Chapter 13: Black Hammer Gang (3)

"I swear it's true, boss! You gotta believe me!"

"I saw it with my own two eyes, boss! Hell, if we count this bastard's eyes too, that makes it four!"

The two scouts were practically tripping over themselves to tell their story. The rest of the gang members shot uneasy glances at each other. The man gripping the pitch-black stone hammer leaned back in his chair and frowned slightly.

Seeing his lukewarm reaction, the scouts’ voices grew louder.

"Come on, boss, I'm telling the truth! Sure, this asshole here talks nothing but bullshit most of the time, but I don't, right? Please, just this once, believe me!"

"What the fuck? When have I ever talked bullshit? This piece of shit opens his mouth and lies come pouring out like he's breathing..."

"Ha. This gnoll-brained idiot forgot again. Remember that time we went out together and..."

THUD!

"Enough. That's it."

When the hammer head slammed into the floor, both scouts shut their mouths instantly. The man propped his chin on his hand at an angle and asked again.

"So you're telling me that Agon’s Raging Horn really came here? To help the Blood Cave Gang?"

"...Yes."

"Yeah..."

"You guys actually think that makes sense?"

The hesitation didn't last long. His subordinates stubbornly nodded their heads, refusing to back down. Seeing their confident attitude, even the other gang members started getting restless.

Krevan, the leader of the Black Hammer Gang', set down his hammer and roughly rubbed his face.

‘These fucking idiots... What kind of bullshit are they spouting now?’

There had been some weird rumors floating around lately that Agon’s Raging Horn was tight with the leader of the Blood Cave Gang. That he'd be coming here soon to help out his old buddy.

Of course, Krevan didn't believe a word of it. A legendary arena coliseum coming to help some third-rate gang leader? What's next, ancient Archdemon and the Empire’s Paladins are heading this way too? What a load of bullshit.

And yet the men he had sent out on patrol to find some travelers to rob had suddenly returned, vehemently insisting that they had actually seen Agon’s Raging Horn. It was so absurd it made his head spin... and yet his men were buying into it and getting all worked up, which made it even more ridiculous.

Still, the scouts seemed to have seen something. Krevan decided to try interpreting the situation in a more reasonable direction.

‘Maybe Graham hired some mercenaries with his money? Once you cross into Alliance territory, it's not that hard to find barbarian mercenaries. Maybe he just brought along some buff barbarian as a bluff...’

He didn't have time to think it through quietly as one of his subordinates reported.

"B-boss! We're under attack! The Blood Cave Gang is approaching!"

"...What? How many of them?"

"Th-two... Just two people. One is their leader, and the other one is... presumed to be Agon’s Raging Horn."

Despite the ridiculously small scale of the "attack," the lookout's face was filled with terror rather than bewilderment. Whatever he'd seen—whether it was really Agon’s Raging Horn or not—it was definitely something threatening.

His subordinates started murmuring even louder.

Deep furrows appeared on Krevan's forehead.

There was no choice. At this point, he had to go see for himself.

Of course, if it really was Agon’s Raging Horn, they'd have no chance in a straight fight but...

"Get the crossbow men behind the earthen wall. The rest of you, hide in the bushes and wait. When I give the signal, the crossbow men fire immediately."

Krevan gripped his pitch-black stone hammer tightly and stood up.

***

At first, Kadim thought he'd hit the jackpot.

The total cash plundered from the bandit gang’s hideout was a staggering 3,200 Luden. That was enough to buy a luxury villa somewhere and still have money left over. He couldn't figure out why such a small bandit gang would have so much money.

But then the merchant brought him back to reality.

"Hmm, 3,200 Luden... As expected of a petty bandit gang, they don’t have much money, my lord."

"..."

Three hundred years had passed, prices had gone up, and currency had lost its value. When he asked what 3,200 Luden could buy, the answer came back that he could barely afford one pony. A faint look of disappointment crossed the stoic barbarian's face.

Still, it wasn't a complete loss. In fact, he had obtained a clue to a treasure more precious than gold.

Kadim narrowed his eyes and lost in thought for a moment.

‘A throwing axe made by dwarven artisans…’

Like most medieval fantasy games, this one had elves and dwarves as other races.

But they didn't really have much of a presence. The setting had them as minor races that had lost continental dominance to humans ages ago and were now hiding out on the fringes.

Still, these minor races occasionally made their mark in certain areas. For the dwarves with their skilled hands, that was naturally in equipment items.

‘The grade was at least Rare, usually Unique or Epic...;

Dwarven equipment not only had vastly superior base stats but was loaded with special effects too. To compare it to ordinary human-made equipment was an insult. You'd need something like a Blessed Armament that had received a Priest's consecration to even come close to dwarven gear in performance.

But for that very reason, obtaining dwarven-made equipment was extremely difficult.

Just finding the reclusive dwarves was a challenge. Even if you found them, dwarves hated humans and wouldn't willingly sell their gear. At least in the game, you could get some through certain quests, but in reality, even that was a distant dream.

And now he'd gotten a lead on obtaining that kind of dwarven equipment.

This was an opportunity he couldn't miss. If he wanted to avoid relying too heavily on demon's blood, he absolutely needed quality weapons.

But it was hard to take some backwater bandit's word at face value. Kadim poked the bandit's back with his sword tip.

"How did you get that treasure map? And how did you know the hidden treasure was a dwarven axe?"

“…Keuk, d-don’t poke me. I’ll explain everything slowly…”

Graham, who was walking ahead, let out another groan. He pressed down on the wound on his forearm and painfully spilled his story.

