Those standing around the smiling young boy were also taken aback by Tyr’s words.

They imagined the young man to be a brutish, arrogant person. But Tyr’s words gave an insight to how he really was.

“He isn’t a bad person…” One of the natives said, smiling slightly.

“He’s treating us harshly… but I think thats the only way to move forward.”

“We need to rally after him. If not, we may never end this war.”

The oldest member of the Zasean natives squinted his eyes as his pupils followed Tyr. He exhaled deeply before saying: “Strength shall be the light that will set us on the path of salvation. He must be the right choice… I can feel it.”

Everyone was moved by these words… except for Reana: “Yeah right, old man…” She rolled her eyes, turning to look at Tyr.

“Strength isn’t everything in this world. That’s something you Zasean natives should understand. There are many aspects greater than it.”

The oldest native raised a brow, “Is that right… like what?”

Reana smirked: “Justice.”

***

Hanzo opened his eyes after yawning slightly.

“Dude… it’s already morning. Come on, we have to go get food.” Malon said, standing above him.

“It’s morning?” Hanzo questioned, “How can you tell? There’s no sun above us…” He said as he stood up, scratching his ass.

The two made their way out of a fairly large, medieval stone house and into the street.

They were indeed underground it seemed. However, the many multicolored crystals on the cavern ceilings made it no darker than daylight below.

As they walked along the streets, they passed by several hundreds of robed figures who bowed slightly as they passed the two Hunters, as though in fear.

After getting past the Hunters, they quickly hurried to get away from them.

The two also walked by dozens of vendors and stores along the sides of the dirt path.

“I still can’t believe they made this entire small civilization here…” Hanzo said, looking around with an impressed expression on his face.

“I can… I mean, they do have more information than anyone in the continent. I can only imagine what type of Aura techniques they have.” Malon replied as the two stepped into an average pub.

As they made their way down the main aisle–straight to the back bar table–many necks turned to face them.

Whispers quickly spread around, as heads ducked down in fear.

“Shit! It’s him!”

“The damn brute king.”

“Hide your face… you don’t want to be next on his chopping block.”

The robed figures sitting around all began to speak to each other in fearful noises.

Hanzo and Malon sat on the long bar table with dozens of seats. As they did, the several robed figures also sitting on the bar table looked at Hanzo.

Hanzo paused and then looked left and right.

As his eyes made contact with the eyes of the robed figures, their gazes quickly darted away, and they exited the bar table with haste.

“Oi!” Hanzo finally exclaimed, forcing a bartender to come to his aid.

“Yes… what would you like sir?” A short, fat man said with closed eyes, curled eyebrows, and his hands rubbing together.

“Give me your hardest liquor… make it sweet. I’m not staying here for long.” Hanzo exclaimed, catching a surprised reaction from Malon.

“W-what!? Again!? What has gotten into you after entering this place? Not only are you ruthless, you are addicted to alcohol!” Malon said, shaking his head.

He turned toward the bartender, “Get him some hot stew. Same for me.”

The bartender wasn’t sure, however, so he looked back at Hanzo.

After a short pause, Hanzo said: “Both. Soup and the spirit.”

“Y-yes sir!” The bartender exclaimed, quickly rushing to fetch what was asked of him.

Hanzo laid back on the tall chair, placing his feet on the bar table.

“The black slug elites would rather terrorize the small-time crook slugs in their little cities by placing me here… than deal with me and potentially lose a few important lives. Pffft! Cowards…” He said, seemingly still hungover from his tone.

Malon sighed, “Well, it makes sense. They tried to restrain you on the first day, and you ruthlessly killed not only over 5 of their higher ranking majors but also went on a killing spree and murdered over 20 random civilians. They let you go after that one… to do whatever you pleased here.”

Hanzo stared at Malon, “Random civilians? These are slugs we are talking about… Black Merchant Guild Slugs. Did you forget what was in that warehouse?”

Malon was slightly taken aback by this, staying quiet as he understood what Hanzo was trying to say.

At that moment, Hanzo felt a heavy hand grab his shoulder.

“Hey…” A very tall robed figure said in a deep voice, “You’re the ruthless brute everyone keeps talking about. I’ve heard about you for a couple of days… but im disappointed. You seem like a short little twerp… how about you try to prove me wrong.”

The robed figure said as 4 other robed individuals beside him chuckled. No one was hooded inside of the Black Merchant underground domain, so Hanzo saw all of their expressions.

He looked at them all with an unimpressed look in his eyes.

The other robed figures all over the pub simply looked away.

“Fucking idiots.”

“They chose death in the worst way possible.”

“Ignorance is bliss…”

***

The next day came for Tyr and the others without much of a warning. After Mrama left the Zasean base of operations, everyone began to prepare themselves mentally and physically for the task ahead.

Sharpening weapons and techniques were one thing, but forming a plan was an even bigger ordeal.

Everyone in the base–over a thousand to be more specific–were gathered together outside around a single meeting table filled with the most experienced of Zasean Natives.

At the center sides sat Helas and Tyr, their seating placements opposing each other.

They spoke for hours on end about how to make sure their retrieval plan was succesful.

First, they had to create a plan in the first place, however.

Tyr was the man assigned to that task, as he was the commander now.

“I already have something that only has to be set in motion.” Tyr started off by saying this, capturing everyone’s attention.

“And for this, I need everyone who isn’t a part of the 20 around this table to exit the premises,” Tyr said, his eyes waving across the crowd around him.

A few murmurs wandered about as Tyr said this, and the members of the table curiously looked around.

“Don’t worry… you will be told your respective roles. But the entire plan… that is something that only a trusted group will discuss. If the black slugs find out about everything we talk about, we will not come out the winner. I can assure you that.”

With that, everyone slowly made their way to the other side of the base camp one by one. They were hesitant at first, but followed their peers and eventually made way.

“Now that its only us, I will speak of the main plan…”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep