Zectas Volume I: Enigmatic Village of Nanahuatl (18 page)

 

 

Smoke and Adder clapped their hands loudly, in recognition to the great contributions that the two gave in freeing Condortl Village. In all this time they never gave up. It was because of their persistence that Condortl Village is now free.

 

 

"Well now that we've had our rewards. It is time that we gave Smoke his."

 

 

 

Howard took out a small wooden figurine of a pile of hides, one on top of another. It looked like a small tower of hides. While James took out a small wooden figurine of a needle and thread. Both of them handed it to Smoke.

 

 

Both Howard and James spoke at the same time saying.

 

 

"With this, we officially recognize Smoke as the new clan head of our families."

 

 

Except for Adder, everyone in the room bowed down before Smoke as a symbol of their allegiance.

 

 

+ Received Hide's family token

 

+ Received Jackals' family token

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Thank you everyone. I swear to be an honorable and just clan head to all."

 

 

 

 

Finally just one more family token and the long coveted 'Hidden Basic Job of Nanahuatl Village' will be his. Smoke couldn't wait. He took Adder with him immediately to Peitro Fischer's house.

 

 

Peitro welcomed him with open arms. Smoke was glad that he didn't act like James when he was asking for their family tokens before. Peitro was friendly as always.

 

 

"Welcome Smoke, welcome, I'm so happy to hear that you've freed the village of Condortl. I was still a child when they were gathering for a party to free that village. I would have loved to help. But seeing as my fighting ability is lacking I don't think I could have done much."

 

 

"Hi Peitro how are you?, by the way this is Adder. He is a former resident of Condortl and now he has joined me to be a part of my private army. I say army but Adder is the only one at the moment."

 

 

"You have a private army now? That's amazing! Well then Adder you have to be pretty reliable if you are to be an army of one. Hahahaha. Anyway let's get right to it. You guys are here for my family token right?"

 

 

"Yes we are Peitro, I humbly ask for your family token and once I have it, I swear to be fair and just as your new clan head."

 

 

"Well you're pretty sure of yourself that you will become our clan head already huh? I like that! Hahahaha. Normally I would've given you the family token. After all you have already saved this village. If only those pesky river monsters weren't in the way towards the open sea."

 

 

"River monsters? Just what kind of monsters are we talking about?"

 

 

"I should have said Sea Monsters to be precise, but those pesky murlocks have made a settlement near the mouth of the river. They attack any kind of vessel that passes their the way. Because of them my family and I can't fish in the sea. The fish that we've caught in the fishing weirs are plenty. But we are a clan of fishermen, being out in the open sea is our way of life."

 

 

"I see. No wonder you find these murlocks to be such pests. Just what do this murlocks look like? Do you also happen to know their abilities?"

 

 

"They are scaly humanoid looking people. They have gills in their heads and fins on top. They also have webbed hands and feet. They mostly come in the shade of blue or green. Depending on the color of the water that they're staying in."

 

 

"When you said murlocks I instantly thought that they would look like slime humanoids."

 

 

"No, I don't think they are related to slimes. However the females of the murlocks have gained the siren's song ability, that ability makes you think that they are beautiful. Too beautiful that you will be put in a daze. In this stunned state, their men kill you and then they eat you."

 

 

Smoke grimaced as he pictured out such a horrific scene.

 

 

"That sounds terrible. So do you have any advice on how to deal with those monsters?"

 

 

"I'm not absolutely sure but perhaps plugging your ears will help deal with the siren's song. Aside from that I guess you could fight them in shallow waters, so that they can't try to drown you."

 

 

"Yeah, that's some pretty sound advice."

 

 

"So will you do it will kill those river monsters for me?"

 

 

 

"Yes. I'll make sure that you and your clan can get back into the waters of the open sea once more."

 

 

"Hahahaha! Thank you so much Smoke. I knew I could count on you. Here let me point it out in your map."

 

 

 

 

After receiving the quest from Peitro, Smoke and Adder headed towards Darius' house to prepare for their trip. Once inside they were greeted by a gathering of hunters.

