Chapter 168

  New Faces, Same Friends

  After having completed their mission, Erin and Ryle found a train that would take them to where the rest of their group would be waiting for them, High Rock Peak. It was also the place where their target, Golorath of the Five Overlords was. They would soon go after one of their main targets after a long journey.

  To say that Erin was feeling nervous would be an understatement, as she was not only going up against a very powerful opponent, far more powerful than anything they had ever faced before, but she would also come face to face with one of her old friends. Or would it be more appropriate to call him one of her victims?

  The redhead knew that Gabe, mostly known as Golorath, needed to be stopped. It was the right thing to do and the only way things would get better in the Western Continent. She had told herself these facts over and over in order to steel her resolve. Despite these efforts, she couldn’t help but wonder if she had the strength tho actually go through with it, once she met him. In all honesty, a large part of her hoped that she could somehow resolve the whole thing without any violence at all.

  “Hey, you okay?” Ryle called out to Erin, having noticed the internal plight the redhead was in. “You look like you’re about to get sick. Is something bothering you?”

  “...I guess there would be no point in trying to lie to you,” Erin said with a sigh. “I’m just… worried and overwhelmed. I mean, you know what we are going to be facing, right? It’s not exactly like I can’t just ignore the facts of what we’re trying to do.”

  “I kind of assumed that’s what it was about,” the blonde said. “It’s only natural to feel that way. Not many people would have the balls to even think of doing this.”

  “You don’t sound too worried, though,” the redhead said. “How can you remain so calm? Aren’t you the least bit scared? After all, this is an opponent far beyond anything we have faced.”

  “True, but most of my life I’ve been going up against people that were supposed to be far above me in every way. All of our journey so far has been like that as well,” Ryle said with a shrug. “I guess what I’m trying to say is that overall this is just another day that ends in y for me. I’m more concerned about you, though.”

  “Me?” Erin asked. “Why would you be worried about me of all people?”

  “It’s not that I’m only worried about you. I’m worried about the rest of the crew, too,” the blonde explained. “It’s just that I know this means a lot more to you than anyone else. For us, the guy we’re going against is just another bad guy. He might be the biggest one out there, but he’s still just a baddie. For you, however, there is a lot more history between you and him. That’s what worries me.”

  “...If you’re worried that I won’t be able to do what needs to be done, don’t be,” the redhead said in slightly sterner voice. “I know what I have to do and I will see it through.”

  “No one’s questioning that, Erin. I’m more than willing to believe that you will put an end to the guy,” Ryle quickly said. “What I’m worried about is how it will affect you. I mean, messy past aside, didn’t you say that he used to be your friend and that you actually cared about him? Those kinds of feelings are hard to set aside, no matter what might have happened. You sure you’re going to be okay after going through something like that?”

  “...I wish I could say that I will be, but I’m not so sure,” Erin said as she looked down in sadness. “I know that the things he has done are unforgivable, but I still remember the good old days with him and the others. Gabe especially was an incredibly kind and considerate person. Even if it’s hypocritical of me to say this, the thought of harming a person like him… it just feels so wrong to me. I’d say that the world would be a better place with more people like him.”

  “Well, since you know a side of him that none of us have ever seen, I’ll take your word for it. Still, we have to do what we have to do,” the blonde said with a shrug. “If you start to hesitate, I can take over for you and put an end to him for you.”

  “Thanks for the offer, I guess… But there’s no need for that,” the redhead said with a determined look in her eyes now. “I promised myself that I would see this through and I intend to keep that.”

  “Good to know. If nothing else, in case you need a shoulder to cry on, I’ll be more than happy to provide you with one,” Ryle said with a small grin, hoping to ease the tension, which seemed to work as Erin let out a small laugh. “Besides, if there’s anything to worry about, we should be worried about that cook we left with those thugs. I hope they won’t do anything bad to her…”

  What the blonde was referring to was how they had quickly dumped Madeline on Rayleen’s agents that were stationed at the town they were at. To say that they were surprised by the two of them suddenly leaving a tied up unconscious woman to them would be an understatement. Before they could ask what the two were doing, Erin and Ryle were already running away while telling them to take good care of Madeline. They hadn’t been in the mood to get into an argument after everything they had been through, so they just figured to take the agents by surprise before they could voice any complaints.

  While neither of them felt good about leaving Madeline with a bunch of shady characters, they didn’t have any other options for completing their mission in a manner where the cook was allowed to live. They just hoped that the rumors about Rayleen being much kinder than the other warlords were true. Otherwise, they feared what would happen.

  “I know what you mean. I don’t feel all that good about the decision we ended up making,” Erin said with a sad frown on her face. “But there isn’t much we can do about it now. All we can do is hope for the best.”

