”
Hartley smiled and said ”I'm sorry Ruo but something came up and I couldn't make it back, did you miss me?” She didn't answer but she came from around the counter and began to thoroughly check his body for injuries, when she discovered none she breathed a sigh of relief, she had thought something had happened to him when he didn't return yesterday and it had been weighing on her mind, she hugged him and said
”I'm glad you are ok, I was worried.”
Hartley planted a tender kiss on her forehead and said ”sorry I didn't comeback yesterday” He then proceeded to tell her what happened...
Twenty miles from the central regions of the Waltham province, in a humble two bedroom house isolated from any neighbors. There were two people in a bedroom.
One spouse was complaining to the other,
”why can't we do it Ruo?”