Alastall Woodland, Southern-Eastern Part of Woods.
It was around 6 P.M.
Like a bunch of zombies, a group of bandits moved towards pirate town direction and glanced at the surrounding woods warily from time to time.
Only dense trees, thorns, and poisonous wines appeared in their visions and gave an eerie feeling to everyone.
As always, Keith moved in the front while making a path for others, used the earth-elemental energy to conceal the walking vibration from the ground, and acted more cautiously.
Meanwhile, Rudie dragged his fat body and chased after the group while carrying Aliza on his back.
At that moment, both her hands and legs were tied up using a rope, and she appeared in a pitiful state. Her angry muffling groans could be heard sometimes and caused other bandits to frown in annoyance.
As everyone moved deep into the woods in the dim darkness, a 5-meter-long poisonous hybrid snake suddenly leaped from the nearby redwood tree branch and hissed at Keith's face.
Slash!
Without minding the measly attack from the snake, Keith imbued mana into his sword and slashed at the snake's neck region.
But the hybrid snake suddenly sensed the impending danger, activated its unique skill, and hardened its outer skin like metal.
A surprised expression appeared on his face.
Alas, Keith coldly snorted inside, imbued more mana into his sword, and attacked it with an intermediate sword aura.
He cut the snake's head and returned his sword to its sheath a second later.
"Nolan. Take this Virien snake. We can sell it for a high price at the pirate town." Keith said to the nearby muscular guy and walked forwards.
Meanwhile, Nolan picked up the severed snake body and carried it on his shoulder.
"Haha. I got a company now, Nolan," Rudie commented from behind.
"Shut up, Rudie. Also, tell Aliza to shut her mouth. Otherwise, I'll not hesitate to rip her tongue."
But it was no use; she kept struggling like a tied rabbit and moved her tied hands and legs regularly. Sometimes, she would try to speak something but met with Rudie's venomous glare.
"Don't be so persistent, Aliza. All I'm doing is following orders from my boss." Rudie grinned while revealing the yellow teeth and lightly patted her smooth *ss.
Grrrrr!
An angry growl came from her mouth but soon died down.
"Rudie, don't fall behind. Some goblins might be still lurking in these woods." Keith said from the front.
"Yes, brother Rudie. Never let any goblin get near her. If she died here, all our hardship would be wasted." A young scarlet-haired bandit said with a grim expression.
"Got it, Edsel." Rudie nodded his head and ran after them.
Soon, a yellow light appeared up ahead from the dense tree leaves, causing others to halt their footsteps.
"We have reached the Pirate town, guys," Keith shouted without hiding his excitement in his tone.
"Yeah!" "Haha, we are gonna be rich." "Let's go quick."
Everyone walked out of the woods with a tired look and soon noticed a wooden fence encircled the pirate town. Two ruffian-looking men stood on the watch outside the fence and wore unique snake-like symbol hats on their heads. One was a muscular guy with an imperial mustache, while the other was a lean guy with a black eyepatch on his left eye.
As Keith and the others walked out of the dark woods, both grabbed their swords and looked at them with suspicion.
"Who are you? Do you have the friendship token of Drake Pirates? If not, scram away." A muscular guy on the left with an imperial mustache said in an arrogant tone.
"Hey, friend. We came here to meet the captain of the Drake pirates." Rudie walked forward with his fat belly and said calmly.
"Do you have any friendship token?" The muscular guy asked, without even batting an eye at him or the woman on his back.
"No. But I know your boss very well." This time, it was Keith who spoke those words.
"You know our captain? Don't make me laugh." That muscular guy looked coldly at Keith and refused to let them enter.
"Rylan, don't jump into fighting without asking their purpose. They don't seem to have any ill intentions towards us." The lean guy who wore the black eye patch interrupted. Then, he shifted his gaze towards the tied-up Aliza and gave his partner a signal.
Rylan understood what Hook meant and quickly opened the sizeable wooden gate.
"Haa, come in. You can meet our captain when he comes back from the mission."
Within a few seconds, the bandit group entered the pirate town from the north-eastern gate and walked on the paved road. The road heads through a poor quarter and into the traders' area.
