1 Rouge Hill
The Rouge hill is a den of bandits. It is situated at the centre of four famous commercial cities of the Moon Kingdom. Thus, merchants are forced to pass through the trade routes of Rouge hill even at the cost of being robbed.
The Moon kingdom was helpless facing the bandits of the Rouge hill. Though the place was called as Rouge hill, it was in fact a range of hills. This meant the bandits could hide in a vaster space.
Moreover, the bandits had their strongholds at higher altitudes of the hills making it harder for the kingdom's army to attack them. A disadvantage in altitude was fatal to an army. The bandits could route huge rocks towards the attacking army, which would come at them at crushing speed.
Recently there had been some changes occurring in Rouge hill. A new group of bandits who called themselves Nine as One started to gain a bit of fame.
The members addressed each other by numbers, with Number 1 being their leader. This small group of nine bandits were said to have perfect co-ordination with each other and any merchant that came under their sight were looted clean!
...
A horse carriage from the East City of the Moon kingdom entered the Rouge hill discreetly. The resident of the carriage needed to get to the West City which was at the other side of Rouge hill as soon as possible and he took the risk to enter this den of bandits.
He hired three basic mercenaries who were at least thrice stronger than normal humans as his bodyguards, and chose a relatively hidden route to tread through the Rouge hill.
Tak! Tak!
The sound of horse steps reverberated through the surroundings along with the random noise from incests of the hills.
On a normal day, this kind of atmosphere would make others relax, but as this was happening inside the Rouge hill, the merchant could only feel anxiousness growing up inside him.
He discreetly looked at the relaxed faces of the three mercenaries that he had paid a huge sum to hire, and his stiff nerves relax a bit seeing their casual expressions.
Swoosh! Swoosh!
Neigh! Neigh! Neigh!
Suddenly, the two horses dragging the carriage released stupefied roars as two arrows fell before their legs. The startled horses raised their front two legs up and started running to their sides in panic before the merchant could calm them.
This ultimately made the horse carriage unbalanced and before long the carriage was lying on the ground on its right side. The merchant and the three mercenaries sustained light injuries due to the accident.
But the incident did not stop at that. The horses were still dragging the carriage even at this time, making it harder for those inside to get out.
But the mercenaries were experienced. The leader of the three, tucked the merchant into his arms and jumped out of the carriage, only to see an arrow coming at him straight on!
With a harrumph the mercenary tilted his head to his right side and easily dodged the arrow.
But the next second his eyes went wide as he fell down along with the merchant in his arms. An arrow can be seen drilled into the back of his head as he fell down. It seems the first arrow was a feint, the real threat came from the blind spot of his vision and claimed his life.
Seeing their leader dead, the other two mercenaries' faces turned grim. They did not get out of the carriage even though it was being shaken by the startled horses. They knew stepping out now was synonymous to death!
"Damn! To think I would still fear mortals even after creating my Knight Core!" One of the two mercenaries cursed as his head hit the top of the carriage.
"Sigh!" The other mercenary sighed. "A Knight Core can increase our strength beyond human limits but it doesn't mean we are invincible! Now we can only hope that these bandits would ignore us and leave after taking care of the merchant!"
But unfortunately for them, two arrows swished in the air and landed on the horses' heads suddenly. Seeing that they were hiding inside the carriage the bandits killed the horses! The carriage stopped shaking as the horses dropped dead.
"Shit!" The first mercenary could not hold back anymore. He jumped out of carriage and charged wildly towards the trees at the right side of the road, while taking a risk.
Sure enough, a few arrows came at him, but due to his fast and unhesitant sprint, all of them missed their target. It seems the archers were not as proficient at archery as they first thought!
The second mercenary saw this and he too jumped out and started sprinting towards the trees at the side of the road. He chose the other side unlike the first mercenary. This was basic tactic to divide the number of enemies one would face.
A few arrows came at him too, but as the attackers had just shot their arrows at the first mercenary, they were unprepared and the number of arrows shot was significantly lesser! Luckily, the second mercenary too safely made it to the other side.
The second mercenary heaved a sigh, pulling out the sword that hung at his waist. Now that he had cover, it was just a matter of time before he would eradicate his enemies. After all, the number of arrows one would have was limited and he was pretty experienced at dealing with this kind of situations.
His strength that was thrice stronger than normal humans gave him even more confidence!
"Hello!"
"Who?!" The second mercenary was startled, before he could turn towards the voice, a arrow pierced through his neck.
"To think he would run towards the tree I was hiding behind." The bandit shook his head, he retrieved the arrow from the mercenary's neck while sighing at how unlucky the mercenary was.
Two of the three mercenaries were already dead. The last one sprinted into the trees, while the merchant was shivering beside the dead body of the mercenary leader.
Before long, the shivering merchant felt a hand tap him lightly. This soft tap almost scared his heart stiff.
"I can spare you, but what do I get in return?" The one who tapped the merchant asked him.
Still shivering, the merchant took a book from inside his clothes and gave it to the one who tapped him. This book was the reason he had set out to the West City, but he had lost the gamble of passing through Rouge hill unharmed, and missed earning a fortune.
As promised, the bandit and his group left the merchant alive after taking the book. But that might not be a good thing in Rouge hill.
...
In a small cave in the east side of Rouge hill, nine members sat around in a circle, staring at one book.
[ Basic Knight Core Creation Manual ]
This was the book that could let a mortal transcend the limit of normal humans.
"Sigh, even though this is my ticket to more strength, creating Knight Core according to this manual can only yield me the lowest quality Knight Core." Number 1 mumbled to himself.
It had been 16 years since he had found out that he was nine humans instead of one and it had been 3 months since he created his 'Nine As One' bandit group.
His nine bodies which shared his single consciousness were the only members of this group! This was the reason behind the impeccable co-ordination of this bandit group. After all, he knew his thoughts better than anyone else!
"I should let my Number 4 and Number 9 create their cores. They are my strongest physical bodies, and the Knight Core can strengthen my two bodies to beyond the limit of humans!"
A Knight Core made a stronger body even stronger. The stronger the body was, the better was the effect of the Knight Core.
But creating a Knight Core took far more resources than just daily rations and the Nine As One bandit group could not afford nine Knight Cores at the moment. Even two was pushing themselves on the edge.
Number 3 and Number 7 cooked the horse that they had killed during the day and the nine bodies ate a hearty meal.
After dinner, Number 4 and Number 9 started creating their Knight Core, while Number 5 and Number 8 started keeping watch. The other 5 bodies rested peacefully inside the cave.
Having a consciousness that was nine times stronger than normal humans, he could afford letting half of his consciousness awake at all times. It was an amazing perk that came along with his birth.
...
