"Young master Ron." Cesar greeted the host which left them after the banquet started and just returned 40 Minutes later.

In the beginning the Bandit Leaders were feeling estranged because they weren't expecting their host to just leave them to enjoy the food and the scenery just because he needed to go to bed.

But afterwards Lucas explained to them that his young master doesn't sleep normally like most people and takes about a dozen or so of short naps during the day instead.

All of the Bandits were surprised once they started roaming the house and discovered that it's actually not finished yet and still under construction, most of them wondered why would the Chief of this Village allow somebody else build a better house in their territory and amass this much wealth, power, and fame?

But soon afterwards they remembered how the kid faced three Bandit groups and stood his own without care for any of them at all.

"Marshal," Aaron nodded before looking towards the east and adding : "I hear that your Rotten-Swamp Village has the easiest access to the best markets east of here, I hear these territories enjoy much safety and are a lot prosperous than all the Villages in this area combined."

The old man squinted his eyes slightly, simply because all of that is common knowledge and because he doesn't understand what is this kid trying to point here.

"Indeed. It might be easy for us to traverse the Rotten-Swamp but we can't say the same about others trying to do the same, we kind of took advantage of the natural-barrier and barricaded the remnant of our Army behind it." Cesar said before falling silent while staring towards the east.

Aaron noticed the old man's nails when he drove them against the concrete of the balcony rails and thought to himself : 'There's definitely a story behind this man but now isn't the time or the place for me to start asking these questions.'

"I see," The kid nodded before looking at the Bandits enjoying their time in his gardens and saying : "Once your men are fully rested I'm going back with you to Rotten-Swamp Village to do something which is going to save you the trouble of having to wait for the Mice meat to transported to your Village, but until then I'll be a bit busy gathering more meat for you guys."

"Don't forget the bones and fur too, these things are extremely useful." Chadrion said.

Phyllia also nodded before saying : "Most of our troubles during winter is fending the cold outside our homes, since we all live near the outline of the Dark-Forest it'd be suicidal not to keep maintaining our vigilance during every single season of the year."

Aaron looked at the two Bandit Leaders and understood that both of them must be feeling like they're being left out or a bit neglected after seeing him single the old man in his conversation.

"Do any of you have a map?" Aaron asked and Carson actually nodded before running the stairs towards the garden then the gate which is being installed in this moment and retrieved a roll of leather from the saddle of his War Horse.

The ones sitting at the table cleared it for Cesar's First-Lieutenant who spread the map.

"Which one of these three is us?" The kid asked because this is the first time he sees a map of this world.

Of course he ignored the different expressions on the faces of the people around him and focused on studying the details of the map instead.

It was easy for him to notice where the Dark-Forest is because it took almost a third of this big map, but he couldn't pinpoint his location because it lacked any words just colorful dots, triangles, and squares everywhere which he guessed are the locations of the Villages, Towns, and Cities.

So far he understands that Pine-Breeze Village is in the deep West and directly facing the Dark-Forest and a bit more deep in the Dark-Forest there's a canyon, meanwhile to the East there's this so-called Rotten-Swamp where Cesar's Village is located.

But so far there's three marks which fit this description!

Simply because the canyon in the Dark-Forest extends from end to end on this map while the Rotten-Swamp stretches from South to North and covers the East behind these three locations on the map.

"Here. That's Pine-Breeze Village, up there North-East from our location is one of the only two Cities on this frontier of the Specter-Duchy's Meteor-City and the other City they own around here is all the way down there at the South-East and it's called Frozen-Peace City." Tess moved closer to Aaron and with a subtle push of her hip she took her position but Roger's woman didn't surrender her position without a fight and ruthlessly stepped on the woman's toes while vacating her place... that foot was the one which Aaron injured earlier today.

The kid ignored the hidden exchange of animosity between the two women but almost laughed once he saw Tess's expression when she tried to swallow her emotions of pain.

"Judging by how every territory you guys control... is it safe for me to assume that there's some sort of tension between you and that Specter-Duchy?" He asked before giving Tess, Carson, and Kanderion one All-Cure Potion each, the latter's swelled face was starting to recover after eating lots of foods created from ingredients originating from the Store but it might take three or four days for him to truly recover.