It was an empty street but fairly straight. The tavern was next to the livery yard, and the town square was only a few hundred yards from the entrance. The main buildings were on the far south side of the town square.
Most of the buildings were built with red brick and wood. Many houses and shops like smith shops, woodworking shops, rope-making shops, and shops for fishing materials were built orderly on both sides and appeared busy even at this evening time.
It looks more like a typical coastal town than a pirate town. The main reason was that Drake and Black Skull pirates allied to eliminate the Kingdom's governor and his knights around seven years ago and took complete control over this town.
After that incident, these two pirate groups became famous all over the nearby Southern Sea and Devil Sea and had a firm grip over the sea trade routes. Without their approval, no merchant ship could pass through these two seas.
As Rudie and others looked around, they noticed that many slaves were working inside the shops and helping the pirates carry the luggage from their ships.
'No. Almost 50% of the people wear slave collars here.' Rudie sucked in a cold breath. With a glance, he realized that more than 1,000 slaves were working in this small town!
"It seems this is your first time coming to our pirate town. How is it?" Rylan looked at Rudie's shocked face and asked.
"Boss, where are we going to stay for tonight?" Rudie gave a goofy smile and asked Keith instead of responding to Rylan's question.
He also noticed a few brothels on their way and had long decided to spend two or three days in this town.
Although he liked to taste Aliza, he restrained himself from doing any reckless action.
'Without her, we won't get a single amount of gold coin.' Rudie grumbled inside and soon saw two to three inns on their right side.
"You can stay anywhere in those inns as long as you pay the right amount." Hook answered Rudie's question and pointed his finger at the right side wooden buildings.
Soon, the bandit group separated from the two gatekeepers and walked into a random Inn.
A plump Inn lady glanced at them with a curious look and welcomed them.
After some talk, Keith took out one white gold coin from his leather pouch and booked seven rooms for everyone.
Afterward, he asked Rudie to pick up Aliza and lock her inside one of the closed rooms. Although the innkeeper lady told him to lock her up in the dungeon prison cells near the town square, Keith dismissed that idea.
'We are not in an ordinary town.' Keith's eyes urged Rudie to do his work and soon shifted to outside.
Now, all he had to do was wait for the Drake pirates to come back from their mission.
'Once they return, I will quickly sell her to them and leave.'
As for how they would get the bounty amount from the Light Church? That was not his problem.
'All I want is my share of that bounty, and I can live my whole life peacefully.'
With 5000 white gold coins, he could easily buy a sizeable two-storied mansion in Dewsummit city or other kingdoms like the Wadel kingdom or the Keris kingdom and live a luxurious life.
As for his lackeys, he had no plan to give others his share.
'Once I get out of this town, I will kill everyone.' Keith looked coldly at the foolish morons who had already started dreaming about how to spend the money and snorted inside.
Meanwhile, Rudie walked towards the isolated room on the southern corner and quickly unlocked it with an old rusty iron key.
Creak! Click!
The door opened, and soon, specks of dust flew from the ground and bed, causing the whole room to appear ghosty.
Cough! Cough!
The dust instantly entered his nose and made him cough violently.
"F*ck!" Rudie cursed while wiping the tears from his eyes and threw Aliza on an old bed.
"This room is completely locked. So, don't waste your futile attempt to escape and stay here quietly. Got it?" Rudie walked near to her and slowly removed the bandage on her mouth.
"I will never forgive you." As Aliza started to shout, he sealed her lips with his own, covered her mouth with a new bandage, and licked her chin.
"Don't be mad, Aliza. I don't have any choice but to follow my boss's orders." He said with a chuckle and grabbed the golden bracelet in her hand.
"I'm also going to take your family heirloom." He removed the bracelet from her hand and walked out of the room, leaving Aliza alone.
Only tears and sobs came from her mouth as she grieved.
'That bastard!' She felt disgusted at Rudie and gritted her teeth in anger and shame.
'I am going to rip every one of you to shreds.' Aliza knew what these guys were planning and swore inside.