63 No good deed goes unpunished

The next day arrived and Mike went to the guild to say goodbye to the rest of his party, while it only had been a short period of time he had know them he would have to lie if he said he wasn't at least a little attached to them, after sitting down at his usual table he waited for some time until the other three arrived, as usual, Silvia walked up to him with a smile on her face and beamed

"Good morning Mike!"

"Yeah, morning"

Mike then zoned out a bit like the three of them began to talk about what request they would take for the day until he suddenly said

"I am leaving the island today"

The three of them stopped talking, Will and Jill showed wry smiles while Silvia looked a little sad but quickly showed a smile, after all, she knew Mike would leave the island eventually, so she quickly asked

"When does the ship leave?"

"At midday"

"...So You still have some time?"

"Sure"

"Then… Do you want to… Walk around… With me… For a bit?"

Mike looked at Silvia's face that gradually turned more and more red as she spoke before he gave a mental sigh

"...I don't see why not"

Silvia's face lit up and she immediately got on her feet before she took Mike by his hand

"Then let's go!"

Mike followed Silvia out of the guild, meanwhile, Will and Jill that were left behind exchanged wry smiles before Jill spoke

"Sometimes I envy Siliva's energy"

Will gave a nod

"...Yeah me too"

Eventually, Mike bored the ship, he had spent a couple of hours walking around the city with Silvia and he had even received a gift from her, a sheath for the cheap dagger he used which he was grateful for, what Mike didn't know was that a tragic fate awaited the three young people for a week after Mike left with the ship the pursuit arrived in the port city where they quickly got word that the escaped slave was seen as a party member with three young people that were born and raised in the city, the three young people were then quickly captured and after a day's worth of torture, one of them revealed that the escaped slave had managed to make his way off the island and thus the pursuit group took their anger out on the three young people executing them swiftly for aiding an escaped slave…

Mike, of course, didn't know about this, all that was in his mind were revenge against Hector and the rest of the hammer party, but no doubt if he knew he would only respond with a shrug, after all, he didn't care whether they lived or died…

After about a week on the ship, Mike arrived at a cost city on Darbel and got off the ship while he began planning his next move

'I need to make my way south… for that, I am going to need some money or better yet take an escort job heading south… Yeah, let's see if there are any escorting jobs available at the guild…'

Mike made his way towards the local guild and soon stood in front of the request board where he scanned the requests before he got a slight headache and decided to queue up to see a receptionist and ask if there were any caravan's heading south, soon he arrived at the desk and asked his question and was met with a business smile

"Certainly, let me check the recent caravan requests…"

While the receptionist went through the request book Mike zoned out slightly until she spoke up again

"There is a request for a caravan that's heading to the southernmost city of the island… it's only the request specifies that only level 3 and above adventures are needed"

"That won't be a problem, I am level 4"

The receptionist gave Mike a funny look, he was after all wearing cheap clothes and had a cheap dagger as his only weapon, but alas she gave a sigh and decided to test Mike

"Then please put your hand on the crystal ball"

"Sure, I am a demon so don't freak out when I do though"

The receptionist gave a nod and then Mike put his hand on the crystal ball that soon shone with a vermilion light before it then showed his level, the receptionist's eyes nearly popped out of her head when she saw the number '4' displayed on the crystal ball, it should be known that level 5 was the max level on Darbel so a level 4 was very respectable, but alas she quickly pulled herself together

"...Your level has been confirmed, the reward for the trip is 10.000 and is expected to take about three months, are you sure you want to take this request?"

Mike gave a nod, then the receptionist proceeded to process the request before she quickly wrote a letter and sealed it with wax before she handed it to Mike

"Please hand this to the head merchant, the caravan is leaving tomorrow morning from the south gate"

Mike took the letter and quickly thanked the receptionist before he walked out of the guild and found an inn where he could spend the night…

The next morning Miek left the inn after eating breakfast and headed towards the south gate where he found the caravan after looking around for a bit, he quickly identified the head merchant and walked over but was stopped by an adventurer

"Stop right there"

Mike stopped and shot her a questioning look, the adventure gave a haughty smile as she spoke

"This is no place for beggars, so fuck off"

Mike showed a slight smile, he was in no mood for arguing with this brat, speaking of her she was wearing a full plate made of polished steel that clearly showed her inexperience in actual combat, on her hip was a sheat decorated with gems and gold, besides that she had long blonde drill hair and gave off the impression that she was of higher birth, Mike showed a slight smile before he released the full force of his killing intent on her, the young noble froze up, she had never felt this strong killing intent before, the blood instantly drained from her face as she locked up, Mike then proceeded to walk around her over to the head merchant and greeted him

"Hello there"

The merchant looked over at Mike and sized him up for a moment before he asked

"Do you need anything?"

"Yeah I have a letter from the guild I am supposed to hand to you"

Mike took the letter out and handed it to the merchant that cheeked the seal and saw it really was from the guild before he began reading it, slowly the color drained from his face before he looked up at Mike then down at the letter and then up at Mike again and then stammered

"I-Is what this letter says true?"

Mike gave a shrug

"I don't know, I haven't read it"

The merchant gave a nod and explained

"It says that you are level 4 and want to join my caravan as a guard going south?"

Mike gave a slight smile and a nod

"Then it's correct… Looks like I need to deal with this first, one second"

Mike then suddenly twisted his body to the side as an overhead slash came down from behind, it was the young noble woman that had managed to break free form her daze and attacked Mike from behind, Mike, of course, didn't appreciate this so he after twisted his body out of the way of the slash he quickly took some distance from her and asked with an annoyed expression on his face

"What's your problem? Can't you be a quiet brat, the adults are talking"

The young noble looked like she was about to pop a vein when she heard Mike's insult and yelled

"You dirty beggar, I'll kill you!"

She then kicked off the ground towards Mike that gave a sigh and took a boxing stance before he muttered

"Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee…"

When the young noble came within range she stabbed forwards with her sword, Mike bent his upper body and sent out a jab that connected cleanly with the young noble's unprotected chin and then… Well she went out like a light and collapsed face first on the ground, the head merchant that were watching along with the other hired adventures all had awkward looks on their faces, Mike looked at them and asked

"What? That was clearly self defence"

The head merchant gave a sigh before he quickly announced to the rest of the adventures

"This is our newest member, he is level 4"

The adventures began talking amongst themselves, meanwhile, the head merchant walked over to Mike and told him a very critical fact

"This is Hellen that you just knocked out, she is the daughter of the local lord that is coming to see her off in a bit… He is also level 4"

Clearly, the head merchant still had some doubts about Mike being level 4 but Mike just gave a shrug and spoke unsarcastically

"Well if he had taught his daughter any manners this would not have happened"