Alex and Frank were close. Frank and Tim were close, but Tim and Alex were not close. They were friends, but not close friends.

Frank looked at his friends. Alex was dressed in fine leather armor. Underneath he wore a shirt of chain mail and on his head a simple, round helmet of medium quality steel.

Tim wasn't over-armored, as one would expect of an archer, just leather armor covering his chest. On his head he wore a hunter/archer cap.

Frank wore armor like his friend Alex, but his helmet covered a little more area. It also partially protected his nape and ears.

Frank took a deep breath. He felt the clink of gold in his pouch. He hadn't had a single gold piece before he left the village.

On their way, the three friends came across a village. They greeted the villagers posted on guard by the wooden walls and entered through the gate.

In the village they came to, Alex pointed to the inn and said, "I think we should celebrate our victory. Let's drink." Tim said, "We didn't win any victory, the boss went off on his own and won, but I agree with the celebration part, I can't remember the last time I was drunk."

When they entered the inn, a few villagers were calmly sipping their beer. Tim sat down at a table and said, "Bring us three beers and whatever you have for food." The innkeeper smiled and brought three wooden bowls of stew and three beers.

The innkeeper said, "You young warriors, not to interfere, but there is a bandit problem around here, have you heard anything about it?"

Frank shook his head "No, innkeeper, we are just three mercenaries passing through. We haven't met any bandits yet, but I don't think we will. Bandits usually attack easy targets."

"Mercenaries?" one person in the bar was surprised. This area was a long way from the battlefields and it was rare, if not unheard of, to see mercenaries here.

Surprised, the pot-bellied man sat down next to the three friends. "Guys, I have a job, if you think about it." Alex said, "We're already on the job, we can't be late." "It won't take you long, see that field over there?" Tim nodded.

"I've been given the right to work that field, but the former owner of the land is refusing to come out.

I've sent word to Danburg, but with the bandit problem now, it's going to be months before they can send someone in and have them thrown out. Maybe even a year. In short, I don't want to wait.

Alex turned to the innkeeper "Is he telling the truth." The innkeeper reluctantly said "Yes". At this point a drunken peasant stood up "This bastard, this bastard buys other peasants' lands right of running by paying the government more rent.

Then he kicks them off the land and runs it with his slaves. Don't help this bastard."

"To do such a cruel thing, you have to give us enough money to ease our conscience," Frank said and grinned.

The pot-bellied man poured a hundred and fifty silvers on the table "It will take you maybe an hour, fifty silvers each. It's an incredibly profitable business."

Frank said to Alex, "The farmers must be dangerous if this guy wants to size the land using us istead of his slaves."

Alex asked, "How dangerous can it be?" Tim said, "Fifty silver, plus payment of the inn's bill."

The potbellied man scratched his belly and said, "Deal."

The trio filled their pouches with silver and walked to the target location.

They knocked on the door of a large wooden rectangular house. A middle-aged man with a beard opened the door.

He looked strong. Alex guessed that this man was the reason they were being hired. Tim smiled, "Good afternoon, may we come in?"

The man asked, "Who are you and what do you want?"

So the trio pushed the door open and went in. Inside a family was having dinner. A slightly overweight mother. Two small children. And a young woman. A beautiful woman.

Alex said to the woman he guessed was the mother, "Take the children and take them somewhere where they can't hear what's about to happen." He said.

The woman looked at her husband when he nodded, she took the crying children by the hand and went into the other room.

The young woman stood up to join her mother. Tim grinned and said, "You stop, beautiful."

"Get away from my daughter," the bearded man attacked. But Frank, with his increased strength from being a first grader and his muscles developed from months of training and eating a high-protein diet, landed a powerful punch in the man's stomach.

The man was out of breath but continued his attack. Frank easily parried the man's punches and landed a succession of powerful blows.

The man fell to the ground. Meanwhile, Tim was already groping the young woman, fondling her breasts. "I beg you to stop, I'm going to get married, I'm going to..." the young woman couldn't get the words out and started to cry in shock and fear.

At this moment another young woman entered. She was holding a tray. Shocked by what she saw, she dropped the tray.

"Ofelya, run!" moaned the man who was doubled over on the floor with blood oozing from his mouth. Alex was looking at Ofelya in astonishment. Ofelya was looking at Alex, bewildered. "Cousin Alex," Ofelya said. Alex asked, "Ofelya, what are you doing here?"

Tim had stopped molesting her. Frank was looking at Ofelya, who had just walked in, instead of his advisery lying on the floor. Alex was surprised.

Ofelya started to explane"My father got sick last year and my mother married another man. But my stepfather molested me." Tim said, "Wow, what a bastard!" as if he hadn't just been about to rape a woman himself.

Ofelya continued "So I ran away from the village. I wanted to go to you Alex, but I lost my way. I was hungry, I had some very frightening experiences, but these good people opened their doors to me without expecting anything in return." Alex turned to his friends "Guys, I don't know if I need to tell you."

