I stood looking at my watch, still unable to believe the image that had been sent over to me, almost a day after it had been sent, in fact. This was so surreal! The fact that an adventurer was parading around as the ‘Bounty Hunter’ in this new world, where everyone had superpowers, was pretty hard to believe.

Even harder to believe was the fact that he advertised his service on the forums. Granted it was in the black market section, but still, you get my point. If nothing, I had to admire the balls on whoever this individual was.

I had no intention of paying him, of course. What could he possibly do? Complain to my guild that I hadn’t paid him for his services when the said service was murder? He would be a fool to believe that anyone would pay him for what he was offering.

His actions also had an additional advantage for me, of course. I had a ready-made target for when the ‘The Roaring Dragon’ inevitably came snooping around. After all, Scarlet Emperor was one of the few they favoured, having granted him the resources to form his own feeder guild. I couldn’t help but grit my teeth at the thought. That naïve fool, getting such favour from one of the most powerful guilds in the world when he wasn’t better than me.

Helping newbies? I couldn’t help but snort at the thought. The cream would always rise to the top. It didn’t need any help. I would lead this guild in a much better direction, I was sure of that. I would recruit only the best and the most talented, those who were actually worth investing in. In due time, the ‘Roaring Dragon’ would recognise my efforts and duly reward me.

I was broken off from my thoughts when my partner called out my name. I had been waiting for him for a few minutes now in front of ‘The Drunkard’s Tale’, a very popular bar in this part of the world. My partner was one of the two guys the guild had sent with Scarlet Emperor to form this feeder guild, the other being me. He, too, had been bitter about the leader’s position not being given to him but he didn’t have the stomach to do the necessary thing.

“Hey, Death Lord. What took you so long?” I greeted my partner, looking at his flustered appearance. He looked as if he had run the whole way here.

“Got held up, man. There’s a sale going on in the Bree Market for exotic potions and the crowd is huge. I had to come through the longer path. Where’s Scarlet Emperor? Is he late too?”

I had to struggle to keep a grin off my face as I replied, “ I don’t know myself, man. Haven’t heard from him since yesterday. I was hoping he had contacted you or you knew something.”

He just shook his head, saying, “Nah. I also haven’t been in contact with him for a while. Reckon he’s sick or something?”

I shrugged noncommittally, “Maybe. Wanna check out his house?”

He nodded, acquiescing to my words, before saying, “While we are here, let’s just pick up some beer. Maybe that will cheer him up.”

I mumbled, “Sure”, thinking that nothing would cheer him up much after his migration to the afterlife. But I had to make a show of it, of course, and so promptly followed him into the bar, thinking about buying my own favourite brew, since Scarlet Emperor wouldn’t be consuming it anyway.

The bar was crowded, as usual, meaning we had to wait. Having nothing better to do, we got to talking again.

He started it up with a conversation that was becoming increasingly familiar and somewhat irritating, “We really have to recruit people into our guild soon, Raven. Our parent clan grows restless for results. They want to see some growth.”

I couldn’t help muttering tiredly, “I know, I know. But hadn’t we all decided that we would only allow the ones with the most potential to enter?”

He nodded at that. “We did, yes, and I am not saying that we should change that train of thought. All I am saying is that we have already scouted a few promising recruits. Maybe, it is time to make them true members. How about that Moth guy? He looked particularly strong to me, for his experience, that is.”

I grew puzzled at that question. “Didn’t I tell you that he had already joined a guild three days ago? Once a person joins a guild, no one else can recruit him unless the guild releases him. You know that, right?”

Hearing my response, he just laughed awkwardly, probably embarrassed at his memory, or lack thereof. I just shook my head ruefully at him before ordering what we had come here for. We were asked to wait as we would be called when our order was ready.

We proceeded to move towards the notice board, trying to look for any interesting jobs or any requests for group formations to perform a quest.

Death Lord pointed towards a notice and excitedly remarked, “Look, ‘The Roaring Dragon’ guild and ‘The Saturn Clan’ guild are collaborating, looking to challenge the eleventh level of the Hermes dungeon. Can you imagine the loot? Do you think our parent guild would let us join?”

I couldn’t help but grin myself. “Sure they would. Any adventure needs competent people. And both of us can actually hold our own against stronger monsters! We should go and ask the recruiter for the guild. He’ll surely allow us to join this expedition.”

“Can you imagine the number of adventurers this would require? When you calculate the amount of loot the leaders and their confidants will take, do you think guys like us at the bottom rung of the ladder will get much?”, he asked me in an uncertain voice.

I replied almost immediately in a confident voice, “I am sure whatever we will get will be much better than what we currently possess. After all, this is a dungeon level that hasn’t even been explored yet. We are just lucky that guilds from outside of our nation haven’t yet come to explore. Even if we don’t get the exotic items, we will get some rare ones. Don’t you worry.”

“Yes, of course, the foreign guilds aren’t coming yet. The Guild Union of our country has to invite them for them to be able to step foot on our turf in any official capacity, right?”

I nodded at that, confirming that it was correct. We found ourselves in pretty high spirits at the prospect of the rewards that awaited us. This would also likely help us in getting stronger members in the guild, as our reputation could only skyrocket after this.

By this time, our order was ready and we took it from the counter before moving towards Scarlet Emperor’s house. I felt kind of irritated, knowing that this was just a futile task, a waste of effort but keeping up appearances was important if I wanted to get away with what I did.

