Aldgate town, Indra's Inn.
It was around 4 A.M.
At that moment, Viper sat on the reception seat with a half-sleepy expression and appeared to be in deep thoughts.
Suddenly, he saw a human figure stepping down from the second floor through the spiral stairs and walking in his direction.
'Hm? What is that hooded guy doing here?' He frowned, moved his hand towards his waist, and instinctively gripped the cold dagger.
Meanwhile, the hooded guy wearing a white mask arrived near the reception desk and spoke to him quietly.
"Don't panic, mister. I'm not here for your head."
"I've long guessed it." Viper gave him a sharp look and asked in a cold tone.
"Are you after that Royal Elf? But what does a northerner wants from him?"
"You don't need to know about that." The hooded guy spoke calmly and took out a ring made of silver.
"What is this? Are you from the Purgatory Knights or Black Watchers?" Viper asked while hiding the uneasiness in his heart.
"You do not have any qualifications to know the answer, Mr. Viper. You do still understand your position, right?" The hooded guy spoke with the same calm look on his face.
Meanwhile, Viper clicked his tongue in annoyance and stared back at him.
'I can tell that he is a powerful Mage from the amount of spirit energy he is emitting. His pointy dark ears show that he is most likely an elf. His eyes look slightly reddish, indicating that he didn't sleep the whole night and appeared to be in a restless state... But why, though?' As Viper observed the opponent, the hooded northerner started to speak with a threatening tone.
"You have to do me a favor."
"Are you an ally or an enemy?" Viper instantly took out his dagger and asked. He could tell that this northerner was a dangerous person and got anxious inside.
"It's all in 'his' hand. Tell the elf to contact me through this ring once he finishes the problems in his territory."
Although Viper got confused by his answer, he didn't put too much thought into it and nodded in approval.
"I can do that."
As he spoke, Viper took the silver ring from the hooded guy's hand and put it inside his pocket.
"Good,"
Meanwhile, the hooded guy said in a deep tone and walked out of the Inn stealthily, leaving Viper alone in the reception hall.
After a few seconds, Viper returned to his normal state and breathed a sigh of relief.
"That guy surely is way above me in terms of strength. But why is he appears weak and restless on the outside?" He couldn't help but suspect something was off about the new enemy.
After some thought, he shook his head and decided to leave along with the elf. He knew his current location was already exposed by someone and decided to act more cautiously.
Then, he closed the entrance, went to his room, and started to pack his belongings. Following that, he also returned the Inn key to the house owner and even brought a new carriage from the house owner for their next journey.
When the dawn arrived, two carriages moved out of Aldgate town and soon advanced towards the east. One was Abium's carriage, while the other was Viper's carriage.
After another two hours of journey, the two carriages finally reached Baron Harry's territory.
It didn't take long for coachman Orson to inform everyone that they had already arrived at Moondale town's entrance.
"W-We have reached Moondale City, M-My Lord!"
But Abium started to frown a little. At that moment, he felt the nervousness in Orson's tone, opened the carriage door, and quickly stepped out of the carriage.
At that moment, he saw a troop of well-armored soldiers surrounding their carriages.
After a swift glance, Abium closed the door, moved towards the front, and asked.
"What happened?"
"I don't know, my lord. They said it was an order from Baron Harry." Orson spoke while not hiding his uneasiness.
Abium eyes turned icy cold as he sensed an apparent hostility from the surrounding soldiers and glared at them. Noticing his glare, a 30-years-old looking soldier in his black uniform stepped forward and took out a letter from his pocket.
He had fair skin, deep blue eyes, short black hair, and a clean, shaved oval face. He wore black-lined unique leather armor and held a short curved sword in his hand.
"Our lord informed us to apprehend you under the violation act of killing civilians." He spoke without hiding his malicious intent.
'When did I offend this baron? Why am I being targeted now?' Abium was puzzled. Before he could utter a word, the black-haired soldier raised his sword and sent out an order.
"Guards! Seize the large carriage."
From his tone, Abium guessed that he must be the guard captain of this small town.
The next instant, all those leather-armored soldiers unsheathed their swords and moved in unison.
But as they were about to step forward, Abium suddenly raised his hand and cast the 'Dark Bind' spell on the black-haired soldier.