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Frank said to the man he had just beaten, "I'm sorry sir, nothing personal." Tim smiled sheepishly at the woman he had just groped and said, "I wish you happiness in your marriage."

Alex said, "Guys, I don't intend to give the money back, what is that fatty going to do with us? Complain to the law?" The bandits laughed.

Alex turned to Ofelya "I'm sorry about all this Ofelya. Is there anything I can do to help?"

Ofelya said "What happened to you Alex, you were always a hadfull but your heart was in the right place, what happened to you."

Alex "A lot of sad things, just know that I'm glad you didn't reach our village, because you wouldn't have found our people there. As for what happened to me Ofelya there are only lambs and wolves in the world. I chose to be a wolf and not a lamb."

Alex came to the man lying on the ground, he had recovered a little and moved from the fetal position to a sitting position. Alex said, "Sir, I appreciate the favor you did for my cousin. Your kindness cannot be repaid, but he reached into his pouch, took out one hundred and fifty silver pieces and placed them next to the man.

Ofelya "That horrible man will send others, Alex, can't you take care of him?"

"If you stay silent, we'll wait until nightfall, when we'll go in and kill everyone in his house, leaving no witnesses," Alex said.

Frank looked at his friends "I'm fine with that." Tim said "I have one condition, first we torture them and take all their money, then when we're done we set fire to the house to destroy the evidence."

"Please just leave, I don't want your bloody ways in my house or village." The bearded man showed Alex the silver on the floor and said "I didn't do any good deed for your blood money, take your money."

Alex took the money from the floor and put it back in his pouch without protest. Ofelya turned to the bearded man and said, "At least they should have scared him."

The bearded man said, "I hate that man, but the idea of his family suffering same thing what happened to us this night is not a thing I can condone.

These men should get out of the village." The bearded man stood up and said, "It doesn't matter what you've been through, you don't have the right to ruin other people's lives because you've been through bad things in life."

Alex turned and walked out. Frank and Tim followed him. Alex was angry. Frank smiled and said, "You held yourself well." Alex said, "Look what he said to us, if it wasn't for Ofelya I'd know what to do to him, but anyway, it's not our problem anymore. We'll get drunk in the next village and we won't get any work in that village.

In the next village they drank like crazy in an inn. They woke up around noon and two hours later they were in front of Frank's village.

At the gate Frank greeted the person standing guard in the wooden tower on the wooden wall. The woman recognized Frank.

"Frank, I can't believe it, you're alive, we thought you were dead, we even held your funeral, anyway welcome, your mother will be very happy."

When Frank entered the inn, his mother Francisca, a smiling, slightly plump woman with black hair, hugged him with all her might. "My son, my son, where have you been, we thought you were dead."

Then she looked at her son and the people with him."

"Frank, did you become a soldier?" she asked. Frank smiled, "Something like that, mom, a mercenary." Frank wasn't about to tell his mother he was a bandit.

Frank smiled proudly and handed his mother a velvet pouch. "This is yours, Mommy." Francisca couldn't believe her eyes when she opened it. "This is the ring, but how?"

Frank smiled and said, "Never mind how, mom, just know that the bitch who beat you is now paying dearly for it." Francisca looked at her son in horror

"You're talking about a noblewoman, a relative of the Baroness, son, what have you gotten yourself into?" Frank hugged his mother "Don't be afraid mom, no one will know what happened to her, they will think he died fighting bandits."

Francisca shivered but was interrupted by a short, bald, stocky and smiling innkeeper "Frank I can't believe it, you're back, you missed your sister's wedding." The innkeeper was a good man, he had always treated Frank's mother properly in the many years she had worked for him.

Frank said, "We won't stay long, Uncle Bob." Bob smiled and said, "I don't know how long you'll be staying, but I think you won't mind if I buy you a beer."

Alex smiled and said, "Absolutely not." Francisca was looking worriedly at her son. She held the ring in the palm of her hand, she couldn't show it to anyone. She didn't want anyone to ask how she got the ring back, in fact she didn't want to know. All he wanted was for his son to be safe.

"Sheep herding is still a very good job Frank, you can give it up, eh son?" Frank looked at his mother "Mom I understand your concern, but your son is now a tier one warrior." Frank then threw his pouch in front of his mother. For the first time in her life, Francisca saw so much money in one place.

"There are more than five hundred pieces of silver," she said in disbelief. Frank looked into his mother's eyes. "Mom, I don't want to spend my life as a poor shepherd who can't even protect his mother."

Francisca cooked her best meal for her son and his friends. Bob picked up his lute and played them some fun songs and they all ate and drank and had fun.

The next day Frank woke up again around noon, his mother was already up and had finished cleaning the inn for the day and had lunch ready. Frank and his friends yawned and went down to the ground floor of the two-story inn where the dining room was located.