We reached our destination before seeing that the doors were locked and the windows were bolted. My companion knocked at the door for a long time before giving it up as a lost cause. He turned around and asked me, “Do you think he went on a quest by himself?”

I pretended to think about it for a moment before replying, “Could be. You know how he likes to help newbies who are new to the life of an adventurer, right? Maybe he took a group and went to beginner level cave or dungeon?”

Death Lord nodded at that before saying, “Hmm, that’s more than likely. Could have invited us though. The more, the merrier I say.”

I chucked at that before asking him what he wanted to do, now that we didn’t find Scarlet Emperor here. We couldn’t very well go to The Roaring Dragon guild carrying alcohol while asking permission to join the exploring group. So we decided that it would be best that we went to my abode first before consuming some food with our drinks and then make our way to the recruiter.

I plopped down on my favourite lounger as soon as we reached my place, sighing in contentment. Death Lord only snickered at me before proceeding to lie down on the floor himself. I stayed in that position for a while before I resentfully moved towards the kitchen to get something to eat with our beers.

We popped open our beers, taking a sip each and then proceeding to let out a burp and bursting out in laughter. I finished my bottle pretty quick and bent down to take another one when my watch beeped, indicating that someone in my friend list had contacted me.

I opened my watch and scrolled to the personal messages section. I couldn’t comprehend what I was reading for a moment before it hit me and the blood froze in my veins.

On the screen of the watch, the message sent by Death Lord read: “Where are you? I am still held up in the market. Man, you won't believe some of the potions and pills here. I will be by the bar in twenty minutes. Sorry about the delay.” I was vaguely aware of the bottle in my hand crashing to the floor and breaking into shards and pieces.

I only had eyes for the man sitting in front of me though. He was looking at me with a sly grin on his face. I felt myself shaking in fear as he said, “My, my, looks like the game is up! It’s a pity, really. I was quite enjoying it if am I to be honest.”

I could only stutter in dismay as I asked him, “Wh..who are you?”

He gained a look of mock sadness on his face and pouted, “I am hurt, Raven, I was sure you would recognise me, seeing as you were the one who contacted me.”

I thought about it for some time, my mind feeling sluggish due to the fear I was experiencing when the answer hit me like a ton of bricks. It couldn’t be! It just couldn’t!

Nonetheless, I asked him, “The Bounty Hunter?”

He only grinned in response, “Bingo. The Bounty Hunter. The guy you didn’t pay for his service.”

I tried to put on a brave façade, “This won’t end well for you. I have connections.”

The infuriating smirk didn’t leave his face, however. “So did your leader, didn’t he? Look where it got him.”

I asked him, looking to buy some time to summon my hammer, “What do you want?”

The smirk left his face at that, his demeanour serious all of a sudden, “What I am owed, what else. My due. I have just one business motto, you know. A cardinal rule, if you will. The Bounty Hunter always gets his dues.”

That was all the time I needed as I summoned my ivory hammer and swung it at him with full force. I failed to hit him though, as, in a blaze of speed, he dodged my attack. With the same agility, he moved behind me before sweeping my legs from under me, making me let go of the hammer. Before I could so much as react, he had lifted my hammer without breaking a sweat and swung it casually at my foot.

The impact was enough to overload my brain with pain as I went numb, unable to comprehend the state I was in. He spoke without a trace of emotion, “That should keep you from moving.”

I was vaguely aware as he took my watch off my left hand. He spoke once again, a trace of the apparent amusement he felt seeping into his voice, “I didn’t like your choice of beer, man. At least it will be good for something.”

He then proceeded to open one of the bottles and put some weird pill in it. He knelt beside me and said, “Have a drink, mate”, before proceeding to force the entire drink down my throat. He moved towards the mirror after that and then to my utter horror, his appearance changed right before my eyes to impeccably mirror my own current appearance.

That was when whatever poison he had put in my drink kicked in. My insides felt as if they were on fire as I shouted, “Please stop this. I will pay you, I promise.”

He just looked at me for a moment before saying, “The deadline has passed, Mr. Client. I require interest after the deadline.”

“Please, whatever you want, I will give you.”

“What I want, Mr. Client, is everything you own, including your life. And I have it. That’s my due. Goodbye, Mr.Client.”

I could feel my organs melting as I prayed that I met the sweet embrace of death as soon as possible. Just before my final breath, I cursed the Bounty Hunter’s name and his very existence, wishing I had never heard of him.

“Man, I really got to stop killing my clients. That’s the second one already. This way my business won't grow as the only advertisement I can rely upon is word of mouth. I have gotten just two favourable reviews on the forum. These kinds of clients suck! Cheap, the lot of them. Underestimating the Bounty Hunter.”

The house I had just left was still burning as I put all of my former client’s items on sale before moving towards ‘The Drunkard’s tale’ once more. I had to get out of there fast, after all. Couldn’t be seen at the sight of my own burning house now, could I?

There was Death Lord, waving at me. I waved back at him cheerfully.He asked me, “Hey, Raven, where were you?”

I could only smile at him, “Just sorting out some business.”

He looked at me curiously at that but I just nodded at him with a grin. As I followed him inside the bar, I thought about killing him before deciding not to. Maybe, I would join the quest to explore the eleventh level of the dungeon after all, as Raven of course. Plus, it was fun being a part of a guild, especially one at its initial or expanding stages. I would know, as I was already part of seven such guilds. Not by the same alias, of course.

Don’t tell anyone that. If you do, you would owe me. For betraying me.

And The Bounty Hunter always collects his dues.