Even though there are more of them, they are only in pairs so it is easy enough to deal with them. Not that they would be a threat even in numbers, but I don't want them taking the elves as hostages. That is the only reason I am keeping things quiet for now, although it is fun.

I was never all that fond of the games that required you to sneak around and assassinate people. Now that I have tried it for real I have to say it is a lot more fun than I thought it would be. In the end the two of them end up just talking and following along as I deal with all the bandits.

The room the elves are being held in actually has six bandits standing guard outside it. For the first time the siblings get to help me, Keeble takes one guard while his sister takes two. I deal with the remaining three guards but they manage to make a little noise.

Luckily, there are no living bandits left nearby to hear the sound, no alarms are triggered. When I enter the room I see twelve elves gathered by the far corner, the remaining three are standing in front of them. They look like they are ready to fight to the death until they see that I am an elf.

The shocked looks on their faces almost make me laugh out loud, but I manage to hold it in. It is good to see that the three of them still have some fight left in them. They have a few bruises here and there, but for the most part they have been treated well.

It is fairly sad that the bandits have treated the elves better than the nobles did. Of course I realize that it is only because doing so would allow them to get a better price for the elves. While I am glad that these elves haven't suffered as much, I still plan to wipe out the bandits.

However, first I need to get the elves to safety, so I start explaining the situation to them. To save time I don't go into too much detail, I just need them to go through the gate. Once they are through, the elves on the ship can explain things in more detail.

"Have you two made a decision?"

Neesha says "I want to go with you!"

"I still have some things to do among the humans. After that I will be returning to the ship."

Neesha says "I can blend in with the humans! I can help you!"

Keeble says "Sis, you couldn't even keep up with Ash! He can fly!"

Neesha says "Wait, you mean he isn't an elf?"

Keeble says "No. He is like us!"

It is only as Keeble is done speaking that he notices the worried looks that appear on the faces of the elves. The two of them have managed to completely undo all my work on convincing the elves. Instead of trying to fix things I just open the gate and message Stillwater to send someone over.

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

It only takes a few minutes before Silverstream comes through the gate. As soon as she does, the elves that were doubting me recognize her and rush to hug her. It takes her a bit to calm them down but once she does she easily gets them to go through the gate.

Silverstream says "Hi, Ash. Looks like you ran into a bit of trouble?"

"Not really. This was just faster than me explaining what I am and convincing them to trust me. How are things on the ship?"

Silverstream says "Pretty good. The supplies you sent over really helped!"

"How are the girls I sent back?"

Silverstream says "That is going to take some time. Most of them have suffered a lot and we aren't sure yet if they can recover or not."

"That's about what I was expecting. These two are beasts who can take human form. Do you have any objection to them coming to the ship?"

Silverstream says "No, not at all!"

Neesha says "I don't want to go to the ship! I want to go with you!"

"That isn't an option. You can either go back to living among the humans or go to the ship. Now choose!"

Keeble says "We choose the ship!"

Before Neesha can argue, Keeble tackles her and they roll into the gate as they are fighting. Silverstream sighs, waves goodbye, and then follows them through the gate. Hopefully, she can keep anyone from attacking the two kids and keep them out of trouble.

Once she is through I close the gate, I will trust her to handle things on the ship. As for me, I still have a lot of bandits to kill and some human women to save. Not to mention, as a successful bandit group they are sure to have a lot of loot here somewhere.

First I track down and eliminate all of the bandits that are currently awake. I am not as worried about noise now, but I am still having fun playing assassin. The cloak works really well, it even suppresses any noise that I accidentally make.

Actually using the cloak gives me some ideas on how to improve the enchantments even more. Not by adding more, but by making improvements to the enchantments I created. When I get done with the bandit's fortress I will take some time to experiment with it.

Once all the awake bandits are dead I start massacring the sleeping bandits. They can offer no resistance and it is completely unfair, but when has life ever been fair? Considering the condition of the human prisoners a quick death is more than these bandits deserve.

157 Level 3 Humans defeated! 47,100 Exp gained!

41 Level 4 Humans defeated! 16,400 Exp gained!

28 Level 5 Humans defeated! 14,000 Exp gained!

3 Level 6 Humans defeated! 1,800 Exp gained!

1 Level 8 Human defeated! 800 Exp gained!

After the last bandit is dead I head back up to the leader's room to open the secret room. Inside the fortress there is a storage room, a vault, and this hidden room. Guessing that the bandit leader kept the best things close to him, the best things should be in here.

When I open the secret room I am somewhat disappointed by the contents. While they are valuable, to me they are rather boring, it is all artwork and antiques. They are all enchanted, but the enchantments are all to maintain and preserve the items.

There is really nothing in here that interests me so I just throw all of it into my ring. Then I head downstairs to the vault and break into it, hoping for better stuff. Unfortunately, all I find are chests and boxes full of gold coins, there are millions of them.

It would seem that the bandits already sold anything food that they managed to get their hands on. It is fairly sad considering none of the bandits, not even the leader, had anything decent. You would think they would have spent some of this gold on weapons and armor.