CHAPTER 93

HANS'S BUSINESS

  The old lady cooked the meat, with every seasoning and spice that she could find in her abode. As she contemplated preserving some for her family, sneaking a chunk so they could survive an urgent situation but feared it may draw the wrath of the visitors. She thought, carrying a powerful artefact and wearing intimidating robes, a Griffin with a sword, the insignia was enough to demand both fear and respect.

  Despite her desire to hide the leftovers, she ultimately decided against it, but in her heart, she wished that the visitors might forget taking the leftover however dismissed the notion as she knew the chances of that happening was quite nigh after all the beast meat was valuable enough to attract a noble.

  She shook her head, laughing at herself for thinking like this. Initially, she thought it was not a good idea to see their faces because someone might come to silence her family but after these people warmed her home with a magical artefact and sat quietly waiting for food to be cooked, she mustered some courage to take a sneak peek. She saw two young people, not much taller than her own children, covered with hoods, their chin and mouth barely showing.

  But suddenly she felt someone's gaze and lowered hers immediately. She kept looking down as she served the food, the old woman's children watched eagerly, their rumbling stomachs yearning for a taste. They hoped that there would be some remnants left after their guests had their fill. While Hans remained silent, Delimira graciously extended an invitation to the youngsters to partake in the feast. Overcome by their hunger, the children eagerly joined in, munching as much as food they could.

When Hans had his fill, he asked the old lady,

"This must be not all of it, what happened to the remaining amount - "

"Hey!" Delimira interjected, "they are in need of it - "

The old lady, in fear of Hans, responded quickly,

"I have packed it for you with some salt so it could be preserved for a while."

  Hans nodded, he would have not forgiven if they stole it, and knowing his intent behind the question, the old lady felt relieved that she held back her urge but she was quite sad, the remaining amount, if smoked, would have been enough to provide her family with a meal for a week.

Seeing her like that, Delimira said,

"There is no need, you can have it. - "

"Hey Deli", Hans interrupted, "Are you out of your mind?"

She ignored Hans and said to the old lady,

"Use it to feed your children, we can always find food on our own."

  Although it would have been wise to decline, the old woman felt compelled to accept the offer. Her children had been suffering from hunger for a while, and her husband, who worked in the coal mines, had been away for some time. Unable to bear their suffering any longer, she readily agreed to the proposal.

  Hans, on the other hand, was in a grumpy mood. It wasn't due to the loss of some food, but rather because he believed that if one cannot take responsibility for everything, one should not get involved in the first place. With the bedding arranged by the fireplace, Hans cautioned the family not to set foot in the room unless they wished to be devoured by the traps he placed and he was not joking, the floor was filled with Ensnare and SharpDeath.

  The family followed the warning and as the night passed, Hans deactivated the artefact so it could recharge itself. They did not know how much they had to travel to reach a place capable enough to contact Rudolf and they lacked the most basic thing, money. He wanted to leave early but there was a commotion in the morning that derailed their departure plans. Some unfamiliar faces have shown up in the village but to Hans's relief, they were not the same Parvians he had met before. He asked Deli to sneak out of the village and she agreed as further involvement might endanger them.

  They exited through the back door shown by the anxious little boy of the house, he seems to be asking for help through his eyes but Hans was not the one to show compassion. He did not want to get involved in someone else's mess. The duo opened the back door only to be faced with some burly men stopping them. Hans sighed and said as politely as he could,

"I just want to leave, please - "

  The burly man laughed aloud, cutting his words in the mid, and called the rest of his gang. his men dragged most of the villagers with them and soon all the people were looking at Hans and Delimira. Seeing the pitiful faces of the villagers, Delimira forget the harsh treatment these people have shown her yesterday and wanted to say something but Hans was different, he gestured to her to stay silent as he asked the burly man.

"What can I help you with?"

"We are raiders, you foolish child," the man said with a wicked smile, "You look like a noble, your parents could pay a hefty price, right?"

  A sudden idea hit Hans, a faster way to reach home. He thought, he could just go with the raiders and let them do the heavy lifting, contacting Rudolf and calling him here, but Delimira was the problem. She was a young elf who fetched a far greater price than the kidnapping ransom in the underground market. he sighed as he saw his idea flushing out in the wasteland and asked the raider chief who was speaking before,

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

"Are you not afraid of the nearby guard post?"

The raiders laughed aloud,

"Those suckers are too busy, warming their bodies with women."

