Even if he make a mistake once, he wouldn't dare to make it twice. At the command of the leader who was quick to move away, the shooters freely fired their arrows at Cloud without hesitation.
To which, Cloud threw his sword upwards, high in the air.
Then he leaped up and oscillated with his figure horizontally.
Shush-! Shush-! Shush-!
Arrows passed by his body.
But not all of them. Several arrows lodged themselves on his body.
Cloud, who landed on the floor, quickly fluttered away the arrows stuck on his body. After tilting his head to drink the opened high-grade potion, he spat out an empty potion bottle.
The moment the potion bottle fell on the floor, the sword thrown upward fell towards him.
Cloud reached out and caught the falling sword.
He immediately sprinted with his legs up on the rocks while gaining the momentum towards the shooters on the left.
Three seconds. There was not enough time to reload the arrows into the bow and aim again.
Reluctantly, the assassins had to throw away their bows and face Cloud with their swords.
“Your opponent is just one brat! Don't be afraid, kill him, kill him!"
At the moment the commander gave the command, the upper torso of an assassin who was at the very front slid down. Next, the shooters who rushed in had their legs cut off, and then their necks skewered.
Since the fifty assassins were split on both sides, the number of assassins Cloud had to deal with was roughly around twenty-five in number.
These twenty-five people sometimes decreased by one, and sometimes by two.
“What… what, this bastard…!”
The commander was also in deep shock.
‘Those lousy pants said there would be some escorts and adventurers at best! Who is the bloody bastard who cheated us, son of a b!tch!'
“F*ck!”
The commander turned his back.
Dying minions will drag the time. In the meantime, if he runs away, he can survive…
Pak!
His body fell forward with a strong shock felt on his back. When he turned his neck, he saw an arrow embedded on his back.
Even in the midst of the melee, Cloud threw it accurately.
"Crazy… this monster bastard…"
The commander closed his eyes as he saw the head of the last remaining assassin of the left front flying off.
Shoo-! Shoo-! Shoo-! Shoo-!
The sound that pierced through the air.
Cloud timely pulled the headless corpse that was about to fall and covered himself.
Pak-! Pak-! Pak-!
Arrows, one after another, were blocked by the ready-made body shield.
Cloud threw the corpse with arrows struck like a porcupine to his side and shelled the daggers placed in between his fingers.
“Kghw!”
The shooters who were bustled by the daggers fell down with their bows slipping down their fingers.
Seeing this, the other shooters turned their backs and started to run away, taking turns at pushing their comrades who were hit by the daggers.
“Not even second-rate, barely third-rate. The standard has fallen nowadays, teh!”
Cloud spat out saliva mixed with dirt on the floor.
He sprinted across the ground and targeted the fleeing assassins.
He wasn't going to miss a single one today.
* * *
“Thank you, truly. Without you, everyone here would have died.”
Before arriving in Oulheim and finishing his escort contract, the old man, named Stanley took my hand and thanked me.
“I just did what the contract asked me to do.”
“No, no, you did a much, much better job than what the contract asked. If it wasn't for you, not only would I die, but also the business I had dedicated my whole life, to build it upto this stage would have collapse. My sons are still not good enough to take over.”
“Hey, you do have wealth, old man, but sadly, not everyone has a child’s fortune, ay.”
“…That's what I mean. Hah, you little twerp… In my case, those idiots back at home only know how to fighting amongst themselves, if only those prats could stand shoulder to shoulder, all together…”
Tsk.
With his tongue stuck in annoyance, Stanley summoned the captain of his escorts.
“Bring me that sword.”
“Old Master, you mean ‘that' sword?”
“Is there any other sword I could be talking about?”
“…But, Master. Without any disrespect, if you do this, the young masters will question—”
“I will disqualify each one from heir's position who dares to question my decisions, so what are you worried about? Quick, just bring me that damn sword!”
Hearing the old man Stanley's blunt orders, the captain of the escorts bowed his head as if he had no choice and entered the carriage.
After a while, he brought along with him a long box.
“Have it. It’s your deserving reward for saving me and my business.”
“What is this?”
“Hoho, open it.”
At the command of the old man, another guard came to open the box.
Inside the box was a well polished sword.
It looked expensive at first glance as it was gold plated with an elegant pattern engraved on the sword's blade going all the way down to the handle.
