21 Level 49 Mage
Thrud entered Maxwell's tent, which now became Hunter's tent, with a parchment in his hand. He gawked between Hunter and Kolvar, wondering who to hand over the parchment. Seeing his confusion, Kolvar took the parchment. Thrud's eyes moved slightly to see Kolvar's pointy ears. Kolvar ignored it as he was used to people staring at his ears.
"So Thrud, give me an update on our current number of employees," asked Hunter.
Thrud cleared his throat.
"There were twenty-two of us in total, without including Maxwell. Six left the camp. So you have fourteen men,"
"Okay. We have to work on your math later," Hunter jumped down from his bed. He looked at Kolvar,
"All the sixteen names are here," Kolvar nodded.
Hunter turned his gaze back to Thrud,
"Can we trust them to protect the camp while we are away?"
Third scratched his head,
"Are we going somewhere far boss?" asked Thrud.
"Not far. Just a stroll. Come on, take a walk with me. You too Kolvar," Hunter led the two of them to the outside. The bandits had gathered around in front of the tent, waiting for Hunter.
"We are taking a walk. So I expect you guys to keep this place safe. I believe you guys won't mess up my tent and try to take something that doesn't belong to you. I am a generous boss, but I won't tolerate stealing right under my nose. You guys understand?"
"Yes, Boss," The bandits raised their voices in unison. With an approving nod, Hunter walked away from his tent in the same direction where the bandits who chose to leave went. Hunter leisurely walked forward with his hands behind his back. Thrud and Kolvar followed him behind like loyal bodyguards.
Hunter followed the footprints. Gradually, they lost the light provided by the torches around the camp. After taking a few more steps, everything became dark. Luckily for them, Thrud brought a torch with him.
"Light it up," Kolvar said. Third closed his eyes for a moment before snapping. Sparks flew out of his fingers and lit the oil-drenched torch.
"There shall be light," said Hunter. The torch illuminated the dark forest with its dim orange light. They continued to follow Hunter.
"Where are we going?" asked Kolvar.
"We should be nearing our destination," said Hunter. He noticed chaotic footprints on the ground. Thrud and Kolvar failed to notice the drops of blood on the muddy ground.
After following Hunter for a few more minutes, they noticed the broken branches and blood stains on the ground. Thrud reached for the dagger dangling on his waist. He thought there was a predator nearby. In a sense, there was indeed a predator, but it was walking on two legs in front of him.
Suddenly, Kolvar vaguely saw a body on the ground a couple of meters away from them.
"There they are," said Hunter.
Hunter pointed at the dead body. The body was facing the ground first, so Hunter squatted beside the body and rolled him over. To Thrud's shock, he was one of the bandits who chose to leave the camp with the valuables. Hunter searched his body and found a bulge on the chest. He put his hand inside to pull out everything he gave the bandit.
"What…what happened to him?" Third shivered, but Kolvar could already piece things together.
"What does it look like? He's dead, and the others won't be too far," Hunter said casually. Although Kolvar was certain Hunter was responsible for their deaths, he couldn't guess how he killed them. He didn't leave his tent. Besides, he drank the same wine he poured to the bandits. He used the same bottle.
As Kolvar expected, they found another body. His face faced the sky as blood flowed from his mouth, eyes, and nostrils. Under the torchlight, Thrud saw another familiar face. Purple veins ran across the bandit's face like a spider web. His eyes still contained flashes of the severe pain he went through in his last moments. Just like before, Hunter searched the body and found everything he had given him before.
He stuffed everything in his pocket without leaving a single coin behind. One by one, they found all the six bandits who had left the camp. Thrud felt a chill down his spine, looking at the dead bandits.
"I'd been one of them," thought Thrud. If he had chosen to leave the camp, he would be on the ground with them. Just the thought he avoided death by an inch made him tremble. Hunter tore one of the bandits robes, placed all the valuables on the cloth, and tied the ends together to make a makeshift pack. He threw the pack to Kolvar.
"Thrud, here is your first task. Bury them without letting others know what happened to them. As far as the others are concerned, these bandits walked into the sunset and lived happily ever after," saint Hunter. His voice had a tinge of murderous intent to it.
"Yes, boss," Thrud immediately nodded. He did not want to cross this man.
"I assume you have a shovel in the camp," asked Hunter.
Thrud nodded.
"Good. Then you have your work cut out for you," said Hunter. Afterward, Hunter and Kolvar left Thrud behind. Hunter didn't need the torch to find his way back to the camp.
"So, how did you kill them?" asked Kolvar. He couldn't keep his curiosity in check anymore.
