The Master of Uradan

The night had fallen for hours in the city of Blanche. The moon, stealing its light from the sun, was lighting up a small alley.

On this alley, a group of men were standing there, recovered with leather armors, weapons on their hip or their back.

Rohan was among them, with an armor given to him by Elia. It was a simple one, covering the whole body, and reinforced with stripes of metal on the vital areas. He also had a simple sword on his hip, one with a much lower quality than what his father had offered him. Sadly, this blade was now probably used by fishes as a mirror.

One of the men, the one taking the lead, spoke to everyone.

"Okay. Now that everyone is here, we can begin our operation. As you all know about it, we have confirmation that tonight, all the warriors working with Bradley will gather in their basement. But before that, I want everyone to present themselves, and show your warrior's insign. Especially you, I've never seen you before." He squinted his eyes toward Rohan. He only knew that the daughter of the viscount Macker was vouching for him, but he still had his doubts.

Rohan listened to the presentation of each member. Contrary to what he was expecting, he wasn't the youngest. It was a boy, not even a year younger than him, still rank 1. Or already rank 1, as the others team members treated him as some sort of genius.

The one leading the team was the captain of the guard, and one of the two rank 5 Beginner Warriors of the city. Of course, no one will say anything about him taking the lead.

After him, there were three rank 4 Beginner Warriors, with Matthew being one of them. Curiously, everyone was distancing themselves from him. Rohan was quite surprised to know that this murderer looking man was in fact that powerful. What would push such a strong warrior to serve a simple daughter of a viscount?

All the other warriors forming this elite team counted for almost twenty heads, representing all the warriors living or affiliated in this city. Of course, that was without counting the ones working with the group of bandits they were going to assault, which were curiously more numerous.

Then it was Rohan's turn. All the eyes turned toward him, some with contempt, while others were just curious. The warriors inhabiting a city knew each other for years, and some of them even for decades as there were only so few of them. A newcomer whom they never even heard of before, maybe who had become a warrior a few days or weeks ago. That was what they were all thinking. But the instant Rohan took out his emblem to put him on his chest, a dead silence encompassed the alley.

"My name is Rohan. That's all." Since he had lost his emblem when he had fallen on the river back then, he had asked Delia to find him another one. It wasn't really difficult to find one, even more so for the son of a nobleman like Delia. What was almost impossible was to activate or update it, as everyone didn't have an Essence Stone. But Rohan wasn't everyone, and he did possess such a magical stone. The only inconvenience was that he couldn't hide his power if he wanted to, but it wasn't really a problem anyway.

Or so Rohan had thought. But as he saw the looks of the warriors in front of him watching his chest with open jaws, he reckoned that it would have been better if he had hidden it.

Matthew, watching from the side, couldn't help but widened his eyes when he saw the seemingly shining 3 on the emblem. A rank 3 Beginner Warrior! Plus, with the information the young Miss Elia had given to him, he knew that this boy was only fifteen years old. A monster!

The leader of the group, seeing this, nodded his head at Rohan before taking back his role.

"Good. Now that everyone is ready, we'll go. Don't make any noises, and everything will be fine. This night will be a tough one."

He turned on himself, and, without waiting to know if the others were following him, he ran at moderate speed. Although moderate speed for him was the maximum one for the rank 1 Beginner Warriors.

As he was running in the middle of these alleys, Rohan thought about what would happen that night. The group of bandits led by Bradley was a thorn in the foot of the count for seemingly too long. But even so, no one wanted to take action as it would cost too much. And since the kingdom didn't want to have a say in this situation, the power struggling between the count and this commoner had stood still.

One of the reasons was that this group was led by a rank 5 Beginner Warrior and a rank 2 Beginner Wizard. But the most important reason was that the nobility needed to have mercenaries working for money and without caring about the law. That was why this situation was a complicated one from the start.

It was until Delia had been attacked by four warriors with one of them being a rank 2. At least, it was what everyone believed. And his father, the viscount Noir, one of the noblemen with the most influence in this city, couldn't let such a thing happening to his only son unpunished.

And with probably a lot of meetings and schemes that Rohan didn't care about, all the nobles agreed to get rid of these parasites. And that was why all the warriors were here, as each one of them were working for a noble. Even Rohan, as he was paid by Elia with resources.

Now, their goal was to rush toward a large mansion in the outer-city, believed to be the headquarters of these gangsters, with information coming from somewhere Rohan didn't know, this night was the one where all these warriors would gather themselves. And after finding this building, what would follow was simple, they would arrest everyone inside. Of course, Rohan realized that such an ideology would be complicated, and arresting everyone was nearly impossible. He probably would have to kill.

Thinking about that, the image of a young soldier, a spear on the throat, blood bubbling on his mouth, appeared in his mind. His heart pounded louder in his chest. It was his first victim half a year ago. He had killed three soldiers during this useless war, and he would never forget each of them.

The idea to add new faces into this list, made him feel uneasy.

The group continued to run while their footsteps echoed in the city. It was noisy, but no one cared about it. That was because they were currently inside the outer-city, and this one was much more lively than the inter part.

Laugh and music could be heard everywhere, along with a slight smell of beer floating sometimes in some alleys. The night was arguably more lively that the day, while the inter city was deeply asleep.

It didn't take long for the group to reach their destination, and without warning, the leader stopped running. They were in the east part of the city, tall buildings surrounding them as they could see a large one in front of them.

It was a two-storey building, blending in with the other ones around. It was such an inconspicuous house that no one could have guessed it was the lair of a powerful rank 5 Beginner Warrior.

The leader looked each warrior behind him in the eyes. Some of them had never participated in a fight, and this one was against fellow warriors. They knew some of the targets, and maybe some of them were even friends. But they all chose to work against the law. And they would be punished for this.

"Don't stop your sword." Without adding more, he rushed toward the building. They knew why they were here, and they knew that blood would flow down on their blade.

Rohan didn't know this man. He even had already forgotten his name, even though it had been said to him a couple of times. But these words, for an unknown reason, struck at his heart, his whole being. His heart pounded in his chest, filling his ears with an appalling noise, stopped almost instantly. His mind cleared, and his hand clutched the handle of his sword. It was time to go.

Rohan followed behind the captain of the guards, alongside the other warriors. With a loud noise exploding in the quiet night, the front door was destroyed by a kick. They dashed inside, sword in their hands, ready to strike.

Inside the building, candles were enlightening the different rooms, and some people were currently doing their business. Some of them were drinking alcohol, while others were playing some games.

Then a terrible crash resonated in the house, startling all the men. A shout came from the entrance as loud footsteps came afterward.

"Kill them all!" It was at this moment the leader of the team chose to shout with a thundering voice, giving courage to the warriors.

Almost immediately, fights broke out as the occupants of this house woke up from their daze and took out their weapons.

After entering the building, Rohan went on his left and arrived inside a room with two other warriors at his side. There, three thugs looked at the newcomers with a shocked expression, what was happening? But they weren't novices, and without wasting time they unsheathed their weapons and rushed toward Rohan and the others, ready to fight for their lives.

Rohan, slightly tense, welcomed them with his own sword, powered up by the strength of a rank 3 Beginner Warrior.