Raiding mountain bandit hideouts is very easy if you know what you are doing. It simply involved punching and dodging and punching and dodging. They might end up shooting a lot of arrows, a good idea would be to steal a bow and shoot them back.
Well, I did just that and then some more. None of my attacks were fatal though. Not just yet.
The walls of the fort were pretty sturdy this time. This wasn’t a place mere bandits should have occupied.
I made quick work of the rest of the bandits on guard. The more astute of them had already started running away, those will live for a long time.
After giving a particularly annoying bandit the experience of what it would feel like to be a bird free in the sky, I started scaling the walls of the fort.
[Binds of Nature]
The magic spell made trees peer out of the walls like stairs. The spell created to hold things in place was easily changed to hold me up like stairs. This was the power of scarcity, one had to be creative if they couldn’t afford to make convenient spells like ‘Make Stairs!’ or use a system for casting.
I quickly scaled to the top and peered in through the window that had just been broken. Annoying Bandit F lay on the ground while two others looked at me with fear in their eyes. Both of them were far too well dressed to be counted as bandit extras. My bandit slayer experience told me they must be the leader and the second-in-command of the group.
The trees pushed me into the room and dispersed behind me.
“Now then… are you guys the leaders of this place?”
The two bandits gulped. They quickly lowered their heads and bowed.
“We’ll tell you anything as long as you spare our lives!”
“Anything!”
Oh.
That took me by surprise.
How rare was it for there to be smart bandits in a fantasy world? I quickly pulled out a diary from my shirt’s pocket and a pencil from the other one as I wrote this situation down.
The bandits looked on, confused about what I was doing. They must be thinking I would throw them a signature after beating them up and claim ‘Here is your receipt,’ to that I say, they weren’t good enough to waste such a reference on.
“What… are you doing?”
The second-in-command couldn’t hold his curiosity back after all when he saw my furious writing, only to be hit and shushed by the leader.
“Just a second. I am making notes about strange things to judge them objectively later… and done.” I placed the diary and the pencil back and dusted my hands. Alright, smart bandits, that was a unique experience.
I stepped ahead and the bandit leader shuddered. His eyes were moving around rapidly, he was wary about any attacks and was looking for an opening too. Though it didn’t seem like he would do anything.
Faster than the leader could see, I punched him in the stomach.
“AOOH!”
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The bandit leader fell to his knees and I placed a foot on his head.
“Now then… Tell me, what makes you suffer?”
***
The Cheney bandits were subdued without much effort. It was as easy as poking a balloon with a needle.
It really made no sense to me, seeing a group of bandits occupying a small fort. These forts were plentiful but important in the Rascarte Kingdom which was surrounded by mountains all around and served as a divide between the Empire and many of the weaker nations further west. It was stuck from both sides and hence, had to be strong. The forts were just one of those defense measures this small kingdom had taken.
The Leader of the Cheney bandits quickly spoke after I made him kiss the ground. The gist of the events was simply this.
The Cheney bandits only took tax from travelers and hassled people who looked reach. They were happy living small and would have never hurt others if not for the situation in the nearest Barony called Kirsche.
Apparently, the entire territory had been taken over by criminals and the bandits in the mountains around Kirsche had no choice but to come under their control. Things were pretty simple for a few years, until two months ago.
“I don’t know what happened, but they changed the way they governed all the bandits. Everyone was forced to bring whatever money they could find, even if it meant harassing mountain nomads and tribes. They asked us to bring them slaves, weapons, money, everything.”
“So you decided that it was fine to punish others as long as you could avoid pain?” I asked and the leader of the bandits lowered his head. He was not truly remorseful, he wouldn’t be a bandit otherwise, but his survival instincts seemed to be asking him to play the role of a caring robinhood-like bandit.
Well, I could smell such disgusting two-faced behavior from miles away. People donned whatever faces served their purpose, it was terrible.
“Where are the elves you kidnapped?” I asked. “I will let you go if you hand over the elves and all the money you stole right now.”
“T-that…” the bandit leader looked at me with trembling eyes.
“Think of it, would you rather die by my hands right now or by the hands of this Kirsche bandit mastermind later?”
That guy wasn’t going to survive either. An evil in this world had to be eradicated, that was a simple conclusion. As someone who could eradicate these small evils, doing so was my responsibility, a movement against the omnipotent ones up above, however small.
“That’s not it, sir… we have already sent the goods over to Kirsche Barony.”
A sigh left me. This was troublesome.
I quickly pulled out my book again and wrote down the justification that the bandit had just given me. Seeing things on paper made it easier to understand.
He was smart, but his evil was unquestionable.
I did not have the right to judge, but neither did these bandits. Just as much as it was wrong for them to kill and attack innocent people, it was wrong for me to attack them.
Between 10 people exercising a right they didn’t have and just 1 person doing it, the ideal option was evident even to toddlers.
“I’ll go to this Kirshce Barony then. Which way?”
“S-sir!” The bandit leader yelped. “It’s an entire city! They are an army of thugs, you shouldn’t…”
If I left now instead of going to the city, the Cheney bandits could regroup with minor losses.
“An army you say? Which way, it’s better if you have a map.”
The Cheney Bandit leader looked into my eyes, still sitting near my feet. He gulped and pointed at the table. “There’s a map of the Baron’s territory on the table. B-but there hundreds of them… if you want I can take you from a mountain pass to the West—”
“An army is no problem.”
I stood up and moved to the table, turning my back to the bandits. There was indeed a map right there.
The two bandits looked at each other and pulled their daggers out. They slowly stepped closer to me.
How shameful, they decided it was better to deal with me than to fight against the ones in Kirsche.
Without a word, the two bandits swung their weapons down to my neck. They didn’t shout before an ambush, they were truly wise to end.
“They aren’t the only ones with an army…”
The strikes never came. Instead, the blood of the bandits reached the ceiling without my turning back.
I leisurely rolled the map and stepped out of the room, and down the fort. Screams and blood filled the place as bandits died one after another.
Judgment was bestowed.
***
I regrouped with Marco down at the base of the mountain. He trembled as he saw me, his eyes were stuck on my cheeks.
“Oh, was there some blood here? Sorry about that.” I wiped the blood away and tapped the elf’s shoulders. “Your tribe was sent over to the Kirsche Barony. If we leave right now we might catch up before something happens.”
It seemed like something was happening.
Why else would a group of bandits that had been quiet for years suddenly stir up trouble like this? They were risking an attack by Rascarte’s nobles before anything else.
Something big must be happening.
How interesting.