 

 

Four hunters to be exact. Darius was talking to them when Smoke and Adder came in. Immediately the four hunters stood up and bowed down before Smoke.

 

 

Smoke recognized them as Sharanga, Ichaival, Vijaya, and Thyrsus. The former jobless youths of Nanahuatl Village. They were sent to Coatl City to become archers. However they've returned not as archers but as Hunters.

 

 

He was happy for them, yet somehow he also felt a bit jealous. True, it did take him a while to liberate Condortl Village. But still in that time span these youths have managed to turn into Archers and then leveled up into Hunters.

 

 

"Wow! I'm impressed. I knew that you'd turn into Archers easily but I didn't think that when I get back here you will greet me as Hunters."

 

 

Thyrsus a young blond man that appeared to be in his early 20's, spoke in behalf of his other fellow Hunters.

 

 

"Thank you for your kind words Master Smoke. It was your heroic deed that served as our guiding light. The four us wanted to return to you as soon as possible, so we chose the known path of a Hunter."

 

 

"Return to me? I didn't know that we had made some kind of promise?"

 

 

This time it was Vijaya, the young wood elf girl who spoke out.

 

 

"No Master Smoke, we didn't have have any kind of promise. But the eight of us who were trained by Master Darius, have planned from the start to join your private army as soon as we took the advance job from being an Archer."

 

 

"Yes Smoke. It was their sincerity of serving under you that moved my heart to train them. I originally wanted to join your private army as well. But there are some circumstances that forbid me from leaving the vicinity of Nanahuatl Village. Using one of the slots of your private army on someone who can’t join you in your quests would be such a waste."

 

 

"Ahh I see. That's really disappointing to hear. I was really looking forward to have you join us, to have Darius in our army would have been amazing. I just recently learned about 'private armies' during my quest in Condortl. That reminds me. Sharanga, Ichaival, Vijaya, and Thyrsus I would like you to meet Adder. He is a warrior from Condortl and the first member of our private army."

 

 

Adder stood at attention and bowed down before the gathering of Hunters.

 

 

"It is an honor to meet you all. The students of Master Darius are guaranteed to be exemplary individuals."

 

 

"It is an honor to meet you as well sir Adder. Let me introduce myself first. I'm Vijaya Sundara elder sister of Sharanga."

 

 

"I'm Sharanga Sundara. Although Vijaya likes to refer to her self as my older sister, the reality is we are actually fraternal twins. It is still in dispute as to who really is older."

 

 

"I am Ichaival Jackal. I am the son of James Jackal the village tailor. In that aspect we are somewhat related sir Adder."

 

 

"And I am called Thyrsus Fischer. As you may have guessed Peitro is my father."

 

 

Darius then clapped his hand loudly to gain everyone's attention.

 

 

"Good. Now that everyone has been introduced, let us commence to the reason why you four have become Hunters. Smoke as the first teacher of these dedicated individuals. I would like to recommend them, to be a part of your private army."

 

 

"It is my honor and privilege to accept all of you into 'our' private army. I may still be lacking in leadership but together we will grow through experiences and steadily turn into this world's most powerful army."

 

 

Smoke had no time to read all of the system notifications as they started to flood his view. He just assumed that it contained information similar to when Adder joined his private army.

 

 

Everyone cheered. All of them have been accepted into their hero's army. Although they were a bit taken aback when they heard that their small private army would become the world's strongest. In the back of the young Hunters’ minds was doubt but since Smoke is their leader there maybe some chance of that happening.

 

 

Smoke now has a private army of 5. However the first thing that Smoke orders his Hunters to do, was to go to Mandragora Forest in order to learn the poison resistance ability.

 

 

He went outside to the archery grounds and showed them the reason why he is sending them there. He took out a poison pellet and swallowed it. He showed them that he was now immune to that level of poison, but he didn't stop there.

 

 

He took another poison pellet and squashed it and then threw it into his quiver of arrows. The arrow that Smoke had taken out from the quiver has turned into a poison arrow.

 

 

After seeing such a feat. The four Hunter's admiration for Smoke grew even more. They now considered him almost like a god. They would surely follow his commands no matter what they were.