  “Fair enough,” Ryle said.

  Just as they finished their talk, the train they were on arrived inside a tunnel that went through the mountains that surrounded High Rock Peak. Lights inside the train carts were switched on so that the passengers wouldn’t be left in complete darkness. After a few minutes of traveling through pitch black darkness, they arrived at the other side of the tunnel with light pouring through the windows.

  Both Erin and Ryle were amazed by the majestic and tall buildings that made up the city. All over them you could spot large statues of mighty warriors decorating them. The statues ranged from smaller ones that were situated on top of roofs, to massive goliaths that looked like they were competing in size with the buildings.

  “Wow. Talk about decorating your home,” Ryle said as she looked at the statues in wonder. “Think those are based on real people?”

  “Most likely. High Rock Peak is a city that is known for its many mighty warriors,” Erin said. “My guess is that at least some of these were made in order to honor whoever they depict.”

  “That’s badass… I wonder if I could get a statue like that made of me one day?” the blonde asked.

  “...I highly doubt that,” the redhead replied.

  “If you enjoy looking at the statues, do as much of it as you can now,” a voice suddenly said from behind the two. “After all, they won’t be here for long.”

  Erin and Ryle turned around to see an older man standing behind them. He was a human and, outside of a rather good physique, didn’t seem like anything special, except for one thing. The look in his eyes and the overall atmosphere surrounding him made him look like he was incredibly tired. It was like he had been working without being able to sleep for weeks and just wanted to rest.

  “What do you mean?” Erin asked. “Why won’t the statues be here for long?”

  “I’m going to guess that not only are you new around here but you also don’t watch the news all that much,” the man said. “It was decided not too long ago that all of the statues would be taken down and replaced with statues of Lord Golorath instead.”

  “Huh!? Why!?” Ryle asked. “Pretty much every city and town you go to has either a statue or some other thing depicting the Overlords! Why does he need to destroy these ones and replace with himself!?”

  “Simple. He wants to be the only one that is given such respect,” the man explained. “Can’t have anybody else take the spotlight away from the big bosses themselves, can you? That’s why he intends to make the city in his own image. I’m just surprised it took him this long to do so, but I guess he just recently got tired of the sights and wanted to make a change.”

  “But… But these statues are a big part of the city’s history, aren’t they!?” Erin asked. “How can people around here just let something like that happen!? Don’t they protest or something!?”

  “You must have lived a very sheltered life, if you think any of the Overlords give a damn about any protest we might do,” the man said. “The moment any group gathers to voice their complaints, all they do is send in the troops to fire at them. Whoever survives and doesn’t get away is then taken to prison and is never seen again. Do you think people really want to risk that?”

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  “Maybe so, but there has got to be something the people here can do!” the redhead kept arguing. “Are they just going to roll over and let others walk all over them!?”

  “That’s just how it is, I’m afraid. When you’re powerless, no one is going to listen to you, especially those that actually have power. You can say all the pretty words and things you can think of, but in the end it’s all about who has the strength to do what they want,” the man explained before looking out of the window. “It’s not that I don’t understand you, though. I actually have a personal stake in this thing, as there is a statue dedicated to my father there. Ever since I was just a little boy, it was my greatest pride to know he was honored in such a way.”

  “Yet you’re just going to let them take it down?” Ryle asked. “Don’t you even feel a bit pissed off about that?”

  “...My anger is already gone and I have come to accept things the way they are. And do you know how I was able to do that?” the man said. “I realized that there are things far more important than a lone statue. In the end, you have to put things in perspective and come to terms with what really matters to you.”

  The man then walked away, leaving Erin and Ryle behind to sit in silence.

  “What do you think he meant by those far more important things he mentioned?” Erin asked.

  “Who knows? Probably his own life, if I had to make a bet,” Ryle said with a shrug. “People often abandon everything around them, once its their own ass one the line. I’ve seen it happen way too many times in my life.”

  “I don’t know… Something about that guy told me that he wasn’t giving up just to save his own skin,” the redhead said thoughtfully. “I can’t explain it, but it looked to me like he didn’t want to live, except there was something that wouldn’t allow him to die. My guess is that whatever that thing is, it’s the important thing he mentioned.”

  As they finished their conversation, the train came to a stop, as they had finally arrived at the station. Stepping out, the two made sure to wear clothing that would help hide their identities, such as hats and hoods.

  As they were walking around the city, the two immediately noticed that there was a strange air surrounding the people of the city. While most seemed to be heartbroken and sad, there were also those who seemed like they were enjoying themselves, the complete opposite to most of the population. Upon looking a bit closer, it became clear that the ones who were happy were those that had a higher standing in society, such as wealthy merchants, nobility and others.

