Zarba continued to wander around in the market, listening to the rumors whispered from the people gossiping while he bought the supplies he came for, such as potatoes, carrots, onions, garlic, beans, butter, wine, spices, and salt—he brought them all and put them in a rucksack, and after he restocked almost everything of what he needed for food, he also went and bought some soap and glowstones from the general store. Then he went to visit the bakery to buy some bread loaves next.
After the bread loaves had been stored in the rucksack, Zarba turned his face to the store clerk and placed two silver coins on the counter, which made the store clerk's eyebrows rise at his gesture.
"Keep the change and tell me about what's going on around here, will you?" Zarba said while leaning on the counter with his arm casually.
"Of course, of course..." The clerk immediately became more receptive as Zarba became a VIP in his eyes before he started telling Zarba what he knows about recent happenings in town.
"You came at a bad time, traveler." The clerk made a solemn face as he started to speak with a serious tone while he quickly shoved the coin into his apron. 'I'm definitely going to a brothel after this...!'
"Folks are quite scared since yesterday a merchant caravan got hit hard—not by monsters, mind you, but by a new bandit gang wearing what looks like a skirt of all things!" He wiped flour-dusted hands on his trousers as he continued to talk. "They claimed they were the Big Brotherhood in the Rear, a name that will make sense when you know more about them…"
"From what the poor victims said, not only did these queer bastards take every scrap of food and coin, but they also left the men's asses utterly sodomized, their souls tainted, and their manly pride shattered forever from such desecration upon their asses!" The clerk said with so much disgust for the bandits and sympathy for the victims in his tone as he told Zarba about the bandit gang's evil deeds.
"Sodomized... like... literally…?" Zarba was quite hesitant to ask, but he had to make sure if such depraved creatures are roaming around the area so he can either avoid them or exterminate them with extreme prejudice for his fellow men.
"Aye. The victims still can't walk or even sit properly. They say the gang's leader kept screaming, 'Tight! Tight! Tight!' while... while he..." The clerk nodded grimly as he trailed off before shuddering at the image in his head. "Some say they're deserters from the Mad Emperor's army—men twisted by the emperor Zarking's curse of madness. Others claim they worship a dark god who demands... unconventional offerings... ahh... what a terrible blight upon this land...!"
"I-I… see… anything else?" Zarba was speechless about this particular bandit gang and decided to change the subject before the clerk shared more of their exploits. He really doesn't want to know anymore…
The clerk sighed with relief, as he also doesn't want to talk about how the bandit boss showers his victims with vicious fluid after he breaks them from long hours of torment that will scar those poor men for life…
"Well, there's another rumor going around—folk saying they saw something lurking in the night of Oakhaven. Tall dark silhouette of something in the dark with glowing eyes. I also saw it myself last night!" His voice dropped to a whisper. "I thought I was having too much ale, or the whore spiked my drink… But then I see it, just around the corner of the tavern; it was flowing in the air, just hovering there, looking at me with its glowing eyes…! I can't get a good look at what it actually looks like, though, as it just turned and left somewhere without doing anything...!"
Zarba kept his expression neutral despite feeling like the clerk probably pissed himself from seeing such a thing in the night and decided to not include that in his story. After that, the clerk only had some useless gossip of the townspeople's affair to share, so Zarba thanked him and slipped away, his rucksack heavy with supplies.
'That mysterious silhouette at night—I might know what it could be, but should I really involve myself with it?' He thought back to one of the game quests with a thoughtful expression as Zarba moved toward the only tavern of Oakhaven—The Slurped Tankard—where rumors flowed freely like the cheap ale they probably serve.
÷×÷×÷
Inside the Slurped Tankard, the air hung thick with sweat and the sour stench of spilled ale. Men huddled over wooden tables, their voices rowdy amidst a minstrel's off-key ballad about a fisherman and a kraken in a swimming race. A classic tale of bravery and stupidity.
Zarba quietly slid onto an empty stool at the bar, ordering their watered-down wine. Two men beside him argued over a bounty poster nailed to a support beam.
