Chapter 69: Friends

*Rustle*Rustle*

Fredrick led the party of slaves and gang members while following the tamer, before suddenly stopping and pulling the shoulders of the tamer.

He looked behind him to see the long line of people that had become disoriented by the sudden stop. Then he looked back at the tamer and asked...

"You know the general location of the cave, don't you?"

The tamer hurriedly nodded as Fredrick shouted...

"Cabrera!"

The man in question moved neither fast nor slow towards Fredrick, before asking...

"What is it?"

Cabrera knew that Fredrick wasn't the type to play jokes. Fredrick would only have called him if something serious would happen soon.

So, something was up, and judging by Fredrick's face, it couldn't be good.

"Your friends have come looking for you"

"My friends?" Cabrera didn't get it.

"Yes, your very muscular friends"

Cabrera's eyes widened with realization and his mouth turned into a happy smile as he hit his knuckles together.

"That's good. Now I can finally put my fists to good use. Where are they? Just give me the direction and I'll go-"

Cabrera was pumped about beating those muscles heads into the ground. He had held himself back long enough, and now that they had come into the forest of their own volition and were coming after him...they couldn't blame him for killing them, now could they?

Unfortunately, he had to reconsider his options when he heard Fredrick's comment.

"Your friends invited their friends to tag along"

The meaning was simple. They had increased their numbers.

"How many are they?"

"Hmm, let's see, there's twenty three of them, each packed with muscle, and...oh, I think their leader decided to tag along...yeah, it's their guild master, and he's on your level"

Cabrera's expression darkened a little. Things might become rough if he was matched.

But, just as he was about to say something, Fredericks' expression took a sudden turn as he shifted his head a little to the side, and then gazed at Cabrera.

"Do you have another group of friends you didn't tell me about?"

Like Fredrick, Cabrera's expression took a turn. This was a bad situation. With Fredrick, they could clean up muscle brains relatively easily, but with another group tagging along, things could get messy.

Cabrera didn't remember anybody else who he might have acquainted with, so he turned to Fredrick and asked...

"How do they look? And what are they currently doing?"

"Well, these guys are all fit, no muscles, and they're coming..."

Fredrick's voice suddenly trailed off for a couple of seconds before speaking again.

"They're just fifteen, and with the movements I'm picking, they should've already arrived in front of us if they actually wanted to kill you. They're slowly following behind those muscle heads for some reason. Maybe they're waiting for a chance to ambush them? Hmm, that's possible...but that doesn't mean they'll treat us friendly because we have a common enemy"

"Cabrera, one group of twenty three and another of fifteen, who seem to be enemies. Since they're not our friends, we'll have to wipe both teams out"

Fredrick analyzed the situation as he looked at Cabrera, who was ruminating on something.

"There were two people who came to me an hour ago and tried to recruit me in front of the Missionary, but I refused. I can't be sure...but it might be those guys"

"Hmm, they tried recruiting you, and now they're tailing after your enemies, who are looking for you...could it be?"

Fredrick instantly thought of something, and judging by the situation, it seemed very likely.

"Hoh" Fredrick breathed out as he turned to Cabrera...

"I have a plan"

Cabrera nodded.

"Let's hear it while we move. Those beast are almost here"

And so, the party began moving once more as Fredrick explained the plan to Cabrera, whose smile was becoming wider by the minute.

—--------------------------------------

*Shua!*Shua!*

The sound of leaves and bushes being cut resounded in the atmosphere as a man more muscular than any Cabrera had ever seen was swinging his battle ax and cutting down everything in its path, both trees and beasts alike.

At the moment, his head was bulging with veins as he spoke...

"Damn it, how deep did that son of a b#tch go?!"

This was Motavu, the vice guild master of Red Wolf.

He showcased a very ugly scowl as he found himself often looking behind at those who had caused this mess.

'I'll teach those five b*tches a lesson when I get back'

But first...

'I'll enjoy cutting that boy into pieces and turning his brains to mush with my fists'

Today had been like any other day, that is, until Baldur came barging into the guild master's office with a face full of rage. He explained the act of cowardice someone had pulled against the boys after knocking him out unfairly the day before, someone who had now ran into the forest with a large party.

