Chapter 51

Rank-S Bandit

"Meanwhile, four more academy students are being held hostage in Pulla Village to negotiate with the kingdom if they intend to destroy Pulla Village and its contents. One person from each family in Pulla Village has also been released outside the village to urge the kingdom not to destroy the entire village because their children and families are there," Hayato explained.

"Why is that? Didn't you say that the quest level of guilds in this era was adjusted for difficulty? B-rank adventurers from the capital should be able to defeat them," Raff asked.

"Yes, it seems that the bandits are quite clever. There are seven bandits who haven't shown their strength yet, the seven of them are more capable than C-rank adventurers. They're pretending to be weak with a tier C equivalent, so the guild gave them the wrong quest level," Hayato explained.

"Instead, they classified it as a Tier A quest after hearing the news that the bandits there were only Rank C adventurers and below. While the reality is different, that's what the Rank B Academy students who are currently at the Professor's residence said," Hayato continued.

"I will explain it on the way to Professor Nia's residence, from there we will go directly to Pulla Village. Right now, she has prepared a mount for both of us," Hayato said.

Raff quickly changed his clothes and then followed Hayato out of the Rank F dormitory. The two of them also left the academy grounds under the pretext of going on a quest. Their destination now was Nia's residence in the center of the capital.

At Nia's residence, they were greeted by a girl. There also seemed to be several other girls going in and out of a room with various medical equipment. Soon Nia emerged from the room where the girls were going in and out.

"How is he?" asked Hayato as he looked at Nia.

"Ugo's wounds are very bad, I don't think he managed to escape from the bandits with such serious injuries," Nia explained.

Raff and Hayato sat down on the sofa there. Nia began to explain the true situation in Pulla Village according to Van Ugo's explanation. According to him, the seven bandits in the village were nicknamed the Seven Beasts, and they were led by a former A-rank adventurer. There was one member who was also a former A-rank adventurer, while the remaining five members were criminals who were equivalent to B-rank adventurers.

"The battle of Miyura and her friends, who were supported by the group from the capital, was short-lived. They were unable to fight the bandits and eventually lost," Nia continued.

"What happened? Shouldn't twenty B-rank adventurers and five B-rank disciples be able to eliminate five of those bandits? Why does it sound like they couldn't even keep up?" asked Hayato.

"Do they have any pesky skills?" asked Raff.

"According to Ugo, the leader of the bandits is an Assassin. He used to be an A-rank adventurer, but now he's probably on par with S-rank adventurers. You don't even know if the bandits have skills or not, the bandit leader's one attack alone killed fifteen capital adventurers," Nia replied.

"Impossible, Rank S?" muttered Hayato in shock.

"Yes. That's why their fight was so quick. I wanted to go there myself, but Ugo needed serious treatment. I can't ask the academy for help either, because they would destroy the village immediately regardless of the students there. Besides, Miyura and her friend are not special people, they used to be rank E and kept advancing until now they are rank B," Nia replied.

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"Are you two enough to face them?" asked Nia while looking at Raff.

"I feel capable myself, but Hayato will be a burden if I leave him alone," Raff replied.

"What did you say?" grumbled Hayato.

"I knew you'd say that. I'll let three of my students accompany Hayato, they may only be D-rank adventurers. But you can rely on them to protect Hayato," Nia said.

"Huh? Don't tell me the three students you're referring to are the girls in your house?" asked Hayato with an annoyed look on his face.

"A weak man should know his own limits, don't complain just because you are protected by girls!" snapped Nia while glaring at Hayato.

"All my students are women, that's why I never brought you here to train! Besides, I would never have accepted you as a student if it wasn't for Norn who sacrificed her life to summon you!" Nia grumbled.

"I'm sorry," Hayato replied with a bow.

"My students are all rank F students who were expelled from the academy, but I offered them to be my personal students here because I saw their potential. So I hope you don't expect too much from them, Raff," Nia said as she looked away from Raff.

"Hehehe... that's enough. I just want to ask you to rescue the hostages and make a way for the villagers to get out of the village. I'll face the seven bandits myself," Raff replied.

"Aren't you overconfident? Remember what Professor Nia said, that the leader alone could be equivalent to an S-rank adventurer!" Hayato snapped.

"Huh? You don't want to stand up to your teacher, so you're taking out your frustration on me instead?" asked Raff in a mocking tone.

"Damn, you want me to chop you up, huh!" snapped Hayato with a red face because he felt humiliated even though there were many girls passing by.

"Try it if you can!" challenged Raff with an annoyed look on his face.

"All right. I believe you, Raff. According to Ugo, his other four friends might not be as badly hurt as he is, since they didn't try to escape, maybe Miyura, Zoa, Fia and Cindy can help you if they are freed," Nia said.

"Tch. She also made it seem like Raff was stronger than me in front of her students," Hayato grumbled in his heart.

"Tiara, Zeva, Hanny!" called Nia.

"Yes, Professor," the three girls replied as Nia called them.

"Prepare your equipment and accompany them to Pulla Village. Be careful and don't do anything rash," said Nia.

"Yes!" replied Nia's three students simultaneously. The three of them immediately went to prepare their respective equipment.

"There are seven horses behind my house. You can choose as many as you like because all seven are equally fast," Nia said.

Raff and Hayato nodded and went to the back of Nia's house. There they picked out three horses. Raff rode alone, Hayato rode with Hanny, and Tiara rode with Zeva. The five of them rode immediately to the village of Pulla, which was quite far away from the capital of Ruttera.

The three horses they rode quickly passed through the gate of the capital. The quiet night atmosphere made the footsteps of their horses clearly audible. It took them only about four hours to reach the territory of Count Doughness.

Fifteen minutes later, they reached the village of Pulla. A village at the foot of a hill, a river seemed to flow through Pulla Village. Raff, Hayato and the other three Nia students stopped their horses at the top of the hill.

Dawn seemed to be appearing on the eastern horizon, a sign that morning would soon arrive, the atmosphere in the village seemed quite quiet. There was no activity among the villagers yet. Raff, Hayato, and Tiara tied their horses to a tree trunk, then faced the direction of Pulla Village.

"So this is the place," Tiara muttered, holding the bow in her hand.

"Tch. If only we had done the quest in this village back then, the situation like now might not have happened," Hayato grumbled while gripping his sword tightly.

"Never blame others for bad things that happen, let alone yourself. No one knows about tomorrow, bad things, death, sickness, no one knows when it will come. There's no point in complaining about it," Raff said as he looked around the village.

"Don't you regret it? Wouldn't it have been good if we had taken the quest back then?" asked Hayato, giving Raff a sharp look.

"Then what's the point of me regretting it now? Will they be safe? No, they won't. You'll never do anything if you only regret it, nothing good will ever happen if you stay silent and complain about your regrets," Raff replied.

"You just concentrate on opening an escape route for the citizens, including rescuing the four academy students who have been taken hostage. I'll draw the attention of the seven strongest bandits and confront them head on," Raff explained as he crouched down.

"Okay!" Tiara, Zeva and Hanny replied at the same time.

"Tch. Don't order me around," Hayato grumbled as he looked down.

Raff immediately stomped his feet with all his might, his body shooting into the air through the trees below. Raff's right hand seemed to be covered in lightning, making his movements clearly visible from the direction of Pulla Village.

Continued...

Note:

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