*** Third person's POV continued ***

The old Hector heard what Murong said. He then sighed and sat on his favorite chair.

"So, what do you want us to do next?" asked Hector.

"Nothing much. First, I would like to know more about your associates? Who asked you to capture us?" responded Murong, sitting on the opposite of the chief Hector.

"To tell you the truth. I don't know," Hector confessed. "Every time they contact us, another side has never revealed who they are. I only know the butler's name. It's Sebastien."

"No last name? It's even a very common name," commented Murong.

"If that is his real name at all," added Dawei.

"Yes, I know," chief Hector couldn't argue about his worthless information. "However, I know that they must be an influential force since they smuggled a lot of weapons for our village. Some weapons even prohibit in the Xia Kingdom due to their wide-range destructive power."

"Ummm," Dawei and Murong consented to the chief response and lost in their thoughts. The question about who was the mastermind behind the scene was very important to them. They had to know their enemy in order to strike back or, at least, prevent any more surprise in the future.

"So, who could it be? Ye family? It is too early to plot against us compared to the previous timeline, and our family shouldn't have other immediate enemies. Maybe, there was something that I missed in my previous life? Maybe, this was the result of the butterfly effect from my rebirth?" Murong continued on his line of thought.

Since there was no concrete answer from the chief, Murong had proceeded with another investigation.

"You said they delivered you some weapons. Where are they? Take us to see them." Murong finally said after contemplating.

"That's not going to be a problem. They are still in our warehouse next to this cottage. Just follow me," the chief replied. He then led Murong and Dawei to the place where he kept the delivered weapons.

The warehouse where chief Hector kept the weapons was composed of four wooden walls and roofing. It was a plain building with no windows. It was not large but was not small either. There was one aged timber door, and there were only two guards standing in front of it. The first thought when Murong saw the bandit's warehouse is that the chief may be boasting. Their security was lacking considering the weapons that he mentioned.

However, when he looked at the inside of the warehouse, he was stunned. There were so many weapons! Or he rather said it was too many!

"Why do you need so many weapons here?" Dawei suddenly asked. Evidently, he had the same thought as Murong.

"You guys might not know the situation around here. We have no central authorities over here. Every village has to fend for itself in the Borderlands region. There was a time when it was more peaceful, but in recent years, tension had been building up in the area, and several bandit groups had emerged. We had to collect weapons to defend ourselves."

"So, you said all other villages around here also accumulate weapons?" suspiciously asked Dawei.

"Yes. Do you think we want to be bandits? In the past, we were just a peaceful hunter village. We have to adapt ourselves. Otherwise, our village would be wiped out a long time ago." Hector plainly pointed out their reasons.

"Ummm," both Murong and Dawei reluctantly agreed. Morality didn't equal survival.

"I think something is not right here," Dawei said to Murong in a whisper voice.

"I agreed," Murong whispered back. "It doesn't make sense why this area has been filled up with weapons. There is no strategic value in this area for anyone."

As Dawei and Murong discussed this peculiar situation, they continued to walk around this warehouse. At the far end of the warehouse, which was only dimly lit by a single bulb, a pile of missile launchers had been insecurely stacked.

Dawei turned his face to the chief. "You even have missile launchers in your stock?" he said. "Are you defending yourself or going on a full-scale warfare with each other?"

Chief Hector just laughed, "Well, you will be surprised to know what kind of weapons other villages have?"

"Really?" exclaim Dawei.

"Yes," Hector responded with a smile.

"Well, I don't think he was kidding," Murong consciously added.

Then, Murog and Dawei investigated more. They checked the weapons that the chief was talking about to see whether they could find a clue there. After checking the weapons, it reaffirmed Murong's hypothesis that it shouldn't be Ye's family. The weapon signature didn't match any weapon shops in the Xia Kingdom. They must be imported from outside of the kingdom, most likely Laputa. So, Murong still couldn't solve this mysteriousness in a short time.

Then, without any other choices, Murong asked the bandits to pretend to fail the mission and worked for him as an insider man, waiting to collect any more clues. When they obtained any critical information, they should send the intel back to him.

Once Murong settled down with chief Hector about the next course of action regarding this mysterious force. The next step would be to resume their original goals of this trip, finding a dungeon and surveying the land.

Now, they had more slaves..cough..no more workers. The work that they set to do could be easily done, and, in the future, these bandits could prove to be useful. As Dawei and Murong were walking out of the chief Hector's warehouse, they found Robert, the head of the Drunken Spirit mercenary team. He stood in front of the cottage, waiting for them.

"Hello...young masters," Robert said.

"Hello...Robert?" Murong said.

Suddenly, he dropped on his knee and said.

"We are sorry. Please forgive our team that we couldn't protect you."

"There is nothing to forgive. You don't do anything wrong. The bandits were well-prepared. Even higher rating mercenary team, they couldn't do anything better." Murong assured Robert.

"But..." Robert tried to retort because he was still full of his uncomfortable guilt.

"No, but. If you would like to compensate for it, just continue to do your work. We haven't finished here," Murong added

"Got it, young master. We will do our best!" Robert firmly replied.

Murong then asked the mercenary to guard the perimeter with their soldiers as Dawei and Murong tried to look for the location of the mineral mines and dungeon portal. However, it took them quite a while until they found anything concrete.

After 14 days, they discovered the clues of the mines, but they still couldn't find the entrance of the dungeon. Therefore, Murong asked Dawei's opinion about what to do next.

Murong proposed that they should take more time and ask their soldiers to help to find the dungeon's entrance. It might be risky since they didn't know who the traitor was. But Murong thought it worth the risk. In any case, he had already carefully chosen these accompanied soldiers himself.

Dawei nodded in agreement. He also understood that this dungeon would play a vital role in the Chen family base's development.

With the help of the Chen family's soldiers, the area that they could cover extended significantly. After a few more days, they finally found what they were looking for, the fuzzy transparent portal in the air. It actually not far from the bandit's village, but it was hidden in the cave. No wonder this village was able to outgrow other villages in the past.

After finding a portal, Dawei and Murong then assembled the team to explore this dungeon.

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Author's note

Another chapter is done! If you like, please support me with votes, comments, and reviews! Don't be afraid to share any of your suggestions, criticisms, thoughts, and opinions. Don't hold back! I am always happy to see some of your thoughts! Thank you! :)

Single Hamster