After a few minutes of rehearsing the plan, they split up, out of sight and to different positions to encircle the camp.

The bandits remained oblivious to their presence. Kayd could see the prideful grins they had, checking the stolen treasures from the ransacked settlement. The sight disgusted him.

Just like every bandit i met before, should be just as easy to kill

In remembering it, another memory surfaced.

Yet no matter how much I killed, more showed up elsewhere and got dealt with by my classmates. And they get all the credit

He gritted his teeth in silent anger, quickly bottling it up to prepare for the attack. He crouched next to Ikari, both overseeing the side of the camp with Mian and Quellin at the opposite side.

“Target the leader, that’s how bandit groups scatter.” Kayd reminded Ikari.

“I know I know, we did the same with the rats before. Shouldn’t be that hard now.” She pulled back an arrow and Kayd drew his sword, waiting for that moment.

With their backs turned, and seeing the sight of a much more decorated bandit, Ikari fired.

Whistling through the air, it struck the neck of the supposed leader. He quickly fell to the ground and the team charged forward.

Kayd moved in quickly, hoping to still catch the panicking bandits off guard as they just started taking out their own weapons. The nearest one had his back turned, and Kayd pierced his chest clean through.

Their armor has many gaps and holes. Shoddy, this just made this entire thing a whole lot easier.

He charged the next one, with the rest defending themselves against the other four.

Going through them like butter, at least it didn’t cost an arm like the rats. But I do miss that challenge.

He cleared up the remaining threat effortlessly with rapid slashes and pierce strikes, all there was to do now was watch his teammates clean up the others.

With Quellin, Mian’s teammate visibly struggled, trading blows with the single bandit in front of him, trading blows with one another.

Inexperienced, but I do like his push to keep fighting.

Kayd walked up behind the bandit and pierced through a weak point on his body.

“Thanks,” He lowered his head briefly with heavy breaths.

“Don’t mention it.” Kayd looked as Quellin pushed three bandits away from him and delivered powerful swings, cutting through their jury rigged armor easily.

Behind him, Ishmael was busy hacking at one of them with her hatchet, going overboard for a moment as the man was already dead.

“Captain, calm down.” Kayd’s eyes widened in surprise, seeing her raise and cleave the man’s skull in repeatedly, the hatred for the rats seems to be just as high with the bandits too. Finally, after a few more hits, Ishmael stood up, looking around and seeing the other dead bandits then turning to the large tent.

“Well done everyone, looks like all of ya are good with handling human enemies,” She stared at everyone before her eyes briefly stopped on Mian’s teammate.

“Most at least, Lia-” She stopped, realizing Lia was already there with him. She patched up the deep and light wounds around his body, not needing an order like other times.

Sometimes she needs orders and sometimes she does her own thing. Strange pattern.

As they stood around, the bodies began to vanish, leaving the equipment and weapons behind. But most peculiar were pouches of gold.

Kayd picked one of them up, and once in his hand, the sound of a coin drop rang out followed by the disintegration of the pouch. The wealth card appeared before him with good news.

Wealth Added: 23 coins

Balance: 50 coins.

Crime doesn’t pay well at all does it?

Seeing this, everyone else followed suit, collecting their just payments for a successful attack.

“Alright, everyone split up and search these tents. I want every crack and crevice here checked for any information. And to see how many supplies these brats took.”

With the bandit group taken out, they took shelter in the tents, rummaging through their contents.

While rummaging, Kayd heard a windchime.

From Claws and Vermin to Swords and Criminals. The Splendor Seekers have bested and tasted the next threat they shall overcome. It was time for a new realm and a new threat. Will they once again vanquish another scourge? Or finally face their fate in the unforgiving sands? And with the new objectives, how far will this rabbit hole go?

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

Bizarre, but not surprising at this point.

Boxes and crates of both good and terrible quality weapons, armor, and materials were all he could find, quickly realizing this was an armory of sorts for them.

All scavenged I presume. They look similar to the Stone’s Edge armor.

Kayd continued searching through, hoping to get some more information or clues.

Lia continued tending to his wounds while resting on the ground, chatting with each other. Quellin stood with him, staring at the opened crates.

On the opposite side, Ikari was busy ransacking the third tent while Ishmael searched alone at the largest one.

Weapons, armor, leather, and steel. At least they keep things organized.

Kayd pulled out one of the better quality longswords, belonging to the Stone’s Edge army. He swung it a few times before putting it back and making a mental note of his findings.

They scavenged all their gear. But they aren’t good with maintenance at all, just raiding when they need a better set. Typical thief and bandit behavior.

Quellin took out a shoddy poorly repaired sword, with leather straps keeping the handle together and many deep chips into the blade itself.

“Pathetic…” Quellin tossed the sword aside in disgust, looking down to see more weapons and armor of varying qualities.

“These bandits have no skill of maintenance, such lack of intelligence in these matters makes for easy targets against Ferrous Hands armies.” He added.

“Can’t expect much from common bandits, especially low level ones like these.” Quellin continued rummaging through the crates before stumbling upon a shocking sight.

Rattling out of the cage as Quellin slowly pulled it out was a long line of rusted chains, complete with fetters and shackles, able to restrain eight. No, ten.

