Had to finish the Chapter this morning as I actually fell asleep yesterday on my desk and woke up at 1 in the morning again :D.

Hope you enjoy!

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Chapter 21: The Road Ahead

Makoto decided to get a little more serious after teasing Lilliana for a good bit and turned towards Sanja.

"So where are you all headed anyways?"

Sure it could very well be that they were also on their way to the Capital but he wanted to at least ask before potentially tagging along for the ride.

"We are currently heading East to the town Marahel, it is close to a gigantic lake that is also not too far from the Capital so if you are also heading in that direction we could just invite you to the party."

Sanja said with a smile and Makoto couldn't help but raise an eyebrow.

"Are you sure your party would be ok with that?"

Somehow he doubted it as both the Warrior and Archer in the party kept their distance, standing further ahead and indicating that way that they wanted to get a move on.

Sanja turned around and her braided brown hair whipped after her sudden movement, again turning around very fast she showed Makoto a reassuring smile and went to Lilliana to win her over first.

He could clearly see how she slowly but surely convinced the other girl as Lilliana's posture got less and less threatening until she shot a few glances his way where she had before stoically avoided all and every acknowledgment that he even existed whenever Makoto didn't talk to her.

After a slight pat on her shoulder, Sanja walked off to the Archer and soon enough his posture and attitude changed too.

The Warrior seemed to be the toughest nut to crack but somehow even he bent beneath her words and soon enough she walked back to Makoto with a smile visible on her face and a system message appearing before him.

You have been invited to a party!

Visibly impressed, Makoto confirmed the invitation and gave the tall girl a thumbs up.

"Gotta say if you can convince everyone like that I don't envy any boyfriend you have, he won't even be able to complain as you can probably just change his mind that everything is alright anyways."

The smile on Sanja's face quickly disappeared and a pouting expression was visible.

"Hey, now that's not fair after I helped you like that, meany."

A jab in his ribs later and trying to quickly evade further attempts from Sanja, the whole group started their Journey again.

Rubbing his hurting side, Makoto started to make conversation again and to maybe calm the pouting Priestess.

"So tell me, why are you really heading so far East if you are not going to the Capital?"

Both Sanja and Lilliana looked at each other for a second until the smaller of the two answered while keeping a black strand of hair out of her eye.

"We met Tanitrus and Vecolizo, the Archer and Warrior duo, on the way from Talis.

Originally it was just me and Sanja that got a Quest to go there from a shop keeper in Talis telling us to help out his brother in Marahel.

And no, we can't share the Quest before you ask me."

Lilliana said, noticing he had opened his mouth.

Honestly it didn't surprise Makoto that they could not share the Quest, he had never tried it himself but Quests in general could only be given from an NPC, unlike Tasks that you could accept to the dozen and find in every Inn, Quests had a lot to do with the NPC or the area, affecting both in either a minor or major way.

You could do 100 Tasks and nothing would change for the people of a city as it mostly involved killing mobs that respawned, but just one Quest could spell loss or victory in even something like a war between nations, that was the big difference between a Task and Quest.

Sure you would get monetary compensation for what you did with a Task and sometimes even gear but the really good Equipment you ever only got from Quests.

That also explained why it was so much harder to get Quests than Tasks, the simple reason for it was that you just had to know the background or story for quite a lot of things to even be considered as a possible individual to receive said Quest from the NPC.

That was what Makoto was able to conclude after dealing with both types quite a lot until now.

Maybe if he just read a lot of background information on Asuria in a Library he would be able to get a bunch of Quests?

Deep in thought about all of this he noticed a change around them.

He had no idea how but It was like something was in the air, every hair on his body suddenly stood up, he could feel something like killing intent wash over him from the right.

Without wasting any time he got into a combat position and shouted towards Lilliana and Sanja to warn them.

"Ambush! Get ready for battle!"

Luckily both reacted relatively fast to his words as only moments later a group of human bandits came running at them from the woods at the right.

Both the Archer and Warrior in the party had been stunned at the sudden appearance of so many enemies and Makoto couldn't help a "Tch" that escaped his mouth while running in front of them to protect both players from the brunt of the attack.

Wielding his blade with both hands he successfully deflected 4 swords and a buckler that came crashing down all around him and he was able to glimpse the faint letters above them during all of that.

Bandit: lvl 15

Surprised about the rather weak group he had no trouble pushing them off and immediately started using 'Aura of the Beast' together with 'Curse Blade' to wreak havoc in the enemy lines.

It didn't take long for Makoto to feel the same rush he always got after splattering ounce after ounce of blood all around and on himself.

Battle, that is where he felt at home, letting his enemies bleed and scream.

With a mad glee visible in his eyes he started to make sure to keep his party in mind while slaughtering bandits left and right, it would be rather unfortunate if he was too absorbed in the whole thing only to find out he was responsible for killing off the Archer or Warrior for example.

Both Sanja and Lilliana had their hands full with enemies for the first couple of minutes until they noticed a sudden absence of bandits.

They watched with slightly opened mouths as Makoto tore through entire groups of enemies like bedsheets.

