"So... you're saying one of my companions attacked you?" Raz asked seeing John drag the shaking man back to the party from the temple.

"Yeah, he was screaming something about some Eropire," John shrugged.

"I do apologise, I'll deal with him when we get home, for now, we'll just keep an eye on him." replied Raz scratching his head awkwardly.

They got onto their carts, moving slowly to the west.

"We can drop you guys off near the south, but I'd recommend you go south-west with us."

In the distance, a bright yellow light filled the sky.

"A fire?" asked Raz.

"Looks like it... " he replied before turning back to the other two carts.

"Keep your distance, I'll go check what's going on..." Raz said.

"Right."

"You three can get off if you want." Raz offered looking at John and the group.

"No thanks, I'm comfortable here," John replied.

"Same here." Alex agreed.

Jordan didn't reply.

The cart made its way into the town, in the centre was a massive bonfire, a few sandstone huts stood empty.

"What the hell?" Raz asked looking at the ghost town.

"An empty town with a lit fire... it's almost like...-"

"AN AMBUSH!" exclaimed Raz as from the walls and from under the sand rose a dozen men, all wielding scimitars or staffs, all wearing masks, they were metal and had two slits for eyes.

"For the Eropire!" exclaimed one of them as he charged at Raz who swung his massive hammer, turning the attacker into a ragdoll of broken bones and internal bleeding in an instant as they flew to the side.

"Called it!" John exclaimed.

"Fine..." Jordan reached into his pocket and gave JohnWillStab five gold coins.

Jordan, Alex and JohnWillStab just sat by, ready to defend themselves should one of the attackers come too close.

"What the hell are you doing sitting around?!" demanded Raz not taking his eyes off the group of swordsmen and casters surrounding him.

"Look, I'm super grateful for the lift... but how do I know who the good guys are?" asked John.

"Yeah, I mean one of your guys tried to stab Jo- Jane earlier," Alex added.

"Alright! I'll explain everything if you help me out!" he offered.

JohnWillStab looked to his companions, they whispered amongst each other.

"And you'll drop us off in the south."

"F-fine!"

The whispering continued.

"Cheesecake."

"What?!"

"We want cheesecake," John added.

"WHERE AM I SUPPOSED TO GET A CHEESECAKE IN A FUCKING DESERT!?" he demanded,

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

"Tch! I was worth a shot." John replied.

JohnWillStab stood up and drew his daggers.

Seeing this, one of the scimitar people charged at him, pulling his blade back to get a clean hit on John's neck, before the blade could hit his throat, John used shadow step and put the attacker in a chokehold with one hand and pressed a dagger into his side with the other.

"Agh!" he cried out in agony before falling to the ground.

Alex moved out next, he saw a caster standing a few meters back from Raz, a bright blue orb of flames appearing in her hand before pointing it at Raz.

Moments later the caster saw her hand was no longer attached to her arm,

Alex had slashed it without the azure flame.

"I dig the fire colour!" Alex exclaimed as the caster let out a pained shriek before expending the other hand.

"Incinerate!" she called out as a bright blue burst of smoke and embers exploded, blinding Alex and leaving a few burns on his face.

"Damn, not the face!" he exclaimed.

"Thal!"

"Fine..."

"She's running away to the left."

Alex threw his blade to the left hearing the sound of it stabbing into flesh as the caster lay dead on the ground.

Jordan kept his distance, he used his staff to char anyone getting too close to the blinded Alex.

One person snuck behind him, a scimitar user ready to slice Jordan's throat open.

Jordan proceeded to Elbow the man in the throat, it was a bit of a risk, but he heard someone running up behind him from the start.

The man dropped the blade and grabbed his throat and Jordan pointed his staff at him and burned the man to death.

Within minutes a dozen attackers were reduced to two casters, each partially mangled and trying to run away.

JohnWillStab used knife-throw to stab them in the neck.

"The poison dagger finally came in handy!" he thought putting his blades away.

He turned to Raz who was sitting on the ground, a little roughed up, around him were five corpses.

"So is that cheesecake a definite no, or...?" Alex asked putting Thal away.

"Alex, would it kill you to not act like an idiot for once?" Thal asked.

"Shut it!" Alex exclaimed, turning back to look at his blade.

"Some circus you three are..." Raz exclaimed before standing up.

"This may not be a circus, but Alex is a fucking clown nonetheless," Thal exclaimed.

"That's it you piece of crap!" Alex screamed as he tossed the blade into the distance, the moment it hit the sand, it teleported into his hand.

"Ha!" Thal laughed.

"FUCK!"

JohnWillStab looked at his hand, his kill count was up to six.

