After cutting off the ears of the bandit’s higher-ups to serve as evidence for a reward and looting some of their treasures, Braum went to the cages where the kidnapped villagers were located in order to free them of their shackles and set them free. The snow blizzard has also ended.

“Oh by the will of the gods! We have been saved!” A woman villager shouted after seeing Braum’s group freeing them.

They were huddled up together from the cold and were asleep when Braum’s group raided the entire bandit’s camp. The villagers were predominantly female and children but some male adults can also be seen.

“Oh, valiant heroes! What are your names so we can spread your deeds!” A villager asked Braum.

“Uh...” Braum hesitated.

‘Perhaps spreading our fame will have some uses’ Braum thought.

If he spreads their name, there is a greater chance of meeting Toziro’s group. But Braum is having a hard time deciding what their group name should be. He is quite horrible at coming up with names.

“Uh...call us...The Black Hoods.” Braum answered.

‘Oh, shit that was a crappy name wasn’t it.’ Braum thought.

‘Yea that’s a pretty tacky name, Prince Braum.’ Urada also thought.

‘I guess we’re stuck with that shitty name for the rest of the journey…’ Niko echoed what they were feeling.

“The Black Hoods! Our heroes!!! We will tell your tales to our children and grandchildren!” another villager shouted.

“*cough* where are your village located?” Braum asked them, trying to stop their praises.

“Our village is not far from here! We will go there ourselves! We don’t want to trouble our heroes anymore! But you can visit us anytime! It’s located in-” The villager answered.

“-That won’t be happening anytime soon. Right, Zed? Shall we move on?” Kelvin cuts off the villager.

“Right...I hope you villagers arrive safely. We will be off now.” Braum replied.

“Take care heroes!” A villager shouted.

After some time, Braum’s group arrived on the magic circle described by the bandit leader before he died. The huge magic circle can be seen in an open field in the middle of the forest. The magic circle has exotic runes and is colored red. What’s even weirder is that the circle has no traces of snow in it despite the blizzard happening just an hour ago. An ominous feeling oozes out of the presence of the circle.

“What does this do?” Braum asked the group.

“We...don’t know Zed. We're not really equipped to deal with this. I suggest taking a photograph of the circle then sending them to a researcher specialized in Old Magic back in Yakana.” Kelvin answered.

“Then do just that. How long does it take to get the result?” Braum asked again.

“Probably for a few hours…” Kelvin replied.

‘Why did the masked man told the bandits to bring the villagers here? What were they trying to achieve?’ Braum thought in his head, trying to find why all of this was happening.

“Then do just that. But we won’t be staying here. Let’s head back to Lebourne for now.” Braum ordered after thinking.

Niko then pulls out the bug from before to take an aerial shot of the circle. After doing that, Braum’s group returns to the village of Lebourne.

“The heroes are back!” A Lebourne villager shouted.

Braum’s group arrived safely back in the village and it is almost sunset. After noticing the group’s arrival, the villagers can be seen flocking towards their direction as their arrival basically says that the bandits have been eradicated.

“Did you guys defeat the evil bandits??” A village children asked them.

“Right right! I’m sure they go woooosh and bang bang to the evil bandits!!” Another child continued.

“Don’t worry villagers, we have defeated the bandits!!!” Braum declared.

“””YEAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!””” Every villages shouted in happiness.

In the crowd, the village chief comes out to greet them.

“We, the people of Lebourne, are eternally grateful for your endless deeds heroes!” The village chief said to the group.

“Right right no problem! What’s been new since we left?” Braum asked.

“We have cut off the ears of the bandits like you asked us to do and burn their bodies! Also, by your continued miracles, traveling merchants have also arrived in the village!” The village chief replied.

“Merchants? Where are they headed to next?” Braum asked, looking for an opportunity to join them.

“I believe they’re going straight back to the trade city of Lancester in the west next!” The village chief answered.

Estalia Map: https://imgur.com/a/pqAJlHG

“Can we meet these merchants?” Braum asked.

“Of course! Right this way!” The village chief happily leads them to the merchants.

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Suddenly, Kelvin taps on Braum’s shoulder to prompt him to turn around.

“What is it?” Braum asked in a low voice.

“I and Kaz will wait for the news of the magic circle. You and Stef go ahead first.” Kelvin replied.

“Okay got it. Let me know later” Braum said.

The village chief leads them to the south gate of the village, where wagons and a group of merchants can be seen. A bearded man in his middle age who seems to be the leader of the caravan starts to approach the village chief.

“David! Are these people the heroes you talked about?” The merchant said to the village chief in a friendly tone.

“That’s right Craig! There are two more people but these people saved us! They are asking if they can join you on the trip back to Lancester.” The village chief replied.

“Hahaha of course! After all, you people saved the village where I grew up in! But in return, can we depend on you guys for security?” The merchant leader asked.

“You can count on us. When are we leaving?” Braum asked back.

“Hoho... We will leave at the earliest break of dawn tomorrow. Just be there on time and you can join us.” The merchant leader replied.

“We’ll be there.” Braum said.

Without wasting any more small talks, Braum and Urada head back to the village.

“Those are quite serious people huh. And I see some brown skin hidden underneath those hoods, who are those people David? You sure you can trust them?” The merchant leader asked.

“I have no idea Craig...as far as I know, they are the people from the realms of gods who have come to visit us, mortals…How they fight, how they speak, everything about them screams unusual.” The village chief replied.

