Aile had been listening to everything, he did not want to interfere because he was not a saint.
Aile was disgusted by the man, he wanted to get rid of him. However, he did not feel sorry for Xue. He had been in this world for a short time, but one thing that he clearly understood was to never trust someone quickly.
She who has had a lot more human contact should have easily understood this too. Despite this, she fell for a simple scheme. Aile further looked down on her for overestimating herself, and she had not paid any attention to safety.
She could have been fed an aphrodisiac, a poison or a worst concoction. She could have been taken to a remote location. She could have been incapacitated by many first level cultivators, or a few second-level cultivators.
She had followed a person alone on a carriage away from town without any precautions.
When Aile noticed her lack of care for her safety, he was dissuaded from helping her. He wanted her to be injured or knocked out before interfering so that she can learn a lesson from this experience.
However, when he heard that the bandits could be alerted, he decided to interfere immediately. He did not want to lose his element of surprise in his attempt to loot the bandits.
At this time, Aile jumped into the carriage, and with a spin, he threw two thumb-sized stones extraordinarily fast.
Swish
Swish
One second later, the body of a fat person dropped in the carriage.
The guard's body fell towards the carriage, and with a thud, he leaned lifelessly in front part of the carriage as it continued on.
This was the first time Aile killed, but it did not faze Aile too much. He had experienced this many times through The Voice's memories. Although the memories were experienced with no emotions, it had given him enough understanding of killing that Aile was desensitized.
From the very moment he was born, he had seen Duke White murder two people, that, along with The Voice's memories, had made him feel numb towards death.
He then quickly went to where the guard's body was and stopped the horse-like creatures, preventing the carriage from accidents.
Once he reached there, he reached for the rein to stop the horse.
At this moment, he felt extreme danger coming from his right, where the body of the guard was at.
He saw that the guard had taken out a blade and stabbed it towards him with his remaining energy before death.
Aile saw the blade's trajectory and knew he could not dodge. So he quickly moved his body to avoid fatal damage.
The blade pierced his left upper arm close to his biceps. Fortunately, he managed to dodge enough to prevent it from bringing too much harm.
The guard was on his last breath, he died right after that strike. Based on his position, he could not cause fatal injury, but he could have had inflicted a severe wound on his bicep.
Nonetheless, this was a preventable injury that was caused due to Aile's carelessness.
He quickly applied the healing cream that Fiona made to his wound, and it stopped bleeding.
Xue did not see anything as she had a lot on her mind. The whole ordeal had only taken a few seconds.
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Aile stopped the carriage.
Then, without an ounce of guilt, he searched the body of the guard and the fat person.
He thoroughly looted them and threw their naked bodies outside the carriage.
He sighed in admiration at the amount he had gained.
He had plundered 60 gold coins, some treasures, a powdered substance that he believed to be the weakening agent on Xue's drink, and five level-two protection talismans from the fatty's body.
Protection talismans are graded one-time use items. If a level one protection talisman is activated, no one at level one cultivation can break the talisman's shield for two minutes.
Level two protection talismans can only be broken by a level three practitioners and a level three can only be broken by level 4 practitioners and so on.
The guard had 5 gold coins, a decent blade and some more stuff that Aile gathered in the carriage's corner.
Aile was surprised at the fatty's wealth. He was satisfied by his gains and thought of backing from his mission tonight. However, after evaluating his situation, he noticed he lacks experience. Thus, he resolved himself to go and gain more experience and continue his mission to loot the bandits.
His hand that had been wounded kept on reminding him of his lack of experience. He kept on thinking that had he sat closer to the guard, his aim would have been his neck. Even a small wound there could have been deadly.
He kept on reminding himself to be smarter and more vigilant.
Aile then looked at Xue.
Xue was exquisite. She had beautifully braided brown hair, brown eyes and a cute face. She had a fine-looking petite build and was wearing a charming red and black dress. Xue looked around the age of 16. She looked like a modest person, with many possible admirers and people chasing after.
Xue had a glimmer in her eye, looking at her protector, but her fantasy of knight and shining armour shattered at Aile's first words to her.
Aile had been making his voice sound deeper like an adult. Aile knew that Fiona was right, his childish voice would turn any situation into a joke.
"Take out any valuables you have and place it here, and hurry, I do not have all day," Aile said as he pointed at the table.
Xue had a confused expression. Her mouth was open in surprise.
"Hurry up!" He said with a natural-sounding, deep voice.
Xue had teary eyes, but she did as was told and took out her money pouch and some treasures and jewellery she had. There were one gold coin and some silver coins in her pouch.
It disappointed Aile looking at the messily amount. He snorted.
Aile was muddled by the fat man's wealth. He had forgotten that most people do not even have one gold, and she would be considered wealthy.
"I am sorry, I do not have anything else," Xue said with a dejected voice, after hearing Aile's snort.
Aile looked at her and noticed an expensive-looking pendent, and he remembered that she had the deed of a shop.
"Your pendant and the deed of the shop?" said Aile.
She gave the deed of the shop and said: "Can I please keep the pendant, it is my mother's…"
Aile cut her off, "nope," then he made a hurrying gesture.
Xue reluctantly gave the necklace.
Aile looked at the pile of stuff in the carriage's corner and was quite contented. He did not feel guilty to take her stuff, he wanted her to remember this experience for the rest of her life and stay vigilant.
He then glanced at Xue and said, "Get off, now."
"What?" Xue asked in surprise.
"Go outside the carriage, I need to go, and I am tight on time!" Aile said with an annoyed tone.
"Please, take me back to the town,"
"Please, take me back to the town," Xue said pleadingly.
"Why should I, I have saved you and not kill you, and I was decent enough to not take your clothes like the others, even though they look expensive," Aile said in a flat tone.
Aile had understood human nature, he knew the greed and backstabbing that goes on. Thus, he did not want to act kindly towards strangers because this will create an unnecessary risk for him.
Xue was perplexed, and she blushed when Aile mentioned taking her clothes. She thought about what Aile had said, she agreed with him, he could have also taken advantage of her, but he has not. He did not owe her anything.
Xue had understood Aile's point, she did not want to owe him anything. She was terrified of the bandits, and she did not want to travel on their domain at night while she was weakened. She thought of a way to compensate Aile for saving her.
"I can be your maid and work for you for five years if you take me back to the town. I will not ask for compensation and work for free." She saw that there was no response behind the mask.
Seeing that there was no response from him, she panicked and thought of coming to the problem from a different angle.
She then remembered the shop, so she with excitement said: "You just got the deed of a shop, I am sure you will need an employee, and I can work there for you for free for five years."
Aile looked at her and said, "Well, I will be honest with you, I do not really need the shop. However, I think you are a dumbass and will lose it anyway. So I took it from you, and I do not want a careless employee either…" Aile wanted to make himself clear, he did not want to care about another person, especially now.