An elder, unafraid, suddenly shouted at them,

"You will all go to hell, you bastards, you nabbed our women and sell them."

  Hans did not want to hear the details; it was not his responsibility and he wanted to avoid everything till their safety was guaranteed. He looked at Delimira, she was ready to attack these men. Hans had quite the feeling about how this was going to end so he said to her, "It's not our problem, Winters. We will leave without getting involved, period "

"But they are humans, don’t you feel wrong abandoning your people."

"Says the girl who hates her kind." mocked Hans.

  She could not refute it but if she left the family who provided them warmth and shelter, it would leave a bad taste in her mouth. The only way to get Hans involved in it was to make it personal. As she was hatching a plan, a raider shouted at the chatting duo, "We will be taking you two."

Hans shook his head in disaprovval,

"That would be problematic, just let us leave and I will forget about this," he said, drawing the last straw.

"Do you not fear me imp, I could kill you right now."

  Delimira put down her hood and removed the scarf that was hiding her beautiful face and pointy ears. Everyone was surprised to see the beautiful elven girl, she was not an adult right now but it was no surprise to see the growing beauty in her. Hans frantically turned to her and glared. So she responded to him,

"Now it's your business, Hans."

"Damn it, Winters," Hans whispered as if he was shouting and asked the old lady who was also surprised as the raiders were celebrating that they found a treasure trove, "Does the lord of these lands not know about this?"

The old lady answered politely but her contempt for the lord was clear in her words

"Who would care for the boonies?" she said, with a shivering voice

Hans annoyingly asked,

"Which bastard is the lord of these lands?"

"It is part of the County of Edenberg."

Delimira burst into laughter and Hans bowed his head in shame, thinking, "Shit, this is so embarrassing, it now really became my mess to get involved with". Rubbing his forehead he asked the laughing raider as he uncovered his hood.

"What sort of business you do?"

  The raiders’ laughter increased, they thought Hans was just a short man but even the baby fat on his cheeks did not vanish yet and he was talking to them as a man in charge. The old lady knew that he was a child with his voice but he was too young to put her hopes on. But suddenly the loudest raiders got impaled by something that popped out from the ground and everything became silent with his death.

Hans spoke again, this time with a grim voice that does not suit a child,

"I asked what business you do, Mr raider."

With a swoosh sound three more raiders got killed with seedBullets, penetrating their heads and Hans said again,

"Are my words still not clear to you? you should have let me pass, you bastards."

The summoned orca vines quickly coiled around the raider chief, he shouted “a mage, a mage” and tried to use aura but he was neither strong enough to break them nor resist the paralytic poison. however, he managed to instruct his gang, shouting,

"Run and bring back the guard from the post."

  The raider chief was dragged to Hans’s feet, but as his underling escaped. The chief said while laughing loudly, "Don’t think it is over,.. we were not the match for you but you will regret... not leaving with me, at least you would have returned to your home but now when the knights of guard post are involved... they will play with that elf over there to their heart's content... before selling her and..you, you will die too."

Ignoring everything, Hans just asked,

"Do you have a communication orb?"

"No."

"Then you outrun your usage, Mr Raider." Hans said pointing to his orca vines, "Any last words, not that I care."

  As the raider saw, the boy who was wet behind the ears had cold eyes which did not suit him, he mercilessly killed his comrades without flinching meant he was adept at killing and was confident on looking down on them. The raider chief knew that he wouldn't survive if he did not speak something sensible here and he said, stammering,

"If you s..spare mme.. I would te..tell you a secret path. The knights don’t know it yet."

  Hans looked in the direction where the raiders ran off and saw the escapes being dragged back by his orca vines. Some of them managed to escape but the rest of them got caught. The raider chief got shocked by seeing most of the members tied down by the creeper coming back to him like it was some ghostly occurrence. A scene of some haunted place and Hans's menacing voice was adding to those horrors as he heard the boy again.

"Now, I will ask you again, what business do you do in these lands?"

  The raiders did not speak, it was not that they were not willing but they were shocked at what happened to them in just moments however, Hans took that as denial and shot his most gruesome attack on one to set the example.

~ Mutilate ~

Swoosh… a seed with high velocity and roar penetrated the torso of a raider and then the sharp threads first severed his limbs, and as the raider's cries echoed throughout the whole village, the rest of the threads started shredding more of his body parts in small chunks, like a sadist wanting to hear more cries, spraying his victim's blood on rest of his comrades and instilling a permanent horror in other's mind.

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