Pip’s legs ran through the sandy field, creating large plumes of sand that rose up with each stomp. Each second Pip began gaining more and more speed as the team inside held on.

Ahead of them was the bandit captain with his wagon, the contents inside shook and moved violently as he forced the stallions to keep going forward, outrunning the crab.

“Look alive lads, it’s just us and that captain!” Ishmael turned to her team. They gripped onto the front of the structure as Pip got ever closer to the wagon. The captain’s face dripped in sweat, hastily whipping the reins to make them go faster.

“Kayd, you’re with me, the rest of you stay.” Once Pip was just a few feet next to the wagon, they jumped.

A wave of adrenaline burst through Kayd, moving through the hot air before slamming hard into the wooden flooring.

“Just leave us alone! This is worse for all of you, especially for ratslayers of Stone’s Edge!”

Even he knows us, these titles have no limits huh.

Kayd looked around at the cages, and his eyes widened in horror.

The worst guess was true. Chained men and women, soldiers and settlers.

While he looked at the fearful people, an arrow struck him in the back, followed by a volley.

“Get down!” Arrows rained down on the wagon, even hitting the containers with no regard to their contents. With the little cover he had, Kayd’s body was punctured a few times, hastily pulling them out to find better cover.

From Pip, Ikari returned fire with her own volley, launching arrow after arrow with great speed. Some of the attackers spotted and turned away from the wagon.

As he tried to get up, the man rushed at Kayd and slammed down his ax. Kayd managed to narrowly parry it, the blade just grazing his face.

Good armor and weapon unlike the rest, metal and leather. This guy is the real deal.

Still locked, Ishmael ran up from behind and cleaved the man’s head, but rather than dying, the helmet absorbed the blow and he turned around and smacked her to the floor. The man became furious and picked Kayd from the ground, grabbing him by the collar of his clothes.

“Looks like you rat killers aren’t suited for bandits!” The man laughed. With a single motion, he threw Kayd off the wagon.

In the air, he felt weightless. All around him were shouts, arrows, and fighting. The sun above blinded the surroundings.

Great, first I survived a horde of rats. And now I'm dying to some low level bandits!? How did it come to this!?

All he could see was white, but his hand grazed against something solid. By reflex his hand grabbed onto it tightly.

The blinding light dimmed and his back slammed against the coarse sand below. He was being dragged along, slowly pulled up.

Quellin and Lia both held onto the rope, hoisting Kayd up while covered by Ikari.

Looking around the wagon, multiple horseback archers followed along it, shooting at Pip or at Ishmael as she continued fighting against the captain.

Horsebacks, where did they come from?

“Hold on!” Lia yelled at the top of her lungs, using all her strength to help Qullin hoist Kayd up to Pip’s shell.

“Use the armor for cover and return to combat once close enough.” Quellin shouted at Kayd.

The archers began firing towards Kayd, shielding himself with the many bits of armor covering Pip’s shell. Trinkets and coins fell off the shell as arrows plunged into them. But Pip didn’t stop or even care, going faster towards the wagon.

Ikari above returned fire, unwavering as arrows continued flying at her, some striking her body, but she kept going, glancing at Kayd a few times.

The archers took a few hits to their armor before being shot down. But with each minute the amount of arrows flying through the air dwindled.

Pip was in position again and the arrows above were far less than before. Dropping an arrow riddled chestplate, Kayd went near the ledge of the shell.

Alright, no rush. Just land and apprehend that captain. Need to be non lethal on this.

He sighed and glanced at his blade.

I guess beating him senseless with the handle and back of the blade works.

With a deep breath, Kayd prepared his jump.

One, two…Three!

He landed on the wagon, nearly stumbling as it moved side to side.

Ishmael was pinned to one of the crates by the captain, his ax blade just above her neck, inching closer by the second.

Alright, any gaps in his armor?

His eyes darted around rapidly, finding only a few spots to pierce that can cause decent damage.

With that in mind, Kayd charged forward with the blade aimed at the captain like a spear, and in a moment.

A puncture, pushing deep into the body of the captain.

“Argh, thought i tossed you off earlier!” The captain punched the handle, briefly plunging the ax into Ishmael’s neck before turning to Kayd and swinging at him.

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

Rather than a face, his fist collided with a sharp blade. Ripping it off, Kayd smacked him repeatedly with as much strength as possible, beating the captain’s head with the bottom of his handle, stunning or hopefully knocking him out.

“That’s the best you can do? Why did they bother giving you the title!?” A single strong headbutt stunned Kayd long enough for the man to regain his posture.

“Maybe that golden king will give us a very good reward if we brung you all in.” He cracked his knuckles with a big grin.

I should have practiced more on non lethal fighting, or brought a club with me.

From behind, Ishmael, despite being wounded, wrapped her arm around his neck, tightening it.

“Kayd! Pull the reins!” Ishmael yelled, the man trying to free himself from the iron grip.

Kayd ran past them, jumping onto the front where the reins and other ropes controlling the horses were.

Uhh, first non combat and then not much horseback training. I really should have read outside books and trained outside more.

Kayd nervously grabbed a bundle of ropes laying on the seat in front of him, unsure of which one is which.

