Chapter 20: The Dark Sword

314 year, September 24, Evening

Krival Tavern

" Have you heard the news?" - Asked one of the men with a scar on his face, whom he went to dine and relax in the local tavern .

"Of course I heard how one could not hear about this?" ! The whole guild of adventurers stood on the ears ! - Answered his interlocutor, who also, like his friend , came to eat and relax .

" And what do you think of that ?" - Having finished his ale, asked a man with a scar .

- I do not know ... - knock on wood and glass sipping ale, he added. " Even the head of the guild was shocked when he heard reports from nearby villages, he immediately posted an advertisement for the search for this guy ." - Having finished speaking, he set to work on the piece of meat that the waitress had brought him .

- Are you talking about the "Dark Swordsman " or about the attack on the caravan ? - Postavy willow plate with the food and a couple of mugs of ale in front of a lientami, she accidentally heard their conversation and decided to intervene .

- Of the swordsman, of course , witnesses say that this is a small kid . - Said the man with the scar, and after drinking the ale, already from the new mug, he continued . " Those whom he saved claim that he used one sword, but on the belt, he had another ." - Having finished speaking, he, like his friend, began to eat .

- Yes, I also heard about it, the headman from the village of Hines, says that after the horde of Hobgoblins and three General Goblins came to the village, he took out a second sword and killed them all in a matter of seconds, thereby saving almost everyone villagers ! - Added the waitress, who looked at a sheet of paper, put it in front of customers .

"The Dark Swordsman ... Such a nickname doesn't come to me , although he does not show his face, and is always dressed in black clothes, he still saves all people without asking them for anything in return ..." Having finished his meat, the man looked at the sheet paper and taking out three silver and sixteen copper coins, handed them to the waitress.

"What do you think of the attack on the caravan?" As far as I know, it was four of the attackers, they bound all men and forced them to look at how they rape so their women and children, after which alternatingly killed women and children , and then the men killed ... It is said that it was a group of robbers " Bald Ravine " . - said the waitress, checking the bill.

- Yes, I also heard about it ...

Listening to their conversations, the guy sitting at the bar frowned and finished his lunch, handed the money over to the cook, after which he left the tavern and headed towards the area of ​​the blacksmiths. Having reached the beginning of the district, he went to its end, to a two-story house, from which hammer blows were heard round the clock. Going to the door, he knocked three times, and waiting for the owner to open it, he spoke to him.

- Hello old man, how is my sword doing ? - Asked Esh from the old gnome, who had already become his favorite blacksmith.

" Man, how do you manage to break mithril so fast ?" - Seeing who came, the dwarf nodded and went inside his workshop .

Closing the door behind him, Esh headed deep into the house, namely to the workshop . Entering the workshop, the dwarf took the sword, which had just finished forging and handed it to the new owner.

- This sword is also made of mithril, but this time, I strengthened it with magic runes , I hope now it will not break in five days ... - Passing the sword and pointing to the fragments of the old, he continued - I certainly understand everything, you have the money but Mithril becomes less and less likely, the demons that somehow the mines, so I ask you to calm down tsya not peck Mithril sword and the rocks . - He warned his old man and giving him the scabbard, climbed behind his second sword . " Hold on, this sword is forged from the wreckage of two old ones, it will not be as strong as the original versions, but if you break the first again, it can save your life ." - Having added this, the dwarf gave him the second mithril sword and asked to leave him alone.

After leaving the old man's workshop, Esh put a new sword on his belt, and put the second one in his inventory. As soon as he made sure that everything was well fixed, he went to the hotel.

***

"Boss, are you sure we should do this?" - Watching a guy of fourteen leaving the workshop, asked a man of about twenty-five with a bow in his hands. "And if he has security?" - Squinting at his boss, asked a man with dark hair.

- Yes, he is just a rich jerk who stole money from his parents, and to look cool he decided to buy a sword , what the hell is the guard? - The bald man declared for thirty years with a scar on his half face, he, observing the boy, licked his lips and pulled out his two daggers, prepared for the attack. - I was told that he had only recently arrived in Krival, he could not even protect his belongings from thirty small goblins, there would be no problems with him. - Having said this, he honked at his two accomplices who were sitting on the roofs of houses. - Get ready, in a couple of seconds we will kill him and take all his things, then it will be possible to plump to the dump!

