William stalked towards the bandit, adrenaline and anticipation welling up inside of him. He was curious of several things; finding out more info on the bandits being the most important. William was also interested In the level of his foe, would it be a super high level enemy, or something below or equal to William? William hoped higher to rake in the bonus EXP. William then heard the faint patter of soft footfalls from behind the hut he had just sneaked up to. William saw a couple of the villagers peek out from the doorway and he put his finger to his lip then pointed to where he felt the bandit was. The onlookers quickly leaned back inside but made a slight creak on the wooden floor. The soft footfalls stopped for a moment. No one moved. William would wait until the bandit took another step. His wait was not long as the bandit started approaching the corner of the hut next to the door. William had a feeling that the bandit was going to attack the people inside. The element of surprise would be his best advantage so he would wait around the opposite corner for the bandit to emerge then sneak attack him.
Sure enough, the bandit emerged moments after and as William heard the first footfall touch the wooden step of the hut, he charged out at the bandit drawing his sword and forcing the bandit to turn in shock throwing his balance off. William capitalized on the opening and took an arcing slash at the bandit’s forward leg. The blade went through the leg like butter and William felt a slight warmth enter his hand from the blade and diffuse throughout his body. William had a good feeling that it was the Syphon rune at work. He didn’t dwell on it long as the bandit hitting the ground drew his full attention again. As the bandit tried to push himself up onto his one foot, William waited until the bandit was half up off the ground and slashed through the other leg. A pitiful whine escaped the bandit as he fell face first. William eyed the daggers that the bandit dropped on his way to the ground and noticed they were as plain as any fantasy dagger could be. He had expected them to be the same as his but apparently standardization wasn’t something this group bothered with.
William heard the man start groaning from the pain and with a firm placement of his foot, the bandit was kicked onto his back. The bow around his shoulder creaked slightly but didn’t break. William then pinned the hand of the bandit into the ground with a use of Swift Thrust, the sword being the nail trapping the foe.
William drew a dagger then kneeled making sure that the man’s loose hand was pinned under one of William’s knees, “Shut up with your whining. Depending on how you answer my questions, maybe I’ll give you a healing potion to grow them legs back.”
The bandit’s thrashing head then stilled and William saw a man stare at him pain filling his eyes. The man appeared to be in his early twenties, a handful of years older than William. Inside, William felt sick, the eyes of his enemy making him doubt his actions. He had already committed however, and had to see it through for the greater good. He could be horrified at himself later.
Pushing the emotions down, William waited for a reply, and got one immediately, “Wh-what...do ya...wanna know? Please...spare...me.”
A few wheezy coughs then escaped the bandit’s mouth with spatters of blood coating his well shaven chin.
“I want to know numbers of you people, where you are based, and why only two of you have appeared so far? Keep it simple to say for your sake.”
William didn’t expect long sentences from the man so had to keep it short and hopefully sweet.
“Numbers...f-forty. Based...thirty...m-miles...north. Purpose...scout regional...settlements. Find...and...eliminate. Low...threat settlement...only...Kovis...then...me la-later. Potion?”
The bandit looked up expectantly then, skin like an overly milky cup of tea The blood loss was starting to do its work.
“Thank you. I unfortunately said maybe to the potion. I’ll put you out of your misery now.”
The Bandit’s face crumpled slightly, too tired to shift expression significantly but the tears creeping out of his eyes hammered at William’s composure. William doubted himself for but a moment before closing his eyes and pushing the dagger down. He felt the blade puncture the bandit’s neck and his ears picked up a final gurgle and leak of air before the bandit spasmed for a few moments. William opened his eyes, sickened at the sensation he had felt under him and he had to fight his gorge to keep it in his body. William prevailed then got to his feet removing the dagger and his sword from the bandit. After wiping them down on the bandit’s jerkin, William stripped the jerkin off of the corpse and replaced his own with it as the new one had no holes in it.
The process took a few moments but was not difficult. William then collected the coin pouch and weapons from his foe. He would count the coinage later. William then stripped the leather trousers, dagger sheaths, and boots from the man last. William put on the new trousers then saw people in the hut next to him look at the scene. Horror plastered their faces.
William tried to remedy the situation, “Nothing to fear, the intruder is dead.”
The older woman at the front of the group spoke up then, “What intruder? Him?” and pointed at the slain man.
It then clicked for William; he sent four people into different huts. The village had five huts though. It made him wonder why they did as he said earlier when he pointed toward where the bandit was creeping. Maybe they thought it was a wolf or something?
Not his problem though, “Yes. A bandit. He tried to sneak in and kill us. I got some useful information though thankfully.”
He went to walk away with the equipment then stopped, “I’ll be back in a couple minutes to get rid of the body, just sit tight.” And he continued on his way.
He didn’t want to be asked a million questions right now or even possibly berated for what he did.
William reached the well and raised his voice loudly, “It’s safe to come out now.”
The first to emerge mere seconds later were Stacey, Jane, Wallace, and John. They rushed over and noticed the blood on William and the equipment.
William wasn’t going to offer a recap, “These will help you guys out for your secondary classes.”
William handed John the old Jerkin and trousers then the bow and quiver. John accepted them and started gearing up, seemingly uncaring about changing his trousers in public. William kind of respected it honestly. William then handed the daggers in their sheaths and the boots to Stacey. She also took the gifts and equipped them.
“Sorry Jane, Wallace, the guy only had stuff useable by scouts and archers apparently,” William said with a regretful smile.
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The pair gave slight shrugs then Jane scanned William with her eyes.
“I didn’t get hurt this time,” William said, assuming Jane was looking for injuries.
