Chapter 4 - Bandits And An Unforeseen Contract!

Disclaimer: Mature language and violence.

Somewhere in the distance, a wolves howl at the moon. A gentle breeze carries the smell of the last embers of camp fires through the trees. The clouds obscure the moon as if the heavens did not want to witness the events taking place below. An animal darts through the trees heading towards the now quiet camp of some bandits. No, perhaps not an animal, but a small human? Its footsteps are silent as it blends in with the shadows cast by the large trees. The night is quiet save for the snoring bandits, unaware of the impending danger. The clouds completely move over the moon, cutting off the little light it gives off. The heavens are blind. The small human darts towards the camp, and quietly sneaks behind the first tent...

These bandits snores are so damn loud, I can't even hear myself think! This small human, was of course none other than Alric Strauss. Taking out the cloth filled with needles I gently unroll it far enough to be able to reach for one of the needles. Grabbing it gingerly by the safe end, I crouch down and move silently towards the first vict- err bandit. Close enough to smell the bandits breath, I quickly poke the needle into the bandit's exposed neck. The bandits eye's snap open but my hand is already over his mouth, impeding his voice. Badum! One heartbeat is all it takes. The poison from the needle spreads through out the man's arteries, paralyzing the muscles by the injection site and removing his ability to speak. Taking his dagger I quickly and brutally slice his jugular to finish the job. If I let the poison finish him, I won't level up. Unable to move and bleeding profusely the bandit is soon dead. How could someone who was called the Hero among Heroes do something such as this? I laughed bitterly. Blame that asshole Azazel. I've killed so many things, a few bandits don't mean much. Death is death, no matter who's doing the killing, it's never righteous. I learned that after my first year doing Azazel's dirty work. Shaking myself to clear my thoughts, I move on the next bandit. This particular bandit was so drunk he didn't even wake when I poked him the the next needle. I took his dagger and stabbed him through the heart. No need to cause a prolonged and cruel death. Ting!

Skill Absorption Activated!

Weird. I doubt that these small fry bandits have any skills at all. I'll have to check my stat menu later. The smell of voided bowels and spilled blood soon begins to fill the air as I work my way through the bandits. After the tenth bandit, my [Skill Absorption] stopped firing. Once I reached the twentieth bandit, I ran out of poison needles. I only had my dagger left, and that was only good for a few slices. I needed another advantage or at the very least, to improve my odds. I began to stalk through the camp headed towards the escarpment, underneath which was the largest tent in the camp. I figured it was the bandit leader's.

Circling to the back of the tent, I used a bandit's dagger to cut a small peep-hole in an inconspicuous part of the tent. Gazing through the hole I saw a large man, presumably the leader, sprawled out amongst a pile of furs. Beside him was a women. I glanced at the other edge of the tent where I spotted a cage with a girl about my age inside of it. Interesting. Probably a hostage of some sort, otherwise she would be laying next to the leader right now. I'm not sure if I could take the bandit leader, he should be anywhere from ten to twenty levels higher than these small fries out here. But then again, it would be probably be best to used my dagger on the boss rather than trying to finish off any more small fry. Making up my mind I moved towards the front of the tent and walked inside. Unsheathing the dagger I moved as quietly as I could towards the bandit leader. "So your the asshole who's been watchen the camp all night." I instantly jumped back at least a foot. The bandit leader sat up and looked at me. "Iss only a fakken kid." His words were slurred badly so I figure he's pretty drunk, but how the hell had he known I was there? I prepared myself for a fight when suddenly the bandit leader collapsed and rolled over. "I outta fukin kill youzzzzz." The bandit leader was only sleep talking. I quietly sighed and wiped the sweat off my brow. I could of killed him but if he had shouted just once, it would be the end of my little plan. I walked over to the bandit leader and plunged the dagger deep into his heart. "MHHHhhhh!!!" His muffled yell rang out through the tent. By the time the two women awoke, he was already dead. Ting!

Skill Absorption Activated!

Huh, my [Skill Absorption] which stopped appearing earlier now suddenly reappeared. Suddenly the woman who was sleeping next to the bandit leader screamed. Shit she must of fully woken up while I was busying wondering about my skill. In a flash I moved towards her and put my hand on her mouth and my dagger by her throat. "Shut the fuck up and don't move." The woman's eyes widen and she nodded. From outside the tent the sounds of men waking up could be heard. Fuck it was too late.

I took the bandit leader's blade and examined it.

Pure-Steel Sword

This blade was forged with the a steel of an extremely high quality. The craftsmanship is solid. An all around decent blade.

