I Sell Bottled Water for Gold in Another World!-Chapter 216: System Upgrade!

Alex appeared in the warehouse that he knew so well. The white light that was, around him started to go away as his feet hit the floor. He was standing on ground now. The darkness of the warehouse was something Alex was used to.

He took a breath smelling the old smell of grain that had been stored for a long time and the wood that was really old.

"Finally, no limits," he muttered to himself while rolling his shoulders to ease the tension.

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Flashback a while ago....

After taking care of his cousin and properly giving a warning to Anjali he is now finally free of his immediate things in the modern world, so just as he returned to his Lotus Crown Villa previous night, he was once again caught off-guard by the system notification.

Unexpectedly, the notification is about the most anticipated upgrade that he has been waiting for this long.

But the wait has been a worthwhile wait, as the new Upgrade is damn worth it,

The Upgrade?

Now he can travel to both the worlds without any time limits, but that is not all; now he can bring one person with himself to travel between worlds.

"Upgrade this time was completely unexpected, but now I don’t have to do that security job anymore."

"Since, the limit to time travel has been removed, should I go and check what is happening there, it has been already three weeks since the last visit?", Alex did not hesitate anymore and decided to travel once again.

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Present Time - Ancient World

Ironhold City, Alex’s Warehouse

Alex walked toward the warehouse entrance. He thought he would see Jacob standing near the door where Jacob always stands. Jacob is usually at his post, near the door.

But something is odd, he did not find what he was looking for instead he found chaos.

Jacob was walking back and forth near the entrance he looked really worried. His face usually did not show emotion but now it was all tense.

There were two men from the syndicate standing near him Alex did not know who they were.

These men looked very serious their faces were grim. Jacob was still pacing near the entrance he seemed anxious, about something. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦

The syndicate members were watching him their expressions did not change.

Just as Alex, walked towards them, but before he could reached them his sound of footsteps reached Jacob ears first.

"Boss," Jacob who was walking anxiously stopped at once and a look relief wash over him, "Thank the gods you’re finally out."

Alex’s instincts at once knew something terrible has happened, because rarely someone will see Jacob looking so worried and scared at the same time.

Since the time he was with Jacob they had some pretty crazy things happen, like people trying to kill them and running into bad people but Jacob always stayed calm like nothing bothered him.

Alex wanted to know what happened, he voice was sharp.

"What happened?"

Jacobs hands clenched into fists. "It is the Hartwell family, Boss. The Hartwell family has been attacked."

Alex felt ice fill his veins. He asked "What kind of attack was this? When did it happen?"

Just then another man, the man from syndicate who has a lean body, had a scar running down his cheek.

He said, "Big Boss three days ago there has been an attack on the Hartwell Family members, the bandits tried to kidnap all the Hartwell family members at the same time."

Are all of these things happening at the same time?

Alex’s eyes narrowed at that. "Coordinated attacks?"

"Yes Boss, they wanted to take hostages," Jacob explained rapidly.

"We think they were after the family to get to you. They want revenge because we destroyed their place. They are very angry, about what happened to their lair, Boss."

Alex mind began started thinking fast, he thought the revenge from the bandits was expected but such a large force was unexpected from them, he had not thought that they will regroup after the massacre of their lair.

The attack from the daughter of the bandit has been a warning but, he didn’t think at that time she was capable of gathering the bandits, so he been lighthearted in search of her.

And it seems that was a mistake on his part.

"Tell me everything," Alex ordered. "Who did they target? What happened?"

Jacob gestured to the syndicate members. "Boss, these are Dick and Rick. They were part of Nathan’s personal guards. They witnessed the attacks happen in front of them. They know what really went down."

The man with scars named Rick stepped forward. "The bandits tried to attack us three times at the same time three days ago sir. They are clearly, after the Hartwell family. They want to get to the Hartwell family to hurt you sir."

"Same time." Alex’s brows went up.

That means someone put a lot of thought and money into this planning.

"Start from the beginning, leave nothing."

Rick nodded and continued, "The first attack was on Master Nathan. This happened when eight men with masks tried to ambush Master Nathan near the merchant district. It was around the middle of the day.

