BXBX NOVEL Chapter 17 So Soon
With her eyes wide open as if she had seen an anomaly, the young waitress stared at him like he was a monster or a mythical creature.
She couldn't believe it, and yet the thumb which was on full display on the table suggested that he was in fact telling the truth. Tacy was baffled. This defied all logic as far as she was concerned.
She had worked here for quite some time so she had a clear picture of the statistical indices involved with missions and hunters.
The Goblin was a level 5 creature. And not just that, it was also a leader that was constantly surrounded by tons of Goblins who lived to do its bidding.
And yet, within a time so short, the young mysterious stranger managed to kill it all by himself and without even as much as a scratch. It was unbelievable!
She just couldn't wrap her head around it! Even top hunters worked in groups, and needed at least a week or so to gather supplies, strategize, set traps and hunt a creature of this magnitude.
There were so many questions on Tacy's mind. How did he pull it off? How did he manage to get supplies so fast? How did he even find the Chief of the Goblins so fast?
All of these uncertainties plagued her mind. Because she was a curious person by nature, all of these questions were more like aches. Her curiosity soon got the better of her, she swallowed her guts and asked Xzavier her most pressing question;
"You are back so soon! How exactly did you do go about the mission?"
Xzavier was actually surprised that she knew the details of his mission. He immediately assumed that Kadin must have informed her for the sake of records.
Either way, he wasn't much of a talker so he simply shrugged his shoulders.
But Tacy wasn't one that could easily be tramped down. Once she had set her mind on finding out any piece of information, it was almost impossible to stop her. So, she pressed on stubbornly;
"But how did you break through? It is common knowledge that the Chief is always surrounded by an entire herd of vicious Goblins who would kill for him."
Xzavier wanted to point out the flaw in her statement. He wanted to tell her that the Goblins' willingness to kill for their Chief was diametrically opposed to their willingness to die for him. But he really was in no mood to talk.
So, he replied her with as little words as he could;
"Well, killing them all wasn't really a problem."
Xzavier's words dropped like a nuclear bomb on the ears of some hunters who were lounging nearby. Though they acted as if they weren't listening in on Xzavier and Tacy's conversation, they were very much invested in knowing how Xzavier had fared in his mission.
Much like Tacy, they were thirsty for the information. But unlike the waitress, their gutlessness prevented them from coming over to ask the young stranger.
A lot of them had been present in the establishment during the last showdown between Xzavier and their champion. So, they didn't even dare to think that Xzavier was simply showing off.
Silently, they discussed among themselves;
"Aye! Did you hear that?"
The significantly younger one of the group was speaking now. Like the others, he had also been present at the time when Xzavier had made a public example of the Big Bad Wolf (the man whom Xzavier had publicly humiliated).
His colleague and fellow hunter replied him glumly.
"Yeah bro. I did. It's almost unbelievable."
"I know, should we go over and ask him if it's really true?"
Annoyed by his question, he flared up and retorted;
"Why are you asking me? Don't you remember what he did to the big bad wolf the last time?"
There was silence for a while as each of them reminisced on the showdown that had happened only a day before.
The young stranger had appeared to be boastful and haughty at that time when he had showed up with the bloody head of a cheetah claiming he had killed it all by himself. But he had proved them wrong after he had systematically dismantled the arm of their champion.
The memory of the event was still very fresh in their minds. If they had taken anything from that experience, it was that they could never really doubt Xzavier again.
One of them spoke up and finally broke the uncomfortable silence;
"I for one don't think he's lying bro. I mean, look at the facts. This stranger seems to be pretty skilled."
The others nodded their heads in approval.
"You're right."
A skinny one with broken teeth (and charred black lips from years of smoking) echoed verbally what the others were thinking.
"No doubt, it doesn't really sound true at all. Imagine a single hunter killing one or two Goblins? Now picture one man killing off tens and probably hundreds of Goblins? It's almost unthinkable!"
Even as he spoke, he sheepishly kept turning back to see if Xzavier was listening to him. His fear of the mysterious stranger was very evident. Someone else who was more reasonable in the group countered his point;
"But given what we have all seen him do, I wouldn't put it past him actually killing off an entire group of Goblins."
"What do you think?"
The grumpy one replied wisely;
"Well, he doesn't hunt with anyone, he possesses outstanding skills, and he turns up here with the Decapitated of a Cheetah as well the chief Goblin's thumb. I'd say avoid him at all cost."
Their egos didn't permit them to accept this as the fact. But deep down, they knew that it was true. There was something about the young lad that was simply different.
They couldn't tell with exactitude what it was, but deep down they could sense something extraordinary. They kept their distance from the young Xzavier, but their eyes never left him for one second. Every single set of eyes remained fixated on Xzavier like a group of hawks.
Tacy on the other hand was actively struggling to process the information that Xzavier had so casually dropped on her laps. How laid back he was about the whole thing enhanced his already mysterious aura.
Tacy knew he wasn't joking when he had said that he had killed off an entire band of Goblins just to get to their leader. Unable to bear the full weight of the news on her shoulder, she hurriedly dashed out in search for her boss.
She knew he was going to want to hear that Xzavier was back.
As she glided through the hallways and turns in search of Kadin, one thought echoed and re-echoed through her mind;
"Xzavier! Just who are you exactly?"
In a matter of seconds, the hysteric Tacy arrived at Kadin's door. Not even bothering to knock, she barged in and stopped only to catch her breath.
Kadin was already used to her discourteousness so he wasn't startled one bit. Seated at his table and bent over a book, Kadin looked at his employee questioningly with one eyebrow raised and thought;
"What could possibly be the issue with this one this time around?"
Impatiently, the old man rebuked Tacy and rasped aloud;
"You had better have a good reason for barging in like this Tacy!"
Still struggling to catch her breath, Tacy pointed her finger to the door behind her and mouthed one single word;
"XZAVIER!"