Chapter 457: Chapter 457 – An Unfair Toll

At noon, inside the dining table of the Religias family.

Inside there was normally Seman, Margaret and Nance with the temporary non-attendance of Samantha and Sarah. The new guests in the table were none other than me and Veronica.

All of us were eating our meal in peaceful silence with their being the occasional talk with one another, mostly about myself or Veronica. But Veronica was the one who got the most attention as she was new to the table and Seman and Nance were very interested in her.

So much that Margaret had to shot looks to the guys not to ask out of line.

It was close to finishing time when I thought appropriate to speak up.

“I will be leaving in an hour.”

Everybody looked up from that.

“Hour?” Seman raised his brow, “Not days?”

I nod, “Yes, my lord. I thought best to leave as soon as possible.”

“Did something happen, Henry? With the Dragonoir’s or anything?” Margaret asked.

“Not yet. But its best that I leave now before something strange befalls my place. Besides, there’s some matters there that I need to settle.”

“If you have any problems, do not hesitate to ask me for help, Henry.” Veronica said.

I smile and nod thankful to her.

Seeing that there really were no problems with me, they all nodded.

A while later, Veronica spoke too, “I think its best that I leave as well.”

“What?” Seman and Nance raised their voice as Margaret narrowed her eyes.

“I have been grateful for all that you have done for me Lord Seman and I would have wished to stay… but there is a lot of work left and time is always of importance to my work.” Veronica smiled, “So I thought, with Henry leaving, why not leave with him?”

To that, everyone turned to me as I intentionally focus on my food.

An hour later, both me and Veronica were ready to leave as we said our goodbyes and got on the carriages.

It was bad to leave so early, especially when I haven’t gotten my reward from Margaret, but what waited for me was even more important. It was bitter, but the reward from her could wait… a bigger one was waiting for me.

A few hour later, it was time for Veronica and me to separate. Our destinations were different so it was inevitable that we would separate.

I smile and say my goodbye, promising to meet her back in the capital as she did the same. Then both of us left as I finally sigh and tell Alice.

“Do it.”

…

The carriage going for the Screeching Villa continued its path as it went over sand stone paths. The carriage which hadn’t been stopped in any of the posts was finally stopped as it came to a roadblock.

The driver looked ahead and murmured in annoyance, “Trouble…”

In front of them were a collection of 15 or so bandits who were grinning widely as they blocked the road. Looking behind, the driver found the path back blocked as well by 10 bandits.

He knew what this was about, these were roadside bandits that collected money and calling it Tolls.

“What is the meaning of this?” The driver asked them.

The one in the middle of the idiotic group grinned, “We’re sorry for this sudden stop, but I’m afraid, you sirs can’t go ahead of here.”

“And why is that?”

The bandit grinned as if he waited for that question for a long time, “Because this road belongs to us, the Lang Tang Group. And without proper authority, nobody can go through here.”

“Group… or bandits?”

“Whatever you prefer.”

“And how do we get proper authorization?” The driver asked with zero happiness.

“With a small, completely fair toll of course!” The Bandit showed his crooked and colored teeth, “Only 100 pounds.”

“100 pounds?” The driver raised his brow, this was a big amount for toll, even for bandits.

“Yes… only for one carriage.” The bandit looked behind the carriage and counted, “But since you have two more behind you, that’d be 300, good sirs.”

“Is that so?” The driver turned around, “Alright, we will use some other road then.”

The bandits behind the carriages brought out their swords as the one ahead spoke, “Yeah… that you can’t do.”

“The toll though fair, is obligatory.”

The Driver sighed and knew he couldn’t negotiate with them so he asked directly, “You really want to do this?” He pointed at the coat of arms on the carriage, “These carriages belong to the Tax family.”

“The Tax family huh?” Light shone in the crooked bandit’s eyes, “Then the price must rearrange. We’re fair in our toll so for the nobility, the toll is 200 pounds per carriage.”

The Driver opened his mouth wide at the stupidity of these men and was about to scream when the door to the carriage opened. Jacob came out and looked around as he already got the feel of the situation.

“Sir, I’m sorry for the interruption but we’ll take care of it quickly.” The driver said. “The mercenaries behind will be enough for them.”

The two carriages on the back didn’t have any items but people. They were filled with the mercenaries that were alive and didn’t leave the post already.

Unfortunately, it had staggered down to quite the low number, but it was still enough to take care of this small group of bandits.

“It’s alright.” Jacob smoked as he waved at the driver, “I’ll take care of them.”

The driver didn’t argue as he sat back, “As you say, sir.”

The bandit seeing someone from the inside come out, smiled, “Graceful sir, are you the one who’s going to pay us?”

Jacob didn’t say anything as he quietly smoked and finished his cigarette. The bandit’s face slowly turned angry as he gave the order, “Make an example of him.”

One of the bandit from the group brought out a machete and ran. Jacob quietly waited for the bandit to come before kicking at the bandit’s stomach with his left leg. Instead of him flying away, the bandit stood shocked.

Suddenly, from his back a long silver sword impaled out. Then before anyone could understand, the blade retreated back inside as the fellow fell.

It was then that everyone saw Jacob’s leg. His left leg was a lean silver prosthetic that had the blade hidden inside.

“Kill him, go, go, go!” With the bandit’s order, three of them rat straight for Jacob. But they couldn’t even come close to him before three arrows simultaneously headshotted those three.

The bandit in the middle looked up and found a figure with bow and arrows perched atop the front carriage, already aiming his next arrows.

“Kill them all!”

A few minutes later…

Jacob’s blood-soaked body entered the carriage as he sighed and looked next at Wilson. He was surprised at the skill Wilson showed.

His aim with the bow was phenomenal and with each shot, three of the bandits fell. It went boring for Jacob who found some of his targets already getting penetrated by an arrow and asking for help.

“You’re good.”

“I know.”

“No wonder, Henry thinks of you as a friend. I just thought you were one of his criminal buddies.”

Wilson (Winona) inside had another thought for why Henry liked him (her).

“Where is he?”

“He went ahead with Alice.”

“Is there another faster way?” Wilson asked curiously. If there was, why hadn’t they taken it?

“Yeah… but only Alice and Henry can take it.”