A very interesting meeting

It had turned late afternoon when Jay passed the next fork on his way. This time he followed the sign pointing towards the coast and not the one with Millshire on it.

While to his right the view hadn't changed one bit with the wide fields where crops or corn was growing, to his left side sparse trees were blocking his view until they turned into a small forrest.

As if to present him yet another chance on testing his skills, a group of four bandits jumped out of their hiding spots next to the road.

It wasn't like Jay hadn't noticed them so he had prepared his spell beforehand. His distance to the next field was big enough, so the first spell he shot was a fireball.

It hit critically of course, incinerating the bandit while nearly killing him. With the following (Conflagrate), the man exploded and incinerated the man and woman next to him.

By that time, Jay had jumped from his horse and dismissed it.

With a (Charge) he arrived before the fourth man and beheaded him with a critical slash. A single use of (Blazing Flames) ended the small group of bandits and Jay learned that his chance to hit critically skyrocketed.

He decided to only spent more of his status points once he either had over a hundred or his critical chance dropped notably.

By then he was sure that LUK was mostly responsible for his chances and he hadn't gotten let down once since he hit Jackpot with his [Lucky] skill.

Cursing his thoughts just ten minutes later as the road was mostly destroyed from there on, Jay slowed down his pace and rode on. It looked like the road got destroyed on purpose from how the stones had been hacked away and the soil turned around. At least it had not been normal weathering.

A while later, the road had gotten back to normal just two miles further, Jay rode with his normal travel speed when he passed the ruins of a once big building.

Except one wall, the rest seemed to have crumbled from what Jay saw.

With it build on a slight elevation it looked to have been a farm, but it must have been a long time ago, going by the state the ruin was in.

Looking at it from some distance, Jay remembered the map he had gotten and took it out. Going by what he saw, the location of the ruins was called Demonts Place. From what the map showed it was connected to the road he was on and the one leading towards the Alexton's farm.

As Jay looked up from the map, he really could see the path leading to the ruins and not much further behind he spotted the crossing towards Millshire.

The sun had already begun to sink and after a full day of riding, a good amount of it in a speed not many normal horses could reach, not to say even keep it up for that long, Jay decided to call it a day.

Riding up the hill to the ruins, Jay looked around for a good place to set up the tent. There really stood no walls nor were any other things left and even the floor had been claimed back by nature.

Setting up his tent next to what was once the fireplace of the house so it was hidden by the wall and what was left of the corner of the house, Jay went back outside to set up a fire. He was planning to roast the small piglet for that nights dinner.

As he was picking up wood he saw movement in the far distance, coming from the south.

A single person was running through the fields and keeping away from the road. Using his [Far Sight], Jay was able to discern her as a woman thanks to her tight clothes while her face was hidden behind a red bandana.

Watching her run with amazing speed, he anticipated her coming pretty close to the farm he was camping on.

Just for cautions sake, Jay activated [Hide] and the moment she came within reach he analyzed the woman.

__________

Marley (Courier LVL 8)

Base LVL 19

*Arathi*

HP 490/490 * Mana 93/117

[Hidden Weapons LVL 2]

[Parcours LVL 3]

[Camping LVL 2]

[Swift Feet LVL 4]

__________

It was like he had thought. The only reason Jay had been able to think of for a person running trough the fields and keeping distance to the road could have been to stay unseen.

Through sheer coincidence he had stumbled upon the Defier's Courier in the midst of the fields. He pondered a bit if it may have been thanks to his LUK stat.

But Jay had no time to think about that any longer as Marley closed in fast.

With a sweeping kick out of hide, Jay surprised the young woman and she fell forward thanks to her inertia and one leg getting kicked away.

And then it was Jay to get a surprise.

Instead of falling flat to the ground, she rolled forward elegantly and jumped back to her feet, not minding his attack as she looked over her slim shoulder.

Dashing forward, Marley left Jay no chance to catch up to her.

As if Jay would let that happen, he used a shadow step as she was barely within reach.

Diving out of the shadow he grabber her right arm and hurled her around with full force the moment he stepped out.

With her hazel eyes wide open and her thin brows raised in surprise, the Courier was hurled far to the back.

Jay positioned himself in her way so she wouldn't try to run again.

Though he had still some leeway with mana boosted legs to catch her, he didn't know if she had similar abilities as well. With her high basic speed, he would be hard pressed until shadow step was available again.

Marley had understood his plan as well and hurled a small, fast thrown knife towards Jay. But for incoming attacks, he didn't have to fear something on that level and simply swatted it away with the right timing.

He could have used a dagger or sword and probably ended the fight with one single exchange, but he needed some more information from her.

And her sleek black hair and few visible facial features made him intrigued and want to know how she looked.

She kept her distance from that point on, how ever he walked towards her. They were already back to the point where Jay initiated his ambush when he boosted his legs up and rushed for her.

Glad she seemed not to have a similar ability to boost her speed with magic, Marley still managed to dodge his grab, punch and sweep with not too much effort.

The next attack, a light jab from the left, had to be aborted. Jay saw a small string forming a loop exactly where his arm was going to pass next, but only due to his exorbitant eyesight. While she squinted her eyes to her trap failing, Jay probed his next attack.