Carson was struggling to breathe normally and his upper body was tilting towards the right because the kick he took to the liver might've really ruptured this vital organ if it was a bit stronger but it still left him with torn abdominal muscles on that side of his body and he couldn't avoid having some internal bleeding when it happened.

Thanks to the meal he just had it feels a lot better but Cesar's First-Lieutenant is going to need a week or so of rest to really recover to a normally-functionable state where his condition wouldn't give him issues while attending to his duties.

Tess was probably the one who had it worse despite seeming like the one receiving the kid's mercy amongst the three of them, simply because her injuries had nothing to do with muscles or internal organs.

Her ankle and wrist received crushing damage to both joints and these sorts of injuries tend to take a lot longer to heal while giving issues to those who suffer them in their day to day live, the woman is certain to have difficulties walking normally or using her right hand in the future because of these injuries.

This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

Kanderion's swollen face is a joke compared to these hidden injuries Tess received but the joke is that his superficial skin-wounds are probably going to be talked about a lot in the future while the woman's wounds and the way the kid treated her during their duel are probably going to be forgotten soon enough!

Phyllia and Chief Chadrion exchanged a glance before looking towards Aaron and shaking their heads to deny the existence of any tension between them and the Specter-Duchy but both Bandit Leaders looked towards Marshal Cesar and waited for him to explain his position to the kid.

They might be allies now after meeting this boy and finding themselves in a position where they can't wiggle themselves free from his control, not to mention that hugging his thigh has already proven itself as a very profitable approach.

But their relationship is still strictly business and both of these Bandit Leaders don't want to get themselves involved into something which might endanger their very existence because there's been rumors about this Head-Reapers Army ever since they built Rotten-Swamp Village and occupied that strategic position where they can easily sit back and defend whenever an enemy tries to corner them while encircling the sieging enemy whenever they feel like then tire or annoy them to death with hit and run tactics.

The old man nodded and said : "There's some bad blood between us and the Specter-Duchy indeed but it didn't deteriorate to the stage where each side can't tolerate the other's existence yet, there's still some trade delegations and undercover spies put in the mix from both sides."

Aaron looked at the Marshal and asked : "Are you a thorn of some sort in their side? This part of the land doesn't seem like it contains anything of value, is there some sort of resource worth having to remove your Head-reapers Army from the picture?"

Cesar smirked and nodded but remained quiet without giving an answer.

The kid sensed that he's being tested by this old man in this situation which made him feel slightly eager to find the answer on his own.

Looking back at the map, Aaron organized all the details he amassed so far about the different forces in the territory and their relations.

'Up towards the Northeast Phyllia's Blue-Flowers Village is the closest to Meteor-City which also belongs to this Specter-Duchy yet their relationship is amiable, meanwhile down towards the Southeast Chief Chadrion's Black-Fog Village is the closest to Frozen-Peace City which also belongs to the Specter-Duchy and their relationship is also amiable!

'Only Marshal Cesar's Army is having a strained relationship with the Duchy and their situation I'm guessing is because of their position on the map.

'That Specter-Duchy should be thanking Lady Luck when having Marshal Cesar and his Army adding another barricade ahead of the natural barrier which is the Rotten-Swamp but they're doing the opposite instead which means their issue isn't having intruders into their territory through the Rotten-Swamp.

'Looking up and down the Duchy can deploy troops or expand West whenever they feel like doing so but... This point is where they're going to suffer the most challenge when the Head-Reaping Army is blocking their exit.

'This old man is standing in the way of that Duchy, and the most valuable resource is land and the Dark-Forest itself huh!'

"So this Specter-Duchy's ambition is the Dark-Forest?" He asked.

Cesar nodded and smiled appreciatively while answering : "Indeed. That family has been aiming to keep expanding West until the other side of the continent where the Barbarian-Blains stretch all the way West to the salty-waters."