Just then Bob came running in. "Frank, you and your friends grab your arms!" he shouted.

Frank and his friends grabbed their weapons and rushed out, while Francisca looked on worriedly.

A warrior was beating the blacksmith. He looked very dangerous, wearing long chain mail, a helmet with a medium-hard steel and nosepiece also a double sword. Next to him was a sorceress in a short dress, a stark contrast to the conservatively dressed peasants, holding a staff with a red crystal.

The last one was an archer woman in tight leather armor sitting on top of them, bow and arrow at the ready, looking as if she would shoot them down if the slightest sound came out of their mouths.

Alex stepped forward and said, "Hey, stop." These were adventurers. The warrior was surprised to see well-armed and armored enemies in front of him. "I have no problem with you, this idiot called me a liar."

Frank said, "OK, you've taken your revenge, you're an adventurer, since when do adventurers beat up peasants like bandits?"

At this the warrior grinned, "This asshole owes me two gold pieces, pay me and he can go." "I don't owe him anything," groaned the blacksmith, only to be kicked in the stomach again.

Tim, Frank and Alex looked at each other and grinned. Frank asked "First question, are you all first tier?" The adventurers looked at each other.

Frank said, "We are tier one too, and as the strongest warrior in this village I find what you are doing extremely disturbing. I challenge you to a fight outside the village, after all we don't want to damage the property of innocent people in the village."

The warrior was very angry at the challenge. "We're here to hunt down a tier two werewolf and use its core to move up a tier. We can't deal with peasant trash like you." "You asked for it," Frank replied with a laugh.

Each of the team had naturally chosen the adventurer they were going to take on. Alex would target the warrior, Tim the mage and Frank would use his shield to take out the archer.

Alex launched himself forward with a great wind thrust. His axes struck the chain mail of the warrior who was trying to take advantage of the distance by stepping backwards while trying to draw his swords, the warrior dodged most of the energy of the blows but still had two small cuts in his armor and blood oozed from them.

As soon as the archer saw Frank coming at her, she ran away, firing arrow after arrow and jumping backwards.

His strength was the wind. Frank moved forward, easily deflecting the arrows with his shield. He did not show his power intentionally. He was waiting for his opponent to make a mistake.

Sorceress was trying to cast a spell. Casting spells was usually not something she could do very quickly. Every time she put energy into her staff, Tim fired an arrow, which the wizard met with her shield of blue energy.

Tim was using no power at all, he guessed that the sorceress would run out of power long before he ran out of arrows, with spells that were incomplete so that their energy was wasted, and shields she had built to stop Tim's very powerful arrows.

The warrior's situation was dire, his opponent was like a storm, always staying at very close range where the axe was more advantageous, not allowing him to use his swords effectively.

The distance was too close to inflict deep wounds, but there were many cuts in the chain armor and blood oozed from all of them.

Frank caught the archer exactly where he wanted him. The archer easily leaped onto the roof of a house, using the power of the wind.

Frank took cover with his shield and came to the foot of the wooden house. He touched his hand to the wall of the house.

Then he took a few steps back and threw his spear. Protecting himself with his shield, he ran and jumped on the spear, throwing himself on the roof of the house with the yawning spear.

He made an easy landing. When he reached the roof the archer wanted to jump again but realized that her feet were blocked by the wooden roof of the house.

At that moment Frank pulled a long thin rectangular piece of wood from the wooden roof and with the force of his hand it started to nest and became a pointed wooden spear. The archer could not escape, she only had a dagger for close combat, she started to shoot all her arrows at Frank with all her strength, but every time they hit the wooden shield, they were transformed by Frank's power and added to the shield's structure.Instead of weakening the shield, they strengthened it.

"Please..." the adventuress looked at Frank with pleading eyes, and before she could finish, Frank grinned and thrust his spear through the adventurer's eye and into her brain.

The struggle between Tim and the sorceress didn't last long. the sorceress had drained the her energy, just as the Tim had predicted. She looked at Tim with pleading eyes "Please please, I just..." she couldn't finish. Tim had shot her in the mouth. She collapsed, drowning in her own blood.

More or less at the same time Tim and Frank defeated their enemies. With great joy, they felt that after this struggle they were getting closer to the second tier.

They called out to Alex, "What's going on, man? What took you so long?" Alex used the power of the wind to blow his enemies helmeted head through the air.

The villagers looked in horror at the dead adventurers. Three adventurers had been killed before their eyes.

The blacksmith with an anxious expression "Don't get me wrong, I appreciate what you did, you saved me from those bullies, but..." Frank said, "Forget about what happened here no body going to ask you people anithing about the adventurers. But if they do, you can say they went after a powerful werewolf, and if they haven't returned, maybe something happened to them there."

The team looted the dead adventurers' belongings with great routineness.

Rested, amused and, more importantly, strengthened, they set off on their return journey.