- Got it, boss! - Having pulled the arrow from behind and smeared it with poison, the man pulled a bowstring and prepared to shoot at the command of his bald boss.

- Shoot! - Shouted the bald man, and immediately rushed forward .

* LOW *

An arrow flew past him, which was supposed to hit the guy in the chest and instantly knock him down so that he would be thoroughly tormented before his death, but this did not happen.

- What? - Seeing how the guy disappeared, the bald looked around, but not noticing anyone, turned back. - What? - Turning back, he noticed only the headless corpse of his comrade.

- Whom are we looking for? Hearing a voice behind him, the bald man with a scar quickly turned around and aimed at the supposed position of the head with his left dagger, hoping to play on surprises, but the guy who called him instantly chopped off his hand.

- AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! The man yelled and immediately fell to his knees, releasing the dagger from his right hand.

"Are you so dumb that you decided to attack me ?" - Looking down and down at the bald, asked a guy of fourteen years old. - It was necessary to make inquiries about his purpose for I started an idiot ... - Having said this, he beheaded him.

Looking at the sword from mithril, the guy took out a rag and wiped it from the blood. "There are fewer bastards in the world." If they hadn't attacked the caravan and raped women and young girls, I would have spared them ... But they did what I hate the most, such people do not live long ... - Having examined the corpses again, the guy put his sword into the scabbard and went to the hotel.

***

314 Year , 25 of September, Day

Waking up already by dinner, Esh left the living room and had a snack in a restaurant, which was not far from the guild of merchants, paid the bill and went to it. Going inside, he sat down at his favorite place , and taking a book from the table , began to read it.

"Mr. Esh, please come after me ." - said the lovely woman, who is the secretary of the head of the guild of the city of Krival .

- Good . - Getting up from a comfortable sofa, Esh laid the book on the countertop and headed towards the office of the head of the guild.

After walking along the richly decorated second floor of the guild, he, along with secretary Anna, stopped in front of a wooden door.

*Knock Knock*

Anna knocked on the door twice and, without waiting for permission , opened it.

"The head of the guild, Mr. Lance Esh came ." She said, opening the door and gesturing for me to go inside.

- Sorry for the intrusion . - I said , entering the office .

- Good afternoon, Esh Gryffindor . - Said a man of thirty-five years old with short dark hair, dressed in a business suit . - Please take a seat . - Rising from his seat, he gestured to the sofa, which stood in the corner of his office.

- Thank you . - Esh answered, sitting on the sofa, which indicated the head .

" Anna, please bring us some tea ." - Sitting in a chair opposite the sofa , the head of the guild turned to Anna, and when she left the office, the head spoke to Esh . "We are not yet familiar with you, my name is Alfred Graundel, I am the head of the merchant guild in the city of Krival ." - Introducing himself, he held out his right hand to Esh.

- Esh Gryffindor, monster hunter . - Smiling, Esh stood up a little and extended his hand , shook the hand of his interlocutor , and again taking his place , he turned to Alfred . " Mr. Grau did you want something from me?"

- Just Alfred ... - He continued, smiling at the fact that Esh called him by his last name . - One month has passed since your registration in the guild, however, you have already been able to obtain diamond status . - Taking papers from the countertop, to which Esh did not initially pay attention, Alfred began to read what was written on it .

- In the first week, you sold more than a hundred goblin bodies and fifteen hobgoblins - which brought you two gold coins, and raised you to an iron rank." In the second week, you sold guilds about two hundred skins of various kinds, wild boar, wolf and even deer - which brought you a dozen gold coins and upgraded you to silver status. In the third week, you sold us three orcs and one goblin general, which brought you twenty-one gold coins and gold status, and just yesterday, the fourth week ended, for which you sold us three goblins of generals, seventeen orcs and in addition to this , several hundred corpses of ordinary goblins - for which they were upgraded to diamond status. - Having finished listing his merits, he put the paper back on the table and leaning on the back of the chair, sighed, asked his question of interest - How did you manage to kill so many goblins? - Asked this question, he looked Esh in the eye, waiting for his answer .

" I have a very good flair, so I set traps on the goblins' paths and thereby catch and kill them ." - Answering, Esh reached for the tea that Anna had already brought .

Hearing Esh's answer, Alfred remembered that all the bodies of goblins and orcs had marks from traps, breaking a lot from falling and traces of rope on their feet. Remembering this, the head of the guild nodded, agreeing with his words, and taking a sip of tea, decided to ask about the second question he was interested in .