"Trade secret, my friend," Hunter, however, did not reveal the trick to Kolvar.
"Oh come on. Tell me. I can't sleep otherwise,"
Hunter chuckled.
"Tell you what. When you take a life for yourself, I'll tell you how I killed them. Until then, stop wasting your breath," said Hunter. Kolvar sighed. Judging by the tone of his voice, he knew there was no point in nagging Hunter anymore. Eventually, the two of them returned to the camp. The bandits had returned to their normal posts. Some of them stood around the campfire exchanging stories about how they wanted to spend their rewards. The bandits immediately tensed when they saw Hunter walking toward them.
"Relax," said Hunter.
As he was walking toward his tent, Hunter noticed the cage made of bamboo in the dark corner. He summoned a dark-haired bandit with an eye patch.
"What's that?" asked Hunter.
"Oh. Yesterday we found a wounded mage in the forest. Boss…I mean Maxwell captured him and put him in the cage to trade him for coins,"
"Is that so?" Hutner's brows arched up.
"Let's have a look then," Hunter made his way to the cage while a couple of bandits walked behind Hunter with torches. Under the dim torchlight, Hunter saw an old man with a long white beard and hair on the ground. His white robes and face were tainted with mud. The old man did not move an inch.
Hunter picked up a stick from the ground and poked the old man from outside.
"Can he fight back?" asked Hunter,
"I don't think so Boss. he was pretty messed up. Maxwell said it would take at least a week for this old man to regain consciousness. Meanwhile, If he didn't receive healing, he might die," said the bandit.
"Any idea how strong he is?" asked Hunter.
"He has a silver pendant on his neck," The bandit said with a tinge of fear in his tone.
"Silver?" The bandit's words surprised Hunter. In this world, every cultivator from the High Sage level wore a specific color pendant to show their power to the world. Silver meant that the mage was at some level between level 40 to 49, a High Sage. Hunter's eyes sparkled. At that moment, the old man looked like a bag of sparkling experience points in Hunter's eyes.
"Do any of you know who he is?" asked Hunter. He looked at the bandits, but none nodded. Hunter's joy grew bigger in his heart.
"Open the cage," said Hunter. The bandits were startled by his order. Seeing their reluctance to follow his order, Hunter's voice became cold.
"I said, open the cafe," The bandits didn't dare to waste any more time as they ran to the cage and unlocked it. After the bamboo door opened, Hunter signaled the bandits to drag the old mage out. Although the bandits were afraid even to touch the mage, they had no choice but to drag him out. They brought the mage to the light as Hunter squatted beside the old man.
Hunter grabbed the silver pendant and looked around it. The pendant had an engraving of a tower behind it. According to Parker's memories, this engraving symbolized the mage's tower, one of the organizations of the mages. Whoever wears this silver pendant would be treated as a mage of the tower on top of showing their power level.
Hunter noticed deep burn wounds on the mage. Judging by the wounds, the mage obviously fought with another mage who used fire element spells. Of course, Hunter could take this mage to Bellburn city, hand him over to the authorities and get a pat on the back for his service. If he had done that, he might have had a chance of having an ally in the mage tower. But Hunter had other plans.
"Put him in my tent. Keeping him here is dangerous to us. I will offer him a healing potion and send him on his way. That'd be the best," said Hunter. The bandits were surprised by his words but did as they were told. After the bandits left the old mage in his tent, Hunter jumped back on his bed. Kolvar stared between the mage and Hunter. Knowing Hunter, Kolvar felt strange that Hunter had done nothing to the mage. He wondered why Hunter brought the mage to his tent. But as long as Hunter didn't kill the mage, Kolvar was fine with the mage staying in the tent. He knew it'd be best to heal the mage and send him away.
"I'll take the floor," said Kolvar. For now, Kolvar wanted to get some sleep instead of trying to figure out Hunter's plan.
"Yeah. Get some sleep. We have a long journey tomorrow," said Hunter.
Hunter patiently waited for Kolvar to sleep. After almost two hours, Kolvar began to snore. Hunter left his bed and took a peek outside. Except for the bandits on the towers, the rest were long asleep. Hunter slowly dragged the mage outside through the tent's backside. He avoided the bandits on the tower. Thanks to the darkness, it was easy for Hunter to drag the mage into the forest without alerting the bandits.
When Hunter put a safe distance between him and the camp, he placed the mage against a tree. Everything around him was dark. Except for the noise of crickets, Hunter heard nothing. Hunter squatted in front of the mage before snatching the silver pendant from his neck. The very next moment, Hunter plunged his devil's cry into the mage's heart.
