To say the assumed boss and his goons put up a fight, and he gained a satisfaction from defeating a vile man, Keagan would be lying.
What he assumed as the boss was the first charged, war hammer brought down with such force that no doubt if it hit him, it could hurt him.
Another awakened.
But what of it?
In a single, swift motion, he caught the hammer's descent with his only functioning hand. Wide-eyed, the man stared in shock. Keagan yanked the hammer towards him, dragging the man along with it. With a brutal headbutt, he delivered a blow without holding his strength back, crushing the man's face, caving in and nearly pulping his head. Blood splattered everywhere as the man crumpled and rolled limply across the ground.
And with that, the hope for the bandits to turn things around, died.
Whatever the remaining bandits were about to do, they stopped short, stunned by what had happened.
Then, as Keagan took a step forward, orange streaked hair stained with blood, they all turned and fled.
It took some time before he caught most of them. As he pursued the last one, an arrow whistled through the air, and the man crumpled to the ground in pain.
Having seen them first through his birds, he offered a smile. "I believe it's not even five minutes yet," he said to the trio who had somehow managed to enter the fort.
Russ lowered his bow, his face contorting into a mixture of astonishment and bafflement. Jane and Hughie mirrored his expression, scanning the eerily silent fort. Bodies lay scattered here and there, and the stench of blood and shit hung heavy in the air.
"My sister..." Jane was the first to snapped out.
Keagan pointed toward a single building. "There are captive women in there," he informed her.
Jane immediately dashed towards the building. Keagan turned to Hughie. "There must be survivors among the bandits," he said, he knew he didn’t finish everyone as he focused on quickly finishing the battle. "Round them up and have them gather on the stage."
As Keagan turned toward him, Russ straightened up.
"I want you to climb to high ground and observe the entire fort," Keagan instructed even though his birds could do it for him, they couldn’t exactly stop a runway bandit. "See if anyone's still around, inside or outside the walls. Once you're done, help Hughie."
Before nightfall, Keagan stood on the stage.
Eight bandits stood before him, some with broken bones, others bleeding, but all alive, some barely though. In the audience, their former victims watched, their eyes burning with hatred and disgust.
"Kill them!"
"Burn them!"
"They killed my father!"
The woman shouted out all her grievances, and Keagan listened calmly.
Russ, perched atop a building, observed the scene. Jane stood beside her sister, clinging to her since their reunion. Hughie remained at attention by the stage.
After a while, the audience quieted down and turned their gazes towards their savior. Keagan acknowledged this with a nod and began to speak.
"I understand what I'm about to say might seem hypocritical," he admitted, scanning the small crowd.
"These men have wronged you deeply. Taking a life, even indirectly, is a heavy burden," he continued, his tone somber. "That's why, in this moment, I will serve as your sword."
His voice grew louder and firmer with each word as he declared, "You are the victims, and so, I will be the executioner."
There was no system in this land to offer fair reimbursement to the victims, nor anyone to bring them true justice. But he was here, and this, however crude, was all he could offer.
It seems the saying was right, old habits die hard.
He stepped forward, sword in hand, and raised his voice. "I ask you this: WHAT ARE THIER CRIMES?" He didn’t shout the latter but everyone heard it and the coldness within them.
A chorus of answers erupted: "Murder!" "Rape!" "Rape!" "Theft!"
Keagan with the same tone before, continued, "AND WHAT IS YOUR JUDGMENT?"
"DEATH!"
"KILL"
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They all roared the same verdict. Keagan, with resolve, strode towards the first bandit.
"No, please!" the bandit pleaded in desperation, but his pleas fell on deaf ears.
Soon, the sounds of struggle and execution ceased. The women, drained of their anger and vengeance, sank to the ground, their bodies wracked with sobs.
Keagan sighed at this and looked towards Russ. Russ jumped down and approached Keagan.
"Night is about to fall," Keagan said to Rus and Hughie, "We'll camp here tonight. You and Hughie, grab and bury or burn the bodies on the ground."
Both nodded quickly and set about the task.
Keagan, meanwhile, extracted himself from the somber area. He couldn't help those women anymore with their traumas. Instead, he headed towards where the boss had come from.
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Russ moved his body, obeying the order of the strange lord his parents brought to their home. Russ knew his father was hoping for something, anything, when he brought the foreigner to their home.
Him and his mother wasn't on the same mind however.
If the man was so great, he wouldn't have been thrown out of Castle June. He followed him because of his father's wishes, not really thinking much about it. Just that, he didn't know how to act around him. Even though the man wasn't from this land, it was clear the foreigner wasn't ordinary.
When he embarked on this venture with grim determination, seeking to inject some excitement into his dull life, he certainly hadn't expected things to turn out this way.
The first time he shot an arrow at a bandit, he thought feelings of triumph would surge within him, but only dread washed over him. When he first witnessed a man beheaded in front of him, he nearly vomited.
