As the white horse galloped through the polluted path, soldiers armed with crossbows and chest plates exited their tents, which were located at the end of the path. The old man whipped the horse with his rein and took out the revolver from his leather holster. The revolver was already reloaded; all six chambers had bluish-white lights radiating from the holes. He held up his arm while some sweat slid down his forehead. The charging horse kept both men shifting up and down on his back, yet the right eye of the cowboy and the front sight of the gun were always in the same line, pointing at the targets.
"Hey, don't kill them. They are just following orders," Akki whispered before the trigger was pulled.
"Can't you already tell most of our moral principles actually align?" the sentence went out with the bursting shots. Four bluish-white glowing granules perforated through the warm air, splitting those crossbows into at least eight chunks of wood. Having all the soldiers standing aside, the ferocious horse ran past the tents, aiming straight toward town Bagen.
The distance between the infected area and the town wasn't long. All the bowsmen at the town gate had undoubtedly heard the four rackets and readied their weapons. However, not a bird was seen on the dirt road, regardless of how much time had passed.
On the other side of the town, the Bohito had climbed up the two-meter fences surrounding the town. Right under him was Roal, stooping to tie his horse to the oak picket. "Need a hand?" Akki held out a hand and got waved away.
The chubby cowboy stood on the stirrup with one foot and propped his hands on the saddle. With a relatively significant leap, he got his upper arms stuck in the socket between two pickets and the top rail. Kicking the fence and holding his breath til flushing, Roal got himself over the fence and fell into the mud of a random alley. Directly after him, Akki deftly landed with only the soles of his sandals touching the ground.
"I don't see the point of this," Akki commented and crept before the entrance of the alley, watching Roal getting back on his feet in the mud.
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"It's just a slip. I'd pull it off any other time."
Akki gestured for Roal to stay back by extending his hand backward as he stuck his head out of the alley. The moment his head went out of the alley, a shout was made, "There he is!"
"Oh! Shit!" Akki uttered with a low volume and rushed out of the alley, "You go take the books. I will deal with them." Dashing toward the two town guards who spotted him, Akki stopped right in front of them, touching the tip of their halberd with the end of his katana. These guards were wearing heavy chest plates with solid helmets. Akki would be forced to go for limbs if he wanted to hurt them. Fortunately, his goal was not to take them down. He was just there to attract attention. They carefully poked their halberds at Akki a few times and missed as Akki redirected the halberds off their track and hopped backward.
While Akki was dealing with the violence part, plumpy Ranith did his best running to the inn. His sweat mixed with dirt as he left the mark of mud on the rock-paved ground and every object he bumped into, occasionally needing to stop and catch a breath. Ultimately, he got to the inn and smashed open its door. Inside the inn, there wasn't a single man except the nobleman sitting where Akki used to sit and sipping his tea. Not giving him a tiny bit of heed, Roal slowly dashed in exhaustion to the counter, not finding the innkeeper even by peeking over the counter.
Finally, the nobleman spoke up, "You won't find the innkeeper here." Roal instantly turned to the man and inspected him head to toe. The man was wearing a long green skirt and a green doublet with sleeves and the waist part white. His golden buttons gleamed the light of candles, and his leather shoes shined five times better than Roal's.
"He is held in the stable by me," the nobleman took another sip.
"Who are you?"
"The town accountant, Kyle. I suppose you are with that Bohito?" A group of guards with full plate armor and spears came in as he spoke. The innkeeper, with his hands tied at his back, was also dragged in by one of the guards.
"This is bad," Roal said to himself, raising his hands above his head. There were still two shots in his revolver left, but he had no intention of using them.
"It is bad. You know what is worse? I let the innkeeper burn those account books in the name of that Bohito," Kyle added as a smile of conceit appeared. It was at this moment when the pain in both Roal's heart and knees caught him. He stared at the floor with the taste of helplessness on his tongue. His numb knees dropped to the floor and made a big cracking sound. It was the sound of his hope, on both himself and Akki, shattering. At this moment, he could still kill the accountant with ease. He could even use those two shots to try to escape. Even holding the accountant hostage was a possible option. Regardless, Roal kneeled. Roal Ranith had no mentality to hold himself against despair. If he were much younger, he would've done the craziest thing to get out of this situation. Decades of straying away from home and surviving in a savage world had taught him the lesson well. Roal had learned to give up.