- Then, how do you explain the corpses of the Goblin Generals? They are not so weak as to fall into elementary traps, such as pits or traps . - Asked his question, he took another sip of tea .

- It was harder with them, but I also used traps. Basically - these were traps with arrows and poisons, so I said that it is better not to feed them to animals . - Having finished speaking, he reached for the cookies, which Anna also brought.

Again, taking a piece of paper from which he read about the merits of Esh, he looked at the footnote with the Goblins Generals, which he had not paid attention to before, it was really written there that serious poisons were found in their blood, but he still did not understand how this guy managed to break through their thick skin, deciding to dot all the " i ", he asked his question

- But how did you break his skin? Because of too much interest, he even forgot about manners.

- I used darts with poison , and the arrows only distracted them. - Having said this, he took a dart from a small bag, which was located on his belt . - These darts are made of silver, they are very sharp, so for them, to break through the skin of the Goblin General is not difficult . - Having finished speaking, he handed one dart to Alfred, so that he himself would be convinced of his words.

Taking the dart from Esh's hands, Alfred asked Anna to bring him the goblin general's skin, unfortunately, only the processed one remained, which was several times denser than the original, but deciding to check it, he pierced it and saw that this dart could even penetrate it. Seeing the result, Alfred was in silent horror, just now, he pierced the treated skin of the Goblin General, which was considered one of the most dense. Making sure that Esh did not lie, he handed the dart back, and deciding not to miss a moment, he asked .

- And where do you buy such high-class darts? - Having said this, he was in anticipation of a lot of money, but Esh lowered him from heaven to earth.

- Honestly, they came from my parents, so I don't know where they bought them . - Answering, he finished his tea and put the cup on the countertop .

Upon hearing the answer, the smile on Alfred's face quickly disappeared, of course, he knew that his parents had died at the hands of monsters, and he perfectly understood that it was no longer worth raising this topic. Resigned to the loss of the gold mine, he asked Anna to give him another sheet of paper, because of which Esh was asked to come here.

- Cough, cough ... - he cleared his throat and Alfred looked at the piece of paper and turned to Esh . - Mr. Esh, a large order has been received from the capital for the skins of Orcs, Hobgoblins, Goblins Generals and omega wolves, an order totaling twenty coins in white gold . We wanted to do everything ourselves by paying with the skins that you already sold to us, but unfortunately the order is too large . - Put a sheet on the table, he pulled it to Esh, a gesture asking that he got acquainted with him.

Taking a sheet of paper in his hands, Esh set about studying it , the first thing he noticed was the one who made the order . - This is a personal seal of the Emperor, in which I could not make a mistake, I've seen it too many times. - "Seeing is very familiar to him seal, he looked at the number of skins that you need to provide ."

"Three hundred whole skins of Orcs, two hundred fifty whole skins - Hobgoblins, thirty two whole skins - Goblin Generals and five hundred whole skins - Omega Wolves." - From the numbers, his eyes widened. This number of skins is enough to supply the entire first Imperial Army .

"But why do they need so much? If Omega Wolves clear you can still understand , they need to create warm clothing, then by Orcs and Goblins, I do not understand their skins, used to equip the northern armies, they are very dense and warm, so ideally suited to make them leather armor worn over iron armor."

If they make such a large order ,they also overpay for it , something very bad happened to them .

- Why do they need so many skins? - Asked Esh, who, having read the request, put a sheet of paper on the table .

- From what I know ... A large undead army came close to the walls of the northern castles, and the alliance of the five races, learning about this, began a quick army gathering." However, no one expected such a turn of events, so they have a serious lack of equipment for the knights. - Taking another sip of tea , Alfred continued to speak . - The empire began to buy up all the skins that could be, and upon learning that our guild is a major supplier of these skins, made an official order. Of course, they do not expect that we can fulfill it, but nevertheless, they hope that we can cover twenty-five percent of the required amount - Having finished speaking, Alfred emptied the cup and put it on the table, looked at me .

"But father is in Aquos ... Why wasn't he called to the capital? " - Thinking about this, I once again made sure that my father was now in Aquos, and having received a positive answer, he threw this thought aside. - " I'll think about it later ... "

- Well, I'll try to get the right amount of skins, but what is my timeline? - Agreeing to help, I did not forget to clarify the time for which I need to do this.

