And just after he stood up, the outer door opened, and Feroy walked inside. Unlike the guard captain who had actually fought a battle and had more than a few scratches on his body and clothes, the ex-mercenary didn't look any worse for wear, likely because he had only been waiting to defend the manor from an attack. Lucem also wandered to the manor hall to listen to them, perhaps because he had gotten bored waiting in the kitchen for a late night snack.

"Speak of the vesorion..." Hudan muttered looking at the ex-mercenary as he took his seat again, "and it shall appear."

"I'm hardly the size of a vesorion, you know?" Feroy snorted as he took a seat in an empty armchair.

"Uh... You're hardly the size of what?" Kivamus asked with confusion.

"Oh... he meant a vesorion," Duvas replied. "You might not have heard of it up north in Ulriga, but it's a dangerous creature found in the wastelands south of the Nisador mountain range." He explained, "It is huge - nearly as tall as a fully grown human - and perhaps twice as wide as that, not to mention that it has huge pincers as well."

Duvas added, "There is probably no truth to these sayings, but legends say that when you are traveling in that region and you talk about a vesorion, it will appear soon after that to kill you and eat your corpse."

Lucem looked scared after hearing that, and immediately ran away towards the kitchen.

Seeing the worried look on Kivamus' face, the majordomo waved his hand, and added with a smirk, "I'm sure there is nothing to it, milord. Old people like me just remember a lot of myths and legends."

So it was like a car-sized crab preying on travelers in that wasteland, Kivamus thought. Just how many dangerous beasts did this world even have? He shook his head in exasperation. He wasn't supposed to have been transported to the Jurassic era of this planet, was he?

"Yeah, let's not talk about that... vesorion, shall we?" Kivamus muttered. He looked at the ex-mercenary. "And where have you been?"

"I am actually here with an important piece of news, Milord," Feroy replied with a serious face, although somehow it seemed like he had recently been laughing a lot."

"I was just talking with the other guards to set them up on a new watch schedule for tonight," Feroy added, "just to make sure those bandits who have escaped don't return again in the night, you know? Then a guard who was out patrolling in the village came running to tell me that one of the bandits we had thought to have escaped is still here, and alive." He snorted before adding, "Well... mostly alive."

"What do you even mean by that?" Kivamus asked with confusion.

"Well, I'm still waiting for the guards to bring that bandit here so I can interrogate him," Feroy replied with a snort, "but from what I think it shouldn't be too difficult now, especially after what that bandit has gone through." He added, "Earlier, I was wondering how a bandit is still alive and why he didn't try to run away, but the story that the guard told me is as intriguing as it is funny."

"Come on!" Hudan grumbled. "Just tell us about it already!"

Feroy gave a quick laugh, then he began to explain. "You should have heard that story directly from that guard who reported it to me, I couldn't stop laughing for a long time after it!"

He continued, "So it happened like this. Earlier during the raid, when the bandits were spread throughout the village to loot grain and coin, one of them somehow stumbled to the village blacksmith's shop." Feroy snorted before adding, "He must have thought that he got access to the Duke's treasury after seeing so many iron weapons and tools just ready for taking, you know? Since all he saw was that there was just a frail young woman there in the shop to defend it."

Feroy continued the story, "So the bandit didn't take long to gather up all the ready-to-use tools and weapons in a sack, and when he was done, he took another look at the young woman - who was described to me as prettier than most women - and he thought why not take her with him as well, since Nokozal - the leader of the bandits - did want to take some new slaves from Tiranat. So he began to drag her away from the shop, but obviously the woman didn't go quietly."

Then Feroy's gaze went to the waiting jug of water kept on the table, and he quickly picked it up and began to drink from it.

Being engrossed in the tale now, Kivamus asked, "And what happened after that?"

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

Feroy gave a contented sigh and put the now-empty wooden jug back on the table. He gave a grin as he added, "The blacksmith who owns that shop, Cedoron - the same guy who's built like a Goddess damned adzee - heard her cries of help, and immediately came running back from where he had gone to help other villagers nearby. And when he saw the scene of the bandit dragging away the young woman - he got so mad with rage that even though the bandit was holding a naked sword, the blacksmith just picked up a wooden stick from the ground and began to beat up the bandit - badly."

