Our travels may have started simply enough, but sadly, that peace didn’t last long.

Of course, we traveled at the same pace as usual, completely indifferent to the fact that we were also transporting the bandits (take that, bandits!). I do feel a bit bad for the horses, though. Luckily, we aren’t that far from the nearest town, so it shouldn’t be too bad. And we have Hansen’s summons to help!

We started traveling onward towards the great unknown, but this time, it wasn’t quite so unknown. In fact, the bandits knew exactly where we were going.

But while that wouldn’t be a problem normally, it's not like we have any reason to hide our destination, after all, the problem came when the bandits asked how we foreigners knew where to go.

And, instead of just lying or something, Greg, for some odd reason, answered forthrightly. “The Hero knows where to go.”

“Ah, so you visited this town before?” Okay, Greg, you might have messed up the first time, but you’ve been given another chance!

“Not at all; this will be our first time visiting.” He smiled. Smiled! Why, Greg, why? I understand that the Hero’s ability is cool and all, but that doesn’t mean you should bring attention to it!

Like, while these pests lack any redeeming qualities, they did get an education, one which they wasted, true, but they did get one! And one of the subjects that is always taught about is the Heroes.

Specifically, how they are always summoned, from another world! As such, unless we had somehow traveled here before, an impossibility considering how new and publicized said summoning was, the Hero should have no clue where we were going!

And now, since we lack a convenient excuse of us having coincidentally come from that direction, the bandits are left with the truth—that the Hero just somehow knows!

By the Gods, Greg! Why? Are you actually sick? You’re usually a lot more discerning than this!

Screw it. While healing away illnesses is bad for you in the long run, you need to actually get to that point for it to matter, and Greg is making mistakes that are too obvious for me to trust him.

And since using patient’s analysis while traveling is stupid, and asking everyone to stop is a massive red flag that something is wrong, which is not what you want when escorting bandits, I have to use an expensive full cure spell, which messes with my professional pride! You’re only supposed to do that in an emergency or when you don’t know any other way to heal something! It’s something only novices are supposed to dooo!

Haa, the things I do for my party...

Anyway, I cast the overly expensive spell on Greg, along with a general healing spell to deal with whatever symptoms he might have, and he has the gall to look confused!

Haa. At least he didn’t comment about that; the last thing we want is for the bandits to think it’s a weakness or something. I’d rather not get stabbed in my sleep, thank you very much!

Urg! Why did we decide to capture them… It’s so much work!

Whatever, I’m just glad that I’m sharing a tent; I don’t even want to think about how I would react if I had to sleep alone. ‘Shudders’ I definitely wouldn’t have allowed the bandits to travel with us then, even if I had to kill them myself.

That doesn’t mean I’m not going to take them seriously; however, I know how dangerous they can be, so I won’t let my guard down around them.

Even if I’m the only one, apparently.

Haa. Well, I can probably trust that everything will be fine; it’s not like the Hero will allow us to get hurt or anything if he can prevent it.

Unless he’s trying to teach us something…

Oh no, that’s exactly what this is, isn’t it? The Hero probably sees us as too trusting or something, so he found us something that will probably hurt, but not cripple. He found a way to get us to never let our guard down, which will probably end up important in the future, even if we don’t realize it.

Oh, this is going to suck, isn’t it…

Mmm! I really hope I’m wrong about that!

Haa, whatever, what happens, happens; it’s not like we can stop the Hero from doing something.

And certainly not without regretting it later...

Man, and to think I was so excited for today... I was going to reveal, well, start actually using, my cleansing spell after dinner. We would have all gone to bed nice and clean! It was going to be great!

Now I just want today to be done with...

And I can’t even use my spell without alerting the bandits. Not that it matters if they know or anything, but they’ll probably complain about how unfair it is that I won’t use it on them, all while scheming how to use my lack of mana to their advantage, the pests.

What else could they be scheming?

I don’t know; it's hard to think over the sound of their whining! It's hot, I'm tired, thirsty, waah waah waah, bunch of babies.

Haa, and now I’m making baby noises too…

Okay. I need to calm down. Breathe in, breathe out; I’m getting too frustrated to think properly.

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Which might be their plan, now that I think about it.

Okay, seriously, I need to stop. Regardless of whether it’s all part of some master plan or not, I need to calm down…

Okay, good. Now I just need to stay like this until we reach town.

How hard could that be?

______

We were able to travel without too many problems, and as such, we were able to set up our camp as normal.

At first.

Alas, housing the bandits proves to be complicated. We can’t just not do anything; not only could they easily escape, but they could also potentially get sick or injured (the elements can be ridiculously dangerous sometimes), which, while technically only a minor inconvenience, is not something I want to deal with.

Setting them up in tents is also problematic, and not only because we lack suitable numbers to hold everyone. But even if we had enough and were willing to let the bandits use our personal tents, something I am not alone in refusing, they couldn’t stop a proper grab at freedom. And while everyone predominantly believed in the false sincerity of the bandits’ promise to not escape, no one was willing to risk them escaping should they see an obvious opening.

We could put up some of the bandit’s own housing, but not only would we be relying on them to set it up, but they know them, so they may be able to use them to engineer an escape. If they don’t already contain a method to do so.

