With time somewhat of the essence, Rex deemed it correct to employ the services of the coachman guild, depending on their reliable and fast performance, they could cut the time necessary to reach Zena's village by at least half. And, to no suprise to Rex, the road mafia, as he jokingly calld them in the privacy of his own mind, were already aware of hsi existance, though seeing as he had created quite the stirr in the capital, it would be a wonder had they not, and made Rex question the competency of the people in charge.

The coachman guild, as the name suggests, were the premium service provider for anyone who needed something to be moved somewhere. Be it people, food or any other items, should your own capabilities to transport it, safely at that, were somewhat lacking, for the right price, everything could be arranged. Know the right guy to ask, and with a little something extra, it could be done on the hush hush and with guaranteed result as well. There were bandits on the roads after all, and while they would never risk actually killing the coachmen themselves, there were enough that would kindly stop said coachmen, and free their passangers from their possesions.

And, as an adventurer with the power of an A ranker, though still not officially one, since he had blown off the stupidly planned promotion exam, something the coachman guild was already somehow aware, he was quite the person of interest, and unlike the nobles, who were quite the annoying pain in the ass to be around, the things the road mafia could provide Rex with was a whole another matter. And, as he was guided to the office of the de facto kingpin of the largest smugling and espionage ring in this nation, with similar organizations all over the world, doing the same in their respective regions, Rex was more than willing to listen.

"Ahh, welcome, welcome sir, to my humble office." the somewhat portly man stated, having stood up the moment Rex was lead in, bowing to him as he spoke, showing the utmost respect and courtesy to his new guests. "To what do we owe the pleasure? Can this humble man help you in any way?"

"I am no noble. The posturing and acting is not neccessary. I preffer things sraight and to the point. While my companion is giving the details of my destination to one of your workers, lets get this over with." Rex replied, and as he finished, the overly polite and pandering smile, along with the gestures immediatly dissapeared, leaving before Rex, a sharp gazed and cunning man.

"As you wish." in a serious voice teh man replied. "I am Regal, and, based on the duration you plan to stay in this nation, we might happen to deal on quite a few occasions, sir Rex. And, as a man as capable as I believe you are, you would no doubt be able to apreciate the things we can provide as both as service and assistance, when needed. To that end, we would like to establish something of a mutually beneficial contract of sorts, if you would be interested. We, certainly are very much so."

"We can, surely, come to an agreement." Rex nodded. "And while I am more than inclined to at least listen to whatever you might need doing, wheter or not I accept highly depends on each individual case. I dont do protection details and extraction missions, unless the target is an inanimate object, one that can be stored in spacial equipment. Nor am I an assasin for hire, though taking on bounties is a whole another task all together. Dead being the preffered type of condition I like to bring my targets in and as such more likely I would take such a job on."

"Mhm. Assault type it is then. I will have it noted in your file then sir. As for what it is that you might require in return for the services offered?" Regal asked.

"The same old I suppose. Reliable transportation and information of course.Ah yes, I would also like to recieve some heads up should your people hear about some unsavory business being planned against my aquintances. I would like to consider myself a rather protective creature, easily angered when such people are harmed. And we both understand that someone like me, trowing something of an anger fit is not good for both the enviroment and the economy of the place where said incident occurs."

"Understood. Transport, information and slight observation of certain groups. It can be easily arranged, especially for someone with your particular value." replied Regal, more than pleased with the way their conversation was going.

"Anything you would like to ask, since I am here and we have come to an agreement of sorts?" Rex then asked, his mood now rather good.

"Now that you mention it, I suppose there is a little something we could use you assistance with. We have recently been asked to aquire a rather peculiar ingridient, but have some trouble of setting up an apropriate team to aquire it. Manticore liver, to be precise. A man of quite the reputable standing has asked us to aquire some, but the creature is A ranked, and rather dangerous one at that. And, while we have attained some information regarding a certain location that it could be encountered outside of a dungeon, ensuring that a single kill would be enough, we are still in need of a few A ranked warriors to take the creature down. Would you be interested?"

"How far is the location of the monster, and would your side handle everything after the killing of the monster?"

"A few weeks from here, near the mountains of Kor. Quite a number of dangerous monsters have taken residence there, feasting on the wildlife and some unfortunate travelers they encounter. With you joining, we would only need to aquire one more A ranker to proceed."

"No need. You will learn of my destination from your subordinates soon anyways. i have a small bandit infestation to take care off. Once I am done with that, send an escort after me. They should take me to the mountains of Kor, where a scout that had tracked the manticore should await, alongsdie the collection team. It is just a single manticore. I dont need help with that. Just pay the apropriate amount, and we can have it done in a manner of days, once I am there."