A moment later, his shadow suddenly moved, started slithering towards the soldier's body, and soon bound him from moving!
"H-Help-!" The guard captain panicked due to the unknown power binding his body and tried to move his sword but couldn't!
'You dare to seize the carriage that belongs to a noble?' Abium let out a cold laugh and snapped. That dark shadow started to constrict the guard captain's neck and crept over his whole body.
"Arrrggghhhhh!" A painful wailing sound echoed at the entrance of the town gate, followed by an abrupt silence.
'Oh? He became unconscious?'
The black-haired guard captain was defeated in a blink and fell slowly. Blood gushed out of his mouth and nose, causing other soldiers to take a step back in fear.
"If you walk one step forward, that will be his last moment." Abium shifted his gaze toward the other guards and spoke coldly.
As they were puzzled about what to do next, a booming voice came from the entrance.
"I was worried that you wouldn't act against my soldiers, but my worries were for naught." The voice paused for a moment, and soon a human figure stepped forward from the entrance.
It was a thirty-year-old man with average height and a slightly obese body. He had almond blue eyes, a round face, pale skin, straight caramel-colored hair, and triangular eyebrows.
He walked unsteadily towards Abium and soon stopped as he arrived a few meters away from him. Looking at his luxurious red clothes, anyone could tell he was a typical arrogant noble.
'He must be the Baron Harry of Moondale Town.' As Abium was observing the nobleman, Baron Harry took two steps forward, arrived much closer to Abium, and spoke.
"But I now have a reason to capture you, Baron Abium. Stand down, guys. I want to discuss something with this foreigner." Harry spoke in an arrogant tone, shifted his gaze towards other guards, and added.
"Take Glover to the infirmary."
After sending out an order, he shifted his gaze towards Abium and continued.
"Baron Abium. We can resolve everything peacefully if you give the fairy to me as a present. But if you refuse my order, I will banish you from entering my territory and might even arrest you in the name of committing treason."
"Treason?" Abium asked while tilting his head.
"As I thought, you are an ignorant baron. Yes, killing a civilian without any reason is treason against the Royalty of the Peral Kingdom. Not only that, but you also don't know much about territory rules." He raised his hand, pointed his finger at Abium's chest, and added coldly.
"Another thing is, you can't even enter your territory without my permission. So, you have no choice but to agree to every word I say. In a sense, I own your territory through non-official means."
Saying so, he shifted his gaze towards the carriage and started grinning as he remembered Count Tibal's earlier words.
"If anyone brings back the fairy to me, I will reward you with 1,000 white gold coins."
For count Tibal or any other high-rank nobles, 1,000 white gold was a small amount.
But for ordinary low-rank nobles like Baron Harry, it was a priceless treasure. Baron's family only had two thousand white gold coins in their treasury. It was his entire household's savings.
But now, he had an opportunity to earn half of that amount without doing any work.
He greedily started at the carriage for a short moment and continued.
"If you give that fairy to us, I will also agree to trade with your territory at a low tax from now on. So, tell me? What is your answer?"
'Hmm, what he said is the whole truth. I'm at a disadvantage here.'
Abium let out a heavy sigh and walked towards Baron Harry.
'But there is always a foolish noble who thinks he is the god in his realm.' He raised his hand and swiftly brought it towards Baron Harry's right cheek.
A loud, slapping sound echoed!
"F*ck off!" Abium spoke coldly and signaled Orson and Viper to follow after him.
Without minding those soldiers' dumbfounded gazes, he pushed the baron aside and started walking ahead towards the entrance.
Soon, Abium and the two carriages entered Moondale Town and started moving deep into the town.
Meanwhile, the baron stood there with a red face while showing a look mixed with anger and embarrassment.
"You! Stop right there! It's my town. You will be punished for slapping me!" Baron Harry shouted in rage from behind and ran after him. If this was before, Abium might have restrained himself from acting like that. But now, the whole kingdom was on the verge of breaking into a civil war. So, he didn't care about this small rural baron.
As soon as Baron Harry entered the town, all four gates were locked from inside. But Abium didn't even glance back at the baron and moved forward. The two horse-drawn carriages crossed the market street and drove towards the commoners' district where the Inns were located. Claude had mentioned the Inn's name in the letter, which made Abium's job easier.
'Cabbage Inn?' He furrowed his eyebrows.