Chapter 184: Plan B: To the Tarala Kingdom!

Neerak Axutar had an ominous feeling just from Pedro's warning. However, He had no choice. His body was already at its limit. Even now, he was barely able to walk towards the squashed bodies that Pedro had framed up. He could only buy himself some time to regain his drained stamina.

Pedro can't help but frown on Neerak Axutar's actions. He crossed his arm and closely watched Neerak Axutar walked towards the squashed corpse as the three village soldiers followed behind him—glancing around them ready to defend Neerak Axutar from any threat.

'I don't want to check these bags because of Sir Aron's warning but… I have no choice! This is the only way that I could buy some time for my body to rest.' Neerak Axutar thought as he covered his mouth to lessen the stink of blood that he could smell.

Then, he opened it and peeked inside the inventory bag. A bunch of gore stuff greeted him, consequently leaving him at loss for words. He can't help but stare towards the popped-out eyeballs of a man, who stared back at him as if the corpse was crying for help.

Neerak Axutar's face went pale in the next second and he immediately threw the inventory bag away. The three village soldiers immediately approached him—thinking that something went wrong. However, Neerak Axutar threw up before they could even get closer.

The two of the three village soldiers could only halt in their tracks as they could only watch Neerak Axutar vomit in pain. Whilst one of them knelt down beside him and rubbed his back, helping to calm down and stop Neerak Axutar from vomiting.

"What's wrong, young master?" The village soldier asked.

After several coughs, Neerak Axutar had stopped vomiting. He raised his left hand—stopping the village soldier from rubbing his back, and said, "D-Dead humans! D-Don't look inside that cursed bag! There are dead bodies of humans inside!"

The three village soldiers could only stare towards the inventory bag that Neerak Axutar had just thrown away. At this moment, Neerak Axutar took out a cloth from his bag and wiped his face—removing the residual from his vomit. At the same time, he glanced towards Pedro with a frown.

Pedro simply made a faint smile and said, "I warned you, young man!"

"I am aware of that, Sir Aron." Neerak Axutar said. At this moment, he decided not to look at the other inventory bags of the adventurers who were 'conspiring' with the monster, even if he needed to buy more time to rest and regain his strength. Thus, he was put into a hopeless position and he got no other option but to reveal the truth to Pedro.

"Forgive me, Sir Aron!" He said, making Pedro glare at him in anticipation of what he is about to say. This made Neerak Axutar take a gulp before saying, "My body is at its limits! I wanted to check these dead bodies to learn a thing or two about them. But… What I truly wanted to accomplish above that was to have some rest so that I could still continue traveling with you��� Unfortunately, I did not expect to see a human corpse inside the magical bags."

'This… This is not good!' Pedro thought as he forced out a smile deep inside. 'I knew that this kid is just buying time. But… I did not expect him to bluntly reveal his intentions to me. Since he implied that he could not proceed with walking any further, I have no choice but to go for plan B. After all… It was the faster option to travel to the Tarala Kingdom and it would be such a waste to leave this young man in this dangerous forest alone.'

"I see…" Pedro said, "Then, we have no choice but to opt for plan B."

"Plan B?" Neerak Axutar asked with his eyebrows furrowed. The three village soldiers also glanced towards Pedro with a frown on their faces.

Pedro simply nodded in response and said, "Yes! Plan B! We'll rest at the Baliu Mountain for the night and head for Baliu Village in the morning. Then, we'll use the teleportation portal on Baliu Village to head to the Tarala Kingdom immediately."

"Tarala Kingdom?" Neerak Axutar asked. "Can I know why you are in a hurry to go to the Tarala Kingdom?"

Pedro simply sighed and said, "To be honest… We already interrogated the 'accomplice' of these evil bastards! In fact, that person was being kept by my comrade somewhere near us and was not chasing nor following after the said 'accomplice'. I only made up the part that we let their 'accomplice' go to follow him and locate their other men so that I would be able to gouge out the limits of your body. However… From the looks of it, there is no need to proceed any further with my test because it seems like you are already at your limit. Doing so would only produce more harm than an advantage to you and your bodies."

"Y-You are testing us?" Neerak Axutar asked in astonishment. He can't help but avert his gaze away from Pedro due to the embarrassment and said, "Forgive me, Sir Aron… But…My physical ability is something that I am not proud of."

Pedro simply nodded in response and said, "I know… Anyway, everything is now settled. We are going with Plan B. As for your question earlier, we need to rush to the Tarala Kingdom as soon as possible, to confirm the validity of the information that we got. I can't tell you the details but… All I can say is that the Tarala Kingdom would fall if we don't arrive there by tomorrow."

"T-This…" Neerak Axutar sucked up air after hearing what Pedro had informed them. Since there are waves of monsters attacking strongholds in the Aquari continent, Neerak Axutar can't help but assume that the monsters had something to do with it.

He can't help but stare towards Pedro with a pale face as if he had seen a ghost. This was because of his assumption that if the Tarala Kingdom was bound to fall in the hands of the monsters, how could the nearby/affiliated smaller strongholds like Cities or Villages survive in the future.

If the Tarala Kingdom falls, it would be just a matter of time before the nearby strongholds would fall. Thus, knowing that simple fact made Neerak Axutar at loss for words. Now… The life of the humans nearby the Tarala Kingdom lies in their hands.

"No wonder you—Sir Aron, is in a rush to head to the Tarala Kingdom." He said.

Pedro nodded with a smile and said, "It's good that you understand the responsibility that lies in our hands. Anyway… Take your time to rest. We'll hike the Baliu Mountain as soon as you recover some of your strength. My senior told me about a hidden way that she found on Baliu Mountain—a short cut, that we could use to go to the other side of the mountain without the need of taking the long path."

"A shortcut?" Neerak pondered, thinking if he knew anything about a short cut located at Baliu Mountain. "This is my first time hearing something like this, sir Aron. From what I know, the Baliu Mountain is filled with caves and dungeons, that's why there's no trail up to it and eventually leading to the other side."

"You are right." Pedro said, "There's no trail! But… My senior told me that it could be located at a cave that we would be able to encounter if we took a straight path to the east of Axutar Village."

"I-I see..." Neerak Axutar nodded in amazement. "You really can't underestimate the members of the organization. They can't even obtain information than ordinary people—like us, who even resided in this area for decades."

Pedro simply averted his gaze and said, "Young man… You should not underestimate anyone. Even those who are far weaker than you. Always remember this… Life is like a wheel of a merchant's carriage! Sometimes you are at the top, sometimes you are at the bottom. There might come a time that those whom you'd underestimate, would rise at the top—higher than you. So… Never underestimate anyone, especially us—crafty adventurers."

Neerak Axutar could only force out a smile as he glanced towards Pedro, and said, "Forgive me, Sir Aron! I won't underestimate anyone again. I promise to remember your words for the rest of my life. Thank you for your lesson!"

Pedro simply nodded in response as he took out three [Ge Knight Swords] and handed them over to the three village soldiers, saying, "Since all of you would be traveling with me for some time. Take these swords and equip them. It would be embarrassing if we would arrive at Baliu Village, even in the Tarala Kingdom, with you equipped with low-quality swords. I don't want the reputation of the organization to be tainted just because of this after all."

The three village soldiers had could not help but to accept Pedro's gift. After all, the sword was of high quality and was enough to make them drool. On top of it, Pedro gave it to them out of his goodwill. It would be rude for them to reject his offer. Thus, they accepted it despite having a little bit of hesitation.

After that, Pedro glanced towards Neerak Axutar and said, "I'll give yours later on. After all… I don't think that a sword would be a good gift for you."