SBO-1 eyes opened again just in time to see the terrific scene of blood pouring from the decapitated man's neck, but, this time he couldn't just close his eyes again due to the charge of the Bandit leader.
SBO-1 swallowed his fear and readied his stance to meet the bandit leader.
-" Dammed Brat! Who do you think I am?" The Bandit leader shouted in anger as he felt disrespected by the boy.
SBO-1 was so nervous that he felt his hands trembling, but, due to his incredible speed, he was still able to grab the man by the shoulder and throw him to the ground.
-" Arghhh!" The bandit leader was incredulous, the shocking speed and strength of the frail-looking boy were something that he never expected.
The rest of the bandits fled in panic after the three strongest people in their group were dispatched without any effort. The bandit leader tried to get up, but, his back and neck were injured from the impact, and he could only watch as his companions ran without him.
-" Arvad, and Akbar.... They don't sound like names from those parts." Oppius's sinister smirk widened as he approached the defeated man. " Are you from the Northern Lands?"
The Bandit Leader's face twitched, he tried his best to remain calm and finally spoke, " I don't know what you are talking about."
Oppius's laughed and pointed the tip of his sword to the man's throat. " Your brown skin is pretty rare around these parts." Oppius pressed his sword on the man's throat and continued. " Do you see me for a fool? There is no use in lying."
-" Just kill me! I won't give the likes of you any information." The Bandit leader spat on Oppius's boots and closed his eyes as he waited for the man to finish him.
Oppius's face twitched as the spit his feet, and he gave a swift kick to the man's jaw. " Bring him to Thorin, he may be useful for our mission."
The man almost passed out from the kick, but, Oppius's comment didn't escape him. -" I know that you're from the Sun Lands! No man from the North will bow their head to your people."
Oppius gave the man one last look before returning to the carriage, SBO-1 followed right behind him while carrying the man by the collar.
The Bandit Leader started to become anxious as he was thrown inside the carriage, he already suspected that they had messed with some powerful people, but, when he saw the finely decorated interior, his suspicions were confirmed.
-" Is this their leader?" Thorin perked his eyebrows as he immediately recognized the man's ethnicity.
-" Yes, Maybe he can tell us some interesting things?" Oppius pressed his foot against the man's chest and pinned him to the ground.
-" It may be possible," Thorin closed his eyes as he began to think, but, this train of thought was interrupted when another person knocked on their carriage doors.
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-" Excuse me, I would like to thank you for dealing with bandits," A fat man dressed in luxurious clothing fidgeted with his fingers as he spoke.
Thorin opened the carriage window and gave him a simple nod before closing the window again, but, the man continued to speak.
-" May I ask you if our caravan can accompany your carriage? We only have a few guards and I fear that the bandits will return." The merchant was so anxious that he could only stare at the ground as he asked.
-" Are you guys heading to Whitelake city?" Thorin felt sorry for the merchant, it was rare for bandits to be so close to the Temple of Sun Set, so most of the caravans that headed to Whitelake City barely had guards.
-" Yes, we have a grain shipment to sell in WhiteLake City." The merchant's face brightened as it was likely that the man would accept.
-" We are heading in the same direction, so there shouldn't be an issue."
-" Praised be the Sun!" The merchant felt like a weight had come off his shoulder, the sudden apparition of bandits around these parts scared the merchant, and if he was even considering canceling the trip.
Thorin finally closed the window and returned his attention to the bandit on the carriage floor. " Well, Why don't you take a seat? Chatting like this won't get anywhere." Thorin gestured for Oppius to free the man.
The bandit dusted off his clothes and looked around, he didn't know what they wanted of him, but, he knew that it wasn't anything good. The Northerners and the people of the Sun Lands had a pretty bad relationship, as the Sun Lands had invaded the Northern lands numerous times.
-" I heard that the Eastern Empire is currently invading the northern lands." Thorin retrieved a few papers from his coat before continuing. " For an abled man like you to run away, I wouldn't expect something so cowardly from a proud Northen warrior."
The bandit knew that Thorin was trying to anger him, but, even so, he couldn't hold back, as no northern warrior took light to be called a coward. -" Hah! Coward? What do you know? We were one of the few groups that didn't surrender!"
-" Surrender? Did the Northern kingdoms surrender?" Thorin couldn't help but be shocked, he never thought that such proud people would lay down their arms.
The bandit instantly regretted losing composure, he knew that he had played right in their hand. -" Sigh... Yes, most of the northern kingdoms surrendered." The bandit leader felt like he already had given them the most important piece of information, so it was useless to try to hide it as they would find more information about this in Whitelake City. " The kings of the Northern Kingdoms banded together and decided to surrender, some of the warriors didn't agree with this, so we deserted the country, but, even we know that it's useless to stand in the way of the Eastern Horde."
-" Well, we will test the strength of those barbarians ourselves." Dillia wasn't fazed by the supposed strength of the Eastern Empire. " Unlike you all, we from the Sun Lands would never accept begin ruled by an outsider."
The Bandit Leader laughed. " You're young and drunken on your power, but, when their hordes start to march towards the sun lands, you all will fall unto your knees and pray for them to spare the lives of your families."
Thorin and Oppius were serious, they had already experienced the power of the Eastern Kingdom, and they knew that now that the Northern Kingdoms had fallen, nothing stood in the way of their legions to march in the direction of the Sun Lands.
-" What about Dalmaak? Have you seen him?" The mission had just turned even more difficult as Thorin never expected the Northern Lands to fall soo soon, his original plan was to wait for an opportunity to strike while Dalmaak fought against the Northern forces.
The Bandit's face twitched in fear as Dalmaak was mentioned. " D-D-Dalmaak?" His hand trembled as he reached for his neck. " That man is war incarnated! I'm from the Adonia Kingdom, right by the border with the Eastern Empire, and we were one of the first ones to be invaded."
-" War Incarnated? How strong was he?" Thorin's face darkened, the chances of causalities in this mission only grew as they gained more information.
-" How Strong? If he alone came to the doors of our kingdom, we would meet the same fate." The bandit grasped his face as he remembered the invasion. " Each swing of his halberd took the lives of more than ten men, his shouts caused the whole battlefield to fall in fear, and his steps were like earthquakes."
-" Is he strong or are you all too weak?" DIllia played with her hair as she downplayed the man's story. " You fought against Oppius, right? How would he compare?"
-" I admit that your companion is strong, but, when compared with Daalmak, he is nothing but a small ant."
Oppius' eyes lighted up as he grew interested in their target, he considered himself a great warrior, and could even defeat many Golden Mask. " I would love to test his strength."
SBO-1 remained silent during the group discussion as he felt that he was too inexperienced to meddle, but, he couldn't help to be excited to fight against this "monster".
He had fought various monsters and beasts during his days in the valley, from gryphon to giants snakes, and Obsidian Goats. " What about a gryphon? Who is stronger?"
-" A Gryphon?" The Bandit grew confused as he thought that the boy was joking or had mistaken the rare and mythical creature gryphon for one of their lesser variants. " Do you mean a Hippogriff? Of course, it would be Daalmak, while I can attest to a Hippogriff strength as I watched the general of our Kingdom slay one, there is still no competition."
-" He isn't talking about a Hippogriff." Thorin couldn't help but find the man's confusion funny. " He is talking about a pure blooded gryphon"
-" Pure blood?" This was the first time that the Bandit had made eye contact with Thorin. " Are you bunch crazy? Where the hell would you find a pure blood gryphon?" The bandit began to reconsider his opinion about the group, maybe they weren't a bunch of bigshots, but, a group of extremely strong lunatics.