Chapter 2

In a dimly lit room, where only the faint light emitted by the lit candles illuminated the area, four men sat around a circular table, their hands holding cards.

“Yo, hurry it up already. After this round we need to get back to collecting the payment!” one of the people, already finished, spurred the others on.

He was a thin man wearing black clothes, with dark tinted glasses. For his shoe wear, he had on a fancy looking black derby.

“You need to calm down Jerry. We already collected most of them for this week. It will be fine if we take it easy every now and then.”

“Explain that to the boss if he asks.” Jerry responded.

“What’s the big deal? There’s no reason to worry about it. The boss won’t do anything even if he doesn’t get the full amount from us. He probably doesn’t even check to see if he gets the right amount.”

Jerry looked irritated as he responded to the youth.

“You’re walking on dangerous ground there. You wouldn’t say that if you had met the boss.”

“And what’s so scary about him? He can’t do anything to us here. He’s sitting on his throne somewhere in one of the lower floors, enjoying his life as he pleases. Whilst we are the ones that are earning him all that cash. We can afford to slack off every now and then.”

“I don’t want to be a part of this conversation anymore. I’ll be waiting for you outside. Make sure you hurry up.” Jerry said as he walked out the bar they were in. Quickly chugging down the liquid in his glass before he left.

The three men that were still playing continued to do so. Not being in any sort of hurry whatsoever.

“What’s his deal? Why is he so insistent on following the boss’s orders?” one of the men asked. He was the one that was conversing with Jerry earlier, and consequently, he was also the most inexperienced out of the group. He hoped to find out more from his fellow coworkers.

“Jerry has always been like that. He was already like that when I joined the group.”

“What?! You joined like 5 years ago right? So that must mean he’s been like this for a very long time now.”

“Yeah. Jerry is the only one from us that actually met the boss in person…That’s probably the reason for it.”

“You think something happened? Like something crazy that made him afraid of the boss?”

The youngest one jumped at the opportunity to find out more information. Because of his young age, he still had ambitions to climb the ranks. Maybe one day, he would even rise to the position of boss. But all of this would only start by him gaining further information.

“He never talked about what happened, and I never asked.”

The disappointment appeared on the young man’s face immediately. His hopes had been crushed for the time being. He knew he could not gain any viable intel on the boss from the people around him.

“Well, shit. I hoped you would know something. Guess there’s no way of finding out then.”

“You could just ask him. He might tell you about it.” The quiet one, the one that had kept his mouth shut this entire time finally spoke up.

His giant frame barely fit on the small, wooden chair he was sitting on. Which made the youngest one giggle slightly as he thought about it again. Yet he regained his composure before answering.

“Are you crazy?! There’s no way that bastard would say anyth-“

Before he was even able to finish his sentence, the body of a man flew through the door and crashed into the wall behind them.

“BOOM!!!”

“What was that?!” all of them wondered at the same time.

Upon closer inspection, the three people were able to gather, that the body which had flown through the door, was in fact Jerry. With an eminent hand mark thrusted deep in his stomach.

“What happened?! Why is there a hand mark on his stomach?! Did he get punched so hard that the fist pushed in his skin?” Confusion could be heard in the voice of the youngest one, as he tried figuring out what was happening.

“It seems like we will find out soon enough.”

Hearing what his superior had said, the younger member followed his eye direction, and saw that a man he had seen not much earlier was standing in the doorway. Looking at them with anger.

If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

XXX

-Retto’s point of view.

I found them.

After walking around the area and asking the natives for directions, I finally found the bar. If it would have taken longer, I might have just attacked every bar in sight until I stumbled upon them.

But, back to business.

“Who are you?!” one of the people asked. He wasn’t one of the people I had seen earlier, but him being here probably means he’s a part of the gang.

I walked up to the three members that were in the bar. They were all gathered around a big round table, with half empty alcohol glasses and playing cards scattered around everywhere.

“Are you apart of the same gang as that guy?” I asked as I pointed towards the one that I had launched into the wall. Since they were all gathered here, I could presume they were all in the same gang, but I wanted to make sure.

“What the hell man?! I’m the one asking questions here!”

All the people that were there suddenly put their hands into their pockets. From the back I could see that there was a small glint emerging as one of them drew his hand out. It was some kind of stabbing weapon, I at least knew that.

“You’ll pay for wha-“

Before the youngest looking one could finish, I took his head and smashed it into the wooden table they had their stuff at, breaking it apart in the process. The table broke down due to the force, and small splinters cut the face of the man.

“You’ll regret that!” the biggest member of the group said, as he came rushing forward, with a knife in his hand.

He tried stabbing me in the chest, but I just avoided it, and quickly delivered an uppercut to his jaw, before kicking him into the wall the previous one had flown into.

The sound was excruciatingly loud this time, as the man’s bigger frame dealt more damage to the interior.

“Heh, you’re pretty strong aren’t you?! I don’t know the reason you are doing this, but, let me offer you something.” The man said, not caring about his companions I had just beaten. “You could earn a huge amount of money if you decided to work with us. We would even give you most of it if you want. What do you say? Pretty good deal eh?”

It seems like this guy thinks he can sway me with the promise of money. But I couldn’t care less about finances.

“No.”

I rushed at him and threw a punch towards his face. Suddenly he ducked and avoided my blow, not before trying to cut me from down below. My reflexes were quick enough, and I jumped back before his blade could reach me.

He has good reflexes. I might need to get a little serious here.

“Come on? Think about it before you decline. We could earn so much money together. With my and your fighting prowess, there will be no one on the first floor that could stand in our way. This is the opportunity of a lifetime!” He smiled as he stretched out his hand slightly.

