The Duke said with a smile, "You are underestimating human greed. If they stay, they can get two additional gold coins for misleading people. Those two gold coins are enough for them to betray their families, let alone deceive some people. They will take the risk of offending a few nobles that seek the revitalizing grass if they have this reward."
He continued, "As for why I offered them the gold coin in advance, there are two reasons for it.
First, they will need to organize a fake auction to make it believable. As penniless mercenaries, they would have asked for money to rent a location for the revitalizing grass's fake-auction, anyway.
Second, as they would deceive nobles and possibly develop enmity with them. The gold coin acts as proof that their actions are worth the risk. It will also show our goodwill and gives them a reason to believe in the big reward after the mission…"
After a temporary silence, Duke White smiled, "Plus, it is hard to say they will make it out alive, once everyone finds out their auction is fake. Many groups of people with questionable backgrounds are interested in this item, as it could forge a connection with the royals… It is not just a few nobles that would come for this item…."
***
The next day, before the sun rose early in the morning, the group got up. They packed their tents and had breakfast, and they started their journey towards their destination. They rode their mounts at top speed. It took them a few hours, and they finally arrived close to their destination.
On the contrary to expectation, after a lengthy journey, the group was not downcast or low on energy. They were full of vigour and happily breathing the air. They were actually feeling better than before. This was because of the miraculous vitalizing effect of the Sacred Mountain.
The young mercenary said with sparkling eyes, "It would be great to build a house here, everyday breathing this fresh energizing air. The energy would make me so strong perhaps I could even enter the 5th level in the next 20 years…. Ahhhhh, that would be amazing," and he started his daydreaming.
The generic-looking guy next to him took out a hard bread and broke a piece. He aimed and threw it at the young mercenary, waking him up from daydreaming. He said, "Stop the dreaming kid, the kingdom forbids infrastructure close to the mountain and do not forget the beasts that roam and live in the mountains… Living here would be a nightmare, not knowing when they will attack."
"Ah," said the young mercenary as he woke up from his daydreaming. He then tried to change the topic and replied with an embarrassed face, "I will keep a lookout, to make sure we are not ambushed by the beasts," said the young mercenary.
Marcus laughed, "Do not worry, the beasts rarely come down from the mountain. Even if they come down, we have quick mounts, we could easily leave their territory. They dislike chasing people too far away from their territories."
As the group talked, they slowly got closer to the mountain. Suddenly the scenery changed and was vastly different.
At the centre far away was the giant green mountain like before, but suddenly many small mountains were surrounding it.
They were not visible before because of the reflection of light from the green hue. However, what was unique about their appearance was that they did not fade into existence but suddenly materialized.
The young mercenary had his eyes wide open and his mouth making an "o" shape in surprise. Seeing the mountains just pop up, he was in a daze until Marcus explained to him the phenomena. These mountains were not visible before, because of the green hue. They became visible once one gets in the mountain's range.
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
The appearance and disappearance of the mountains are somewhat of a mystery. This is because of the boundary if one takes a step forward, they can see the mountain, one step back makes them disappear in the green hue.
As they went forward, they noticed many uniquely shaped, small mountains.
In the northwest direction they saw a small mountain about 1 km tall and what made it unique was, it had many sharp protrusions. Making it look like a porcupine.
Duke White look at the small mountain and signalled everyone to follow him there.
They reached the base of the porcupine mountain, and everyone got off their mounts and rested.
Duke White called Marcus and his group. Once everyone arrived, he said: "The location of the revitalizing grass is in this mountain. Although it is much safer than the sacred mountain, we still need to be careful. Each mountain has its guardian beasts. Your group deals with them."
Marcus and his group nodded, "We will take the lead from here," said Marcus and organized themselves in a triangle formation and headed to the mountain. Behind them at about 300-meter distance were Duke White and Hunter.
Duke White looked at Hunter and said: "Hunter keep an eye out. I do not think things will be so simple, revitalizing grass is a high-rank herb, it usually has a high tier beast guarding it."
Hunter stretched his body while walking and said: "I did not have any fun for a long time, I am hoping for a higher tier beast."
Duke White sighed, shaking his head and muttered in an inaudible voice, "once a battle maniac always a battle maniac, I guess nothing can change him."
After about 10 minutes, they could hear the sounds of fighting, Duke White and Hunter avoided the area of battle and moved around it. They wanted to secure the grass before worrying about anything else.
After circumventing the fighting area, Duke White and Hunter climbed higher, to the possible location of the revitalizing grass.
There they discovered a cave. Seeing the cave, they smiled at each other in anticipation.
They knew that this was likely the location of the revitalizing grass.
Hiding their presence, they slowly moved towards it.
The cave had a small entrance, they had to bow a little to enter.
Duke White and Hunter were on their guard, but contrary to their expectation, there was no danger.
They soon arrived at a more spacious area. This area had natural lighting, which entered through a slit in the cave's roof.
Duke White and Hunter took a while until their eyes adjusted to the brightness of the area. As they travel through the coppery dark cave, the sudden illumination was surprising and made them temporarily blind.
Although the whole cave was lit under the light, the light concentration was gathered around the central area. What the light illuminated was a small patch of greenery that had a glowing grass. This grass radiated light, and it amplified the concentration of light around it to further brighten the area.
Once their eyes adapted to the light, they found out that at the centre of the cave under the concentration of light was a grass that had transparent leaves. And under the grass was a small cradle.
They were happily looking at the grass and neglected the small cradle. Hunter and Duke White excitedly moved closer to inspect the revitalizing-grass. However, they were pushed back, and a thin transparent light screen was formed in front of them. This was an invisible barrier that protected the grass.
Hunter and Duke White believed that the plant created the barrier as a protective mechanism, and they started to think of a way to break it apart and get to the plant.
Hunter was the first to make a move.
Hunter closed his eyes and opened them again. The malleable look was gone, and a deadly aura came from him, and his eyes exuded a chilling coldness.
He took a fighting stance and pulled his palm back. In this stance, he gathered energy at the centre of his palm.
A cold, dangerous aura was felt as he pushed his palm at an unbelievably fast speed. His palm connected to the barrier, the barrier trembled with minor vibrations.
Boom
Boom
Boom
Boom
The collision echoed in the cave, but the barrier remained.
After the barrier was hit the first time it trembled, and patterns were formed on its surface. These patterns resemble a turtle shell. Seeing the turtle shell-like design on the barrier's surface, Duke White and Hunter realized that this is the barrier's authentic form. It would be a lot harder to break this barrier than they initially thought.
Hunter made a fist, and his skin transformed as it grew scales. He closed his eyes, concentrating his energy in his fist. He was ready to punch the barrier with a greater force this time.
Boom
After the fist made contact with the barrier this time, the power dissipated as if it was fully absorbed. This made Duke White and Hunter a bit downcasted. They wanted to get the revitalizing grass quickly and leave. However, the barrier would not allow that to happen.
Duke White also joined Hunter in attacking the barrier, but to no avail.
Time passed, and they heard a noise coming from behind them. This startled them.