"Level fifteen... not bad..." JonhWillStab thought before looking to his party.

"Anybody hurt?" he asked.

"Nah," Jordan replied.

"The one chick burned my handsome face, but you know... nothing some lotion won't fix." Alex shrugged.

Raz stood up and walked up to the trio.

"Who... are you people?" asked Raz.

"Travellers from Arlepia," John replied.

They returned to the cart and back to where the other two carts were.

Only to see three men left from the party, they all lay on the floor, bloodied.

"What happened here?!" Raz demanded, hopping off his cart.

"Two of them were traitors, they stole a few of them and escaped!" explained the bloodied man.

"They stole your perishable goods?" asked John.

Raz let out a sigh.

"We're moving a new weapon prototype from the north to the south-west," Raz confessed.

"But if HaremHarry finds out about them, we're done for..."

"So you're working for the other faction?" asked John.

"Right, I'll introduce myself properly."

"My name is Raz, captain of the A.H.A - Ajuan Half Army."

"I knew they're not merchants!" John exclaimed.

"You knew and yet you still decided to come with us?" he asked.

"I mean, a lift's a lift..." John reasoned, his two companions nodded vigorously.

"Well, my offer still stands, though we can't waste any more time," Raz said hopping back onto his cart.

"Luckily, the Eropire guys were too stupid to kill the birds," Raz said seeing Alex, Jordan and John climb into the cart.

The large cloth covering their goods was cut, revealing strange devices.

A long tube with a handle, in the side a spring-loaded hammer with a string attached to it.

A small hole above the handle, as well as small red cylinders surrounded by scorch marks.

"Guns?" asked John.

"Yeah, we had someone make us a weapon with long-range that could be used by any class and that could be made in large amounts... this is the result," Raz replied.

"So why are you guys heading south anyway?" asked Raz.

"The reason one of my companions attacked you was because we assumed you're working for the Eropire." he explained.

"Wait, you assumed we're working with rapey world-domination guy?!" John asked.

"I mean... the only reason anybody would go south... much less a woman, was if they were granted the status of nobility by HaremHarry, and thus could do whatever they want," he explained.

"No, no, I just need to see this potion-maker they have," John explained.

"You're planning on going to the palace!?"

"Is that where the alchemist is? I guess so." John nodded.

"There's no way the Eropire guards would let you in!" Raz exclaimed.

"Then we'll just kill all of them." he shrugged.

"It does sound like a fun adventure." Alex agreed.

"I've gone this far with the two psychopaths, I might as well go the rest of the way..." Jordan sighed.

"You're fighting an empire... all of the Eropire... only the three of you!"

"Guess we'll overthrow the empire," John shrugged.

"And then you owe us cheesecake," Alex added.

"And more exotic fruits!" Jordan added.

"And booze!" John added.

"Meow~" Arachnophobia added.

"Yeah, and fish!" John translated her words into English.

"You three, erm... four... are insane..." Raz sighed.

"You're strong, but not that strong... wait two days, that's when we're making the final push against HaremHarry." Raz offered.

"Thanks, but I'm like the least patient person alive..." John replied.

"You'll be more likely to defeat the Eropire if you wait for us! Together, I'm sure we can bring an end to Harry's tyranny!" Raz exclaimed.

The journey was long, it took hours but eventually, they were able to see the distant coastline.

Soon the southern city came into view, a massive mansion and several smaller houses, if this was a real city, the population would have numbered in the thousands.

It was located by the beach, the city was pretty with the beach hugging the coastline, the city was surrounded by cliffs on two sides, though extremely steep hills would be a more accurate description.

The cart slowed down and let John and his group out,

John let out a sigh.

"Fine, we'll stay put for two days." John sighed.

"Good! We'll start the attack as soon as the sun rises in two days... we're quite impatient too..." sighed the man getting his cart moving again and continuing down the long, winding road west.

As soon as the three carts were out of sight and out of earshot, JohnWillStab turned to his two party members and grinned.

"We're not waiting the two days, are we?" Jordan sighed, looking defeated.

"You guessed it," John exclaimed.

"We can't give the glory of defeating an evil emperor to anyone else!" Alex agreed.

"Yeah, maybe people will not want to stab JohnWillStab anymore!" John said hopefully.

They began climbing down the cliff and towards the town.

JohnWillStab checked his stats...

Level fifteen.

Dexterity: 17 + 2(Gloves)

Perception: 20

Stamina: 11 + 4(Boots)

Athletics: 17

Strength: 15 + 1(Gloves)

Weapon skill: 18

Magic: 8

Intelligence: 11

Luck: 10 + 1(Ring)

Charisma: 4 + 12(Tits)