  “Man, this place is either the most depressing city in the world or the happiest place, depending on who you look at,” Ryle said while observing the people. “I doubt it’s too big of a mystery to see how these people are so divided.”

  “I agree. The sad ones are probably the original citizens that Golorath’s people have subjugated,” Erin said. “They have most likely been forced to swallow all sorts of humiliations and shame in order to just be allowed to live. The happy ones, on the other hand, are those who are thriving from the current situation, most likely through sucking up to Golorath and his people.”

  “It’s a mess… If we didn’t have work to do here, I’d be getting the hell out of here on the next train,” the blonde added. “These types of places can only give you trouble.”

  As they were walking, Erin felt someone tug on her cloak. She turned around and saw a young kobold child with yellow scales looking up at her with a smile on his face.

  “Hey, miss!” the child greeted the redhead happily as he offered a piece of paper to her. “My daddy is running a new restaurant nearby! Would you and your friend like to visit it?”

  “Sorry, sweetie, but I’m afraid we can’t,” Erin apologized with a smile, doing her best to not upset the child. “My friend and I are unfortunately busy, so we can’t go visit your daddy’s restaurant right now, but we’ll keep it in mind. Thanks for the offer, though!”

  The redhead turned around and was just about to walk away, when she felt someone pinch the back of her leg very painfully, causing her to let out a small yelp. Shocked by what had happened, she turned around to see the same kobold child looking up at her with a smile, except this time the expression seemed to be forced.

  “I must insist, miss, that you follow me to my daddy’s restaurant,” the young kobold said as he once again offered the piece of paper to Erin, except more forcefully this time. Even his voice had a hidden tone of anger behind it. “At least take this and look it through. I’m sure you’ll change your mind.”

  “Your salesman skills need some work, kid!” the redhead said with a frown as she took the paper and looked at it. “How do you expect people to-?”

  Erin’s voice cut off, as she saw the written text on the paper. Instead of it being an introduction to a restaurant, it had just a very simple text hastily written on it.

  SHUT UP AND FOLLOW ME, YOU IDIOTS!

  -LEX

  The redhead looked up from the paper with a wide-eyed look on her face as she stared down at the kobold, who now seemed to have a more satisfied look on his face.

  “It changed your mind, didn’t it?” Lexton asked with a slightly smug tone. “Follow me. I’ll show you where the place is!”

  As the kobold began to walk away, Erin and Ryle shared a shocked look, before looking at their disguised companion again.

  “How did he… How did he manage to pull that off?” Erin asked. “I know he’s good at making all sorts of things, but I never knew he could pull that off!”

  “I’m not so surprised by how he changed his appearance, as much as I’m surprised by his whole “innocent child” act that he pulled off,” Ryle said. “Seriously, I can’t believe that for a moment, I actually thought that he was adorable.”

  Following behind Lexton, Erin and Ryle were led to the more secluded parts of the city, which were the alleyways of the poorer area of the city. There they saw even more people that had most likely been broken by the new leadership, as there were plenty of homeless and other downtrodden people. The redhead also noticed that a lot of the people there seemed to be severely injured, as a lot of them not only were covered in bandages, but had visible scars and some were even missing some of their limbs and other body parts.

  “We’re here,” Lexton said as he finally came to a stop in front of a rundown building with boarded up windows. “The others are waiting inside.”

  The kobold opened the door and let the two he had led go inside first, before following behind them. Once inside, Erin and Ryle saw the other three members of their group, all in their own disguises.

  Zeldana had somehow made herself look much older, as she now looked like a grandmother that needed a cane to walk around. She had also switched her regular red nurse outfit for more regular clothing to complete the disguise.

  Their youngest member, Arkay, had been made to look even younger than before. He also had a wig on his head that not only gave him a new hair color and style, but it also hid his cat ears.

  However, the most shocking disguise was the one worn by Durge, as he was dressed as a woman, complete with lipstick and a wig with long blonde hair. His clothing had also been changed to match his new look and make-up had been applied to his face to hide his scars. To top it all off, he even had fake breasts to complete the look.

  Despite how good the disguise was, the orc didn’t look pleased in the slightest.

  “D-DURGE!? Is that you!?” Erin asked in a shocked tone while pointing at the orc. “Why are you disguised like that!?”

  “Well, I didn’t want to use the age changing pills, as I feared it might affect my combat capabilities, so I asked Lex to give me something else,” Durge explained. “I was hoping he would just change my looks a bit, but… He had a different idea.”

  The truth behind the orc’s request was that he feared his own internal problem might have gone out of control if he were to weaken his body, even if only temporarily. Still that was something Durge wanted to keep to himself for the time being and made up an excuse.

