《Reluctant Visitor》Chapter 22 - The Hunt begins
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An hour after Albert had left with his silver, he came back to Jacob's house.
"Here, 186 silver coins." Albert said and threw a heavy leather bag at Daniel, who caught it. After a look inside, he nodded in agreement.
"I'll take the leather armor, too. Do you know who I have to pay for it?" Daniel asked.
"You can give me the silver. I'll get it to Martha. She was the one who made the armor." Albert offered.
Daniel looked hesitant for a moment, which made Albert laugh.
"Hey don't look at me like that. I know about how you got here. The think I can't talk about. I'm not stupid enough to con someone like you." Albert explained and Daniel accepted the smith's suggestion after a moment.
After the trade, he was alone again. But, Daniel didn't have to wait long before John arrived back at the village with the other travelers. Daniel found out that he had already informed them about Jacob's request. Fedor, Anna and Isabella had decided that they would participate in the manhunt.
While he did not talk to the other villagers, it seemed like Jacob had explained the situation to them. Their hostile glares had decreased by a lot.
"I want to have a look at the murder scene. Maybe, we can gather some useful information about our target." John explained.
"Follow me, you have one hour, then we get going. Otherwise, we won't reach Crossing in time before they close their gates." Jacob responded and gestured the others to follow him.
When they arrived at the burned down house, John started to look around, while Isabella looked like she was barely able to suppress her anger.
"Killing the bastard who did this is way to merciful!" She suggested.
Daniel kept quiet, he didn't really care if the rapist suffered. He decided for himself that he would not be part of torturing someone as a punishment. He wanted to get the manhunt done and leave the matter behind him. But, Anna had a different opinion and jumped in.
"While I can't say that I really understand your feeling about this, making him suffer will only hurt ourselves in the future. I don't want to live with the memories of torturing someone just because I felt like he deserved it. The world is bad enough, no need to make it worse."
Isabella looked at the others for support. Fedor only shrugged.
"I don't really care what happens to the man before he dies. But, torturing people is a messy business. I won't be a part in it. I've seen enough of this shit in the war."
"We won't torture anybody. There is no need. We don't need any information and it would only complicate the mission. Looking at the scene, I think we are lucky that our target took the time to rape the girl." John said and continued before Isabella could say anything.
"I don't mean that the girl was lucky. This was the action of a real animal. But, he risked exposure by raping her. Our target would be far more dangerous if he'd slit his victims throats and left with the plunder. Without the fire, Jacob and the rest of the village would've probably only noticed the next day. I stated that we are lucky because we don't have to hunt a true believer with a mission. We just have to kill a thug or a common bandit you might call it. He took a great risk, just to have some fun. We should probably check the taverns and inns in Crossing. We'll probably finding him there, drinking and spending his loot. I've seen enough. We can go now." He turned around and marched back into the village where Jacob and some other villagers were discussing stuff with Azza and the travelers. The others followed.
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Daniel felt a bit out of his dept with the way John and Fedor were handling the situation. For them, it seemed like hunting and killing the rapist was just a mission. Something that had to be completed and be done with. He was trying to handle it the same way, but standing at the crime scene and hearing John talk in such a clinical way about it, made his anger rise. He knew that he should try to keep his emotions out of the whole situation, like Fedor and John were doing. But, that was easier said then done.
He took a deep breath and turned to Anna.
"Are you sure you want to be part in this? We may call it all we want, but on a basic level we are planning a premeditated murder. For John and me, it was a bargain with Jacob. Isabella has her own reasons to be part in it, while for Fedor it looks like it's just a job." Daniel asked.
"Yes, I'm sure. When my father was murdered by that drunk driver, all I could thing about was revenge. While I've never gotten it in our civilized society, here I can do something. In addition I don't want to stay behind when the best fighters of our group are gone." Anna explained in a serious tone.
Daniel was surprised for a moment.
"You really thing the villagers will do something? They aren't at a much higher level than we are and Jacob is coming with us."
