The guards arrive at the scene and witness the building crumble along with the flames.

“What the hell happened here?” asks one of the guards shocked at the sight.

Of course, no one actually witnessed what had happened since anything that involved Raizer and his underlings was despaired upon. The guards instinctively knew that something bad had happened and rushed to inform the Lord of Waham.

****

Back at Naomi’s inn. Five minutes ago.

Two men entered Naomi’s inn with horrified expressions on their faces. They were Naomi’s men who she had sent to watch over Allen.

“Oh, you guys are back.” Said Jasper as he smiled at the two.

But they couldn’t reciprocate his enthusiasm. Their faces were drowned in sweat as they looked down, spaced out because of the horrible massacre they had just witnessed. Despair was written all over the two’s faces as they walked inside, ignoring Jasper and taking a sit.

Silence drifted in the room as everyone looked at the two. Naomi popped out behind the counter and walked towards the pair.

“What’s wrong? What happened?”

The two still didn’t respond.

A vein popped in Jasper’s forehead as he slammed his fist on the table, startling the two.

“Sis asked you a question. Speak-“, Naomi halted Jasper’s words and took a sit.

She looked at the two who were still shocked.

“Tell me what happened?”

“H-he killed him. H-he killed everyone. B-blood everywhere.” Those were the only words one of the men could muster.

There was silence. Cold sweat rolled down everyone who was in the room. After 20 seconds of silence, the other man spoke.

“Raizer. H-he was brutally killed. He had all his bones crushed and then he was torched to death. It was brutal.”

A look of disbelief rose from Jasper’s face. He looked at Naomi who had a look of sorrow in her eyes. Their reactions were understandable considering that Raizer was once their brother (not blood related). But that was a long time ago.

“He’s going to kill us. H-he saw us. What should we do? What should we do?” asked one of the men as he held Naomi’s hand tightly from fear.

Jasper grabbed the man’s hand and pulled it off Naomi’s.

“Pull yourselves together. Stop shaking like worms.” Shouted Jasper at both.

“You two. Sit at the corner. I’ll take care of this.” Said Naomi as she lighted her smoking pipe, taking a long hard puff.

****

I arrive beside the inn. I could’ve just teleported inside, but I don’t want to startle anyone. I enter the inn and the moment I do; everybody looks at me like they are looking at a monster.

Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

I go to the counter where Naomi is behind it with her smoking pipe on her mouth as smoke slightly rises from it.

“So, you killed Raizer, huh?” Naomi asks me with her calm and carefree expression.

“Yes. But why ask me when you had people tail me?” I say as I stare at the pair at the corner of the room.

She smiles slightly.

“Of course, you knew. Can I ask you to spare them?”

“Of course, I can. Since I also need you to do something for me.”

“I see.” She says as she pauses. She continues and asks, “Did he suffer? When you killed him?”

I see. So, it’s like that.

“He begged for mercy but I wouldn’t give it to him. After breaking his bones, I burned him alive. So yes, he suffered.”

The pair at the corner are startled by my words. She takes a puff from her pipe and blows out the smoke slowly as if she is releasing the pain in her heart. All the people in the bar who were standing up sit down in silence as if they are giving a memorial to someone they once cared for.

“I see. So, what is it you want me to do? If I were to guess, it probably has something to do with the slaves, right?”

I smile gently before answering.

“Yes. I teleported some of the slaves to a nearby forest from here. I want to hire you to take them somewhere they’ll be safe.”

She takes another puff from her pipe and blows out the smoke again. She then takes out a wooden jug of rum and pours herself a mug. She gently places her smoking pipe on the counter and takes a giant gulp of the rum. The rum drips from the corners of her mouth. She slams the empty mug of rum onto the counter as she wipes the spilled rum on her mouth.

“Sorry kid, but no can do. I already told you about Raizer and who he was. If you hadn’t left abruptly this morning, you would’ve understood why getting involved with him was suicide.”

I take out three bags full of gold coins out of my storage space.

“Will this be enough?”

Naomi keeps her composure and responds.

“Even that much money won’t make me agree in helping you. If they find out that I helped in anyway, they will probably destroy everything I’ve built here. Even having you stay in my inn is already too much. Sorry, wonder boy.”

She managed to keep her composure even after showing her this much money. She really is a professional. Is that Dread guy really that scary to make her reject this much money? I guess I’ll have to play another card then.

I take out an additional high-grade level 3 healing potion from my storage space.

“How about this?”

This is a high-grade level 3 healing potion. After a ton of trial and error, Stacy was finally successful at creating this using the techniques from the Draconic book and the techniques I created. Right now, this potion transcends what the typical high-grade level 3 potion can do.

A potion? Is he trying to buy me using potions now? Hmm, come to think of it, doesn’t that look like a high-grade potion?

Naomi takes the potion and observes it.

I’m not a potion appraiser so I can’t tell which level it is but it looks good enough, I guess. High-grade potions are hard to get. The reason is because they take a long time to craft so they are rare. The other reason is the difficulty in finding the materials needed to have them crafted.

Because of these two reasons, high-grade potions are super expensive, and people usually buy them for tens of thousands of gold coins. But even a high-grade potion can’t change my mind.

She puts back the potion on the counter.

Hmm, it seems she’s not convinced. How about these then.

I take out three more potions. A rejuvenation potion, a mana potion and a booster potion. All of which are high-grade level 3.

This time, she can’t hide her shock.

“Is the answer still, no?” I ask.

Hmm, I can’t tell what the other two potions are but the one radiating in blue must be a mana potion. It seems to be high-grade too. All of them seem to be high-grade. How can this kid pull out four high-grade potions like it’s nothing? Just who is he?

I should probably take the deal. I’ll then hire a potion appraiser to appraise them later. With the rarity of high-grade potions, it would be a stupid move on my part to let them pass under my nose.

“Sigh, deal. I know some people who can take them somewhere safe.”

I’ll have to contact the Freedom Fighters for this job. After all, it’s kinda their job to fight and free the slaves. So, this is basically a free lunch.

“Thanks. I’ll be leaving for now.”

“Hey, wonder boy. Why do you trust me? What would you do if I just take the money and the potions and run, leaving the slaves to fend for themselves?”

“Don’t get me mistaken cause I don’t trust you. I just trust that you’re not so stupid as to cross me, that’s all. Oh, and even if you do run away, I’ll still find you.” I say to her as I gawk at her with my lifeless cold eyes.

I knew it. This kid… is dangerous.

I teleport out of the inn.