- A week ... - With a sigh, Alfred replied , and then added. - In a week, we will send all the skins that we have to the Imperial capital.

- Well, I will try to get as much as possible . - Assuring them that I would not give up so easily, I headed for the exit.

Emerging from the head of the guild office, I said goodbye to Anna and went to the hotel, which was for m Enja home. Having entered the hotel, I regained health with Olivia, and extended the payment for my room, after which I went to dinner. After dinner, I exchanged a few phrases with Dean about where the most monsters I need are found, and having received the information that interests me, I went to my room. Having steamed in the bathroom for several minutes , I fell asleep, and already a sutra I packed all my things and went on a weekly hunt for monsters, unfortunately, even I did not expect such a larger order, I had very few skins in my inventory, namely

[Orc Hide - 17/300

Hobgoblin Hide - 23/250

Goblin Hide of the General - 13/32

Skin - Omega Wolf - 119/500 ]

After checking the sheet of paper that Alfred gave me, I sighed with the realization that about seven hundred monsters had to be killed. For me, it's not a problem, the most difficult and boring at the same time - it is to find them ...

"Grandpa, please forgive me, but the campaign this sword also will not live long..." - Looking at the Mithril Sword, which I only received yesterday, I remembered his words when he said that the supply of mithril and seriously fell and .

"It will be necessary to go to the mithril mines and see what happened there."- Thinking about it, I, using the Element of lightning, accelerated my body and quickly headed to the Demonic Forest.

The demonic forest is located, as you might guess, in the territory of demons. If you are an adventurer, then you can safely enter it, but since I still can not register with the adventurers guild, I run into it illegally. When I reached the entrance to the forest, I, hiding behind a tree, looked around. On the road that led straight into the forest, there were several dozen knights and guild workers, all of him carefully checked the documents of the adventurers who came here to hunt. Due to the fact that in this forest there are - "Gates of Hell" - one of the most dangerous dungeons, orcs and hobgoblins live here, along with omega wolves. Having waited until another group of adventurers came up, I used the wind element - [Air Tread] and the lightning element - [Lightning Cover], and accelerated at all its speed, which was just gigantic because of my dexterity indicator, flew past the guild workers and knights.

Having entered the forest, I immediately asked Aina to take on the surveillance of the magical traces of monsters and so I opened my personal, goblin hunting season . There were still very few adventurers, so I had freedom of action before they came here. Aina noticed a cluster of monsters, immediately informed me of his location, and I rushed there, it was a group of thirteen orcs, for me they are the same as flies for girls. Using lightning-fast liquidation, I beheaded all the orcs in a matter of seconds, and after doing this, I threw traps on them and punched their skin with darts with poison, after which I began to store them in my new, spatial bag. This bag is already the third month in a row , the reason I change them so often is that I need more and more space , now I have a bag with three tons, before that it was five hundred kilograms and one ton .

Having folded the bodies of the orcs in a bag and collecting their heads in a pile, I set fire to them and went on a further hunt. After a few minutes of running thirty percent of her maximum speed, Aina discovered several more signals, now it was a group of people who were surrounded by the magical energy of monsters. Having reached them, I set about studying the surroundings and. A group of seven adventurers was surrounded by an army of orcs and goblins. Two General Goblin and several dozen Orcs and Hobgoblins, in addition to this, there were about a hundred small goblins.

"Why are there so many ???" - Seeing their number, I was taken aback.

Typically, in this forest, goblins and orcs seldom go in groups, not because they are each other can not tolerate, and then have, they rarely meet, this forest is very large, so to see such a large army, led by as many as two Goblin Generals , that's great rarity. Having pulled out a mask, a black cloak and a black T-shirt from my inventory, I put them on and, holding the mask in my hands, began to wait for the actions of the monsters, if it turns out that these adventurers can handle them, I will not intervene, but if they cannot, I have to help. Not because I am a kind person who rushes to help all the people who need her so much, but because there are all girls in this group, there is not a single guy here. If he loses, they will not be killed, but raped and forced to give birth to goblin offspring, and only then they will be killed.

"I will not allow this" - Putting on the mask, I put my hand on the mithril blade.

- UUUAAAAAA !!! - Goblin roared the General, thereby signaling the start of the battle.

