“Haah… This is killing me. Why did we survive the war conscription, only to risk our lives for something completely meaningless? That guy is just aberrant who—”

“Don’t call him that, Jeren. It will just bring misfortune. This guy, albeit deceptive, isn’t aberrant.”

A carriage was being driven through barren land that was completely silent, the only noise coming from inside the carriage where a heated discussion was taking place.

Outside, several guards accompanied the carriage, prepared to defend their masters.

The three occupants inside the carriage were acolytes.

Beside them, several boxes emitted clicking sounds, suggesting creatures were sealed inside.

“His abilities are similar, though. Sewing body parts onto himself to gain strength. But his abilities aren’t that freaky. Now that I think about it, we should be glad that we were transferred here instead of to the City of Naaz.”

One of them spoke calmly while smoking a pipe.

“Hah! That place is just one big trap. The only neutral place in the northern part of the continent? What rubbish!”

Jeren scoffed sarcastically as he looked out of the window.

“In the end, that place is filled with monsters and fiends. It’s not weird that it’s dangerous there. From what I heard, that one blond guy was actually deployed there and managed to survive for a very long time. He could be said to be a veteran.”

One of them discussed the rumors.

“You mean Arwen? What kind of veteran would die after employing one spell before dying, haha?” The man laughed hard, unable to understand how such a weakling survived in Naaz.

“You don’t need strength to survive there, Bast. You just need to hide better and run faster than others. Arwen was such a guy. He learned [Shadow Cloak] and [Light Boots]. That’s why he was even sent there, to be a scout. He was just unlucky to meet that Smiling Devil or whatever title he was given.”

“Hmm… That’s true. He was really good at being inconspicuous. I didn’t even know about him most of the time. He was always studying something.” Bast nodded thoughtfully.

“Then why didn’t he use the [Shadow Cloak], Harven? If he hid, then he wouldn’t have died that day,” Jeren asked suspiciously.

“How would I know? I certainly didn’t notice him back then. Maybe the guy had a spell to spot him?” Harven shrugged.

‘Ah, so that’s how it was.’

Illyan, silently following the caravan hidden on the side of the road within the forest, realized the reason why he could kill Arwen so easily.

Actually, he had been suspicious for some time that Arwen, a second-level acolyte, was employing some kind of stealth spell during that time. It wouldn’t be surprising if he was awkward in using another spell; using two spells was probably something admirable already.

As for how Illyan could see him… He could guess the reason.

With his eyes, he could probably see through such a spell and maybe just didn’t realize that there was mana around. He couldn’t perceive mana properly after all.

He was also intrigued hearing another mention of the City of Naaz. This city was mentioned on the parchment that Falia gave him, which made him interested in that place.

Actually, as time passed, Illyan also overheard that these guys bought these insects from a merchant coming from Naaz to the capital of Vanaras. Of course, these three could afford only this kind of thing from the merchant.

They were considered the lowest stage creatures, also known as Mortal Insects.

But with a large enough number, they could still terrorize other acolytes given the right circumstances.

“If only that old fart hadn't created that antidote… Now we have to go hunt some bandits like peasants would…”

Bast complained quietly.

“Can’t we just get rid of him?” Jeren asked.

“No.” Harven shook his head. The other two looked at him in confusion, so he quickly elaborated.

“The old man has been a pain in the arse for a long time. But even Aziro can’t just get rid of him since he was supposedly part of the Heart Bearers in the past.”

When Harven revealed this, the other two men were shocked.

But they weren’t the only ones shocked; Illyan, who was stalking them, had a surprised expression on his face.

‘That happy-go-lucky guy was from that corpse-collecting gang?’

Imagining the old grandpa who was coming to visit him with a shovel on his shoulder being part of such an organization made him shiver. Illyan never let his guard down, but it was still disturbing to realize the person beside him was completely different from how he presented himself.

“What? Then why would he treat the centipede’s hosts?” Jeren asked in confusion.

“The Heart Bearer Gang is old, so it is inevitable there will be factions. I don’t know much, but the man should be quite famous in the previous generation and still have many loyal men to him in the gang,” Harven shook his head.

‘So it's like this.’ Illyan suddenly realized that he could come to the wrong conclusion. The Heart Bearer Gang was something like a clan. The core members were actually a family. So it was possible that Vael was just born there but had different ideals.

Many thoughts passed through Illyan’s mind, but he was still careful not to expose himself.

Time passed as the carriage proceeded on its way, Illyan following them while listening to their conversation. Most of it was just gibberish, but sometimes they talked about interesting things.