"I have no idea. For all we know, there could be a bounty on travelers heads. So, I want to stay with the rest of the you." Anna responded shortly before they arrived back at the village square. Jacob had turned his head in their direction when Anna had mentioned the bounty, but that could've been a coincidence. Anna hadn't been talking very loud and they were still 20 meters away. There shouldn't have been a way for him to understand their conversation while he was standing next to people that were in a loud discussion.
When they explained Jacob that they were ready and who would accompany them, he looked annoyed.
"This is a manhunt and not an excursion. We need to cover more than 30 kilometers in less than two hours." He scrutinized the armor wearing Fedor and Anna and Isabella who were still wearing goblin fur clothes. When nobody reacted, the sighed. "Ok, wait a moment. I get some other clothes for the girls. The plate armor can stay." With that and turned to two village woman.
"Girls?" Isabella asked with an annoyed tone when Jacob left. Daniel chuckled.
"Well, you have to excuse him. He is over 80 years old and for him we are probably all children."
Isabella looked stunned, but like the rest of the party, she kept quiet. Two minutes later, Jacob came back with two sets of leather clothes.
"That will be five silver, each." Jacob explained.
Knowing that his friends didn't convert their silver yet, Daniel decided to pay for it.
After Anna and Isabella changed their clothes, they said their goodbyes to the rest of the travelers and started to run after Jacob in a southward direction.
Daniel had no problems to hold the pace, but Isabella and Fedor looked strained after a few minutes. When he gave them a questioning look, they just shook their heads and gestured him to continue.
A bit later, Jacob, who was looking like he was taking a relaxing stroll in a park, started to talk.
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"You know, the girl was right. It is not widely publicized, but there is a bounty on travelers." He explained.
"What?" Daniel asked surprised. Both by the fact that Jacob had been able to listen to their conversation and by the bounties.
"To explain the situation, I have to explain some stuff to you first. Our kingdom was founded by clearing a massive dungeon. To our east, we are bordering another dungeon that is so deep and strong that nobody is able to destroy it. It is sending wave after wave of creatures to attack the kingdom. More than eighty percent of our army is monitoring that dungeon. Our first king made the law that the strongest person in an area has the right to claim the noble title. The next noble then has to gather information about the claimant and if there is nothing wrong, hand over the title. The king probably wanted to motivate people to get stronger. He probably had the hopes that someday the dungeon to the east could be destroyed and the kingdom expanded." Jacob explained.
"What has that to do with us?" Anna asked.
"Let me finish. The first king was a traveler himself. People like you tend to have a high chance of getting very powerful. I don't know exactly why, but that is how it is. Our own baron is very young and not that strong for a noble. He mostly has his position due to the influence of his father, who is a count and the noble in charge of this region. People who get powerful enough to claim the barony tend to leave the county on their own or they disappear. What do you think would happen if the count finds out that over twenty travelers arrived. With all of them having the potential to threaten the position of his son."
"Shit!" Fedor cursed.
"Wouldn't the king do something about it? It goes against the law that was set up with the founding of the kingdom." Daniel asked.
"The king is far away and young. Well, I mean he is only 200 years old. Compared to the most powerful nobles, that is still young. After the old king, his father died, there was a rebellion because some of the dukes were of the opinion that he was far too weak to rule them. I don't know what happened on that day, but two of the six dukes were killed. You must know that the dukes are strong enough defeat armies by themselves, but someone killed two of them. The rest then agreed for the new king to be crowned."
"So, if the king himself was not following the spirit of the law, the count could expect to have his actions ignored. What about the duke?" Daniel asked.
"Well, we are in the duchy of Ashcroft. Our ruler is very reclusive. The only thing I've heard about him is that he has a very hands off approach and only intervenes if his officials fuck up in a big way. Rumors say that he is a traveler, too and that he was in the party of the first king that cleared to dungeon." Jacob continued.