“I took that treasure map from a group of travelers passing through this area. When I asked them what the treasure was, they said it was an exceptionally fine dwarven-made axe… At first I thought it was just bullshit, so I hid the stolen map somewhere random..."

After that, similar groups came by several times trying to recover the map. Eventually, they even brought along proper mercenaries. That's when Graham realized the treasure map was real.

The problem was that he could no longer retrieve it.

"...The place where I hid it used to be our Blood Cave Gang's territory. But recently, those Black Hammer Gang bastards settled in around that area. Even if we wanted to quietly retrieve the map, they'd slaughter us the moment they spotted us..."

Kadim nodded silently.

It didn't seem like a lie. The circumstances and the story's logic held together reasonably well. Plus, after getting poked with a sword once, the guy didn't dare to lie…

Meanwhile, Graham started desperately trying to emphasize just how dangerous the Black Hammer Gang was. He was hoping the barbarian might get scared and turn back.

But Kadim paid it no mind.

"How many of them are there?"

"F-fifty... No wait, a hundred! Over a hundred! And every single one of them is cruel and vicious!"

"Quite a lot for a backwater bandit gang."

"R-right? So maybe you should come back later with other mercenaries..."

"I'll be a little tired after killing them all."

Graham's eyes went wide at those words.

Was this crazy barbarian seriously saying he could take on a hundred men alone? Even Agon’s Raging Horn would be hard-pressed to do that. Actually, there are only about fifty of them; he had exaggerated, but still…

Kadim just thought to himself. It'd be nice if he could retrieve the map without any trouble, but that seemed unlikely. He would try to negotiate if they met, but he would prepare to fight at any moment.

It seemed like leaving the merchant back at the cave had been the right call. He poked Graham's back with his sword to hurry him along, and Graham reluctantly started walking again.

The open plains path ended, and at some point, they entered a narrow valley. This was supposedly the real base of Black Hammer Gang territory.

Graham hunched his shoulders and nervously scanned their surroundings.

A faint smell of blood drifted through the wind that brushed against their skin. Kadim also narrowed his brow slightly.

Before long, a low earthen wall came into view.

"..."

Though they tried to hide their presence, but they could not deceive the barbarian’s superhuman senses.. Six men were hiding below. He could hear the taut strain of bowstrings and fingertips brushing against metal triggers.

‘They've got crossbows ready.’

Next to the earthworks stood a solidly built man holding a stone hammer. Krevan, leader of the Black Hammer Gang, casually greeted his declining competitor.

"Didn't expect we'd meet like this. What brings you here, Graham?"

It took one second to glance at the barbarian, two seconds to hide his fear and compose a nonchalant expression.

Like the survival expert he was, Graham put his cunning mind to work once again.

"Why am I here? That's a stupid question, Krevan. Isn't it obvious? I've come to declare the destruction of the Black Hammer Gang. Meet my friend here, the great champion of the Coliseum, the illustrious Agon’s Raging Horn!"

‘Use one enemy against another.’

Now that things had come to this, he'd pit the barbarian against the Black Hammer Gang directly.

‘Agon’s Raging Horn? Is that really the champion...’

‘Dear God...’

‘...He's as imposing as they say...’

Quiet murmurs spread through the bushes. It looked like they'd hidden their men in those spots to set up an ambush. With the barbarian's naturally fierce appearance, everyone was bound to be shaken. Graham licked his dry lips.

Still, the Black Hammer Gang's victory was a sure thing.

No one could face over fifty humans alone unless they were demons or monsters. But judging by how he'd slaughtered a dozen of his own men, the barbarian's combat ability was nothing to scoff at either.

So while the two sides were busy fighting each other, he'd use that opening to escape...

"Gaaahhh!"

...except he couldn't. Kadim grabbed Graham's hair with enough force to scalp him and called out dryly.

"I'm not Agon’s Raging Horn. I don't particularly want to fight you guys if I can just get what I'm looking for. If you don't want to see blood, it'd be nice if you cooperated."

"..."

The corner of Krevan's mouth twisted slightly.

His guess had been right. That barbarian wasn't Agon’s Raging Horn; he was a mercenary Graham had hired. And now that the employer had led him into danger, he'd immediately betrayed him.

The only question was why he was still acting so tough. Maybe he hadn't fully grasped the situation yet?

THUD!

He struck the ground once with the head of his hammer. The subordinates hiding behind the earthen wall and in the bushes revealed themselves all at once.

With some fifty gang members as his backdrop, Krevan spoke in a tone dripping with sarcasm.

"Well then, we should cooperate, mister mercenary. What are you looking for? My boys will help you out, so feel free to speak up."

"...A map. This guy knows where it is, so I don't need your help. You just need to get out of the way."

"Hmm, a map? You wouldn't happen to mean this, would you?"

Krevan pulled out an old map from his jacket and held it up. Graham's eyes went wide.

“Th-Th-Tha-That’s it! That’s it! H-How did that bastard get that map…”

“Ah, so you were the one who hid it, Graham? One of my men found it under a rock. I’ve seen a few others looking for this before, so the treasure written on the map must be really valuable, eh? Khahaha…”

"..."

Kadim had a feeling. That obnoxious sneer. That bandit bastard wasn't going to hand over the map peacefully.

His instinct was right.

Krevan tore the map to shreds. Then he stuffed it in his mouth and chewed it up. After swallowing every last piece, he patted his belly and sneered.

"Go ahead and try to take it, barbarian. If you can, that is."

The leader of the Black Hammer Gang expected this dim-witted barbarian's face to twist with despair and rage.

But the barbarian showed no particular agitation.

He merely thought that he had to get it out quickly before it was digested.

"Gladly."

Kadim raised the hilt of his sword.

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