As Klein approached the odd balls sitting I couldn't help but notice their clothes.
Their dark red rob with some weird designs on them made them look incredibly sketchy.
The head-band which also was red had a weird spiral like shape embedded on it.
They still were torn and were in living in broken huts but their well fed bodies and the air surrounding them was extremely dangerous.
The biggest guy observed us approaching them and stood as Klein neared.
Klein was shorter than the huge fat guy. Although I couldn't see any of their faces as they were covering it with a red cloth, I could still gauge their expression.
"Do you want any help from us?? I can see that you are trying to garner our attention", Klein said without much hesitation.
The man stood there without speaking much, but then took out something from his pocket and handed it to Klein.
Klein carefully opened what looked like a scroll.
After carefully reading the contents he then gestured us to follow him inside.
I quickly urged my friends to get off their horse and signaled them to follow me.
As we walked behind the guys, I could see a lot of eyes staring at us with eagerness, with eyes thinking we are their saviors.
The group led us into a narrow alleyway and finally stopped in front of a broken and burnt out house.
The house had no roof, they had just tied a huge grey coloured roll from one end to another.
The walls were charred and had the smell of burnt Tyre.
As we entered the place, I could see nothing but a simple table at the front.
The huge table had a lot of weapons placed on it.
Swords, spheres, even staffs. The common thing was that they were all black in colour.
"What is that??" I asked Klein looking at the black coloured weapons.
"Weapons made from Black mithril" Nero uttered as he looked at them in disbelief.
Even Alice was shocked as she began peeking at the weapons.
'Black mithril',
Of course I know what black mithril is. It's said to be one of the strongest ores to make weapons from.
Although this type of mithril is only found on the demon continents, which makes them even more precious and rare.
"Are there demons moving around then??" I asked looking at Klein.
"No Roy, although that does look like a possibility here but no, according to what the scroll said, the townsfolk have started gathering these dark mithril weapons from smugglers most likely to take over the slum." He said picking a Mace up and examining it.
"They could have reported directly to the elders why attract our attention and draw into this run down building" I said touching both my scimitars.
At my remark the huge bulky guy turned his gaze towards me. This time I couldn't get what his expressions conveyed.
We just kept staring at each other for a while until, the man's face fell down, spraying a fountain of blood all over.
Splurgh,
I then saw Klein, swiftly move toward the other guys behind the man, all of them held their weapons ready to strike, one guy pulled his bow and aimed an arrow at us, but everyone was quick to react, I dodged to the left and drew my blade.
The guy threw a series of arrows at us, it had no mana or Aura whatsoever so it was easy to deflect.
I kept dodging the arrows while Nero just blocked them with his greatsword.
Alice swiftly cut down the arrows coming towards her while Jack just dodged like me.
Before we could do anything, Klein did a huge somersault and sliced the head of two guys off neatly and bashed the head of the guy drawing the bow.
The battle ended with a lot of blood on the floor.
"That was an excellent deduction Roy, but you must not reveal your cards in front of the enemy," he said carrying an unconscious half dead guy on his back.
"Gather all the weapons in this bag and let's head back" he said tossing a huge jute bag towards us.
We quickly gathered up the weapons and began moving towards our horses.
On the way, Nero and Jack puked as it was their first time seeing blood but me and Alice were quite fine.
Although Alice did feel quite uncomfortable with all this as she was tightly tugging my sleeve, I had no qualms just like before.
We quickly rode back to the center of the slums where the inn was located.
The moment we arrived, Nara noticed the half dead guy on Klein's back.
She then gestured him to enter through the back door.
I knew they wouldn't let me and the kids inside so before they could stop me I just grabbed Alice and the others, rushing towards the back door.
The moment we entered the huge brown door, I could see a fairly big hall. The walls were painted black. There were no torches but lanterns and the place was extremely decorated, for more than any room in the inn.
Klein noticed my prescense and shouted,
"Roy, I told you to stay behind, this is not a place for children",
"You did send us, a bunch of kids for some stupid lookout" Alice said sticking her tongue out.
"Doesn't matter, we are brave now, hmph", Nero hurrumphed.
Jack as usual remained silent.
My dad who was noticing the commotion gestured Klein to sit down.
"It's fine, let them be Kle. It's about time they knew the harshness of the world. They too look like they want to hear it." He said gazing at me.
Klein simply nodded and splashed water on the unconscious guy.
"Alice could you get the weapons that Kle gave you?" Uncle Jon asked.
Alice innocently handed them the jute bag, while Klein just emptied the bag.
"Where did you find them??" Klein asked looking at the half dead guy.
He didn't answer, just kept his mouth shut.
Nara then inserted her finger into his mouth and blew a gust of wind inside his body.
"Arghhhhhhhh" he shouted in pain.
He began vomiting whatever he had eaten.
The beating didn't stop there, Nara slowly scraped away his skin, inch by inch, until the bones were visible.
Every time they asked a question, he would refuse to answer, and the torture would continue.
Alice was disturbed, crying and helpless, she couldn't bear to see such cruelty.
Jack was the only one calm aside from me.
This greatly piqued my interest in him.
At this point the room was littered in a pool of blood.
There still was no answer.
"It's of no use dad. He won't open up." I said thinking of a way to make him talk.
"So what do you suggest we do??" He asked sounding like he was testing me.
"Gather his personal details, friends, family or any other acquaintances" I said looking at the guy dead in the eye.
"We could just infiltrate the town, like how they did to us",
"No, I don't know about their protection system, but they must've figured it out that the team they sent is dead, so it's high chances that they're on guard just like us. Sending someone now will only get that person killed, he's our best shot" I said looking as earnest as possible.
Right now, the safety of the slums was extremely important. I finally am feeling what it means to have a family. I don't want to loose them.
At this point, I don't care if they think I'm someone different.
My dad just looked at me and showed an amusing smile,
"You're too smart for your own good son," he said looking proud.
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A/N- Shit is about to get real ;)