For example, they talked about the world beyond the Vanaras Kingdom.

From what Illyan read in the books and overheard from various conversations, this place could be said to be one of the most barren places on the continent. This also made it one of the weakest regions since not many strong people would visit this place.

While he liked to hear about it, he still was serious as he had never slipped up during the entire time. He could have slain them the moment they got out of the walls, but he feared that someone would notice if it happened too close to the town.

Illyan had already tailed them for several days but never let his guard down.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

Finally, one day, the carriage stopped on its way.

Illyan curiously observed what they were doing.

“Let’s go!” Harven came out of the carriage to give orders.

“You guys hide in the forest! We can’t startle the snake with you all surrounding the carriage. Only the driver and one guard will stay with us.”

“Yes, sir!” The guards nodded, immediately leaving their posts to enter the forest on both sides of the road without complaint.

“Sigh… Why do we need to do it like this? Can’t we just find some desolate village and be done with it?” Jeren groaned in frustration.

“No. Aziro made it clear that any more targeting of villages would be punished,” Bast said with slight fear in his tone.

“Well, we can’t kill the goose for the sake of the egg, can we?” Harven spoke once again.

It was obvious from their conversation that Harven was the more senior among them. His voice was deeper and calmer, and his age was quite advanced.

The other two were mostly obedient, becoming quiet after he spoke up.

In silence, the carriage continued on its way, but no guards surrounded it. Only one guard with a spear sat next to the driver, looking around vigilantly.

It looked like the carriage belonged to some merchant on its way to the villages in the north.

‘Are they trying to bait someone?’ Illyan immediately realized their intent.

Since they couldn’t attack villagers, based on their earlier conversation, there was only one target left they could comfortably attack while meeting their quota.

‘Bandits, huh…’

As bandits plagued this land, the robed men took advantage to collect them.

Illyan could see this from the first time he had been in the wagon driving into Winterfrost town.

They were easy targets that actually formed groups. That made it even more convenient to collect large numbers of them than to hunt wild animals, which rarely formed large groups and were harder to find.

All in all, bandits were a hot commodity here in Vanaras. Yet, many people still chose to become bandits in hopes of avoiding starvation.

Life was harsh here, although it could be said to be relatively safer than the world beyond the borders.

But Illyan didn’t feel any compassion for them; he just followed the carriage with his own interest…

……

One particular evening, deep in the forest.

Over twenty men surrounded one person with a cloak wrapped around them, while one held them tightly.

They wore ragged clothes and were mostly malnourished, but their eyes emitted a light of greed.

“Hehe, what a beauty. Aren’t you some daughter of a noble? I have never seen anyone like you.” The one holding the person laughed merrily. However, if one listened closely, they would hear the hatred behind the words.

“I-if she is a daughter of a noble, then shouldn’t we let her go? What if the nobles come after us?” One of the men was scared witless when he saw the face of their hostage.

“Hah! And let the opportunity of touching the woman of my dreams go? As if!” The first man growled.

“No! If she truly is a noble’s descendant, then we should ask for ransom! They will give us money! With that, we should be able to survive until the spring fully melts the snow! Then we can grow our food again!” One of them tried to persuade the group.

“And then what? We will be slaughtered like

pigs! You are too naive, Brendon!” Another one said with a resigned face.

Suddenly, the bushes started to make noise as the branches cracked. That startled the men as they reached for their weapons.

Surprisingly, most of their so-called weapons were just farming tools. Most of them wielded hoes, shovels, scythes, sickles, pitchforks, and such.

Soon, a person emerged from the bushes, calling out to the others.

“It’s me.” It was a man. He held a makeshift spear in his left hand and three dead foxes by their tails in the other.

His face was covered in wrinkles, and his hair was already gray, but his eyes were still bright.

“Village Chief!” One of the men called out loudly.

“Don’t call me that when we are like this.” The man coldly gazed at the careless guy.

“B-boss, what do we do with this person? We fear that she may—”

The person was interrupted.

“She is not a noble. What would an aristocratic lady do in the middle of the forest alone?”

The old man just shook his head as he threw the foxes on the ground.

Only now did others notice the plentiful game that the man had brought. Their eyes turned even greedier than when they looked at the woman they held.

It wasn’t common to catch this much in one day. In truth, their boss was very good at hunting, as he was the oldest son of a hunter in the village back in the day.

It was only after he helped the village through its worst days that people accepted him as their village leader.

