The Immortal Player

Chapter 174: A Game called Tag!

After a few minutes, Pedro and Sabrina arrived at the western gate of the said village. Right behind them were the other five members of the Advance Force, who were able to catch up to them thanks to the soldiers and adventurers who were fighting and clearing monsters around the said village.

Since there were no monsters around, they simply sheathed their weapons back to their scabbards. That said, Pedro and Sabrina's Pen-knives lay await underneath their clothes--ready to strike at any second. 

"Young Adventurer!" Aks called Pedro, making him stop and glance to his back. Then, Aks asked, "Can I know why are we entering the Village of Axutar? I mean... Shouldn't we help their soldiers clear the monsters first? The monsters are not that many compared to the west?"

"There's no need for that, Sire Aks." Pedro said, "The village soldiers and the adventurers are morethan enough to face them. Our goal is to immediately help those who were currently in dire situations. So... We must move forward to the next stronghold. I just need to give my greetings to the village chief and say a few words of 'advice', before we look for merchants that would easily bring us to the next stronghold." 

Pedro did not wait for Aks' response. He turned around and walked towards the gate of Axutar Village--where several village soldiers stood on guard, and said to Aks, "Merchants are important in this time of crisis. They are the ones transporting food, potions, and other important supplies from a bigger stronghold to a smaller stronghold. We should, at the least, be able to help them by providing protection along the way. It's a win-win situation for both sides."

"You are right. But... What about the other--"

Before Aks could finish what he wanted to say, Pedro interrupted him, saying, "That's why I am going to have a talk with the village chief!"

Then, he glanced towards Aldo and said, "Brother Faith, contact my Aunt... Tell her to inform the two men to meet us outside the Village Chief's office in five minutes. Also... Bring Yuson with you after we enter the village, assess the situation in the village. Meet us at the village shop afterward."

Aldo glanced towards Yuson, who nodded in response. Aldo nodded to Yuson and glanced back to Pedro, saying, "Got it."

Pedro simply had a feint smile painted on his face. Soon, they arrived in front of the village soldiers who where guarding the western gates of Axutar village.

They raised their hand--stopping Pedro and the rest of Advance Force from entering, and said, "Who are you? If you are from other Villages or from the Creezal Kingdom or the Tarala Kingdom, show us your recommendation or citizenship letters. Else... If you are adventurers... You need to pay a silver coin for each person to enter inside the village!"

The soldiers smirked, emanating out a greedy aura, that made Pedro frown in response. Sabrina took a step forward as if she wanted to slice the village soldiers into pieces. Fortunately, Pedro raised his hand to stop her. 

Truth be told, Sabrina had emanated a strong murderous aura that even made the other members of the Advance Force behind her to force out a smile. However, for some reason, the village soldiers was not able to notice or detect it. 

At this cases, it should be either they were too strong to ignore Sabrina's murderous aura, or that they were too weak to feel it. But... Based on their actions, it was evident to everyone that the village soldiers belong to the later. 

Since, Aks, Antonio, and Yuson knew how teriffying Sabrina was... They didn't dare hinder her and simply left the job of stopping her to Pedro. On the other hand, Aldo and Loren were also players. They were also adventurers! 

Seeing that they were almost scammed, they would obviously not hinder Sabrina from chopping them into pieces. In fact, they might even give her a hand in taking care of the shameless bastards. 

It was really fortunate that Pedro stepped in, else, the three village soldiers would have turned into chunks of meat that might be used as a bait to the monsters. That said, Pedro could also barely control his emotions. 

He knew that the entry payment was a good way to control the people entering the village. At the same time, the villages often use what they earn to pay adventurers to hunt monsters or to help the village soldiers in defending the village. 

However, Pedro knew that the payments are often collected by NPCs who were working under the treasurer of the village or the village chief themselves. Otherwise... It is an illegal collection being made by the soldiers.

Unfortunately, such acts were not punishable at this moment, since, there were no governing rules or laws set in place for adventurers everywhere in the world of Bearth. Not even in the well structured and governed strongholds like Kingdoms. 

Pedro knew that it would take at least a year before such rules or laws would be implemented across Bearth. Thus, he knew that arguing with the greedy soldiers would be nothing but a waste of their time.

