BXBX NOVEL Chapter 53 - Scam!
Ban and George turned their heads in the same direction after hearing that shout.
It came from a guard standing not far away from the huge gate. The guard was pointing his sword towards the two of them without fear.
"This is the first time I\'ve seen you around here, state your business or else leave the premises!" The guard stated without backing down.
Ban frowned at the guard\'s attitude. It was his first time coming to this area so he was not familiar with the workings around here. However, he did not recall the Adventurers dining in the Kuys Bar mentioning about people getting shooed away if the guard was not familiar with them.
Ban stared at George, waiting for his explanation. As a carriage driver, he must have experienced his fair share of Adventurers going around here to shop. In fact, he might have even guided some of them inside if they were not familiar with it, especially those that came from another city.
George gulps a mouthful of saliva after feeling Ban\'s gaze. He also did not understand why they were being stopped this way.
However, the guard\'s next words confirmed something that George has been hearing around the city lately.
The guard approached them with a friendly smile this time, "But… if you\'re willing to part with some coins, like 50 Silvers or more, I\'ll let this pass and let you in inside the Adventurers Market."
Before one could enter the Adventurers Market, one must have an Adventurers Badge. A recommendation letter from someone who has a badge would also do.
If an Adventurer was with someone else that isn\'t an Adventurer, they are allowed to bring them in, but they could only bring one non-Adventurer person inside the Adventurers Market.
This way, the non-adventuring people that are familiar with the market can guide those who were not familiar, especially those who came from another city.
George would also work as the guide of Adventurers around the market and he was even dubbed as a mobile map by some Adventurers he guided before.
But lately, he has been hearing gossip from his guide friends that a shady thing was going around the market.
Supposedly, there was a new rule that has been added lately, and Adventurers from the other cities, or those who are not familiar with the workings around the market will be asked to pay 50 Silvers as a membership fee.
And from what he heard, it was actually a lie and just a rule that the new guards had set up.
And hence, his guide friends were already hesitating whether to continue guiding or just quit early. After all, one of them has already been beaten to a pulp after promising an Adventurer that he won\'t be paying any entrance fee and that he would only need to show his Adventurers Badge to enter.
It was clearly an abuse of power from the guard\'s side, but they could do nothing about it.
The Adventurers Market was also located in the inner part of the city. Along with other important locations and infrastructures, the Inner City Guards could be seen everywhere around here.
In fact, from the three kinds of Guards, the Inner City Guards were the most hated ones due to their dirty and corrupt ways. They are supposed to maintain order inside the city, but there are instances that it was them who would pick a fight from the low-ranked Adventurers and ask them for fines for disturbing their works.
George doesn\'t know if the upper echelons of the city knew of these incidents or they were just turning a blind eye to it. However, it did not change the fact that the Inner City Guards\' reputation was not good around the city.
Of course, George knew that there are other good Inner City Guards as well who did their duty faithfully.
Anyways, from what he heard, there was a new guard that had been assigned here and it was them who were doing the dirty deals.
This guard in front of them must be one of those newly assigned ones and he must have heard George and Ban talking about being a guide and not being familiar around the Adventurers Market hence the guard decided to approach and decided to scam them.
The guard glanced at George who was showing a difficult-to-describe expression on his face. The guard winked at him swiftly, intending for him to join in and play along with the scam.
However, George only shook his head as he turned his head towards \'Leon\' who has been staring at him since earlier.
In George\'s mind, he was thinking that \'Sir Leon\' already knew of the shady deals and was only trying to test him on which side he would go.
However, George did not even need to think about it as the moment he realized that the guard was trying to scam them, he already knew which one to side with.
\'Heck! You\'re just a mere Inner City Guard and the person beside me is a mysterious person who is capable of calming a frenzied Monster with just a few moves. I will be an idiot if I try to scam this kind of person. Go to hell on your own!\'
George did not hesitate any longer as he tried to explain what was going on.
"Sir Leon, you don\'t need to pay anything. Based on the Adventurers Market rules, you only need to show your Adventurers Badge and you will be able to enter the market freely.
This is a scam that the guards were trying to run by abusing their powers as the city guard!"
The guard\'s eyes went wide in surprise after being exposed like that by the carriage driver.
His eyes stared hatefully at George which made the latter shiver in fear.
\'You\'re just a fucking carriage driver, how dare you expose my plans!\'
The veins present on the guard\'s forehead bloated due to his anger.
He was an Inner City Guard, how dare this insolent carriage driver try to oppose him?
"If you just stayed silent at the end, none of this will have to happen!" The guard yelled at George at the top of his lungs.
Swoosh!
Suddenly, a slithering snake emerged on the guard\'s collar before pouncing towards George at extreme speed.
A grin appeared on the guard\'s face as he imagined George\'s terrified expression after being bitten by his Brown Viper.
"Die!" He exclaimed with a victorious tone.
However, the next moment, his expression went stiff as his wild imagination did not come true.
And instead, his Brown Viper was thrown aside by something while a tall figure was already standing in front of him.
A shiver went down his spine as he witnessed the pitch black eyes of the tall figure looking down at him as if he was a worm.
"What are you doing?"
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Thank you for reading!