Chapter 6: The First Stop
Acnologia and Alduin were heading towards the nearest town Alduin could find. It was not a town, it was more like a village of some sort. On their way, some bandits and thieves attacked them, so they killed them and took their coins.
The village was barricaded with wooden spikes and there were two guards at the entrance. There was also a small bell in the center of a village which was used to warn the villagers if a hostile creature attacked them, but a small village would be turned into straw ruins if such a thing happened. It was a miracle how it managed to last this long.
"Halt! Who are you two and why have you come to our village?" The guards stopped them at their tracks,
"We've come here to take a quick rest before continuing our journey," Alduin replied to the guard,
"Hmm.. let us check your knapsack first if you have any items," The guard told,
"There isn't much except for some bones, scales, and hides," Acnologia replied he didn't want the humans to see the dragon bones as they would probably cause panic.
"Alright, but we've got our eyes on you. There's a tavern to the left after a check post. Clean yourselves, we don't want diseases spreading here." The guard warned them and let them go,
Alduin and Acnologia nodded and began to search for the tavern, it had straw as roofs and it was quite big. One could easily spot the Inn at it was one of the biggest buildings in the town. It had a signpost and two stairs. One from the front and one from the right side.
All of it was made of wood, so if there was a fire nearby, it could easily be burnt.
*Creak* *Creak*
The stairs and the doors creaked. They opened the door and got inside. Frankly, it was quite a lively inn, totally contrasting the somewhat gloomy look of the outside village. Everyone was cheering and drinking. The smell of fire and mead filled the room. The bard was playing music with his lute, while the men were cheering and chugging it down.
The barkeep was a burly dude, with black hair and beard. He was cleaning mugs when Alduin approached him.
"What would you like, we got drinks for the thirsty and food for the hungry" The barkeep suddenly asked them,
"Give us 3 plates of roasted meat, 2 mugs of ale, 1 room (no homo), and a bath," Acnologia told him while looking around the tavern.
"Quite a lively place you got here, totally opposing the outside mood." Alduin complimented the barkeep,
"Aye...that we do. Travellers often visit this place as a quick rest stop. We give them food and a place to stay. While they stay, they grant us protection if any of the monsters attack. This is the only place you can take a rest for a long time if you are travelling"
"Good atmosphere you got here.... by the way. Got any rumours and jobs?"
"There is one job of hunting the bandits in a forest. They have been troubling us quite often. There is a mage there, so we can't just go kill them. If you manage to kill them, being the village chief their heads and he will grant you some money."
The barkeep gave Alduin a poster, and coincidentally the poster matched the bandits. They sadly didn't collect their heads, and the reward was around 200 gold coins. They could either bring the head or a bandana of the bandits.
Fortune and luck being on Alduin's side, he had grabbed the bandana of the bandits hoping that he could sell them and also gain money.
The food had arrived and both Alduin and Acnologia chomped down on it. It was quite good regarding the situation. time and place of where the food was made. They finished 4 plates, seeing them eating the meat and ales like a hungry beast, the people just stared at them. They finished 4 of those plates in mere minutes.
*Phuaa*
"That was some of the best meat, we've had till now. Ain't that right, Alduin"
"Rahaha, indeed it was. All we've had now were beast meats without any flavouring and taste."
The barkeep smiled at their words, the two of them looked very powerful and the aura that they were giving off was not a simple one. They were the strongest person the barkeep has met till now,
"Oie Acnologia, let's head towards the village chiefs place. It seems he can give us some money. The bandits we killed were troubling this village and coincidentally the village chief was rewarding anyone who killed those troublesome pests. RAHAHAHAHA, Such luck we have."
"Kuhahaha, more money and food for us then."
They paid the barkeep for the rooms and meal and headed towards the village chiefs house.
The chiefs house wasn't as big as they thought, it indeed looked like a normal house, like the rest of the houses.
*Knock* *Knock* *Knock*
"We are here to receive the payment for the bandits that you put up as a job." Alduin showed the chief the wanted poster and its payment.
"Ohh... Did you kill those bandits? Show me the proof." The village chief spoke in a hoarse voice, he was after all an old man.
Alduin showed them the bandanas he took from the bandits, It had the bandits blood and it looked fresh.
"Hmm... very well, here." The chief handed Alduin the gold, and they again went inside the tavern and washed themselves up. They looked much more handsome and better now.
Alduin had black long hair which reached his spine and wore a black tunic that had spread sleeves, and a hash around his waist with other black pants. He didn't have any weapons, yet..
Picture here-- > []
Acnologia dons a high collared, black cloak and sharp white claws around his neck, a sash around his waist, and baggy pants which are decorated the same as the most former article of clothing.
Picture here ---> []
They both carried sharp gazes. If eyes could kill then theirs would've killed everything it saw. The chief also didn't question them because of the aura they radiated, and as you read, the sharp gazes.
When they got out of their rooms, the heart of the females took a beat, since they had never seen men as handsome and badass looking as Madara and Acnologia. They slowly walked down as people stared at them.