"There is no need to go to such lenghts. We are well aware of your ability as an A ranker, even if not yet marked as such on your adventurer's ID..."

"You misunderstood. I am not trying to prove myself or anything of the like. It is a single A ranked monster. I hunted for the likes of it in the dungeon, and the ones I dealt with, were ambush predators. What I am saying here is rather simple- I cant be bothered to try and cooperate with others when the task is so simple and straight forward. Besides, your better be sitting down when you read whatever your people, who will see me dealing with the manticore report. We can continiue after then, yes?"

"Allright sir. We shall do as you wish." Regal nodded, though he was slightly skeptical in his mind. Most, if not all A rankers were arrogant and often overestimated their skills, having never trully encountered obstacles untill the ybite off more than they can chew. But hey, if Rex was actually as good as he himself believed? The riches that would flow from such a cooperation would be staggering.

"I will dispatch a prepeared carriage once everything is good on our end. It should take no more than a few days. I do hope that suffices?" Regal asked, his mind already turning, considering the people he has to contact to assemble teh team to harvest verything valuable from the monster corpse, should Rex actually succeed.

"Thats fine. I might need a few days to track and exterminate the bandits anyways." Rex nodded as well, and with their small conversation done, turned around and left Regal to his own devices, who was already back i nhis seat and scribbling down notes and orders to be forwarded to get the job going and ready for Rex's inevitable arrival. "VITOR!" he yelled out, ready to send out teh first few of the already prepeared messages.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

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A short while later, Rex and Zena were calmly sitting in the carriage, already on their way out of the capital, their target the small village Zena was from. And from what little attention Rex paid to the girl, it was obvious she was both hopefull and worried at the same time. With someone like Rex acompanying her, the bandit problem would be solved for sure, and yet, fear was nagging her, for while they still had supplies that should last for a while to keep the bandits at bay, paying them off whenever they would pass by, it was also the nature of such lowlifes to always reach for more, their uncontrolled greed the cause of plenty of mysery among the simple farmers and the like in the countryside.

"Rest. You stressing out about them will not change anything. The best you can do is rest and stay healthy. In the worst case scenario, your family would want you to go on and do something with our life, not break down and waste away." Rex spoke asingle sentence, and while it did sound mightily bland, there was some truth to his words. The rest of their yourney, that lasted for three days, with a couple, few hour stops to get some needed sleep for the coachman and rest for the horses, was spent in mostly silence, with Zena often praying to whatever god, or Lord's as they called them here, while Rex was contemplating the concepts of blood and space. It was an endless expanse of knowldege, and he was a studious and curious pupil, always in search for more, so, whenever he had teh chance he would happily immerse himself in the practice.

And so, after three days of travel, Zena started to notice familiar sights, her anxiousness once agin returning, her worry for family and friends apparent. And, to try and calm herself down, she spoke of the land around, the tales they shared and legends that were passed down in their small village, talking of feys and other forest creatures passing by their community, sometimes as benevolent and kind elder men, sharing wisdom and advice, other times and dark and dangerous monsters, whisking children away, never to be seen again.

Then, as the sun was shining its last rays of the day, it slowly descending over the horizon, they crossed a hill, and a small, yet somewhat cozy looking village appeared in their sight, a small, simple fence seperating it from the fields it was enveloped in. Plenty of crops nearing their harvest time planted all around. And, noticing the lack of any signs or a raid, Zena sighed with relief, slumping back in the seat, a huge boulder falling off her shoulders.

"Not a word of my actual power, or rank." Rex spoke, his voice stern. "Cant have the bandits learn and run away. Would be a bitch to deal with."

"Y-yes sir." Zena nearly squaked, slightly startled, but smart enough to understand where Rex was coming from, and the change in his demeanor. He was, what kids would often call a cool uncle, though hew as around her age, who would switch to a no nonsense and strict elder when the situation called for it, or when they were on the hunts, prowing their prowerss and laser focus on the task at hand. Soon enough, they rode into the village, most people having already retired to their own homes, the small village feeling unnaturaly gloomy and somewhat deserted.

Then, right in front of the village chief's house, Rex and Zena disembarked, a dufflebag on Rex's shoulder as he nodded to the coachman, thanked him for the job and then followed inside after Zena, who had rushed in the moment she was out of the carriage.

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"ZENA! You are home!" an elderly man, his head covered in white hair exlaimed and hugged the girl, tears of joy rolling down his cheeks, He had been clearly worried that some misfortune had fallen upon the girl on her way to the capital.

"I am sorry grampa. There were difficulties at the capital." she sobbed as well, tears of joy rolling down her cheeks. It was at this moment that Rex entered, his large frame creating quite the imposing sight, since neither the girl, nor her grandfather were anywhere his heght.

