It was business as usual in the Cutthroat’s valley, mercenaries roaming around looking for works, thieves trying to sell the stuff they stole. But the sudden appearance of a red skull in the sky has changed everything.

It was the call for the backup of the Snake Skull, they were one of the major powers backing the thugs in Cutthroats valley. They usually stood behind the scenes collecting a percentage of money from the thugs they back. Only moving their forces if there were some large forces trying to interfere with their jobs. And this rule had a reciprocity as the thugs didn’t take on any works relating to the large families.

They had the money and the power to fight head to head with the large families of the city. And thus the families controlling the city would ignore the actions of most thugs. This was the same reason the city guards were dormant in the civil sector.

Even if they wouldn’t catch thugs or robbers. If some of them are caught by civilians and brought to them, how can they say no? This was the lone reason the guards arrested the thugs brought by Robert. But the spy inside the guardhouse had only one order if any of the Snake Skull’s allied people were arrested by the guards, use the signaling orb.

The guards have had the bitter experience of a 100 thugs raiding the guard house before, thus they avoided arresting anyone who had the Snake Skull’s signature ring. No one dared to forge this signature ring as that will invite the wrath of the whole group of thugs.

As soon as Robert was far away, the guards released the thugs and explained their side. But it was still too late, the signal had already been given and a group of 20 had set out to the guard's house.

When they arrived and understood the situation, instead of attacking the guard house they decided to finish the work they had begun. No one, No one should dare to go against the Snake Skull!

If Robert had injured or even killed off the attackers, the Snake Skull wouldn’t have move. As it was part of the occupational hazard. But capturing them and handing them over to the guards was an attack on the unspoken treaty between the big families and Snake Skull. Thus it required the repairing of their image and reputation.

And the head of the newly arrived group of thugs was intrigued by the information about the secret alchemy recipe of cannon that Robert had. He also wanted to see what the explosive weapon this alchemist possessed was. He was not as dumb as the 1st wave of attackers to not know what it meant. And if one equipped a group of bandits with these weapons, the might cannot be defeated even by an army of shielded knights.

Robert had a dilemma in his mind.He has made it easier for people to kill by giving them cannons, and now he was preaching nonviolence. Although he was not killing anyone, the might of these cannons was an indirect way of him killing all those soldiers in the battlefield!

He thought about it, how many defense company CEOs might have killed a person with their own hand? It would only be a few. But they have facilitated mass murders on the battlefield. Can they preach about nonviolence? Should he have killed those men right then and there?

Robert was loading up his essential stuff into the carriage. He was not in a hurry, the guys that tried to kill him was in guards house anyway. As he was about to go to fetch the last load of things, he heard the noise of horses galloping, and it was getting closer and closer.

Robert saw the shadow of a man’s silhouette, atop a horse wearing tattered leather armor, just like the men who tried to kill him.

Not good! Robert suddenly understood the precarious situation that he was in. But he still didn’t understand how these guys were able to get backup this quickly. This man must be a scout, and if I am not wrong, the horse sounds must be all their people.

After I showed them mercy they are still planning to kill me, I should seriously reconsider my belief systems. If they are going to slaughter me, why would I need to show them mercy? If they are mass murdering people, and I kill them wouldn’t it be a service to the society? But he had no time to think now.

Shit.

He had to do something. If they capture me, death is the least of my worries.

He thought of his options, his gun had 5 rounds, and three more cartridges left. A total of 20 rounds, and even if he had 20 rounds, it was not like the enemies will stand there all the time he is shooting. So facing them straight was not an option. He looked around to see what he had with him. There was a barrel of gunpowder that was the waste from all the preparation, it was not the best quality, but more than enough for what he was planning.

He rushed into the house and got a small iron cauldron. he used his flame and poked a hole in it, then after cooling it by water, filled it with gunpowder and sealed the lid to its place using a hammer. He inserted a quick fuse into the hole he had made. And prayed that this “bomb” of his to work. He took another one of his utensils and made it into a bomb as well.

By the time had rushed into the roof, there were almost 25 men walking towards the house. The scout had already reported the movements and they were preparing to trap him in the house.

The house Robert lived in was surrounded by large buildings and the only way in was a small road. That was the reason they decided to leave the horses behind, or the way would have been too chaotic from all the horses entering.

The men surrounded the home, four of the men who had attempted to kill him was there too. Many of the men wore leather armor, some new, some tattered from fights. They had weapons ranging from daggers to spears. Gladly, he saw no bows or crossbows. Still what he was about to try was so dangerous.

He had no choice left but to fight. It’s either kill or be killed!

He could hear his heart beating. He took a deep breath and cleared his mind.