Jane let out a slightly relieved sigh.
Wallace looked at the fresh stains on William and said, “That was over quickly. Was it a bandit?”
William nodded.
Wallace continued, “Do we know if it was only one of them?”
William looked back towards the hut where the body lay slightly out of sight from the well, then replied, “Yes, another scout/assassin sent to wipe us out. We're one of the low threat settlements in the area apparently. I got a bit more information out of him too but I’ll tell you after I’ve shifted the body.”
All of them grimaced at that.
William continued, “It sucks, but better than leaving a corpse inside the village.”
William then saw more people emerging from the huts and decided to get on with his next task then.
He went to go but paused for a second then said, “Gather everyone up at the well and I’ll share what I know when I get back.”
They all nodded and he continued on his way.
William felt a lot of eyes on him as he picked up the two severed legs and put them on the bandit’s body. He then lifted the whole body in a princess carry of sorts and left the village as the blood still dripped from the corpse’s injuries. William walked up to where he dubbed as Bandit Hill and as he crested it, the smell of rot and decay hit him. He took in the sight and saw the rotting corpse of the first man he had killed. The guy must have been Kovis, the guy that the dead bandit in his arms had mentioned. Maggots and flies were laden all over the body. William could feel the bile in him rising. He took a couple steps forward holding his breath and tossed the body down next to Kovis. He couldn’t keep his gorge down this time however as he turned, lurched, and evacuated his stomach onto the ground in front of him. The smell kept the process going for over a minute until William finally had nothing left to spew up. William scurried away from the hill and then washed his mouth out with a swig from his Water-skin. William calmed as he watched the brume sweeping over the hills in the distance. His actions had been nauseating that night, but the smells and sight he just witnessed pushed that nausea beyond it’s tipping point. William sat down on the grass and took a few deep breaths composing himself again. He would need all the composure he could muster as he was tired, feeling very anti-social, and had dark thoughts waiting on the sidelines for him to show mental weakness.
On his way back, William checked the prompt he had mentally pushed to the side when he killed the bandit:
{Ascension _Protocol}
You have slain: Human Level 4 – Scout Level 4
Bonus Enchanter EXP for slaying a creature with an Item enchanted by you.
{Class: Enchanter – Level 3 Reached}
Attribute points allocated, plus 5 unused points.
{Race: Human – Level 7 Reached}
Attribute points allocated, plus 5 unused points.
{Allocation:}
Would you like to Allocate Unused points (10) to attributes?
{Y/N}
{End}
William decided to put the two Enchanter points into Intelligence again. He then put four points into Strength and Dexterity each, and split the remaining two with one into Vitality and one into Charisma.
William wasn’t far from the village now so passed the last bit of time he had on his walk to review his stat changes:
{Ascension_Protocol}
{Attribute Changes:}
Strength – 35 > 39
Dexterity – 34 > 38
Intelligence – 20 > 22
Wisdom – 20 > 22
Vitality – 24 > 25
Charisma – 12 > 13
{Resource Pool Changes:}
SP 320 > 390
MP 200 > 220
HP 240 > 250
SP cost reduction to skills from changes to Dexterity Attribute. Reductions as follows:
- Dagger Toss 40SP > 20SP
{End}
William returned to the village and everyone parted for him as he made his way to the center of the group at the well. He noticed a few familiar faces. The Duncans were mixed in with the ring of people surrounding his new comrades and family glaring at him still. He figured that was something that would never change in the Duncans, hatred was a big driving force. He knew it well. The rest of the crowd all looked cautious and concerned. His mother had a look of displeasure, probably from finding out her son had killed again. His father looked more worried for his well-being however. Jane and co. all looked at him with curiosity and interest. Clearly knowing more about their overall situation they were adjusting quicker.
William took in a deeper breath and said, “Okay I’m keeping this short as I’m tired and need sleep. The bandit numbers are around forty, they are about thirty miles north of here, which I think is that way.”
He pointed in the direction he thought was north before continuing, “They only sent a couple scouts so far; the two I’ve taken care of. They don’t consider this place a serious threat and have been scouting out all the settlements in the region. We may be able to find assistance from other groups now we know this, but we don’t know the size of the region so let’s not count our chickens just yet. That’s what I got off of the bandit. I’m going to sleep now, I would advise you do the same.”
William didn’t linger and started walking towards his shed.
He had reached the edge of the crowd when his mother spoke up, “William, what are you becoming? Murder is wrong. You know better than this.”
William was done. He wasn’t going to put up with the moral arbiter stuff from his mother when his mind was already putting in the work.
With a stern tone in his voice that even he didn’t know he possessed he replied, “I’m not becoming anything, I’ve already become a killer. Twice over. This new world won’t allow simple morality it seems and those who don’t adapt will be killed by people or monsters worse than me. If you can’t deal with the shift, and mine included in that, then would it not be easier for you just to disown me? Then I won’t have to deal with the question of morality any more. My morals have shifted to a stance of, try to kill me, and you die. That’s all.”
William reached the shed door as he saw everyone looking at him with a plethora of expressions he was too tired to process. He did notice a lot of worry however.
His final words that night were, “You probably don’t need to worry about another attack tonight. If there is an attack though, shout and I’ll kill as many as I can.”
Then without pause, he entered the shed and unfurled his bedroll. He balanced a dagger against the bottom of the door so that if anyone tries to kill him in his sleep, he would be alerted by a falling dagger. He unsheathed his sword and lay it down on the ground beside his bedroll then dumped the rest of his gear in the corner with the shield resting atop it. He then got some much needed sleep.