Two girls with shields, three with swords and two with staves, a fully equipped group, was ready for battle, determination was read in their eyes .

"They're not new ." " - I noticed, following their actions.

The girls , who stood with shields held defense against orcs, and those that wielded swords, killing hobgoblins. Having formed a circle, they defended those who carried staves with them . A girl with a long wooden staff in her hands began to cast a spell.

「O God of war, destroying his enemies with one blow, hear my call, and deciphering the ancient laws of this world, create a wall of flame between us that protects us -

Wall of Fire! 」

Having finished casting the spell, a raging flame erupted from her staff, which, as the name implies, formed a wall seven meters wide and three meters high, thereby closing one of their flanks for a while. At this time, the girl who held the wand, and not the staff, as I originally thought, began to hum another spell

「O Goddess of Light - Sinai, I ask you, hear my prayer, and protect us, your children, from sinners who have encroached on our lives - the Holy Wall! 」

Having finished singing the spell, a large amount of vital energy came out of her wand, which formed the Wall in front of the girl with the sword and her friend, the priestess herself, who called this one with the shadow, fell on one knee, and began to breathe heavily. Closing two of the four sides, the girls began to shred the monsters one at a time, but they could not do it forever, here and there they received more and more wounds, and their only doctor, now he was lying on the ground, not even able to move his hands.

"She spent too much vital energy ... This is very bad ! "- Seeing how they are being squeezed, I decided to urgently help them.

Having drawn my mithril sword, I covered my body with lightning, and using [Lightning Jump] , I was directly in front of one of the girls with a shield. With the help of [ Lightning Fast Elimination ] , in one instant I broke my mithril sword, killing about forty monsters with it, for monsters and girls it happened in a second, and for me it took forever. Even enveloping the blade by lightning, it will not sustain such a rate and it appeared dozens of cracks , thrusting his Mithril sword back into its sheath, I took a white sword that I hearth reel father, and using wind element - [Air Blade] and the element of water - [ Water Spear], finished off all the monsters that surrounded them. Only the Goblins Generals and their direct subordinates remained, a dozen hobgoblins. Deciding not to give them a chance to escape, I quickly approached them and chopped off their heads.

Having finished my work, I sheathed the white sword and set about collecting their corpses in my bag. Gathering the bodies of the monsters that I killed, I went to a group of girls who fell to the floor with fatigue and asked a question .

- Are you okay? - Having asked this, I looked at the priestess, who was still breathing heavily, lying on the grass.

- Y-yes, thank you. - Having risen to her feet, said the girl with a two-handed sword. - If you weren't, we would have lost and ... - She did not dare to continue.

- Not worth it. - With her hand showing what was enough, she humbly fell to her fifth point.

「O Goddess of Light - Sinai, according to our agreement, I command you to decipher the laws of this world and heal your children who have suffered at the hands of the unclean - Mass Healing 」

Healing the girls, I turned and was about to leave , turned to them.

- You should return back to the city, this forest is still too complicated for you, for a start it is worth gaining combat experience and buying better equipment. I think that the money you get after the sale of these corpses should be enough for better equipment . - Having said this, I headed further into the forest, having previously left in the shadow of one of the girls of my shadow soldier, if something happened to them, I could instantly get to them.

After hunting for a few more hours, I made sure that the girls had left the forest and, using the Gates, went to Krival. Having washed and changed my clothes, I went to the merchant guild to sell my materials.

And in addition today, I was able to earn five white gold coins

[Orc Hide - 109/300 (+92)

Hobgoblin Hide - 213/250 (+190)

Goblin Hide of the General - 32/32 (19)

Skin - Omega Wolf - 179/500 (+60)]

Having almost completed their order, I took note of the fact that there are almost no Omega Wolves in the Demonic Forest, and decided that tomorrow I would go to the Goblin Forest, which is located in the north.

Having received my money, I left the guild, under the gaze of dumbfounded by this amount of skins, Alfred and his assistants.

So another day ended from my peaceful and measured life, but as soon as I left the guild, I was met by one very cute and very angry person with golden hair and a blue brooch on her, dressed in the uniform of a military academy .

- Esh !!! - She cried out when she noticed how I walked out of the guild of merchants in a stunning walk .

- Oh Alice, how are you? How are you? How is mother father? - Seeing her, I was taken aback for a second , and then began, waving my hands to ask her stupid questions.