That said, it does not mean that he is going to tolerate the shameless actions of the village soldiers and simply pay the amount that they were asking in order for them to allow Pedro and the Advance Force to enter the village. He was not that much of a fool.

Pedro took a deep breath and said, "Is this how your village treat members of BHO?"

"BHO? What's that? Stop saying nonsense, young man! I know that you are all adventurers. Pay the entry fee, else... you won't be able to enter the village!" One of the village soldiers said with a smug on his face. 

At this moment, even Yuson could not help but shake his head in embarassment. BHO is an organization that is built and composed by the strongest humans all over the world. Almost all of the Kingdoms in Bearth are aware of the BHO's existence.

In fact, Royal Families would even go as far as exhausting as much resource as they can, just to train their heir so that one day, they would be strong enough to be part of the Bearth Human Organization and consequently increase the prestige of their Kingdom. 

Thus, Anyone from BHO are definitely strong and are someone whom they should not mess at any cost. And at the same time, they are very important people that even Royal Families would scramble and get out of their way to welcome them to their Kingdoms just to give them good impressions.

Because... If they got into their good sides, their heir might be taken as apprentice. A good example for this case was Beatrice. Well... She had talent and potential in the first place. That's why she was taken by the picky and eccentric Madame Soledad.

Unfortunately, the three village soldiers seemed like they did not knew much about it. It was only natural for some ordinary people or commoners to be ignorant about the existense of BHO. It was even the same for majority of the players or adventurers.

It even took years before players had some knowledge or information about BHO in Pedro's past life. So, Pedro can't blame the three village soldiers from being ignorant. That said, he won't let them go off the hook easily. After all, they tried to extort coins from him. Something that is not easy to earn at this 'starting' stage of the game. 

"How about we have a little game, respected sires?" Pedro said, calmly, as he took out a gold coin from his inventory bag. Then, he flipped it into the air--consequently attracting the eyes of the three village soldiers that were fixated to the gold coin ever since he took it out. 

"G-Game?"

"What kind of game?"

The village soldiers asked as their eyes shined bright out of greed.

"It's a game that is famous in my hometown. It's called Tag." At this moment, Pedro smiled whilst his hand was playing with the gold coin. While his other hand, moved its fingers, typing and sending a message to Aldo with his instructions. "The mechanics are simple and easy. One person would chase the other participants in the game. If the other participants were touched by the chaser, they are automatically eliminated from the game. But... if the other participants were able to survive and run away from the chaser... They would win the said prize that was set before the game. In this case... It is this gold coin."

Then, Pedro frowned and said, "So... Are you respected sires up to the game?"

The three soldiers podered for a moment. Two of them was about to agree but one of them shouted, saying, "Wait! What would happen if we all got eliminated?"

The other village soldiers nodded in response and glanced towards Pedro waiting for his answer. 

"It's nothing much, respected sires." Pedro said, "Perhaps..."

At this moment, Pedro caught a glance of a man running inside the village as if his life was on the line. However, the three soldiers was only able to notice Pedro's smirk, thinking that he was up to something bad. Thus, they were about to decline Pedro's offer of a game. 

But before they could do so, Pedro said, "You'd all be dead."

"Are you threathening us?" The village soldier bellowed in anger--pointing his sword towards Pedro. 

Sabrina was about to retaliate in response, but Pedro simply stopped her once again, whilst retaining the smile on his face. Then, he chuckled and said, "Of course not, respected sires! I am just saying the truth! Why don't you personally ask your village chief? After all... He seems like he is looking for the three of you. But... I would not do that if I were you. I would rather start running now before the chaser arrives."

The village soldiers became confused. The veins on their foreheads seemed like it was about to pop out as they were about to attack Pedro. But before they could do so, they heard someone shouting behind them, thus, they glanced towards its origin, only to see the furious village chief running towards them like an angry tiger. 

"YOU BASTAAARDS! I'LL KILL YOU ALL AND FEED YOUR BODIES TO THE MONSTERS!" The white haired old man cried whilst raising his machete--ready to chop the three village soldiers into pieces.

The faces of the three village soldier went pale as their bodies reactively started to move--running out of the village. "Shit! It's the village chief! RUN!"