BXBX NOVEL Chapter 141 - 140 The Town Of Klopot
As the frost drake took its final breath and collapsed after taking the full force of Blitz\'s attack, the members of Eternal Queens who were preparing their long-ranged attacks lowered their weapons and gave Marcus slightly annoyed looks.
It was not the first time Marcus had either let his magic beast or himself get the final hit on an opponent which would give more exp.
However, all they could do was shrug it off since Marcus had simply acted quicker, and he did bring a lot of power to their party.
Of course, Marcus could have easily killed the frost drake on his own with almost no trouble, but he did not mind being a team player and letting everyone have their own time to shine.
The group then went to dismantling the now dead drake since pretty much all of its parts were quite valuable.
Once they had finished taking the valuable parts off the frost drake, the group continued on their way towards the town of Klopot, where they would rest for a day before heading towards the platinum mine.
The days quickly rolled by with the group encountering a few more magic beasts and monster along the way, many of which were quite strong and had an ice elemental affinity.
\'I can see now why most adventures and traveling merchants halt their business during the winter. Not only is the dense snow harder to move in, powerful beasts and monster that are not active during the warm summer months, come out of hibernation.\'
Luckily after traversing the snowy winter landscape that had already lost its novelty, the group of Marcus and the Eternal Queens soon saw the plumes of smoke and steam coming from the town of Klopot in the distance.
Increasing their speed now that their goal was in sight, it took them only another thirty minutes to finally be able to see the walls of the town.
Looking closely, Marcus could see dozens of guards moving around the top of the eight-foot-tall wall that enclosed the town, and the gate was heavily fortified.
All of the members of Eternal Queens and Marcus gave each other knowing looks since this kind of behavior was only exhibited when a town was under attack.
As they got closer one of the guards on top of the wall called out to them and said, "Who goes there, state your business for coming to Klopot."
Bridget seeing the wary and haggard looks of the guards, had everyone stop and said up to the guards.
"We are the gold rank adventuring party Eternal Queens, and we are on our way to the destination of our current request which is close by. We were hoping to be able to rest in this town before our departure."
The guards hearing Bridget\'s response began talking quietly amongst themselves and Marcus could see that their faces seemed to brighten up a bit.
After just a few seconds the guard that was obviously in charge looked down upon them and said, "Please just wait a moment while we remove the barricade in front of the gate, Ah and please have you ID\'s ready for inspection."
Marcus and the Eternal Queens waited just outside of the gate as they saw numerous guards moving boxes, carts, and all manner of items that had been stacked in front gate.
Within a few minutes the guards had cleared the way and opened the gates, allowing Marcus and the members of Eternal Queens to enter.
As they entered into the city the head guard briefly looked over everyone\'s ID and as he did a large smile began creeping over his face until he saw Marcus hand over his silver plate noble ID.
The head guard seeing this immediately kneeled on the ground and bowed before saying, "I am sorry we kept you waiting my lady. Had we known that you were a noble we would have opened the gate quicker, and had a proper reception prepared for you."
Marcus while sighing said, "No need to act on ceremony, here is my ID just look it over real quick and we will be on our way."
The guard following Marcus\' command stood up and with great care looked over his ID and his eyes nearly budged out of his eyes when he saw Marcus\' status.
\'Level thirty-five! She is a monster; she has stats and skills that even make the baron\'s knights look like little kids.\'
The guard captain after reading Marcus\' status began looking at him like he was his savior.
"Um are you done looking over my ID, we would like to get going."
The head guard hearing Marcus\' statement realized he still had Marcus\' ID and had been staring.
With an embarrassed expression the head guard handed back Marcus\' ID, and as Marcus and the Eternal Queens were about to walk away said, "Please wait a moment. If you would all wait here for a few minutes, we have already sent for the baron who is the viceroy of this town to come and greet you all. I am sure that you have noticed the extra defensive measures we have been taking and the baron is coming to personally ask for your assistance."
Hearing this Marcus who the guard had been mainly addressing looked towards Bridget looking for her confirmation.
Bridget simply shrugged her shoulders indicating that she was fine with whatever Marcus wanted to do.
Sighing Marcus decided to meet with the baron since as another titled noble it would be seen as rude for him to openly avoid the baron and he had no intention of stirring up trouble.
