“What was that ping ping sound I kept on hearing?” Jack asked Peniel as he walked.
“That was an indicator that you have unread messages in your chat inbox,” Peniel answered.
“Really?” Jack opened up his chat interface. Indeed, there were four messages.
“Hey, all of them are old messages. Three were from yesterday, one from this morning. Why was it that I was not prompted about it at the time it was received?”
“You should have just received it now, that’s why you heard the alarm sound,” Peniel replied. “Most probably the duke’s estate was an area where ordinary message signal was prohibited. Or it could be due to the barrier formation as well.”
Jack opened up the messages, they were all from Bowler. It did not explain the nature of his messages, just asking about his whereabouts, but it sounded more urgent with each message. The last message from this morning even stated it as an emergency.
Jack immediately sent a reply message to Bowler. He soon received a reply, “Bro! Where are you? Emergency! Need your help! There are small woods not far from East gate, please come immediately.”
Jack frowned. East gate was rather far, considering the size of the capital, it would take him some time to arrive there.
“You said before I could use carriage service for faster travel time within the capital, right?” Jack asked Peniel.
“Yes, and there was one over there, look. It seemed to be empty,” Peniel replied.
Luckily, they were still within the noble district, there are plenty of carriages available. Jack immediately went up to the idle carriage. The coachman requested 50 copper as payment for the journey to the East gate. For Jack’s current wealth, 50 copper was negligible, so he paid the coachman and got on the carriage. The coachman nudged the two horses that pulled on the carriage and they went onto the street.
“Can’t you go a bit faster?” Jack urged.
“Not wise to speed on the street,” the coachman replied, but then he added, “but for an extra 30 copper, I’m willing to take the risk.”
Jack grumbled in his heart, this was one of those times where he despised the realness of the NPCs in this game world. But he still handed over those extra 30 copper coins to the coachman. The coachman urged the horses and they started to gallop a little bit faster.
While they were on their way, Jack sent a message to Bowler, “I’m on my way, but can you tell me what is this emergency?”
Jack received the message soon, “It’s The Man. He had been set up by this guild called Warriors of Solidarity. It’s a bit too long to explain in a message, and I’m not exactly free now. Short version, we are currently being hunted by that guild inside these woods.”
“How the hell did you get mixed up with them anyway?” Jack sent another message.
“I’ve been hanging out with them often since our last work together on the Horned Ogre boss. I heard people coming! Can’t chat. Come soon!”
Jack didn’t send any more messages. Bowler sounded like he needed to focus on his current situation. The Warriors of Solidarity? Wasn’t that the guild that The Man was arguing with when he met them near the academies? Who was the guy he was arguing with again? Oh, yes, The Real Man. Jack wondered if either of them had managed to pass their Warrior class test.
He remembered them saying that they would settle their dispute outside the capital after they passed the test. Was this them settling their disputes? He would think that their settling the dispute would be more like a duel, but from Bowler’s short description, it sounded more like they were being bullied by a group of people.
Taking the carriage indeed saved up more time. If he was walking at normal speed, it would take him around three to four hours to reach the East gate. With the carriage, he arrived in less than an hour. He thanked the coachman and rushed through the gate. The gate guards eyed him suspiciously due to his hasty conduct, but they did not stop him.
The outside of the gate was peaceful, as no monsters could be seen in the vicinity. A few traveling people could be seen coming and going. He saw some rows of trees not far in the distance. That must be the woods Bowler had indicated. Without further ado, he ran towards the woods.
Inside the woods, a group of men was combing the trees and bushes looking for something, or someone. There were around twenty people in the group, separated into three teams, which walked at a certain distance from each other to cover a larger area while walking forward at the same pace.
“Come out! There is nowhere for you to hide!” One of the men in the middle team shouted out. “You said you wanted to settle our dispute right? Why are you hiding like a coward? You are no man, you should change your name, you should call yourself The Wussy instead!”
The men around him laughed out loud. “That’s right, boss. The Wussy, that name suits him very well,” one of them said.
The Man was hiding behind a tree not far away. He could hear the ridicule clearly. He had the urge to just rush out and teach that upstart a lesson.
“Don’t!” Bowler told him, “they were obviously trying to provoke you. You have lost two of your friends, don’t make their sacrifices for nothing. Fierce Flame was on her way. I have also just managed to contact brother Storm Wind. We will group up with them and strike back once we are together.”
“Boss Storm Wind is available already?” The Man asked.
Bowler nodded. “They are getting closer, we should head deeper into the woods. We cannot get found out before they arrived.”
“Fine,” The Man said. He let Bowler took the lead, he was not used to sneaking around, he was more of a direct confrontation kind of guy. Bowler seemed to be more experienced in sneaking around, he could even avoid the monsters that were roaming these woods. The monsters ended up becoming a hindrance to the party from Warriors of Solidarity. As their numbers were bigger, that made it hard for them to avoid the monsters.
“It looked like they intend to continue this hide and seek game,” a humongous man among the middle team said to The Real Man, who was the one that had shouted the provocation before.
“That old geezer,” The Real Man spat. “Even after I managed to kick him out of the guild, he still continued to be a thorn on my side. I have to eliminate him no matter what!”
“Don’t worry, he won’t escape,” the large man replied. “But we have to be cautious. The fact that he has not yet given up can possibly point to they are waiting for reinforcement.”
“Heh, I’ve sent people to hinder his other underlings, they will have trouble coming out of the capital. Even if some managed to break out, one or two people won’t make a difference. We will take them out together if that happens.”
“Hehe, you are indeed a planner, unlike that brute. It’s correct for us to follow you instead of him.”
“That brute’s way is already outdated, only fools will follow him. But his fighting ability is no kidding, perhaps only you, Goliath, who has also become a Warrior, can take him on in a single fight. We will need you to spearhead when we get him cornered so we don’t lose any man.”
“Don’t worry. I don’t even need any of your help. I can take him on by myself. Always have been, and it will be the same even now,” Goliath replied.
“I’m sure you can,” The Real Man said. “But I don’t want any mishap to occur. We will take him together with you at our front once he reveals himself. I want this over as soon as possible.”
“As you wish,” Goliath said.
