Chapter 3 - Saving the day

After his short rest Max had continued on his way to find a town. After following the river for another hour he managed to create enough bullets to fill his guns magazine and create the silencer for it.

Luck was on his side because just as he twisted the silencer on his pistol he noticed a bridge going across the river in the distance.

"Finally, the first sign of civilization." He murmured to himself. Honestly he was starting to get bored at this point with the look of the forest and the river. It was already in the afternoon so if he didn't get to a town quickly he would have to sleep in the woods, which he wanted to avoid at all costs, considering he didn't have any idea what kind of monsters lived in the forest.

However just as he was about to come out of the forest onto the road that connected to the bridge he heard the distant sounds of metal clashing against metal paired with screams and shouts of multiple people.

"That's, just great. I guess I better check out whats happening or I might just find myself with an arrow in the back while trying to reach town." Max cursed to himself and started running towards the sounds of battle.

After sprinting for about a minute he got close enough to see what was going on. A carriage was surrounded by multiple men in leather armor and various weapons in hand, 2 of them on horse back.

4 knights in metal plate armor with shields and swords were trying to defend the carriage but they were out numbered 1 to 5. The horses in front of the carriage were blocked by the men in leather armor and the coachman was heavily wounded so there was no way for them to run away from the attacking men.

The carriage itself was once an opulent white, ornately decorated with golden engravings. Now it was stained by the blood of the coachman and had arrows sticking out of it. Max also noticed that another 2 knights laying on the ground, who were by the looks of it shot by something that scorched and penetrated their metal armor, making them unable to continue the fight.

The brigand looking group was not unharmed either, by Max's estimate 4 of them were injured while 7 were cut down and laying on the bloodied ground. Thankfully everybody was preoccupied with the battle so nobody noticed Max behind them.

Max with his pistol in hand was about to start shooting at the bandits, when he heard one of the horsemen with a wand in his hand and dirty brown robes on yell "Firebolt". Then after a millisecond of delay a burning projectile shot out of the wand in his hand and hit the shield of one of the knights who just managed to block the attack in the nick of time.

But while he managed to block the magical projectile he couldn't defend against one of the bandits who swung a club against his helmet. The club hit the helmet with great force almost knocking the knight over. Thankfully it looked like it just concussed him amd he still got some fight left in him.

Witnessing this Max decided to focus on the bandits on horse back, his first target being the mage. Since he was already within 20 meters of them after sneaking behind them he shouldn't have any problem hitting his targets at this distance.

Max took aim and shot his pistol twice, his shots hitting the mage in the shoulder and stomach causing him to fall off his horse because of the sudden attack. Unfortunately for the spellcaster the sudden weight change and the sound of the pistol (even with the supressor on it) spooked his horse and it trampled him after he fallen on the ground.

Quickly turning his attention to the other horseman whom Max thinks should be the leader of the group, he shoots him twice in the chest making him fall to the ground lifelessly causing his horse to run away.

The sudden sound of gunfire took the rest of the bandits by surprise too, many of them turning around from the knights trying to discern where the sound of gunfire is coming from. The knights, while also surprised from the unexpected help were not so absent minded and quickly exploited the confusion of their foe, cutting down 4 of the disoriented bandits.

Meanwhile Max is not lazing around either and he continues dispatching the bandits who target him, shooting down 8 of them in just 20 second using up 3/4 of his magazine.

The last unfortunate brigand tries to flee in a panic but Max manages to shoot him too on a distance of 40 meters, killing him on the spot. After looking around making sure that the bandits are all dead, he quickly starts reloading his magazine by creating the bullets inside the pocket of his pants making it seem like he is just pulling out the bullets that were already there.

'I am unsure how rare creation magic is, I can'not make myself even more suspicious than I already am with this gun. Sure enough, after reloading his gun, he finds out that the knights are still in full alert looking at him, sizing him up.

Sighing Max slides his gun into his belt and puts his hands up. - "I mean no harm to you. I just witnessed your carriage getting attacked by these bandits and wanted to help out."

"Identify yourself!" Yells one of the knights.

"My name is Max Harris, I am a mage. I'm afraid I can't show you any identification because my bag containing it got stolen from me. Look, I would be grateful if you could just show me which way the nearest town is and I would be out of your hair. I am quite lost you see."

But before the knight could say anything came a shocking answer.

"I can't allow it!" said a woman in a dress more beautiful than any clothes Max have ever seen after opening the carriage door.

"I-I'm sorry?" Stuttered Max.

"You just saved our lives, you obviously deserve better rewards, than just telling you where the nearest town is. Please join us in the carriage, we shall travel to our estate together, where we will reward you."