Tarrin was a small town with less than 600 population. With only this many people, there were no big stores or concrete houses around. And what little establishments that could be seen were made of wood. Even the streets were bare and underdeveloped.
On a typical day, these streets were deserted. Few were seen, and even at that time, these people did not stay out long. However, today, it was buzzing with people dressed in leather or heavy armor, with weapons sticking at their backs or sides. Others were leading a horse that was pulling a cart full of merchandise. These people were wandering merchants. After they saw many hunters were going to Tarrin, they also followed. Some of them had already put up a make-shift stall and had started selling. They were selling all sorts of things, from foods, potions, weapons, or armor. There were even those who were buying and selling rare forest beast parts.
Kyran blended in with the crowd. Although he looked a little conspicuous with his all-black attire and half-covered face, he was only considered overdressed with all the hunters around. Because there were hunters who were even wearing full armor, and none paid much attention to them.
While Kyran walked down the street, he tried to listen in on the conversations around him. Especially between the hunters. Of course, he did this furtively.
Unfortunately, these hunters were only talking about random topics or commenting about the items they found interesting displayed at the stalls; none of them gave Kyran any clue as to why they came here.
With a sigh, Kyran continued making his way to the opposite side of town. He was not here to investigate why these hunters were here. So even though he was curious, he could only put aside his doubts and focus on his task.
It only took Kyran half an hour to reach the other side of the town. As soon as he neared the gates, he saw several carriages lined outside the gates. At the moment, most of the carriage was still empty, but the ones at the front had mercenaries lined up to the side, getting in one by one.
Kyran immediately frowned. The hunters formed their groups; however, it seemed they were all going in the same place.
Kyran noticed that the people manning the carriages wore the same uniform. A gray suit with blue accents. There was no visible weapon on them, but they might be hiding it in their space storage.
Although space storage was expensive and few could afford them, some big factions gave ordinary space storage to their people.
Kyran guessed that there might be a big faction behind these people in gray. This faction employed all these hunters and had ordered their people to take them to the location where they needed them.
‘Stop,’ Kyran scolded himself. ‘This is none of your business.’
Pushing all unnecessary thoughts at the back of his mind, Kyran walked toward the gates.
“You stop right there!”
A loud, gruff voice suddenly shouted from behind a post at the side of the gates.
Ignoring this voice, Kyran made his way out of the gates and was about to resume his journey when suddenly two men in gray suits appeared in front of him with two swords blocking his path.
“The captain told you to stop,” the man on the right said with a slight frown. The man had short dark brown hair and was half a foot shorter than Kyran. While the man on the left, who had short black hair, was taller, but his stature was smaller than the man on the right.
“You have guts ignoring me,” the owner of the gruff voice had spoken again.
This time, Kyran heard it coming from behind him.
Immediately, his eyes narrowed as he turned his head slightly to look at the man.
A tall, muscular man with short blonde hair in a similar gray suit approached them. He walked in large strides, and he had an arrogant look on his face as he glared at Kyran.
Kyran frowned. He had no time to deal with this.
He initially thought that sneaking his way out might attract unexpected situations, and moving in the open would be less suspicious. Who would have thought that there were still people who would openly cause a scene?
“Well, my name is not you. How would I know you’re talking to me?” Kyran replied in a deadpan voice.
“You!” The man growled in annoyance.
“There you go again,” Kyran sneered.
All hunters nearby looked in their direction. They knew the man was in-charged in checking their identity and making sure they were on the list. Seeing this scene, they guessed that the man in black might have tried to sneak into one of the carriages without confirming his identity.
The man refrained from retorting because he already noticed the looks of the nearby hunters and his men. Reigning in his annoyance, he crossed his arms and glared at the man in black.
“Humph. If you’re trying to divert my attention by getting on my nerves, you’re making a big mistake. You can not cut in line without getting cleared,” the man said.
Kyran raised his brows and faced the man. He asked, “Me? Cutting in line?”
