Lucian picked up the dropped weapon in the middle of the skirmish, while the guards fought against his men.
"We are here in the name of Glory's founder to take over the warehouse," Lord Ashtor announced arrogantly, enough to make one want to punch him in the face.
"Hand over the keys and you'll live to see another day," Lord Ashtor repeated, his threats meant to scare the guards, "Or die and the next person to open the door will get the keys from your dead body!"
"Is that a joke?!" one of the guards shouted, "This warehouse is under the protection of the Osul Hunter King! You won't get away with this!"
"Ha, only the Osul Hunter King?" Lord Ashtor chuckled, "That's good news," he then laughed, harder, "I thought we'd have to deal with more enemies."
Despite Lord Ashtor's loud voice booming through the warehouse, the opposing guards couldn't ignore the masked person.
Out of place in the midst of the battle, the masked man merely strolled between the combatants. Whenever some of their people tried to attack him, he would simply step out of the way.
He only assisted when his men were at risk of being killed. It was as if he had eyes everywhere. A sword aimed at their neck would miss, the spear meant to pierce their hearts would fly off into the air, and a bow string would snap in the middle of aiming at their bodies.
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Lucian leaped and jumped around, his feet never staying on the ground for long, appeared and disappeared between his soldiers, assisting them.
A guard was about to strike at one of his soldiers with a spear.
Lucian appeared out of nowhere, kicking the guard's spear to the side, causing it to miss its target and strike the ground instead.
The guard was thrown off balance and fell backwards.
Lucian picked up the spear and swung it at the guard's head.
The guard ducked down, the spear missing its target and striking the wall behind him.
The guard rolled on the ground, avoiding Lucian's next attack, and got to his feet.
'He's good.'
Lucian took a step back, not attacking anymore, his attention already drawn to another soldier in danger.
It was a good training opportunity for them and he was not going to rob them of it.
The guards were mostly one marked hunters, enough to deal with markless bandits and robbers. They were equally matched against his men.
Lucian was the only one with a clear advantage, nobody above four markings in their ranks.
Merchant groups, especially foreign ones, were heavily regulated by the Southern Alliance. They were not allowed to bring their own army to the South.
They could only rely on the Southern army and local mercenaries to guard their goods.
Lucian passed by one of his soldiers, whispering, "The rope, use it. We need to tie them, not kill them. Pass it on."
The feral soldier quickly obeyed and stopped punching the guard he was beating up. He pulled out a piece of rope and started tying the guard's hands behind his back.
Lucian made his way towards the warehouse's office, the guards unable to follow due to the chaos of the battle.
They already sent a telephatic message to the city's garrison, asking for backup, which would soon be on its way.
The warehouse manager was on his way to flee when he saw Lucian enter his office. His eyes widened in terror, and he tried to escape, but it was too late.
Lucian's leg shot out, tripping him to the ground. The manager let out a scream of fear as he fell, hitting the ground hard.
Somewhere in the distance, a horn sounded.
The city's garrison.
They arrived in a timely manner.
Lucian picked up the fallen manager, holding the blade of the boomerang to the manager's throat, leading him outside as a hostage.
"Halt!" The city's captain shouted from atop his horse, a curved sword pointed at Lucian and his group, "You are surrounded. Release the hostage and surrender!"
The captain was accompanied by a hundred of his men, who were all armed to the teeth, their weapons drawn and ready. They were not afraid, but confident and sure of their victory. There were more of them than the attackers.
"Release the hostage, you hear?!" the captain shouted in repeat.
Lucian tightened his grip on the manager's throat, and the man gasped, trying to pull away.
The city's garrison had higher marked hunters in their ranks, with their captain at the top, with four markings.
Lucian moved behind Lord Ashtor, dragging the manager with him.
Lord Ashtor cleared his voice, "The Glory will be taking over the Northern Merchant's Guild' business from now on. If you have any issues, complaints, or questions, please address them to," he took out a scroll from his pocket and read from it, "Hunter King Scythe, Hunter King Savage, Hunter King Blade, Hunter King..."
The names alone weren't enough to make the captain falter, but the sheer number of them was.
"Why would you attack the Northern Merchant Guild's warehouses if you could have resolved this matter peacefully with our King?!" the captain shouted, but there was a slight tremble in his voice, "We'll be reporting this incident to our King!"
"Peacefully?" Lucian began to carve a letter G on the manager's neck, making him squirm and scream, "This is a high risk, ridiculous reward field of work, captain. The Glory's people in the north are at risk, too. You have to understand. We have to protect our own, and protection, sometimes, requires methods that are not so peaceful."
"Please, please, don't," the manager begged, blood dripping down his neck from the cut, "He'll kill me!"
Lucian ignored his pleas, and instead, forced the manager to focus on his words.
"With all the witnesses here, Glory sends its message to the Northern Merchant Guild," he said loudly, making sure everyone could hear him. "Tell your guild's leaders not to trample over our people in the North… or the gods' wrath will be upon them."
The manager nodded frantically, "I'll tell them, I'll tell them! Just don't kill me!"
Lucian released the manager, letting him run back to the safety of the captain's men.
The captain's men were all tense, their hands on the hilts of their weapons, ready to draw and charge at the moment's notice.
But they didn't.
The captain knew that if he ordered an attack, something worse than a dispute between two merchant groups would happen.
"We'll be reporting this," the captain repeated, glaring at Lucian and his soldiers, before ordering a retreat.
They left with the manager, leaving Lucian's group behind.