Lion Province. 200 kilometers north of Dionar.

Along the forest road, where you could encounter a caravan only once every few hours, a young man dressed in elegant leather armor walked. Anyone who saw him would have thought it might be some young son of an aristocrat or a merchant. What was strange was that the young man was traveling alone, without guards or companions.

He walked silently, frowning and holding the hilt of his sword. This province was considered one of the safest places in all of Diolas, but Jack would not be Jack if he believed rumors or other people, he checked everything himself.

In one of the taverns he had visited earlier, he had been told that the current Lord of this province had recently been overthrown by some bandits. Not that they were, though, since they had killed all the lord's guards and himself. Upon hearing the news, thieves, brigands, and scum poured into the province from all sides in search of profit. However, only the initiated knew this, those who knew the value of the information and took it seriously. Ordinary people didn't know that, and Jack could only guess how many travelers had been robbed and killed, how many women had been raped, how many caravans had been devastated. Jack didn't care about them, everyone survives to the best of his ability, and Jack's ability, far exceeded his age. So, trusting the information he received, he always remained vigilant, holding his sword and straining his hearing.

After a few hundred yards of walking along the forest road, flanked by willows and oaks, the distant hum of multiple male voices could be heard from one side to the side of Jack. And judging by the evidently mocking tone of the voices, it was hardly noble men resting in a clearing in the woods and eating cake in peace; no, Jack's instincts told him that they were dangerous. His guess was robbers. Looking in the direction of the voices, it was as if Jack was looking and seeing someone through the thick forest foliage. Thinking about something, he shifted his eyes to the road and continued on his way. The bandits were out of his way, so there was no danger to him. He could simply walk by and go unnoticed. However...

-...ELP!..." a clear girl's voice came to Jack's ears, reeking of fear and despair. It made Jack shiver. His mind flashed back to the days when he'd felt the same way himself. Those days... no one had helped him.

Instantly turning on his heels, Jack ran toward the scream.

After 20 seconds of silent running, he was about 30 meters from his target. Now he could clearly hear what the men were saying, and he could also hear a woman's quiet cries, muffled, apparently by a gag.

- Hehe Craig! What a catch! They don't call the Lion Province "Treasure Island" for nothing, just look at that face! Isn't that a treasure?" Through the foliage, Jack saw one bandit walk up to the bound girl and gently lift her chin with his finger, showing her face to his friend.

The girl's beauty was dazzling. She had short charcoal hair, a pretty face with green eyes over which pink shadows were drawn in an arc, long eyelashes, a perfectly formed body, and a red tattoo on her cheek with a pattern that looked like something between a question mark and a small dragon. She looked about sixteen or seventeen. With her looks, no wonder she was attacked by bandits.

Next to her lay the corpses of two middle-aged men, a woman, and a teenage boy. The only one alive was the boy, his eyes dilated with horror, rolling slightly on the ground and muttering something to himself. He was clearly out of his mind.

- Yeah! Hehe! I haven't had a woman in a long time, and here's one! What luck! And they say the gods are not merciful. I killed a nun the other day, and he sent me a gift right away!" Craig laughed madly, licking his long hair back.

- Um, it doesn't work like that, Craig..." muttered the fellow standing nearby, looking more like a well-fed boar than a bandit. Though the blood-soaked hammer in his hand indicated he was dangerous.

- How does it not work? Look, once upon a time I killed a fisherman and guess what, Obovo?" Craig walked up to Obovo, playing with the dagger in his hand.

-What?" looking at the dagger in Craig's hand, Obovo replied.

- The next day I tasted kingfish! AHAHAHAHAHAHH!" Craig clutched his belly and started laughing. Obovo looked at him like he was an imbecile.

- By your logic, if we killed these blacksmiths today..." Obovo pointed a glance at the corpses of the two men. " ... Then, we have what? A new weapon coming soon? You are such a moron, Craig."

Listening to their conversation, the corners of Jack's lips crept upward as he thought of a joke in his head. "Not a weapon, but a squire."

- Aah! Forget it. You don't want to believe it. Let's just decide who gets to play with her first, shall we?" Craig walked up to the girl, squatted down, ran the cold dagger between her legs and grinning, looking her straight in the face, licked the blade.

- What's there to think about? Of course it was going to be me! I'm the one who had to kill the men while you were having fun with that old woman!" Obovo stared at Craig menacingly.

- Take it easy, brother! You go first. Anyway, I've got other plans..." With those words, he gave the little boy's figure a lustful look and a quiet whoosh.

When he caught his gaze, Obovo winked in disgust, but said nothing. Sighing, he glanced furtively at the bound girl, an ill-concealed excitement appearing on his face. He set the hammer down on the ground and walked toward the girl, removing his holey, sweaty pants as he went, saliva dripping from his thick lips, now he resembled a moose in the rutting phase.

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Jack sat relaxed on a tree branch, leaning against the trunk and watching the scene before him. He had long ago calculated that his chances of winning were quite high. Seeing that the bandits had stopped chattering and got down to the action, Jack jumped down silently from the tree and ducked down in the dense bushes toward the clearing where the violence was about to take place. His eyes showed no emotion; one would have thought they were made of glass. Moving forward, he took his sword from its sheath and sitting ten meters away from his opponents, he waited for the right moment.

In the meantime, Obovo was amusing himself by sniffing the girl's body from head to toe, his huge, lumpy fat body hovering over her like a pig over a feeding trough. Sniffing seemed to be his fetish... At the other end of the clearing, Craig was trying his best to coax a boy dangling in all directions. When Craig got tired of that, he started hitting him with the back of his fist, saying: "Calm down, bitch, relax. Enjoy the process..."