In the end, we decided to have them sleep in one of the carriages. While that does carry the risk of them barricading themselves in like previously, all that would accomplish is wasting our time, a fate worse than death to the Hero, but just an annoyance otherwise.

Besides, without having to deal with the rest of the fort, we can just barricade the door, hook up the carriage to a horse, and simply drag it along with minimal fuss.

Not that this plan doesn’t contain other risks; leaving the bandits unsupervised isn’t something I’d recommend, but it beats sleeping with them.

I doubt we’d wake up from that mistake…

Regardless, we had to choose something, so what we believed was the lesser of the evils we picked.

Once the camp was settled, it was time to prepare dinner, and with it came another argument: what to feed our prisoners.

Because of course, we can’t be unified in that. Haa, I’m worried about this party; we used to be so close, and while I doubt this will be even close to enough to split us apart, it will certainly lessen the effects of the Hero’s blessing.

“I vote that we allow them to join us for dinner.” Greg declared.

“Why!?” I shouted in shock, a feeling shared by my comrades. In a much quieter voice, I continued. “What could possibly possess you to think feeding them True Food would be even remotely a good idea!?”

“Ah, no, I would never dream of such a thing; perish the thought.”

“Then what did you mean?” Rapunzel questioned, having calmed down now that we know Greg hasn’t lost his mind.

“My presumption was that we would provide conventionally cooked food.” He corrected. “I would never even conceive of eating any True Food in the presence of bandits, as other than Eli and the Hero, no one can withstand its magnificence; we would be completely defenseless after eating it.”

“Don’t worry, I'd use my aura should they try anything; not only will it stop the weak-willed worms, it will likely knock everyone out of their comas!”

“...Thank you, Eli; we’ll keep that in mind.” Rapunzel reluctantly thanked, causing me to pout.

I know my aura is uncomfortable; it's still preferable to dying, though.

“Now that Greg’s explained himself, I vote that we just feed them their own rations. It’s not only simple, but it also creates a clear divide between us.”

“I agree.” Hansen followed. “Simple, effective, no fuss.”

“True,” I admit. “I can accept that; I just think that’s too good for them.”

“What do you propose, then, simply letting them starve?” Greg sarcastically suggested.

“Yes, actually. That’s exactly what I was going to suggest.”

“What.”

“You mean, you want to just not feed them dinner and ignore their hunger?” Rapunzel asked.

“Yeah.” I agreed. “Well, ideally they’d get no food until we turn them in, but I can accept just minimalizing their rations.”

“Why would you want to do that?” Greg questioned.

“I mean, it would make them easier to deal with; it’s hard to rebel or escape if you’re too hungry to even fight back, after all. And as the savana isn’t a very convenient place to find food, especially when weakened from hunger, just up and running is likely to be a death sentence.”

“True, and more ways to reduce the potential danger of the bandits are always appreciated.” Melly agreed.

“I, I see. Well then, it appears we are at an impasse; as such, it is up to the Hero to decide.”

“Indeed.”

“Well, Mr.Roosevelt, what are your thoughts?”

“Hmm, choices, choices, what to do...” The Hero jokingly thought out loud. We all know it’s an act, Hero; you aren’t fooling anyone. “Ah, I know. Let’s start with a question: what would happen if we didn’t feed them? Eli, Melly?”

“They’d get weaker, as we said, and likely hate us even more,” Melly answered.

“That they would, but is that all that would happen?”

“Yeah? I mean, they’ll probably complain about it, but they are already whining about everything, so I doubt feeding them will change that.”

“True, I doubt the bandits would thank you no matter what you fed them.”

“Right! And, since feeding them won’t change how they view us, we might as well do what gives us the best chances.” I smiled, to which the Hero joined with his own smirk.

“But what about the inhumanity of it? It is cruel and inhumane to just leave people hungry, especially when we have more than enough food to spare.” Greg persuaded, trying to change me and the Hero’s mind.

“Greg, it’s admirable that you care so much, but bandits aren’t people. In fact, they could more accurately be described as predators that specifically hunt humans. As such, the humane thing to do would be to kill them whenever you find any. The fact that we aren’t and are instead bringing them to the guards is already more mercy than they deserve.”

“While I wouldn’t go that far,” The Hero interjected before we could start another argument, “they are bandits, people who have decided that they were above others and their rules and that they deserve to spread suffering for their own greed and amusement. My compassion for them is quite limited.”

“That does not mean we are justified in torturing them…” Greg meekly argued.

“Correct. And while I would normally choose to at least feed them, Eli has been extremely stressed out by their presence, so to ease some of her worries, I’ll let her decide what to do.” Aww, thanks, Hero! “Besides, we can always choose to feed them later; we can’t do the reverse.” He then paused contemplatively. “Well, not humanly, anyway.”

Okay, Hero, I wouldn’t going to go that far! Nonetheless, it’s nice that he’s showing concern over my stress.

Still. “Are you sure it’s okay for me to decide?”

“Of course. Just know that you are responsible for what happens.”

“Yeah, yeah. I’ll watch them and even feed them if they get too hungry; don’t worry.” Just like how I’m stressed about the situation, so is Greg, though I don’t get why he’s so invested in this. Is it just a counter to my aggression? Possibly…

Hmm, maybe this reminded him of something?