“One of the treasured swords of our family. I took it with me when I ran away. Originally, I was going to give it to one of my sons, but now, I will give it to you.”
“Is it okay for me to accept this? Wouldn't your dissatisfied sons be hiring assassins to retrieve this swords later on?"
“Hahahaha! It could be. But looking at your skills today, I think it doesn't look like you're going to be assassinated no matter what. So I’m giving it to you without any worries.”
“Hmm… Then I'm grateful for this wonderful gift.”
‘Actually, you could have just given me some money bags.'
With a regretful heart, I received the sword and put it on my waist.
“Yes, yes. I'm glad you accepted it. I don't know why a person like you is staying on an A-class grade, but there must be some reason behind it. But I have no doubt that one day you will spread your fame throughout the continent. I think it would be really a proud moment if you hold the sword I gave you at that time.”
“I will try to make that happen.”
“Mmm.”
The old man nodded his head with a content expression.
For some reason, I felt if this kept on going, I would be later pulled along to his house to stay. I decided to cut it short and get going.
“Then… I already got the remaining share of my quest reward before, so I’ll take my leave.”
“Oh, of course. I must have taken too much of your time. Come on, have fun. If you want to participate in the battle, you also need to take good rest.”
“Um, indeed.”
I lightly bowed my head once, turned my back, and left.
Behind the scenes, I could hear old man Stanley talking something with his guards but I lowered my sight once more and wandered the streets looking for an inn.
“I think it’s better here.”
On a shabby street, I went into an inn with a decent structure. The noisy interior of the inn was quietened at a moment's notice. All their eyes were on me.
I didn't want to pay attention to it because it had already happened sometimes, but their gazes lingered on longer than I thought.
But not on me, but on the expensive looking sword that was strapped to my waist.
I roughly sat down and asked the waitress for the menu.
“What do you have best here?”
“Everything is delicious, but the tomatoes are very fresh today. So, I would recommend the tomato soup.”
“Then give me one serving.”
The waitress took the order and went back to the kitchen.
As soon as she left, gathered around me four or five nasty looking guys. Of course, their waist was housing some large sword like cleavers.
“Brother, is this your first time coming to Oulheim?”
One asked, putting his hand on the table.
"How did you know?"
“One can guess it just by looking at you. No one around here carries such expensive things on themselves.”
Expensive things, huh
More appropriately, it's too expensive for you to hold it.
The only expensive thing I have with me is the sword I just got today.
“So what do you want to say?”
“So, it's like this. Here in Oulheim, there is an old custom.”
"Custom?"
"Yup. It's a no-brainer routine that must be followed. The first visitor to Oulheim must give a present to the very first person he or she has spoken to, no matter what.”
I could hear giggles and sneers finding it's way from all around the hall. Either way, the guy looked at me with a serious expression and said.
“I would like to receive a gift as a part of fulfilling the custom.”
“I didn’t know there was such a custom. So, what would you like to receive?”
The man smiled and stretched out his hand.
"Haha, you are such a nice chap! As it's just me who wants to make a friend who I can communicate with! I don't want anything much. If it's just that sword hanging on your waist…"
Stash-!
The guy's hand that stretched out for my waist was chopped off. He blankly stared at the cross-section of his severed arm.
Did he come back to his senses only after seeing the blood that pumped up like a fountain?
“Ahhhhhhhhhh!!!”
—and he screamed.
‘Oh, this is sharper than I thought?’
I was going to sell it right away, but I'll have a change of mind now.
I will use it and then sell it.
With that thought, I picked up the hand of the man who had fallen on his knees.
“I just picked this up, but it seems very important to you? I'll give it to you as a gift. You don't have to thank me. It's just customary."
With a humble expression on my face, I threw the hand at the bawling man.
The remaining four, who had a stupid expression on their faces, had their expressions distorted.
“You f*cker, have you gone crazy?”
“You wanna to die, you son of a b!tch?!”
The remaining four drew out their swords.
I was already tired from coming all the way from the Kingdom of Prona to the Kingdom of Alitia, so I was going to finish it quickly and take a nice rest…
Thak-!
When she appeared again, that waitress who locked the inn's door.
At the same time, the other guests in the inn stood up one by one and drew out their weapons.
Even I was a little amazed at the sight.
‘Is this Alitia, the Kingdom of crime and nightlife?’
If that's the case, don't I have to get a little serious for this?
Holy f*ck!
This's awesome!
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