A surprisingly good blade for a bandit leader. I positioned myself at the edge of the entrance of the tent and only a moment later a bandit came running through. I stabbed my new blade through his back and into his heart. I removed my blade from the bandit and stepped back a few steps. A blade suddenly appeared where my head was. Apparently the bandits outside saw my handiwork. A torch was thrown onto the tent which rapidly caught fire. They were smoking me out, how damnably smart for bandits. I charged out into the night, closed my eyes tight, and activated one of the lowest level spells I knew, [Sun Flash]. A flash of light as if the sun itself had come to earth lit up the night and disappeared just as quickly as it had come. Counting quickly, there were around 12 bandits left, all blinded. Running towards the closest one, I fell into the first stance of my blade style, Leaf in the Wind. Stabbing the first bandit, I quickly spun around to the next one using the centrifugal force to pierce straight through the light leather armor of the next bandit. By now the bandits began regaining their eye sight so I switched into the next stance, Willow in the Wind, a stance made for fighting multiple enemies. The bandits charged at me as fast as they could but I easily disarmed or deflected their attacks. It was almost too easy. They bandits were like children swinging their father's heavy iron swords; slow and unskilled. Through my eyes it looked as if they were moving in slow motion. I made short work of the remaining bandits and sheathed my sword. Moping my brow, I glanced at the now dead bandits. The fight was entirely to easy, like if I was several levels ahead of them. Just as I'm about the check my stats, the tent begins to burn seriously. Shit the girl! It's not that I wanted to heroically save her, or that I even felt bad, but I need her alive, she was the only one who could tell me about this place. I quickly ran into the burning tent. The women who was with the bandit leader was paralyzed in fear. Caught between a strange man and the fire, she couldn't move. I grabbed her arm and practically threw her out of the tent. I turned to the girl in the cage, expecting her to be panicking and crying.  To my surprise she was standing in the cage staring at me, a calm look on her face. Rummaging through the bandit leader's clothes I found the key and a purse full of coin. Grabbing both, I hurriedly unlocked the cage. No sooner was it open then the girl lunged for my face and tried to claw me. I easily dodged her clumsy attacked and struck the back of her neck rendering her unconscious. I picked her up and carried her out of the burning tent.

Two Hours Later

The embers of the once large tent were just now dying down. The only thing that remains of the large tent is a pile of ash underneath the escarpment. Before the tent and completely burned down, I had went back inside and looted the place. My inventory was full of various copper, silver, and gold coins. I also took the cured leather armor the bandit leather had on a rack by his other loot. Lastly, I took the metal cage which once held the girl and dragged it out into the open. Through out my ransacking of the tent she was asleep outside on the ground. The other girl had disappeared. I judged she was due to wake up and so I placed her back in the cage. It's pretty justified if you ask me. When I first rescued her, she lunged at me with killing intent, the first I had felt since I awoke on this world. Not even the bandits produced enough killing intent for me to actually feel it, probably because they were drunk and confused. If I didn't lock her up she would likely either run or attack me again. A quiet moan arose from the cage. It seems like she's about to wake up. I stood up from where I was sitting and went over to her. The light of dawn just started peeking through the horizon. The girl snapped her eyes open and immediately looked around and finally centered her gaze on me. For moments we started at each other, neither saying a word. "Hi." I finally broke the silence. "Go die you piece of trash." "Such harsh words for your Hero?" I asked feigning shock. "If you were here to rescue me, why am I still in this cage? Why would you bother moving it all the way out here. Your just another lying piece of shit." "Hmm, coming from the girl who lunged at me when I rescued her from the burning tent, that kind of language doesn't fit. Try saying 'thank you'." "Fuck you." I wonder what this girl has been through for her to be so bitter, even to someone her own age. I sighed loudly. "Alright, well I tried talking to you. No sense in wasting any more time" and I started walking away, towards the forest. Just as I reached the edge the camp, a voice cried out. "Wa..wait, aren't you going to take me?" I turned around with a puzzled face. "Why would I take you with me?" "Everyone else did. They always said, its okay I'm here to rescue you. I'll take you home." "Well I'm not them, and I don't care if you stay there and rot. Doesn't really concern me." I turned around again and began walking. Now that I thought about it, it didn't really make sense for me to even interact with her. If I let her go, she would most likely try to stick with me and that with be a huge bother. "So why did you come here if it wasn't for me?" "Well aren't we Miss Important." "No I meant, for the mone-" She suddenly shut her mouth. Well now, there was something interesting. A reward is it? Still, it was probably to much of a bother. I sighed. Oh well, I'm already this far in, might as well see where it goes. I walked back towards the girl in the cage. Looking at her closely in the light of the morning sun, she was actually quite beautiful for a girl of her age. She had jet black hair that just touched her shoulders and eyes as blue as the sky. "Alright listen closely girly. What I'm going to tell you is the truth and nothing but the truth." I stared into her eyes to emphasis my seriousness. "First. I don't give a damn if you stay in that cage and die. Second. I will give you one chance and only one to tell me everything and if you lie or don't want to tell me, I will turn around and leave you here." At first she looked at me with a defiant gaze but when she saw I didn't back down she lowered her eyes.

