Chapter 174: A Game called Tag! (1/2)

After a few minutes, Pedro and Sabrina arrived at the western gate of the said village. Right behind them were the other five members of the Advance Force, who were able to catch up to them thanks to the soldiers and adventurers who were fighting and clearing monsters around the said village.

Since there were no monsters around, they simply sheathed their weapons back to their scabbards. That said, Pedro and Sabrina's Pen-knives lay await underneath their clothes--ready to strike at any second.

”Young Adventurer!” Aks called Pedro, making him stop and glance to his back. Then, Aks asked, ”Can I know why are we entering the Village of Axutar? I mean... Shouldn't we help their soldiers clear the monsters first? The monsters are not that many compared to the west?”

”There's no need for that, Sire Aks.” Pedro said, ”The village soldiers and the adventurers are morethan enough to face them. Our goal is to immediately help those who were currently in dire situations. So... We must move forward to the next stronghold. I just need to give my greetings to the village chief and say a few words of 'advice', before we look for merchants that would easily bring us to the next stronghold.”

Pedro did not wait for Aks' response. He turned around and walked towards the gate of Axutar Village--where several village soldiers stood on guard, and said to Aks, ”Merchants are important in this time of crisis. They are the ones transporting food, potions, and other important supplies from a bigger stronghold to a smaller stronghold. We should, at the least, be able to help them by providing protection along the way. It's a win-win situation for both sides.”

”You are right. But... What about the other--”

Before Aks could finish what he wanted to say, Pedro interrupted him, saying, ”That's why I am going to have a talk with the village chief!”

Then, he glanced towards Aldo and said, ”Brother Faith, contact my Aunt... Tell her to inform the two men to meet us outside the Village Chief's office in five minutes. Also... Bring Yuson with you after we enter the village, assess the situation in the village. Meet us at the village shop afterward.”

Aldo glanced towards Yuson, who nodded in response. Aldo nodded to Yuson and glanced back to Pedro, saying, ”Got it.”

Pedro simply had a feint smile painted on his face. Soon, they arrived in front of the village soldiers who where guarding the western gates of Axutar village.

They raised their hand--stopping Pedro and the rest of Advance Force from entering, and said, ”Who are you? If you are from other Villages or from the Creezal Kingdom or the Tarala Kingdom, show us your recommendation or citizenship letters. Else... If you are adventurers... You need to pay a silver coin for each person to enter inside the village!”

The soldiers smirked, emanating out a greedy aura, that made Pedro frown in response. Sabrina took a step forward as if she wanted to slice the village soldiers into pieces. Fortunately, Pedro raised his hand to stop her.

Truth be told, Sabrina had emanated a strong murderous aura that even made the other members of the Advance Force behind her to force out a smile. However, for some reason, the village soldiers was not able to notice or detect it.

At this cases, it should be either they were too strong to ignore Sabrina's murderous aura, or that they were too weak to feel it. But... Based on their actions, it was evident to everyone that the village soldiers belong to the later.

Since, Aks, Antonio, and Yuson knew how teriffying Sabrina was... They didn't dare hinder her and simply left the job of stopping her to Pedro. On the other hand, Aldo and Loren were also players. They were also adventurers!

Seeing that they were almost scammed, they would obviously not hinder Sabrina from chopping them into pieces. In fact, they might even give her a hand in taking care of the shameless bastards.

It was really fortunate that Pedro stepped in, else, the three village soldiers would have turned into chunks of meat that might be used as a bait to the monsters. That said, Pedro could also barely control his emotions.

He knew that the entry payment was a good way to control the people entering the village. At the same time, the villages often use what they earn to pay adventurers to hunt monsters or to help the village soldiers in defending the village.

However, Pedro knew that the payments are often collected by NPCs who were working under the treasurer of the village or the village chief themselves. Otherwise... It is an illegal collection being made by the soldiers.

Unfortunately, such acts were not punishable at this moment, since, there were no governing rules or laws set in place for adventurers everywhere in the world of Bearth. Not even in the well structured and governed strongholds like Kingdoms.

Pedro knew that it would take at least a year before such rules or laws would be implemented across Bearth. Thus, he knew that arguing with the greedy soldiers would be nothing but a waste of their time.

That said, it does not mean that he is going to tolerate the shameless actions of the village soldiers and simply pay the amount that they were asking in order for them to allow Pedro and the Advance Force to enter the village. He was not that much of a fool.

Pedro took a deep breath and said, ”Is this how your village treat members of BHO?”