75 Chapter 75
A shout-out to our new patron Jack Leong. Thank you very much for your patronage.
Aaron had a habit he picked in the desolate area. He always kept one part of his mind dedicated to detection. He always had it turned on even if he was sleeping. The consumption for it wasn't large and it was a good sort of mental excercise.
That night as he was sleeping, Aaron detected few people. Of course they could have been normal people coming towards them. Other travellers attracted by the camp fire perhaps or lost in the woods.
But normal people wouldn't be creeping so slowly and carefully towards them.
The group coming towards them consisted of 7 members, and instead of surrounding them as Aaron might have expected, they all came from the same side. Like they didn't care if they didn't have them surrounded. They just didn't want to alert the sleeping group.
Aaron hoped it was the same group he was after. He opened his eyes. He saw the man who was on the watch alert enough. But he failed to notice anything different.
Aaron got up and moved towards the man on guard. The man looked at Aaron once and then continued to sit where he sitting with the fire behind his back. He was the same man who had questioned Aaron before.
From his position Aaron noticed that even he couldnt see anything with his eyes even though his magic told him there was a group moving towards them. It was too dark and the woods gave a good enough cover to move.
"Dont shout, but we have a group approaching us from the direction you are facing. They are probably the same bandit group that have been active in this area. "
The man was a little surprised and tried to see in the dark if he could see something, but didn't notice anything. But he seemed to believe Aaron.
For a different reason though.
"You were the one who informed them, right? I had my eyes on you, but you still succeeded somehow. "
Aaron gave him a look saying how stupid you could be.
"No, I don't work for them. I am here to hunt them. "
The man snorted and gave a look towards Aaron's sword.
"You expect me to believe a boy your age is going to face against a bandit group alone?"
He then shouted at a louder voice.
"Everyone up, we have bandits coming towards us!"
"I will first teach those bandits a lesson. Then I will talk with you. No one messes with Johan!"
Johan had formed this group specially for the bandits in this region. He along with his 4 other men were seasoned campaigners. They were much better at fighting than the common bandits. This was an opportunity for him, if he got rid of these bandits, he for sure would get good enough rewards from the Blossom city. He could also take away whatever was there on these bandits body. They have looted quite a few people. They must be carrying some coins at least.
Aaron saw people gathering around Johan. Even the travellers sleeping were woken up by the commotion. By the time everyone had woken up, the bandits were visible in the light of the camp fire.
"It looks you all were able to some how notice us. Interesting."
Said the bandit leader. He was a young looking man with nicely kept beard. He wore clean clothes and didn't look like someone who would be leading a bandit party. He wasn't wearing a robe. Moving around in a forest was much better with trousers anyways even if he was a mage. Besides him were 6 people. They looked gruff and wore rather plain clothes. They gave the party a bandit like look.
"I am Johan. You all might have come with the intention of robbing us, but if you want to keep your life, I suggest you surrender to me." He pointed his sword towards the bandits. Johan wasn't the one to make small talks. He directly stated his intention to the bandit leader.
Aaron was standing quietly. He was watching the scene unfold. He was trying to make sure this was the group he was after. He would save the travellers irrespective of the fact, but it would be good if it was the group he was looking for.
Aaron also remembered how he had felt the first time he faced bandits. He was scared for his life and was shivering.
This time it was much different. Although it had only been only two years, he had changed a lot. Specially the last 6 months in the desolate had been a lesson deeply ingrained in his bones.
"Johan you say? I wonder what gives you so much confident? Is is the sword in your hand or the few fighters behind you? I even see a pup holding onto a sword." He pointed out Aaron.
"You are right, it's the sword in my hand and my brothers behind me which gives me the confidence. The rif raff behind you would be a good practice. We have gone a little rusty you know. "
"As for the pup, he is no concern to us. He is probably someone working for you who informed you of us."
"Hahahaha. You think too highly of yourself and that boy. I don't need him to tell me when someone has come into these woods. As for the 'brothers' besides you. They could perhaps kill the 'riff raff' behind me. "
"Condition being they could move first. "
With that the man waved his hands.
"What is happening? " said one of the man behind Johan.
When everyone turned to look, what they saw gave them a scare.
They saw vines crawling upon the fighters except for Johan and Aaron.
The vines quicky binded the four men and left them immobile. They couldn't even move a limb. They tried to break the vines but couldn't muster enough strength to do it.
"A mage. " Someone shouted.
Johan didn't say anything. He gritted his teeth. He knew he had lost this battle even before he has begun fighting.
"As I was saying. This all is futile." The bandit leader said with a smirk.
"I don't want to kill you all. Just hand over whatever valuables you have."
"And you 'Johan'. Lay down your weapon."
Johan didn't move a muscle. But you could see the tension in his body. He was wound up and was ready to spring.
Aaron though was surprised. It was the first time he had seen such a mage. How did he make those vines appear. He knew they weren't there in the clearing. And the control over them was amazing. What kind of a mage was this? Aaron hadn't read or heard of such a mage!
He knew he had to act. He was prepared though.
He cleared his throat to bring attention to himself.
"Uhhhmm. It isn't as futile as you say it. "
"The pup needs to say something? Please make me understand how am I going to lose? Is the mage association coming to the rescue? "
"Infact it is. I hereby order you to surrender."
"Hahaha. Aren't you afraid you will be punished if they find someone is pretending to be them?"
"I am not pretending. Turn around. "
When he turned around, what he saw surprised him.
Four of his men had daggers pointing behind them.
The boy was indeed a mage. This wasn't going to be a easy.
"So, looks like you were the mage moving around the area a few days ago. You were a space mage, weren't you? "
The bandit made an accurate guess.
Even Aaron was surprised by it.
"Indeed I am the same. I am rather surprised how you were able to hide here."
"Hah. Hide? I don't hide. It's just you all are too weak to find me."
"And you are too weak to capture me. A space mage. A young one at that. There is no chance you are going to capture me."
Both sides were having a face off. No one made a move.
They both had hostages and didn't make any rash moves.
"Why don't you release those people from the vines?" said Aaron at last.
"Why would I release them? They are my insurance. You sure wouldnt want to see them dead. Right? You have witnesses around you. It will give you a bad name. Or do you wish to kill everyone here to keep them quiet. "
A senior mage wouldn't be affected too much with that. They would have sacrificed a few lives.
But the man took a chance with Aaron's age. He saw this was a young boy who didn't seem to have much experience. He played it on his conscience.
" As for the people behind me. You could kill them. I don't mind at all. " He gave a smirk.
The ball was in Aaron's court now.
Aaron wasn't a killer. He knew he wouldn't kill someone in cold blood like that.
What to do? His plan of moving with a traveller's group had actually back fired.
