An Exchange

A huge door began to open.

"Today is the delivery of the soul stones." Arthur said as he walked out of the door. "With what we've collected these days, we'll have enough for a couple of months." he added.

"That's good." Safwane replied as he greeted the citizens.

During this short period of time, the citizens came under the command of the young emperor and now they worked to rebuild the city.

The city was still devastated, but now the happiness of the people was in the air.

Among the citizens there were a lot of people with peculiarities, but the vast majority were useless in battle. The few others who had decent peculiarities feared death.

The emperor and Arthur entered a small house.

"There was a phrase about the primordial beast again..." Safwane said as he sat down.

"Yes... But it still gave us some clues as to what it is." Arthur replied as he unfolded a scroll on the table.

"This is what we know so far..."

Primordial beasts are the highest rank of nightmares, they are so powerful that their presence affects the world.

When these beasts come to the world, they unleash a large amount of nightmares across it. In which neither day nor night will be safe anymore.

The purpose of these beasts is unknown, but it is known that they guard the primordial runes.

It is mentioned that there are seven of these runes, why they protect them is a mystery...

"That's all." Arthur said as he slowly closed the scroll.

"...The most troublesome thing is the presence of nightmares throughout the day." Safwane said worriedly.

"Yes... Busan will probably not last more than an hour since we don't have a fortress." Arthur replied.

Safwane sighed in distress.

"Is it impossible to bring the citizens to the capital?" asked Safwane.

"We should have a lot of money or have interesting slayers to offer them in exchange." Arthur explained as he sat down.

"So it's impossible..." the emperor stammered.

Someone started knocking on the door.

"Come in." Arthur said as he stood up.

A middle-aged man entered.

"Hello... The collectors have already arrived."

"Okay, we're going."

Safwane started to stand up.

"Have you collected all the stones?" he asked.

Arthur nodded.

They both left the small house, the atmosphere was calm, with nothing for the citizens to fear. That made Safwane feel calm.

Without having to walk far, they found themselves in front of three hooded men.

Their long white robes and those hoods that covered their faces gave a slight feeling of insecurity.

"You are the ones in charge?" said a hooded man with some arrogance.

"Yes" answered Arthur.

"We don't have much time so we have to give each other the soul stones." said the hooded man again.

Arthur took out a small bag, in which all the stones were.

The use of these stones had brought great advances such as this space bag in which they could store a large amount of objects.

But before Arthur could give them the bag Safwane grabbed his arm.

"Aren't you going to ask them?" he asked without taking his eyes off the hooded men.

"If it's not them why would they ask about the stones?" asked Arthur.

"Are you foreigners?" asked one of the hooded men.

"Yes..." answered Arthur with nervous laughter. "See, they're getting upset" he murmured.

However, as the young man spoke, Safwane pulled him towards him with force.

"What are you doing!?" Arthur shouted confused.

But when he looked forward, he saw Safwane holding a sword in his hand as blood lightly ran down the blade.

"Arthur..." Safwane said. "We'll talk later..." he added, looking at him angrily from the corner of his eye.

Arthur began to sob.

'Why does this always happen to me...'

Meanwhile, the hooded man let go of the sword and stood guard with the other two.

Safwane, who had been left with the sword, squeezed it, breaking it in half.

"I see that the Busan area had someone strong..." said the hooded man, unsheathing another sword.

"Who are you?" asked Arthur.

However, he received no response.

The three hooded men simultaneously attacked Safwane at high speed and at the same time tried to cut him.

But the emperor with a quick draw cut the blade of the three swords.

The trio stepped back in confusion.

The reason why Safwane had grabbed and broken the sword was simple, to test the strength of these strangers. And after doing so, he could know with certainty that these three were not slayers.

"Who are you?" asked Safwane annoyed.

The three hooded men, not knowing what had been asked of them, began to lean back covered in sweat, but before they tried to escape, they received a strong blow to the head.

They began to fall unconscious to the ground.

"Have we intervened in something, boss?" said a muscular man who was in his thirties.

"Don't worry Junseok, you've done well." Arthur said nervously.

Safwane looked at him out of the corner of his eye.

"I'm going to go see how the work is going there..." he said again trying to escape.

But the emperor grabbed him by the shirt.

"Where are you going?"

Arthur gulped.

"Hello, did we interrupt something?"

They were a man and a woman, these ones in an elegant suit and with a great presence. These ones did seem to be the collectors.

"You're not interrupting anything!" said Arthur running towards them gratefully.

"I see..." the man stammered as he pushed him away. "Have you had an internal struggle?" he asked.

"No, they seem to be thieves." said Junseok.

"I understand... then we will take them along with the soul stones." said the man observing the three hooded men.

"You have made a great achievement, these thieves seem to be from the corrupt group, Abyss, they usually wear masks or white coats if they are new." explained the woman.

"And what do they do with the soul stones?" asked Arthur.

"Offerings... Although it is not a topic that we should talk about. If we manage to catch these men we will give you a small reward." said the woman.

Arthur and the citizens who were around smiled after hearing the words.

"Or I will explain the process in case you do not know. After giving us the stones the resources will be prepared to go to the city tomorrow. In case this process was prevented you will be allowed to go to the capital." explained the man without enthusiasm.

"Although it is impossible for something like that to happen since it has the highest possible security." added the woman.

"I understand." said Arthur giving her the small bag.

As he handed it over he felt a terrifying gaze fixed on him.

"Will you stop looking at me like that!?" Arthur shouted angrily.

Safwane closed his eyes and sighed, shrugging his shoulders.

Arthur frowned.

"...Or we hope for the best." both collectors said at the same time.

As they left, they began to look at Safwane out of the corner of their eyes.

"Who is that man?" the collector murmured.

"I don't know, but he's strong, maybe even those from Busan survive..." the woman replied.

"Do you think it was right not to have told them?" he asked again.

"None would be accepted in the capital except that man... Besides, we need bait to be able to prepare."

"I understand..." the man replied sadly. "I wish you luck..." he murmured.