Daniel looked at his team and when he saw the look on Fedor's and John's face, his heart stopped for a moment. Shit, he thought, they can't be serious. He shook his head in an energetic way when they looked at. In his opinion, trying to silence Jacob wouldn't be very. For one, it wasn't right. In addition, he was not sure they could win. Even if he pulled out both of the guns and emptied their magazines in the man's back. When he saw the two man nodding back, signaling that they would not follow through with their idea, he felt relieved. Daniel's mind went back to the information Jacob had told them.
"Did the king die from old age?" He asked and Jacob only nodded.
"Wouldn't that mean that the duke would be at a higher level than the king if he is still alive?" Daniel continued.
"Who knows. I only heard rumors and the king could've been old when they cleared the dungeon and founded the kingdom." Jacob responded and for the next part of their way, they continued in silence.
Their path led them near the small river with a thick forest on their other side. Daniel was surprised that there were no wagon tracks on the ground. But, then he thought about the system and the inventory. It would be a lot faster to just take 4 tons of stuff into your inventory instead of using a wagon. He kept observing the surroundings, but he didn't see anything that was interesting.
With nothing better to do, he started to activate Advanced Haste to train his magic. When the others saw what he did, they activated some spells themselves. Daniel was a bit surprised when he saw John and Isabella had created a wind magic spell similar to his own Haste themselves. He hadn't known John's elements, but Isabella had always used fire spells only. Even after getting access to a second element at level ten.
An hour later, the stone wall of the village Crossing came into their sight. By now, Fedor was covered in sweat and looked like he was going to collapse any second. Isabella didn't look much better. John and Anna only looked a bit exhausted, while Jacob still looked the same as when they started. Daniel himself was sweating a bit, but his high regeneration had kept up with the stamina use. He was still at 100%.
"Wait, let's talk about our plan before we enter the village." Daniel suggested and the others stopped.
"How many places are in this village where a stranger could spend coin and have fun?" John asked Jacob.
"Only two, both inns." He responded.
"Let me go and check them with Jacob." John pointed at the rest of the group before he continued. "You all made a very striking impression when we first met outside the dungeon. Especially Daniel and Fedor with their little intimidation exercise." He turned to Isabelle and Anna. "If he raped the girl in the village, you can be sure that he fantasized about raping the two of you, too. After all, you both are not exactly average looking. He will be able to recognize all of you right away."
Anna blanched for a moment while Isabelle was only starting to get angry again. Daniel himself had to agree with John and cursed himself for not thinking about that earlier. While his beard had grown a bit longer since he last met their target, his dark hair that was bound in a man bun was very distinctive. He had gotten used to listen to bad jokes from his friends about it. But, a had tested different hairstyles and he kind of liked it. At least, he didn't need to go to a hairdresser that often with the bun.
"You are right. We should have gotten other clothes for Fedor, too." He turned to Jacob. "Is there a barber and a clothes store in the village?"
"Yes, but we would need to hurry. They'll probably close soon." Jacob answered looking in the direction of the sun that was close to setting behind the horizon. Then he turned back to the group and continued.
" Oh, and one more thing. You are humans, probably from the same world where all our ancestors came from. You'll likely see non humans in this village. Please refrain from doing anything stupid."
The rest was stunned and didn't know what to say. They had talked about meeting non humans, but it had always been a more theoretical exercise.
"I hope there are dwarfs like those in the stories. They like to fight and to drink. They are my kind of people" Fedor declared with a childish smile on his face.
"You managed without alcohol before and I don't think your MMA fighting and alcohol were a good combination." Anna observed and Fedor got serious again.
"Of course not. Just because you like something, doesn't mean you do it all the time. I would have gotten my ass kicked if I didn't train hard enough and went out drinking." Fedor explained in a serious tone. Then, the smile appeared back on his face and he continued. "Well, in this world with the system, you might get away with it."
The rest of the group was only shaking their heads and they continued their way to enter Crossing.