  “Hey, I do good work, don’t I?” Lexton said proudly. “Besides, you should be thankful that I gave you that look. After all, you are benefiting from it, aren’t you?”

  “If by benefiting you mean all those weirdos offering free drinks and other crap, I don’t see how that’s such a good thing!” the orc said angrily, before letting out a depressed sigh. “Seriously, how the hell is THIS supposed to be charming!?”

  “Oh, Durge… You naive and innocent soul,” the kobold said. “You have no idea just what kind of things people are into these days, because this is just the tip of the iceberg.”

  “...I don’t even want to know what you’re thinking of,” the orc mumbled.

  “Personally, I’m really surprised by Ryle,” Lexton said. “I was certain that she would-”

  “BWA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!” the blonde laughed uncontrollably.

  “...Never mind,” the kobold said.

  “I’m sorry about this, Durge!” Erin quickly apologized to the orc. “I’ll tell her to stop right away and-!”

  “It’s fine. It’s fine. I was expecting that reaction from pretty much everybody,” Durge said with a sigh. “Just let her laugh it up and she’ll run out of steam soon enough. That’s what happened with Zeldana and Arnie as well.”

  “...Oh! That’s… a very mature way to handle this, Durge. I’m quite surprised,” the redhead said before letting out a snicker. “To be honest, now that I’ve gotten over my own shock, it is quite hilarious!”

  “Just… get it over with already!” the orc said in a frustrated tone. “We have more important things to talk about, you know!?

  After letting the two newcomers laugh it up for a moment, they seemed to finally calm down, even though Ryle could still be heard snickering from time to time. Erin, who had laughed as much as she could at Durge’s predicament, decided to ask about the disguises Lexton had made.

  “All in all, you’ve really outdone yourself with what you’ve made here, Lex. I was just expecting wigs and maybe some fake facial hair, but this is some very impressive work,” Erin said while looking at every one of her disguised friends. “I do have to ask, though, how were you able to make it so that it looks like your ages have changed?”

  “Well, you know that potion Ryle had that changed me into a baby? I decided to look into it and make some improvements,” Lexton explained with a smirk as he pulled out vials with different colored liquids in them. “Now we’re not just stuck to only becoming younger, as we can also change our ages to make ourselves look older. And the control is much better, as I don’t necessarily have to become a useless larva again.”

  “I wish you would use the word baby or infant instead,” the redhead said. “Still, this is very impressive, as it gives us more options in regards to disguises.”

  “Yeah, I also figured out a way to change the color of my scales while I was at it. No big deal,” the kobold said nonchalantly. “Speaking of disguises, though, I was meaning to bring something up.”

  “What’s that?” Erin asked.

  “Oh, nothing big… Except the fact that you two had the absolute WORST DISGUISES EVER!” Lexton shouted angrily, taking the redhead by surprise. “Seriously, what the hell were you two idiots thinking!? A hood and a hat!? That’s how you’re going to hide yourselves!? You were lucky that I found you before any law enforcement or military personnel did! Would it have killed you to put on a fake beard at least!?”

  “L-Look we were on a hurry, okay!? We just decided to hide our features enough that we wouldn’t get recognized right away!” Erin quickly explained. “Besides, we didn’t get caught, did we? So it’s all good in the end, isn’t it!?”

  “...Sure. All good in the end,” the kobold muttered in an annoyed tone. “You asked me to provide us with disguises, yet you aren’t smart enough to make one for yourself. It’s not exactly a good sign.”

  “Speaking of disguises, something else caught my attention,” the redhead said as she looked over to Zeldana. “I’m surprised you decided to make yourself into an elderly lady as your disguise. I would have thought that you’d hate the idea.”

  “Are you kidding me!? This is the best thing ever!” the elf said with a big grin. “Do you have any idea how much I’ve been able to mess with people? I’m constantly asking people to do favors for me, like carrying heavy stuff and giving up seats! Most of the time, I just have suitcases full of rocks that I make people carry for me and then tell them it wasn’t mine at all! I then tell them that it’s just my bad memory that made me think it was mine! Even better, I can make life unbearable for others by pretending that my hearing is bad! You should have seen the people at the burger place I visited!”

  “...I’m afraid she’s not joking,” Lexton said with a sigh. “The person handling the register was ready to strangle her, after she messed with her for almost an hour.”

  “The fact that you’re taking such joy from doing things like that is both disturbing and sad,” Erin said. “Anyways, enough about everybody’s costumes. Let’s talk about how things are here in the city.”

  Lexton and the others prepared themselves for telling Erin and Ryle everything that they had learned so far. Not just in regards to their job, but Golorath, the city and even Rayleen.