Primordial Expanse: I have the Strongest Talent! - Chapter 114

Chapter 114: Late arrival
The moment Alex spoke, an intense aura wafted out from his body that suppressed the mercenary in front of him.

Instantly, the mercenary’s face froze and was replaced with a look of horror. It was too late for him to realise that he had antagonised someone who he clearly should have avoided at all costs.

Without a word, Alex casually passed by the mercenary, but not without leaving a warning for all of the other curious and brave onlookers queued up in front of him.

Crack!

The mercenary felt his arm crack and bend backwards, completely snapping the bone in two.

But he wasn’t even able to react to the pain as Alex’s aura was still pressing down on him like a mountain. It was like he lost complete control over his body, but his mind was still present and he could still feel every stimulus his body felt.

He could only cry out in his mind as Alex snapped his arm, helpless to even move a muscle.

“Anybody else interested in blocking me?”

Alex asked loud enough for the entire crowd gathered outside the gates to hear, and he only received silence as an answer.

Most of the merchants and travellers there had been sheltered their whole lives so they had never witnessed something as brutal as Alex disfiguring that mercenary’s arm, and they blanched and heaved when he did so.

For a simple warning to the crowd, it was very effective.

Soon enough, Alex came to the front of the gates where the guards were standing trying to hide the smiles on their faces.

It had been such a long time since they had seen the merchants become so timid like puppies with their tails between their legs, but every chance it happened was very welcome.

John approached Alex, completely dropping the current merchant he was currently inspecting without a thought.

“Can I get your name and purpose for your visit?” John spoke the usual welcoming messages the guards gave to every new face they saw.

On the other side, Alex looked deeply at each guard who manned each queue. After his previous interaction with the Monty town guards, his opinion of these supposed defenders of the people had dropped as low as it could go.

Now, he intended to find out if those Monty town guards were just a one off occurrence or if it was something he had to experience in every town or city he visited.

He was hoping it was the former.

“Name’s Alex. I’m here for sightseeing.”

Alex dropped the cold tone he used to speak to the mercenaries and merchants and instead opted for a casual one.

John wrote something down in a notebook for a second, and then continued.

“Welcome to Evermoor city, Alex! Every unregistered visitor needs to pay a toll of 1 gold coin as a registration fee. Every visit after that point will be free.”

Contrary to last time, it seemed this toll wasn’t just a method of extortion the guards used to fill their own pockets like the ones in Monty town did. Just from the lack of reaction from any of the merchants or mercenaries in the queue behind him, he knew that this was something everyone had to pay.

Seeing this, Alex nodded and put his hand in his pocket to pretend to pull out a gold coin.

All his belongings were stored in his spatial storage, and he didn’t want to expose that he owned one so he camouflaged his actions.

John led Alex away from the long lines of people to a small ticketing booth, where another middle aged guard was sitting inside, reading a newspaper.

“Yo Marv, we got a newcomer to register.” John greeted the guard and pointed at Alex.

Marv grumbled and put down his newspaper.

“What’s your name, age and rank if you’re an awakened?” Marv spoke in an annoyed tone to Alex.

But it wasn’t like his displeasure was targeted towards Alex, it was more so towards the fact that he had to actually do his job instead of slacking off reading the newspaper.

“Alex, 17 years old, E rank.”

Alex’s answer was short and concise, to the liking of Marv, and the official procedures were over quick.

John led Alex over to the gates, with Alex now registered in the city’s files. But before the two left each other, John leaned in close and spoke in a low tone.

“By the way, I loved what you did with those merchants earlier. Those guys have been stuck up and arrogant for longer than I can remember, so it’s always nice when they get humbled like that.”

John expressed his admiration for Alex’s bold actions back in the crowd, and seeing how Alex had already unintentionally gained favour with the guard, he decided to use it to his advantage.

“I appreciate it. By the way, you haven’t happened to have seen any injured people being carried into the city recently? My friends and I were attacked by a strong beast on the way over and we were forced to split up. I don’t know how many of us made it out alive, I’m just hoping I wasn’t the only survivor…” Alex made a sob story on the spot, painting Kilian and whoever his accomplices were as his friends.

When he heard Alex’s question, John frowned a little bit.

“We aren’t supposed to disclose visitor information like this… But seeing as they’re your friends, I do recall a man missing multiple limbs being carried into the city by a woman earlier. Though I wasn’t the guard that admitted them, so I didn’t catch their names or anything.”

John made sure to check nobody was close by and listening before he answered Alex. He already had a good impression of the boy since his handling of the merchants, so he decided to help.

“Was the man missing an arm, leg and some of his fingers?” Alex felt his emotions rile up when he heard that there actually was someone like that who entered the city earlier. But just to be sure, he had to know what injuries the man had.

“As a matter of fact, he did.”

‘That settles it. Kilian’s already made it back to the city, and it seems like he only has one accomplice, a woman. This isn’t good, now my element of surprise is lost. Not to mention I just gave my details to the guards as well. How stupid of me! I have to act fast!’

Alex quickly thanked John for his cooperation and started walking at a brisk pace into the city.

Time was not on his side.