Daniel looked to see who was fighting. Three bandits, their cheeks sunken in from hunger, had attacked a merchant and his five guards as they go to town with donkeys.

Daniel approached the battlefield and took in the scene.

The guards were dressed in leather armor. They didn't even have metal helmets on their heads.

In their hands one had a sword even inferior to Daniel's, two used spears, one an axe and other one a simple bow and arrow.

Apart from the bow and arrow, the guards carried cheap wooden shields.

The bandits were even more pathetic.

A skinny young man was holding a spear in both hands, trying to push away a sword-wielding guard coming at him. A big-boned man in his thirties, who looked to be in his forties by modern standards, was trying to control two spear-wielding guards with a sword and shield.

The last bandit was also young, with black hair. He had two axes in each hand. He was frantically attacking the guard armed with an axe and shield.

But the ax bandit didn't even realize that the guard archer was trying to target him.

At that moment the fat, mustachioed merchant, dressed in a feathered hat and colorful clothes, called out to Daniel, "You, you big man over there, help us and I'll pay you fifty pieces of silver."

The bandit with the sword called out, "Help us and I will give you an equal share of the booty."

"Kill each other," Daniel said with an indifferent expression. Hearing this, the merchant said, "All right, all right, my friend, one gold piece." One gold coin was worth a hundred silver coins. One silver was worth ten bronze coins and one bronze was worth ten copper coins.

Most of the villagers had never held a gold coin in their hands in their lives.

Daniel turned to the bandit chief and said, "You are about to die. You have little chance of winning, but I can save you if you promise to swear loyalty to me."

The bandit chief looked at the two young bandits with him and said, "We have nothing left to lose. Okay. I accept." Daniel picked up a stone suitable for throwing from the ground and threw it with all his might, then used his telekinesis to increase the speed of the stone and fine-tune it towards the target.

The archer-guard collapsed in a pool of blood.

The merchant saw the danger and began to plead in a tearful voice: "Please stop, we can forget this, I will pay you a lot of money."

"When I kill you, all your money will be mine." Daniel smiled eerily, showing all his teeth.

Daniel knew that much of war is psychology. Hearing this, the guards' resolve to attack diminished. They would try to escape as soon as they had the chance.

Daniel took his time, surveying the battlefield and moving around the combatants.

As he walked, merchant kept swallowing with fear. He knew what would happen if he tried to escape. The big man was after him.

Meanwhile, the black-haired, scarred-faced bandit with the double axe had knocked his opponent to the ground, and was frantically raining blows on his opponent's wooden shield.

The bandit with the spear was still successfully blocking the sword-wielding guard from getting too close.

But the big-boned, bald bandit, trying to handle both guards, was stuck. He had received a few grazes from the spears and could neither fully attack nor fully defend. He was caught in the middle.

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As Daniel went confidently to the bald bandit's aid, the bandit fell. Daniel pushed himself with all his strength and sprang up, the guards were smiling and both guards moved to thrust their spears. Daniel took advantage of the guards' carelessness and tried to grab both spears. One of the guards noticed Daniel and missed his spear. But the other was completely on target and could not prevent Daniel from grabbing his spear.

Daniel grabbed it and tried to pull it away, guard tried to resist but the big man was too strong and pulled it with one hand.

The guard lost his balance and fell. Meanwhile, the other guard started to stab Daniel with all his strength, one after the other.

Daniel grabbed the spear and jumped backwards. Using his telekinesis, he kept his balance during the landing of the big jump and began to deliver his own spear attack one after the other.

He hadn't practiced with a spear, but in preparation he had anticipated that he would encounter spears very often. So he destroyed many spear target dummys. He thought he had studied the spearman's vulnerabilities well enough.

The spear guard realized that he was a tough nut to crack. Just then the bald bandit killed the guard who had lost his weapon and was left with only his dagger. The spear bandit then threw down his weapon. "I surrender." He shouted.

The guard with the sword realized that his comrade with the axe, who was on the ground trying to protect himself with his shield, had been ripped to pieces by the axe blows. It was four against two. So he threw down his weapon and said, "I surrender."

The bandits hurriedly tied up the two surviving guards and the merchant and lowered the loads on the two donkeys. Daniel guessed what would happen next. With great appetite the bandits began to eat the provisions of the merchant and his guards.