But the guild master wasn't so easily provoked. He said it was the five of them that hadn't done their best and it was because of their incompetence that it was allowed to happen.

But then Baldur said the man spoke of their guild members as people with muscles for brains...and that was the straw that broke the camel's back.

The guild master immediately mobilized sixteen boys that were in no way inferior to Bondoc, the leader of the other four, and then, to make sure the culprit couldn't run away, he assigned him, the vice guild leader, as the leader of the operation.

Motavu took it as a mission to restore the pride of the guild and agreed without a hassle. He would show that brat who he had messed with while upholding the honor of the guild.

Twenty minutes later, he and the other sixteen were armed and aggressively entered the forest to find the cowardly brat.

Yet...

'It's been an hour and we're only picking up traces!'

An hour went by as Motavu and the rest found themselves heading deeper by the second, killing stronger beasts every step of the way.

At first, he could easily squash the snakes to death, but now, the stronger ones were approaching, and they were getting harder and harder to deal with.

At some point, Motavu considered the idea that it was a trap, but they kept seeing footprints, lots of it, indicating that a large party had really passed through here.

But their line of movement was unbelievably weird and confusing to follow, so they agreed to keep moving straight in the direction of the foot sprints.

Unfortunately, even that didn't seem to be a good idea, as the type of snakes they began to meet along the way were all predators in their own right, kings of their own small domain.

Motavu found himself using up more and more energy each time, which infuriated him to no end. But since the other twenty two were still in perfect shape, it would be more than enough to catch and immobilize the coward, before giving him a very painful death.

Baldur on the other hand stood at the back of the group, making himself as inconspicuous as possible.

This was natural considering that it was entirely his fault that they were doing such a thankless job. The others weren't particularly friendly right now.

Actually, their eyes were full of disdain towards him. Even the four brothers had distanced themselves, making it seem like they never knew each other.

'Damn it! Baldur thought as he clenched his fists. The events a day before, where he was slammed into the ground, replayed itself in his mind.

'That bastard! It is his fault I'm being treated like this!'

The face of Cabrera was the only thing coming to mind.

'I thought he was like any other newbie, and his clothes weren't too shabby either'

Baldur was walking about when he spotted Cabrera looking around without approaching any buyers, which is a trademark sign for newbies.

And while Baldur wasn't the smartest, he definitely would've remembered such facial features, but he didn't, and that further reinforced his assumption.

So, without much deliberation, he approached Cabrera, intent on dragging him to a corner and extorting as much money as he could.

But instead...

'I got my ass kicked'

And...

'In front of the entire market at that'

Thinking about it, Baldur let out a dejected laughter filled with self-ridicule, because he knew.

As the event replayed in his mind, no, from the moment it happened, he knew.

'He's not someone I can handle'

He knew that Cabrera was leagues above him in strength.

But then a wicked smile stretched across his face as he looked in front of him and thought...

'But he's going to regret the day he was born once we find him'

He also knew that the aggression and disdain they held towards him would be transferred physically to Cabrera once he was caught.

And so...

'I just need to wait'

He knew it was only a matter of time before he got his revenge in full.

—----------------------------------------

"Are you sure the guy is still alive?"

A few dozen meters from Motavu's position was another group of fifteen. Each one wore thin (light) armor of different colors, but with the crest of White Iron guild attached on it.

Right now, they were trailing a fair distance behind Motavu's party while doing their best to remain undetected.

The plan was to step in when they found the man named Asmund. Well, it was just to make sure he didn't die, as none of those here, including Arvin, were pleased with such a task.

They agreed that they would allow the Red Wolves to beat him up and knock down his sense of pride before stepping in to save him.

But so far, they were glad that they tailed Motavu, who removed all obstacles and killed the beasts in the way, saving them from such work and allowing them to keep up easily.

Yet an hour had passed, and it was still the same pattern without a sign of their target.

And seeing the snakes that gave even Motavu a hard time, they began having doubts about whether or not their target was still alive.

But at this moment...

Baam!

Both Red Wolf and White Iron hastily looked, only to see something, no, someone fall from a tree.

It was their target, Mr. Asmund, with leaves in his hair and a muddied face.

"Ah, shit! Didn't you guys say they wouldn't find me?"

And it was also the beginning of a play with Cabrera as the protagonist while the others took on supporting roles.