Chapter 138
A New Day, A New Town's Guards
Back in the Resistance’s hideout, Harrison told Martell and Illumca about the situation.
“Before this, the Greyrat Gang was just one of the many gangs that existed in this town. The Mayor did not do much about them because he could not be bothered. As for the Town’s Guards, those that they caught were small-time crooks. They never managed to catch the leaders,” Harrison paused, his face showing a disturbed expression. “However, things changed last year. When the Greyrats had a change in leadership.”
“The new leader is called Mister B. No one knows how he looked like, but he was cruel and cold-blooded. Within a few months, he took over the gangs with great speed,” Harrison hesitated as he found some of the men withdrawing to themselves upon being reminded of the dark days. “…Those were bad days. Blood filled the streets everywhere you can see. The townspeople tried to ask the Mayor for help, but he never did. He just waved us off like we didn’t matter. Some of us here lost friends. Good friends.”
“But then Jack, the husband of the woman you saved before found out that Mister B had been paying that corrupt Mayor for his silence. His claws had also sunk into the Town’s Guards. The Greyrats’ influence was so deep that they did not even bother trying to hide it any longer.”
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Davis cried out in astonishment.
“B-but I can’t just open this jail cell! That’s tantamount to treason!”
“Our exit from this accursed cell is not a question of possibility. It is a foregone conclusion. But whether it will be for the betterment of the Town’s Guards or its…destruction will be answered by your next move.”
Akula leaned down to look at Davis. Through her eyes, he could see the anger she was holding back.
“This is your chance to fix this corrupt path the Town’s Guards are taking.”
Nick cracked his neck as he spat at the ground. “Just do what she says, friend. Milady’s wrath is nothing a normal man could endure.”
“I. I still need more proof.”
“Return to me my Item Ring, and I will show you the proof.”
The man hesitated, his eyes darting left and right as he pondered his next action. But then he saw the scene of the cowering prisoners behind the Centaur and made his decision. He went out of the dungeon and saw the Captain placating the upper member of the Greyrats, Ol’ Mulaney with ale and tobacco in his office. Then he saw his colleagues, drunk in the afternoon with no intention of working. Something snapped in his heart, and he clicked his tongue inaudibly.
Davis returned a few minutes later with a ring in hand.
“I…still cannot trust you. Put your right hand through the bars to activate your Item Ring.”
“That’s fair,” Connie grinned and took out the Letter of Appointment given to her by the King from within the Item Ring. “Is this enough for you, Guardsman Davis?”
A brief look at the stamp was enough for the man to immediately turned supplicant. “Milady!”
Davis quickly unlocked the cell and took of Connie’s cuffs. Akula did not wait for him and broke apart the iron that bound her with a snap, causing the other prisoners to shudder. The young-ish Davis turned to look at Nick.
“What’re you looking at? I can’t do that kind of thing.”
Connie called forth Chen, who slithered down from her sleeves like a snake. His purple color has now a tinge of red in the center. A proof of his success in processing the disease Connie had gathered over the course of the week. He had not been active outside for days and was itching for some action.
“Milady, if I may ask. If you have this, why did you not show it to the Captain?” Davis asked with a perplexed expression. “You won’t have to be incarcerated here if you did.”
“Because…” the side of Connie’s lips curved for the slightest second. “I want the dirt to gather up first before I do some cleaning up.”
“Lead on, Guardsman Davis. We are going to make a statement today.”
“M-milady, there are about twenty men in our Headquarters today. They are all the Captain’s loyal men. I think it would be safer for us to escape first and gather my friends before we do anything. The Captain is already past Level 50. Only a few men in this town can fight against him!”
To his surprise, the three of them laughed.
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Harrison sighed as he scratched his head.
“Now, there were still some good eggs among the Guards, but they were pushed down by the ones that already broken their oaths to protect our town. They are nothing more than another gang now.”
“I just wanna ask. Did none of you try to alert the government?” Martell inquired.
The people in the room all looked at each other and shook their heads.
“We did try a few times. But it ended up with our people missing. The last victim was Jack. Ever since then, no one dared to go. So, all we can do at the moment is to hide here while trying to decide on what to do next.”
“Then why don’t you start a riot?” Martell asked again. “I’m sure there are enough dissatisfied people to incite one.”
