Chapter 39 Twin Mountains

Cleo slowly open his eyes when a ray of sunlight shone on his eyelids and heard the chirping of birds signaling a new day has begun. He carefully remove Leah's arm on his chest to make sure he won't accidentally wake her up.

He woke up in a good state, feeling satisfied with the soft bed. The layout of the room is not that different compare to the one at the Lavierre Kingdom. The only difference is the quality of the furniture. Cleo then heads out to order breakfast below.

"Had a good sleep? Where's Leah?" greeted by Valerie whose also going down to eat breakfast.

"She's still sleeping. You find what you're looking for yesterday?" says by Cleo.

"Not entirely but I have a solid lead now. We can start there once you both are done with the auction." replied by Valerie.

Cleo just nods and they both proceed to order breakfast. They part ways after, Valerie stays at one of the available tables while Cleo brings the food he order back to his room. Leah is already done refreshing herself and tidying the bed.

The pair started eating. Unlike Lavierre Kingdom, flour is not that common in Zirracania not because they don't have access to wheat but because of the inhabitant's diet. Orcs and Dwarves mainly consumes meat throughout the day while Elves prefers fruits and vegetables.

"I need to go now." says by Cleo once they're done eating.

Leah just nods, her bright smile turn into a frown and eyes begging Cleo to take her with him.

"We already talked about this last night. Its only a day at most." says Cleo when he noticed Leah's dejected expression.

Cleo scan his inventory before leaving. He left most the gold and fragments to Leah, taking only both type of potions with him.

They both head downstairs. Cleo goes to the front door while Leah approach Valerie whose already finish eating as well.

Cleo's journey back to the bandit's hideout is much faster since he already knew the way and he avoids monster encounter as much as possible.

A few hours passed by, a familiar gate can be seen at the end of the horizon.

Upon reaching the front of the gate he saw a familiar looking elf with a new partner standing guard.

The elf and his partner assumes battle stance once they saw a young man riding a horse.

"That's near enough!" says by the elf archer with a loud and intimidating voice.

His confidence instantly turn into fear once he recognize the young man riding a horse. Same goes with his partner who witnessed what the young man did to their previous leader.

"Take me to Roark." says by Cleo to the trembling elf archer.

"Y-yes young boss." replied by the trembling elf archer.

"Don't call me young boss. I hate that term. Just call me Cleo." says by Cleo in a cold tone.

"Hiek! I-I'm sorry young bo... Cleo." says by the elf archer while raising both of his arm to cover his face fearing Cleo will hit him.

Cleo just ignores the elf's reaction and proceed to head inside. He expect Roark will be the acting leader now so he already knew where to find him.

Once inside the hideout most of the bandits avoid looking him in the eye fearing they might offend him. Their reaction were not baseless.

Cleo made sure to show the difference between their level last time he was here by easily killing their leader and injuring most of the higher level members.

After minutes of walking they arrive at a tent that is much bigger than the other tents inside the hideout.

"C-Cleo? Only a day passed we didn't have the gold prepared yet." says by the cowering man unbefitting his huge stature.

"I'm not here for that. I have a job for one of your member." says by Cleo.

He then explain that he need a person to act as proxy for him in the upcoming auction. He needs a person that doesn't have a bounty on its head.

'Shit! That's impossible were all bandits here. Once the guards scan our status they will know were wanted.' says Roark inwardly.

"P-please don't take this the wrong way but we're all wanted criminals here." says by Roark with a nervous tone.

Roark started praying in his mind to all the gods he knows to save him from this predicament.

"H-how about the newbies boss?" says by the elf archer.

A hoarse voice suddenly speak. To Roark's ears however it sounded like an angel playing a melodic tune.

"Y-yes the newbies maybe one of them is not yet in the public list of wanted criminals." replied by Roark enthusiastically. "Call them here." he ordered.

Upon hearing his order the elf archer hurriedly goes out the tent to fetch the newbies praying one of them meet the criteria.

Minutes passed by three figure enters the tent. A frail looking elf with scar on his face, a medium built orc with one eye missing and a short human carrying two huge mountains.

This is also the first time Roark saw this newbies. His recent activity mostly revolves around Cleo's orders that was written in a piece of paper he received.

"Which one of you is not a wanted criminal?" asked by Roark, praying hard that at least one of them is not.

After a minute which to Roark feels like an eternity. The voluptuous short woman steps forward.

Roark gulps then turn around to look at Cleo's reaction. A bullet of sweat started running down from his forehead when he saw Cleo's unsatisfied face.

"How about you two?" says by Cleo, pointing to the two men that didn't step forward ignoring the two huge mountains that invades his line of vision.

"We're in the public list." says the two men in unison.

"I'm Anna. I will do anything you want young boss." says by the short woman when she notice she is being ignored. "A-ny-thing~" she added seductively while trying to showcase her asset by tilting forward enough to see the line that splits her two mountains.

'This is bad. We're dead meat once Leah saw us together.' says by Cleo inwardly while putting covering his face with his hand.