When the bandits had finished eating, Daniel began to check the spoils. Ten rolls of cotton cloth in different colors, copper pots and pans, sticks he guessed were used for cleaning teeth.

He came to the merchant. The fire of anger in the man's eyes had given way to the dullness of despair.

Daniel hurried to the bandits who were feeding themselves. "I wish there was some wine, that would be great," the two young, bald bandits said. Daniel said to the bandit, "Now that you have eaten, introduce yourself to your new boss."

The bald man stood up, sword in hand, and the other two thugs took this as a signal and took up positions to Daniel's right and left, weapons in hand.

The bald man said, "I don't want to kill you, stranger, but if you make a move against us, we will kill you. Take your share of the loot and get out, like I told you in my first offer."

Daniel grinned "If you thought you could kill me you would have done it. I saved you from death, I can kill you just as easily." Then he emitted an energy of fear created with his force.

The energy was too weak for the bandits, but his expression, combined with his physical intimidation, made them take a step back.

The brown-haired youth holding the spear said to the bald man, "Brad, we've been struggling ever since Rex went after that honorless villager Nate and got killed.

We are outnumbered and starving all the time. You told me that when Lola and Tomas heard that Rex was no longer around, they would destroy us and then go to war with each other for our territory."

Brad made a shus sign with his hand. Daniel smiled, "So his name was Rex." "I killed your old comrades," Daniel said.

Brad grinned and said, "That's not possible, you're just saying that to get us to accept your leadership."

Daniel said, "Take the donkeys and the prisoners and follow me." The bandits and prisoners came to Daniel's lumberjack hut. Daniel showed the bandits the sword he had captured from the bandit chief.

Brad got down on one knee and said, "I accept your leadership, boss." The other two bandits followed him.

The big-boned bald man began by introducing himself, "I'm Brad, I was second in command before you took care of Rex."

He then introduced the brown-haired spear-wielding youth with his hand, "This is Frank, he's very good at tracking, he joined the gang five months ago." He then introduced the black-haired youth fighting with a double axe "This is Alex, he joined the gang at the same time as Frank, he is a very aggressive fighter."

Daniel said to Brad "I don't really need your three-man gang to defeat anyone, but my purpose in bringing you under my banner is to integrate your existing knowledge into my own gang, so my first question is where do we sell stolen goods?"

Brad sighed "There is only one town in this area, Danburg as you know, there is a merchant inside the city who trades in stolen goods, his name is Ted, we go to the city and arrange a meeting with Ted outside the city. Then we give the goods to Ted in a field near the city. But he gives a very low price for our goods. One fifth of the market price."

Daniel "So you mentioned two other bandit groups operating in this area, Lola's gang and Tomas' gang. Do they also sell to Ted?"

Brad replied, "I suppose so, yes." Daniel smiled. "You also mentioned the land division, how does that work?"

"There are thirty-five villages in this Barony, ten of them is in our area, Tomas have ten and Lola has fifteen."

Daniel "So Lola is the biggest bandit in the area and our gang and Tomas' gang are equal?"

Brad shook his head "Our territory is a buffer zone between the two gangs, so they don't fight each other. The villages in our area have sturdy wooden walls so it is difficult to attack them, the area is wooded and hilly, and there are no roads, only paths.

In short, there are no traders passing through our area, unless for some reason the Merchants choose the hard way."

Daniel "Well that's good, but do any of the bandits take protection money instead of robbing the merchants?"

The bandits looked at each other puzzled. Brad said, "I've never heard of that happening in this area."

Daniel sighed. He went to the merchant and the merchant turned his face away from Daniel and asked, "Do you know a merchant in Danburg who trades in stolen goods?" The merchant did not answer. So Daniel took out his dagger and plunged it into the man's throat.

The two guards, tied back to back, struggled as they saw their employer collapse to the ground, blood spurting from his throat. But they too met a quick end.

"This man is relentless," Alex said with a look of admiration on his face. Frank scratched his face, "If they'd let me live in my village I wouldn't have to deal with these bloodthirsty types, I was glad to be rid of Rex and this is what we got."

Brad said, "As a longtime bandit, I can tell you guys that a ruthless leader is the secret to longevity in bandit life if you stay on the good side. It prevents rebellion, it scares the other gangs."

Alex "All I care about is being strong, this guy looks strong, maybe he can pave the way for us to be strong."