That went on for some time with Marley throwing a knife here and there or laying out a trap with the string, while Jay threw light punches or tried to grab her.

None of them was making any progress or hurt the other in the least to that point when suddenly Jay stopped moving and dropped his guard.

"Let's stop playing around, okay? Just come with me and we can have a nice talk…" J.

"You're jokin-n-n-n…." M.

With a bit of smoke rising from her tight fit leather armor, the female courier fell face first to the ground.

Catching her last second before impact from behind, Jay threw her over his shoulder and brought her back to his tent.

He had noticed her mana dropping rapidly whenever she laid traps with the string like thing. That was the reason he kept attacking as even his mana boost was nothing but a joke to his mana reserves.

The moment she ran dry he gave her a last chance to give up, before he used a long having cooled down shadow step while channeling a (Lightning Fist).

While she was still knocked out cold when he brought her into the tent, Jay went with his standard procedure and rid her of anything.

Starting with some throwing knives hidden all over her armor and the metallic string she had kept in her sleeve, he next took the item he was after.

It was a sealed letter probably addressed to the bandits once inhabiting the Alexton's farm. Putting it into his inventory, Jay took off the bandana hiding her lower face.

She really was a beauty, with a slim face, slender nose and small mouth. The arced shape of her brow gave her a somehow stern expression combined with her hairstyle, but it fit together well.

With a wide grin on his face, Jay went on with his preparations to question her.

Like he was used to, he stripped her bare and bound her with her arms up on the central stand of the tent. While she was of average height, Marley was a slim woman in her mid twenties. Her chest was on the smaller side with the two fine and small buds on top and her hips were a bit wider leaving a prominent leg gap.

Giving her a heal so she wouldn't have scars left from his lightning attack and accelerate her waking up, Jay sat on a chair and waited. Using the time he took out the letter again, opened and read it.

*****

Dear Malcom,

We are sorry for your last losses on your men. All we can ensure you with is the soldiers from Millshire kept to their word and will not support the royal Army. It must have been either reinforcements from the capital to defeat a band of that size.

But we expect you to further your efforts on taking over the Farms. With the new reinforcements send from the base camp you should have no problems overtaking even the last one. Please hasten your efforts as we are finishing on our end soon as well. Timing is crucial in our plan not to have failures like last time.

The moment you have finished your tasks we expect you and your leaders to hold out until we finished our export from the mines. New and better equipment awaits you all the moment we are done!

Then we will move to the next step: Arathor shall fall!

E.v.C.

*****

Jay had been right with his suspicion, this letter had been for the bandits on the farm, namely their leader called Malcom.

Thinking back on the man dying to his dagger, Jay folded the letter and placed it on the table next to him. He had no idea from whom or where the letter came, but it stated something from a mine and a base camp.

Jay had to ask the woman sitting on the ground before him for information to know more.

Like she had been called for, Marley's eyes started to move until she opened them.

With shock she noticed she had gotten captured and started looking around in the tent, just to finally find the culprit in the young man sitting in front of her on a chair.

Only after trying to free her arms a few times more did she notice she was completely naked.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" M.

"What the hell do you think you have to say here, sweetie?" J.

"Swee… HEY, you! What are you planning with me?" M.

"Shh… Careful not to hurt your wrists after I healed you up! I just need some info from you and all will end well." J.

"End well… as if you'll let me go…" M.

"I even promise to let you live if you help me. Just tell me who wrote this letter!" J.

"What, the letter? When did you… oh…" M.

"So?" J.

"I really have no idea. Look, if I had the chance to live on for telling I'd gladly do. It's been a job, nothing more.

I got the letters from a contact man…" M.

"Letters? How long have you been doing this then?" J.

"About a year by now… first I was different routes, but since a while I relay messages between Millshire and that big farm." M.

"Where is that contact man of yours?" J.

"He's in the basement of the Lamplighter Inn in Millshire and for the farm I…" M.

"No need, there's no bandit left. You could be glad I caught you, as if it was the soldiers of the royal army, they would have… let's say they would react different." J.

The gulping was audible as she thought about what might have happened to her if she had traveled on towards the Alexton's farm. Hanging her head in resignation, she suddenly shot it back up with new will reflecting in her eyes.

But that held only for a second until Jay stood up and walked the two steps over to her. Then he leaned down and loosened her binding on the main stand to pull her up.

Looking up and into his sparkling green eyes, she noticed how incredibly tall he was and got a bit flustered.

Jay simply sat her on the table facing him what irritated her even more.

"I'm sorry as you really cooperated splendidly, but I need something more from you…" J.

Marley's irritation grew even more and she blinked a few times, still staring at him directly. As she was fearing her live was about to be over, Jay unbuttoned his pants and it finally dawned her what this youth had meant.

Thinking what a group of soldiers might have done with her until she was killed, this seemed to be an acceptable punishment to her.

But that was only until she saw what lay beneath his dark leather pants after he unbuttoned it completely and pulled it a bit down.

A unit of soldiers might have been the better option in retrospect...