I didn’t react. There was no way I was going to work together with these cowards.

“Is there a reason why you’re attacking us? I don’t remember us doing anything to you.”

“I’m here to take back the money you took from the people of this town. And to beat your asses.” I said as I put up my hands.

I already wasted enough time with these people, I need to get the money back and then go towards that gate thingy or whatever.

“You’re here to take back the money? For those people? Why? What do you gain from doing something like that?”

“You wouldn’t understand. Now shut up and fight me. I have talked to you enough already.”

“Wait, I don’t understand. You don’t gain anything, yet you still go out of your way to help those people? Why are you doing something that pointless?”

“Because that’s what I want to do. There’s no other reason behind it. You made me want to beat your ass, and that’s what I’m here to do.”

“How disappointing…A fool that never thinks things through.” The smile shifted from his mouth after I said that. It seems like he has gotten displeased about something I said. “I see…Me and you would never have gotten along. I guess it was a waste of time to offer you a deal.”

Finally he understands.

Before he was even able to start his next sentence, I rushed in there once again, this time ready for a longer brawl. My hand tightened, as I threw the first punch, however he avoided it, and with a smile on his face, he tried stabbing me yet again.

My feet jumped sideways, as the knife missed my body. Since I had the opportunity, I launched another fist at him, this time aiming for the top of his head. However, like a snake, he weaseled his way out of my aim and cut towards my chest.

Before the knife could enter my flesh, I caught it with my bare hands and held it back.

“You have gone quite far for people you don’t even know. How does it feel to throw your life away for some idiots?”

“You are the idiots. Trying to crush and hold down nice people that are following their dreams. Robbing them, stealing their money. I won’t lose to someone that holds other’s down for their own gain.”

“You say that, but this fight is already over!”

The guy said that, as he put his full power into thrusting the knife into my chest. But soon he noticed, the knife wouldn’t even budge.

“Huh, what’s this!!” his eyes began to gain the tint of worry behind those glasses of his. “Why won’t it budge.”

“Don’t you ever dare touch the people of this town, ever again.” I let go of the knife with one of my hands, wind up the punch and got ready to use my power.

“What’s with that color?! Shit, I need to back off!”

It was already too late. Even as he let go of the knife and jumped backwards, he was still in the range of my attack.

“Fire Punch”

With that attack, the flames erupted from my arms, and engrossed the enemy in it. But the person wasn’t the only one that got swallowed up by the flames. The entire part of the building that was behind the guy also burnt up. After the attack was finished, a large portion of the building was missing.

I let go of the knife and stood up slowly. It fell to the floor, painted red in the blood which it had poured from my hands.

I looked around the area and saw that not only my enemies, but their entire building had been destroyed completely by my actions. Large cracks were visible everywhere. And the back part of the room was almost completely in shambles.

Their hideout was no more.

Hopefully, this takes care of them. Now, where did they hide the money? Shit, with luck it didn’t burn up due to my attack!

I proceeded to search through the rubble, looking for the money which they had stolen from the people of this village.

XXX

Early in the morning, Hilda, a hard working mother of one, had to wake up to open her store for her customers. Even if the number of customers had been in a decline recently, she couldn’t afford to slack off.

Today as well, she will do her best to attract as many customers as she can and cook to the best of her ability, all for the sake of her one and only daughter.

As she woke up and got ready, she left her bedroom and went out into the restaurant section of her house. It was empty, as it always was in the morning.

“What’s that? I don’t remember leaving a sack out in the open.”

However, this morning things were slightly different. For whatever reason, there was an inflated sack lying there in the middle of the room.

“Did somebody leave it here by accident…No, that can’t be. The last one that was here was that adventurer.”

Remembering what happened the day prior quickly soured her mood, and without the patience to worry about it any longer, she opened the sack, peering into its contents. Her eyes shot up in surprise, as sudden tears built up.

“T-this can’t be…How…”

Tears started flowing down as she looked at the contents of the sack that lie in front. Her mind simply couldn’t fathom the concept of what was taking place.

“W-who would do this? D-did he do this? But why?”

Quickly getting a hold of herself, she ran out the door of her house and looked around the area. However, there was no one there. Nothing but the soothing cool of a morning summer was on the outside.

The streets were empty. No people. No animals. Just pure silence.

“What is it Mom?”

Looking behind her, Hilda saw her daughter. Tired, yet rubbing her eyes to wake herself up quicker. She was neither worried nor scared. Just interested in what her mother was making a fuss about.

Running up and hugging her as tight as she could, the mother started weeping to her daughter.

“Mom?! What is it, what happened?”

Her Daughter, worried at the sight of her mother crying began to worry herself. She as well still remembered what had happened the day prior. And her worry was that that situation had come back to haunt them.

However, that couldn’t be further from the case, as her mother hugged her even tighter as she spoke.

“You don’t have to worry about anything. I’m happy! I’m just very happy!”

“You don’t sound very happy mom! What happened?!”

With tear filled eyes, her mother let go of her daughter and kissed her on the cheek, before smiling and answering her.

“A weight has been lifted from my shoulders. I am just happy that happened.”

“A weight? What are you talking about Mom? You don’t make any sense.”

“Yeah, it probably doesn’t make sense to you. But that doesn’t. I am too happy to care at the moment.”

With a smile, the mother wiped away her tears as she stood up and walked over to the sack filled with the belongings of everyone in the village.

“Sara, the shop will be closed for today. Help your mother return everyone’s belongings.”

Chapter 2 End