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“A massive object?,” Noah acted surprised, and he managed to fool the man.

“Yes a massive object. A pillar to be exact, I could witness its grandeur all the way from here. We all could,” Jon stared at the ceiling in wonder, “How come you didn’t know of this?,” He asked, after he snapped out of his daze.

“I did hear of it, but i thought it was just a rumour not based on true events, as I had been in a seclusion for a few weeks,” Noah laid out the lie he planned on the spot.

“I see. Unfortunately it wasn’t just a rumour, it actually happened and has left my village vulnerable,” Jon nodded his head.

“Now to the main reason I need you,” He started, Noah listening attentively since he felt a bit guilty of the whole situation.

“Like I told you earlier, our village received information from a few of our people spread out across each village, that they are planning to raid our village two days from now,” Jon continued.

“Normally I wouldn’t need outside help but, there are five villages, smaller in size that ours, but they each have more powerful experts in their midst, since they didn’t face the same issue as we did.”

“Three of the village heads have power close or on par with mine, while the last two are only peak tier 2. And as you have witnessed on the outside, my trainees are not fully prepared for battles on such scale, leaving only me to fight the three of them. Which is basically madness,” Jon stopped for a bit.

“So you need outside help to fill in that power gap,” Noah cut in.

“Precisely,” Jon responded.

“Then why didn’t you ask the party of five for help,” Noah questioned.

“At that time we hadn’t gotten this information, and the group were also from a guild,” Jon answered.

“And even if we did ask them, and they accepted, we would still need more help, since there are going to be weaker troops in the mix, and compared to the joint forces’ of the villages, we are outnumbered,” Jon explained with a serious expression.

Noah had also adopted a serious expression, as the situation of the village looked grim.

On Jon’s side was himself, and two weak tier 3’s with a few number of tier 2’s. And on the opponents side; were three individuals with experience in tier 3, and a joint numbers of weaker troops, even with Noah’s help the deaths would still be many.

“And the villagers still plan on staying here. That’s stupid,” Noah frowned.

“After a lot of talking we’ve actually managed to convince them into leaving this region and travelling somewhere south, which leads to bigger settlements,” Jon nod his head with a smile, though it vanished a second later, then he leaned forward. Clasping his palms on the table he stared into Noah’s eyes. “So do you accept?,” Jon asked.

Noah could only sigh at that question, he didn’t feel obligated to help him, but he wanted to anyway, he would also get paid.

“How many bundles do I get?,” Noah put on his bargaining face.

“50 bundles,” Jon immediately stated. “120 bundles,” Noah responded with a blank expression.

Jon’s eyes widened when Noah’s words reached his ear, “Just rob me!,” He exclamained, “That’s is too much, the villagers will need food-.”

“I don’t really care, but I’ll reduce it to 110,” Noah cut the expert short.

“Seventy five,” Jon offered

“One hundred. if you don’t accept then I’m leaving,” Noah stated coldly.

Jon opened and closed his mouth multiple times, no words escaping his throat, only a sigh.

“How do I know you’ll even be much of a help,” Jon eventually complained.

“You can always test me out, you are my employer after all,” Noah grinned, he had won the bargaining contest. .

“You mean like fighting you?. Do you have a death wish Mr Will?,” Jon raised his eyebrow.

“No I don’t,” Noah stated, “You can decide to fight me with only half your strength, but you’ll probably go all-out eventually,” A confident smile appeared on his face.

“Oh really? We shall see then,” Jon announced standing up, “If you manage to get me to unleash 70% of my power on you, then I’ll add five more bundles to the hundred you asked,” Jon nod his head in confidence.

“And if I don’t?,” Noah arched his left eyebrow.

“You’ll have to settle for 50 bundles,” Jon grinned, “Deal?.”

“Deal,” Noah nodded trying to hide his excitement, but then he remembered something.

“Though before we do this, I have a question,” Noah spoke before Jon could leave his seat. Seeing that the expert nodded, he continued.

“Why haven’t you all moved yet? Since you know when they are attacking why don’t you just run before that time,” Noah asked.

A knowing expression appeared on Jon’s face immediately those words were completed, but his eyes suddenly went sharp, as words proceeded out of his mouth.

“We couldn’t just run. We have much to move, and have only found out recently. Moreover, even if we had found out earlier and actually made plans to move before then; we risk forcing them to attack far earlier than was planned,” Jon stopped.

A look of understanding flashed on Noah’s face instantly, “A traitor amongst you.” Noah muttered loudly.

When Jon nodded in agreement a deep frown appeared on Noah’s face.

“Actually, we’ve found, mulitiple times, clues that lead to the conclusion that there is a traitor amongst us. We limit the interactions between the villages as much as possible, yet important information still gets out,” Jon started, “For this reason planning to leave far earlier would alert the traitor, who would then alert the other villages,” Jon stopped.

“So you plan on just fighting then,” Noah shook his head.

“Not just fighting, we also plan to move that same day,” Jon grinned, “We the elders of the village know that the traitors know that we know they exist, although we don’t know their identities, so why bother doing things covertly,” Jon shrugged.

“But you could have gathered a group of highly trustworthy individuals and create a secret plan or something,” Noah furrowed his brows in annoyance.

“And who said i didn’t,” Jon laughed, “I’ve been the village head for a while now and I’ve scouted old men who really care about this village. Although their power isn’t much, I trust them a lot,” Jon explained.

“If you say so,” Noah shrugged standing up, “I just hope things turn out well,” he added.

“Is that the reason you asked to meet me alone,” Noah raised an eyebrow.

“Well yes. Apart from the old men everyone is a suspect,” Jon nodded.

“When do you think packing will be done. It seems the whole village cannot wait to leave,” Noah chuckled.

“We estimate by tomorrow’s evening. We have over twenty men harvesting the plants, with the rest preparing for the fight,” Jon explained while walking towards the door, Noah closely behind him, “I’ll give you more information on our battle strategy tommorow,” Jon added.

Coming to a halt, Jon’s cold voice exited his mouth, “Mr Will i trust you won’t mention a thing about our deal,” he said.

“Of course. I’m just a traveller whom you managed to persuade into staying and sparring with you,” Noah giggled with a nod, “Though I’m sure the traitor would guess that I’m actually going to help,” Noah studied the house a bit.

“Good then,” Jon commented, “And about them already knowing, we’ll shock them. But I’ll give more details about that tommorow,” Jon explained opening the door and walking out into the open, where the weak cultivators could be seen chatting with each other.

“Delius, Enik! Prepare a good fighting spot for me. I wish to spar with our guest,” Jon shouted, a boisterous smile on his face.