"What are you all staring at? Never seen men like us before?" Acnologia shouted at them, after some seconds and blinking of the eyes. They got back to what they were doing, some men cursed at them for a bit, but the gazes kept them silent. While the women's hearts were beating rapidly.
Acnologia and Alduin went towards the barkeep's stools and sat there while ordering some food. Although they had eaten some before, they wanted to eat it again. It was the best food in months.
"Quite the looker ya lads are must be strong too. Look at those chiselled bodies... No wonder the lasses ere' gettin' anxious." A blonde-haired man, donned with his knightly armour and his blonde beard spoke. The two-handed war-hammer behind him rattled with his every movement.
"Heh, you are not wrong about us being strong. Where do you come from--" Alduin spoke first while Acnologia was still eating,
"I am Alvor hailing from the city of Dragnof, a place where humans and dragons live in peace and harmony." The moment he said those words, the inn's atmosphere was getting pressurized, the utensils began shaking and people began fainting. The barkeep was barely keeping his consciousness.
Both Acnologia and Alduin's pupils shrank when they heard the word, "Dragons and Humans living in peace". Their rage went over the roof but Alduin quickly got his rationality back while Acnologia was like a volcano.
"Kuahahahahaha!!! Don't Make us laugh with a joke like that. The Very DRAGONS WHO SLAUGHTERED OUR TOWN AND KILLED OUR FAMILY!!!!!!! LIVING PEACEFULLY WITH HUMANS!!!! I WILL KILL YOU RIGHT HERE AND NOW FOR THE BULLSHIT, YOU ARE SPOUTING!!! " Acnologia grabbed his throat, but when he did that. Alduin grabbed his hand and removed his hand from the man's throat.
"Oie Acnologia, stop this. Don't you remember what I had said, years ago."
When Alduin said that, the memory resurfaced when he was watching the night sky from his town.
"If you have been brutally broken, but still have the courage to be gentle to other living beings, then you're a badass with the heart of an angel. Remember that Acnologia, it was something our parents taught us."
"Kuh!! Fine, but I still refuse to believe the bullshit this man spoke." Acnologia withdrew his hands and started eating like the whole shit never happened before.
"I apologize for the rashness, here are 40 coins for compensation." Alduin handed him the coins and started to eat. That night, the whole tavern was silent because of two people but none had strength to confront them.
"Oie Acnologia, let's go towards this Dragnof kingdom, where people and dragons seeming live in peace. I want to see this myself. After what the dragons caused for us, I can't believe it unless I saw it with my eyes."
"Tch, I was thinking that too, even if they are living in peace. They will betray and kill those humans sooner or later, just like how they did to our town." Acnologia was still angry about those words.
"Stop being grumpy and be happy for once" Alduin hit him on the head and moved towards the room.
The next morning, Alvor was nowhere to be seen. They were thinking of asking him where the direction of Dragnof was but he was nowhere to be found.
"Say, Barkeep. Do you know where this Dragnof is?" Alduin asked him and the barkeep just nodded.
"It is south of here, that is if you can make past the southern waste forest. Where many dangerous creatures reside. Some say even dragons are there, but nobody has the guts to go there. After the forest comes to a town, bigger than this one here. That is the place if you want to rest. Ask them for directions"
"Oie, Alduin. Let's go towards the blacksmith shop. We need weapons and armour, possibly foods too."
Alduin nodded and went to the blacksmith of the town. It was a black building that had no doors in the front, one could see the work done by the blacksmith. The surrounding of the shop was hot since it was a forge. Beside the building was a house which was the smith's place to rest and sleep.
*Clank* *Clank*
Alduin and Acnologia approached the blacksmith and the blacksmith stopped his work.
"Mine name is Eorlund, the one who makes the finest weapons and armour in this village. How can I help the two travellers."
"I am Alduin, and I wanted to see if you had any items on sale."
Eorlund nodded and showed him his armours, weapons and other items. There were many armours and weapons neatly lined up on one side, while the other side was littered with it.
Alduin looked at the neat side and took out a dagger. It was a normal steel dagger nothing too fancy. He played it around for a bit and asked,
"How much is this dagger?"
"This here is 40 coins but since you are a new face I will give it to you for 30 coins"
Alduin nodded and gave him the coins, "Do you want a weapon too, Acnologia?"
Acnologia just shook his head and said, "Heh. My hands are more than enough to do the job."
Alduin sighed, he wondered how the gentle doctor turned into a crazy barbarian. Oh, how hormones and situations change humans.
After their job, Acnologia and Alduin headed towards the south forest called "Southern Waste Forest" or so it is called.
----Authors Note---
Well cya, next chap. Drop some power stones and if you like them, add them to the library.
Join discord for polls, pictures, and discussions, I could always use new ideas:
Fanfic server: https://discord.gg/7BETeA8R2T
Just hang out and chill server: https://discord.gg/a4yfprT2BV
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone