“It’s them. We killed two of their knights,” Hassan revealed.

Roy took a few seconds to process the words that were just spoken to him, “Wait, two of their knights? How many were there?”

“Five,” Hassan responded. “They were a squad of five.”

“Wait, wait, I don’t understand,” Robb cut in. “Why did you guys fight? We can’t be making problems today.”

“They wanted to imprison us for treason,” Jack explained. “It was my decision to fight them. If we ran away, they would have followed us here and it would have been an even bigger problem.”

“Wait, forget about that. What’s done is done,” Roy took control of the conversation. “So three of them escaped, right? What about the two dead bodies, are they still in front of the smithy?”

Hassan nodded, “We put them to the side, but yeah, they’re still there.”

Roy thought for a second before asking, “What about the spikes, are they still there?”

“Yeah, they are still there.” This time, it was Lorenz that responded. “I still haven’t finished the last one, so we left them there since we’re gonna go back.”

“No, there is a change of plans now. You won’t be finishing that last one,” Roy shook his head. “We’re gonna go to the smithy and take out everything that can be carried. The whole marketplace is gonna be off-limits; we can’t be dealing with John’s bullshit while we have a red bear to kill.”

Lorenz bit his lips before nodding, “Okay, I understand…”

With the situation degenerating to such a degree, Roy bit his lips and muttered under his breath, “Shit, I need to talk to Marth about this.”

Seeing Roy stressed and Jack’s group not knowing what to say, Robb cut through the silence, “What about Alfonse’s group?”

“I think they should be at Jeff’s place,” Hassan scratched his head.

Robb scratched his chin, “We need to go and tell him about what’s going on, we can then think up a plan.”

Roy took a deep breath before looking at Robb, “Can you go to Alfonse and tell him to split his group? I need one half to keep an eye on Jeff’s and another to protect Roger’s.”

“Sure, sounds like a plan,” Robb responded. He then turned and looked down at Jaimie, “Wanna go with me?”

The young boy was confused for a second before nodding, “Ehm, sure.”

As the two walked away in the direction of the old tailor’s house, Roy gestured to Jack and his group with his head, “Let’s go to the smithy, we need to clear out that mess.”

“Yeah, let’s go,” Jack nodded with clenched fists.

As the group walked toward the marketplace, everyone was silent. Their heads looked down, and their faces painted hollow expressions. Only Hassan seemed to maintain some composure.

Well, he is a knight after all. He must have killed many in the war.

As an attempt to break the ice, Roy looked at Jack and asked, “Tell me the details, what happened?”

Hearing Roy’s question, Jack flinched before taking a deep breath, “We were just sitting in front of the smithy, guarding Lorenz as usual, when that squad of knights came in.” Jack shook his head as he remembered the events that transpired, “They called us bandits and traitors and that we should be executed on sight.”

Hassan let out a chuckle as Jack reached that part of the story, “Yeah, and then the bullshit about the Lord’s mercy. We should be so grateful that we’re only going to be imprisoned and enslaved.”

As Hassan spewed out those words, Roy couldn’t help but notice as Daven bit his lips and looked at the ground with hollow eyes.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

“Yeah, after that we told them to fuck off if they didn’t wanna get hurt,” Jack added. “But, they didn’t listen. They just charged in at us, and we had to fight them. They had that aura that was tricky to deal with, but they weren’t that strong.”

Jack then gestured to Hassan with his head before continuing, “Me and Hassan ended up killing the two that were fighting us. The rest immediately just ran away.”

Hearing Jack’s recounting of the event, Roy clenched his fist, You should have finished them all off.

Those were his true thoughts, but he couldn’t bring himself to say them. He knew that if he was in Jack’s place, he too would have a problem with killing the knights that were escaping.

Roy pushed his thoughts deep to the back of his mind before letting out a smile, “The most important thing is that you guys are safe. I’m just glad that none of you were hurt.”

Hearing Roy’s reassuring words, Jack smiled and looked down, “Thanks… I appreciate that.”

As the group reached the smithy, they found a pack of goblins biting the flesh off a corpse. They gnawed on the corpses like turkeys at a family gathering, each of the monsters ripping off one part and eating it with delight. Looking closer, Roy could see parts of the plated armor that the corpses were wearing.