Here we go…

A firm and hard pull, Kayd felt the immediate reaction of the stallions ceasing their run and anchoring down their hooves into the loose sand.

His body violently recoiled forward followed by the cargo tumbling over or falling off while the captain and Ishmael struggled against each other.

Come on, come to a stop already!

His arms started to give out exerting high amounts of energy to keep a hold on the reins as the wagon started gliding on the sand, struggling to come to a stop.

Ikari managed to take out the last horseback archer, ending the sudden flank attempt.

Just as he was starting to release his grip, exhausted, the wagon finally came to a full stop.

“Finally.” He muttered in tiring breaths.

Turning around, he was immediately greeted by the man swinging at his face, knocking him off.

The two came tumbling after, wrestling on the sand while the rest of the team got down to see the situation.

Quellin walked past the wagon with a cadence to his steps, hasty but perfect.

Without order, he grabbed the man by the neck and began beating him with his metal gauntlet.

A series of merciless and calculated blows knocked the man out cold. But Quellin didn’t stop until a minute after the man was already out cold.

He quickly turned him around and cuffed his hands and legs.

Never seen damage that severe from some punches. Kayd thought upon seeing the bloodied mess of a face the man still had.

“Take him to Pip, we’ll get information from him.” Ishmael fell to the ground clutching the base of her neck. Lia came quickly, administering a healing spell to the two, healing any wounds they may have had.

“Thanks, but you shouldn’t have used it on me, my wounds are fine.” Lia gave a brief nod.

“I still have reserves, I can use more of them, both of you looked quite wounded as well from the fight.”

“Yeah,” Kayd dusted off his robes.

“Thanks by the way for helping to hoist me up, you and Quellin. Thought I'd get beaten by a lowly bandit captain.” Kayd laughed.

“Well somehow you and I managed to get our asses handed to us.” Ishmael interjected, laughing happily as she headed towards the wagon.

“We should open up those cages.” Kayd and Lia headed for the wagon as the team began looting it and finding the cages.

—------

“Thank you so much….” A woman thanked them profusely, kneeling down with hands clasped, the marks of the chains still red on her wrists. Her voice was dry, struggling to say each word.

Many of the settlers were critically injured, either wounded or malnourished and nearing death’s door.

“Disgusting, but a common sight in slaver camps.” Quellin spoke, returning to the wagon, wiping the blood from his gauntlet.

“Even after being tossed, I'd say their training and armor quality is leagues below the sparse few I had to face before.”

“How many?” Quellin questioned.

“Just a few, don’t know how many though.” Quellin replied with a bitter grunt while observing the rest of the team aid them.

Twenty slaves were being tended to by Lia, depleting her magic and using her medical supplies for wounds left on their body.

“Soldiers and settlers alike, their attacks are indiscriminately.” Quellin remarked.

“Well when you’re in a wasteland, you have to get everything you can.” Kayd was more busy viewing the wagon rather than talking. Satisfaction rushed through him as he saw Lia heal the wounded, and aiding in taking down slavers, even if it’s just a few.

He noticed that Mian’s teammate was closely helping them and Lia, calming down each of them or handing things to Lia. Unlike before he was smiling and laughing with them, alleviating their moods as Lia continued her aid. Ishmael and Ikari scrounge up everything they could from the crates. Each filled with scavenged armor, weapons, and trinkets of varying sizes.

“Those are ours!” One of them spoke to Ishmael.

“Don’t worry, we will store these crates on Pip, we will bring you back to your settlement, and take a stop at the camp to get whatever remains.” Ishmael explained with a smile.

So they take people, why though? Servants in this type of place doesn’t seem fitting. Normally aristocrats would have such a thing.

Finished with hauling the crates, Ikari quickly checked on a nearby horseback archer’s corpse, getting the gold and loot he dropped before vanishing into the air.

“Some gold and some of my arrows, best reward though is the horses.” She chuckled, holding the reins of one of them.

“You know how to handle them?” Kayd asked. Ikari enthusiastically nodded.

“Captain Ishmael should have put you in the wagon too!”

She grabbed the remaining horses, leading them on like a shepherd.

While Lia and her unlikely assistant escorted the healed people to Pip.

“You like healing them huh? You really seem different compared to the rest of Mian’s team.” He turned towards Kayd.

“Mono, you can call me Mono.”

“Oh, ok then, Mono.” A windchime rang out after, prompting Kayd to plunge his hand into his pocket.

Side quest completed:

ARREST THE BANDIT CAPTAIN [✓]

Rewards: Settler Helper Title and 100 gold.

A badge and pouch of coins fell to the ground. The same reward was given to the rest of the team, now getting onboard Pip to resume their journey.

—----

The trip was for the most part uneventful, making a quick return to the camp to gather what was left and returning it to the settlers and soldiers. Be it letters and pendants to their gear.

They cried in joy and repeatedly thanked the team profusely. Kayd felt satisfied, not only saving people once more but killing bandits, a pastime he enjoyed before.

Another title to the collection. Hah this is like reliving my outlaw hunting days.

After another hour, they had arrived at the place the settlers lived in, the same settlement the team had just liberated earlier. A band of guards and military wagons were scattered around along with people rebuilding the defenses.