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Welcome to the dream dungeon. Ely suddenly finds himself in a mysterious dungeon accessed only through sleeping. Many people are drawn into this dream world, confused and mystified. Those in this dungeon must kill monsters to survive; maybe even each other. Join Ely as he struggles to survive a ruthless environment. What replaces his rest is untold trauma. What seems like an innocent game trope turns into a nightmare. This is a story of tragedy and the path to ultimate power. All in the hopes of an uncertain survival. _________ This fiction has NOT been abandoned. I made a haughty promise earlier to not worry because I'll continue this series, and with things lately, I've only proved myself a liar. Further promises dwindled, and I've lost trust. So many things have been going on recently that I've been booked. I will refrain from making any future guarantees or promises as my busy schedule will stay with me for a long long while. Time for me to actually spend on writing and revising won't appear until at the least November 19. I won't say expect that's when I'll restart, but you can expect expecting it to maybe happen. That's really shallow. But with everything going on, I've let my small reading base down. I apologize. I still stick by my statement though that I won't abandon this project. I plan to stick it to the end, no matter the delay. Most importantly, thank you everyone; readers who both like and dislike my work. I appreciate your time spent on my dumb imagination. Stay toasty my readers in this winter season. Cheers. UPDATE: We're back on track. Thank you for your patience. Any future readers, heyo! Glad you're here. UPDATE 2: So far it's been 21 days since I last uploaded a chapter. The best thing done for any fiction, no matter how good it is, is that it continues, and I have a bad history with that. 1 fiction on hiatus and already more delays with less than 20 chapters in this fiction. I've been very preoccupied with adding more things to do in my life rather than actually committing to any particular thing. That applies primarily to this. I cannot abandon this, as busy as my future looks and will look as I get busier and busier. Someday, I hope, I will be able to sit down and just write. just. write. But for now, I ask for patience. I suppose I'm glad this fiction hasn't picked up so that I don't disappoint too many people if any really. But I need to commit and it's going to happen sometime and sometime soon. No more flowery words. I'll see you later. UPDATE 3: It's very evident I won't be able to pick up this story for a while. With AP Testing, competitions, and other things I am busier than ever. But I must complete this fiction. I have too. Until next time. UPDATE 4: It is now the summer. I owe everyone an apology. Chances are, nobody's around to see this, and that is okay. I only blame myself for this sort of brokenness of a fiction, not that it is actually that bad but I am just exaggerating it for dramatic effect.But what's not exaggerated is the severity of my broken promise. I apologize for my naive claims about finishing a novel that I couldn't finish and that I didn't have the discipline to finish. Nor the skills, really, I was and am still an immature writer.What is to place now? I want to make it clear I understand this is my fault. I will man up to this. And I will accept any criticism. I understand I messed up. Reading Stephen King's On Writing made it clear to me that I need to do two things:Read lots.And write lots.I have done neither. If I don't have the time to read often, how do I expect to write? I need to become more experienced. I need to become a serious writer.So if I want to dream of continuing, I need to at least fulfill both requirements. I enjoy writing. I haven't written seriously outside of school in a while. I planned to write this summer and finish this. I made a lot of promises that I didn't keep.So there's that. I won't enact any self-pity, or be foolishly obsessed. What I did was wrong, and I must deal with it. I let down readers. And I apologize.I hope I can find forgiveness. This is a writer's sin.I won't promise I'll finish this. I intend to finish this, at some point, because writing is fun and I want to write. But how things are don't reflect that. Maybe I'll finish this at some point. Maybe I won't. I won't be naive to make that promise.I thank everyone who has read this if this is the end. If not, and hopefully not, I thank everyone who is to read future chapters. I thank everyone who allowed me to live in the miniscule little dream of mine as I passed my days. I thank everyone who cares enough to read this. Until next time, peace everyone. Thank you. You are all great readers and great people. I wish everyone the best in whatever reading/writing endeavors follow you henceforth.
