Chapter 106.2 Traces of an Artisan (4)

Chapter 106.2: Traces of an Artisan (4)

“Is this the place? It’s a lot closer than I thought.” Ian said to Chief Jackson.
Chief Jackson didn’t answer. He didn’t have to. There was no need for him to check up on Ian. Jackson’s pretense only needed to last up to now.
POW!
A loud, smacking noise sounded, followed by a deep pain in the head instead of a response. At that same moment, Ian’s upper body fell over forwards. Was it because of the pain? At least, that’s what Jackson and his followers thought.
“I’m telling you, you should have just fallen asleep after taking the medicine. Less trouble for us, and you would have left without trouble. You’re seriously an unlucky fellow, aren’t you?”
Jackson’s tone had completely changed after he made sure Ian was swaying on his feet. The gentle and respectful attitude he had shown back in the village was nowhere to be found.
“We don’t want to do this either. After all, haven’t we cleaned up our act and taken over a village? But we humans have our old habits, don’t we? We have our occupational habits.”
Chief Jackson walked over to Ian. There was a creepy smile on his face. It would be understandable if someone were to think he was a completely different person.
“Why did you keep prompting me, little boy? You made it obvious that you had a such a deep pocket. You had the face of a wealthy one! I couldn’t stand it.”
Jackson and his nineteen followers had been traffickers in the Low Kingdom in the past. Now, they were ruling in the village of Bordon like kings, but once in a while they targeted passing travelers. They would steal the possessions of these travelers and quietly kill them, and sometimes they would revive their old skills and sell the bodies to the traffickers who were currently active. In a way, it was their ‘hobby’, as Jackson and his followers liked to put it.
“Just consider yourself unlucky.”
Jackson pulled out a dagger. His followers helped Ian back to his feet, as if they were used to this routine. Ian still hadn’t spoken a single word. The way he was looking at the ground made it look he was scared stiff.
“I gathered a bunch of my men thinking you would be trouble, but looks like there was no need.”
Jackson twirled the dagger in his hand. Then, he stabbed Ian in the stomach. He seemed to have no reluctance or hesitancy at all.
“…huh?” Jackson muttered. He was confused.
This wasn’t the feeling he was supposed to feel on his hand. Where was the feeling of penetrating skin?
“Wh…What the..?”
Jackson’s eyes grew big as he quickly withdrew his dagger. The entire blade of his weapon had disappeared completely. This meant that there had never been a blade in the first place. Jackson wouldn’t know, but Ian had put the Break Spell on the weapon.
“Why is this..?” Jackson stuttered, looking bewildered. He looked at Ian. After all, hadn’t he been lowering his head just now?
Ian had now lifted his head. Jackson could feel Ian’s eyes on him, which were vicious and deadpan..
‘His…his eyes..’
Jackson had deceived Ian. He had appeared to be like a respectful and gentle young village chief, but he had shown his true colors since they had come into the forest. But now…
“Maybe it’s you all who’s rather unlucky.”
“…what?”
Perhaps Jackson wasn’t the only who was showing his true colors here in the woods.
“A…aaaaaagggh!”
Jackson’s followers were the first ones to let out a painful scream. The reason was simple. They were the ones who had been holding Ian down and they felt an extreme pain in their hands. It felt like a burn, but it wasn’t because of flames. In fact, there was a cold energy creeping off Ian’s body.
“Maybe I’ve lost my senses, or maybe there’s something wrong with my head. I just don’t get angry nowadays. Is it because of the ridiculous new enemies I have now?”
Ian wiped the back of his head. There was a bloody stain on his hand. He had known of Jackson’s planned attack. However, he had only put on the defense spell. A spell that would only protect his head and his intestines. As a result, there was a throbbing pain he could feel all over his body.
“That hurts.”
The blood on his hand had dried and turned to powder. Ian dusted it off.
“I must say, I feel I’m starting to get a little angry.” He said quietly.
Ian was starting to get mad.
BOOOM!
As soon as the last word escaped his mouth, there was the sound of mana exploding all around them. That was not all. Jackson’s followers who had been holding Ian down disappeared. They were not cut into pieces, nor had they burned into flames. They had simply vanished into thin air. They were incapable of leaving a scream, nor a single drop of blood.
“Wha…. Huh?”
Jackson stood with his mouth open. He still couldn’t take in what was happening. What was going on?
“You didn’t want to do this?” Ian repeated.
Just as Jackson hadn’t been hesitant to stab him, Ian also didn’t feel guilty about all that had just happened. They had crossed the line of ‘categories’ that Ian places on his enemies. There was the bandit guild who had tried to threaten him. There was the army of the Coldwood Kingdom that had been drafted by the order of the head authorities. There was Dragonian Evantus, who was struggling to keep his child alive. None of them had crossed the ‘category’ Ian had set for himself.
“That was my intention as well.” Ian continued.
On the other hand, there were the ones whom Ian had killed off. Starting off, there were the Mogrian soldiers who had disgraced his mother, and the bandits who had attacked Ledio. Then there was the murderer from the Coldwalkers and Ragnar Greenriver. They had all crossed the ‘line’ and every single one of them had faced death.
“The thing is though.. I have a habit as well.”
The conmen of Brodon Village, including Chief Jackson, were the latter. They had been in the grey area, as Ian wasn’t sure how to categorize them, as his enemies, but he had become positive with his decision a few moments ago. They had crossed the line to the category of people Ian killed off.
“If I see trash, I get rid of it ASAP.” Ian replied.
Lightly Re-edited by FlawFinder, this one had a lot of misused words and some inconsistent names.