Chapter 95

"My sister and I come from a faraway land. We were part of an old tribe that had been around for almost as long as the continent has been. We were nomads for the longest time, but many of my people were killed after many wars and crises. Only small groups remain. My tribe was one of the bigger groups. I am unsure if you have heard of us but my people went by the name Kazaki nomads" said Akak.

"I thought the Kazakis were extinct!" exclaimed Helen. Her knowledge of the world and its history was far vaster than the others due to her pursuit of magic.

"As I said some survived. Almost no one knows though."

"What happened to you guys then? Why are you here far from your tribe?" asked Samuel.

"We had a falling out," said Akak solemnly. "When my father died our brother took control. I had no idea he had such sights on power. When he challenged me for leadership I never knew he had been planning this for ages. When we fought he had poisoned me to weaken me. I was defeated and banished. My sister and a few others came with me. Sadly he was not done and hunted us far past our dessert territory and eventually we ended up here. Just me and my sister. I worried he was still hunting us and inside the guild, those newcomers had my people's tattoos."

"I am so sorry," said Helena.

"That dishonorable bastard!" yelled Ida.

"Are you sure they were Kazaki?" asked Samuel. He was worried that they would have some more trouble on their hands.

"Yes."

The group was was rather surprised as it was not Akak who responded. It was Asice. She was younger than Akak and due to her shy and antisocial behavior the group did not talk to her often. They respected her though as her magic was strong. Helen and Ida had often tried to befriend her.

"Well, they didn't seem to notice you guys in the guild. We will keep our eyes out just in case," said Samuel. "We are almost at the estate now so behave guys. This man is a rich noble who could either bless us with fortune or ruin our lives completely."

The group had accepted a job to defend a noble's estate that was outside the main city. It was rather far and they had been riding for three-quarters of a day now. Apparently this noble was a big deal at least enough to hire several groups to guard his estate. The estate was huge and seemed like a town with a castle in the middle. A large wall spanned around the surroundings. Kokarian guards could be seen but Samuel noticed that they were not large in number. This estate is so far from the capital and is so lightly guarded that he now understood why the noble was so willing to spend so much gold on swords for hire.

"Who are you?!" yelled a guard outside the gate.

"We are from the adventures guild! We were hired to help guard this estate," responded Samuel. He held out his adventures ID token to prove to the guard.

"Oh, you're the last group to arrive! Come Lord Nandail will be giving you your orders soon!"

The gate opened and the group walked in. Walking passed all the wealth was really something. Everything was immaculate. No, wear or tear in the building. The castle itself was old but well-maintained. The group all seemed to have a bit of yearning in their hearts for a place like this. Especially Julian the thief.

"What!?" Asice exclaimed. Akak also stopped walking to the front of the castle. The rest of the group was confused.

"What's wrong? We need to go to the lord's address" said Samuel.

"They are here," said Akak as he gestured to where the rest of the groups were. In the back of the adventurers waiting for the lord to come out of the castle to speak was the group of five who had been in the guild earlier.

"They are here! What do we do?" asked Asice.

"Calm down I see that their attention hasn't even lingered on us for a second. Maybe we are fine" said Akak.

"They may really be adventurers," said Samuel. "They seemed to be in the guild and I am pretty sure they are just here for the same reason we are."

"You may be right. I just wish I could see their leader's face so that I may be able to recognize him. That would give me more information," responded Akak.

"Yeah for now let's just be cautious," said Samuel.

"I hate to add more to our plate but looks like that ass Gunthar and his Deserted Hogs are also working for this noble" chimed Julian with disgust and annoyance.

Samuel frowned. It seemed Julian was right as Samuel saw a chubby, heavily armored, bearded, man, with a ragtag crew of armed ruffians. This group had been at odds with Samuel and his group for a while now. They had feuded over jobs and other things.

"Uhh this job seems like it gonna be a pain," said Helen.

"At this point maybe the front lines would have been better" Ida.

"Told ya so," said Julian.

"Shut up!" responded Ida and Helen.

"Calm down everyone. Let's go get our orders with the rest. No matter what at least the pay is good" said Samuel.

The group nodded and walked over to where the rest of the sellswords were. It's time to meet their new boss.