"But didn't the bandit still have a sword?" Gorsazo asked with a frown.

Feroy snorted. "He surely did, not that it helped him even a little bit." He continued after a quick laugh, "I can't deny that other than Hudan there isn't anyone to rival the blacksmith in his build, but even then, the bandit had a sword! How could he lose so easily!"

The ex-mercenary laughed and clapped his thigh loudly as he added, "I mean... I mean... the blacksmith just had a stick in his hand, while the bandit had a sword on him! But man, the way that Cedoron beat him up with just a stick..." And immediately, Feroy began to guffaw at his own story.

Others couldn't help but laugh as well after hearing the story.

"That poor bandit..." Hudan chuckled. "I bet he wouldn't be able to look anyone in the eye for a while."

After some time, when Feroy had calmed down from his repeated bouts of laughter, he continued, "A few other villagers had also come there after hearing the woman's shouts for help, but as you can guess, they didn't really need to help the blacksmith at all."

He added with a snort, "And the fight ended when seeing the man's rage, the bandit just gave up and dropped his sword aside, but it didn't stop Cedoron at all! No, milord. He was so mad with rage that someone threatened that girl that he just kept beating up the bandit with that stick until it broke in two pieces! Then he tied up that bandit, and was going to start punching him with rage - and that guy's punches carry a lot of power, I can assure you of that - but the rest of the villagers somehow stopped him, and convinced him to hand over the bandit to us."

Hudan gave a laugh again. "Now I see why you looked like you were enjoying yourself so much when you came in. I mean... beating up a bandit who had a sword with just a wooden stick!" The guard captain started laughing again, and then all of them couldn't help but join him once more.

As Kivamus wiped his eyes, which had started to tear because of laughing so much, he realized that it felt really good to laugh, since he didn't even remember when was the last time he had done that in this world. It was also a good thing to take away the mind of everyone from the bandit raid for a few minutes at least.

Suddenly, he remembered who that young woman must be. "Wasn't Leah the name of that young woman - who's also one of our maids?"

Feroy nodded. "I believe so, but I was just so surprised by the story of the fight when that guard was describing it to me, that I forgot to ask about it." After a moment, he added, "There is some good news as well. We have gotten three more horses now. The bandits had tied them up close to where they were hiding, so they could escape on them after the raid. So Calubo and a few other guards went back for them and found those horses nearby and brought them to us."

"Oh, that's wonderful!" Duvas exclaimed. "It's going to help us a lot when we start farming after winter."

Kivamus gave a nod as well. While those horses certainly wouldn't be as useful as modern tractors for farming, every little bit would help them in making sure the village had enough to eat in the coming year.

Eventually, Feroy stood up from his chair. "The guards should have brought that bandit back by now. I should go and interrogate him."

"Alright," Kivamus said. "But don't forget that Madam Helga is preparing something to eat for us."

"I don't really have an appetite right now after laughing so much," Feroy replied with a snort, "but maybe later. Anyway, I'll be back soon with everything the bandit knows. It will also help to confirm what Calubo had told us." Then he gave a nod, and left the hall.

*******

After some time, when Kivamus had finished off the stew that Madam Helga had made for them, along with some leftover bread from the feast earlier, he wanted to know what the time was. He knew that it was certainly after midnight, but there wasn't any way to tell time more accurately here, not in the night anyway.

Father Edric and his followers... or were they called acolytes? He wasn't sure, but either way, the local temple of the Goddess rang hourly bells in the daytime which were easily audible throughout the village, and that worked well enough to tell time during the day. But it would certainly be helpful if there was a way to tell time accurately - or nearly so - even in the night. Could he do something about that?

Or perhaps there was already a way to tell time in the night in the temple, but the old priest didn't ring the bells in the night so he wouldn't disturb the villagers' sleep? He would have to visit the temple soon to find out.

As he was contemplating about medieval timekeeping, the outer door of the manor hall opened and Feroy walked back inside.

The ex-mercenary looked at the plates of those who were still eating and immediately spoke up, "Madam helga, I would love some of that stew now if it's still left."

"Of course it's left," Madam Helga gave a laugh. "Just give me a moment and I will warm it up for you."

Feroy nodded gratefully and took a seat as well.

"So what did you find out?" Kivamus asked.