Meanwhile, Obovo had finished his fetish and was getting down to business. He lifted the bound girl by force, turned her back to him, and began to remove her travel pants. His little cock was twitching with excitement, his eyes swimming with lust. The girl, giving in like a doll, her eyes were empty. Tearing off his pants, the white buttocks revealed to Obovo's gaze, and with a frantic panting, he took hold of his buddy to continue the work, but.....

...Suddenly, there was a muffled gurgling sound, a small iron sword making its way to the sky with slow fury from Obovo's mouth. Obovo's body convulsed, his thick arms spasming, up and down. Obovo tried to turn toward his attacker, but as soon as he made the attempt, he was kicked right in the middle of his back with force. The force was enough to knock Obovo to the ground, and with an unpleasant, drilling sound, a sword came out of him. Though Obovo was alive, he didn't have long to live.

With a swift, laconic movement, Jack swung his sword and the rope with which the girl was bound split in two and fell away. The girl's senses returned, and she stared with visible shock at the small, blond boy, and the sight of him was more terrifying to her than the bandits themselves. He looked at the girl's body with an indifferent face, turned around, and with his sword at his side, walked toward the other end of the clearing. As if by chance, a small dagger fell out of his sleeve. In the girl's eyes, the dagger shone like a cut diamond, casting rays of hope aside. With trembling hands, she reached for the dagger, took it, and with enthusiasm, turned to the bleeding Obovo. Her whole visage now, drained of hatred.

At the other end of the clearing, Craig recoiled from the boy when he heard the barely distinguishable gurgling sounds of Obovo's throat. He turned to see what his companion was up to and saw in front of him a slightly smiling boy, one head shorter than him. In his side vision, he saw a blurry female silhouette stabbing countless times at the body of his companion lying on the ground. Craig frowned.

Where had this little guy come from? And how did he take down Obovo? Even I couldn't overpower him.

- Hey kid. Did you kill Obovo?" asked Craig, getting into a fighting stance and pulling a second dagger, with serrated teeth, from behind his groin.

In response, Jack only silently twisted the hilt of the blade so Craig could see the bloodied edge.

When he saw the blood on the boy's blade, drops of sweat broke out on Craig's forehead, he gripped the daggers tighter in his hands and began to sway from side to side like a drunk.

Jack watched his opponent's actions curiously. Why was he swaying?

This was Jack's first real fight in his life, and he was a little taken by the spirit of battle, but he suppressed it easily, leaving his mind clear and cold, like ice on a lake.

In one of the swaying movements, Craig's figure vanished into thin air. Jack instinctively put his sword out in the right block, a second later a dagger strike came there. Jack's arm thudded slightly, the difference in strength between the teenager's body and the man's was palpable. Realizing it hadn't gone away, Craig bounced back. Standing a few feet away from Jack, he swayed with increasing intensity. At one point, his body almost made a 90-degree angle and his figure disappeared into thin air again. There was no emotion on Jack's face. Abruptly crouching down, he made a sweeping blow behind him, finishing, he turned and stood in a swordsman-like stance.

Craig appeared three feet away from Jack. There was a long horizontal wound on his chest, not deep, but substantial. He stared at the boy in front of him in bewilderment, a slight fear flashed in his tar-black eyes. He sensed the ease with which this boy could see his blows, parry, how easily he could see through all his movements, how easily he could see through his technique of the "Unbridled Killer." In the corners of his mind, he realized that the boy was just playing with him like his prey, that he, Craig, was now just a victim, already served for dinner. Craig was no match for him, he knew that, but he didn't want to believe it.

- WAAAGHHHH!" Craig lost his temper and spun on the spot as if he'd lost his mind. He was spinning in some kind of strange, self-absorbed dance, like a drug-addled shaman. He spun with more and more speed, and more and more, the bracelets on his arms and silver necklaces began to jingle all over the place. Jack only stood quietly by and watched with interest. Finally, as Craig's death dance came to its finale, he stopped abruptly. The ringing of his accessories hit Jack's ears like something physical. Craig's eyes flooded with blood, his mouth showing the teeth he had sharpened. Falling to the ground like a disembodied demon, he lunged toward Jack on four limbs.

Jack, on the other hand, having recovered from a slight stunner and seeing a human body, more like a beast, running at him, squatted down and with all the strength his legs had, jumped into the air. In the air, he made a complete revolution around his axis and swung his sword at full force, striking it like a ribbon dancer.

For a moment, there was silence in the clearing. A second later there were three thuds, something falling to the ground. Two bodies had fallen. Jack, falling heavily to the ground, but steady on his feet. And Craig's. Split in half, top and bottom. Both parts, with bloody splatters, fell to the side, slightly touching the frightened boy.

Jack looked at the remains of his opponent, smiled softly, and went to untie the boy lying on the ground, who, at the sight of Jack's face, wet himself. From this reaction, Jack stepped away from the boy, giving him space. Touching his face, Jack found that it was splattered with Craig's scarlet blood. Putting on a good-natured mask, he went to the girl, maybe she'd be more cooperative than the kid.

- W-Who are you?" the girl asked in a sad voice, covering her face with her hands.

- Oh, hello. My name is Jack." Jack smiled at her, taking a bottle of water out of his bag and handing it to her.

One hell of a night for those two, Jack thought as he listened to the pleasant, soft rustle of the leaves from the trees around him.