Chapter 141: Matapan Cave
Heimdall was immediately taken to the healers as the rest of the people remained in the room, each person equally surprised by the event that had just unfolded before their very eyes.
Jacob was calm, he understood their shock, or their annoyance, in any case. The brothers had told him before that Heimdall was second to only the Primarch in the entire estate, so to beat him in a match like this was sure to leave them flabbergasted.
"Boy, you really exceeded my expectations." The Primarch said eventually, after collecting himself and sitting back on his chair.
Marilyn quickly brought Jacob’s robe back to him, neatly folded and smoothly ironed, Jacob commended her good work and put the robe on with ease. "I’m glad you’re impressed,, Primarch. That was my intention."
"I will admit, for the first time in a long time—I am short of words. How did you gain this level of power?" The Primarch asked, he stroked his jaw in a way that made it seem like he was nervous.
"In truth, I can’t say. I was born with it." Jacob responded.
From the corner of his eye, he could see the Wutherhorn boys rushing towards him, they all had different expressions on their faces, some look confused, while some smiled.
"What did I say boys? Jacob Ironfell is the real deal!" Light boasted with his hands on his hips, he was clearly feeling like a main character by association. Jacob merely smirked, he would not try to rain on the young man’s parade.
"I have never seen anyone humiliate Heimdall like that, not even father. I will admit, it was a little entertaining." Zion said, he had a look that told Jacob that he had been dealt with by Heimdall more than a couple of times.
Yannick and Jonathan had serious expressions on their faces, it wasn’t clear if they were impressed, or fearful.
"Jacob. There’s something I don’t fully understand yet." Yannick spoke up, the other brothers looked at him suddenly, as if waiting for him to complete the sentence.
"What is that?" Jacob asked.
"When you sent that last attack, Heimdall’s powers suddenly stopped working. I guess my question is... did you have something to do with it?"
Jacob was expecting this question to be asked eventually, he just didn’t expect it to come from Yannick, he placed his chin between his index finger and thumb and stroked it, then looked up as though he was deep in thought.
Really he was just considering whether to tell them the truth or not. He eventually decided against it. "No, I didn’t, maybe he ran out of Qi or something, I’m not entirely sure."
Yannick furrowed his brows. "Okay." He said reluctantly, it was clear that he didn’t fully believe what Jacob was saying, but as long as he didn’t push any further then Jacob was fine with that.
"All this fighting has made me hungry, let’s have a feast!" The Primarch announced loudly from behind Jacob, and then headed towards the entrance.
_ _ _
A muscular, burly man could be seen on the edge of a cave that resided on the edge of the continent.
Joe Joe had traveled for seven days before he got to this location.
This cave was the Matapan Cave, also known as the gateway to Helmand, most people did not know this as nobody had desires of visiting such a place, but due to the kind of the person that Joe Joe was; on one of his travels, he had picked up information from a stray demon pretending to be a human that this was the only passageway to Helmand and this was the path he followed to leave,
The demon also explained that the Demon King did not care for, or acknowledge his subordinates in any way, shape, or form. Hence, why he left Helmand searching for greener pastures.
In Helmand, as long as one was not part of the demon king’s army, then they lived like a literal peon, scraping by every waking second of the day. He could barely live like that anymore, and sought escape immediately.
’I can’t believe I’m fucking doing this.’ Joe Joe mused as he took a step towards the entrance. He pulled out the huge sack of coins from his storage ring for the umpteenth time and stared at it, taking in the sight.
This was what he had done everytime he had begun to doubt the nature of the job he accepted. When he was done and satisfied, he put the sack back in the storage ring and stared ahead into the dark cave.
"Here goes nothing." He told himself as he took a step forward, then another, and another.
There was a strong stench of sewage in the air, but as long as his nose was covered, he would be alright. He also made sure to be careful of where he stepped.
He had heard from this stray demon that the air in Helmand wasn’t clear and the sun didn’t shine here, hence, the reason for placing a cloth on his face as he moved further.
He would start by trying to blend in with the citizens and then work his way towards the castle. If all went well, he would be done with this job in less than two weeks.
He had enough money to feed, and make himself remotely resemble a demon.
This was one of the hardest jobs he would take on in his career, and frankly, without the huge compensation; he would have rejected on the spot,
He took a deep breath as he moved into the darkness, he could see a red light at the end of it, so he accepted that he just had to keep going until he got to the red light.
The only thing that Joe Joe didn’t know was that the Matapan was home to the Kobolds, famous reptilian humanoid tricksters that resided in pure darkness. They were regarded more as monsters than an actual race for the simple fact that they could not conversate in the universal language and instead made sounds.
Joe Joe could barely see anything as he walked through the cave, he contemplated jumping on his rapier and just blazing through, but decided against it, except it was entirely necessary.
He had already gone a reasonable distance from the entrance when he began to hear foreign sounds.
’What the hell is that!’ He questioned inwardly, then...
BAM!
He was instantly hit in the face with a rock.