"Twenty silver coins for Gayder?" scoffed a grumpy male mercenary, tapping the bar counter with his finger in frustration. "That's daylight robbery—for us! That son of a bitch got like fifty bitches with him! They probably camped in the abandoned farmstead somewhere, waiting for fresh booties to play with..."
His companion, a weasel-faced man nursing a tankard, snorted. "Fifty? Try eighty; I bet there might even be more! And that queer bastard isn't some chump either, mate. Heard he's got a great talent handling a sword… both of them…"
He took a sip of his ale, his voice dropping to a whisper as his face grimaced. "That queer bastard got so many victims. Especially pretty-looking ones—he even took them with him and kept them like pets. They're probably being used day and night by those sons of bitches, if you catch my drift. Hah, couldn't be me…"
Zarba sipped his wine; the dulled taste tasted like disappointment on his tongue. He kept his ears perked, feigning interest in the minstrel's tale about tentacles and tangled nets. He then glanced at the bounty poster with a crude sketch of a burly man with long hair, smiling like he is a holy saint. Gayder, leader of the Big Brotherhood in the Rear. The reward was laughable compared to the bandit gang of more than fifty bandits. No wonder why no one has taken them out yet.
'So it's this guy…' Zarba knows this guy from the game; he is a named enemy with no lore or anything mentioned about him, as he is just a mini boss that guards a treasure chest in the dungeon.
'No wonder he got no lore; this dude is an R-rated character…' From what Zarba had heard of him, his reputation painted a nightmare for any helpless traveler. He can imagine the victims left moaning in the dirt, their wagons stripped bare, and their dignity... well, let's just say it was "rearranged" just like their rear end...
÷×÷×÷
[ System Alert! ]
—Quest triggered!
—Quest: Eliminate the Big Brotherhood in the Rear gang!
—Objective: Killed or captured Gayder and all 96 members of the bandit gang.
—Reward: [Gayder Template]
÷×÷×÷
Suddenly the SSS' notification pops up in Zarba's vision, which almost makes him curse out loud.
'There's no way I'll go to search for them…!' Zarba scoffed in his mind. He's not that free to go searching for a bandit gang, especially a very repulsive one that only targets male butts!
Zarba then pays for his drink and leaves the tavern, as there doesn't seem to be anything worthwhile to listen to. Only the tale of the Big Brotherhood in the Rear and the mysterious silhouette in the night are being discussed in the tavern.
÷×÷×÷
Back at the carriage that was hidden deep within the oak grove, Zarba, who had returned, recounted Oakhaven's recent rumors to Xin in the carriage. Her eyebrow rose at the mention of the Big Brotherhood in the Rear and Gayder.
"Oh my, such degenerates," she frowned, wondering how such twisted existence came to be. "They'd make a fine sacrifice for the corpse tribute ritual—if they weren't so disgusting..."
"Forget them. That silhouette though—hovering, glowing eyes..." Xin mused, thinking about another rumor. "Sounds like someone astral projecting. I wonder what they're looking for specifically in this small town?"
"Well, there's really no reason for us to concern ourselves with it," Zarba shrugged, unpacking the supplies he brought from the town onto the carriage floor. "Unless it actually starts following us or attacking, we can just leave it alone."
"My, my, your pragmatism really suits you, my husband." Xin smiled with her lips curved slightly at her husband's careless attitude towards what doesn't concern him or her. "Even though whoever cast it might be searching for something… or someone."
"Nah, I doubt it's searching for us, though. Anyway, let's continue on our journey," Zarba reassured her after he heard Xin hint that it might be searching for them.
Zarba already knew that that mysterious silhouette was not a magician searching for them, but it was actually searching for someone with a good heart to deliver its remains and memento to its family. That's right, the silhouette was actually a ghost and not someone's astral projection.
Zarba then picks up something and tosses Xin an apple he brought. She caught it mid-air, looking at him with a skeptical expression. "How could you be so sure…?"
"Hahaha, well, it's my instinct, I guess?" Zarba chuckled as he smiled mysteriously at his slave-wife, who was just shaking her head at his vague reply.
"How realible..." Xin muttered sarcastically as she moved to the seat of the carriage.