Vendetta (3)
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For a few seconds, nobody moved, the impact of what Oliver had just done was clearly still weighing on them. It was a surprisingly bold show of hostility, one that wholly contrasted with Oliver’s usually laid-back demeanor, but given the intense aura silently radiating off him he clearly had no qualms about throwing down right here and now.
In the end, I suppose he was still just a human after all.
“So....you’re Oliver Rocco, what's a court mage from the capital doing all the way out here?”
Ulric slowly uttered those words, his face now silently contorting into a mix of both shame and anger.
“It just so happens that I have a score to settle with that monster, I’m just staying here until I can repay my debts to these people. Which is why I can’t allow you to just waltz in here and start acting like you own the place. I’ve heard a lot about your mercenary group, if you’ve come to render assistance, then I won’t stop you but you’d best tread carefully from now on.”
“Oh? Is that a threat”
Taking a step forward, Ulric tightened his armored fist with that sarcastic remark.
“You’re free to interpret it however you like but, just know that I’ll be keeping an eye on your party.”
Oliver’s words only served to irk Ulric’s already festering anger, he glared at the man towering over him with a simmering intensity.
“Owen, this isn’t what we agreed on! How are we supposed to do our job with this guy hawking over our every move?” He blurted those words out whilst maintaining his deadly gaze.
“Alright, that's enough.” Cutting through the tension, Owen extended a hand between the two men now staring each other down. “Ulric, I believe we’ll still need help from your party, there aren’t a lot of mages here in Zale, and the majority of them got wounded in our last mission so we really could use your help to cover the extra ground. We can discuss the details of all this later, but first, I suggest you release that civilian before things start flaring up again.”
*SNAP*
With another one of those hapless gestures, the beast that was standing sentinel in the town square like a detached guardian promptly released its grip on its captive. Now falling from the jaws of death, the man named Roy was aptly caught by a gathering of civilians who’d promptly rushed to his aid.
“U-Ulric are we really just going to let him get off scot free like that, I mean he just attacked us without warning!” Amaris’ small frame suddenly came rushing through the dispersing plume of vapor, Oliver’s attack hadn’t harmed any of them but there was some truth to her words.
Had Oliver been blood lusted or if his aim was off by so much as a few centimeters, then Ulric’s head would have been sent flying.
“Are we really just going to just let him go after something like that? He could have killed you just now!” The dainty young girl was now tugging on Ulric’s clothes with blatant rage in her eyes, the murky emotion now being projected onto her face had seemingly washed away the innate aura of purity she once resonated.
“I agree with her Ulric, we do have a reputation to defend you know, we can’t just have people like him making a fool of us like that.” Gavin, Ulric’s accomplice chimed in to aid Amaris’ cause, her two bodyguards had also drawn closer to Oliver, but they had yet to bolster the cause of their client. The tension in the atmosphere was all but assured to peak if this continued, however, Ulric simply raised is hand to dismiss their claims.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
“I know what you’re getting at, but this isn’t the time for it.” He spoke slowly, exhaling a deep breath after that short sentence as if to convince himself of his own train of thought right now.
“But-”
“That’s enough Amaris, we won’t get anywhere like this.”
It had been obvious for quite some time now, but that brief interaction was more than enough to confirm my suspicions. Ulric undoubtedly wielded unprecedented authority of those four. However, despite their heated discussion the target in question was now casually strolling past them without even sparing them so much as a glance.
“Tch - Mark my words, I’ll feed you to my pets one day.” Amaris uttered those word in a bitter tone, grimacing at the sight of the man who’d managed to invoke her ire in only a few short minutes.
“Heh~ We’ll just have to see about that.” Paying them no heed, he headed straight for Julia who was still kneeling by the now destroyed fountain. Following in his lead, I walked across the same path, earning myself a few hateful glares along the way.
“So that’s his son huh....”
Those bitter words rang out just within my earshot – for better or for worse, it appears I now had a target on my back.
Owen heaved a sigh; he didn’t seem to favor the current situation at all. Now in the midst of the fading tension, a loud voice rang out -
“All of you, listen up! That Basilisk is still hiding in the nearby forest, Lennon couldn’t finish it off last time, so it’s come back for the rune. Unfortunately, Lennon is dead, and we don’t know where the rune is, so if you know anything about the location of the rune tell us so we can get this over with, I’m sure you all don’t want to die, and I don’t intend to drag this out any longer either!”
After issuing that bold declaration, Ulric and his party promptly straddled the large monster now surveying the area. The peculiar group headed off in the direction of the stone bridge, but not before giving us one final hateful glance.
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THUD
That dull sound echoed as Vreena’s fist made contact with Oliver’s ribs.
“You idiot! What were you thinking firing off an attack like that!? You almost hit your wife!”
“Elder Vreena-I-I had it all under control, there’s no way I’d ever mess up something like that.”
“How exactly are you so sure about that? And even if you are a hundred percent certain, there’s still the off chance that-”
“Heh-heh-heh...”
The sound of Julia’s delightful huckles interrupted Vreena’s tantrum, plastering a look of confusion on the old woman’s face. “Vreena, I know what Oliver can do, I’m sure he wouldn’t ever mess up like that, right?”
“Of course, I couldn’t miss from that distance.”
The old woman gave him a suspicious stare before heaving a sigh.....
“Well, whatever, you two don’t really seem bothered by it to there's no point in me getting worked up.”
“Umm.....are we still going to the inn?”
“Ah! Liam....are you alright? All that stuff just now must have been really hard for you to watch.....” After finally calming down, Julia immediately defaulted to her parental role.
“I’m fine mom, you don’t have to worry, I just feel a little sleepy that's all.” The three adults exchanged glances after hearing that response, I knew full well that a normal child should have been recoiling in fear at the scene that had just unfolded here but mustering up my energy for something so trivial seemed deceitful and felt like a waste of time.
“I suppose we do need to take a breather after all that, alright I know just the place~”
Coincidentally, I knew exactly where she was referring to.