The Ancients World

Chapter 244: The City of James III

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I flap my wings to keep the current max speed up. Sally and I have been traveling for the majority of the morning at this point, and I can see a nice-sized city off in the distance. We're arriving slightly sooner than I thought we would. "That's the city..." Sally's voice is shallow and distant. Remembering the place that took away everything from her. She has returned to pay back all that pain and suffering this place has caused throughout her life. "Bring us down, please... I need a minute..." I nod my head, and I bring us down fast.

I land gently after leveling out, and Sally gets off my back and hunches over. She begins to take deep breaths and is on the edge of puking. I place my hand on her shoulder in an attempt to comfort her, but it was a bad move. "Don't touch me!" She screams as she shoves my arm away. I take a step back, giving her the space she needs. She proceeds to fall to one knee, and tears start to fall from her eyes. I toggle my wings off and walk over to a nearby log. I sit down and watch as she works through her pain and memories of this place.

I'll be here if she needs me, but right now, I don't think that being around a man is something she wants. I take my hod out of my inventory and place it over my head and the top half of my face. She stares at the ground as the tears in her eyes fall. As if in shock that she's is crying. She must have never expected a breakdown upon seeing the city. I don't want to put her through this again, and she'll probably have a similar reaction when we actually make it to the James property. A place she was tortured and kept. A fortress that resembled hell. I pull up the two quests to pass the time.

[Fighting the Disease]

[Description: Sally wishes to find and root out all the evil and corrupted people tied to the James Barony.]

[Objective 1: Once in the land held by the James Barony, try and find connections that the Barony has to other slave traders.][In Progress]

[Objective 2: Kill or imprison all people that you find out about][In progress]

[Difficulty: Legendary]

[Rewards: Unknown]

[Note: This quest is directly tied to Sally's Past and meets the same condition of being at the legendary in difficulty.]

[Sally's Past]

[Description: Help Sally in her quest for vengeance against all the men that tortured and sexually assaulted her growing up. Help her punish the Elven Kingdom for their ways.]

[Objective 1: When the time comes, Sally will ask you for your direct help in this matter.][Completed]

[Objective 2: Once everything is done with your quest involving the Dryads, ask Sally what the first step in her revenge is.][Completed]

[Objective 3: Head to the Barony of James in the kingdom of Pleer][In progress]

[Rewards: Unknown]

[Difficulty: Legendary]

[Note: The great difficulty of this quest is the goals that Sally has set in revenge. If they weren't so great, then the difficulty wouldn't be so high.]

The opportunity to take down an entire slave empire and help Sally simultaneously seems too good to be true. I'm betting I'll have to make hard decisions down the road, ones that I won't like. I rub my forehead a little bit and pinch the bridge of my nose. I have a slight headache. It's from all the planning and traveling, never taking a long break. "Blarrgh!" I look up from the ground, and I see Sally couldn't hold it in any longer. She stares at the puke on the ground with vivid hate, as if hating feeling a weakness like this.

Once we step foot in the city, Objective 3 of Sally's Past will be completed, and a new objective will be added. "Blarrgh! Huff! Huff!" Sally pukes again and takes deep breaths trying to calm herself. She's having a panic attack. However, I can't help her right now. If I get close, that overwhelming fear of men with lash out just as it did earlier. I can only watch as she struggles to regain composure. I hate seeing her like this, watching her suffer as I can't do anything to help her. When she is ready, she'll come over and talk.

As Cera and Sally are outside the city a few miles away, Hailey is inside the city at The Adventurers Guild, trying to contact this Saul person. However, no matter how long she waits, and looks around. No one by the name of Saul comes or leaves the guildhall. The Adventurers Guild has many guild halls all over Gaia, and many more of them are run by corrupt men or women. The guildhall in The City of James is no exception to this. Hailey notices the longer she is hanging around, the less welcoming the feeling around the guildhall she's getting.

I look around this room while in my corner booth. I chose this booth so I wouldn't have my back to anyone. The old adventuring veteran Saul hasn't come into the guildhall yet. It's only been young and middle-aged men and women. No one matching description is anywhere in the guildhall. "Whoever you're waiting for is not going to show... It's been 6 hours since you entered the guildhall. I suggest you stop wasting space and leave." A male voice breaks out from the bar. A drunk adventurer looks over at me as he says that.

No one adds to the topic he's raised. They're all minding their own business and keeping out of the growing problem. I look at the guy more closely, and he's much drunker than I thought. His face is pink, and his blinking is uncoordinated. He smashes some peanuts with the bottom of his mug and tosses them into his mouth. I close my eyes and ignore him. He slams his fist on the table in anger at my lack of care for what he has to say. "Didn't you hear me, Bitch! I said leave!" He's going to have to do worse than call me a bitch.

He stomps over to my booth and smashes his fist on it, denting the metal top of it. I open my eyes and look up to see a disgusting grin. I swear if he says anything about paying him back for my disrespect with my body. His head is coming off his shoulders. "Why don't you pay-!" I stand up in a burst of speed and kick him in the chest before I land. He flies across the guild as blood pours out of his mouth. He lands on some empty tables and chokes a couple of times before dying. I'm not going to tolerate such disrespect.

Everyone in the guild continues to ignore the commotion and after a couple of seconds. I hear clapping coming from upstairs. I turn my attention to the clapping, and it's an older man with a balding head. He has some pretty good gear on, and I have a feeling this might be the man I'm looking for. Hiding up on the second floor, where it's restricted to A-class adventurers and higher. "I was wondering when something would finally happen. Come up here so we can talk." He must have been looking for a reason to give me the time of day.

Now that he's witnessed some strength he sees an opportunity for something. What that is, I don't know yet. I make my way up the stairs and there is only a hand full of people up here. I pass through a magic barrier that prevents any sounds from up here reaching the floors below. "I'm Saul, and some of my little birds are telling me that you're looking for me." I turn towards the voice and he's sitting at the private bar up here. He waves me over to join him. I walk over and take a seat on the barstool next to him. "Everything has a price, remember that." He's sure upfront about his beliefs.

He nods for me to start talking, and I take that as a sign that anything said up here stays up here. "I looking for a way into the?after-market areas." I don't want to say black market, but that's basically it. The black market here in The City of James will get me into contact with the people with the necessary information for my mission. They'll have dirt and weaknesses I can use to take the James family out for good. While that might hurt their slave business. I'll just kill anyone I come into contact with that deals in that shit. Save the world from another monster.