Meanwhile, deep in the forest. Kelvin and Niko are looking at a tablet device that is showing a moving picture of a person.

“So you’re saying it’s a transportation circle, Professor Trom? What does that entail exactly?” Kelvin asked the balded elderly figure shown on the tablet.

“That’s exactly right. It means that whoever or whatever steps into the circle can be transported somewhere else as long as there is someone that has the key to activate it.” Professor Trom replied.

“And what is that key?” This time, Niko asked the Professor.

“Call me by my title young lad...that key is the magic signature or chant of the original maker of that transportation circle. However, there were some weird runes that I have never seen before...I’ll need a sample of the circle sent to me so I can decipher its meanings and the origins. Also, how come I see 5 people in the photo if there are only 4 of you in the mission?” Professor Trom said.

“What? Five people? Professor, we’ll call you back!” Kelvin hurriedly replied.

The moving picture of the professor disappears and Kelvin switches back to the original picture of the magic circle.

“Where is it?” Niko asked.

“....There, behind the tree.”

The picture shows a murky hidden black figure hiding behind a tree watching Braum’s group. The figure has no distinguishing features, just a humanoid lump of blackness. Kelvin and Niko start to get chills on their backs.

“I didn’t detect any presence...my device also didn't pick up anything.” Niko muttered.

“We must go back to the circle! Now!” Kelvin replied in a rush.

After some time, they arrived back to where the magic circle was located. Traces of the transportation circle are gone and what’s even weirder, the original open field is replaced by dead trees, a normal view of the forest in the winter.

“What!!!?? Check if we’re on the right location!” Kelvin shouted.

“We’re here! Down to the exact coordinates! Shit! They got us!!!!” Niko also shouted.

Something is definitely wrong. Yakana’s detection ability is unparalleled. The special forces are trained to detect the presence of any living things around them and with the help of Yakana’s technology, detecting a nearby living thing is easy. This...creature managed to bypassed their detection.

"Fuck. What or who are dealing with here?" Kelvin muttered.

That night in the village, Braum’s group is having a meeting again in the living room of the village chief’s house. The owner of the house is currently out, hanging with the merchants.

“...I see. This order of...something...They are kidnapping villagers and transporting them to another location to do something with them and someone got rid of the magic circle.” Braum muttered.

Kelvin told Braum what just happened a few hours back from the call with the Professor to the magic circle disappearing.

“That’s right. But Zed, this conspiracy is out of our control and we currently don’t have enough manpower and equipment to deal with it. We should focus back on finding Toziro’s group. They’re still in the capital. Remember...the future of Yakana depends on this” Kelvin replied.

“I know that and I will always try to prioritize Yakana and I will convince Toziro and his group to come back. But...I don’t know why, call it the intuition of someone who read too many stories, this mysterious group is up to something big. And I mean something big that can affect the whole continent.” Braum replied.

“Toziro is our priority.” Niko muttered codly.

“I know I know!. Sheesh, Kaz! lighten up a little every once in a while...” Braum replied.

“-So, what have we learned from Toziro’s group so far anyway?” Braum asked again.

“From my conversation with the villagers here, it seems Toziro’s group, or at least people with matching descriptions, came here to help them with the Serpental Bear attacks on a summer 3 years ago. I only managed to identify two members: Mad Dog, a middle-aged bearded man with a hair styled in a bun and a peerless swordsmanship ability and Ace, an archer that has incredible accuracy and the ability to shoot multiple arrows at once.” Kelvin said.

“And from your analysis, who might those two be?” Braum asked.

“Heh. Mad Dog is probably Toziro himself since his hair was also like that back in the military and his swordsmanship is the best in the entire royal forces. As for ace…” Niko muttered.

“That’s probably Putra Rabulin! My idol! He was the best shooter in the entire military as well 10 years ago. He played an important part in defeating the Kaiju since, with his mech, he shot the weaknesses of the Kaiju so the rest of the members can easily defeat them!” Urada said excitedly.

“I see… any news on what they’re called and what they might be doing now?” Braum asked again.

“ I think we briefed you of this before, Zed. They’re passionately called The Bodyguards by the common people for their prioritizing of the needs of the commoners. As for what they are doing now, the villagers do not know since this is quite a remote area and information technology has barely been developed yet.” Kelvin replied.

“*sigh* sorry, I’m only human so I forget things alright! We’ll put that aside, for now, let’s gather more supplies and information in Lancester, we are heading there with the merchants tomorrow morning. Everyone understands?” Braum ordered.

‘I’m going to show you people that helping people of the continent will actually help us in the long-term.’ Braum thought.

"""Roger.""" Everyone replied.

It is another calm winter morning for Lebourne. The villagers can be seen gathering around the gate of the village to say goodbye to the merchants and The Black Hoods. Previously, Braum has told them their group’s name in an effort to increase their fame as a mercenary group.

“The village of Lebourne. We would like to thank your hospitality for these past few days! We are off to Lancester and we hope this village will stay safe!” Braum said in a loud voice.

“We will!”

“You’re our heroes!”

"We’ll spread your stories!”

The villagers said their goodbye. Some are even seen crying, especially the children. Braum and his group have been a great help for the village and their impacts will be felt not only in this village but the entire Kingdom of Estalia.

And so the merchants and Braum’s group set off in their caravan, moving onward to the trade city of Lancester to continue their journey.

"""LONG LIVE THE BLACK HOODS!!!""" The villagers shouted until the caravan disappeared on the horizon. A new legend is born.