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8 196Before the Morning [BEING EDITED]
[This story is free as of February 10, 2021]"Move over A Walk to Remember, and make way for one of the most heartwarming stories this side of Wattpad. It's so cute, I could cry (again)." - Grace @ HQAfter tragedy strikes, Nolan loses all faith and never expects to love, let alone smile again until Nora-perky and persistent-walks into his life. ***** 15-year-old Nolan Haynes has everything. A loving family, a promising future as a filmmaker, and a pretty cool group of friends. That is until tragedy strikes and he's forced to move towns. Nolan vows never to let anyone in ever again-they always leave. But on a summer day two years later, when the super upbeat, Nora walks to his lunch table-Nolan has to try a bit harder to keep a smile off his face. Little does he know that Nora is fighting a battle of her own, one that no one could even imagine. And as the two get closer, they not only find solace in each other but in God. When Nolan is faced with a situation in which he has to break Nora's trust to protect her, can their budding relationship still stand and will God show up in all of this?[[word count: 80,000-90,000 words]]Content and/or Trigger Warning: This story contains scenes of verbal and physical abuse that may be triggering for some readers.NOTICE: Before the Morning is currently undergoing revisions! A sensitivity reader (someone who goes through your manuscript and assesses representations in your work) identified a number of issues surrounding the Filipino representation in BTM. I'm rewriting with the goal of creating a more authentic and respectful story. I'm sorry for the pain I caused by failing to include accurate Filipino culture and in having written from Nora's point of view.
8 176Abhaya Bhairavi #Wattys2020
🥇 First place in The Casia Flair Awards 2020.🥇 First place in The Rare Awards 2020.🥈 Second place in The Thriller Awards 2020.🥉 Third place in The Aspirants Awards 2020.🥉 Third place in The Trickster Awards 2020.🥉 Third place in The Lunar Awards 2020.🥉 Third place in The Upcoming Writers' Awards 2020.After surviving an accident which claimed the lives of her beloved parents, Bhairavi's maternal grandmother comes to live with her. But she has already forsaken her voice, her friends, her relationship, her studies, even her laughter. Barely does her grief become bearable when strange things begin to happen. Being a girl of the Twenty-First century, she has seen all superhero and supernatural movies to know that this is unlike any of those scenarios. As her powers become stronger, her perception of reality begins to unravel, all people are not human, and all immortal monsters are not evil, but when it becomes evident that there is something fishy regarding the accident she miraculously survived, Bhairavi takes matters into her own hands. Supported by the unlikeliest allies, she sets out to find the truth. But does the truth always set one free?A fresh, modern take on Hindu mythology. If you think talking lions, friendly demons, and the power to make sexual offenders painfully ejaculate uncontrollably, sounds cool, then this is the book for you!!Ranked 306/ 158k in Supernatural (14.11.2020)Ranked 96/ 76.8k in Demons (14.11.2020)Ranked 99/ 25.9k in India (14.11.2020)Ranked 45/ 21.3k in Mythology (14.11.2020)Ranked 26/ 21.1k in Superpowers (14.11.2020)Ranked 38/ 16k in Girlxboy (14.11.2020)Ranked 23/ 11.3k in Girl power (23.01.2021)Ranked 13/ 4.34k in Savior (14.11.2020)Ranked 1/ 301 in Hinduism (23.01.2021)Ranked 1/ 40 in Calcutta (11.11.2020)Ranked 1/ 38 in Sanskrit (11.11.2020)Ranked 1/ 21 in Mythopoeia (11.11.2020)#thebookerawards#Strongwomenawards2020#Happinessawards2020©All rights reserved 2020.
8 217Hey stupid, i love you!
+ دوستت دارم!_ بخاطر سیب ترشهام؟+ اونم هست...ولی حتی اگه اونها هم نباشن، بازم دوستت دارم.🍏 کاپل: کوکوی🍏 ژانر: امگاورس، رمنس، انگست، فلاف🍏 وضعیت: تکمیل شده.
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