~Scroll of the Dead~

Elsewhere

“Mmm” Shin slowly opened his eyes as he regained his consciousness. He took a look at his current surrounding and realized he was deep inside a cave. The walls having white colored flags with a blue hawk insignia, Shin quickly came to his senses as he tried moving away but to no avail as he was tied to a stalagmite.

‘How’d I end up here?’ Shin bit his lips ‘That weird gas knocked me out, but someone-’

His eyes widened as he recalled his task ‘The cart!’ The horse drawn cart he had been asked to guard was likely stolen.

‘Dammit, dammit’ Shin cursed ‘Don’t tell me those bastards stole it too?’ he looked around with a troubled look for where his captors could be, stopping as he saw a ray of light at a corner with a shadow resembling a human moving.

~Scroll of the Dead~

“HOORAH!”

The sound of laughing could be heard from a room deep inside a cave remote in the forests of Letra, New Macedonia. Three people, all males to be exact, sat down having drinks and enjoying the fruits of their labor. These were the notorious bandit group who based themselves in the city of trades, The Blue Hawks bandits.

“Gihihi” the first man, Punks, laughed. He was a young man with a slender build, being very tall in height and having a curly blonde Mohawk with buck teeth. He wore a white long sleeve shirt and brown trousers “We sure outdid ourselves today huh Periklis?”

“Mhmm” The second man, Bo, nodded. Unlike his accomplice, he was short and had a shaved head, on his bare chest was the symbol of the bandit group which he wore proudly along with his white shorts “Even though we’re understaffed without Boss, we still managed to pull it off”

“Heh, I guess you could say that” Periklis finally spoke up. He was a man of average height with an average build and long black hair. He wore a sleeveless shirt with a stroke pattern revealing the blue hawks tattoo on his shoulder

“You’ll definitely have a chance becoming vice leader with this one” Bo added with a confident grin

“And one of us can replace you as 2nd commander” Punks declared

“Seriously, that’s what excites you guys?” Periklis asked with a tone of disbelief before continuing his drink. Turning his head to the back of the room to find the horse he had claimed earlier staring back in fear. “Do we really need this horse though, why not sell it to that goblin merchant?”

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The horse shivered even more at the mention of goblins.

“Do we have to?” Punks raised a brow “We really need a ride since the boss won’t allow us to get one of those cars”

Periklis pondered deeply for a while before answering “Alright we’ll keep it, but don’t let anyone find out”

The others both nodded before Bo asked a question “What about that kid? It’d be bad if we let him go while he knows our location”

Punks stroked his chin as he went into thought before replying “Why not just kill him, what good is a manaless-”

“No”

Both Punks and Bo stared at the second commander in confusion before they recalled his distaste towards murder, especially if the person was weak. Periklis shot both of them an icy glare “Don’t even think about it”

“Okay” they apologized with a nod. Even though all three were weak in the hierarchy of the bandit group, Punks and Bo couldn’t compare to their friend’s might.

“I heard there’s a black market trader from the land of women, we’ll hand him over and forget this happened”

“Yes sir” they nodded in unison

“Now,” said Periklis as he stood up and stretched a bit before walking towards the entrance of the room “I need to take a dump, don’t touch my drink”

“What do you take us for man” Bo complained with a sigh

Periklis ignored them and left the room, walking towards the mouth of the cave as he met an unconscious Shin, still tied up to the stalagmite.

“Weak” he said in pity as he now left the hideout

A tick mark appeared on Shin’s head, who had been faking consciousness ‘The hell are you calling weak?’

“Tch” Shin hissed as he was finally alone which prompted him to continue using a nearby piece of glass to cut off the ropes “Gotta act fast”

Within a short amount of time, he was able to completely free himself from the bondage of the ropes.

“Alright” Shin said as he stood up ‘That guy probably came from that room so that’s where they’re hiding the cart’ he said before approaching the room, grabbing a nearby piece of wood to use as a weapon.

Shin quickly crouched as he slowly entered the room undetected. He found himself behind Punks and Bo who were laughing as they became drunk. Shin simply sighed in disappointment

‘They aren’t even trying’ he took a look at the room as he found both cart and horse at the corner ‘Whew, so I was right.’

Shin then stood up silently holding the piece of wood. He walked up to the two bandit members as he raised his weapon up preparing to strike.

-THWACK

In an instant, both Punks and Bo were knocked out which enabled Shin to further his mission. The boy paused his movements suddenly to examine the room

“Love what they did with the place” he gazed at the amount of items the bandits had stolen. Coins of both silver and gold, magic items, weapons decorated the space. Shin’s attention was suddenly caught by a glint of light.

“…” he turned his head in confusion towards the strange source. His eyes were now focused on a small box on a stool besides a large chair where the leader of the group usually sat. The box was reddish orange in color with golden rims in a flame pattern all over it. On the front was what seemed to be a logo of a sun in a concentric circle. Shin walked over slowly towards the box before picking it up and examining it for a brief moment

“I guess… it wouldn’t hurt to take this” said Shin, entranced by the box before stuffing it inside the pocket on his jacket “Nothing wrong with stealing from thieves eh?” he chuckled before walking back to the cart “Heck I should clear this entire room, that’ll teach those bozos not to mess with Theseus and me”