Warlord – Chapter 38
Zero took notes of several tasks as he went out from the hall of the union building. The range of rewards was from 100$ to 300$ and almost all of them was about exploring and mapping the ruins. The tasks were recorded in smart chip of Zero's license.
The smart chip came with few advantages such as number of tasks completed by the holder, difficulty of the tasks and completion rate. There may be companies and bases which didn't recognize Parker conglomerate's license but the data was sufficient to get information about Zero's capacity. Zero could get more dangerous tasks with greater profits in other bases.
Zero left the administrative region towards the temporary detention center. He heard screams from the center as he approached the place.
It was Leah's voice!
Zero's heart sank as he increased his speed while running towards the center.
John and several men were lying on the ground across the floor. Their bodies were full of bruises as it seemed they were subjected to a bad beating.
Severl men pulled Leah. They were wearing the clothes of Remit residents. Lala (jing worm which was named by Leah because of its La~la~ sounds) was biting onto arm of a white man.
There was a blonde man who appeared to be group's leader: “I didn't think that there would be such a nice girl which has taken refugee in here. She could be sold for good money.”
“Let her go!”
Ted shouted while his face was pressed to the ground by a black man. Ted punched and kicked but couldn't overpower the man.
Zero knew that he had to act.
His toes pressed to the ground as he run as fast as he could. He was using the maximum speed that he could as a second-order agility enhanced ability user. The next second he was by the blonde man. The blonde man responded quickly as he tried to take out the dagger from his waist.
Zero was much faster than the blonde man.
He twisted the man's arm and the dagger slipped out from his hand. Zero pressed onto the man's waist with force by putting force on his shoulder. The blonde man mercilessly fell to the ground. Zero grabbed to the other side of the blonde man's arm and twisted it. The blonde man screamed in pain. Zero fiercely put his foot on top of blonde man's spine.
It takes time to describe the actions but everything had happened in matter of seconds. The blonde man was completely suppressed by Zero before the goons could react. The men who were pulled Leah let go of her as they took out their daggers and guns.
“Do you know what the hell are you doing? Let me go, kiddo!” The blonde man shouted while his head was pressed to ground: “No one dares to offend me, Claude, in Remit! I'll kill you.”
Zero was silent as he increased the strength on his knee. The nerves on Claude's spine were oppressed and he felt as if thousands of needle severely pierced onto his body.
“Keep talking nonsense if you want to die!”
Zero was calm as he continued to increase the strength on his knee. Clause was frightened by Zero's words.
“What do you want?” Claude shouted.
“Your people will leave and never step into the detention center. Otherwise, I'll kill you no matter who you are.” Zero said.
Claude shouted but his voice reflected the pain he was in: “Let's go.. We will leave now!”
Zero nodded as he released the blonde man.
Claude got up but instead of leaving he tried to attack Zero as if he was a violent bear. However before he could make a move the muzzle of the revolver was touching his forehead. Zero indifferently looked at Claude as if he was a worthless piece of stone.
“Stop!”
Zero's eyes swept towards the entrance of the detention center from where the sound echoed. It was the team responsible for maintaining law and order in the Remit. Sheriff was the one that shouted: "There is ban for fighting in the base! All of you stop!"
A smug smile appeared on Claude's mouth.
There was nothing new about the locals collude with the sheriff. Claude acted carefree after he saw the sheriff.
“I refuse.” Zero didn't take away the revolver: “They were the first to provoke trouble. Is this how you treat the newcomers in Remit?”
“Do you dare?” Sheriff snorted as he waved his hand. The five soldiers that were behind him pointed their weapons at Zero.
“I don't mind killing you all.”
Zero knew that the five soldiers didn't have any abilities and were ordinary people. They weren't Zero's opponents. Zero was at least four times faster than them and could determine the time and trajectory of their shoots. All he had to do was pass by the first round of bullets. He would have killed them all before the second round.
The words said by Zero didn't go well with sheriff.
The sheriff raised his hand to signal the soldiers. Zero was ready to battle any time.
Another voice echoed at the same time: “Stop!”
It was a middle-aged man wearing a normal suit. His silver-gray hair was neatly combed back. He was wearing frame-less glasses which were supported on his nose. The man used a black crutches while he walked in big strides into the detention center.
Sheriff's tone turned very respectful: "Greetings Vice-chairman. Why are you here?"
“I wouldn't be able to see such an interesting scene if I didn't come.” The man named Sean looked at Zero: "You are very daring…to challenge the officials of Remit colony."
“I didn't do anything wrong.” Zero didn't care about the identity of the other side.
Sean nodded and looked at sheriff: “Go back. Claude I will personally send you off from Remit if I see you selling slaves again."
“Vice-chairman there won't be next time!”
Claude bowed in respect then waved towards his goons and left.
Sheriff seemed reluctant as he whispered: “Vice-Chairman Sean, the kid doesn't put us in his eyes. Why should we easily let him off?"
There was a faint smile on Sean's face as he looked at the sheriff: “Do you think that I'm not aware of cooperation between you and Claude that happens behind the scenes? You uncle is the representative of a union but believe me it won't be enough to help you out in the future.”
Sheriff lowered his head as cold sweat flowed down.
Zero put away the revolver but turned away as if Sean wasn't in the center.
Sean wryly smiled as this was the first experience in his life when he was ignored by someone of low status. However he didn't care much as he looked at Ted and others: "I'm very sorry to let you get such bad impression of the Remit colony. I'm Vice-chairman of the Remit colony. My name is Sean. I'll deal with the issue and give you all a reasonable explanation."
The chairman was the highest position in the Remit but Vice-chairman was the second man in the Remit. Ted and others were flattered when they heard the vice-chairman's public apology.
Leah leaned on Zero. He had already picked up the small animal from the ground and they were moving towards the tent. Sean touched his nose and shouted: "Are you a mercenary?"
He saw that Zero didn't answer so Sean continued: “I have a task for you.”
“I’ve got enough tasks.” Zero finally stopped.
“MY task can't be published on the board.” Sean said with a smile.
Zero turned towards him: “Reward?”
“The reward depends on the completion of the task as it's a promotion task. The minimum will be 500$.” Sean smiled as he knew that he had caught Zero's attention.
Sean had just came out from the union hall and was aware that Zero had taken several tasks. It meant that the mercenary was short on money.
Zero frowned: “Why me?”
The task by Sean was not an ordinary single task but series of it. There reward depended on the degree of completion. The greater Zero took the risk the higher the rewards would be.
However the task was limited only to third-order mercenaries and hunters. But Zero had first rank license…
Sean shrugged his shoulders “I like you because you dare to challenge authority and stick to your own ideals. You don't like giving up. These series of tasks is appropriate for you. But the most important part is that you have killed a butcher!"
All of Sean's words were nothing but wind in Zero's mind except the last sentence. That sentence made Zero believe in Sean's sincerity.