I walked into the town followed by my six companions and the boy as well.

“It’s remarkable how useful that ability is. You think it’d be rather costly.” Murmured Ruby, who was still quite impressed by such an ability.

It actually was rather costly, but I had stored up a lot of dungeon points after risking my life many times. My body was a tapestry toward the struggles I had to survive to be able to waste portals so easily. Every point was a precious gift. Furthermore, the night was almost over, and I didn’t plan to do much before calling it. Tomorrow, I’d have all of those points back, so that was part of the reason I was willing to be a bit wasteful with them.

As we approached the small village, I saw a young boy jump down from a low tree branch and immediately race for the village. He was only five or six, but he was currently all they had as a watch.

“That’s my younger brother.” The boy responded weakly. “Any able-bodied man was either killed or drafted into the bandits. They take any village bullies or trouble-makers and they make them like themselves. It’s part of how they grew their number. Do or die. Father had hidden me, so that I wasn’t conscripted or executed.”

I supposed that did make a lot of sense. If someone was afraid and already not very scrupulous, they could very easily be turned into a turncoat. Once they robbed and killed a few and acquired the Bandit job, it was impossible to turn back. They’d have no choice but to continue to be a bad guy for the remainder of their life.

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The lack of redemption was always troubling. If it wasn’t for me, someone like Shao would never have been able to live a normal life. It was a system I didn’t like, but I wasn’t smart enough to come up with a better one. Besides, this was a system set up by whatever god made this world. I’d be arrogant to think I could easily change things.

By the time we made it to the first building, there was a group of people waiting for us. The one in front appeared to be an old man. He was bent over and using a cane. He had to be at least seventy or eighty. Wait, didn’t the boy say that his father was the leader of this town?

“That’s your father?” I cried out.

The kid blushed. “That is my father…”

The old man seemed to hear the conversation and let out a chuckle. “What can I say? I like them young!”

As he said so, he wrapped his arms around a beautiful woman at least fifty years younger than him. My eyebrow twitched, but I gave a friendly smile, anyway. Considering I owned various slaves that I slept with, who was I to judge people about their relationships.

“It’s all good!” I laughed and shook his hand. “I mean, it’s not like you’re married to your cousin or something!”

“Ah!” The boy next to me let out a cry, grabbing my arm and shaking his head.

The old man didn’t seem to notice and threw back his head in a laugh.

“Hahahaha!” The old man laughed. “Why would I date my cousin when my sister is so much more beautiful!”

“There it is…” The boy sighed.