Marcus confirming that they would wait for the baron, followed the guard captain into a small building which was furnished with a table and chairs, and a small couch.
The captain told them all to get comfortable and even had someone prepare some tea.
Soon a young man who had been left to attended to Marcus and the Eternal Queens finished preparing a pot of tea and began pouring out a cup for everyone.
Taking a sip Marcus was actually surprised to find that the tea was pretty good which was not what he was expecting from the simple guard rest station they were in.
While drink their tea, it was not long before the door to the room they were in opened, and followed by the guard captain were three individuals.
Marcus looking over the three people could see that two of them were quite well built and were wearing armor and weapons, while the third was a young man dressed in fine clothing.
Standing up Marcus bowed towards the man in the nice clothes who was obviously the baron and said, "It is a pleasure to meet you lord baron, my name is Baronetess Irene Geist."
The baron returning Marcus\' greeting said, "No the pleasure is all mine Lady Geist. My name is Baron Jasper Maltan, and these are my two knights Sir Vincent and Sir Xavier. Please sit down, and there is no need to adhere to formalities with me, feel free to call me Jasper."
Marcus was a bit surprised to see Jasper\'s laid-back demeanor towards normal noble etiquette, but Marcus was not one for it anyway.
Sitting back down Marcus looked towards the baron and said, "Well then Jasper, what is it that you want from me and the Eternal Queens."
Jasper with a grave look on his face sat down across from Marcus and said, "I was hoping to issue an urgent request to your party. You see for the last two weeks a tribe of ice trolls has set up in the woods not far from here, and every few nights they attack the town. We have of course been able to drive them off each time, but they are continuing to chip away at the town\'s resources and defenses. As you probably know trolls have incredible regenerative abilities and even cutting their heads off will no kill them. Thus, since our town does not have any powerful fire or acid magic users, we have been unable to kill the trolls. As the viceroy of this town, I would make sure to adequately compensate you for your service, please help us."
The baron in an unprecedent move even got out of his chair, got onto his hands and knees, and bowed.
Everyone in the room seeing this could not help but gasp since a noble bowing to this level to anyone, especially someone of a lower rank was unheard of and could even damage his reputation.
The knight Sir Xander even said in an exasperated manner, "Lord Maltan, please raise your head, there is no need to shame yourself like this."
However, Jasper simply looked up at his knight and said, "My pride is nothing if it can not help me save the town my family has been the wardens\' off for generations. I would be willing to bow a hundred times to Lady Geist if it would save my town."
Marcus was completely caught off guard by the sincerity of Jasper since most nobles were definitely not this selfless.
Smiling Marcus stood up and said, "Sure I would be more than happy to help you since you asked in such a heartfelt manner. However, I am afraid I am not and official member or the leader of Eternal Queens, so if you want their assistance you will need to ask their leader Bridget."
Jasper hearing this was surprised since he thought that with Marcus\' level and rank, he would naturally be the leader.
Nevertheless, Jasper turned his attention towards Bridget and bowed his head giving his plea to her as well.
Bridget not used to having nobility bowing to her said, "Please stand-up Lord Maltan if Iren- I mean Lady Geist wants to help, then of course we will as well. But for our services in this matter the Eternal Queens will be requesting five hundred gold pieces and the magic cores of any trolls we kill."
With a look of gratitude in his eyes Jasper shook Bridget\'s hand and agreed to her terms but, his Knight Xander in a fit of rage said, "Lord Maltan how can you agree to such terms, I can understand the amount of money it is reasonable, but the cores should belong to you as their employer."
Jasper turning visibly angry looked at Xander and said, "Are you questioning my authority, what would you have me do, wait and see if another powerful adventuring party were to come through while the trolls destroy the town. I believe what they ask is reasonable and if they wanted, they could have asked for more. If you were able to kill any of the trolls than maybe we would not need to enlist outside help, but I will not have you insult the people that have agreed to help us."
Xander being verbally reprimanded by his lord bowed his head in shame and held his tongue from any further outburst.
Jasper then turned back towards Bridget and apologized for Xander\'s lack of manners.
"Now then you all must be tired. The trolls have only attacked at night so far, so if you want to rest until then I will take you to my estate and you can stay there if you wish."
Bridget looked at Marcus and the other members of the Eternal Queens and seeing no opposition agreed to the baron\'s offer, and all of them began making their way towards his estate.