"Eysil Dukedom huh?" On a long diner table beside a massive bonfire Ben’s voice resounded.
With the arrival of Leon and the rest, a feast was sure to happen. This was a normal occurance in Gang culture, new friendships had to be commemorated with food.
"Quite hard This mission of yours" Ben placed down his fork and said calmly while chewing down on a piece of beef.
His mouth was full but Ben didn’t care. This was the demeanour of a gangster, no amount of fine tuning and aesthetics could change his behaviour.
"Oh really? Why not?" Leon who was on the right side of the table questioned with a look of curiosity. The Eysil Dukedom was one of the major powers in the Undergod territory. It was a power with several level 4 existence the likes only comparable to the Duan royal family of eldoria.
"Well, the thing is....the Dukedom isn’t all that safe nowadays. There’s a bit of a ’power struggle’ going on." Ben went on to explain.
The Dukedom was a sort of royal family setup not so different from eldoria’s Duan royal family. But unlike the Duan royal family, the Duke of Eylis was still alive and kicking and didn’t want to step down for the younger generation, creating a power struggle in the region.
Right now, two of his sons were leading Armies to the Dukes fortress city to hash it out with their father. And no one in all of the Undergod territory wanted to get involved.
"That is why i must head there" opposite Leon, the short young man said calmly and unfazed.
He later introduced himself to Leon and the rest as SoSa, a wanderer on a mission. Apparently he had a childhood friend in the Dukes main city.
He was going there to get her out and take her to safety when he Met with some trouble and was derailed.
"Ahh I see," Seeing the determined look on his face, Ben nodded slowly. Clearly, he couldn’t convince this kid to stay out of harms way.
Some people just like learning the hard way.
"What about you brother Leon? Do you want to stop by at anywhere in particular before going to the sacred land territory?" Ben looked over at Leon and asked.
"Aiii, yes....I do want to see if I can visit a library around here, the vaster the knowledge there, the better" Leon mused for a second before saying sharply.
Knowledge is power, this was Leon’s most dear saying. He understood that if he wanted to achieve his goal, he would need to search for not just public knowledge, but hidden ones too.
Of course his words were said causally, but it gained a rather akward response from Ben.
"What’s wrong?" Leon inquired looking at Ben and Sosa back and forth.
"A library with a vast amount of knowledge and information pertaining to dozens of cultures, myths and legends...where better than the library of Xion" Ben smiled bitterly after saying this sentence because. It seemed that fate was playing a game here.
The library of Xion was in the Eylis Dukedom....right in the main city.
"I see" Leon smirked after hearing the Explanation from Ben.
A place on the brink of breaking into chaos like the Dukedoms main city was not a place condusive to search for knowledge it. And yet it had the most information.
"Looks like I’m going to have to swing by the Dukedom then" Leon gently shook his head and said.
So what that the Dukedom was about to be e engulfed in fire and brimstone? As long as he could go in and get out without causing troubles for himself. He would be okay with it.
"Okay.....this is also good" Ben gritted his Teeth. There was no malice or anything, he just hoped that he would be able to get Leon to stay around for sometime so he could get to know more about his background.
In thw Undergod territory, connections mattered alot if one wanted to survive. This was true even for the Eylis Dukedom.
If the Duke wasn’t so obnoxious and had created good bridges between his dukedom and other powers in the region, he would have people coming to his aid right now.
—Boom!!!
While the feats went on, the sound of a door being slammed open resounded, drawing the attention of Ben and the rest.
"Enforcer battleboat!!!" A young man said with fear visibly in his eyes.
On a normal day, the Undergod monastery would not involve itself with the conflicts of the territory.
They were a more freehanded powers as compared to sky Palace and the sacred land.
That didn’t mean that they wouldn’t attack unwanted elements though.
An example of one of these unwanted elements were the Gangs. Murder, pillaging and theft. These were vices in the community and the Undergod monastery took it as one of their priorities to take down any and all gangs and unwanted elements.
"Pack up boys!!! We are setting off!!" Ben slammed his fork on the table and ordered. It was rare to see an enforcer battleship from the Undergod monastery as the river branched all over the territory.
But once they saw one, the best thing to do was move as far away from them as possible.
Facing off against Undergod monastery fighters was like a death wish.
"Let’s go boys!!!"
Not even 5 hours after entering this place, they were already leaving. Leon couldn’t help but sigh. Thus was the life of criminals on the run.
As efficiently as they could, the blackwater gang memebers packed up their things, got on their horses and left along side Leon and the rest.
,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
Meanwhile,
On a boat not too far away from where the blackwater gangs camp was cited, a bladheaded man in monk clothings squinted his eyes before a wheel.
"We are lost aren’t we?" Seated not too far away from the man, a young lady dressed similarly said with disdainful eyes.
"Shut the hell up, I know what I’m doing!!!" The bladheaded man barked, clearly annoyed by the question just now.
They were on a special mission from the monastery and had missed a turn, now they didn’t even know where they were.
"Sigh, you’re a waste of time" the young lady shook her head and stood up from where she was seated.
She had blonde hair the likes only comparable to a princess, but her eyes were daggered like a strange beast that wanted to eat up its prey.
"Hmp!!!" They were lost yes, but would he admit it and lose face? No!!
Poor Leon and the blackwater gang memebers, they had left in a hurry, not knowing that they weren’t the targets in the first place.
.......
In a grassland area, a troop of several hundred horses made their way through the windy fields with a majestic zeal.
The scene was beautiful.
"Halt!!!"
At the very front of these troops Ben orders for his men to stop gradually, they had essentially escaped the enforcer battle ship by now so they were in a good position.
But this didn’t seem to be enough as the men of the gang seemed very worried.
"What’s going on?" Leon rode forward with a fully equipped Arian and Ember to the front of the group.
"A battle ship appearing from the monastery is very rare, and usually denotes the cleaning of an Area. The men are worried that this might not be the last we see of them.....we might need to head West" Ben said with a frown. Years ago he had left this place because this exact same situation. Resulting in his two boys becoming orphans and his wife dying.
The monastery was brutal to gangs and it wasn’t like he could leave his men hanging like that.
"I see.....bit doesn’t that mean you’re going to pass the Eylis Dukedom too?" Sosa said from behind with a massive smile on his face.
Fate was taking them all to the Dukedom, it started with him, then it drew Leon in. And now finally, the blackwater gang was being forced to head in that direction.
"Yes, but we won’t get involved in the conflict..." Ben looked gloomy, he had hoped to dodge the matter entirely, but fate had other plans for him apparently.
(At least I have them with me this time)
Ben looked back at his children Zane and Aron. He had left them here long ago and was finally able to reconnect even if he left here, he would have no real regrets.
"Rest up!!! We begin our journey in 4 hours" Ben instructed his men to rest and prepare.
The distance between here and the west was quite the far, plus they would need to dodge many rivers so as not to encounter the enforcers of the Undergod monastery.
So after a few hours of restocking and preparation, the whole blackwater gang set of to the west alongside Leon and the rest.
Little did they know that they were going from the frying pan and directly into the fire.