Just as the people ran to the foxes, preparing to cook them, the chief approached the girl and forcibly pulled down the hood covering her face.

The scared face of the fair lady showed up. Her big green eyes stared back at the man as her entire body shook. She looked young, maybe just under two decades old. The man also could see that she wasn’t as malnourished as them, which made him frown.

However, the most striking feature about her was her long hair. It was wavy and, most importantly, auburn. When her hair waved in the cold air, it looked as if the forest caught on fire.

Even the old man was stunned to see this.

“Who are you?” His mind was clear as he stared at the woman, wondering if he was mistaken with his first assumption of her not being an aristocrat.

“E-eh? M-my name is…” She seemed so scared that her legs almost wobbled.

“Sigh… I asked about your family, not you.” The man was too tired after the day and wasn’t interested in an interrogation.

“Em… I…” The woman hesitated, her eyes darting around.

The chief sighed.

However, his eyes turned cold. If the woman didn’t talk, then the safest option was to kill her and then leave with the group.

They acted as a bandit group at this time and couldn’t afford to be careless.

But as he held his spear, preparing to kill her with one stab, he stopped himself.

The bandit lifestyle and the environment associated with it brought a lot of stress to the men.

Even the chief missed the touch of women.

Looking at the beauty before him, he contemplated whether to take her into his bed for one night at least.

“Sir! If you want her, it's fine! But leave something for us, hahahah!” One of the men, already skinning one of the foxes, noticed the chief's hungry gaze at the girl and lewdly grinned.

Others also guffawed upon hearing this.

“N-no! Please!” The woman's eyes widened in terror upon hearing this, wanting to escape.

However, the chief caught her hand tightly and didn’t let her go.

“It is your fault you got lost around here, little girlie.” The man sighed. Her scared face reminded him of his daughter who passed away a few years ago, making him feel guilty for a moment.

Only for a moment, though.

Seeing her unblemished face, his eyes turned savage.

Women like her, who probably never felt the burdens peasants had to endure, should be woken up to reality, as harsh as it may be.

He touched her chin as he propped up her face, staring into her eyes.

“Don’t worry, I will be gentle.”

As he said that, his face drew closer.

However, he couldn’t continue his endeavor.

“Well, well. I said I would find them faster this way instead of just waiting for them to attack us.”

A voice resounded from the corner of the camp the bandits had made.

From there, tens of men emerged from the forest. Most of them had weapons and leather armor, equipment much better than the bandits’.

It was clear they were soldiers.

What made the bandits even paler were the three men the soldiers surrounded.

“Oh n-no!” One of the bandits shook and shrieked in pure terror.

Bast, the one who had guided them here, clicked his tongue as he put away the shriveled head back into his bag, grinning at Harven.

“Alright. I admit that was fast. Jeren and I will reimburse you with spirit coins for your mana consumption.” Harven nodded at him.

They all entered the camp but acted nonchalantly.

That was mostly due to their innate arrogance but also their indisputable strength.

Each of them was capable of disposing of every single person in this camp with little to no effort.

Of course, whether or not they would do so was a completely different topic.

Most acolytes would not.

Why?

This was a simple question with an even simpler answer: They could not recover their mana and mind power. Every time they used it, they were effectively crumbling their own foundation.

Even the mighty Aziro and Ezekiel were no exception.

That was the reason Aziro was so spent after the battle with Ezekiel. Since he was set on killing Ezekiel, he used a lot of his mind power. And with his unique technique, his mind power became even more pitiful.

The only reason nobody tried to fight him was because his reserve of mana was still high enough.

On the other hand, Ezekiel kept a lot back. He didn’t have a reason to fight Aziro to the death, especially since it brought him no benefits.

He mostly used his dark mana with a combination of his aura, which allowed a lot of mana to be retracted back to his body with minimal expenditure.

Unfortunately, not every acolyte had the same amount of proficiency as Ezekiel.

In the end, it became customary to have several meat shields around all the time.

They would do the fighting most of the time and also shield their masters when it came to danger.

“Good day, my lords. What brings such esteemed masters to this humble camp of travelers?” The chief of the bandits asked as he hid his shaking hand.

He tried to act collected, but his face was covered in cold sweat.

He knew that getting out alive from this place was almost impossible now. But his mind couldn’t help but spin as he tried to think of a way to survive.

His hands instinctively let go of the girl he was holding.

He completely ignored her existence as he stared at the men in front of him.

However, the woman didn’t use the situation to run away; she just seemingly trembled in fear.