Chapter 9. Threat
It was early in the morning and I was eating today's rations when I saw a convoy of sort coming from the mountains ahead. It appeared to be Noxian troops for whatever reason. Most of them were wearing vest-like armour, leaving their arms exposed. The only one who did not look like this was the man in front. He was wearing a full purple set of clothes. The most interesting thing was his bladed cape and his weapon. The cape was strange since it was less of a cape and more of just flare. The 'Cape' was about as long as any other and was attached to the front of his right shoulder to the back of him left. The blades were on the end of straps and the straps were held together with more straps. His weapons was odd to me as well since it was strapped to his arm. It looked something like a really large spearhead. I found myself eyeing the man feeling like the moment I didn't something might happen, however after a little longer the man and his troops disappeared behind the hills I had passed. It wouldn't be long until they found the end result of my fight yesterday.
I climbed down from the tree I was sitting on and got ready to pass through I mountains ahead. I could finally see my first landmark, The Ironspike Mountains. Unlike my way to Zaun I had walked all the way to these large mountains looking to get to Demacia. However the mountains were still quite a long way from where I was but at least now I could see them. From how far I was I couldn't tell if something was happening but I was curious since those Noxians passed by. I kept to myself and as I got closer I did in fact see a large amount of people at the clearing in front of my side of the mountain. As I got closer I finally could see what was happening, A man was in the middle of the crowd pleading for someone to avenge his friends. At first I could see people were simply ignoring him but a few people did walk up and talk to him. From what I could see he didn't have a bow so my worries of him being the archer bandit were washed away. I decided to listen to what he was crying out. "I swear I'll make him pay for this!" He cried. "I need someone, anyone to go with me! They'll kill me if they see me again!". I'm curious just who 'they' are, I moved to a tree and climbed to the top of it to get a better look. "Those villains will stop at nothing if I do something! If I can't stop them they WILL attack the checkpoint!" The man cried. More and more people were leaving, heading towards Zaun or Noxus and soon there was only two handfuls of people including the guards and me. Not long after people started leaving the man broke down, He was tired of screaming and getting no answer. He moved over to the tree I was atop of and I decided since no one else was around to see if I wanted to help or not.
"Explain the situation a bit more" I said as I sat on a lower branch. The man looked around to see who had spoke to him and after he saw me his eyes lit up and he stood on two legs again. "You see, I used to be apart of this bandit group that attacks travelers from around here. They were talking about how they were planning on taking over this checkpoint to force people to pay a toll to pass, I tried to plead to the Noxian Military but they wouldn't listen, and I'm to far from Piltover or Zaun so all I can do is beg for another to help" He didn't stop to rest as he explained the problem to me. "Do you know where they are, also how do I know you're not just a decoy?" I asked. "They have a camp just to the south of the checkpoint, a large forested area you can't miss it. Also you can trust me because while I used to be apart of the group I was one of the few who opposed to the idea. You see while we were bandits making a living in noxus isn't easy" The man went on and on how cruel the noxian streets were and how crime was easier then a hard day's worth. He wanted someone to help him, no matter what the cost... however. "What do I get out of helping, also what exactly do you want me to do" I asked. The man reached into the bag on his back and pulled out a small sack of coins. "I'll give you all the money I have on me, I can always return after you finish the job... I want you to kill the current leader of my bandit group as well as his deputy" He said. "Exactly how much do you have on you" I asked. The man started counting the coins in the small money bag and after he looked up at me "172". Unlike Piltover or Zaun the money in Noxus and the rest of the land work on per coin as opposed to the coins material. I only grabbed two bags of coins when I killed... Beat that man. There was 60 gold coins in each, Which totaled to 1200. If I was going to survive in other places I was going to need to adapt to other cities currency. If I remember correctly buying a sword in noxus is 25 or so coins for a good one. Since weapons are needed to survive in noxus weapons wouldn't be cheap. That meant that the amount he had was a lot, Not exactly rich standards but It could get me through a few days if I were to stay in noxus. "So all I need to do is kill the leader and his deputy" I asked to confirm. The man nodded his head and shortly after started explaining the area of the camp to me, as well as my targets. By the time he had finished the sun was high in the sky and we had already begun walking towards the camp. This was the first time I had ever left the area near Piltover and Zaun. The are around me was fairly damp with less trees around and more marshes and swamps. The sky seemed darker here as well and the air felt thick. I can see why noxus was usually the bad guys in all those stories now.
It took most of my day to get to the camp, by the time we got there it was already dusk. The camp was decently hidden, someone just passing wouldn't notice it but if someone were to be looking they would find it. It was off the side of a road in a forested area roughly 1 kilometer from the road. They didn't have any fires on the edge of the forest but if you looked closely enough you would see the smoke. "You wait here and get ready to return" I said as I started walking towards the forest. "What? No I'm going with you" He protested. "You will only slow me down, If you want that man dead we do things my way" I responded. The man stood there for a moment and then backed away. "Fine, I hope you learn your way around the forest. I'll be here waiting for you." He said as he began climbing a tree. I started moving towards the forest again and pulled my hood over my head as I did so. Looks like I have a mission.