Chapter 40: Trade Deal (3)

Van was in a really bad condition. His eyelids became heavy as he watched the bandits begin to retreat with the chest. He had no clue what happened to Verro, or the other men that the bandits attacked. All he knew was that he was currently dying.

The bandits got further away. Van couldn't move or feel anything anymore. Right before Van's eyes closed, he heard a slight ring in the air, and everything in front of him stopped moving.

For just a second, it was like time was paused. Then it unpaused.

Right before Van's eyes, all of the bandits in front of him fell apart. They literally fell apart as it was revealed that they had been sliced into large chunks. As the crowd of bandits were disassembled, Verro appeared in front of Van.

Verro was breathing heavily. He was covered in blood, and his right arm was mangled badly, barely resembling an arm anymore. Most of all, his hood was down, and Van saw his face for the first time.

As Van felt something shoved into his mouth, a refreshing liquid pouring down his throat, he saw a boy, only a few years older than he was, with short, black hair and gray eyes. 

Finishing the liquid, Van felt his energy return as well as the pain disappearing. He sat up, coughing as Verro pulled the flask out of his mouth. As Van looked over his body, he saw the wounds healing quickly, and within a few seconds, he was in the exact same condition he was before coming to the village.

"Are you okay?" Verro asked him, worry all over his face. It felt strange to Van, seeing Verro express emotion.

"I-I'm fine now, thank you." 

Van stood up slowly, dusting himself off. 

"Sorry for being late, she gave me some trouble."

Verro stood up and looked to the side. Following his gaze, Van saw the body of the Grand Knight ranked woman from earlier. Her torso lay there, missing an arm and separated from her lower half.

"Damn…"

As Van looked around, he saw carnage. The whole village was covered in bodies and blood. None of Lord Angus' people had made it out alive.

"Damn. This is worthless now."

Van looked to the side to see Verro crouched in the middle of the dead bandits, searching the contents of the chest. Van peeked over and saw that most if not all of the technology inside was broken, probably trampled while Van was fighting the bandits.

"Sorry, I couldn't save it." Van apologized.

"Don't be, you did the best you could." Tossing away the chest, Verro pulled up his hood before walking back towards their horses, which surprisingly didn't run away after all the commotion.

"Wait, what about your injuries? Don't you have another potion or something?"

"No, that was my only High grade potion. Anything less than that won't be able to help me."

"Sorry about that…"

"It's fine. We have to go back and inform Lord Raphael of what happened. He'll have to send a letter to Lord Angus to inform him of what happened to his people."

"What just happened? How'd you know what was about to happen?" 

The two of them mounted their horses and began the trip back to the estate, Van fishing for an explanation.

"I noticed their mana signatures while they were surrounding us. At first I thought they were with Lord Angus, but after we received the chest, the signatures moved closer. That's when I realized they were a third party."

"So when that Grand Knight looked to the side…"

"Yes, most likely she noticed their presence before we did, and waited for the opportunity to escape. Unfortunately for her, I was there, but I admit, it was a tough fight."

The two continued to ride. Van noticed that Verro was unusually talkative. Unknown to him, Verro was actually quite rattled from the fight he just had, as well as Van nearly dying, so he wasn't able to act like his normal self.

'Gotta get as much outta him as I can while he's like this.' Van thought.

"How'd you kill that group of bandits so fast?" Van asked. He still remembered how they stopped moving before breaking into pieces.

"I walk the path of the Assassin. A unique ability I have is the ability to 'mark' people the moment I see them. After I mark someone, the mark has a radius of effect around them. When I am within the radius of the mark, I can hurt or kill them however I want to. All it costs is mana."

A trickle of sweat went down Van's neck.

'He wiped them all out in one move, meaning he can have multiple marks at once…'

"So you just… marked them all and did your thing?"

"Yes, and before you ask, no, you aren't marked." Van could feel Verro glance at him from beneath his hood. "The only people I've met that I haven't marked are Lord Raphael, my sister Virra, and you."

"Thanks. One last thing, who are the Servant Bandits? One of them yelled it as they were attacking."

Verro tilted his head.

"There was a group north of Holdor that went by the same name. News is they've been killing other nobles. If they've made it this far, they may be pining for Lord Raphael next."

"Shouldn't we do something about them?"

"No, not really. You saw them, their numbers mostly consist of Knights. The one I fought wasn't even part of their group. Most likely, they ambushed the deal aiming to recruit her alongside the technology. I bet the amount of people they have with similar strength can be counted on one hand. If they try something, we can handle it."

Having his questions answered, Van decided to check his status for any changes. That was a lengthy fight, after all. Aside from some raises in his Combat Art proficiencies, he saw something new.

<> Skill <>

Pain Resistance [E] [Passive]: 

The user has known pain for far too long, and still knows it. After all this time experiencing pain, the user has now built up his resistance to pain even further, and only higher amounts of pain can make him falter.

<> End <>

Van smiled. At least something good came out of that trade deal.