"Evening." Rex spoke, his no nonsense mode on. "Lets talk the bandits, you can reunite and catch up later. How many? When was the last time they were here, do you know where they are staying, or whne they will be here again?"

"Ow, yes, yes. Please, help us." the old man stuttered, quickly wiped his own tears and moved towards the somewhat shabby and old looking table in the middle of the room. "We have,somewhat managed to appease them for now with what little produce we had stashed away, though they seem more and more hungry for more with each time they pass by. I have noticed the way they look at some of the women that failed to hide in time. I worry they might start to demand some of them."

"Yes, yes, its bad, now, Now, get to the specifics." Rex rolled his eyes. What was it with old peopl and the need to over explain. He wa here, was he not? Get to teh damn point already.

"Y-yes. Ahemm." the old man cleared his throat. "We have seen some fifty men, about, dont know if there are more though. The last time they came by was a couple of days ago, and I suspect they will be back any day now. It all started so innocent too. Freedom fighters they said they were, intent to free themselves and everyone else from the tyrany of the local noble. Lord's know he isrotten to the core. But then, their demands got more and more ridiculuous and unreasonable, and well, here we are now, fearing for the safety of our wives and daughters. Unfortunately, we have no idea where they have their camp, no one is daring enough to even attempt to trail them. Their leader is quite scary and rutheless, or so we have been told."

"Got a spare room where I can park for the time being?" Rex then asked, having already analyzed what he had been told.

"Y-yes sir. Zena will bring you. Would you like to join for what meager meal we can offer?"

"I'm good, pass." Rex replied, urgind Zena to show him the room. And once the door wasclosed, Zena having returned to the village head to talk about her trip and whatnot, Rex sat in the middle of the room, his mind slinking into a meditatative state, all the while using mana pulses every now and then, enveloping the entire village and some decent ways fruther out with it. He would know when something aproaches, be it a group of bad intentioned, armed men, or a rodent, sneaking its ways towards the storage of either of the residents homes.

And so, hour after hour passed, Zena and her grandfather spending more than a couple to catch up, either of them tearing up every now and then, due to the hardship the other went through during the seperation, untill they too called it a night, returning to their own beds to rest and recover for the coming day. They lived in a rular enough of a village, plenty of things still needed to be done, the harvests and the colder season steadily aproaching.

Soon enough, the morning cries of roosters indicated the beggining of a new day of work, the villagers leaving the comfort of their humble but precious homes, greeting one another, though with less vigor than they would have ussually. There was a dark cloud over their heads, threathening to deliver an outpour of tragedy and even more hardship at any moment. Though, as the peopel started to converse, a slight glimmer of hope rose in those hardened adn burdened gazes, hushed whispers of a returned Zena, a mountain of a man along with her. Maybee, just maybee the salvation was upon them, Just maybee, the dark cloud over their heads will be dispersed.

Zena herself, soon appeared as well, leaving the comfort of her home, having donned a much more modest and worn out outfit, her sleeves rolled up and a bucket in her hands. And as she drew the water from the well in the village center, she talked with her fellow villagers, answering as much as she could, without giving out Rex's supposed rank.

"Unfortunately, the guild refused our requests, stating there was not enough of a reward for what we asked. But dont worry," she smiled, slightly bitterly "A mercenary overheard my pleas as I was begging any adventurer I encountered to help us. And though the price he asked was steep, I nevertheless had to agree." she explained.

"Pray tell girl, what price he asked?" one of the elder ladies asked, worry apparent on her face. And Zena answered, relaying what Rex had told her this morning before she left the house.

"If he can solve the bandit problem plaguing us, once my three year service is over, I am to work as his servant." a worried expression marred even more faces now, though none dared to speak. Zenas words, while bitter, was leagues better than what they suspected might come soon, once the bandits come again. And think of the devil, and he will come, loud yells and exclamations could be heard in the distance, as a group of fifty something men appeared over the small hill, their path leading them dirrectly towards the village. The faces of the elder ladies, and the middle aged mothers, some with their infant children at the hip, turned ashen, each and every one hurrying back to hide in their homes, fearfull for their own, and the lives of their children.

"Guess their camp was close enough. The spy reached them, delivered the message of my arrival, and they are already here. Are they perhaps worried thats since I am alone, I might be trying to organize the village folk to mount a defense? Heh. he he he. Well then, sir bandit and his cohorts, show me what you got." Rex grinned and rose from his meditative pose, his hands itching for some action. "Should warn Zena to have the women and children well out of the vision range of my actions. It is not gonna be pretty." he reminded himself, using his mana to mark each and every member of the aproaching group.