“What the…”

“Slavers” Quellin gritted his teeth, all the while squeezing the chain with his hand.

“Another threat to the Ferrous Hands faced. Just outside of our border. Followed by the cutthroats, rogue mages, and traitors.” He began explaining, his anger vanished temporarily.

“Classified an average class threat due to their numbers. They were a recent threat but a nuisance nonetheless. One I and my unit faced months before this.” He dropped the chain in disgust, now putting a foot on it.

“They enslaved our people, others. Their existence only prolonged our war and yet, the end never came close. Perhaps in part because of these worthless excuses of men and women.” His anger returned, channeling it all into his foot as he crushed the chain beneath him. Kayd stepped back in fear.

He never lost his temper like that before. Now I can see why he always kept his cool temper….

He turned to Kayd, “Finalize your findings. I will do the same, ensure everything here has been cleared out and noted for the Captain.” Kayd hastily nodded, hoping not to incur Quellin’s wrath again, this time against him.

The last of the containers were opened, and Kayd made his final findings for the tent before taking off, away from Quellin. Near the entrance Lia finished patching Mian’s teammate, clutching onto the bandaged wound.

“Don’t get too reckless fighting alright?” Lia patted him.

“Sorry, I’m not used to fighting people, just vermin.” He looked up, noticing Kayd’s shadow loom over him.

“Oh, it’s you again. Thanks again for helping me with that guy.”

“It was a simple thing. It looks like you aren’t so good at fighting people.” He laughed, glancing at his wound again.

“Guess I'm not,” A small feeling of pity hovered over Kayd.

He’s pretty serious about this thing huh? Willing to fight onward even if the threat isn’t a rat.

He looked to Quellin and had an idea, “If you want, you can ask Quellin to maybe give you some techniques to fight better. He’s a soldier after all, and a battle hardened one at that.” He looked at Quellin, thinking for a brief moment before giving an approving nod.

Kayd left for the next tent, looking out at the barren horizon. The emptiness of it was a nostalgic sight to the deserts he fought in before. This time much hotter, and seemingly endless.

—----

Inside the next tent, he found Ikari waist-deep into a barrel of food, quickly munching on its contents without a care in the world.

“Ikari, we're supposed to be investigating this place, not gorging on its contents!” Ikari pulled her body out of the bucket.

“Oh, Kayd! Don’t worry, I'm gonna save you some too!” Her words were muffled and garbled, with puffed up cheeks and a mouth full of food. She extended out both her hands, holding fruits and vegetables, still fresh.

“I’ll just ask Captain Ishmael if it’s fine.”

“Suit yourself!” With that, she returned to eating by herself.

Kayd checked the barrels and containers, all filled with cutlery, silverware, and different foods. Many half eaten, most likely by Ikari. Some containers were full of fresh food while others were spoiled.

Must be from caravans and settlements as well. How many did they raid? And this much just from a small ragtag group of low leveled nobodies?

Doubts began to rise up in Kayd’s mind. Even if protection was weak against the raiders, they couldn’t just haul this much cargo from a few small settlements.

Wait…How did they even bring all of this here?

His eyes widened, a revelation hit him.

There’s no horses or wagons. It's almost impossible for them to bring all of this through the blistering sun.

Like a paper being unfolded, Kayd thought more and more. They weren’t alone, someone else was here. Will they return?

So much questions. Captain Ishmael should have the answer. A wagon or two would explain how they hauled these better quality foods and weapons from the settlements. If that’s the case, where did those wagons come from? Larger camps?

“Kayd? Are you ok?” Ikari pushed a wooden cup of water to his face.

“You looked dead serious and went silent for a minute while staring at me. Had me spooked.” Kayd shook his head in embarrassment.

“Sorry, I just…Zoned out for a moment.”

“Because of the heat, isn't it. You need to keep yourself hydrated! I'd hate to see my friends collapse on the ground dry as a rock.” She pushed the cup again to his face.

“Thanks, a drink wouldn’t hurt.” Kayd drank the entire cup in one go, satiating an unknown thirst he had.

“Yeah, it’s definitely because of heatstroke. If you want, I can make you some apple slices.” She teased, holding up her knife with a smile.

“Hey, I'm not a child, I can cut my own apple slices.” She laughed in response. An apple would feel very nice right now, but he had to report to Ishmael, and needed answers.

Ikari returned to devouring the fruits in the barrel as Kayd walked out. He took another look at the horizon, with more questions in mind from his revelation.

How many of these camps exist in this desert?

—---

Ishmael had her back turned, piling up pieces of paper on a large table that lay in the center of the tent.

Around her were overturned crates and racks, their contents either on the table or scattered on the floor.

“Captain Ishmael”

“Ah, Kayd. What are your findings on the plunder here?” She asked, her back still turned, staring down at the messy set of papers before her.

“A mix of fresh and rotten vegetables. Good and bad quality weapons and armor. I think…They had another camp in on it, or at least another group with wagons and horses. I don’t think they could just bring this much on foot from the raids.” Kayd reported.

Once done, Ishmael turned around with a proud smile on her face.

“You really are a gifted one aren’t ya? Didn’t even tell you much on it and yet you figured a good bit out.” She grabbed a few of the papers to read.

“Yes, there is another camp. Nay, a whole network of them! All connected to each other.”