The bald old man looked at the innocent-looking Martell, surprised at the audacious and drastic idea coming out of his mouth. “Do you know how many deaths that will cause? Most of us are just laymen! The heaviest thing most of the people here had held is a hoe!”
Harrison calmed the old man down and continued. “Even then, the Town’s Guards are the Mayor’s lackeys. Despite their current condition, most of them were above level 30. And as for Captain Hills, he was above level 50. None of us is his match.”
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
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In his office, Captain Hills was lighting a new cigarette for the thuggish man named Mulaney. A bandage was bound across his face to help heal his broken nose. Beside him were two of his men who had survived the meeting with the Centaur.
“I wan’ dem dead! Yhou ‘ear me?! Dead!”
“Alright, Mulaney. I can do that. But before that, can you ensure that the next shipment of that ‘thing’, I can get first choice?”
“Yhes! I already shaid sho!! Hare you daking me fer a lhiar!” the man spoke with muffled voice as he was still unable to breath normally.
Ol’ Mulaney was a bad man for sure, and he took pride in that. He used to be a leader of a small Gang, making ends meet by extorting the merchants in his part of town. But when he met the new leader of the Greyrats, he knew that he was someone he could not fight against. So, he agreed to join him.
Ever since then, life had been sweet.
It used to be, that a sight of the old Town’s Guards member would send him running. But now the Captain of the Town’s Guards was trying his hardest to make him feel comfortable. It made him feel good. It made him feel superior.
And tonight, it would be the sweeter when he gets his revenge on the woman who crushed his nose.
Oh, yes. I’m going to make them suffer.
Then suddenly, with a loud bang, the door leading to the dungeon was blown right open. The heavy wooden door flew a few meters before hitting an unsuspecting man who was drinking ale and half flattened him into the wall.
“Good afternoon, gentlemen!” Connie greeted the dumbfounded men of the Town’s Guards. Her eyes glancing around the room until she found the corrupt Captain. “The Captain and I need to talk about my grievance about the quality of his job.”
“What the - ?!” the Captain shouted angrily seeing his prisoners escaping. “Men! Get them!”
The guards who were caught unguarded quickly scrambled up towards their weapons and threw themselves at them.
“Chen, you can break them. But don’t kill them!” Connie ordered.
Chen’s slimy tentacles whipped, and grabbed, and threw the attackers with ease. He was not the slime that he was. Now he was something more powerful. When his tentacles touched skin, they blistered and befouled. The pain caused the men to scream in pain as if a fire had touched them.
Whilst his slime of a minion did his bidding, Connie pulled up a chair and sat on it, cross-legged.
“How dare you! Davis, are you colluding with these prisoners?!” Hills said upon spotting the man standing beside Connie.
“Captain Hills!! are you even hearing yourself?! You’re the one working together with the Greyrats to ruin our town!” Davis exploded. He threw himself at the Captain with the sword on his waist, forgetting how he was scared of him from righteous anger.
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Ol’ Mulaney saw the Centaur who made short work of him, decided on self-preservation, and ran to the door, leaving his two men begging for mercy as two powerful hands rammed their heads against the wall. He crawled along the floor and flinched when he saw the guards around him were being thrown around like rags.
This act of cowardice was thwarted by Nick, who during the commotion had closed the only door leading out and held it shut with a table.
“Y-you! Don’t come closer!”
Akula dashed up to the thug and landed an uppercut that sent the man flying to the ceiling, where he became stuck, the lower part of his body dangling helplessly.
Nick whistled in awe. “Is he dead?”
To the side, Hills had slugged Davis with the back of his sword and was about to land a finishing blow when a wooden tankard hit the back of his head. He turned around and saw Nick running across the office tables and kicked him in the back, causing him to fall onto his knees, roaring.
“Come on, little man! You were making fun of us on the way down to the dungeon! Now show me that you’ve got the stuff to back it up!” he taunted him while grabbing a decorative shield hanging on the wall.
Furious, the man leaped at him with a powerful Skill called Sword Rush that allowed him to cross the distance with incredible speed.
“This is a Level 50?” Nick parried the powerful thrust with the shield. He then landed a clean punch at the man’s chin. Still, not enough, Nick stepped forward and decked his head with the side of the shield. The man wobbled backward and fell onto his butt, unable to keep standing.