When the strange lord marched up to the fort alone, he wasn't thinking about what would happen to the foreigner, only his own upcoming challenge. He loosed arrow after arrow, firing at archers hiding above the wall and at the few who had managed to sneak out of the fort and attacked them.
It was both the best and worst feeling he'd ever experienced. As he let the bodies fall into the pit, he exhaled a shaky breath.
Who knew battle could elicit such complex emotions within him? The songs and stories were lies...or maybe he just wasn't cut out for this.
"Don't think too much of it"
He snapped out of his reverie at Hughie's voice. "Sir?"
Hughie shook his hand, ridding it of the blood. "Death... Don't think too much about the lives lost, but about how you survived... and those we saved." Hughie turned his gaze sideways, toward some women in the distance who were making a fire in the center of the fort to warm themselves up. They clearly didn't want to hole themselves up inside a building. Not after being captives.
Russ turned towards them as well. Seeing them and the warmth they exuded, he felt a little better. At the same time, the prospect of an interesting story to tell back in the village lifted his spirits even further. He chuckled dryly. "Were we really needed, though?"
Hughie paused at this, his gaze shifting towards one of the buildings where they had seen the strange lord enter.
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"Never thought looting bandits would be my first act in this strange land,"
Keagan mumbled, seeing a small chest overflowing with gold coins etched with an unfamiliar symbol. As night had fallen, the torch illuminated the room.
Memories of his youth flooded back. Back then, looting bandits who held ransom gold from nobles proved far more profitable than working for them. That discovery, of course, earned him a notorious reputation among the bandits.
"Ah, youth..." he mumbled before closing the chest. He wondered if there were other chests like this in the fort. Aside from the chest itself, his search of the room yielded only a dagger and four barrels that seemed to contain wine. He had tasted them, finding the wine quite exquisite.
Two figures entered the room through the open door: Hughie in the lead, with Russ following behind him.
"We're finished," Hughie announced. "We also….anything valuable we found on the bandits..." He trailed off, seeming to want to say something more but holding himself back.
Both men scanned the room involuntarily, Russ's curiosity was particularly evident.
"Do you know what wine is that?" Keagan asked, fiddled with a dagger he found behind a table. It was finely designed and well made.
Hughie, noticing the barrel's craftsmanship, inspected it closely. A surprised yelp escaped his lips when he saw the engravings. "This?!"
Keagan, still examining the dagger, looked up at Hughie's exclamation. Russ, equally curious, watched Hughie as well.
"What?"
Hughie took a deep breath and spoke. "I haven't tasted them myself, but I've seen them used in lords' feasts... Vinoteca wine."
When he heard the name, Russ's mouth fell open, and a dreamy expression washed over his face. Keagan raised an eyebrow at this and said, "Is it famous? I took a small sip earlier, and it is quite exquisite indeed."
Hughie threw him a stunned look. "You opened it?!"
"Yes," Keagan replied with a shrug. Then, curiosity getting the better of him, he asked, "So, how much are these barrels of Vinoteca wine worth?"
"Forty primals," Hughie answered, "though it depends on the year and the barrel it was brewed from."
"Ah, forty 'primals,'" Keagan said, the word "Primal" feeling strange on his tongue. He turned to Russ, who by now was accustomed to translating and explaining things for him.
"Primals are the currency here," Russ explained to him, using a few gestures to aid understanding. "It's the highest denomination." After a while, Keagan grasped the true value of the barrels.
There were three types of coins: Primal, the highest value. Then came Selke Coins, with one hundred equaling a single Primal. Finally, there were Tiary Coins, the lowest value, with one hundred Tiary Coins worth a single Second Coin.
To put it simply, a typical family might work hard for an entire year and only earn one Primal coin. So, these four barrels were worth the equivalent of 160 years of work for a common family.
‘It seems this land's currency is easier to understand,’ Keagan thought. He then placed the chest on the table and opened it. Picking up a single gold coin and a silver coin, he addressed them as they gaped at the wealth in the chest. "This is a Primal coin, and this is a Selke coin, right?"
There were no Tiary coins present, however. He had seen copper-colored coins being exchanged in town, so those were likely the Tiary coins.
Receiving a nod, Keagan placed the coins back in the chest. He pondered for a moment, tapping his fingers on the table. Finally, he made a rough estimate: there were probably around 150 Primal coins in the chest, with the rest being Selke coins. He grabbed about 25 Primal coins and pocketed it and pushed the chest towards them, saying, "Distribute the coins evenly among the women, along with all valuables you found on the bandits. And these barrels of wine... well, God knows they need something to forget what happened, no matter how little it helps."
Again, the two men wore expressions of shock. Keagan added with a smirk, "Take some too, however much your conscience allows."
There was a map beneath the desk that he wanted to examine, but that could wait for later. Tonight was a good time for some wine, even though the alcohol didn't really affect him anymore.