Master Nathan never goes anywhere without atleast ten guards from the syndicate. He started doing this after he was in charge of everything.

The bandits were outnumbered two to one and had to retreat after we wounded several of them."

"They ran?" Alex noted that detail carefully.

"Yes, sir. Once they realized they couldn’t succeed, they fled. They clearly had orders not to waste lives on impossible targets. These people were smart. They were disciplined. They did not seem like bandits who were acting on emotion."

Dick spoke up, "At the exact same time, six men attempted to infiltrate the Hartwell estate to grab Master Hartwell Senior. But the old master rarely leaves the compound, and the estate has over twenty guards on rotation."

"We chased them away. Hurt a few of them but they still managed to get away. They ran really fast they didn’t waste a second, that was not their usual conduct."

"And the third attempt?" Alex wanted to know even though he had a bad feeling in his stomach.

Rick face looked really worried. He said "That one unfortunately worked out Boss."

Alex felt his stomach tighten. "Lucy."

"Yes, sir." Rick looked like he was in pain. "Miss Lucy goes to the market all the time she usually takes two or three guards from the house with her. The family did not want to stop Miss Lucy from doing what she wants so they thought the few guards would be enough."

"But they weren’t," Alex finished coldly.

"No, sir. While Nathan and the estate were under attack, the bandits sent their main force after Miss Lucy. Over fifteen men hit her carriage on River Street in broad daylight." Rick’s hands clenched. "I was one of her guards that day."

Alex looked at the man’s face, he saw that he had cuts that were still healing. The man was also standing in a way that showed he was hurting on his side no his left side.

"Three of us were assigned to Miss Lucy. They came at us from all sides. We fought hard, Boss. We wounded at least five of them, maybe more. But there were too many, and they were too skilled."

"What happened to the other guards?"

Rick’s face darkened. "Joe took a blow to the head early on he’s still unconscious, but the physician says he’ll recover. Jerry fought like a demon to protect Miss Lucy directly. He wounded three of them before being overwhelmed by them. Last I saw, he was on the ground, bleeding from several wounds."

"Is he okay?" Alex felt his chest tighten at the thought of any deaths.

"Yes, Boss," Dick interjected quickly. "Both guards survived. Jerry’s injuries are serious broken leg, several deep cuts but the physician says he’ll pull through of this. He’ll need months to recover, but he’ll live."

Alex felt a small measure of relief. At least no one had been killed. "And you, Rick? How did you get hurt?"

"I tried to chase them when they took Miss Lucy," Rick said, frustration and shame evident in his voice. "One of them caught me with a lucky sword strike across my ribs. By the time I could get up and stop the bleeding, they were long gone. I made my way back to the estate to raise the alarm."

"You did well," Alex said. "Against fifteen skilled fighters, three guards had no realistic chance of winning. The fact that you wounded five and all three of you survived to report back is actually impressive."

Rick did not look as unhappy as before when he heard that.

Alex turned to Jacob. "Have the people who took Lucy from us made any demands? Are there any messages, from them?"

Jacob’s expression grew even more troubled. "Yes, Boss. That’s the strangest part." He pulled out a crumpled piece of paper from his shirt. "This was found nailed to a tree near where Miss Lucy was taken. It’s addressed to you specifically."

Alex took the paper. He did this slowly and carefully. The thing is, Alex was really angry inside but you could not tell this from looking at him because he looked very calm on the outside. Alex was doing a good job of hiding his anger.

The message was written in rough characters, the ink slightly smeared:

Alex of the Hartwell Family—

You totally destroyed my home. You took my family away from me. Everything I had, you took that too.

Now I am going to take the things that’re important to you. The woman is alive, for the time being.

You should go to Mangshan Mountain. It is best if you go to Mangshan Mountain by yourself. If you do not go to Mangshan Mountain then she will suffer.

You have seven days from the moment you read this message. The seven days start now that you have read this.

Otherwise things might turn very bad for her soon.

There was no signature. Alex did not need one to know who sent it.

"How many days since the kidnapping?" he asked quietly.

"Three days, Boss," Jacob said. "Which means you have four days left."

Alex stood very still, staring at the message no one knows what he is thinking.