Emperor's Reckoning

Graham furrowed his brows under his hood as they were approaching the settlement. Two adventurers were standing by with a lofty look and swords over their shoulders. They were chatting with each other and were laughing heartily after a few sentences, however, he caught them leering over to the caravan from time to time.

The old farmer straightened his back and made a fake cough before he said to the two adventurers, "Greetings, sirs!"

The two adventurers stopped their laughter almost immediately. They leered toward the caravan with a frown before a smirk.

One of them stepped forward. He had a bulky figure and the short sleeves that he wore revealed his thick biceps. He crossed his arms in an exaggerating way with a hint of grunt before he tightened it up. He kept his smirk and raised a bit of his chin before calling the old farmer, "Oi, where are you going?"

"W-Why because we want to taste the wine and food that adventures have," the old man couldn't hide the nervousness in his tone as he let out a wry smile.

"Is that so?" the man smirked. "You bunch looks like you will bring trouble, why hide your faces?"

The old farmer gulped. He couldn't possibly answer the question for the group. He was nothing but a farmer passing by. This was the reason why he never crossed this path before. The unfriendly gaze that the two adventurers gave him was a bit eerie.

Cecile slightly pulled Assid's cloak from the back before the latter raised his brows and turned. His face was leaning in as if he was listening to her careful words.

"Oi, what are you guys planning, don't do anything funny, hear me?" said the adventurer before he leered toward his fellow and nodded. Both of them already has their sword unsheathed and was in a stance.

However, they could only take two steps forward before Assid got off the coach seat.

"Huh? Fighting us won't be wise," said the adventurer with a smirk.

"S-Sir?!" the old farmer panicked. Just right behind the two of them was the guild settlement. Fighting them here would be like swatting a hornet to its nest.

"Sheath your sword," said Assid.

"Heh, you think I will do what you told me?" the adventurer shook his head. "What makes you think that we would do such foolishness, besides, haven't you see, we have no sheath, hahaha." the two adventurers laughed.

"Hmph!" Assid grown distasteful, but his eyes caught something. The adventurers inside the settlement seem to notice what's going on.

He snorted before showing them a small pouch under his cloak.

"Oh?" The two adventurers immediately halt down their aggressiveness before Assid lobbed it at the nearest one.

The adventurer caught it with one hand. He lobbed against its own palm to check for the weight and was left with furrowed brows. He checked the content inside before his furrow turned into a smile. He leered over his friend and gave him a thumb.

The friend got the cue before nodding and putting his blade over his shoulder. "Welcome to the humble settlement."

Both of them immediately shifted their expressions from one wary and suspicious to warm and welcoming. They even gave the group a little bow.

Assid spared no time and got back to the coach seat.

The old farmer bowed at the two adventurers as they passed between them.

"Heh, easy money," muttered one of the adventurers before he met glances with the sitting at the back of the caravan.

The horse clapped away further into the settlement.

"Oi, what's wrong?" asked the other adventurer after seeing his friend furrowing his brows.

"I don't know, that guy at the back of the caravan," he crossed his arms as he squinted his eyes. "Oh, I don't know..."

"What's wrong with you?" asked one of the adventurers before he punched his shoulder. "Give me the pouch I want to look inside."

"Uh, here," said the adventurer as he passed the small pouch, but his friend took it out of his hands immediately. His eyes still looking at the caravan that was going to the nearby tavern. He clicked his tongue before hearing his friends awed.

"Holy shit, we can drink wasted for a week with this," said the adventurer before he added. "Must have been rich folks— huh?" he furrowed his brows as he saw his friend contemplating something. "Oi, what are you thinking?"

"Huh? Oh, nothing, it's just that the guy at the back of the caravan gives me a really bad feeling," he shook his head. "Must have been my imagination."

"Oh, what's this, you got something interesting here," a cold voice made their goosebumps rise.

"B-Boss!"

They couldn't even turn before the pouch was taken right before their very eyes. "Woah, this is a lot, come, tell me where did you get this?"

"It's from that caravan parked over at the tavern there, the cloaked group that just walked inside."

"This is a lot of fortune for someone that rode a farmer's caravan," the man said. "Must have been rich folks with their antics."

"Haha, yeah, that must be it."

"Then we have ourselves a big cow full of milk here."

"W-What do you mean boss?"

"The cow is full of milk, all we have to do is squeezed them out into the bucket, our bucket," said the boss.

"You're not going to kidnap them, are you?"

"Of course, we would, but first we must show them how serious we are," said the boss coldly. "After all this is my settlement, I can do whatever I please."

The two adventurers gulped before the boss gave them back the small pouch. "Take it, your bonus."

"T-Thank you very much boss!!" said both of them.

"Hahaha, your welcome, buy drinks and get drunk," said the boss to the laughter of his underlings. He darted over at the measly old caravan and its old horse before he let out a smirk.