He turned and looked at the entrance and all the hunters around. Then he looked at the carriages before looking back at the man.
“I don’t see a line here,” he replied innocently.
The man’s brow creased again.
Before the man could speak, Kyran added, “Besides. I’m just passing by. Anyway, if there’s nothing else, I’ll be on my way.”
With that, he turned around and started to leave.
The man squinted and looked at the two men who were still blocking the way.
“Not so fast-.”
CLANG!
The black-haired man on the left was about to step in and point his sword at Kyran’s chest, but the blade of his sword suddenly broke into two, the tip falling on the ground.
It was not only his sword. Even his partner’s sword broke.
“What?” Both their eyes grew wide as they looked at the man in black who suddenly appeared between them.
The tall, muscular man also stared in disbelief. He did not even see the man in black move. He only heard the sound of falling metals and saw that the swords of his men were already broken.
“You two better move. I don’t have time to deal with you, so if you insist, your swords will not be the only ones that’ll end up broken.” Kyran warned the two in a deep voice.
Although Kyran said it quietly, its weight carried an indescribable strength that even the tall, muscular man felt a cold shiver run up his spine.
He was bigger than this man, and yet he felt fear?
The truth, he stopped this man because his employer had warned him to keep an eye out on a group of men in black that planned to hinder their plans. His employer did not tell him much about this group, aside from their strength were not on par with him and his men. That was why when the man suddenly appeared, he immediately made a move to stop him from sneaking into the carriage. Regardless of his identity, the man planned to scare him off. If he were not part of the men in black group, then he would release him. Of course, they had to make sure that he really was not working with those men in black. So the man planned on ‘playing’ with him first. He also believed that regardless of who this man was, he would not openly retaliate because he was outnumbered.
But the man’s strength was beyond what he expected, and his instinct was telling him not to mess around the man.
The man sucked in a deep breath and immediately bowed at the man in black and said respectfully, “Please be on your way. We apologize for stopping you, good sir.”
The nearby hunters and men in gray suits looked at him with black lines on their faces.
He was acting arrogant just now, but with just one move from the man in black, with his tail between his legs, he became very respectful.
Kyran was also surprised. He did try to sound imposing but did not expect this man to be decisive and even apologize.
Without looking at the tall man, Kyran left. Still, he did not fully believe that they would leave him be. Once he got into a hidden spot, he would warp away.
The tall, muscular man did not straighten his back until the man in black was out of sight.
“C-Captain…” The dark brown-haired man called out uneasily. He and his partner felt awkward seeing that most hunters and the rest of their men nearby were still looking at them curiously.
“Is he gone?” The tall man asked them.
“Yes, captain.” The black-haired man replied.
Heaving a sigh of relief, the tall man straightened and wandered his eyes. When he saw his men looking at him, he glowered and yelled, “What are you looking at? Get back to work!”
“Y-Yes!” They immediately dispersed and went back to work.
“Captain,” the dark brown-haired man looked at him uneasily. “Are we really going to let that man leave?”
He was also aware of the group of men in black that their employer had warned their captain.
“Of course not. That guy said he was just passing by, but where else would a person go after this place? Up ahead leads to only two destinations. The first one is already a no-go because of the thick miasma in that place. So where else would that guy go?”
“Then…”
“Since we are wearing a different uniform, he probably did not recognize us. But he probably had an idea because of all the hunters around us. He might be someone that the group of men in black had dispatched to scout the place ahead. Either way, inform the boss. There’s a good chance there’s an ambush up ahead.”
“Yes, Captain!” The two bowed and left.
The tall man squinted his eyes and looked in the direction where the man in black had left.
With a smile, he thought, ‘You think you’ve outsmarted us. Well, think again. I’ll pay you back for today’s humiliation.’
A hundred meters away, where Kyran was, he suddenly felt a cold shiver run up his spine. He had a bad premonition.
‘I hope those guys are not thinking of something stupid,’ he thought with a sigh.