Aaron looked at the territory east of where he stands on the map before saying : "Then I better prepare myself for the time this Specter-Duchy tries to extend its hands towards my assets in the future, I doubt they'd try anything before the Beast-Wave but most certainly they'd come knocking afterwards." Afterwards he asked : "That bad blood you mentioned earlier, did it happen before your Army positioned itself at the Rotten-Swamp?"

The old man paused for a moment to recall the events of the past before nodding but he refused to go into details and the kid didn't push anymore with his questions because it didn't matter even if he did but he still said while winking his eyes : "That's even more reason for you to tighten your bond with me and the people of this Village in the future, not only do we Shield your Army from the Beast-Wave but also we supply you with a resource of high-demand on the market! Not to mention that this is just the beginning and once the first stage of my plan is set... you guys would start to see more and more products of high-demand getting included in our deals."

"Like what?" Phyllia was interested to know and was the first to ask.

Aaron pointed at the food which they were enjoying and the 10 guards Arturo left him were starting to get tired after having to keep going back and forth from the kitchen to the back yard while carrying trays of food for so long.

"The ingredients which these dishes were made from are the next on the line and let's keep the following as a surprise because all three of you are going to welcome having more of it." He smiled like a fox and let them bask in the suspense.

Seeing them sinking deep into their own thoughts Aaron added : "I'll let you be for now before visiting Rotten-Swamp Village first before taking turns visiting Blue-Flowers Village and Black-Fog Village to do the same tomorrow, also try not to be spooked once you see a Poisonous Stone-Centipede coming your way."

After saying that he took his Maid and the two bodyguards along with the muscular big guy and his woman which stuck her tongue out towards Phyllia and Tess before leaving.

This time Aaron refused to kill any Fuzzy-Phosphorus Mice because the amount of Exp he requires is just ridiculous and there's no way this tiny amount would even matter.

Before he removed the invisible barrier the kid made sure there's no Yellowjacket Wasps on the other side of the Mystique-Door in the massive cave but thanks to his improved Vision he could see traces of damage on the ground when his purple Flame Orbs exploded last night.

Mice carcasses mutilated or buried underneath the rubble of stones and soil.

'That Tree doesn't seem like it received any damage at all, I better ask Tylus later and see if its lumber is going to be of any use to him and his men.' The kid thought once he saw the Erebus-Ivy Tree completely intact.

Whenever the team of 5 and the maid's pet which joined the group and slashed a few throats with its sharp claws before scurrying away whenever it was about to get overwhelmed by Mice which are quite bigger in size than itself, whenever they were done killing the group of Mice that exited the Mystique-Door Aaron would leave them deal with cleaning the basement and removing the carcasses while he Teleports towards the poisonous lake and keep spamming his Offensive-Skills to accumulate Proficiency Points.

He also informed Nina that he's going to visit Rotten-Swamp Village before dark and would like her to come with him and bring her own Centipede with her.

First he wants to assert his strength by showing a Honorable Sister by his side along with her extremely destructive pet.

That should be enough for these Bandits to imagine what kind of fate would befall them once they dare to cross him in the future.

"You two take your people and get back home, tomorrow morning I'll visit Phyllia's Blue-Flowers Village and afternoon I'll be visiting Black-Fog Village then a few minutes later I'll gather all of you in my backyard to enjoy dinner together." Aaron said before smiling once he saw the people frown while looking at him since he's confusing them.

The kid just waved towards them from on top of the Centipede's head while adding : "Don't sweat the small details, just wait until you see it happen and you'll understand what I mean." Afterwards he looked towards Nina which stood next to him with Sherry, Pio, and Lucas then gestured for her to command the Centipede to start moving.

Cesar had already ordered for his Archers and Heavy-Infantry to go back once he heard the boy speak about his intentions of going back with his Army on the back of a Poisonous Stone-Centipede which belongs to one of the 3 Honorable Sisters staying in his fascinating house.

Especially when he learned about the existence of 2 more Centipedes which are hiding themselves somewhere beneath the surface of the ground.

The so-called natural barrier East of his Village is worthless against these types of creatures, matter of fact... it's their natural habitat!