“Hey, I’m back,” a voice echoed from the hallway.

Another bandit had entered the base. His voice sounded rough yet composed.

What I did know was that I was practically invincible in the dark. I figured I could probably pounce on this new bandit in this pitch-black room and defeat him easily.

So, I intentionally caused a sound by tapping my sword on the rocky walls.

“Huh? What are you two doing down there?”

I heard his footsteps getting closer. I positioned myselves at the far corners of the room so I could jump him the moment he appeared in the doorway.

As his footsteps approached the room, the hallway beyond the doorway was slowly lit with a dim green light.

A lantern?

I figured he would bring a lantern to a room like this. But why was the light green? Magic? Didn’t matter to me though, after all, I could just take it down like I did on those two bandits.

On Carine’s hands, I held the second bandit’s crossbow loaded with a single bolt. Holding it was surprisingly natural, weirdly. It was as if I was trained for it, despite my memories not telling me any of such

I aimed at the doorway, ready to shoot down the lantern the moment it entered my sight.

The footsteps were getting louder.

Our hearts beat faster.

Then, a man appeared beyond the doorway. I immediately saw the source of the green glow, a small glass lantern on his belt.

With no hesitation, I shot at it.

“There!”

The arrow flew fast and hit the top of the leather rope tying the lantern to the belt with extreme precision, causing it to drop and smash into the ground.

Normally, a fire from a lantern would just fizzle away the moment it touches the dry ground. But, I soon realized that the green glow wasn’t from a flame.

A single stone lay in the middle of the lantern remains. It shone even brighter outside of its glass shell, illuminating everything in the room.

After looking at the stone more clearly, I could recall reading about that particular type of stone through Carine's memories.

A Luminite Stone, a stone that glows bright green. It would glow even more brightly when it's exposed to air, explaining why the pitch black room was now covered in green.

The bandit, standing by the doorway, stared at Carine with a dead expression, then he glanced at Feyt on the other side of the corner. Finally, he looked at the two unconscious bandits we tied up.

Without even letting out a single noise, the lone bandit rushed towards Feyt, fist raised.

“—?!”

I dodged his strike barely, but he turned around and grabbed me by the collar before I could even recover from the dodge properly.

He lifted me up to observe my face. His eyes widened slightly.

“A kid?” He stared dumbfounded. “...I see.”

He threw me easily over his shoulder with great enough force for me to be slammed onto the walls on the other side of the room.

“Agh–!!” I yelped as I felt all the air being pushed out of Feyt’s body.

The pain transferred over to Carine and I instinctively held my chest in pain. The bandit saw this as an opening and rushed towards me.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

I could see his every move, yet my body couldn’t keep up with it. He grabbed Carine by the collar the same way he held Feyt and threw me onto the same wall as well.

“Agh–!!” I yelped again.

I fell on top of myself, causing even more pain.

This single bandit was stronger than those two bandits combined. I couldn’t even manage to dodge a simple grab.

Shit, this is really my end!!

The lone bandit walked slowly towards us and glanced back and forth between us and the bandits we tied up in the middle of the room.

He pointed towards them with his thumb. “You did this?”

I didn’t answer, not like I was able to.

“Hmph…”

He crouched down and grabbed both of me by our back collars. He dragged us down the hallway into the large, spacious, well-lit entrance room.

He threw us at the center of the room. Thankfully, the drop was cushioned by the soft fur carpet covering almost the entire room.

As both of us struggled to stand up, the lone bandit sat down, cross-legged, and spoke up.

“You.” He pointed at Feyt. “Who are you? How did you get here?”

“W-What?” I struggled to say, out of breath. “Y-You guys were the ones who dragged me here!!

The lone bandit stroked his cleanly shaved chin, his expression remaining dead.

“I see, so those two must’ve thought you could be some extra cash.”

Wait what?! So I was just some side hustle?!

“I taught those two not to hurt kids… especially ones not involved in any of our missions.”

I was appalled by his hypocritical comment. “‘Not to hurt kids’?! You threw us full force at a rock-solid wall!”

The lone bandit glared at both of us the moment I let out my thoughts. “You two defeated my comrades, no matter the method, you two aren’t kids in my eyes,” he said in a low tone. “But surely they didn’t know that when they decided to kidnap you, I need to punish them accordingly later.”

The way he talked and behaved, I pieced together that this man was the bandits’ leader. That would explain the overwhelming strength he possessed.

I wished I could just go straight to him and punch the living hell out of him. But, I wouldn’t even dare to imagine what would happen to me if I did.

“Hmm,” the bandit leader continued to stroke his chin as he observed me. “A quick question.”

“W-What is it?”

“Will you join me?”

I let that question sink in for a moment, gave it some thought, and then I widened my eyes in shock.

“No way! I won’t join some bandit group that kidnapped me and roughed me up!!”

“I see… Then you may go,” he said bluntly.

“Huh…?”

His words didn’t make any sense to me. The bandits went through all the trouble to kidnap me, then the leader asked me to join him, then they just decided to let me go?

“You never should’ve been brought here in the first place, sorry for that. Though, I admire your strength. It’s a shame you won’t join me, I could’ve made a great man out of you.”

He’s flattering me now?!

“Since you no longer have business here, you may leave. Go on, then. Up the stairs.” he gestured me away with his hand.

Should I just… head out then?

I knew how impossible fighting him would be. Not only was he several times stronger than the two bandits we fought, but we were also in a well-lit room with a dozen lanterns adorning the probably stolen shelves and tables.

I decided to take him up on his offer.

Both of us reluctantly turned our backs and slowly walked towards the stairs. But then, we were stopped by the bandit leader’s sudden voice.

“Stop. I never said you could leave too,” he said as he pointed at Carine. “You’re Carine, right?”

“M-Me?” I pointed to myself. “N-No! I’m just… a random passerby that got caught up too…” I lied as easily as I breathed… not.

“No point in lying. You fit the description perfectly. Sit down, I’m not letting you go.”

Dammit! I thought that would work…

Well, I couldn’t go against his words, who knew what he’d do to me if I did?

So, I reluctantly stood still as Carine while slowly heading towards the stairs as Feyt.

No matter, I’ll just inform Dad and Father of this cave and—

“—And you. Don’t bother alerting the village of our base. By the time you reach the village, we’ll be long gone.”

Oh, come on! This guy thinks of everything!

The bandit leader looked over the room, staring at the definitely stolen soft couches, detailed paintings, ornate wooden tables and shelves, and all in between.

“It’s really a shame. We’ve lived here for quite some time now, and I’m almost embarrassed to admit that I’m attached to this dusty old hole,” he said, his voice almost sad, though his face remained as dead as a fish out of water.

Carine was forced to stay, and there was nothing I could do as Feyt to alert others of the cave’s location before they left.

Basically, I was stuck.

I wouldn’t even dare to leave the room alone as Feyt. Who knows what would happen to Carine then?

Sure, some might think having two bodies means you have two lives. But I would rather not lose any!!

Was there some way to free Carine?

Could I even beat this bandit?

I brainstormed a few ideas but none of them seemed to work out in my mind. The bandit’s strength was just too overpowering.

My only strengths were Carine’s eyes and Feyt’s ears which could navigate through darkness easily.

How would I even plunge the bright-ass room into darkness? There were countless lanterns everywhere I looked.

Besides, if I knocked any of them over, they’d just burn the fur carpet of the room and light up the room even more….

“...”

No, wait a minute…

That could work!!

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image [https://i.imgur.com/RdC5Gde.png]