“Fucking hell.” Those were the only two words that could come out of Roy’s mouth.

Looking at this sight, Lorenz threw up on the ground. Even Tyler and Daven did not look good as they stared in horror at the sight in front of them.

“I’ll never get used to shit like this,” Jack spat to the side. He unsheathed his sword and dashed toward the pack of goblins. With just a few quick slashes, the monsters fell to the ground dead.

Roy scratched his eyes and walked toward Jack, “Let’s just take them somewhere far, and I’ll blast the corpses with my fireball.”

Jack nodded at Roy’s suggestion, “Good idea. Burying them is giving them too much respect.”

The group carried the mangled corpses of both the knights and goblins a couple of streets away. After taking off the knights’ armor, Roy set the bodies on fire.

As the fire engulfed the corpses, Roy pressed his palms together and prayed, “May the fire purify your corrupted souls.”

He then turned to Jack’s group and said, “Well, let’s go.”

The group went back to Lorenz’s smithy and took out all the ore and tools that he needed. The only thing that they could not bring with them was the forge itself.

As they made their way back to Roger’s place, Roy’s mind was racing with possibilities. What if those three knights that ran away actually followed Jack’s group? That would leave the villagers in a perilous situation.

“We need to limit our movements,” Roy voiced out his thoughts. “We need to keep some fighters to guard the villagers, and also have them know a proper escape path in case John comes for them.”

Hassan nodded at Roy’s words, “You’re right, but who will need to stay with them?”

“I don’t know yet,” Roy shook his head. “I will need to talk with Marth and see what we can come up with.”

Hassan slightly chuckled at Roy’s response, “Good idea, Marth is really good at this kind of stuff.”

Roy and Jack’s group reached Roger’s place where they found Fred, along with Derek and Thomas.

“What in the hell are you guys doing? Why are you carrying all of that stuff?” Fred walked up to Roy with a confused look.

“We’re just being safe,” Roy responded before putting down the pieces of armor and tools he was carrying on the ground. “Now why don’t you guys help us put this stuff inside?”

As Fred’s group helped Roy and the others carry the tools and the iron, Fred looked at Roy and asked, “What happened? Robb told us that Jack got into a fight with John’s men.”

“It’s a long story, but John’s knights came looking for trouble with Jack,” Roy responded. “Two of them ended up dying in the scuffle.”

Fred took a deep breath at the news, “So, what’s the plan now?”

Roy had a wry smile at Fred’s question, “We’ll have to change how we do things. We’re not going to touch the marketplace with a ten-foot pole, and we also need to keep an eye out for prying eyes. Plus, when we go to the red bear’s territory, we need to change our routes. We cannot be predictable at all.”

Fred raised an eyebrow at Roy’s suggestion, “Do we really need to do all of that? You think that John is gonna try to fuck with us?”

“Maybe I’m just being paranoid,” Roy shrugged. “But it’s better to be careful and alive than relaxed and dead.”

“That makes sense,” Fred nodded. “I will tell Alfonse about this. He will know to keep an eye out for things.”

As everyone finished carrying the tools and the materials inside Roger’s house, Roy made his way along with Jack’s group to the forest. As they walked, Roy made sure to keep Hassan as a front scout and Daven as a rear one.

On their way to the bear’s territory, they passed next to the Wolf Den. As Roy looked at the entrance of the dungeon, he couldn’t help but remember the weird phenomena that happened inside. From all the information he had gathered, the only conclusion he could make was that it was a place that was frozen in time. It was a very outlandish deduction, but the world had shown even weirder things for the past few days.

As his mind wandered about all the weirdness of the dungeon, he remembered the text that appeared in front of him as he tried to exit it in his first run. Roy’s mind raced with thoughts as his mouth stayed agape. His eyes suddenly opened wide and gleamed with enlightenment.

“What are you thinking about?” Jack asked with a grin. “Whenever you have that look, you end up saying the most insane idea.”

Hearing Jack’s statement, Roy couldn’t help but laugh, “Yeah, you know me very well. I think I just got the best idea in the world.”