Information

The battle was over quickly and it had been found that there were still some living among them but some had suffered from a deep or fatal wound that needed immediate treatment.

Not every one of them could be saved or spared by Franco's group and his group were not willing to use their own healing potions on their enemies.

The battle needed to be ended as soon as possible and there was a need to prevent further danger to the new recruits so mercy could not be shown during the battle.

It had already been judged that the bandits were dangerous and they were up to no good so there was no reason to hold back against them.

The task was to investigate the cause of the recent drop in visitors to the city and the bandits were a dangerous element that was the most suspicious.

They could have been innocent and being framed for the work of someone else if they were more welcoming to others or did not get involved with criminal activities but Mallory, Franco and Swaine had already identified them as being dangerous.

Even if they were not connected to the loss of people visiting Visa City, they were a dangerous group that had moved in near the city and had unknown motives for being there.

Swaine and Franco were a better judge of certain types of people due to their experience as mercenaries and meeting many kinds of people so they were able to judge that those connected to the group would kill others upon being spotted.

They had judged that the group had bad intentions and were behaving suspiciously while Mallory had picked up on their auras that were filled with their bad deeds and ill intent.

The compass had helped to point the way towards the danger or cause of misfortune so there was an even further need to not doubt their suspicions and act upon them.

Their presence alone was enough to disrupt the nearby mountains and forest as they killed or pushed out the monsters that had been living there so that would start to affect the surroundings and cause the monsters to be pushed in other directions.

There was a carriage which had been by the opening of the cave that looked damaged like it had undergone an attack recently and many parts had been stripped off so it had further pointed towards them attacking those passing by and robbing them.

Those that were still living had been moved to one location along with the dead bodies while one person that was the least injured had been taken away from them.

Upon being subdued and taken away, he struggled to free himself and he had a vicious look in his eyes as he glared towards Franco. "How dare you kill my brothers. When I get out of here, you all will suffer greatly."

Franco rolled his eyes and a dagger danced around in his hand then pointed forward. "The only reason why you are like this is that you have information to give. Now tell me, who are you people and why have you come here?"

The tip of the dagger got closer to the man that was tied up which caused him to let out a scream. "Ah.. I wont tell you a thing. Aah! Help me! Mmf! Mmf!"

Noire and Fitz held onto the man to keep him quiet and still while Franco had continued to interrogate him.

Once he had given up enough information about themselves, Franco had left him unconscious tied to a tree along with the others that were still living. 'He did not know much or had much to tell me but this is enough.

According to what I was able to get out of him, they are a large group of bandits that move around and do odd jobs for others like arranging disturbances, blocks and assassinations on the roads.

Their boss usually handles the transactions so everyone else just moves around and acts according to what they have been ordered to do and they can all reap the benefits together.

The most recent task was to show up near Visa City and to disrupt the surrounding roads along with pushing the monsters out towards the roads and the city. Anything that they claimed was theirs to keep along with a large payment for completing the task.'

There were always such groups that got involved with all kinds of disputes and wars between cities or countries as they caused disruptions to the trade and caused even further problems.

There were times when they were hired to act as groups that stole from others who were passing through so they were just like normal bandits that took a price for allowing others to pass through unless they were had planned to take everything they could just so they could put pressure on a certain group or individual and disrupt their business.

There were many trading groups or noble families that had competitors that were willing to go to such lengths to pay others do do such things.

Some that were willing to take things further would even hire such groups to kill someone specific just so it could be staged as an accident on the road or a robbery went wrong so that it could not be found to be related to them.

With how Visa City was experiencing difficulties and was facing a future threat, the activities of the bandits would cause a great disruption to the everyday lives of everyone in the city.

Monsters would be pushed towards the city to cause further dangers to people who were outside of the city walls and could attack anyone that the bandits had missed.

The trade going into the city would be cut off so there would be further diminishing of resources over time unless the problem was solved.

Trust would be lost by some groups and cities that traded or had relations with Visa Ciry due to their people going missing when being sent to the city.

Anyone venturing outside of the city or hoping to leave the city would be intercepted on the roads.

Most communications would be cut off so any kind of story could be told to influence others in the surroundings without there being a way for Visa City to argue that such rumours or conclusions were wrong.

Franco led the others towards the entrance of the cave and they cautiously made their way through.