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The story went something like this. Apparently she is the daughter of the village chief from a town not too far from here. She could use magic from a young age which was apparently rare and quite sought after. One day, she was playing in the woods with some of the other village children supervised by her mother. Of course, there were slavers waiting for their chance to get her, after all, she would fetch a large reward in the market. They killed her mother and took all of the other children hostage. Every time she tried to fight back or escape, they would brutally kill one of her friends. The slavers were attacked by these raiders here and she was stolen. When they interrogated one of the slavers, the bandits found out she was worth a lot of money, and took her with them. The other kids were killed. All in all, a truly tear jerking story. One that would move any man to make it his mission to see the girl to safety. Thus it was only natural I asked, "So how much are you worth? Her eyes immediately narrowed. "Your scum just like every other man." I turned around and started leaving. "Thr...Three hundred gold shillings." No idea how much that is, but it sounded like a lot. "I see. And how big did you say your village was." The girl wasn't stupid, she knew exactly where I was going with this. "We aren't rich but I'm sure my dad will gladly pay you a large reward." I stroked my non-existent beard. "I suppose you'll just run away as soon as I open this cage though. Hmm." "I won't. I'll be killed out in this forest before I even make it home." "Shut up. You know thats a lie. Oh don't get me wrong, you might die, but you'd gladly take the chance if it means getting away from me or anybody else." Suddenly and idea struck me. Fuck Azazel for putting this idea in my head. "You said you can use magic right?" "...Yes. Why? I won't use it to help you." "Mhm thats nice. Here is an idea. I will create a binding contract between us using magic. You will obey me unquestioningly until we reach your village, after that you will be free. How's that sound?" "No fuck you. You won't keep up your end of the deal." "Girl, you don't have a choice, I thought I made that clear. Either you take your chances with me, or die here in this cage like an animal." The girl was silent for a while. "Fine." I smiled grandly. "See was that so hard?"

A contract spell is rather simple and it doesn't take much magic at all. The reason behind this was because the contract was enforced by the contracteds' own magic. If they betrayed the contract, their own magic would destroy them from the inside. I of course, explained all this to the girl who listened wide eyed. "How do you know this magic? Your only a kid like me!" Because I'm a Hero who's traveled to thousands of worlds. I didn't say this out loud of course I just ignored her. I began casting the spell. "Alright so here are the terms, I will ensure you make it to your village alive and in return you will obey everything I say until we arrive. This contract is void upon death, or arrival at your village, do you agree to these terms? "Yes." With her approval the contract was signed. A blue magical circle briefly glowed over her chest. "Great. My name is Alric. It's a pleasure to meet you Miss?" "Fuck off." I sighed. "Remember how we agreed to that contract not five seconds ago?" "...Its Emilia." "Alright Emilia, give me a moment and we'll be off." I unlocked her cage and she stepped out. She never took her eyes off of me, like if I was at any moment going to attack her. "Your free to move around but do not leave my sight." Now where was I. I needed to understand how I was able to defeat those twelve bandits so easily. "Stats!"

Current StatusNameAlric StroussAge11Level1Magic300->500Strength1->90Intelligence100->190Agility1->120Endurance1->75Perception100->200Luck-999->-998

Abilities

Burning DeterminationYour determination directly affects every action you take. Provides direct increases on stat gains. Higher determination results in higher bonuses.Skill AbsorptionYour massive amount of knowledge and experience results in the easy learning of any skill that you are exposed to as well as the absorption of the power held by your dead foes.Language PerceptionYou are able to speak, write, and understand any language.Skill Level Gap BufferYour massive amount of experience and skill allows you to ignore most level gaps.InspectionAllows you to use your vast experience to inspect a person or object to determine its qualities.

Insane! I didn't even gain a level but my stats rose so high! Well, relatively speaking of course. But typically, most of my stats were equal to that of an B Rank adventurer! What could of caused my stats to rise so high, its only been hours since I was brought to this world. I examined my abilities. Burning Determination definitely helped. Then it hit me. Skill Absorption isn't just unique enemy skills, it's their very stats! That's why it stopped activated on the small fry bandits; I had already reached that level! Once I absorbed their leader I was easily above them and since I had [Skill Level Gap Buffer] I could take on anyone at any level, as long as my stats matched up and they weren't that high above me. For the first time in a very long time I smiled. A real smile, ya know the kind that you do when your actually happy? If my abilities are like this, I should be able to regain my powers in no time. Maybe even surpass them. If they rose this much without a level, I can't wait till I actually gain a level! Snapping out of my thoughts, I called out to the girl who was still watching me. "Lets get moving."