Even the Warrior and Archer soon enough had no one left to fight and all 4 of them watched the typhoon that was Makoto.

Breathing heavily and seeing no one else standing, he finally stopped his sword and looked around himself.

Nearly 50 or so Bandits lay all around him, the earliest to die already dissipating in a cloud of white particles and leaving behind a bit of junk loot.

Smiling from one ear to the other he walked to his stunned party and wiped his sword clean on the grass beneath him.

"What level are you exactly right now, Makoto?"

Lilliana asked and he couldn't help but smile.

Quickly checking his server ranking he answered her.

"Well, according to the leader-boards I am level 18, currently 87th place."

Immediately Sanja and Lilliana looked at each other, only to check the leader-boards and verify if what he was saying was really true.

"Color me surprised, and here I thought we are high leveled after hitting 16 not long ago."

Sanja said with a slight smile, she was not the only one that reevaluated Makoto for this incredible achievement to actually be one of the top 100 players inside Azalon.

Lilliana looked at him with narrow eyes for a few moments before speaking her mind.

"Was I just imagining that or did you look like a complete maniac fighting those bandits, and what was up with all of that blood anyways? You enjoy that kind of messed up thing or something?"

Makoto couldn't help but notice the slight glare he was still getting from her so he could only imagine that Lilliana was still pissed off about how he teased her so much before.

Deciding to let it slide and give her the credit for winning an argument this once, Makoto only showed a wry smile and motioned for them all to continue the Journey.

There was still something in the back of his mind after all of this as they continued down the gravel road.

How did he know that they would be attacked? There had been no indication that something was wrong but his instinct had suddenly rang every alarm bell inside his head.

Could he really feel the killing Instinct of others?

Not sure what to make of this new revelation, Makoto decided to keep it in mind and see if it maybe had something to do with one of his Skills or was really just instinct.

.....

Soon enough the forest around them cleared a bit more and the road got broader.

They could see the walls of a town up ahead, Marahel was finally in sight.

Shortly after entering, Makoto looked around and examined the area.

There was another exit further east so all in all there existed 2 gates instead of 1 like in most towns.

It also was quite a bit bigger than normal, some of the houses around were even made out of stone instead of wood and he could see something like a market place with a dozen Merchants trying to sell items to travelers.

The amount of players was not as big as it had been in Talis but a lot more than in Shivercliff as he had seen only 1 or 2 other players there.

"Alright, Lilliana and I will go and finish our Quest, Tanitrus and Vecolizo also have something to take care of so we will all meet back in half an hour at the Inn back there."

Sanja said while pointing at a building not far from their current location.

Everyone nodded and the entire party split in 3 with Makoto standing still for a few seconds before heading towards the Inn.

With nothing else to do he decided to already go there and maybe look at a Task or two.

His goal after all was not only to simply reach Elisante but also level up a bit more.

Makoto still wanted to reach level 20 and equip his new gear as quickly as possible.

The inside of the Inn was rather dimly lit and unlike in Shivercliff no one came to welcome him.

There was quite a number of players already inside and some of them stood before the Task-Board so he had to wait a bit to actually see which ones he could still accept.

After a minute or two he could see the actual flyers but surprisingly it was the Bounty-Board he was standing before currently instead of the Task-Board.

Immediately his eyes got caught on a familiar bounty, a bounty he had thought taken care of.

The piece of paper describing his own capture was still hung up on the board and now there was a small window visible beneath it.

Current Hunters: 58/100

Immediately a cold shiver ran down his spine and Makoto quickly walked towards the Innkeeper.

"Excuse me, Sir, could you please come with me for a moment?"

He asked while practically dragging the NPC behind him.

"The Cult who made this request doesn't exist anymore so why is it still hung up here?"

"Wait a minute and stop pulling on my collar for the divines sake! Now let's see, do you mean this request?

Well boy, it seems you don't know how Bounty requests work so let me explain.

First of all you can only make a Bounty request in an actual City, like the Capital for example.

Then you have to have the money ready and go to the Magic Institute that only exists in bigger Settlements like a City.

They will then take the money, bind it to the request that is made and whoever kills or captures the target will get the money automatically after delivering the body either to the one who requested the bounty or a Magic Institute.

This option exists so that even if the one who issued the request dies, the Bounty Hunters would still get the money for their efforts."

The Innkeeper finished and Makoto paled more and more after listening to him.

If what he said was true then this bounty would never go away and because the initial requirements for this practically infinite request was only to reach level 15 and have a Chaotic Alignment, it would get very troublesome for him when the average level of players was over that amount.

The small window did have some reassurance as only 100 people at a time could accept a Bounty request but still, 100 people that were gunning for his head was something very worrisome.

"That's a pretty messed up system if you did nothing wrong."

Makoto hissed and the Innkeeper only shrugged.

"That is just how it is boy, maybe it will teach you to not to offend someone lightly."

Grinding his teeth, he watched the Innkeeper walk away and looked a the window beneath the Blood Cult Bounty request again.

Current Hunters: 61/100

"Fuck!"

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Chapter of today!

Man I was so tired yesterday and still am...

Hope you enjoyed and see you all tomorrow!