After that, Nick threw away his shield and started pounding the man, clearly still feeling irked from being put in jail unfairly.
After getting a few good hits in, Connie stopped him. “Alright, that’s enough. I still have need of him”
“What do we do with this man, Milady?” Nick rose from his mounting position and dragged the man that he had beaten. Every part of his face was swollen black and blue. And he was barely holding onto his consciousness.
“You…you dare attack…the Town’s Guards?!” the man heaved, trying to get air past his swollen nose. “You’ll…be…hanged!!”
“Oho? On whose authority?” Connie asked from where she was sitting.
“The…King’s…Law!”
Connie scoffed. “Is that so?” Connie showed the Captain the Letter of Appointment and pointed at the Royal Stamp. “I suppose you should start counting your days, then.”
Seeing the King’s Stamp on the letter, he quickly understood the deep trouble he had gotten himself into, at which point he fell into despair. He had placated a local thug only to offend the daughter of a Duke.
“How’s that feel now? You miserable piece of shit,” Nick guffawed.
“Spare…me, please!”
“Perhaps…If you tell us everything. then I might be persuaded to go lighter on your punishment,” Connie gestured at the thug still hanging on the ceiling. “Otherwise, you’ll share that man’s fate.”
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After listening to the man uncovered his sins and the Mayor's connection with them, Akula's fist smashed through the table beside her.
"How vile! Connie! We need to free this town from his clutches."
“In time, Akula. In time. For now, on to business,” Connie clapped his hands. “Today the Town’s Guards are going to get a new start. And for that, we need a new Captain,” Connie said. She then turned to Davis, who was nursing his swollen cheek.
“Are you hale and hearty, Guardsman Davis?”
“Er? Y -yes sir!” He replied, still dizzy from his earlier scuffle. “A bit scuffed up from the fight, but ready to serve!”
“Have you ever dipped your hands into unlawful gains?”
“No…no, sir! I mean, ma’am! I mean, Milady!”
“Good man! Congratulations, you are now the new Captain of the reformed Town’s Guards.”
Davis blinked a few times, unable to process his sudden promotion. “M-me, Milady?”
“Yes. You are the most decent Guard I’ve seen in this town, and we are going to do a lot of changes around here.”
“Oh.” Davis’s mind slowed to a stop when he realized what he was hearing. “…Oh.”
“Exactly. Oh.”
They then heard the door being broken through from outside. A few Guards holding who stumbled inside quickly stepped back. Weapon at ready but without any intention to be the first to enter the scene of carnage.
“Hear my first order, Captain. I am giving you and those men cowering by the door half an hour to gather every member of the Town’s Guards here. And by that, I mean every. Single. Member,” Connie said. “Those who aren’t here within half an hour will get fifty lashes. Is this clear?!”
“Y-Yes Milady!!” Davis roared with hope from seeing the strength of the new Lord of Arlaine. "What about the former Captain's men?"
Connie looked at the sorry figures of the men writhing and groaning on the floor. "Let them feel the pain for now."
"Oh, also that reminds me. The Guards who are guarding the entrance to the town? I want you to call them here and whip them fifty lashes. No questions asked, is that understood?"
"Yes, Milady!"
"Then off you go, Captain."
“What are you all waiting for?!" He shouted, his swollen cheek forgotten. "Get your sorry asses on the street!! The new Lord of Arlaine has said her piece!”
With the confused Guards gone, Connie rose from her seat and spoke. “Nick, take some ropes and hang former Captain Hills in front of this building upside down. Hang him from the tallest pole you can find. I want everyone to see him.”
“You - you promised!”
“Yes, I did. I promised not to kill you. I'm going to let the elements do it for me.”
“I’ll get right on it, Milady,” Nick said as he dragged the unwilling man by the neck.
“What do you want me to do, Connie?” Akula asked, still itching to fight.
“Get some rest. Once the men are gathered here, we will move to the Mayor’s place,” the blonde-haired girl said as she patted Chen. “You are then free to rampage as you like. Because today...today, we are undoubtedly and unequivocally…justice.”
“Is this…is this true? No strings attached?”
“No strings attached,” Connie confirmed with a knowing smirk.
“Khikhikhi! If you do this often, you’re gonna make me fall for you, you know.”
Akula then grinned the toothiest grin she had ever done in her whole life.